Area man's dinner ruined after recalling deer he hit on way to restaurant

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When Sven Carlson decided to load his wife into the car and head to the Big O Saloon, he had nothing but burgers and beer on his mind.

But after a dark detour took him down a windy, unfamiliar stretch of road, he found himself face-to-face with a large herd of deer.

He tried to apply his brakes, but it was already too late, and his mid-nineties Toyota Corolla collided with the youngest deer on the road, savagely disfiguring it in the process.

Carlson, a bank manager at Wauna Credit Union, found himself immediately unequipped to handle the situation. He had seen dying animals before, but only on television. This time it was all too real.

"I wasn't sure what to do," Carlson admitted. "I know you're supposed to put them out of their misery, but I just couldn't do it. It kept looking up at me and waiting for me to get on with it, but all I could do was stare. Eventually, some guy in an old pick-up truck came by and broke it's neck. God, I can still hear that awful snapping sound. It was horrible."

Although the damage to his vehicle was quite extensive, Carlson's morbidly obese wife urged him to proceed to the restaurant as originally planned.

After arriving at the restaurant, however, Carlson found himself unable to eat.

"I drank a lot of beers," Carlson added. "I needed something to take the edge off. But there was something about that burger I just couldn't stomach. Every time I tried to take a bite, the only thing I could see was that little deer just begging to die. I had a couple fries."