It's hunting season here in Michigan, today is opening day for gun in fact. Which means the deer are moving more. Out of the safely wooded areas, to wherever they can get away from the smell ode de hunter.
I've seen my fair share of deer on the side of the road, or the tell tale sign of a recent hit with the leftover blood on the highway. I have had deer almost run into me. Yes, you read that correctly. They will come flying out of the woods and almost run smack into the side of our cars.
Yesterday I was taking Duck & Goose out to meet up with some friends at a magic show the local library was putting on for the kids. It gets dark, earlier now, so everyone has their headlights on around 6. As I pulled out onto the main street and headed south a few feet, I saw the head of a small buck pop through the trees several feet ahead of me. I slowed down a bit, waiting to see if he would attempt to cross the two lanes of traffic for the other side.
He did, I was able to miss him but the truck heading northbound, wasn't as lucky. I saw it happen, I heard the thud and then the 'pop' of the impact. The deer bounced off the truck and started cartwheeling towards our car. The bumper of the truck was close on its heels. I am sure I said something in that moment, but I'm not sure what. The blood was rushing to my head and drowning out everything. All I remember is praying those hooves didn't crash through my windshield. That is where the real danger is. I've read and heard about those stories. I braced myself for some sort of impact, praying the boys would be OK in the backseat.
Someone was looking out for us, because that deer came mere millimeters from our car. I let out the breath I wasn't aware I was holding and shakily, turned on the hazard lights to warn the cars behind us to slow down. This transpired in seconds. I pulled into a store's parking lot to catch my breath and stop the shaking hands. When I had calmed down enough, I took a quick turn around the outside of the car to make sure there was no damange.
Duck called from the backseat
"What happened Momma? What was that?"
"That was a deer, he ran in front of the cars"
"That's not safe! You have to be careful!"
"Yes you do, honey. Yes you do."
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