Author Topic: Rail Kills? (Read 1408 times)

243tom · « **on:** January 01, 2005, 10:00:37 AM »

I enjoy taking walks in the woods,,as most outdoorsmen do,,and I live within a 20 minute walk of a major east/west pair of railroad tracks. Today while I was out I noticed something several hundred yards away laying in the gravel between the tracks. I put my scope on it and sure enough it was a deer. After walking to get a closer look,,I found a young button buck with its' head cleanly severed and the body was never rolled or busted up.
Last year,, about a mile or so east,, there were a pair of button bucks killed by a train. This amazes me,,,,maybe I shouldn't be,, but it does,,I know they take on cars and trucks all the time and lose,,but a noisy locomotive.......it's just hard for me to figure.
Has anyone else ever seen this in their outdoor experiences?

Of course I moved the carcass in hopes of attracting some coyotes,,and maybe I'll get a favorable wind some evening when I can get a shot at something.

VTDW · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2005, 10:15:33 AM »

243tom,

Sounds like I need to record a train and market a deer call. :wink:

Dave

Cowpox · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2005, 01:35:02 PM »

Hello 243tom, I live where there is a nice mix of low land and crop land,and as a result, we have a good whitetail population. The State hiway runs next to the railroad here, and in the last few years I have noticed 4 or 5 dead deer lying on the RR embankment. There are undoubtedly others on the far side of the tracks. Like you, I found it hard to believe that a deer would not be running the other way when confronted by the racket those trains make. I gave it some thought, because there were few if any train kills until the last decade or so, when the RailRoad started following the European three headlight design. When the one headlight was used, it was mounted high enough that as the train got closer, the deer would be out of the bright beam, and no longer blinded. By adding the two lower lights, they stay blinded until they get hit ! That's my theory, anyway. Maybe we can get the tree huggers to look into the matter. Cowpox

Daveinthebush · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2005, 02:25:40 PM »

We have a winter problem too but with moose. With heavy snows, the moose follow the rail tracks as an easy way to get from point A to point B. There is an effort right now to have the National Guard clear paths for the moose in the winter so they can get off of the tracks more easily. Problem is, in many areas there is no place to get off the the tracks because of the embankments.

bullet maker · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2005, 04:07:52 AM »

Hi guys

I`m retired from the BN/SF Railroad, and yes, we do run over alot of deer. The main reason I think, is during the wheat harvest, we haul alot of wheat, also corn, and milo on the trains. The cars that the crops are put in, do leak. So there is always a steady line of crops between the rails. Hence, the deer get between the tracks to eat the spillage, and get run over by the train. We also runover alot of dogs, that get inbetween the rails to eat the dead deer. There are other factors as well, such as, the Railroad right of way, is usually the only grasses, and trees left for cover anymore, cause the farmers, clean cut all the way up to the fence line of their property, and that only leaves, the railroad right of way for the deer to hide in. Another strange occurance is, that when the deer or dogs, get caught in the approaching train, they will run in between the tracks, instead of crossing to get out of danger. They get runover of course, but there is someting about the tracks that cause them to follow the rails, instead of crossing to get out of danger.
We have killed some beautiful bucks, that make us sick, cause most of us are hunters as well. Some or so large, that we railraoders, have been known to drive back up to where it was killed, ( in our own vehicles, and own time after work), and pick up the dead buck.

bullet maker

SBF · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2005, 05:00:13 AM »

http://www.snopes.com/photos/poledeer.asp

kevin.303 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 06, 2005, 06:21:13 PM »

i was on a canoe trip a few years back in Northern Ontario. where we put in the caones we where beside the CNR's mainline. it was about a 10 foot embankment and at the bottom was a moose carcass. it was split wide open. it looked like it swallowed a grenade. stupid critters thin kthe air horn is a challenger and will not move until they get hit. mink are the same way. my dads been fdriving a Greyhound up north for 30 years and mink will stand in the middle of the road and growl at the bus until SPLAT!

bullet maker · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2005, 05:42:45 PM »

Hi TM7

The trains or even more quiet now that they have ribbon rail most places. Ribbon rail is a continuous welded rail, that doesn`t have the joints like the older rail have. The jointed rails, gave a clicket clack sound, but the new ribbon rail, is just a dull hummm. Its on you before you know it :shock:

bullet maker

SAWgunner · « **Reply #8 on:** February 04, 2005, 10:36:08 AM »

As a railroader and sportsman, I always kill the lights and blow the crap out of the horn. I rarely hit anything. On the other hand, I do see carcasses laying everywhere. Back in 1978, Union Pacific killed over 2000 antelope in 2 weeks due to a snow storm, and the antelope would follow the track....the only place they could walk in the 4 ft of snow. It was so bad, that UP built a fence about 90 miles east of this area, around Laramie, to give the animal's rights groups something else to focus on (this fence blocked a major winter range for antelope, and as all of you that have dealt with them know, they will no jump a fence, but crawl under them.

SAW

bullet maker · « **Reply #9 on:** February 05, 2005, 03:51:50 AM »

Hello brother railroader

(SAWgunner)
You are correct, in that if you do turn the lights out, most of the time, the wild game, will jump out of inbetween the tracks, henceforth saving their lives. Sometimes that works, more than not.
When you posted that, it reminded me of the times, that kids will park their cars on the tracks, (at night of course), and wait till the last minute before gunning off the tracks. (It must be a thrill thing for them), a very dangerous chicken game also, that they play with the trains).
Anyhow what we did, or I should say the engineer, I was the conductor, he would turn his headlight off, they could hear us coming, but not see us. That got them off the track real fast. It was a dangerous game they played, but once we started turning off the lights, they stopped playing that game.

bullet maker