Yup, you read it right. 1st deer of the season. Not shooting or hunting related.
Hwy 41 northbound right near QuadGraphics. Running a normal set of double bottom reefers to Appleton. Each is 28 feet long, one is 13,000 lbs, the other is 11,000 lbs. Saw a flash of fur in my head lights running from my left to right. No big deal, rabbit.
Pick-up just starting to pass me on the left when I saw an animal right in front of me in my (right hand) lane. A small deer, running with traffic. Damn, can't swerve right as that would cause the rear of two trailers to whip into the pick-up passing me on the left. Can't go left as the pick-up is there. Too heavy to slow down to save the helpless deer as I have two heavy trailers this night.
Whomp, right under the front bumper. Turned out to be a fawn. Fit right under the bumper and of course under the following tires... All I saw was legs ears and snout as I went over it in the lights of the passing pick-up.
I watched my gauges for trouble, none to be seen. I pulled off at the truck stop and inspected the rig, just a cracked front air-dam.
Ruined my night. Only the second deer I've hit in almost 15 years of driving truck. Common sense says stay the course when faced with a deer collision. In this case it was the right thing to do but it doesn't make me feel any better.
This deer could have grown up to be a young hunters first buck. Or a doe, mother to a future trophy buck. Regardless, it's done. Not the first, probably not the last.
I will drive on. Trying to be more attentive and responsive.
Nixter
