The other night I was driving FM 209 out of Graham, TX on the the way back to ranch from dinner and thought to myself after seeing my 3rd buck either crossing or simply standing, "what a damn dangerous roadway FM 209 is and maybe I should invest in a replacement bumper or at a minimum, one of those front grille mounted, deer air whistles". FM 209 is a tight two lane farm to market road and minimmaly lit to no lighting at night with posted speed limit of 60 mph. It is one of the very few roadways that I strictly regulate speed close to the posted limit due to frequent animal crossings. My question of you all are, "Do you have to drive an exceptionally dangerous roadway during hunting season and besides regulating speed and having a replacement bumper, what other precautions can you reasonably take or consider, such as deer air whistle, etc."?

The next to last road i have before getting to my place has a lot of bumps, hills and has a semi-regular assortment of deer hanging too close to the road or crossing. So i stay real close to the speed limit on that one. Otherwise, its 35N where i can stay at 82-83mph and then a recently updated wide two lane highway (53W) i can do 75mph. Once i turn off from there, i gotta go a little slower. I have seen animals on 53W, but not as many since the highway was updated.

3 deer and a big hog so far and it still looks brand new. Except for the bug splatter. This isn’t really optional around here.

Do not try to avoid them. Aim at 'em, they wil move. Innappropriate avoidance maneuvers lead to lots of property damage and bodily injury.

This one was hit in front of my place. The highway is dangerous.

I counted nine deer and one hog this morning coming to work north of McKinney. I just keep my eyes open and hope I don't use the Ranch Hand. I grew up driving on 209 so I know exactly what you mean.

Thatll make you sick

Driving on FM 3008 north off Hwy 90 west of Bracketteville always has me on edge at dusk/dawn and at night. Skinny road and a lot of it has high fence on one side. Driving past a small herd of axis at night eating along the road is always a bit of a pucker moment.

Get at least a grill guard if not replacement bumper. Don't waste your money on the deer whistlers.
Adios,
Gary

My lease is in northern Erath county. I have to drive on FM1188 for about 8 miles before hitting the caliche road. The deer are terrible during the rut. My ranch hand bumper on my 03 Dodge finally paid for itself after 20 years last year when I hit a small 8 point the last week of bow season and almost hit another one a few miles down the road. I usually have to slam on my brakes 4 or 5 times per season to avoid hitting one that is in the middle of the road. I counted 7 deer on the shoulder trying to cross 2 days ago as I went passed after an evening hunt. The first couple of years I drove really slow after dark, but I`ve gotten used to dodging them. I know there have been 8 deer hit by cars this year on the road since the season started.

Several years ago we went an entire season without seeing a shooter buck on our place in Young County. Driving home at 8 pm on the last day of the season I hit TWO bucks that were 5 yo+ and around 140". They jumped out of the ditch one directly behind the other and trying to miss them wasn't an option.

We have to be alert just leaving the subdivision. My son hit one on or street one evening, with the replacement bumper. Friend had one run into the side of his new truck coming to pick me up before daylight, on the same street. I ran over a buck one opening morning on the way to a local lease. All my trucks over the last 25 years have had a front end replacement, except the current truck. I’ve lucked out the last 5 years, but drive at night very much anymore.

Where I hunt it’s 18 miles of a narrow 2 lane road with no improved shoulder, no lights, and often the grass is 2-3 feet high, animals appear out of nowhere. I’ve hit coyotes, bobcats, deer, and pigs. Unfortunately there’s always cattle in the grass, that’s what really scares me

My full replacement bumper arrived and currently awaiting my next day off to install

Wise words. Brake if you can, but keep it straight. Also, I always taught my kids to look on the OTHER side of the road, where the deer came from. There's usually another one coming.

'Gotta grill guard on the Ford. Lots of practice opportunities on the ranch road to my place. Pecan tree bottoms and usually a little water.

I’ve a factory steel bumper on my jeep, but I’ve installed a stinger bar because it’s so low, and I don’t want anything flying up over the hood on impact. After an unavoidable deer impact in a friend’s 3/4 ton the January before last, it seemed like a good idea. Sometimes there’s nowhere to go and you’re just going to hit whatever is in front of you.

First time I came across deer air whistle was in Ca, yrs ago, on a rental car out of Merced going into Yosemite. Didn't think they worked cause the place I went in the boonies, deer jumped the fence and came down the road toward me. They did jump back over the fence.

If you pay attention while driving you will hit less things .

580 west of Lampasas, keep your eyes out.

If you know anything about the environment others operate their vehicles in and their training and experience in tactical driving, you will sound less ignorant about the topic to others.

Worst highway for animal traffic is Hwy 55 north of rocksprings and Hwy 189 between Sonora and Juno

That is every road around here exactly. What bumper did you get? I'm happy with the ARB.

I have the Frontier and I like it.

I’m a ranch hand guy too

Worst I ever saw was probably 15-20 years ago west of Sanderson on 90. There were literally groups of 20 or more deer in groups almost all the way to, or from, Marathon. Something (probably disease) has thinned them out these days. 281 from Sanderson to Ft. Stockton and beyond is pretty bad also. See lots of deer carcasses and broken glass on both highways. 90 west of Sanderson has gotten worse because there are elk out there these days.

It isn't unusual to see one or two fresh dead ones on 90 between Comstock and Del Rio either every day.

Anything from plate or heavy pipe steel is good. The thin wall brush guards just fold up on a deer.

Our biggest problem out here in the West is people over driving their headlights! 70 mph in the dark is stupid, and dangerous. When Teton and Yellowstone parks lowered their night time speed limits from 55 to 45 mph, animal collisions were reduced by half.

Brush guards will cave back into a truck and make it worse. They are good for going thru bump gates and that’s about it.

I don’t like the heavy pipe bumpers, I use the summit series from ranch hand and the frontier equivalent. It’s made of diamond plate instead of the 2” pipe.

I hit a deer I don’t even stop or slow down, just keep rolling

I run that stretch of road from Graham to 3109 often. The parts that typically have deer I will go ahead and flip on my ditch lights if it is late and not a high traffic time and slow down accordingly. And of course flip them off if I see headlights over the horizon. My truck has the AEB Automatic Emergency Braking. I would have hit a deer twice this year on those 209/3109 sections of road without it. It is aggressive and will scare the crap out of you when it works. A lot of people don't like it, but I will never again own a vehicle without it. I have no doubt I would not have been able to react fast enough to keep from hitting those deer on my own. It all happened to fast and the distance was too short for the warning to activate. I don't think mine is originally designed for pedestrians or deer because of how high the camera is and the 2025s will have the camera lower for that reason, but I have mine on most sensitive setting and it certainly works on Deer that way. I mounted a small bull bar on my truck that is attached to the frame that I am sure would help with a center hit, but I decided to keep the factory bumper to keep the weight down. Besides that is what insurance is for. That and I did not want to take a new bumper off to put a new bumper on it. If I ever hit something I will look at other options then. That low flat area right after you cross the river, keep an eye out for a long tail cat. That is the only place I have ever seen one in Texas and was one of the reasons I got a dash cam. Of course now that I do have a camera, I am sure I will never encounter it again.

Only thing about the ranch hand is the weight it puts on front end,

That’s all the quality ones too. My ARB is very heavy but after a day or so of driving my Tundra I didn’t notice the weight difference anymore.

They make lighter options for 1/2 tons

Take out any sag by adjusting the torsion keys

I wanted ARB, but they stopped making them for the Superduty in 2017. I like STO like Ramball has, but 295 pounds without the winch just seemed unnecessary. It ended up with the CTA brand out of Arkansas.

Worst for me is Esteline to Turkey on 86. Two hogs and a doe, dodged as many. It's so bad I've started going to Memphis if it's after dark. Wider shoulder, less cultivation and fewer curves.

How much mileage per gallon do you all think you lose with the ARBs or Grille Guards?

1-2 mpg.

They let more wind underneath instead of it getting pushed around

With my ARB I didn’t notice any difference. I’m sure there is just from the weight but not enough for me to notice even slightly.

It’s the wind not the weight. They drag more than the factory front ends.

A couple hundred lbs isn’t gonna change much , that’s just like carrying another passsenger.

We'll see spots where entire small herds of antelope get hit by a truck and taken out, not a pretty pic to see that big splatter on the highway .
Nothing like seeing a big bull elk in the highway too, they are tall and will be over your grill guard when they hit the windshield.

Just north of Rocksprings on my way to Pinedale, a very large bull elk stepped out in front of me at night and only the good Lord kept me from hitting him. No grill guard or bumper in the world would have saved me if I had hit him.

Mine is pretty aerodynamic looking, especially on the bottom and lower sides. It’s designed to run over kangaroos and deflect them downward.

Good looking bumper, sir. How do you like it?

Gonna put an ARB on my Tacoma. Out here, hogs, WT and Mule deer , Aoudads, and Elk. This past year , one of our ambulances hit an elk taking someone to the hospital. Thankfully, nobody injured. Ambulance not so lucky.

Got the new CTA bumper installed. Easy job. Well constructed with thought out bracing. Everything works and went together as it should. Hardest part was getting factory bumper off. I’ll order a winch soon. Lost 1.25 inches of ground clearance and dropped the front end 3/8 of an inch.