Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 03:23:03 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject: Re: Deer Strike & Stories
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Actually the Arkansas Utility guy taped his wife and it sounded like barking
dogs in the neighborhood.
Remember in Arkansas we are 49th in everything, hence our motto"Thank God
for Mississippi". OOOPPS, I forget, we're not 49th in mobile home sales or
teenage pregnancies. Kinda makes a feller feel proud, ya know!.
Signed, Rednecks,Whitesocks, and Blue Ribbon Beer.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Arnott" <jrasite@EONI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: Deer Strike & Stories
> From: <http://www.usroads.com/journals/rmj/9705/rm970503.htm>
>
> Whistles and Other Noisemakers
>
> Ultrasonic whistles mounted on vehicle bumpers emit a shrill tone when
> air passes through them as the vehicle travels over thirty miles per
> hour. Manufacturers claim these whistles are audible to deer (but not to
> humans) and effective in frightening deer from the roadway. The whistle
> is about two inches long and bullet shaped. In 1990, according to The
> New York Times NATIONAL, deer whistles cost about $25, and such groups
> as the California, Iowa, and Kansas state police were using them on
> their patrol cars.
>
> While manufacturers contend deer can hear the whistle up to a quarter
> mile away, no published research verifies the device's effectiveness.
> The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety presented evidence refuting
> claims promoting the whistles:
>
> Georgia's Game and Fish Department, for example, found that in hundreds
> of observations from vehicles equipped with deer whistles, deer didn't
> respond. Whistles on vehicles going 25-30 mph produced no ultrasonic
> sound, although some ultrasonic and lower frequencies were produced when
> the whistles were blown by mouth. According to wildlife biologists at
> the University of Georgia, neither deer nor humans can hear ultrasonic
> sound. Whistles blown by mouth near captive deer produce no response.
>
> A University of Wisconsin study found that three types of whistle did
> produce low-pitched and ultrasonic sounds at speeds of 30 to 70 miles
> per hour; however, researchers were unable to verify that deer responded
> to the sounds, even at distances well below the distances from which
> manufacturers claim the whistles are heard. Moreover, deer would only be
> able to hear the whistles if there were a straight shot between the deer
> and the whistle. If curves, trees, or other obstacles came between the
> deer and the whistle, the device would be ineffective.
>
> According to an article called "Blowing the Whistle on Deer Scare
> Devices" in the Mid-February 1993 Farm Journal, the Ohio State Police
> installed deer whistles on their patrol vehicles; however, they reported
> finding no significant decrease in collisions between patrol cars and
> deer. The same article indicated that a panel of the World Society for
> the Protection of Animals could find no data proving "that such a device
> can actually stop an animal crossing the road, which is the main purpose
> of the device." Finally, Washington State University researcher Leonard
> Askham felt the evidence tended to favor a conclusion that deer whistles
> do not work. "Even if the devices were effective," Askham warned, "they
> would soon become clogged with insects and dirt and stop working."
>
> The New York Times NATIONAL described a different, creative way to use
> sound to frighten deer and other animals off the road and out of the
> path of oncoming vehicles. The article explained:
>
> Before he discovered deer whistles, a supervisor for an Arkansas utility
> came up with his own plan to scare deer off dark country roads. He taped
> the barking of his neighbors' dogs, rigged an amplified speaker to the
> front of his truck and then broadcast the tape as he cruised down
> highways.
>
> But he abandoned the scheme, amid concern that the barking was not only
> scaring deer, but awakening residents of southern Arkansas.
>
>
> Your mileage *might* vary, but not by much...
>
> Jim Arnott
> List Admin
> WetWesties
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