Worst weekend ever. WARNING: some graphic pics.

Well, I was on my way to my cabin with my parents on Friday evening. They needed my help building the deck (which is why I wasn't able to do the QOTD. Thanks again for covering for me Rigel). And on our way to the cabin, we hit a deer. We are all ok but my Pathfinder is totaled. The radiator was pushed in over a foot farther than it should be. It still runs and the engine itself is fine, I just needed to fix the radiator and coolant reserve. Or that's what the thought before I checked the frame. It's bent like it was wrapped around a pole. And seeing how it was a 1994 with over 300000 KM on it, it's not worth it to fix it.

It was pretty late at night and the deer just appeared from no where. Fortunately, we were right across the street from a farm. So we stayed there until a tow truck got there (we were about an hour away from any major cities and 2 hours away from home). I then called my uncle to see if he could pick us up and all of our supplies. The Pathfinder was loaded full with food and tools and stuff. He brought his van and picked us up and took us out to the cabin so we could drop off some of the stuff we had like a table saw and some lumber so we didn't have to worry about bringing it next time and so we could all get some sleep. We were planning on just staying the night but since the cabin is sort of off the beaten path most of the roads around there are all dirt and with all the rain that we got (4.5 inches according to our rain gauge) it was too muddy to go home. So I just got home now and I need to start looking for a new vehicle now. Not what I was hoping for on my May long weekend. Here's some pictures for you since Rigel told me to take lots of picture of my trip. I don't think this is quite what he had in mind.









These next 4 are of the deer. They are a bit graphic.
Deer 1
Deer 2
Deer 3
Deer 4

And here's 2 of my uncle Wayne who picked us up and his 2 pugs Abby and Churchill.

Thats so horrible! I feel badly for the deer but for you and your parents even more so. You'll never forget that night. Glad all of you are physically ok.

....unfortunately isn´t was all great your weekend my friend...

Hope you´re fine...

thanks for share!...

Oh my, what a tragedy, I am just glad that you are ok, who would have thought your car would be left in that mess, just terrible. x

Oh man that really stinks! I'm so glad you and your family are ok! Here in Iowa almost every person has hit a deer at some point in time if they drive on the highway in the evening. It can be a real tragedy, and I'm so glad you guys are ok!

Originally Posted by Ruthyb

Owho would have thought your car would be left in that mess, just terrible. x

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That's minor! I hit a deer (more correctly, the deer hit me; she jumped right out of the ditch into the side of my car) a couple years ago and the entire passenger side of my car was bashed in, along with the front fender and the windshield. Over $3000 damage, good thing my car was still fully insured. I had just paid it off and was considering cancelling the full coverage. Deer can do a lot of damage. Like EnzoLeya said, if you live in this area, it's not IF you ever hit a deer, it's WHEN.....

Blasted rats with antlers!!! They can make a mess of a vehicle!! Just be grateful it wasn't a moose. Too bad it ruined your weekend.

One thing about replacement - it is getting to sale time, and I see there are lots of sale ads in the paper, and even on the radio. You will have to wait a bit longer for foreign sales if you are going for new, but if you want used, happy hunting, there are lots out there

If you hit a deer your car is going to be totaled there is no way around it.

I'm careful around Paul's since I know there are deer and I've already almost hit one(it jumped out less than 3 feet from my mom's car) luckily it moved before I got to it. I slammed on the brakes and I knew if it didn't move I was going to hit it, Buick Regals(it was a 2001) are big cars and take more than 3 feet to stop. That would have been just perfect, I had wrecked my car earlier that day in about the same spot after my defrost failed icing over my windshield and I crashed into a corn field and split my radiator and a bunch of other stuff. I was shocked they didn't total my car considering it's a 1997 Saturn, it did over $3000 in damage, thank god for full coverage insurance only a $500 deductible. This was the day before Thanksgiving 1998, happy Thanksgiving to me.

Paul's car was totaled last year when an 18 wheeler side swiped us on the interstate and kept on driving. I got the name of the company and the license number and state on the truck. Metro(it happened in St. Louis) was useless so I went online googled the company and Paul sent them and email and they totally kissed his butt since they didn't want to get sued. Paul paid to get the car repaired(it was a 1998 Mustang) since he wanted to keep it.

I'm so sorry that your weekend sucked. Hitting animals is always hard, and it's even worse when they totally trash your car. I watch for deer carefully since I know if I hit one I'll be lucky if the only thing is my car being totaled. We have human deaths here every year from people hitting deer(just like everywhere else.) I'm glad y'all are ok. Sorry it ruined your weekend. It's about the same thing here, it's not if it's going to happen but when and if you are going to hit it or do an evasive move and still wind up with a messed up car.

Taryn

Yeah we were lucky that we were driving a bigger vehicle. If we were driving something like my Mom's Nissan Altima, we could have been killed. And we were lucky it was only a deer and not a moose. The farmers that we were talking with after it happened said that moose cross that road all the time and they had seen one less than an hour before we hit the deer.

Wowza! I'm glad you are all okay, how scary!

I am in the process of paying out on a $20000 moose hit claim. Those animals can cause real damage. We get a couple of deer claims a week, they always run onto roads

I'm glad you are ok! What a weekend!

I always loved driving home from work late at night because I would always see deer grazing on the side of the road (empty highway in the mountains). I loved seeing them....until one decided to run out of the fog right in front of my car. Luckily I was driving an older car (1984 buick) so it only knocked out the headlights and grill and damaged the radiator a little. If I had been driving the car I have now it would have been an accordian. It still took 6 weeks to get the parts in to fix it, but it was drivable in the daytime.

But, I came home in tears thinking I killed someone's mommy. Turns out, it was a stag (6 pointer, if I remember correctly). Then everyone asked why I didn't pick it up.

Thank goodness you all are okay. DH and I went through the same thing a while back. It was such a shock. The deer jumped out in front of us, and when I saw it before impact, it looked like it was level with the windshield (and we were in an SUV). The deputy said we were very lucky, because an accident in another county the weekend before had ended with human fatalities. We combed the surrounding roadside (along with my Bil and the deputy), but couldn't find the deer. We kept finding pieces of our car, but no deer. DH even went back the next day, in case it was out there hurt somewhere....

And your good Uncle Wayne. Bless him. When my Bil arived at the scene, I don't think I was ever so happy to see anybody in all my life.