This past weekend, on my way to a river trip in Moab, I hit a deer. It was on highway 6 about 10 min south of the turnoff to scofield res. It was raining, and I was able to slow from 70 mph to about 40 mph before smacking it. I saw it in the other lane, walking my way, about 50 feet away, but the typical deer in the headlights just kept walking in front of me until I hit him. It was like it happened in slow motion. The brakes did their job, although I ended up locking them up and skidding 10-20 feet in a perfectly straight line.
The bumper took most of the abuse, but the grill and corner markers and one of the fenders got a bit messed up. We're just lucky we weren't hurt, and that we were driving a truck that was taller than the deer. It was a sad experience, I don't like watching animals die or inflicting pain on them, but it was unavoidable. He got knocked down by the bumper, then got stuck in front of the skidding passenger front tire. He eventually slid off the truck into the bushes on the side of the road and we kept driving. I hope it died quickly and didn't suffer much.
The bumper did its job, but it's a little crooked now. Bummer.