The Tail of the Deer and the Mustang Convertible

"Michael Woyahn" (michaelwoyahn) 04/08/2015 at 12:10 • Filed to: None

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As the two-year anniversary of this event approaches, I figured that there's no better way to spend my time in bed while I'm sick with mono than to reminisce about the deer that wanted a ride in the Mustang.

Here's a little background about the day. (The location aspect of this will make more sense for those of you who are from Southeastern Wisconsin.) It was the end of April and my sister had a tennis match at UW Whitewater. It was an all day event and I didn't want to stay the whole day, so my family decided to take two cars over. My mom would take the Grocery Grabber and I would drive my family's 2007 Mustang. My dad would ride with me so he could tell me where to go since I've never driven there and I only had my license for a month. It was about 60º that morning so I insisted that we put the top down in the car, but we had the windows up.

Now, the first part of the drive was uneventful, but it gets exciting about 20 minutes in. I'm driving down Highway 59 going 60 mph (the speed limit is 55) when my dad says, "There's a deer out in the field over there." There was a field way to my right, as shown in the picture from Google Maps below, but I didn't see the deer myself and the field was pretty far from the road so I wasn't too concerned. Still, I lift off of the gas and slow down to 55.

This is about where my dad warns me about the deer. The field I mentioned before is to the right of the road here.

20 seconds later, a deer sprints onto the shoulder and it's aimed directly towards the road. At this point, a weird calm goes over me. I know this is very cliché, but it felt like a dream. It wasn't really happening. Despite this tranquility, I push a pedal and, honestly, I wasn't even sure which one I pushed and I didn't apply that much pressure. Luckily, my blind search did find the brake pedal. At this time, my dad still doesn't see the deer since he's looking out the side window for it.

This was about how far away the deer was when I first saw it. Obviously, the deer was not in front of the mirror like it is in this picture. Those are just my wonderful Photoshop skills working with a screen shot from a POV video.

With each foot that passes under the car, the deer gets closer and closer to the road. Each second brings a stronger plead for it change its mind and turn around. By the time the front bumper is even with the deer, it's maybe three feet from the side of the car. It can turn around at any time now.

Nope. When the deer is even with the A pillar, it jumps. At this point, I'm going about 35 mph. Instinctually, I hunker down and get as close to the steering wheel as humanly possible. My dad, who has the same idea, braces up against the dashboard. The deer's legs make contact with the side of the Mustang. This is real.

Its legs get hooked on the side of the car, which causes the deer to do a back flip into the backseat, miraculously missing the windows. I clutch onto the wheel and continue braking as the deer flails around in the backseat trying desperately to escape. Somehow, the deer's legs hook onto something and it is able to flip itself back out of the car.

Here's a drawing I attempted to do to show how the path of the deer. The x is where the Mustang was when it jumped in.

Now I'm barely moving so I turn around to see the deer lying on its side in the middle of the road. I think I was in shock because I just stared at the deer. No thoughts crossed my mind; nothing really registered. I completely stop and look over at my dad. He only says, "I told you there was a deer!"

Thanks for the clarification Dad! I had no idea! He then tells me to pull over since I was still stopped in the middle of the road. I do as he says, but I don't pull off the road far enough so my mom has to move the Mustang over even more. I can only imagine how my mom felt as she had a perfect view of the entire incident!

When I parked the car, I started to understand the situation. I just hit a deer (in reality, it essentially hit me), I have had my license for a month, and I wrecked my family's favorite car. As I got out of the car, I completely expected it to be totaled. I've seen cars that hit deer before and they always look awful. You can imagine my surprise when there was basically no damage. Also, the deer had disappeared at this point, so I'm assuming it sauntered off into the woods to go brag to her deer friends about her ride.

There are scratches like this on both sides of the car from the deer's hooves. It's kind of hard to see in these pictures since they were taken on my phone from 2013, so I have the original picture and an edited one where it's easier to see the scratches.

The circled panel was popped out from where I can only assume the deer originally made contact. Amazingly, it just popped back into place like nothing happened.

The convertible top has a few nicks in it from the deer partially landing on it and pushing the top back into the trunk.

Most importantly, when the deer landed in the car, it basically exploded. There was deer fur everywhere. It covered my dad and I, the seats, the carpet, and especially the convertible top. I wish I took picture of the top after it happened because it was completely covered in fur. It was transformed into a white convertible top.

This is what got the worst of the deer fur. This picture is from a newer Mustang, but the top looks very similar to the one on ours, minus the headrests.

These pictures are after driving around with the top down for at least an hour to try and clear out the fur.

There was also a suspicious brown streak from the deer in the middle of the backseat.

Since there was basically no damage, we carried on our merry way and made it to Whitewater. I even drove home by myself the same day! Honestly, I could have not asked for better timing, unless the deer waited five minutes to run out, of course. If I would have slammed on the brakes, I would have hit the deer with the front of the car, which would have caused a lot more damage. If I wouldn't have braked, my mom would have hit the deer in the Lexus. If I would have braked a bit harder, the deer would have crushed my dad and I in the front. It worked out perfectly and now I have an awesome, Tommy Boy-esque story to tell for years!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Michael Woyahn 04/08/2015 at 12:44

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This is a fantastic story, was totally worth the read and the tommy boy pic seals it perfectly.

Michael Woyahn > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 04/08/2015 at 13:04

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Thank you! I spent a lot of time on it, especially editing the pictures, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Michael Woyahn 04/08/2015 at 13:10

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I was laughing my ass off and also stuck in amazement by the end