This was what I saw first when I got out of my vehicle to take a look at what happened the other night, as I returned home from a day in Enterprise, UT, where I had been working on my son's new property. Worse for the deer than the vehicle, but what a mess! The item that concerned me most was the air conditioner condenser, which was severely bent. It appears the connector just barely avoided being pulled off, which would have released all the R-12 coolant. I recently had the entire unit replaced with ALL NEW Ford parts, including all the lines, because repairs with remanufactured parts would last only a few weeks. So, although the van is a 1989 model, the air conditioner was brand new!

This headlight was knocked loose, and was aimed at a cockeyed angle, across the road. I imagine if it had been this way before, I would have seen the deer sooner. The animal caught my lights as I rounded a curve; it was perhaps 18-20 feet ahead of my van, and about 6-10 feet off the left-hand side of the road. In this picture, you can see how badly the AC condenser has been bent back (at least on the original photo it is discernible). Speaking of reports: I just have to tell you how great the service was from GEICO, my insurance company! The independent adjuster suggested a "rebuilt" condenser. [The local Ford agency tells me they don't rebuild these parts - the only things available are original Ford parts or an "aftermarket" replacement part. And we found out before that the aftermarket parts would not hold up!] Well, after I faxed the estimate from Auto Air Refrigerant Specialists, of St. George, I got a call from Kevin, a GEICO adjuster, and he decided to fix this critical part of my van as suggested by Brian Tinsley of Auto Air! Kevin made a good call, from my perspective, and GEICO certainly has done the right thing by me so far! Kevin also said he would work with the body shop, Dave's Pro Image Body and Marine, to take care of any other necessary items not included in the independent adjuster's estimate. [For example, two shops that I got estimates from said the bumper pad should be replaced, one thought the entire bumper should be replaced. They look whacked to me, but I am not an expert. At least Kevin will discuss these items, as well as whether to use a Ford grille or aftermarket copy in the repair.] No arbitrary decisions or deductions here...looks like real concern for the customer. So at this point it appears I the vehicle will be put back in the same good condition it was in prior to the accident.

As I tried to hit the brakes, the animal took two long, bounding jumps, landing for its third leap directly in front of the passenger side of the front bumper. That was its last moment of life, poor thing. It appeared to be a juvenile deer, which was fortunate, since a larger animal would have caused greater damage.

When I went to report the accident to the Sheriff's office in St. George the next morning, I found a sign there that read: "This Office has moved to the Purgatory Detention Center in Hurricane." Since I had no desire to present myself at the Gates of Purgatory that day, I called the number they provided. They told me to "Call Dispatch," and gave me that number. When I called Dispatch, the person answering, once I had given a brief explanation asked, "Have you reported it yet?" My response: "No, that is why I am calling you, to make a report!"

She said she would advise an officer, who would call me. Nobody came or called the rest of the day, so I prepared a written report, addressed it to the Sheriff, and mailed it the following morning. I also called GEICO, my insurance company, and they advised an independent adjuster would contact me the following week. On Monday, June 1, the adjuster, Brad Hammond of Property Damage Appraisers, came to take my report and a couple of pictures. I sent them a printed copy of this updated HTML internet web page to go with their files.

Hopefully, that report will be sufficient? I was driving barely over 50 mph when I spotted the deer, and had slowed to between 45-48 mph at the time of impact; there was not time to slow without skidding and taking the chance of overturning the vehicle. Unfortunately, I did not take note of the highway mileage markers I figured I would supplement this picture-enhanced report with that information after I went out to Enterprise the following week, to do some more work on my son's new place. Apparently, the UDOT road crews had been out mowing weeds along the highway, and had removed the deer carcass; unless another motorist came by shortly afterward, and saw the chance of some venison for his freezer? So I was unable to figure out the exact spot where the incident occured. Somewhere between mileposts 37 and 39 remains my best esitmate. Fish and Game regulations in Utah require you to leave the carcass where it was killed, unlike Maryland, where the game warden is called in these accidents, and issues a "deer tag" to the driver, so the venison can be used. [If the vehicle owner does not want the meat, they then attempt to make it available to a public institution.] Note: This is a picture of scratches on the fender, apparently made by the deer's hooves, according to a local body shop. The image the computer screen is not as clear as the actual photograph, but the six to ten inch scratches are there.

The same body shop told me this dent on the fender on the driver's side also must have been made by a flying deer hoof. I did see the animal's carcass seem to bounce up and down in front of the car at least twice before it passed under the vehicle. Both front and rear right wheels also bumped over the carcass. That was happening so fast that it was impossible to follow. It is possible that the animal bounced out in front of the van and up in the air again even three times, before passing underneath; all in split seconds. Not a fun way to end what was otherwise a very pleasant and productive day.

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You may copy this file, then paste it into "Notepad" or "WordPad" to save the formatting and setup. Then use cut and paste to substitute your own text, and save your own JPEG files to substitute for the photos of my wrecked van. You can either retain the little line gifs, or substitute others from the ones provided in the website. Note that I have used a gif image for my e-mail address, and also used encoded characters to provide the hotlinked "mailto" address. I found the links for doing this on the Kim Komando website in 2007.