Is it just this part of the country (the Ozarks) that has a definite and dangerous deer population issue? It has gotten to the point that 3 deer are going to be allowed per hunter this year...good luck to em, get all the bastards. Who else has been a recent casualty of a kamakazi deer-strike this season, or in fact, any season.

Mine hit me broadside 2 miles from home, right after dark, while i was at 60 mph...broken ankle, broken nose, serious chip-seal body scrub on right side of face and right shoulder leaving a bowl-shaped wound; taking out the ulnar nerve in the process which has numbed my right hand. Moderate rash on right leg and big toe area.

I was trapped under the bike, being 'rode like i was stole'...all i seen was a brown flash then a nice close-up of the road, a completely helpless feeling that is much too long to get into, any brother or sister posting here probably knows the feeling.

A quality helmet, heavy jeans, gloves and good leather boots really saved my a-ss, the helmet had a golf ball size hole punched into it. My right foot was spun 180 degrees behind me, and at the big toe area was ground down to the bare skin. I cringe to think about what could have happened without these basics.

Deer have become a serious issue here, it's normally risky anytime...but this year has been abnormally bloody.


Hand over my heart and prayers for the fallen.
DrWIN0
'Hillbilly Jammer'

It was June 13, 2008, a Friday, and the first day of Republic of Texas Rally (ROT) in Austin. I had some friends ride down to visit and attend the rally.

A couple of us (photographers) decided to get up really early and head out to Hill Country and photograph a sunrise. The location was about 75 miles from my house. I was about 2 miles from our destination and all of a sudden, there was a deer's head in my face and a blunt hit to the front of my bike and more to my body. I had zero time to react and my new Road King started wobbling violently back and forth, while I was trying to slow down from 70 MPH. To compound my problems, when the deer hit my head, it somehow knocked my half helmet down in front of my face and I could not see, so I was trying to stop an out of control 750 pound Harley and not being able to see.

All of a sudden, everything was fine. There was no more out of control wobble and everything was fine. So, I thought. What I didn't know for a few seconds was I had been thrown by my bike into the air and I was flying, hence the feeling that everything was fine (remember, I still could not see). Then reality came back in a most bone jarring way, when I hit the pavement and started flailing down the road.

My buddy was kind enough (I would have done the same for him, if the roles had been reversed), to take some photos. Some of the milder photos can be found - find my photos listed as "My Bike" at www.flickr.com/tropicdiver .

Back to the story, once I stopped moving, I was on my back and in a great amount of pain and still not able to see. Instead of a helmet still covering my face, blood had filled into my eye sockets, which kept me from being able to see. I asked my buddy if I was going to die and he was honest enough to tell me "he hoped not, but that I did look pretty bad".

Nine (9) broken ribs, broken clavicle, broken scapula, two (2) broken fingers, punctured left lung, bruised spleen and road rash on my left forehead, both arms, hands and my left shoulder. My legs were perfectly fine.

We were in the middle of nowhere and my buddy had never been where we were. Fortunately, it happened right at the line between two counties and there was a leaving and entering county line sign and a road sign and he somehow got cell service to reach 911. It took a first responder maybe 10 minutes to reach me from a nearby Ranger's house and the ambulance about 30 or so minutes to reach me to take me a mile to a helicopter to fly me back to Austin.

They put my bike on the back of a wrecker just to see it topple off and land back on the ground upside down, I guess to add insult to injury, I was told, later.

I spent 4 days in ICU and a total of 30 days in 4 different hospitals, which included re-hab (to learn how to use my left arm and right hand, again), 2 surgeries, which brought on a MRSA infection, which caused me to have to give myself IV's twice a day for 6 additional weeks after I got out of the hospital(s).

It cost $11,000.00 to fix my Road King back to showroom condition and about $250,000.00 to get me going. That was a year and a half, ago. I was addicted to narcotics (Fentanyl) for 15 months to help me deal with the pain and fortunately, I took a chance on an acupuncturist that helped me kick the narcotics the Pain Management doctors told me I would be on the rest of my life to deal with my chronic pain. I still hurt, but not bad enough to take drugs for the pain, thanks to actupuncture.

Oh, I did waste that damned deer, the bitch.

Thanks for listening.

You have given such a great information that would be very helpful to me. I would like more in-depth information on it.