deer avoidace lighs

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alfonzo

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Please forgive me. Please do not flog me. I have researched consolidated lights, ultra spots, spots, ditch lights etc. 2014 4Runner.

I intend to use them with NO oncoming traffic. i have met many more whitetail deer than I wish to remember. The least expensive deer hit is $3,000, and it still takes several months to eliminate the last remaining rattle. I also have a rear plate bumper so I do not sustain any damage when I back over one.

Both Rigid and Baja Design offer 5 degree lights. Yes, I also need "ditch lights." i never drive faster than 45 mph during dawn and dusk. I assume that LED is trending. One reason we choose Toyota is reliability.

Since I live in MN/WI, we have snow in addition to deer. Lights mounted lower than my headlights are desired because of the snow. I rule out ditch lights and lights on my drabbits rack. I have a ShrockWorks bumper with a bit of room between headlight loops(needed when one hits a deer) If function dictates, I will buy a light bar. Four old school round lights appeal to me.

i value function over esthetics and cost. That being said, I do like to keep as much money in my pocket as I can. I always choose to have the lowest premium which requires the highest deductable.

Certainly, I am not alone. Please, share your opinions and advice. Thanks
 
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Look in my signature. LED Light Bar Install
120W Single row ebay or a Mictuning LED bar for less than 200 dollars and they perform fantastic.... If you have to have a Rigid, either write "Rigid" on it or pay $$$$$!

The deer will be looking for their sunglasses before they step out! :D

BTW, the only reason mine has been replaced since day 1 was because a freaking rock hauler dropped some and one hit my polycarbonate lens.
 
Deer avoidance gear.
Dillon%20minigun.jpg
 
deer avoidance lights

Saker said:
Look in my signature. LED Light Bar Install
120W Single row ebay or a Mictuning LED bar for less than 200 dollars and they perform fantastic.... If you have to have a Rigid, either write "Rigid" on it or pay $$$$$!

The deer will be looking for their sunglasses before they step out! :D

BTW, the only reason mine has been replaced since day 1 was because a freaking rock hauler dropped some and one hit my polycarbonate lens.[/QUOTETh
Click to expand...
 
Saker, I had to reread your post still once again. Your install looks great and is easy to understand, thanks. How much further than your standard high beam lights does one achieve? I believe you suggest a further distance.
 
alfonzo said:
Please forgive me. Please do not flog me. I have researched consolidated lights, ultra spots, spots, ditch lights etc. 2014 4Runner.

I intend to use them with NO oncoming traffic. i have met many more whitetail deer than I wish to remember. The least expensive deer hit is $3,000, and it still takes several months to eliminate the last remaining rattle. I also have a rear plate bumper so I do not sustain any damage when I back over one.

Both Rigid and Baja Design offer 5 degree lights. Yes, I also need "ditch lights." i never drive faster than 45 mph during dawn and dusk. I assume that LED is trending. One reason we choose Toyota is reliability.

Since I live in MN/WI, we have snow in addition to deer. Lights mounted lower than my headlights are desired because of the snow. I rule out ditch lights and lights on my drabbits rack. I have a ShrockWorks bumper with a bit of room between headlight loops(needed when one hits a deer) If function dictates, I will buy a light bar. Four old school round lights appeal to me.

i value function over esthetics and cost. That being said, I do like to keep as much money in my pocket as I can. I always choose to have the lowest premium which requires the highest deductable.

Certainly, I am not alone. Please, share your opinions and advice. Thanks
Click to expand...
If you truly want to spend $$$$ to see deer at night then you need to realize that more lights will not help you one bit. I live in the highest deer strike area of the US. Deer don't stand out in the road 200 yards away and people don't hit deer that are standing in the road. People hit deer as they dart out of the woods and brush and weeds right in front of you. No light in the world will help you avoid a deer that was 25 yards deep in a thicket and decides to run full bore across the road. How do I know this? Because a lot of deer strikes happen in daylight! Tough to find a light brighter than the sun.

If you really want to see deer as you are driving down the road, you need to get a FLIR system and wire it to a monitor. That is the only way to see them.

Your other choice is to forget about seeing them and get an ARB front bumper. A deer might dent it but you will be able to drive home and there won't be any other damage, especially if you get the bars around the lights.

All those other big light bars and ditch lights and spot lights are not gonna help with deer. They help when off roading at night in rocky terrain. They also help in high speed desert running at 70-80 mph. Otherwise? Sorry. Don't believe the hype. Now, if you are doing it to look cool then by all means buy a bunch of them and curb spot at the mall.

A FLIR system is around $3K. ARB front bumper is $2K. I have several friends that have FLIR. One still had a deer hit him in the door at 70 mph. Good luck.
 
alfonzo said:
Saker, I had to reread your post still once again. Your install looks great and is easy to understand, thanks. How much further than your standard high beam lights does one achieve? I believe you suggest a further distance.
Click to expand...

You can see from the photos it projects much farther. How far, I have not measured.
 
You live in Wisconsin. Your odds are 1 in 71 that you will hit a deer. Minnesota is 1 in 80. Where I live its 1 in 40, the highest in the country.

A few statistics to bolster my argument:

51% of animal strikes occur in daylight.
The majority of deer strikes occur between 5-6 pm.
Late October, early November is the worst time.
In the two mile stretch between the main road and my house a few weeks ago my wife and i counted 53 deer beside the road. We had to stop once as six deer were crossing.

I wish more light would help. In reality probably the best thing is just to be hyper alert near dusk.
 
Every white tail I have hit was on a full speed trajectory that intersected my path; no amount of lights could help. Mule deer and elk seem much less skittish. Sometimes have to more or less push them out of the way like cattle
 
Deer are next to impossible to avoid. In fact more people are hurt or killed trying to avoid deer. Lights don't work; the little whistle things you stick on your bumper don't work either. About the only thing you can do is slow down and pay attention. If a deer runs out in front, stop straight ahead; do not swerve to avoid. You may hit it, but chances are good you'll come out alive.

My wife and I were in Wichita a few years ago coming home late from a pool tournament. We hit a deer in our Tundra probably going about 30MPH. we were still in the city limits near the airport. Deer took off leaving me to change the front bumper!

Had a co-worker that drove to work from Enid OK to Wichita (about 100 miles each way). He hit deer twice while riding his Goldwing! He said the only thing that helped was to play his radio loud. He seemed to think it scared them away. He figured hitting 2 deer in 15 years was acceptable!
 
Wow, I never knew this was such an issue in certain areas. Although counting 50 or more dear while leaving the house sounds pretty cool. We have the same problem down here with suicidal squirrels. You can't avoid something that's this committed.
 

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I've got remarkably wide, and far reaching headlights but I have rarely seen a deer in the distance, it's always last minute. If I lived in WI I might install some round, HID pencil beams, aimed to the sides. But keep the receipts, so you can add them to the claim when a deer jumps up on you.

I just last week had the "don't run off the road for a deer" talk with the wifey. Better to hit a deer than a tree.
 
What's the whistle deal I see folks in Idaho, Mont. use ? Seems to work , just find a spot to mount where it doesn't look fay !
 
The deer whistles used to be real popular around here. They are a small round barrel with a flat base about 1" square. You're supposed to stick them on your bumper under the headlight or on top of your fender. They supposedly emit a high frequency (beyond our hearing range) whistle that deer can hear and be scared away. There were so many people that had them and also hit deer that they were declared useless. I guess they are still around though.

I was thinking that the only thing that had a decent chance of working was to mount a 3' bale spear on the front of my vehicles. Any deer that I hit would be speared and end up as food for the family! The chances were much better I'd end up spearing the car in front or someone walking across the street; so I abandoned the idea!

Google deer in the dodge for some interesting deer - vehicle pics.
 
Just go for the ARB. It's exactly the type of impact they were designed to take (kangaroos and such). The whole idea is that you can still get to where you are going. Nothing worse than having an inoperable vehicle on a back road with no cell service. Lights will be no help when one bursts out of the brush and runs directly in front of you. Also, if the bumper is destroyed by the impact, it will be a much easier (and cheaper) swap then replacing the entire front end of the vehicle.
 
:lookout:One thing to think about is that you may not hit the deer it may hit you. My 2 encounters with deer the damned things ran out and hit me in the side. There is nothing you can do about that.
 
A plate front bumper does wonders. Once I was driving my 97 4Runner, trying to see deer for my son's photography project; we hit a deer so hard that the sunroof screen closed; There was no damage, only a handful of hair. No...we did not capture a photographic image. Another time I hit two deer simultaneously and received no damage.

In winter, many fields are cleared so I can see their eyes in the distance. In wooded areas and during the pre crop harvest, I agree, all you can do is hit the brakes and slow down by 10-20 mph before the hit.

I used PIAA 520's for several years before they rusted out in my 97 4runner. They were a valuable asset in deer hit avoidance. I would like to improve upon them by seeing further with a pair of pencil beams and a pairs of wider angle lights. More lighting will be benefitial for MY particular geographic area.

Many lighting companies do not publish specs regarding the angle of focus; Rigid and Baja Design do. I value the unbiased opinions of people on this forum and thank you for your guidance.

In retrospect, I was too vague in my request for guidance: Which lights, brands, and combinations, will help me see far and wide? I am a wee bit fearful of a lightbar being an inappropriate and generic summary of some company's guess as to what I need.

BTW, I love my 97 4Runner and use it as my daily driver.

Thanks you for your time.
 
Deer Whistles

Maybe deer whistles don't work, as someone said, but we've been driving in the Pacific Northwest, and US/Canada from the west coast to the east coast, since 1969 and have never hit a deer yet. We have seen hundreds of them, plus moose and caribou, and they tend to look up and scamper off into the boonies as we approach. Maybe it's the 4 deer whistles on our truck, or maybe just dumb luck. But I'll take my chances with the whistles. - Ted
 
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