Hacker Remix

Finland is painting deer antlers with reflective paint (2014)

72 points by andrewfromx 4 days ago | 94 comments

spcldvlpr 10 hours ago

There were experiment painting reindeer antlers here in Finland. But it failed, the paint wont last. So nothing to see here really. Yet another internet ”thing” circling around

Cthulhu_ 2 hours ago

Not to mention they have to round up all the deer and paint each and every one of them first. Which is probably fine for farmed deer but not wild ones.

carlhjerpe 4 hours ago

I think what fancy cars do with infrared cameras is the actual solution. I don't know what's so prohibitively expensive about infrared cameras, I think it should be standard in "mid+tier" cars in the nordics and similars. However fencing has become very supermegamuch better which works well too, i guess because of more automated installation

mystified5016 3 hours ago

ITER. Thermal cameras are used in missile guidance, so the US makes it hard to get good thermal cameras.

nntwozz 8 hours ago

Did they try other alternatives, like reflective tape? Wrap it around like handlebar tape. Make it degradable or else the woods will fill up with junk.

Let's brainstorm some more, design a special hunter-seeker robot powered by AI that captures deer in the wild and performs this menial task.

Thank you, I'll show myself out.

Cthulhu_ 2 hours ago

Bio-engineer the animals so their antlers and/or fur becomes reflective itself, and / or glow in the dark.

flanked-evergl 6 hours ago

You seem to have forgotten to take your comment out with you.

comrade1234 22 hours ago

Just a random WI deer story. I have a few but here’s one.

I was driving on a two-lane highway and saw a deer up ahead on the side of the road so I started slowing down. The deer saw me, panicked and ran into the brush/woods, then changed direction and ran out and back toward the highway. I kept slowing. It changed direction and ran back toward the woods, changed direction again and ran back toward the highway. By now I was at a full stop and parallel to the deer. It ran head first into the side of my truck, fell down, got up and sort of stumbled back into the woods…

OneLeggedCat 21 hours ago

During the rut, I've seen muleys here in Montana act absolutely bonkers. I once saw a young but large buck darting in and out of traffic, playing chicken with oncoming 50 mph vehicles, to impress a group of does. He'd run across the road right in front of a car, then pronk around proudly while the does stared at him.

FredPret 21 hours ago

> while the does stared at him

I hope they stared in horror and not arousal, otherwise these deer will never learn

trilbyglens 21 hours ago

Sounds like human males in rut

CoastalCoder 2 hours ago

If only it were seasonal for us human males.

INTPenis 22 hours ago

Was there a game fence preventing it from entering the woods maybe? Not sure how you do in WI but here in Sweden highways are always lined with game fences.

The sad thing is when an animal somehow gets over it, under it, however, and is then trapped on the highway side.

zdragnar 6 hours ago

We don't really have game fences like that here. The closest thing is sound barriers along freeways through suburban and urban areas which occasionally trap animals, but even then there's usually enough room along the side of the road a spooked animal won't feel the need to run back towards the road after fleeing it.

lupusreal 6 hours ago

This is common, deer are incredibly stupid. For those postulating the existence of a fence, no. They do this when there is no fence, both at night and also in broad daylight when there are no headlights to dazzle them either.

bell-cot 22 hours ago

My guess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease

And based on the USGS map, it is very common in WI.

mikeyouse 21 hours ago

Eh, deer are just very stupid and indecisive when there are headlights. That’s why “shining” while hunting is illegal. There’s a chance that it had CWD but given my experience with them in Michigan, it’s just as likely to have been a dumb one.

gaoryrt 7 hours ago

Reindeer under headlights: Oh, I think it’s my time.

fifilura 22 hours ago

Title should be changed to reindeer, not deer. As those are domesticated by the Sami people. Then it makes more sense and should not be a major task, since they are regularly caught to be ear-marked for example. In general a good idea IMO.

For deer it would be trickier, but I imagine you could somehow do it by setting up feeding stations (pretty common with hunters) and spray them when they approach it. But it would be messy. Now my imagination is wandering, please stop me.

joecool1029 22 hours ago

It's not possible at all to do this for white-tailed deer. The does and fawns don't grow antlers. My state, NJ, has a population of over 100,000 deer and average densities over 100 individuals per square mile (with some areas over double that).

tantalor 21 hours ago

You could snare the does and put high-vis reflective vests on them.

squigz 4 hours ago

Do they need a hard hat too?

recursive 21 hours ago

Indeed. You might as well try to paint all the squirrels or pigeons.

LeifCarrotson 3 hours ago

Squirrels and pigeons don't regularly weigh 120 lbs, don't like to eat the grass on road shoulders at dawn and dusk, and as a result they don't total nearly as many cars.

But all of these are far less dangerous than a 500 lbs reindeer, 600 lbs elk, or 1400 lbs moose!

Izikiel43 20 hours ago

Sounds like you need wolves

joecool1029 14 hours ago

The coyotes are evolving up in size to fill that niche, it's becoming a problem.

recursive 19 hours ago

There was an old lady who swallowed a ...

_aavaa_ 21 hours ago

Wouldn’t that be a death sentence by making them super easy for predators to spot?

ntonozzi 21 hours ago

Luckily most predators don't use headlights.

_aavaa_ 21 hours ago

No, but their antlers are now white and likely reflect more light in general than uncoated.

sandworm101 4 hours ago

Antlers are weapons. Most predators will avoid the food with knives on its head. From a darwinian perspective, it is also probably better that the wolves pay attention to the well-armed male deer rather than the productive females that do not have antlers.

Hamuko 9 hours ago

Are deer relying on hiding from predators or are they just relying on being able to escape predators? Deer are fairly large animals so they're kinda conspicuous already. I think they also don't get white coats during winter, so they stick out from the snow.

pelagic_sky 21 hours ago

Reminds me of efforts to reduce roadkill in Australia.

"The virtual fence is the latest attempt to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. It uses a line of posts spaced along the roadside, each with a unit producing loud sounds and flashing lights aimed away from the road. Vehicle headlights activate the units, which are claimed to alert animals and reduce the risk of collision."

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2024...

anyonecancode 21 hours ago

We have that in a forested section near me in New Jersey. I think it might be this: https://deerdeter.com/