Car vs. Elk
The car won, but only with the help of two slugs from Officer Weiss' shotgun. Dude's fine, a little stiff and sore, still got bits of glass showin' up in weird places, but he was quick on the brakes and managed to get it below whatever speed it is at which the airbags deploy. Still, wasted the hood and windshield, one of the headlights, the grill... pretty much the best-case scenario of what you'd expect from a small-vehicle impact with a young adult cow (as in female elk, in this case, as opposed to female bovine; also, for our European friends, the animal to which you refer as an elk is called a moose here, and is slightly larger than an American elk, but only slightly). We've been here in the Boise Mountains seven years now, drivin' Highway 21 twice a day at least six days a week for most of that time, and while there've been lots of nights, like last Saturday for instance, where there were deer or elk everywhere along the roads, we've never really even had a close call (except once when I was drivin' Ronnie's car home and clipped a deer's back leg; didn't damage the car, and I don't think it damaged the deer, either) until yesterday (and that was only Dude, he was on his way to work). Two trucks went by (you've gotta judge what you'll be able to do to help, and a lotta times, up in these parts, the best thing to do is get to cell range and call someone who's better-equipped), the third was the aforementioned Mr. Weiss of the Boise City Police Department in his official vehicle, who was kind enough to stop on his way to work (in part because he'd found himself in exactly the same dilemma in almost exactly the same place not too long ago, apparently), shoot the elk (there was a time not too long ago when it would've been as likely as not that either of the two trucks that went by would've been able to help with that part, too, but ya don't see as many gun racks downtown as ya did twenty years ago :D) twice, and help Dude get it off the road. He told Dude, since the car was drivable - actually way less smashed than ya might expect (although we'll have to see if the front roof pillars are bent; that'd probably total it) - to get it home and call the Sheriff's Department, all that jazz, and all I can say is thank God for Dude's good driving habits, Subaru's safety standards, Officer Weiss, and that that elk wasn't bigger.
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