I work very early and late hours. So, quite often I get to see various wildlife including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, otters and tons of deer. Well, this morning I had a close call. I punched a deer in the face with my side view mirror. I didn't see it coming and it startled me. Fortunately, I didn't kill the deer or damage my car. It popped the cover up (but not off) of my side view. Mirror and remote mechanism are fine.
I know how close I came to major expense, possibly totaling my car - or worse. Clean living pays off. Phew...

 

One of our fellow XK owners has had both sides of his car punched by deer - he barely got one side fixed when the other was hit.

Not something I see here in urban London, but I have friends who live in Harlow, in Essex, and their route home is through Epping Forest; they've had the odd close shave with Bambi...

 

Deer is a real threat in the Sierra Nevada foothills where I live, particularly in mating seasons. A couple of years ago when I got my brand new XJL there was an extreme problem season. Every single one of my neighbors hit a deer, or rather, the deer hit them.

Coming home one night at dusk I pulled over just before getting to a popular deer crossing area where they go down to a creek for water. My wife asked me why I pulled over; I answered that I wanted an other car in front of me, in case a deer jumped out. She thought I was joking... so I waited for a large SUV to go by and pulled in behind him.

Not more than 0.5 miles later a deer charged out and the SUV, at about 60 MPH, sent it catapulting up in the air and onto the side strip. My Jag once again avoided deer damage. Not sure how long my luck will hold up. I used to do some VERY fast driving on these winding roads but, no longer. Not so much worrying about police but, rather, the deer.

 

Even here in urban Los Angeles, I have on several occasions, seen deer vs. car collisions up on Mulhullond Dr. in the Sherman Oaks/Encino Hills area. And several years ago while driving on the 405/101 interchange (the busiest in the world), a large buck headed down the fire road and was headed right at my car as I was in the exiting lane on the right. Fortunately, he stopped right as he got to the shoulder.

I have also driven the great roads through the Santa Cruz mountains and have often worried about this.

 

In NZ, it's escaped stock (usually sheep) and harriers that you have to worry about. Sheep are terminally dumb - they run down the road, not off it, and on a narrow country road that makes life interesting. Having avoided colliding with the stupid woolly beast, you then have to chase it down the road for half a mile before it finally figures out what to do. If you stop, it'll stop and look at you.

The harriers sit on the road to eat roadkill, and being big birds, they're not always that quick at takeoffs. I have an abiding image of feathers, beak & claws filling my windscreen as the airflow just carried the monster over the roof.

 

The harriers sit on the road to eat roadkill, and being big birds, they're not always that quick at takeoffs. I have an abiding image of feathers, beak & claws filling my windscreen as the airflow just carried the monster over the roof.[/QUOTE]

So is this where the name for the Harrier Jet came from? Interesting

 

Maybe you just need to fly higher than the harriers.
In my college days I had a 20 mile commute, each way to school, over hilly rural roads. On one particular day I was driving my '68 Pontiac Grand Prix (a beast of a machine, with a 400 cu in workhorse), trying to get some 'air' as I flew over the top of a particularly suited hill. As I crested the hill I came down on top of a BIG white bird, I think it was a goose. Now I may feel sorry for the goose, but at the time, when I saw the huge cloud of white feathers in my rear view, I was laughing all the way home.
If I were able to repeat that today in my XK, I probably would have 'cleared' the bird!

 

Yep, though it's the British bird they were named for.

 

I have been lucky so far (knock on wood) as I have managed to avoid deer . But I recall in my youth I did not hit a deer but a deer hit me. While driving my 63 Corvette on one of our local roads (doin about 45mph) a doe ran into the passenger door. It bounced off , got up and ran back into the woods. I pulled over and was afraid to get out and see the damage. Well the door was in tact and it only had a spot on the paint that was about 6" in diameter. Apparently it was a head butt that glanced off of the door. It must have had a trampoline effect when it hit the door. I took it to a auto body buddy and he managed to buff it out. He did such a good job that I ended up having the whole car buffed. At my age I didn't want to pay but because he did the whole car it cost me $25 . What a bargain as this was back in 1965. LOL

 

We have plenty of corn fed deer here in MO-IL. I upgrade all lights in all cars so I can see more of the side of the road. Upgrade can be as simple as a bulb change or an addition of driving lights. Plenty options that can improve night vision without ruining lines of car. Knock on wood have not hit a deer yet.

 

Jags don't fly well - too nose-heavy.

I once went over a hump-backed bridge a bit too quick in my XJ-S V12, and landed somewhat nose-first in a big shower of sparks. Thought I'd got away with it, but about 3 years later my radiator developed a leak - apparently the oil cooler had been pushed up against it and had gradually eaten a hole in it...

You can see that I can get the XKR close to airborne (check the rear arch gap):



But this guy knows how to fly:

 

That cat is moving...

 

Heh - what you can't see is the sharp uphill right-hander on the other side of that dip. It's a fun wee spot called Pflansgarten - short wiggly 'straight' with a yump at the end - brake a little before the yump, then brake hard as soon as you're over it. Here's what it looks like:

 

I've not got the Jag airborne yet, not sure I want to I did get my C4 airborne at just over a ton, I forgot the bump in road fortunately it landed clean
I've been lucky on the animal side crashed a motor bike when young trying to avoid a bird (silly) and twice in the early hours had a surprise (on a bike) once with a horse and once a cow fortunately on both of those occasions I was able to avoid them and get them back in a field before they ended up as hood ornament.