Deer alert devices

[Minnie's Mate]

The second trip we took with our Airstream resulted in a deer running into the front curbside corner of our new baby two years ago. To make a long story short, we took the "Changes" back to the factory for a $4K-$5K repair (there was another body repair, but that is another story that made the total of $9,700).

The gist of this question is, I have read two RV authorities and the host of RV Road Trips recommend those little conical devices you mount on the front of the tow vehicle that creates a high frequency whistle while you drive that is supposed to scare the deer away. My question for anyone that uses them is do they irritate your pet's ears while you travel.

[CanoeStream]

I know the best way not to hit a deer in the Texas hill country is not to drive after dark.

$5 for a whistle may be no more effective than holding a feather in your trunk... But I would consider anything after a repair bill that big!


http://advance.uconn.edu/2002/021118/02111812.htm
Deer horn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Internet BMW Riders - Deer Whistles, they don't work!
Internet BMW Riders - Deer Whistles
EB1677 Animal Warning Devices

[2airishuman]

hi m'mate

how timely! outside at 1am, i watched a deer walk in my yard last night.

which is WAY into a urban area, almost city center.

i've not seen deer or evidence of them in 30 years in this neighborhood.

this was a LARGE white tail doe, and was she ever lost.

anyway i don't believe the sonic gadgets work, some folks do.

as to IF the pooch notices them depends on what frequency of sound they produce IF any...

also exposure matters. if they do manage to emit sound but the pooch is regularly exposed it may not matter 2 fido.

otoh fido might BARK LOUDLY, which may have more impact on the deer.

now, someone will no doubt try mounting fido on the front bumper, i don't advise that either....

mythbusters hasn't done a piece of the sonic deer doodads, so we are still left 2 wonder...

Deer horn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

looks like some georgia agencies suggest not to waste your money.

cheers
2air'

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

hi m'mate


mythbusters hasn't done a piece of the sonic deer doodads, so we are still left 2 wonder...

Deer horn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

looks like some georgia agencies suggest not to waste your money.

cheers
2air'

Hey there is an idea for a myth. Why don't you go on thier site and suggest it!

[richinny]

ok. who wants to be the deer?

[mustang]

Hello, My travels as a Trucker. Traveling all over the US and Canada, have included these devises. I can say I never hit a deer with them on the front fenders of my rig. Mostly Kenworth trucks and 1 Volvo. In 1991 I got on with a local outfit. Largest LTL company in the world. Union. They do not have these devices on there trucks. 2nd year, on 77 s bamm my first deer ran right into the side of my tractor. I would have to say as silly as they are they dont cost much, and they must work. My younger brother had a device, he said we as humans couldnt hear. He turned it on my Beagle went running. I couldnt hear anything until he put it up to my ear. It felt like someone stuck a pin in my ear. Pain. I didnt hear it but the beagle did, I felt it. My opinion, They do work.

[moosetags]

About twenty years ago while visiting Wyoming, I stopped at a restaurant and noticed that virtually every vehicle in the parking lot had a set of the little "deer whistles" on the front bumper. I asked a cowboy about them and he swore that they worked. I bought a set that day in that little Wyoming town, and have used them on every that I have owned since. I don't really know if they actually work, but I have never hit a deer or had a close call. I drive extensively in rural areas. I guess that at $5, it's cheap insurance and makes me feel better.

[centennialman]

I come from the mountain country of Colorado and, in my hometown, you hardly see a vehicle without them. My Dad has always installed them on his trucks too. They work.

[richinny]

maybe the whistles sound like a speeding bullet to the deer?

[whitsend]

I live in the Texas hill country where the deer easily outnumber the people. You will see dead deer on the side of the roads almost daily. I've had the whistles on my trucks since moving here & hearing folks talk about them. In 6 years, no incidents with the deer - day or night. IMO - the sound the whistles make alert the deer that I'm coming towards them, thus they are not surprised and have time to move to the far side of the road. I'd say they work. The whistles are on most every vehicle in my area.

[Lumatic]

Do they work for elk too? Hit a deer and you've bought some body work, hit an elk and you've bought the farm.

[overlander63]

My parents had deer whistles on all their cars, and hit several deer. I don't think they work, but they are pretty cheap. So, on the off-chance they work, it couldn't hurt to get them.

[2airishuman]

so who exactly is teaching the deer HOW to respond or which way to go?

why not just pipe some hard rock, country or choir music out the front?

of course music would need to b changed while traveling for regional deer preferences.

Originally Posted by Lumatic

Do they work for elk too?...

YES they work exactly the same with elk, but yodeling or polka works better with them...

btw, ne1 that has had a vehicle-deer encounter knows that insurance companies write them up as...

the critter (insert species) HIT the vehicle, not the other way round....

UNLESS the driver intentionally points the vehicle toward a neighbors horse/cow...

what frequency and db rating is the compressed air sound from these gadgets?

it's ok that people can't hear it but IF there is ANY sound created (NON powered version), why can't it be measured?

and why is it deer "freeze" with headlights, but move safely to the curb with noise?

Originally Posted by thecatsandi

Hey there is an idea for a myth. Why don't you go on thier site and suggest it!

i think m-busters have a rule against doing things that might involve danger to critters (except bugs and the staff)...

although EACH issue separately and the combined effect (none)...

(animal response, type of sound, generation of ANY sound passively, competing noise) has been tested

and disprove-d already...

cheers
2air'

[markdoane]

Here in Minnesota all our does have learned to whistle, when they want to get a young feller's attention.

It's hilarious watching bucks chase after whistling cars during the rut.

[clancy_boy]

I've spooked enough deer in the woods to know without a doubt that their hearing is excellent. That said - I can hear a car 300 yards or more away from me when I walk down the road - and that's the ones without their boom blasting radios going full tilt. Still, the deer around here get hit or worse hit the cars on the sides as they go down the road. I have to honk the horn sometimes to get them off the road ahead of me at night from my job. I have little faith in whistles on the front of a car doing 70 mph scaring a deer off the road.

They are creatures that live by past experiences, not many hear a whistle, see a car and get smacked and get up to tell the rest of the heard "Hey, watch out for the fast moving odd looking wolf thing with a whistle, they hurt real bad......".

Just my thought - BTW the car or truck grill alone makes all kinds of high frequency noises you and I cannot hear as the wind rushes by the front end at speed. That's what alerts them and they freeze in the headlights.

[Bing-Bing]

Back in the late 1980's or early 1990's Car and Driver magazine did a report on these deer horns. It seems The Maine Highway Patrol and the New Hampshire Highway Patrol tested them by putting the horns on half of their patrol cars. After two years they found that the cars with the deer horns hit as many deer as the cars without the deer horns. They said "they may hear them but they aren't moving"....

[Boondocker]

From the for what it is worth department:

Deer evolved in an environment where the things that kill them move about 30mph. MY guess is that they are not all that great at estimating how to avoid things that move at twice that speed, hence, the surprising number of deer that run into vehicles. But that is surmise on my part.

[jfowler218]

I put them on my truck for a trip to Alaska because the advertisement said the deer would raise theri head when they hear the whistle. In 13,000 miles of travel not one deer raised it's head but I didn't hit one either. Maybe the deer were busy and didn't have time to raise their heads or maybe they read the ad too and were just messing withme.

[mustang]

Jfowler did you drive the towvehicle in your picture up there? I like it

[clancy_boy]

My guess as to why the number of deer strikes by vehicles has gone way up is the over population of deer in the areas where we live - which by the way is everywhere. I now hunt in areas in Mississippi where 30 years ago there were few - if any - deer to be found. My wife's uncle killed his first deer at 26 and lived on the land we hunt near McComb, MS all his life. He never shot a deer in his youth, and only had a few stories of people who did. Now, I could "harvest" a deer every day of the week I spend "harvesting" up there every winter. There are way too many deer and way way way too few "harvesters".

4 years ago on the NASA test site where I work, the MS Dept of WFP slaughtered - note I did not say harvest - 2500 deer (and 1500 pigs but that is another story) in a WEEK. Left them to rot. The number of deer stikes on the site had gone through the roof. Located in a very rural area of Hancock County, MS - the test site had over 300 deer/vehicle encounters a year - and the road in and out is a 4 lane highway with a large median strip - no curves to get the jump on them. The darn things just kept appearing in the roads - not all were young - I had seen many 10, 12 and even a beautiful non-typical 15 point with greater than 225 B&C points that would have looked great on my wall. Now, the site proper is only 8 miles across and then there is the buffer zone (they test all the rocket engines here) which is all or mostlly all hunt clubs as it cannot be developed for safety. That is an additional 9 miles to the north and 12 miles to the south of blank road. Out there the deer strikes are not counted except by us that look - and there are hundreds every year.

Back to my point - using what population statistics from college I can recall, for any given stretch of land, there will be some equal distribution of deer or any game for a given habitat type with the same distribution of resources. If that many are getting hit on the road than the woods have too many deer. Some whistle on the front end of a car is not going to warn them away from the road - they are forced there due to pressure for habitat and resources. They will be there even if you whistle in their ears as loud as you can - they are hungry. Food puts them alongside the road.