Animals in the country cont.

I forgot pheasants and the dreaded skunk in my list of animals we've seen. Skunks are the only animal I will slightly swerve for. I hit a skunk the first night I did my route. I couldn't get rid of the smell for 2 weeks. Skunks do not play fair. Both my husband and I come across skunks walking down the white line in the middle of the road. Very sneaky buggers. You notice them at the last minute.

One of my neighbors raised and released 100 pheasants last year. There are pheasants everywhere. They are not the brightest of birds and they love to hang out along the roads. I've come across 2 males having some kind of Mexican standoff in the middle of the road a few times now. They don't even care a huge car is about to squish them! They do this little dance thing with each other. Probably seeing who is tougher. It's funny to see.

I never swerve for deer or any other animal. Just skunks. If a deer runs in front of me.... I firmly press on the brake, grab the wheel with both hands, and pray I don't kill it. If you swerve you can go off the road and roll your car and as beautiful as deer are, they are not worth my life. I've never killed a deer. I've hit 8-9 though. I always make sure they get up and run away. My husband has hit 12-13 deer and killed one. He did so much damage to his first country car he didn't have any headlights left or outside mirrors or grill and his windshield was severely cracked. It took him awhile to figure out you have to constantly scan the ditches for eyes glowing.

When I first started my paper route, I could see up to 29 deer a morning. And that was crossing in front of me. Now the most I've been seeing is 10-12 a morning. The last few years the DNR issued too many hunting licenses and really thinned out the herds. The DNR also has underestimated how many wolves we have now. Each pack probably kills a deer a week. I have the most problems with bucks during rut season in the fall. I've actually had bucks ram into the side of my car several times. I've had them standing in the middle of the road looking like they will charge me!!

I have killed a few rabbits and a couple squirrels. There is a reason rabbits are the bottom of the food chain. They run right under your wheels. I say they are committing suicide. When I do kill one or come across a dead animal in the road, I say "Rest in peace little critter". I used to get my husband to do it too when we were driving together. That was funny.