I’ve never hit a deer in my life, but it is now almost certain that it will happen within the next 1 day to 5 years. I’m bracing myself for it. The reason is that I’m now running in Newtown after work, meaning I’ve chosen to run in the light and drive in the dark instead of vice versa.

This dark drive home is treacherous; 11 miles, mostly along Swamp Road which is pitch black, no street lights, and literally a billion deer. Cars driving the opposite way blind me, as I blind them. There’s no ‘take it slow so you can avoid them‘, it’s impossible. Every week I see 1-3 new dead deer along my drive, so other people are crushing ’em already. It’s only a matter of time until this goes wrong for me.

What do I do when this happens?

• Should I have a gun or bat in my car to put it out of its misery once I hit it?
• Should I drive off as quickly as possible and act like it didn’t happen?
• Do I try to resuscitate the deer if it’s still breathing?
• Do I load it into my car and eat it?

Every option above sounds traumatic.

I think about it a lot now on my dark drives home because I know it’s going to happen. I’m just trying to brace for it. If anyone has experience with this then please help me, or simply sit back and wait for the “I obliterated a deer on my drive home post“.