Don’t you love deer? You know, those lovely doe-eyed creatures of the forest?
Yes, I enjoy seeing them grazing on our property. However, I’m less excited to see them on or near the road.
Case in point: Independence Day weekend 2020. We were driving to Coeur d’Alene Idaho, just a few miles South. Broad daylight mid-day. Came around a corner and a deer appeared in busy-ish 4-lane traffic. In my lane. Feel the thump, where the deer bounced off the bumper of our truck traveling at 60mph. Then a fraction of a second later, we feel the deer again as it hits the front axle and we drive over the poor thing.
I guess the Lord had planned for that one to no longer be a threat to vehicles. Thankfully our truck only sustained cosmetic damage. Bumper, parking sensors, intercooler, and AC condenser all damaged. Thankfully the latter two items were not punctured. This gives us time to regroup and determine the right path forward.
I’ve been looking at off-road capable bumpers for the truck anyway. AEV has the best looking one, with the AEV Ram HD bumper. I’m not sure how the black will look against the rest of the truck. Here is a link to an article showing my color truck with the black bumper, and I’m not sure it’s as attractive as I want:
Here is a picture of a similar truck with the bumper with the ends painted body color. I think this would look much better on the blue truck.
So now I get the long wait for the bumper (2-4 weeks) while driving my truck with an odd sneer. Oh deer!