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Deer whistles

alannodolf@yahoo.com

Member
Member
Many people aren’t familiar with deer whistles, or haven’t tried them. Two years ago, I happened to hit a deer with my C-10. Luckily, it was a small deer, and I didn’t centerpunch it. It hit on the left side, and my tip-over bars prevented a lot of damage to the bike and me. Since then, I have been running with deer whistles mounted on the reflectors on the sides of the fairing, and they definitely work! Not only have I not had anymore close encounters with deer, but other animals get off the road long before I get to them. Birds of all sizes hear them from far off, and get out of the way as well. I’m sure I miss seeing some wildlife, other than tail ends going into the woods way ahead of me, but I don’t mind. One of the best safety features you can add to your bike.
 
question;

:rotflmao: :truce: :truce:

have you ever aspired to the theory, that honking your vehicle horn, while crossing railroad tracks, prevented you from being hit by a moving train....?

jut asking...

I've hit 5 deer in my life, luckily none were on 2 wheels, but 4 OUT of the 5 were hit with vehicles wearing "deer whistles", on actually had 2 sets of them...    :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

the quantity of deer strikes I have been saved from, by simply watching, and braking, and knowledge of the road areas where they live, is un countable.

I'm glad you have not hit a deer with a bike, with whistles installed,  if you do, please let us know, I sent letters to the manufactures of the ones on my vehicles that hit deer back thru 1985, and all of them pretty much said.... well... we have no guarantee...

Flipping high/low beams just make the deer more stupid, because they turn their head, and see the shadow, and then turn back and dart out in front of you.... :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

in closing, a tidbit of advice... in Moose territory, if you come upon a moose, in the road... stop well far back... either shoot it, or sit and wait... do not approach it at 3 mph, honking your Horn... even in a Full Sized 70's series Chevy Blazer...  :-X  it WILL climb over your vehicle, and stomp the living crap outta it, during it's process... BTDT... :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
 
I talked to this old timer once when i saw him taking a deer whistle off of his motorcycle ,So I asked him why he was taking the deer whistle off ,didn’t it work, he told me he was tired of pulling deer hair out of it!😂😂
 
I've had them on my '03 never hit a deer but had close calls.  One thing that worked really well - they were a great occasion for conversation and had a lot of fun making up stuff as to what these deer whistles were.  I guess people can't imagine deer whistles on a motorcycle  :)
a guy from work goes from albuquerque to colorado in his car quite often and he used deer whistles as well.  lots of close encounters.....

so maybe some work and others don't?  curious where you bought yours .....

Ted
 
don't get me wrong... if somebody uses them, and never hits a deer.. major acclaims...  I say "ooo yaaaa"...

but what you just said was funny, last deer strike, my Mazda truck headlight, had hair... and broke both whistles off my "cherry" ElCamino..  I saved them, they had hair connected..
 
forgot to add...

about a week ago, I was hearing "thumping" coming down the road.... I live on a 2 lane major route, in Ohio, the young dude was playing like whigger rap, at huge volume, and a deer in my front yard "decided" to commit to running in front of him, right at the end of my driveway.... if that deer didn't hear that, it ain't hearing a "whistle"..

I watched it unfold.... poor kid in his Acura, poor deer from "my deer heard".... he crushed it so bad, I just tossed it in my waste container..damn... a lot of wasted good meat...
I've been lucky, and have gotten a lot of "fresh" road kill..(seen it hit, stopped, and grabbed it...)

man, dressing a summer road kill deer, will result in severe poison Ivy. they lay in it,roll in it, and even eat it..... fug.... ... but man the meat is good on the grill.  always carry rubber gloves... :great:
 
redline said:
i get it if people use dynamite to go fishing but cars to hunt deer?  that's crazy

Fishing with dynamite isnt a good idea either, at least it wasn't for my uncle 50 years ago, i cant remember how long he got to sit in jail after the game warden got him😂😂😂. True story
 
I have two deer whistles and have never hit a deer. They MUST work! :great:
 
Fishing:
A game warden stops by a small lake where everyone has been getting skunked for weeks.  He notices one guy with a full limit of fish in his boat, and also sees that the guy has no fishing poles, no bait, nets, etc.  The warden goes to talk to him, and the man says, “Well, I got this special little spot I go to that no one else knows about.  I’ll be glad to take you there and show you.”  So, the warden gets into the boat with him, and they take off to the north end of the lake.  The fisherman pulls into a tiny little shaded cove, stops and drops anchor.  Then he reaches under his seat, and pulls out a stick of dynamite, lights it and tosses it in the water.  KAABBOOOOOM!!! Six dead fish float to the surface.  The warden yells, “Man, you can’t do that!!!  That’s illegal as all get-out!  I’ll have to fine you $500 and arrest you for that!”  The fisherman just pulls out another stick of TNT and lights it, and tosses it into the warden’s lap, and says, “Mister, are you gonna TALK, or are you gonna FISH?”

Deer whistles:
Sorry, but the science doesn’t bear them out.  But if installing them makes someone feel better, that’s OK, they certainly won’t hurt.  Having said that, back in summer 1994, I hit a pregnant doe (and that’s a long, interesting story in itself, involving a state trooper and how NOT to shoot a deer with a pistol) with my 1984 T-bird, splintering the whole plastic grill and holing the radiator.  After it all got fixed, I installed a set of whistles.  Since then not only have I NOT hit anymore deer (and I lived out there in deer country for another 20 years), but I also got a better job, won $24 in the lottery, my hair started growing back in, my acne cleared up, I have not experienced the heartbreak of psoriasis, my blood pressure dropped 20 points, I lost 20 pounds, my age-related “male issues” cleared up, and I haven’t been taken aboard a UFO for “probing” in a looong time.  So, they must be good for something.

https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/wolves-dont-whistle

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/commuting/do-deer-whistles-work-to-prevent-collisions-with-wildlife/article4104175/

https://www.lifewire.com/do-car-deer-whistles-work-4061222

p.s.    That T-bird went to the crusher long ago, with the whistles.

Ride safe!


 
I don't get how this works.

iu


Do you have the visor up or down while using it?
Is it loud enough?
 
I have a cheap set mounted on the fairing under the headlight . Looks like they were meant to be there . Do they work ? Who knows , but they ain't hurting anything being there . I do pop them off now and then to clean bugs out of them .
 
If someone wants to use them believing that they work,  it's all good.
But here's my experience with them or without them  :-[
When I had them on my newspaper delivery car I hit one in the wee hours of the morning  :mad: . I was soo mad it broke my deer whistle  :rotflmao:
My other experiences hitting deer have been in a semi,  I drive truck for a living and when I use to run at night I would average hitting two deer a year,  one in the spring and one in the fall.  Now,  just my thoughts,  but if for as many deer hits the company I work for have to deal with every year,  I would think that if they really worked that my company and many other trucking companies would be putting them on all their trucks.  Just saying.
I am a little surprised that they haven't put the big brush, deer pusher, get out of my way, bars on the front of the trucks yet.
They would look a little funny on a motorcycle though  :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
So if anyone has a peace of mind running them.  It's all good  :great:

Now if you are running those crazy little demon bells on your bike....or whatever they're called. ....now that's a totally different thread.. :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Ride safe
 
Some of them have square out shapes- they don't work well at all.  Think about it; how's the deer supposed to get its lips around a square whistle?  So go for the round ones and happy riding  :))
 
Rideezdale said:
If someone wants to use them believing that they work,  it's all good.
But here's my experience with them or without them  :-[
When I had them on my newspaper delivery car I hit one in the wee hours of the morning  :mad: . I was soo mad it broke my deer whistle  :rotflmao:
My other experiences hitting deer have been in a semi,  I drive truck for a living and when I use to run at night I would average hitting two deer a year,  one in the spring and one in the fall.  Now,  just my thoughts,  but if for as many deer hits the company I work for have to deal with every year,  I would think that if they really worked that my company and many other trucking companies would be putting them on all their trucks.  Just saying.
I am a little surprised that they haven't put the big brush, deer pusher, get out of my way, bars on the front of the trucks yet.
They would look a little funny on a motorcycle though  :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
So if anyone has a peace of mind running them.  It's all good  :great:

Now if you are running those crazy little demon bells on your bike....or whatever they're called. ....now that's a totally different thread.. :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Ride safe


I've seen the electronic ones mounted on BNSF railroad vehicles but thats about the only time I've seen them on a commercial vehicle . I also have 4 demon bells on my bike  :rotflmao. Loved ones keep giving me them . All four corners of the bike are anti Demonized  ;)
 
Harry Martin said:
I don't get how this works.
Do you have the visor up or down while using it?
Is it loud enough?

Harry, With your cartoonist sense of humor, I'm sure you could come up with something.  I'm picturing a deer in the foreground blowing a whistle with a thought bubble, "I'm not sure if these things work...".  While in the background on a hill is a pack of drooling wolves eyeing the deer.
 
Already working on it.  ;D

But, in my cartoon, the deer use human whistles to ward off on-coming vehicles.

Lose-lose situation of course.  :(
 
I have a friend who has deer whistles and I haven't hit any deer.  Therefore, I'm convinced they work.

Chris
 
Deer are deer -- whistles or not, it is far better to see them, than depending on them to avoid me... My Nomad had the aforementioned whistles and they worked wonderfully -- just like a duck call, the critter came right to me and jumped in my lap (really...).  KO-ed the Nomad (RIP)and whacked me for about 6- months, but the deer was just fine... stood up on the ditch, laughed and then ran off.

My theory is (and its just a theory)  if their heads are up and they are stationary, they probably are aware of me, but if they are in motion or heads down grazing, all bets are off and they can explode in any direction, so watch out...  I've hit 5-6 of the critters, the last one was about 9 months ago with my F150 when I was to pick up my new-to-me C10...
 
Years ago, when i had 'deer whistles' on my bike, lots of close calls requiring operator intervention.
However, I never once saw a giraffe,,,,,I musta got he wrong model whistles.......

(ducking and running for cover  :)) )
 
I just read an article about the efficacy of deer whistles. the article cited a couple studies from the hallowed halls of greater learning. Bottom line, deer were as likely to run toward the whistles as to run away from them.

  I'd also mention that I'm a long time deer hunter, and one thing I'll never understand is how a prey animal would willing run in front of anything that could be considered predatory. Like running out in front of a vehicle. Yet they do it all the time. It's a good thing they taste good, because they sure aren't here to impress us with their cognitive abilities. Steve
 
I don't have a deer whistle and I use low beam, mostly in fear of blinding an oncoming driver.  The deer I've seen either stand still or run the other way.  My theory is that on high beam you scare the animal far away, then as you get closer the beam moves off them before you get there.  They may get night blindness while staring at your headlight then they think it's dark and jump in front of you.  So I'd rather ride within the limits of my low beam then keep an eye on them as I go by.
I did clip a deer once on a 30 mph local "twisty" at night, driving a Fiero.  The deer looked very tired and was walking left to right across the road, when it saw me it jumped and its right rear hoof broke my right front hidden headlight mechanism.
On interstates and such I like to stay a comfortable distance behind a semi truck.
 
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