Damn Deer!

[Jack Klarich]

Coming from MN originally I can say many bikes as well as cars have deer whistles

Do they work? I dunno but there are tons of deer in MN, a lot end up as road kill

I have watched deer, they will do what they want when they get spooked they run blindly not caring what is in front or to the side they wanna get away JMO

 

[Sidecarbill]

First I ever saw those whistles was back in the mid 80's. Friend of mine worked for county. I saw them and asked what they were. They're whistles all the county cars have them. Do they work? Don't know just got them put on. Two weeks later I see him and ask, where is your car? Hit a deer its in the body shop. So said to him I thought those things chased them away? His answer? Just my luck to hit a god damn deaf deer! :laugh:

 

[Capt.Bob]

Greetings from the Flat Earth Society

Having been a former scientist in an earlier part of my life, I too am suspect of much research and how much the findings contribute to real world outcomes. However, in doing a little nosing around, it turns out that some large insurance companies like Geico specifically request that deer whistles not be placed on their insured vehicles. Maybe this is a ploy to raise insurance rates due to deer strikes or maybe it is because they, the Institute for Highway Safety and a bunch of other groups have found no significant benefits to any deer whistles to date?

People seem to do believe in all kinds of superstitious remedies that seem to get cult followings. Hell, my wife buried a St. Joseph statue upside down in the yard to help sell our home quicker and we aren't Catholics (didn't get the job done the first two times we tried to sell but by golly, if our homes sell fairly quickly, then we are going to thank old St. Joe). If a deer whistle or a gremlin bell makes people feel safer, that is not a necessarily a bad thing but does have the potential to lull the unwitting into thinking they have some aspects of protection that are likely not there (especially if they come upon a deaf dear like the above-poster pointed out). Alert and defensive driving along with knowing when deer are likely to be seen along our roadways (sunrise/dusk) seem to be our best remedies for deer strikes. Knowing how to safely do panic stops on our trikes I would suspect might offer considerably more protection than a deer whistle or gremlin bell? Just thinking...:cxtv: Flame suit on

 

[Fearless]

Not to beat a dead deer but it seems these Whistles are suppose to work at 30 mph and up. If I'm going slower than that and I hit a deer shame on me. Deer do get confused easily it seems, I am a believer science be darned. As Kevin said deer can't be trusted always pay attention and still it can go bad. :Shrug:Travel safe Fred

 

[rhino 2]

Not to beat a dead deer but it seems these Whistles are suppose to work at 30 mph and up. If I'm going slower than that and I hit a deer shame on me. Deer do get confused easily it seems, I am a believer science be darned. As Kevin said deer can't be trusted always pay attention and still it can go bad. :Shrug:Travel safe Fred

Thats right. The county spends a fortune putting up deer crossing signs.... And those ungrateful woods rats, Cross wherever they damn well please...

 

[Jack Klarich]

Thats right. The county spends a fortune putting up deer crossing signs.... And those ungrateful woods rats, Cross wherever they damn well please...

They cant read

 

[rhino 2]

They cant read

Maybe they can, But they can't talk, So we'll never know for sure....:laugh:

 

[Jack Klarich]

Maybe they can, But they can't talk, So we'll never know for sure....:laugh:

That might be a good thing

Dont need no stinkin talking deer round here

 

[vwbug72501]

At one time in my life I was making regular week end trips from Chicago to North Central Arkansas. By week end I mean leave at 5:00 PM Friday after work and be back at work 8:00 AM Monday. Did this for about 3 years. (Yes, there was a woman involved!)

The southern 200 miles of the route was on 2 lane rural highways full of deer. I regularly dodged deer for the first 6 months worth of trips before I decided to try deer whistles. Installed the whistles and noticed a definite change in the deer's behavior as I passed them on the side of the road. What I noticed was that as I approached their ears would come up and focus, like little radar antennas, on my position and follow me as I passed. Before the whistles they would move around and tense up as I passed them which definitely increased the pucker factor in the cockpit. I've run deer whistles on all my vehicles ever since.

From my research, it seems to me that the trick to getting the whistles to work depends a lot on the installation placement. There can't be anything blocking the sound wave path between the whistles, the whistles have to be mounted in an area of clear laminar air flow, and they have to be far enough apart to generate the ultrasonic beat frequency that the deer hear. I've never been able to get a good dimension for this so I've guestimated it by following the installation instructions. The instructions said to mount them 1/3rd of the way in from each edge. I try to maintain at least 24" between whistles on my bikes and that seems to work well. The true test to me is to go out and find a deer and watch it's ears. Scary test but a positive reaction can ease the tension moving forward.

One last thing, if their running scared, all bets are off!

 

[DK Custom Products]

At one time in my life I was making regular week end trips from Chicago to North Central Arkansas. By week end I mean leave at 5:00 PM Friday after work and be back at work 8:00 AM Monday. Did this for about 3 years. (Yes, there was a woman involved!)

The southern 200 miles of the route was on 2 lane rural highways full of deer. I regularly dodged deer for the first 6 months worth of trips before I decided to try deer whistles. Installed the whistles and noticed a definite change in the deer's behavior as I passed them on the side of the road. What I noticed was that as I approached their ears would come up and focus, like little radar antennas, on my position and follow me as I passed. Before the whistles they would move around and tense up as I passed them which definitely increased the pucker factor in the cockpit. I've run deer whistles on all my vehicles ever since.

From my research, it seems to me that the trick to getting the whistles to work depends a lot on the installation placement. There can't be anything blocking the sound wave path between the whistles, the whistles have to be mounted in an area of clear laminar air flow, and they have to be far enough apart to generate the ultrasonic beat frequency that the deer hear. I've never been able to get a good dimension for this so I've guestimated it by following the installation instructions. The instructions said to mount them 1/3rd of the way in from each edge. I try to maintain at least 24" between whistles on my bikes and that seems to work well. The true test to me is to go out and find a deer and watch it's ears. Scary test but a positive reaction can ease the tension moving forward.

One last thing, if their running scared, all bets are off!

Interesting info. Thank you!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Having been a former scientist in an earlier part of my life, I too am suspect of much research and how much the findings contribute to real world outcomes. However, in doing a little nosing around, it turns out that some large insurance companies like Geico specifically request that deer whistles not be placed on their insured vehicles. Maybe this is a ploy to raise insurance rates due to deer strikes or maybe it is because they, the Institute for Highway Safety and a bunch of other groups have found no significant benefits to any deer whistles to date?

People seem to do believe in all kinds of superstitious remedies that seem to get cult followings. Hell, my wife buried a St. Joseph statue upside down in the yard to help sell our home quicker and we aren't Catholics (didn't get the job done the first two times we tried to sell but by golly, if our homes sell fairly quickly, then we are going to thank old St. Joe). If a deer whistle or a gremlin bell makes people feel safer, that is not a necessarily a bad thing but does have the potential to lull the unwitting into thinking they have some aspects of protection that are likely not there (especially if they come upon a deaf dear like the above-poster pointed out). Alert and defensive driving along with knowing when deer are likely to be seen along our roadways (sunrise/dusk) seem to be our best remedies for deer strikes. Knowing how to safely do panic stops on our trikes I would suspect might offer considerably more protection than a deer whistle or gremlin bell? Just thinking...:cxtv: Flame suit on

Yep, any tool we have is just that...a tool. No guarantee of any result. Best thing we can do is be alert for every possibility, having an escape planned, in case it's needed.

btw, I am far more leery of 18 wheelers loosing rubber or misc. pieces of metal or load than I am of deer!

Kevin

 

[ultrafxr]

For what it's worth (or not) here is an interesting article from Fred Rau a pretty well respected motorcycle journalist.

http://www.thevog.net/threads/deer-whistles-do-they-really-work-an-in-depth-report-by-fred-rau.3439/

Personally I think the best solution is one suggested by a lady a while back - just move those deer crossings to a less traveled road so we don't have to contend with them!

 

[Capt.Bob]

The voice of reason

For what it's worth (or not) here is an interesting article from Fred Rau a pretty well respected motorcycle journalist.

http://www.thevog.net/threads/deer-whistles-do-they-really-work-an-in-depth-report-by-fred-rau.3439/

Personally I think the best solution is one suggested by a lady a while back - just move those deer crossings to a less traveled road so we don't have to contend with them!

Jerry, I swear I was going to pop with the skeptical responses I got to the uselessness of deer whistles :gah:

Thank you for sharing the very informative article by a well respected motorcycle reporter. We have about 14 deer that wander into our yard every night when the food sources are scarce (which in North Florida is between January to early March) to eat our bird seed off the ground from two feeders in our back yard. They have frankly become pests but as a behavioral psychologist, I have informally studied some of their behaviors and responses to humans and novel sounds. The basic story is that deer are about as dumb as stumps when it comes to interactions with humans if they are not truly living in the wild with no humans constantly around. They seem to primarily focus on feeding and breeding. Other than that, they don't seem to have much else to do?

Dusk and dawn are when they present the greatest risk to motorized vehicles. However, being mostly nocturnal, they do pose threats throughout the night due to their migratory behaviors and needs for food/water/sex. I would hope that my fellow trikers would consider maintaining alertness during the higher risk hours and also do some practice on panic stops and avoidance maneuvers. I had an acquaintance cut a deer in half at about 100 mph and he suffered eye and some brain injury. These big old slabs of venison can kill us and those bogus goddamn whistles are likely lulling some of our brethren into a false sense of safety. I wish for no one on this site to ever have the ill fortune of striking a deer at speed. The outcomes can and are at times horrific. Deer are like moving walls that we don't want to run into.

 

[rhino 2]

Better than deer whistles'' From my experiences if you can duplicate the metallic click of a rifle coming off of safety....The deer will run the other way....:gah:

 

[Sidecarbill]

My unscientific research says you're more like to belt a deer with a new vehicle. Yup the newer it is the more likely it becomes. For instance I've never hit one with any of my old piece of crap pickups. Now buy a new car. Yup every deer we've ever hit was in a new car. Bagged 4 of them killed 2. You usually won't see the deer thats headed your way. He's runnin as fast as can so he get up close and personal with ya.

 

[rhino 2]

My unscientific research says you're more like to belt a deer with a new vehicle. Yup the newer it is the more likely it becomes. For instance I've never hit one with any of my old piece of crap pickups. Now buy a new car. Yup every deer we've ever hit was in a new car. Bagged 4 of them killed 2. You usually won't see the deer thats headed your way. He's runnin as fast as can so he get up close and personal with ya.

That's ok more venison for Space Farms

 

[DK Custom Products]

Better than deer whistles'' From my experiences if you can duplicate the metallic click of a rifle coming off of safety....The deer will run the other way....:gah:

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

[vwbug72501]

Better than deer whistles?

 

[520fd]

I was always thought to believe that the whistles were to alert the deer and they would turn their head to the direction of the whistle. So Just before you SMACK them, you could see the reflection of your lights in their eye's. Too late in most cases. But Seriously, If you know your going to be in a collision with a Deer or Other animal, Don't swerve to miss them. Brake as hard as you can, but keep the Trike straight. Had a few friends get killed trying to miss the deer and end up swerving and end up killing themselves. Oh, don't drive through a Zoo. :laugh: