Charlotte's urban deer problem and my close call

[swampfox43]

While I have encountered deer running out in front of me in rural areas numerous times (never hit one thank goodness), yesterday morning (May 20) was a wake-up call for me as far as the inner city deer problem facing Charlotte.

Going north bound on Park Rd at 8:45am, just 50 feet past the Sharon Rd stoplight (not the Sharon Rd West/Gleneagles intersection), 3 large deer bolted out in front of me from the right. Well, one wasn't so lucky. I was in the outside lane and the car on the inside lane, slightly ahead of me, hit one of the deer head-on. That deer went flying at least 20 feet in the air. And of course where does it land? Right beside my car, which by this time had slowed to a near stop. Then I hear this knocking sound on my drivers side. Yes, the deer had hit my drivers side during the landing. A few scuff marks I was able to buff out today, but the other car got damaged pretty bad. I pulled over a little ways up. I could see the deer holding it's head up but it couldn't move. What was kinda sad was that the other 2 deer were looking back as if they were waiting for their friend to get up. I decided to drive on. I hate seeing any animal suffering. The other driver that hit the car was not injured thankfully. I called 311 and they were going to send animal control out. I told this story to several co-workers who live in urban areas (Cotswold and Myers Park) and they said there was a real problem with deer in their areas, eating their plants, etc.

I found it odd that the deer were out at 8:45am, seeing how most of my rural encounters have been at dusk or late night.

Has anyone had any near misses in urban Charlotte lately? Specifically, urban areas?

[AuLukey]

I had $3400 of damage done to the front driver-side quarter panel, door, and headlight of my car in some of the extremely thick fog we had this past fall/winter thanks to Bambi and his apparent suicide mission. Myself and another car actually hit each end of the deer traveling in different directions causing the deer to spin and smash into the doors of each of our cars. Luckily all that was covered by my insurance.

While I don't consider University City urban, I've seen dozens of deer in this area in the past few months. Doesn't surprise me that there are many out your way.

[RiverwoodCLT]

I see deer over here near Sardis road and Sardis Road north. Two were killed by cars a few years ago.

[urban980]

Has anyone had any near misses in urban Charlotte lately? Specifically, urban areas?

[abttown]

While I don't live in an urban area, I do know that deer pretty much live everywhere in this part of the country. Even though Charlotte is an urban area, there are still many wooded areas for deer to thrive on the vegetation. I suggest being cautious all the time, but especially in the mornings and evenings when deer seem to be the most active. The problem is that the deer population has no real adversary in the wild and not as many people like to hunt anymore. Maybe we should all support our local eateries that serve venison. Deer jerky is actually pretty good and not as high in fat as beef.

[monsoon]

The deer population will actually travel down the greenways in CLT , so you can expect to see them almost anywhere in the city.

Years ago, a good friend of mine ran into a mature deer that jumped in front of her car in Charlotte. The car was totaled. I was fascinated by the fact that she had to file some kind of report with the NCDOT concerning the killing of a deer.