Ran over deer with mower....ugh.

[Sprinkler Fitter]

When the heart stops.

So some of these deer must still have a beating heart when I see 30 feet of highway covered in blood

 

[japody]

I would move the carcass out of the field. Those bones will flatten a tire. Ask me how I know.

 

[Jstpssng]

So some of these deer must still have a beating heart when I see 30 feet of highway covered in blood

The blood doesn't just disappear. Gravity will make it run, but only downhill. Cuts on a dead animal won't be bleeding, the heart isn't pumping the blood.

It's similar to the hydraulic fluid in your tractor. If the engine isn't running and you unhook a hose from the top of the machine the fluid wouldn't flow. Pull the drain plug and it will run out.

 

[oosik]

What is done - is done. No fault of yours and nothing to correct. Just leave it - the coyotes will clean it up.

 

[Torvy]

Sounds like it was dead or mostly dead. Unless it is too close to the house, I'd leave it for nature.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

The blood doesn't just disappear. Gravity will make it run, but only downhill. Cuts on a dead animal won't be bleeding, the heart isn't pumping the blood.

It's similar to the hydraulic fluid in your tractor. If the engine isn't running and you unhook a hose from the top of the machine the fluid wouldn't flow. Pull the drain plug and it will run out.

I get it but I’ve seen lots of blood from animals on the road and one time on the fire department we had a truck roll about 4 times and come to rest upside down, I had to run to the auto parts store and get a 50lb bag of floor dry for the blood on the road. I’m guessing gravity played a big part on that one.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Likely dead before you hit it but no way now to be sure. Leave it lay, it will quickly disappear.

Last year, a buck fell through the thin ice of my neighbors pond and drowned. I dragged the carcass over to the edge of my pasture and it was gone in two days. Nothing is wasted in nature.

 

[ruffdog]

I normally get the carcass moved to an out-of-the-way location just to be tidy. No bones to deal with and when near the road, it gets the clean up crew (predators) away from cars.

 

[MossRoad]

One wing of my 15' mower ran over it. Hard to tell if it was sick. It was beyond injured. Rather than emaciated, it had a mangled and diced look about it. Was unfortunate to see. one of those things I'd be ok if I could 'un-see' it.



This is what I'm thinking (hoping). Would have been a horrible way to go if the blades did it.

Again, it looked like it had antlers. If that's accurate (I didn't dismount to look) then would a buck tend to stay still? Blades cut to 4'ish inch height. difficult for me to believe it quietly held its position til its demise. It was not a little deer (newborn or 'teenager')

Guess if I get out there next weekend or so.... most if it will likely still be there so I can bury it and look a bit closer (to see if antlers were indeed present)

I'd think if the blades hit it while it was alive, and the damage that you saw done to it, there's no way it suffered for more than a millisecond. So rest assured it did not suffer on account of your actions.

Fawns sometimes do not move. I've known many people and heard from many more about running over fawns with mowers. However, you said it had antlers, so not a fawn.

As for why it didn't move... it was either already dead or incapacitated.
So, IF by chance it was alive, most likely....
Could have been sick.
Could have been injured.
As to what made it sick or injured, who knows? Disease, old age, wounded by hunter. Wounded by another buck (it's probably the rutting season there as I recall). Could have been hit by a car and run there. All kinds of stuff.

Anyhow, just shows you have a concern for critters and a natural curiosity.

 

[MossRoad]

So some of these deer must still have a beating heart when I see 30 feet of highway covered in blood

I saw plenty of those over the last 2 days. Probably 25+ dead deer between Grand Rapids, MI and the Indiana border. Most were just laying on the side, but several had been smeared for dozens of yards. Looked like a 5 gallon bucket of red paint dumped on the road ending in a pile of furry hamburger.

I guess I'd just say, don't confuse a live body actively bleeding with a dead body leaking or smooshed across all the lanes of traffic. Worst one I saw yesterday was in 2 lanes between concrete barriers with no shoulders. Probably 75 yards of gore.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

I saw plenty of those over the last 2 days. Probably 25+ dead deer between Grand Rapids, MI and the Indiana border. Most were just laying on the side, but several had been smeared for dozens of yards. Looked like a 5 gallon bucket of red paint dumped on the road ending in a pile of furry hamburger.

I guess I'd just say, don't confuse a live body actively bleeding with a dead body leaking or smooshed across all the lanes of traffic. Worst one I saw yesterday was in 2 lanes between concrete barriers with no shoulders. Probably 75 yards of gore.

when I was on the Fire Dept, we got called to a semi versus pedestrian accident. We had to wash off about 200 feet of highway.

 

[MossRoad]

That's something you never forget. I worked with many newspaper photographers over the years that had to cover accident and crime scenes. Not only did they have to look at things like that, they had to close one eye, focus it, compose the shot, etc. Sometimes they had to act as reporter on scene as well, and gather details from the authorities and such. One instance in particular was similar to what you describe. It greatly disturbed the young photographer. He had to go to counseling.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

That's something you never forget. I worked with many newspaper photographers over the years that had to cover accident and crime scenes. Not only did they have to look at things like that, they had to close one eye, focus it, compose the shot, etc. Sometimes they had to act as reporter on scene as well, and gather details from the authorities and such. One instance in particular was similar to what you describe. It greatly disturbed the young photographer. He had to go to counseling.

This was about 2 in the morning and as we were waiting for the state patrol to measure everything before we washed the highway since it was a commercial vehicle they have to do more investigating a suburban was going south in the northbound lanes, one of the state troopers took off after him but he hit head on with another vehicle so we went to that until our rescue truck arrived then back to wash the highway.

You are correct it is something you never forget, I retired from the department 20 years ago but there are calls I still think about.

 

[bdhsfz6]

This was about 2 in the morning and as we were waiting for the state patrol to measure everything before we washed the highway since it was a commercial vehicle they have to do more investigating a suburban was going south in the northbound lanes, one of the state troopers took off after him but he hit head on with another vehicle so we went to that until our rescue truck arrived then back to wash the highway.

You are correct it is something you never forget, I retired from the department 20 years ago but there are calls I still think about.

This picture is forever burned into my memory and I didn't even see it in person:

'I struggled a long time': OKC firefighter in iconic photo retires

It took counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder and years to process the events, but Chris Fields says he's in a good place now.

www.today.com

That poor fireman, who just retired, suffered for years after that incident.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Our front yard is littered with deer bones. My neighbor butchers a lot of deer and throws the carcasses by his dam about 500 ft. from our house. I told him I don't care because both of our dogs love it and it gives them something to do and some nourishment.

The game warden showed up at his house last week. Evidently he butchered two deer for a buddy and his buddy took the carcasses away in a cardboard box to dispose of them. It turns out the box had my neighbors wife's name and address on it and he threw it in a ditch. His buddy had to clean up the mess by sundown or get ticketed. NOT A SMART MOVE!

 

[MossRoad]

This was about 2 in the morning and as we were waiting for the state patrol to measure everything before we washed the highway since it was a commercial vehicle they have to do more investigating a suburban was going south in the northbound lanes, one of the state troopers took off after him but he hit head on with another vehicle so we went to that until our rescue truck arrived then back to wash the highway.

You are correct it is something you never forget, I retired from the department 20 years ago but there are calls I still think about.

Reminds me of a story my father told me about a battle field he had to clear in the south Pacific during WWII. I asked him how often he thought about it. He said almost every day.... he'd been out of the war for about 50 years.

 

[Jstpssng]

Reminds me of a story my father told me about a battle field he had to clear in the south Pacific during WWII. I asked him how often he thought about it. He said almost every day.... he'd been out of the war for about 50 years.

Most of them didn't talk about the war much. No doubt your father only mentioned it once or twice.

 

[LHF2019]

I have run over quite a few fawns over the years. Usually anything over a month-2 old will run.
This year was the first year ever that I ran over and killed a fox. I think it may have been rabid.

Lots of fawns here. Even ran a full grown doe through the discbine once. That is unusual. Lost 100 rpm for a second otherwise no issues.

 

[MossRoad]

Most of them didn't talk about the war much. No doubt your father only mentioned it once or twice.

He didn't talk about gory details when I was young, but still talked about things. As I got older, he filled in the details. As he was dying of cancer, the last few weeks of his life, we talked about everything, not just the war, but our entire lives, in great detail.

Although there were still a lot of things he wanted to learn about, he couldn't say he regretted anything. That's a pretty good deal. He was OK with passing and I was OK with letting him go.

I think about him and my mom just about every day. All good.

 

[Molalla1]

Reminds me of a story my father told me about a battle field he had to clear in the south Pacific during WWII. I asked him how often he thought about it. He said almost every day.... he'd been out of the war for about 50 years.

A lot of us know the feeling Moss . . . your father was a hero .