Biker downed by Texas highway obstacle

[Tallpine]

I don't think they ever had a good solution.

Why not?  Assuming the carcass is mostly intact, wrap a noose around the neck, tie to vehicle, drag off of road.  If nothing else, the tow truck shouldn't have any problem.  If it's that common, have tow packages installed on the cop cars so they can hook the line to the hitch.

Water truck if you really want it clean, and the highway department can take the corpse if they really want to(IE it's in  an area you can't just wait for the scavangers).

That sort of thing requires logical thinking and a bit of initiative ... 

[roo_ster]

Traveling south on I75 in south Georgia I once saw a semi with a livestock trailer upended in the median.  Dead cattle EVERYWHERE, live injured cattle all over, too.

The several tow trucks would wrap the cable around the bovine's neck and drag it off the road.  Seeing that done to the dead ones was no biggie.  Seeing it done the the live injured but not ambulatory bovines was creepy.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I don't think they ever had a good solution.

Why not?  Assuming the carcass is mostly intact, wrap a noose around the neck, tie to vehicle, drag off of road.  If nothing else, the tow truck shouldn't have any problem.  If it's that common, have tow packages installed on the cop cars so they can hook the line to the hitch.

Water truck if you really want it clean, and the highway department can take the corpse if they really want to(IE it's in  an area you can't just wait for the scavangers).

That sort of thing requires logical thinking and a bit of initiative ... 

They tried the rope around the horse's neck thing.  Once.  It resulted in most of the horse carcass still in the road, and a horse head tied to a rope bouncing along behind the truck.

A forklift might work, but forklifts are hard to come by in backroads northeastern Indiana, particularly late at night.

[Tallpine]

A couple years back, a truck or trailer hauling sheep apparently went down the US hiway without the tailgate being properly secured (and without ever looking in the mirror too, I suppose).

We heard the whole deal on the scanner: sheriff's and deputies from two counties and a hiway patrol-person busy for a couple hours dealing with loose, injured, and dead sheep.  (they shot several of the severely injured ones)  Several local citizens also jumped to the rescue bringing their personal stock/horse trailers to contain the animals that were still running around. (I never did hear who lost the sheep in the first place)

Oh - the life of a rural Montana sheriff 

And then there was the time my wife was headed to town on the back road and came along some lady with a pickup trying to load some pigs.  They weren't her pigs - she just found them in the road and was trying to keep them from further harm and/or straying.  Turned out the pigs belonged to the local "Hoot" colony.  They had just bought them and were trying to bring them home.

We used to have a paint mini-horse that could let himself in or out of any fence.  Neighbors would call and say that he was out by the county road, and I would just reply that he would come home for suppertime.  Usually by the time they called he was already back home anyway.  We finally sold him at xmas time to some folks who had a little girl to ride him.

[Firethorn]

They tried the rope around the horse's neck thing.  Once.  It resulted in most of the horse carcass still in the road, and a horse head tied to a rope bouncing along behind the truck.

A forklift might work, but forklifts are hard to come by in backroads northeastern Indiana, particularly late at night.

Did they jerk it?  Somebody else mentioned successfully hauling cows off the road with a tow truck.  A horse should work as well.  Maybe it had a damaged neck?  Regardless - in that case you wrap the rope(not cable!) around something else.  It's not like you're worrying about damaging it more.

Oh, and I'd have put the cows down first before dragging them.

[El Tejon]

A forklift might work, but forklifts are hard to come by in backroads northeastern Indiana, particularly late at night.

They build the Hummer there.  Just put a snow blade on a Hummer and push it off into the ditch.

[Manedwolf]

A forklift might work, but forklifts are hard to come by in backroads northeastern Indiana, particularly late at night.

They build the Hummer there.  Just put a snow blade on a Hummer and push it off into the ditch.

GM might discontinue the brand, according to the CEO.

[zahc]

I hit deer once when i was skateboarding an night. Jumped right in front of me when i was going about 25.

[seeker_two]

What do you do with the dead cow after it gets hit?

Wait for it to swell up and shoot it with .22lr tracer rounds..... 

[crt360]

I hit deer once when i was skateboarding an night. Jumped right in front of me when i was going about 25.

You know that deer has been telling other deer about the time he was jumping along on his merry way when a person going about 25 ran right into him.  "Yeah, the kid was haulin' ass, came out of nowhere, and the funny part is - his legs weren't even moving.  Go figure?" 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i never actually hit a deer on my bike but i had one startle me so bad i rode at max spped into the c&o canal one night. i was in the zone hauling flat out with my head down. i first saw the deer in myweak headlamp i thought it was the biggest dog ever and reflexively turned hard right. splosh  it was cold and deep   november and i had 5 miles to get home

[LadySmith]

The several tow trucks would wrap the cable around the bovine's neck and drag it off the road.  Seeing that done to the dead ones was no biggie.  Seeing it done the the live injured but not ambulatory bovines was creepy.

They tried the rope around the horse's neck thing.  Once.  It resulted in most of the horse carcass still in the road, and a horse head tied to a rope bouncing along behind the truck.

Thanks for the new nightmares, guys. 

[Rovi]

The several tow trucks would wrap the cable around the bovine's neck and drag it off the road.  Seeing that done to the dead ones was no biggie.  Seeing it done the the live injured but not ambulatory bovines was creepy.

Unless there was some immediate and obvious danger to humans that absolutely required that these injured livestock be treated this way, I hope that whoever was responsible for that particular stunt felt the full force of whatever animal cruelty legislation was applicable.

Anyhow, here's a local newspaper report about a car/horse interaction from a few years ago-

The driver would have been in the right side seat, by the way.

[roo_ster]

A forklift might work, but forklifts are hard to come by in backroads northeastern Indiana, particularly late at night.

They build the Hummer there.  Just put a snow blade on a Hummer and push it off into the ditch.

GM might discontinue the brand, according to the CEO.

Man, this sounds like the 1980s Cadillac decision to downsize all its autos...just in time for $1/gal gas.

The several tow trucks would wrap the cable around the bovine's neck and drag it off the road.  Seeing that done to the dead ones was no biggie.  Seeing it done the the live injured but not ambulatory bovines was creepy.

Unless there was some immediate and obvious danger to humans that absolutely required that these injured livestock be treated this way, I hope that whoever was responsible for that particular stunt felt the full force of whatever animal cruelty legislation was applicable.

I am sure it was at the behest of the Georgia State Troopers, who were on the scene.  It would not have take much to dispatch them.   They were a hazard, but I also expect some trooper unwilling to discharge his weapon to put the bovines out of their misery.  Either a fear of being held responsible for the cost of the animals or some draconian GST policy about discharging their weapon.

The several tow trucks would wrap the cable around the bovine's neck and drag it off the road.  Seeing that done to the dead ones was no biggie.  Seeing it done the the live injured but not ambulatory bovines was creepy.

They tried the rope around the horse's neck thing.  Once.  It resulted in most of the horse carcass still in the road, and a horse head tied to a rope bouncing along behind the truck.

Thanks for the new nightmares, guys. 

FWIW, I recall most of it dimly, save one particular cow which was pretty damn clear, as it kind of embodied the entire grotesquerie in a snapshot.  I'll spare you THOSE sharp details.

[Tallpine]

I almost hit a full grown moose in Alaska while I was driving an old Toyota Corolla (late 60s vintage maybe).  I honestly thought I was dead for a moment, standing on the brakes and trying to figure out if I could go between its legs and under its belly. 

Somehow at the very last minute, the moose decided to step out of the way of this screaching little bug.  I hadn't been driving all that fast, maybe 60mph but it was dark.

[wmenorr67]

Would you have made it under its belly between its legs?

[Tallpine]

Would you have made it under its belly between its legs?

Probably not quite.  But in that split second I was wondering if it would just flip over behind the car.  If you hit their legs, they usually flip over on top of the car, smashing through the windshield and landing still alive and kicking and very put out 

It was a "borrowed" car.  I was doing some free work for a guy on his cabin about 40 miles from where I lived.  The deal was that I couldn't afford to buy gas for my pickup to do free labor.  (the fellow had a heart attack and died suddenly just a few years ago )

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[crt360]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

[Regolith]

Some of these stories remind me of something that happened a decade or so ago on Highway 95 between Burns Jct. and McDermitt in Oregon.  There is (or was) a fairly large pronghorn herd in that area, and during the winters they would sometimes congregate on the highway because it was free of snow and somewhat warmer than the surrounding area.

Anyway, one day this trucker was hauling down the road and didn't see the pronghorn in time.  As he slammed on his breaks, his truck began to jack-knife and the rig took out the entire herd in one fell swoop. I think the body count was around 20 or 30 animals when it was all over.   That must have been a pain in the butt to clean up.

[seeker_two]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

What caliber does one use for folded queen mattresses?

[Jamisjockey]

Some of these stories remind me of something that happened a decade or so ago on Highway 95 between Burns Jct. and McDermitt in Oregon.  There is (or was) a fairly large pronghorn herd in that area, and during the winters they would sometimes congregate on the highway because it was free of snow and somewhat warmer than the surrounding area.

Anyway, one day this trucker was hauling down the road and didn't see the pronghorn in time.  As he slammed on his breaks, his truck began to jack-knife and the rig took out the entire herd in one fell swoop. I think the body count was around 20 or 30 animals when it was all over.   That must have been a pain in the butt to clean up.

Buddy and his family decided to move out here from Utah.  They chose to do so in Jan.....he told me that somewhere around Rock Springs, WY, there was an entire wiped out herd of Pronghorn....said it was like a war movie.  Some were just dead, some were disemboweled...some were missing legs.  All were sticking out of the snow in various poses of death.  And a large section of the roadway was stained red. 

[Manedwolf]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

Someone did that in Florida, but the catalytic converter set the mattress on fire. The person ran away from the car, which then exploded.

[Jamisjockey]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

Someone did that in Florida, but the catalytic converter set the mattress on fire. The person ran away from the car, which then exploded.

Was Jack Baurer involved?

[Tallpine]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

I'm not sure I want to ask what was inside the fold of the mattress that was making your vehicle bounce around

[crt360]

While I was up there, I heard a tale about a couple guys that hit a bear in a 4wd p/u.  The p/u bounced up on top of the bear.  The story was that they were sitting high centered with the bear still alive underneath and bouncing the p/u around.   

[/size]

That happened to me once, but instead of a bear it was a folded queen size mattress. 

I'm not sure I want to ask what was inside the fold of the mattress that was making your vehicle bounce around

I don't think anything was in it.  I was going about 70 up I-35 in the New Braunfels, TX area when I saw the Honda Accord in front of me fly up in to the air.  This big mattress came shooting out from under it and before I could do much it had double up under my vehicle which was now partly skidding down the highway.  To make things worse, there was an 18-wheeler right behind me and the shoulders were blocked off with concrete construction barriers.  Miraculously, the barrier on the inside shoulder ended just about the time I was finishing my slide and I somehow got off the road.  I could already smell burnt mattress, so I started rocking my vehicle back and forth, shifting between 1st and R and accelerating.  I finally got enough traction to get off the mattress and continue down the road to where I could stop and inspect my car for damage.  The retard who lost the thing had his truck pulled over about a 1/2 mile up the road and was walking back to find it.  I was very tempted to stop and kick his ass.