Real-Life Flying Deer
This post functions dually as humorous story and cautionary tale.
The story within a story goes like this:
Flat Creek recently had the company Christmas party. It was a very multinational and multilingual gathering in true Jackson style, featuring many speakers of English, Spanish, and the caterers speaking Turkish, which is somehow very appropriately fitting for the season. In my curious nature, I asked one of my new Turkish friends if they had all the same Christmas traditions. She responded that Santa Claus was invented by Turkish tradition; I thought to myself, "oh deer", quickly going back to my dinner, feeling very sheepish.
Traveling back home with a Flat Creek owner, we saw a deer and then a moose and then 3 more deer lurking nearby in the darkness, seemingly contemplating the appropriate time to flash across the road (traffic is not typically part of their ancient, instinctive decision-making).
This led the owner to produce a story of another nighttime journey, some years back. He was traveling home from Salmon, Idaho (as the crow flies, about 200 miles or 300 km from Jackson Hole), a similar mountainous region of snow, ice, and hosts of wildlife--dangers heightened by the darkness.
His unprompted account of what happened next is that out of nowhere, he saw something coming off the road-adjacent 20-30 ft (8-10 m) cliffs and that they “flew” down on top of him. Perhaps “fall” or “glide” would be more accurate diction choices, though regardless, it was an entire herd of deer flying off the cliff (deer are much more athletic than you would think until you’ve seen them jump high fences like it was nothing), a safe leap for them if there were no traffic. However, as you’d expect, this doesn’t go well for any of the mammals involved, one paying for a Toyota Tacoma to be towed after hitting two deer and being hit by two more, and the particular four involved hoofed mammals all probably being casualties.
Most of the time flying deer are great and joyous. But when driving through the Rocky Mountains, just know the deer, antelope, elk, moose, etc., usually don’t understand what pavement means or that you aren’t Santa innocently flying through with their cousins, the reindeer.
Have a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!
Growing up, Dillon could see the Grand Teton from his house on a clear day. His family took him to nearby national parks so often that he took the parks for granted. It took the rigors of life to teach him how good he had it, and he now spends as much time in the mountains as possible.
Photo by Matthijs van Heerikhuize on Unsplash
