I never hit a deer on the highway, but some time ago I was driving alone from my brother's home well after midnight. Taking a short cut along a windy patch of a deserted two lane country road, I heard a loud thud under me. Thinking I blew a tire in the middle of nowhere, I pulled over.

My tires were fine. On the side of the road just behind my car was a plump, full-sized pig that I had hit with the car. He was alive, but hurt. There were no cars or homes in sight. I remember passing a dark farmhouse about a mile back, but that was it for houses.

After ten minutes with no other cars coming by, I moved the pig off the side of the road by a fence, and went on my way.

My mistake. Two days later I get a citation from the State Police for leaving the injured pig on the side of the road.