[falcolas]

1) Deer can and do jump.

2) The difference between the nose of a car while braking and while coasting is an inch or two. Won’t make a lick of difference.

Source for 1) Having a deer jump over my car, leaving only fur in the windshield wiper blades. 2) Mythbusters, measuring for a “Wanted” car jump myth.

[jacquesm]

Thanks. This was advice dispensed by multiple locals in Canada where the deer were so thick on the road that these encounters would happen at least once every week, I didn't actually set up a scientific side-by-side test to see what the difference would be. Braking hard transfers a few hundred pounds of load (depending on the weight of the vehicle, typically about 25% or so) to the front axis, and how far it dips depends on how stiff your suspension is. A typical family car (say, a Caravan or Windstar) will drop quite a bit more than an inch or two but even then I agree it may not make much of a difference because of the way the nose of the vehicle is shaped.