October 14-Fargo Forum

Stenehjem escapes a ‘lap full of deer’
Janell Cole
State Capitol Bureau - 10/14/2008

State Capitol Bureau

BISMARCK – Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm escaped injury Sunday afternoon when Stenehjem’s SUV struck a large deer near Anamoose, Stenehjem said.

Stenehjem’s Cadillac Escalade has about $5,000 in damage to its left front corner. The buck ran off into a field and probably died, he said.

The attorney general said he and Hamm were on their way to a District 7 Republican rally in Rugby when the accident happened about 3:30 p.m. on a paved road about five miles north of Anamoose and south of state Highway 19.

Stenehjem said the deer – “I’m thinking 12-point buck, at least” – emerged at a run from a corn field on the right side of the highway, ran parallel to his SUV for a short distance and then suddenly turned left and ran across the ditch and onto the pavement in front of the vehicle.

Stenehjem said he braked as soon as he saw the deer, but still struck its left hindquarters. The deer ran into another cornfield on the left side of the road.

If the collision had been a second or so sooner, he would have “had a lap full of deer.”

The accident knocked out the Cadillac’s left headlight, but it was still drivable. Stenehjem said Monday that he and Hamm headed back to Bismarck and canceled their appearance in Rugby.

There was no cell phone service where the accident happened, he said. Hamm tried using his Blackberry and Stenehjem tried using his laptop with a cell phone modem, but without luck. Stenehjem said they eventually connected with the McHenry County sheriff’s office while nearing Wing.