Deer whistles
- Thread starter daler
- Start date
If they could be counted on to work they would be a great addition. I think deer are too unpredictable most of the time.
Also I read once that it is next to impossible to tell if they are making any noise. Since they put out a pitch higher than humans can hear, it is possible to get plugged up with dirt or bugs for instance and not know they stopped working.
On the other hand it can't hurt much and if it saves you one time well worth it.
I probably won't bother.
Brad
Also I read once that it is next to impossible to tell if they are making any noise. Since they put out a pitch higher than humans can hear, it is possible to get plugged up with dirt or bugs for instance and not know they stopped working.
On the other hand it can't hurt much and if it saves you one time well worth it.
I probably won't bother.
Brad
junglejim
Site Supporter
I agree with Brad. Deer are just too unpredictable. I used to drive ambulances and fire trucks with sirens and flashing lights. Deer still tried to kill themselves by hitting me. I think that even though deer see and hear cars they get so confused they don't react appropriately. One night I stopped dead in my lane for a doe with two fawns standing in the road. After circling each other for a while and the doe and one fawn ran off the road. The second fawn ran right between my headlights. That's pretty dumb!!!!!
All the research I've seen shows deer whistles are not very effective...
I've had deer whistles on all my bikes. So far I've got a 50% success ratio. I hit one deer with my first '99 Kawasaki Concours and one on my NT. But I've missed all the buffalo I've ridden among and I've been way closer to many buffalo than I have to all but two of the deer I've seen. The whistles have also worked with the moose I've ridden near. I'll never be without one.
Can't you just see the terror my whistles have instilled in these two?
Can't you just see the terror my whistles have instilled in these two?
mikesim
Site Supporter
Ya' keep going around scaring meese like that, the next thing you know, the PETA folks will be after you!I've had deer whistles on all my bikes. So far I've got a 50% success ratio. I hit one deer with my first '99 Kawasaki Concours and one on my NT. But I've missed all the buffalo I've ridden among and I've been way closer to many buffalo than I have to all but two of the deer I've seen. The whistles have also worked with the moose I've ridden near. I'll never be without one.
Can't you just see the terror my whistles have instilled in these two?
Mike
If you do buy them don't put them on the wrong way....:wink:
Warren
2
I don't think its a matter of deer being dumb. Its just that thousands of years of evolution have provided them defenses against things like mountain lions, wolves and bears. Automobiles have been around for too short a time for evolution to have taken place. Give evolution another 1,000 years and I am sure deer will have evolved to identify a car and to avoid it. On the other hand in a thousand years we will get around with flying cars or transporters so it will not matter
junglejim
Site Supporter
I didn't mean it in that sense Warren. There have been many bucks that have made me feel like an idiot while hunting. Deer have senses we hunans don't understand. What I meant was that the behavior of the fawn was dumb (which was caused by the fawns severe confusion).
Every hunter knows that deer are dumb, UNTIL you pick up a rifle.
I have a friend that lives in TN, and he claims that whenever you see a deer - you need to lay on the horn and steer straight toward the deer. You have no idea where the deer is going - but chances are good it will no longer be where it was when you saw it!
Warren, I think I may have ridden in an area where evolution is actually working to help deer adapt to automobile, truck, and motorcycle traffic. I lived for four months in Newcastle, WY, while I was doing an interim pastorate at a church there. During that time I rode in the Black Hills a lot, when going to Rapid City for hospital visits and just for pleasure. I saw lots and lots of deer there and only one or two dead ones. I noticed that when I'd see deer in the road, they got out of it very quickly, usually before I'd had time to do much more than roll-off my throttle. I still kept slowing down for them and was ready to stop, but never had any run back into the road like they do in so many places.
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In Australia this topic would be called “kangaroo whistles” (which can be attached to a vehicle to scare off kangaroos)
Nearly everything said so far could apply (kangaroos are unpredictable, the whistles may not work, etc)
Just this morning at around 2am, on the M4 in Western Sydney (a major highway), a motorcyclist was reportedly killed by a kangaroo that crossed the highway and bounded straight into him, pushing him into the Armco barrier. Normally kangaroos are around at dawn and dusk so this is an unusual time for a kangaroo strike.
Seagrass
Nearly everything said so far could apply (kangaroos are unpredictable, the whistles may not work, etc)
Just this morning at around 2am, on the M4 in Western Sydney (a major highway), a motorcyclist was reportedly killed by a kangaroo that crossed the highway and bounded straight into him, pushing him into the Armco barrier. Normally kangaroos are around at dawn and dusk so this is an unusual time for a kangaroo strike.
Seagrass
I have seen numerous vehicles with "Kangaroo Whistles" that that have damage and/or fur stuck to the "Roo Bar" or "Bull Bar".
Macka
A few weeks ago I was returning from Temora in NSW to my home in Melbourne, Victoria and I had three near misses with 'roos within 3 minutes.
I was really unprepared for this as it was around 9.30-10.00am. They are not usually seen much an hour or so after sunrise.
Two, together come from the scrub on the RH side of the road (we drive on the LHS). They took two or three hops parallel to me on the bitumen.
One then turned sharp left and crossed about 1 metre in front of my wheel. The other took one more hop but moved slightly left towards me and then disappeared.
It was so close that it disappeared, completely out of sight, under my right arm.
I was braking heavily (from about 100pkh) and braced for the impact and subsequent crash but it never happened.
I don't know how we did not connect but there was not even the slightest touch.
This scared the ***p out of me and I slowed to about 60-70kph thinking that there might be more from the same "mob" nearby.
Less that 3 minutes later, another one came from the RHS but about 15 metres in front of me and bounded along the road ahead of me for about 100 metres then crossed over to the LHS in the same manner as the first two. By this time I had slowed to about 30-40kph and was not too worried about this particular one.
For the next 10 minutes or so, until I got out into clearer territory, I stayed at 50kph.
I never saw another live one that day but did see several "deceased" ones.
I did not tell the Lady of the House about it as I decided that was the wisest thing to do. :wink:
Macka
DirtFlier
Site Supporter
Probably the best way to avoid deer on your motorcycle is to buy deer tags from your state DNR and tape them to your front fender!
All kidding aside, the OH State Patrol tried them on their cruisers but after a year or so they were discarded because their car vs deer strikes were the same as previous years without the whistles.
My Stebel horn does seems to get their attention but that doesn't mean they'll run away. As many have commented, they can be totally unpredictable.
All kidding aside, the OH State Patrol tried them on their cruisers but after a year or so they were discarded because their car vs deer strikes were the same as previous years without the whistles.
My Stebel horn does seems to get their attention but that doesn't mean they'll run away. As many have commented, they can be totally unpredictable.
Best way to avoid deer is to only ride you bike in the garage on the center stand. Deer, dogs, etc. are like pot holes, do the best you can to avoid them, only pot holes don't move. My wife can across a ride who cut a dog in half a mile from our home, she helped till the EMS came: talked to Sheriff Deputy etc. (one funny thing about this was both the dog owner and Us have the same last name: I got served till I informed the off duty cop my name was NOT Brian-I then explained to him the mistake: he got a little pissed that the lawyer had it wrong).
Mellow
Admin
If i wouldn't put a dog whistle on a bike, why would I put a deer whistle on one?
junglejim
Site Supporter
I've hit one deer - well technically he T-boned me. I was lucky enough to keep the bike up, but it killed the deer and my radiator. I've had a near hits on 2 bears, two turkeys, a grouse, a hawk and a llama (don' ask). The birds were right at head height and the other wildlife are too big to hit without a bad outcome. I don't think any whistles, lights, bells, or flags would have made any difference to any of them. I think all the animals knew I was there, but didn't react appropriately. What worries more is "how many drivers on cell phones didn't know I was even there".