I have been putting a lot of miles in driving through an area here that is lousy with deer, and judging by the sheer number of carcasses I'm having to dodge while watching out for the live ones, they are just as likely to run out in front of a moving car as they are to run away from it (something which is no doubt forced to some extent by the ultra-tall game fences used along many stretches of the roads here).
So in a moment of "can't hurt, might just help", I grabbed a set of those deer whistlers or whatever they're called to affix to the front of my car. I had tried them in the past, but it was so long ago I can't remember if they made any difference, not to mention I rarely drove in areas where they might be useful. This latest set was inexpensive to say the least ($6), but seemed to be more intelligently designed than their relatively low cost would intimate. There was a drivers side (straight thru design) and a passenger side (not straight thru), although the instructions did not indicate what would happen if installed in swapped-sides fashion.
Anyway, after about 4 hours worth of travel back and forth thru the dangerous areas, I can report that the devices do appear to "work" as deer warning devices. It is clear that the deer are aware I am coming at them before I can see them, but their response to that fact is still very much unpredictable.
There are some deer who appear not to care about cars speeding by as they munch grass in the bar ditch, and for those deer, these sonic devices really don't change things very much. I was unlikely to hit any of those deer before, and I'm still unlikely to hit them now.
Then there are other deer who will take off running at the first sign of humans or their cars, and for those deer these devices do scare them into running before I have the opportunity to surprise them into running out in front of me. Although this does not include the skittish ones that may be grazing just in the other side of a small hill. They obviously cannot hear me coming even now until I crest the rise and the sound waves have a chance to hit them. By then it can be too late, thereby rendering the sonic devices just as ineffective as not having them.
So the bottom line, for me, is that these devices do fall under the category of "can't hurt, might just help." They certainly are not a panacea of deer collision prevention, but there are scenarios in which they can be helpful in preventing a collision with some deer.
Oh yeah, and for what it's worth, they do NOT appear to have any effect on skunks. Speaking of which, I need to go find a car wash now so I can try to deskunkify the undercarriage of The Bacon Hauler.
So in a moment of "can't hurt, might just help", I grabbed a set of those deer whistlers or whatever they're called to affix to the front of my car. I had tried them in the past, but it was so long ago I can't remember if they made any difference, not to mention I rarely drove in areas where they might be useful. This latest set was inexpensive to say the least ($6), but seemed to be more intelligently designed than their relatively low cost would intimate. There was a drivers side (straight thru design) and a passenger side (not straight thru), although the instructions did not indicate what would happen if installed in swapped-sides fashion.
Anyway, after about 4 hours worth of travel back and forth thru the dangerous areas, I can report that the devices do appear to "work" as deer warning devices. It is clear that the deer are aware I am coming at them before I can see them, but their response to that fact is still very much unpredictable.
There are some deer who appear not to care about cars speeding by as they munch grass in the bar ditch, and for those deer, these sonic devices really don't change things very much. I was unlikely to hit any of those deer before, and I'm still unlikely to hit them now.
Then there are other deer who will take off running at the first sign of humans or their cars, and for those deer these devices do scare them into running before I have the opportunity to surprise them into running out in front of me. Although this does not include the skittish ones that may be grazing just in the other side of a small hill. They obviously cannot hear me coming even now until I crest the rise and the sound waves have a chance to hit them. By then it can be too late, thereby rendering the sonic devices just as ineffective as not having them.
So the bottom line, for me, is that these devices do fall under the category of "can't hurt, might just help." They certainly are not a panacea of deer collision prevention, but there are scenarios in which they can be helpful in preventing a collision with some deer.
Oh yeah, and for what it's worth, they do NOT appear to have any effect on skunks. Speaking of which, I need to go find a car wash now so I can try to deskunkify the undercarriage of The Bacon Hauler.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/12/full-51722-39376-deer.jpg "[Linked Image]")
