Do Deer whistles actually work?

[zguitar71]

The tires in a car at highway speed make more noise than the wistle will, I doubt they can hear them over your tires and the other cars out traveling around you. A recient noise survey taken over 1/4 mile from I-90 in a neighbohood in Missoula found the average Db to be 66 with spikes around 75 then 18 wheelers went by. There is no way those little wistles will project the soundwaves with enough force to be heard over the other noise on the highway. We have the hole range of animals being hit around here, Deer, Elk, Moose, Bear (black and grizzly), wolf and even a mountain goat got hit about 100 miles south of hear on Highway 93 not too long ago; and traveling in the thin steel shell of a 240, you could die from the impact from any one of them when you are traveling at 75+mph. I think the Deer whistle is a scam.

[240ZX]

Christopher,

It is possible for a high frequency signal, with sufficent SPL, to be heard by an animal who is capable of hearing high frequency, over the lower frequency signals produced from general road noise. Animal hearing ranges are quite different from a human's range of hearing. The frequency responce from this type whistle is beyond a humans hearing capability. Of course one would have to determine the SPL level of the whistle and that will vary depending upon the speed it is traving through the air. It would however require some relatively expensive equipment to measure the frequency and SPL. There are just too many variables to consider to simply say...."There is no way"!

P.S. By the way, I'm not implicating that these whistles do or do not work!

[TomoHawk]

Just in case... the poop sheet for the product I bought, as well as all the web sites I've researched so far, have all said that the whistle becomes active at about 35 MPH.

[EScanlon]

The whole debate about deer whistles reminds me of a joke I heard some years back.

A visitor to a mental asylum in Minnesota is out walking the grounds with one of the doctors. As they pass a bench, one of the inmates is seen vigorously waving his hands back and forth above his head. The visitor asks the doctor what the inmate is doing, and the doctor replies that he doesn't know but he'll ask.

Approaching the inmate, he says, "Excuse me, but what are you doing?"

To which the inmate replies vigorously, "I'm scaring rhinoceroses away from here."

The visitor, unable to contain himself, exclaims "But there aren't any rhinoceroses for thousands of miles from here!"

To which the inmate replies......"See how well it works?"

Could this be the story behind the deer whistle?

Put it on your car, if you never hit a deer....it worked. If you DO hit a deer, then it was a defective whistle.

Kind of like advertising, if the promotion works, you take credit. If the promotion doesn't work....the target audience wasn't receptive.

Enrique

[zguitar71]

Christopher,

It is possible for a high frequency signal, with sufficent SPL, to be heard by an animal who is capable of hearing high frequency, over the lower frequency signals produced from general road noise. Animal hearing ranges are quite different from a human's range of hearing. The frequency responce from this type whistle is beyond a humans hearing capability. Of course one would have to determine the SPL level of the whistle and that will vary depending upon the speed it is traving through the air. It would however require some relatively expensive equipment to measure the frequency and SPL. There are just too many variables to consider to simply say...."There is no way"!

P.S. By the way, I'm not implicating that these whistles do or do not work!

I do have a good understanding of the hearing range in the animal world. High frequence sound disipates quickly and has a short range. By the time a deer is close enough to hear the wistle it is probably too late. The direction of the whistle would make a difference too. The horn on a PA speaker is designed to compress and push out the high frequencies in order to be heard over the lower ones. However; the high frequency sound does not fill the room like the low ones so if you are not in front or in line with the horns range angles (which comes off the horn fairly tight) then the highs begin to get drowned out with the lower frequency sounds bigger power. The same thing would happen on the highway with the whistle. Even though the deer can hear a higher frequency that does not mean it can hear that sound over the infiltration of other sounds like the tire noise and what are the odds the whistle is directed towards the deer's ears and if it is the combo of the deer and the car moving the whistle will not be pointed to the deer for very long. The other problem is the absorbtion of high frequency sound. Things like trees and grass will absorb the sound while the lower frequency will penitrate through leaving the higher freq. drowned out. That is why the PA speaker has the horn on top, the bass will go around and through the crowd but the highs will be asorbed by them, and the higher the frequency the more this happens. It is hear enough to get high frequencies heard in a room where there is sound containment, in an open setting like the highway it is even harder.

[Go240Zags]

Around here many people swear by them. I have them on my truck and have been lucky enough not to hit one in 14 years w/ that truck. Had none on my parent's cars and hit two in less than a month last August. I take lots of photos and if you stop and whistle at a deer it will usually just look up and stare at you in a curious way. I've seen hunters do the same. Do the deer whistles work -- can't hurt and they can be had for pretty cheap. Best bet is to keep your eyes open, but that doesn't help if they leap from above on a hillside along the road or if there are a dozen standing all over the highway on the other side of a curve. Then there's the debate over slam on the brakes or speed up and hit them hard enough to fly them over the car. I've found the brake method has worked best for me in the past.