Metro Deer...

(photo credit: Janet Hostetter - AP)

The last couple of weeks the deer living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area have risen to near celebrity status with all the news coverage they have been given. They've been on most of the local TV news stations, and now the Star Tribune is covering them in a story titled "Oh, Deer; they're everywhere in Twin Cities." (shouldn't there be a "the" in that title?)

Earlier this week on Tuesday afternoon, I was driving along 694 between Lexington and the Hamlin/Snelling exit, and just as I was getting off at Hamlin/Snelling I saw three large moving brown/grey things. As I got closer to the stop sign, just 15 feet off the road where the bushes and tree begin were three large deer, a buck and two does. This was 5:15 pm, the middle of rush hour, where the volume of traffic a hundred feet away is insane. And here stood three deer munching away on some grasses for supper. I know we have some deer on campus here at Bethel, but I would guess that is a fairly safe place for them, whereas standing next to 694 in rush hour isn't something I would reccommend for anyone, especially not a large dumb animal (I'm talking about the deer, not myself).

I hit a deer 3 1/2 years ago adjacent to the airport North of Mitchell, South Dakota. I was traveling at 65mph and it was about 10:30 pm. I was in a Dodge Stratus (great car), when I saw a large blur out of the corner of my eye. Before I could react this deer had run up onto the road, realized he had made a mistake, and came to a stop in the middle of the road. I swerved instictively, and manage to mostly miss him. His antler caught my driver's side mirror (yes, just inches from my body!) and ripped the mirror off the car and snaped half of his antler off. The deer survived and bounded off into the airport, with what I would suspect was a splitting head ache. I circled back and picked up my mirror and tossed the segmet of antler off into the ditch. My adrenaline was really pumping as you can expect. I've had a number of other close encounters with my vehicles and wildlife that I'll add to this post later.