WHY ARE DEER SO STUPID?! Temporary Zip Tie Repair

Edit 11/11/23, body shop repaired! Last photo

Stupid Deer!

My wife and I just finished our anniversary dinner and we were heading home by Lake Coeur d’Alene going only about 40 mph when a deer popped out.


Damage done


Geico will fix it but we leave Thursday on a 2,000 mile road trip to a family reunion.
Pulled off the whole grill and adjusted my stealth CBI bumper a little.


100 zip ties later it looks respectable. I had to do some zip tie Frankenstein stitching.


Couldn’t get this to line up exactly, don’t judge me


Finally got it back from the shop after 6 weeks, parts were on back order from Toyota

 

Great work brother!!! Deer will be deer but you made the best of it! Enjoy your reunion and then you can get things repaired to the max. For now, no one will even notice! Hoping you will at least get the backstraps out of this!

 

Haha thanks!

 

That’s one way to put some venison on the grille.

 

I’m personally shocked and offended by that fender gap.

 

Wow nice fix, that looks great and inventive with the zip ties. Take the insurance money and slap a full aluminum/steel bumper on there now.

 

Bummer! Time to buy a real bumper and ditch that piddly wittle bumper with the insurance $$

 

Hate that happened to you but glad everyone is ok. Very impressive zip tie work!

 

It's not the deer's fault.
They put the deer crossing signs in the worst spots.

 

might want to test drive that jury rig at 70 mph to see if anything flutters.

 

No rental car coverage?? Love to "enjoy" a rental car, especially on long trips.

 

lol, i was thinking a nice /s remark, but thought better on the thread title

you could always flip the narrative of the thread

 

We’ve got coverage but the reunion is camping up by a lake so I need my truck all loaded up for camping

 

That made me me laugh

 

Enjoy the family! I totally understand, ours is a big campout as well.

 

Excellent zip tie work! Looks perfect!

 

The mule deer here in the west are extra stupid. It's like there hasn't been enough time or large enough population driving cars to weed out the stupid ones yet. They literally will lick the road salt off the road around here in the winter and you come whipping around a corner and they all are standing there looking at you.


I dont remember the white tails in the North East being nearly as dumb.

 

That is incredibly impressive repair! You should get sponsored by zip tie brand and ask for brand stickers!!

 

Those temporary repairs actually look pretty good all things considered. Maybe change your screenname to MacGyver. I hope your anniversary dinner was at least good, rather than a bad omen of what was to come.

 

That made me laugh too. Zip ties are my duct tape

 

Sorry that happened, great job fixing it!

 

Totally unacceptable..

 

I hit a deer with mine last winter but I was going 45 and got it slowed down to about 20 when I hit it. I was pretty sure it would look like yours but to my surprise not so much as a scratch. Great job on the repair, I can do similar magic with dirt bike plastic after a crash but you are next level with that one...

 

Damn impressive!

 

You and @ZappBrannigan are hard to please!

 

I’m convinced the deer that run out onto the road are actually suicidal.

 

I zip tied a dangling piece on a commuter trade in few years ago. Parked with that side close to a bush at the dealership to discourage any interest. But you literally could not tell the fix was there. Moral of story: zip ties can fix anything and dont buy a used car

 

Battle scars man!!

Hopefully I'll be having lunch by Lake Coeur d'Alene this Sunday, Dinner on Lake Pend Oreille.

 

If I may nerd out for a moment:
If you think about our eyesight, we have 3 color cones, see many colors, our eyes focus to the front of our head, in kind of a big circle. Mostly focus on the center with a little peripheral vision around the outside.
Deer have 2 color cones like a dog and only see some colors, they see really well at night/in the dark and their vision is in a flat line. They see super sharp, but in a thin horizontal band. And their eyes are on the side, so they see everything around the horizon in almost 360*. They are also very sensitive to motion. But again, just in that very thin horizontal band.
Completely different setup than the human eye.
I guess that bright headlights in the dark, completely screws up their vision and makes it hard for them to judge speed, distance or even know that it's a vehicle headed toward them.
The ones that don't get hit are the cautious ones that have seen other deer eat a truck a few times and took notes.

 

Interesting thoughts, for all their skills vehicles still befuddle them (just wanted to work befuddle into a sentence)