[Teaser 1]

With all the posts on deer overpopulation and all the accidents occuring during the rut a peculiar thought occured to me. Would louder bikes scare any of these deer away? I wonder if HD riders with louder performance exhaust have hit as many deer as riders of the whisper quiet GW?? Lastly could it actually be a good idea to be louder and thereby heard by some of the deer??? Something to think about. T.

 

[Elk Man]

IMHO Yes, I had moderately loud pipes on my VTX and it did get the deer's attention. When I ride the wing this time of year, or in deer crossing areas I play the rock and roll very loud on the external speakers it works just as good as loud pipes.
Elk Man

 

[William Anzik]

Yes, that's why trains never hit animals... :wink:

 

[Scott_MacMartin]

My experience with deer and squirrels is that if they don't notice you, they just run across the road or whatever they were doing. If they DO notice, then they stop or double back, generally something irrational. As for squirrels, they get run over when all they had to do was keep running and not get hurt. For that reason, I would not even honk my horn at creatures. I would prefer to have them not notice me. Just makes the situation more predictable.

(These are opinions based on a large sample of squirrels, and a small sample of deer.)

 

[Diablo]

Past experience with a loud bike, deer usually stop eating and stare at you. Hopefully they stay still. Sometimes they don't. It's a crap shoot. Sometimes you're the wndshield, sometimes you're the bug.

 

[Wi_Winger]

I was always told it's easy to get sound that alerts those road rats, loud music, loud pipes etc., but what they do, or what direction they run AFTER hearing the sound is another story.

On this subject:
Didn't someone write once on this board were they claim deer have been known to run toward a moving object, and could possible run AT a cycle or cage when spooked??
It's their instinct to follow.
Any hunters ever hear this??

 

[Longsnowsm]

I have spooked many animals with my loud pipes, and with a bike that seemed to make a some sound that seemed to get animals attention. The bad news is that getting their attention is a two edged sword. So I don't really think it was a benefit.

I have however been in traffic with animals in cages and had my loud exhaust has made them aware of my presense and have avoided a few accidents that way. Would I want to go back to loud exhaust? Nope, I absolutely love the quiet, and being able to hear what is going on around me. That loud noise cuts both ways...

Longsnowsm

 

[laen]

no loud pipes do not save lifes it just pisses the non riding community off at all of us :shock:

also you don't hear a LOUD bike until they pass

and guess what it is illegal

 

[Jim MC8]

I don't know if there is any place in the country that doesn't have vehicle/ deer crashes any more.

What I do know, from my experience (LEO), is it doesn't make any difference what you ride or drive, noise or not, you have a possibility of having an accident with a deer.

I have handled crashes with bikes and cages where they have hit the deer, and ones where the deer has run into them. The most recent one involved an HD bagger that the deer had run into him.

I have found one thing for certain: "Them critters are dumb!"

 

[Wi_Winger]

The most recent one involved an HD bagger that the deer had run into him.

I was going to work in a cage once, and two deer approched me running full bore, one ran infront, and the other ran INTO MY BACK DOOR.
Now how stupid is that?
They can run through a woods, and miss every tree, but can't go around a '69 Pontiac......... :roll:

 

[centerpunch]

Out here in Oregon it is less and less likely to hit a deer. The cougars are taking over and killing off a bunch of them. Maybe I'll hit a cougar some day? :?

 

[BLilly]

I would imagine, just like idiot people, there are idiot deer. Can you imagine the conversation:

Three deer are standing on the side of the road behind some brush.

Bambi: "Say, Gus, y'all hyar dat LOUD motorsickle approachin'?" (Deer from the south...)

Gus (You know there's a deer out there name Gus): "Shore do, Bambi."

Bambi: "What are we gonna do about it, Gus?"

"Gee, Bambi, I bet the best thing to do is stay right here. What do you think Joe?".

(Enter "Joe") Gee guys, I dunno. I think we need to run across the road right now for a cool drink of water from the "crick".

Bam!

Six one way, half a dozen the other I figure...

 

[ElBando]

Noise makes deer run, they don't care which direction they run in.

 

[LarryM]

I would imagine, just like idiot people, there are idiot deer.

There is no such thing as a smart deer. They are all dumb!!!!!

Guys, you need to understand something about deer. You cannot condition a response from them and you cannot predict a reaction from them either. Deer do not think when they sense danger. They simply react and the reaction is random and unpredictable. They don't care which direction they go in. They just know by instinct that anywhere is better than where they are at. They are so stupid that sometimes they cannot even figure out that where they are at is the wrong place. (deer in the headlights?) That is why they are so dangerous to be around when on a bike. (or in a car for that matter.)

I live in the heart of a massive population of deer. It is well known here that you don't even hit your horn in their presence. The only thing you can do is brake and try to avoid them. Loud noises such as exhausts actually can cause a deer that is on the side of the road grazing and posing no imminent threat to actually jump out in the road into your path. The same goes for horns.

Your only protection is constant awareness. So forget the loud pipes, the deer whistles, and horns. The only thing they will do is give you a false sense of security and put you in even more danger.

 

[DT]

Like MC8 said...I had a deer run into the side of my patrol car and it had lights and siren going.

On other occasions, I've touched off the siren because a bunch of deer were standing in the middle of the road and they seemed completely unaffected.

While these aren’t very scientific, they convinced me that loud sounds may not have the desired results.

 

[DGM]

I agree with LAEN.

 

[Gizmo]

I drive a semi and I can tell you that a louder vehicle has little effect on deer. Deer are so accustomed to traffic that they ignore all but the loudest and most obnoxious sounds....kind of like people, I reckon. To test my theory, I have experimented with honking my semi's and my motorcycle's horn every time I see a deer just so I could see if there was a pattern of behavior after they heard a loud sound. In nearly every case, the deer's first reaction was to stop whatever it was doing and look in my direction. Deer definitely notice the air horns on my semi more than my GL1800's horn. So far in my experiments, as I have continued honking the horn as I approached the deer, they have ALWAYS ran away from the road and not across it. I have yet to experiment on deer that are actually standing on the road as I'm usually too busy hitting the brakes.

 

[John805]

Deer are stupid large rats with ears however are quite tasty with A-1 sauce. Sirens cause deer to run from the edge of field to the roadway in front of a fire apparatus and the airhorn tends to make them jump. We have a few around the station and have the above results for most of them, when running a call. :lol:

 

[John Garner]

& if it is mating season, all bets are off!

Your best defense is a good offense. Study their habits:

1 - deer move most at dusk & dawn
2 - if you see one, you can bet there are more
3 - for road crossings, the sacrificial deer goes first, then the rest follow
4 - deer tend to jump or spring in the direction they are facing
5 - deer whistles don't work!
6 - slowing down gives you more time to avoid a problem
7 - if a collision is unavoidable, aim & impact the deer in the butt on a straight line of travel

 

[Ironbutt Ken]

Waylon Jennings played loud over external speakers works just as good for me and is a whole lot more enjoyable.