I’ve never hit one and have prevented friends from hitting them when I was a passenger. Most people don’t see the deer in the dark because they are looking for the wrong thing. They do not reflect light except with their eyes. So you have to look for a dullness in your headlights. I see them in the road, off the road, moving and standing still. It is like their hide absorbs the light or diffuses it. State Troopers alway collect the deer. An adult white tail can knock an 18 wheeler out of commission.
I was in a new (5 months old) ‘74 Ford Pinto. It completely demolished the front of the car, spun it around backwards and it landed on the side of a steep embankment ready to roll down the side into a ditch. Other cars stopped to help and even a 18 wheeler from the opposite side of the Interstate stopped. He said he was watching my headlights when I hit and suddenly they just went out for no apparent reason that he could see, so he stopped and called for the HP on his CB.
The HP called a tow truck and they took the car to a nearby Ford dealership.
I was stuck in Kansas City for ten days while my car was repaired...................