HeavyDuty Bumper w/ or w/o Grill Guard - Deer

Gooseslayer717 · December 12, 2019

I just moved to the mountains and my drive to and from work is 30 minutes along a back road doing 50mph through deer covered woods and horse farmland.

I have a 2011 GMC Sierra 1500 5.3l Z71 trailer package, with a Leveling Kit, DIabloTune, and some minor adjustments.

I know that a grillguard and the bolt on grills are no good when impacting a deer and can cause more damage.

But i was wondering the difference of the frame mounted heavy duty bumper and the same style bumper with the grill cover.

Do the grill covers help to reduce the damage from the deer or do they generally bend in (even though the bumper is into the frame)

My second thought is suspension/weight and the value of it. I drive highway a lot also and would hate to lose 2-3mpg due to the weight of the new bumper.

1000$ isnt alot when you consider the price of a new bumper, headlights, grill, etc. But i also have insurance for that.

I tried doing some research but was struggling to find accurate information on the true heavy duty grill guard+bumper. I know the smaller bolt on's generally cause more damage and press into the entire front end.

If this is a repeat question please direct me to the thread so i can do the research.

Thank You

For comparison

with Grill Guard https://www.carid.com/2011-gmc-sierra-off-road-bumpers/frontier-truck-gear-front-bumper-342299949.html?parentsubmodel[]=SUBMODEL|1500

Without Grill Guard https://www.carid.com/2011-gmc-sierra-off-road-bumpers/iron-cross-hd-series-front-bumper-335372065.html?parentsubmodel[]=SUBMODEL|1500

Edited December 12, 2019 by Gooseslayer717

greatmizzou · December 12, 2019

Those frame mounted heavy duty bumbers will make deer explode at highway speeds. The deer still has a chance to roll upwards and stike the windshield/cab/hood and cause damage anyway.

Impacting a deer at high speeds is very dangerous and you are correct in brush guards being ineffective.

Having good road awareness will usually do you just fine. I drive for a living and, knock on wood, have yet to hit a deer at high speed.

If you drive in a deer heavy area, I would see a heavy duty bumper serving well when striking the deer. Tradeoff in toughness will be added weight, wind resistance, and possibly noise.

I cant remember the brand...road armor?.... Saw a f250 smoke a tree on gravel road and the truck was fine and bumper had slight bend to it. Would have totalled the truck otherwise.

I do wonder though, if it is attached to the frame if a serious impact with a tree would also cause frame damage directly since you dont have the soft impact areas to take the brunt.

garagerog · December 12, 2019

Just my opinion, but it looks to me like the frontier would do a better job of mitigating damage from a deer impact, unless it was a totally centered impact it may work like the cattle catchers on locomotives of old and deflect the animal to the side, the iron cross on the other hand looks like it would scoop an animal over the hood onto the windshield.