...
That reminded me of this one:
I borrowed my HS friend's 350 Honda one day to go riding with another HS friend who had a 650 Yamaha. We'd ridden to the public access of the local lake several miles out of town and were leaving to just go pleasure riding. There were two stop signs at intersections within a mile of the access and as we came to the second stop I needed to button up my jacket which I did as my friend took off.
I was behind by a fair amount now as my friend was out of sight and was pushing it pretty hard as I hit a set of S turns that lead into another set of S turns going the opposite direction of the first with a very short straight between them.
I came out of the first set of S turns doing about 65 mph when I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye. It was a deer leaping out of the woods. It appeared to be off the ground with all four legs spread as far as possible making a major leap to get across in front of me. My life literally flashed before my eyes. I've never had that experience before or since.
Then nest thing I remember was the bike shaking with the front wheel wobbling left to right to left and me holding on trying to get it to stop. By the time I got control of it again I was through the second set of S turns, bouncing down the rough gravel shoulder, still upright with an older couple in a station wagon pulling a boat going past me in the opposite direction yelling at me through their open windows for being a young idiot biker.
As soon as I slowed down I turned around to see what had happened. The deer was lying dead on the side of the road. The couple in the station wagon were out of the car and apologized as I rode up. The turn signals, pegs and everything along one side of the bike were bent back but easily straightened. My friend appeared a few minutes later.
While I can't be sure the best speculation was that I hit the deer squarely while it was in the air, that it was low enough not to hit the handlebars or at least slid down to miss them once hit, then slipped (mostly) harmlessly off the side of the bike. For sure it's neck was broken.
The DNR also showed up and, like with most accidently killed animals, I bought the deer for $10. BTW, I got another one the following winter on the same road with my car.
