Deer Whistles

[davidc83]

Recently I inquired with a young woman in sales at a Royal Distributing (power sports parts, accessories and equipment) outlet whether or not they had any deer whistles. "You mean for like hunting?" she asked. The images that response conjured up kept me laughing all day. I ended up going to Canadian Tire, who I know carries them. Which brings me to the subject of this post.

Do deer whistles really work? A colleague at work recently totaled his bike chasing dragons in Virginia. He missed the deer and hit a concrete culvert instead. Luckily he was wearing full gear and he landed in a swamp. Deer 1, bike 0, game, set, match. I bought him a Guardian Bell and a pair of whistles. I must say I have never heard a single first hand account of someone with them on the vehicle having hit a deer. Still that doesn't mean they work. But the ones I bought are made by Bell, the helmet folks who know a thing or two about safety. So has anyone here ever hit a deer with whistles on? I'm looking for stats or provable first hand accounts as opposed to a friend of a friend of my cousin if you get my drift.

I had them not on one, but 2 different jeeps and yep, I have hit deer with both jeeps. 1st jeep they were already on when I bought the jeep. The whistles I put on the 2nd jeep were a gift so I put them on anyways. They do make a whistle sound, but who taught the deer to run the other way.... our exhausts make as much noise as the little whistles do (even high pitched), so no they don't work. Marketing gimmic....

 

[Wanderer]

I've hit 3 deer and had another one broadside me (not on motorcycles though). One of them broke off my deer whistles. I don't think they work...

 

[SlimDude]

No they don't work. What does work great are DEER CROSSINGS. It's just a little time consuming to train them to use the buttons so the amber lights flash warning people they are about to cross.

Actually, there is such a thing as wildlife crossings. But they involve building an overpass. You can read about them here.

Wildlife Crossings | Bow Valley Parkway | Interactive Maps | Friends of Banff National Park

And they do work quite well.

 

[SlimDude]

Thanks to all for your comments. ChuteTheMall had the best answer. Funniest goes to wickerman.

 

[Hank]

Old people believe they work. But then old people don't drive at night.

 

[supertux1]

You wanna know how the DOT knows where to put those deer crossing signs on highways?

Do you think they do a carefully controlled wildlife study where some guy sits around for bit and watches deer then carefully maps out their territory and where it intersects roads?

No. They count the number of vehicle crashes with deer then when it gets above a certain threshold they decide to stick a sign there.

 

[Hondafan]

If you understand what they do and what they don't do, they may help. They don't scare deer away, they do tend to keep them focused on the sound and motionless. This gives a bit more time to slow down. They need to be installed correctly to work properly. Even if they are only 20% effective, that is still a safety factor worth 10 bucks.

 

[SlimDude]

Old people believe they work. But then old people don't drive at night.

Actually, my colleague's incident happened in broad daylight. And I have (pre-whistle) seen deer in the early morning and late afternoon hours contemplating a road crossing so riding only in daylight will not help you, Hank.