Watch out for Deer!

I have been in my fair share of odd driving situations/ accidents, most in winter weather and only one of which was my fault (make sure you get going the right way on the freeway after taking the trouble to put chains on your car).  Probably the oddest would be one Thanksgiving break in college.  I was driving into Pullman when a doe crossed the road several cars in front of me and disappeared into woods.  It was snowy so all the cars proceeded slowly.  When we got to where the doe had crossed, I saw a flash in my peripheral vision and then the drivers side window shattered.  It took us a minute to react, but we realized (and were told) that a buck had rammed our car!  There was a tuft of fur and slight dent in addition to the shattered window.  Since this incident, I have had a fear of deer and flinch when I see them crossing the road.  My loving husband teases me anytime this story is shared referring to the event as the time I hit the deer and not the time when the deer hit me.  And he chuckles when we see deer and I get tense and over excited. 

Now that you know the back story . . . tonight, we were driving said husband to work when out jumped a doe who bounded across the road in front of us.  We were going slowly and it was far enough in front of us to avoid a collision.  My instinct, of course, was to look for more deer and sure enough, seconds later, another doe comes out of the woods, this time even with us, and runs directly into the back of our car!  The deer was fine and continued to run into the woods.  This is when I erupted into very loud, high pitched screeching, "SEE, I TOLD YOU THAT DEER HIT PEOPLE!"  Tony just laughed and I was elated to have proven that my ridiculous fear of deer is indeed a valid fear (don't judge me because I'm right).  I mean, come on!  I'm not even 30 and have been HIT by deer TWICE.  This whole situation is funny because neither time were we or the deer hurt.  Tonight's only evidence of the hit and run by the deer (we're planning on suing the fish and game people by the way) was a snot and wipe mark on the car.  Here is an article about car/deer collisions because I know you're all dying to know more about these things.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/car-deer-collisions-in-the-united-states.html

My particular favorite bit of advice is number 5 on their list:  If you see one deer on the side of the road and you're fortunate enough not to hit it, be sure to slow down, because where there is one deer, there will often be others.

Don't say you haven't been warned.