Deer Chaser Thingys

[Sycoil]

Anyone know if those deer chaser things people put on cars actually work? I know they are little plastic things that have a high pitched whistle when you drive which is supposed to scare deer away. Anyway, my bike is just about fixed from when I layed it down 2 weeks ago after almost running into a deer head on and I would like to not have to do that again.

[gpggnnn]

I had them on my car when I lived in CT. They don't work for crap. Hit the search I'm pretty sure this topic has been dicussed already.

[The CyberPoet]

It's been debated (and thus is debatable), but I figure if it scares away 10% of the deer you might hit, it's worth every penny, right? You'll know the good ones when you get them -- the dogs in the neighborhood will start barking when you go zooming through.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[ZukiFred]

I had a set on one of my cars, Didn't work for me or that deer was deaf... Personaly I will not waste money on another set.

[suk750]

Honestly, what I don’t’ quite don’t understand about those gadgets is the fact that they are mounted on the car and when a vehicle is traveling at any rate of speed how can any “thing” hear any noise until the moment of impact. It’s like that old locomotive joke --- If an electric train is traveling north at 100mph, which way is the smoke flowing…

[Najus]

I always wondered the same, I guess the only reason I never got a pair is because even if it scares off the deer, what direction will they run, not like I wanna play tango with a deer on the highway or even worse a single laned back road.

[Teh_K]

Honestly, what I don’t’ quite don’t understand about those gadgets is the fact that they are mounted on the car. When a vehicle is traveling at any rate of speed how can any “thing” hear any noise until the moment of impact. It’s like that old locomotive joke --- If an electric train is traveling north at 100mph, which way is the smoke flowing…

I've never owned a pair, but I don't think they work quite like that. In theory:

At 70* F, the speed of sound is roughly 770mph in air (at sea level). Given that sound travels in all directions (including ahead of you) from the source (the whistles, in this case), the high-pitch sound is going much, much faster than your car/bike (about 700mph faster, if you're going 70mph), so those deer are hearing you well in advance of possible impact.

I suspect that A.) the deer doesn't care about some high-pitch sound, or B.) the whistle isn't mounted right or isn't getting the appropriate airflow to generate the high-pitch sound.

This is all speculation, of course...

[My2K]

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Does anyone have one or know of anyone that has one? Just because someone may have one and not hit a deer doesn't mean it works. Not everyone that doesn't have one will hit a deer. I guess whether you get one or not, you'll be fine. But I know where you're coming from. I hit a deer before and I thought about a "deer siren" afterwards.

[SKNL2]

Hmm....

I think we have another situation where this bike would be handy....

personally, I think you should trade the kat in for one of these and leave the gun at home

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[WildKat]

I had a set on my camaro, mounted right up under the fog lights...and I managed to hit a deer..well actually he hit me, but thats another story

So yeah, maybe I just came across a deaf deer so I cant say for certain either way whether they work or not generally speaking.

[The CyberPoet]

Maybe someone should do a google search for a wildlife specialist specializing in deer and get their opinion? Does the US Forestry agency use the deer whistlers?

I will say this based on my own experiences using them in Europe:
there is a radical difference in quality between the various offerings, and the steel ones seemed to work more effectively for me, based on how far away field rabbits would perch up and rotate their ears towards the car.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

There was an article in Roadbike a few months ago where they tested them AND asked animal behavioral experts and such . Conclusion : waste of money . The MAIN point was that deers hear similar frequencies as humans , so if it's ultrasonic (you can't hear it) , then neither will the deer .

[Junior]

I've hit a deaf deer as well while having them installed.

They are useless junk. Save your 99 cents.

[GytRDunKat]

Maybe someone should email MythBusters....

[DreKat]

In my opinion deer are unpredictible so a high pitched sound will only make them become harder to predict (can't spell tonight)