[Maco]

Almost all of my riding is done in the mountians of BC where there is a lot of wildlife. On my ride last Friday I was too close for comfort to a deer on the side of the road. Has any one mounted deer whisles on their motorcycle and do they work?

 

[LordSmoke]

Not according to these folks:

Scheifele, PM. DG Browning, and LM Collins-Scheifele. 2003. Analysis and effectiveness of deer whistles for motor vehicles: frequencies, levels, and animal threshold responses. ACOUSTICS RESEARCH LETTERS 4(3): 71-76.

 

[Alannc]

You are going to get some strange answers to this questions.

Mine:

I live in the country in NC. I have deer whistles on all of my vehicles (motorcycle included). Do they work? Well everyone I know around here is hit a deer at one time or another - no one in my family has (now I've jinxed myself).

I have noticed that if there are deer in a field they will raise there heads when I drive by - they don't for most cars/bikes.

For the couple of bucks it costs to buy and mount them it seems like "why not".

Just my .02

 

[crager34]

I think you will find that most of the answers (google) to that question will be "no", but there are those that do feel they work. Insurance companies won't give any discounts for having them.

They are small and sometimes look pretty cool, so buy a couple and see. If they don't work... remove them.

 

[triplendo]

I have read arguments both for and against the Deer Whistles, putting one on wouldnt hurt IMHO

 

[Buddugly]

I think you will find that most of the answers (google) to that question will be "no", but there are those that do feel they work. Insurance companies won't give any discounts for having them.

They are small and sometimes look pretty cool, so buy a couple and see. If they don't work... remove them.

If they don't work that means he hit a deer?? The impact will probably remove the aforementioned whistles for you.

 

[greywolf]

I have a little bump on a crash bar that causes a sound beyond the range of human hearing that keeps tigers away. Since I've never even seen a tiger while riding, that must be a fact. That's totally different from a deer whistle though. Deer have the same hearing range as humans, not tigers. If you can't hear it, neither can the deer.

 

[xswing]

that's the best answer YET----I LOVE IT,,,,,HA/ha

 

[coral_snake]

It's called the placebo effect.

 

[Dentman]

I have deer whistles on everything I drive and rarely see a deer and haven't had one run in front of me. I drive a lot at night as I work shift work and there are a lot of deer in this area. A friend used to work for a trucking company and they were having a lot of deer collisions. They installed whistles on all of their trucks and deer hits went down 90%.

 

[stealthstrom]

I have had them on every bike and like Alannc said, I have seen them look as I have rode by. I had one on the side of the road one time bolt when I came up on it...not sure if it was the whistles or just me but why take a chance. They hide well on the Strom!

 

[juddspaintballs]

More often than not the deer just completely ignore me on the bike. The deer don't care about me whizzing by. They're far more interested in grazing or mating and less concerned about crossing asphalt in front of me. I haven't hit one yet, but if I do, I hope I have the balls to hit it squarely and goose the throttle a bit to keep my front end up.

 

[DougInKY]

I worked for the National Park Service the year they decided to try the deer whistles on their vehicles to see if they helped. During the 12 month test period they had more deer strikes than any year prior. They took them off, and the deer strikes dropped to what they had been seeing before. Deer populations had remained consistant in the parks before, during and after the tests.

Now if you see deer whistles on a National Park Service vehicle it is because the employee added them. It is not supposed to be there per NPS policy.

Disclaimer: This was some years ago (back in the 90's) so things might have changed but the results were so startling that I suspect that the policy remains in place.

 

[zorlac]

I read that the whistles that make the sound of a Brontosaurus crashing through the woods frighten most deer away, except for the really dumb ones.

 

[mad dingo]

I read that the whistles that make the sound of a Brontosaurus crashing through the woods frighten most deer away, except for the really dumb ones.

That one actually made me laugh out loud. Then I started to think about it and realized how very true that would be. One theory is that fear is instinctual, and changes through evolution. This is why animals aren't afraid of cars and bright lights, but are afraid of larger animals walking through the woods. That is why humans are afraid of sharks and not afraid of riding motorcycles. Our instincts don't do the math to realize that many more people are killed on bikes than by sharks. Evolution hasn't caught up with our technology enough for us (or animals) to fear it.

Based on that thinking, deer probably don't know enough to fear the annoying sound of a whistle. Maybe transmitting a wolf howl would work better. And image how cool you would sound going down the road. Other option is to emit the smell of urine, but that might be going to far.

 

[Stromin'Nroman]

Our instincts don't do the math to realize that many more people are killed on bikes than by sharks.

Are you saying it's safer to ride sharks?

Wh have a giraffe problem here, I made some adaptations:

 

[Ol_Baldy]

Deer are just not wired to understand that a man-made object moving at speed is a threat to them. If they want to cross the road - well, they're darn well going to do it. Whether it's the male leading them across the road or the does and bambis that follow, trusting their leader. :yesnod:

I've had a few near misses over the years and in every case I was able to slow down enough to avoid colliding with them. If I hadn't, I would surely have nailed one of them. I have seen deer skid and slip on the hard road surface trying to get across - that may be the reason they tend to take a little more time to get across - to our detriment. :yikes:

 

[Stromin'Nroman]

Deer are just not wired to understand that a man-made object moving at speed is a threat to them. If they want to cross the road - well, they're darn well going to do it. Whether it's the male leading them across the road or the does and bambis that follow, trusting their leader. :yesnod:

I just had the opposite happen to me in the car the other morning.

As I came around a sweeping turn to find two deer on the shoulder, the first deer crossed, the second deer started to cross, turned its head in my direction (apparently saw my car approach) and then turned around back into the woods.

I'm assuming the second animal saw my car approach, perceived it as a threat and took evasive action. Next time, in the interest of science, I'll track it down for a debriefing.

(Of course, the local deer population benefit from our superior North Carolina educational system and general distrust of Cervidae community authorty figures.)

 

[Improperly Torqued]

Isn't there already an active thread somewhere about superstitions?

Disclaimer: I have deer whistles. I don't expect them to work. They're cheap, and kinda like a headlight modulator, they probably can't hurt.

 

[eegah]

Deer whistle don't work. See my posting on this other thread:

http://www.stromtrooper.com/general-v-strom-discussion/49118-avoiding-deer-question-3.html