That's my beef with brush guards. Instead of breaking out just the turn signal lens you lose the turn signal, headlight, fender, and maybe even the hood.

 

Its a 'brush' guard. Not a 'stone wall' guard.

If you run into an unyielding object, you ARE going to get some damage.

I got a surprise with my old full size blazer.... full time four wheel drive, and what I didn't know at the time, was my back brakes weren't doing anything at all.... So, pull up to the stone retaining wall at the parts store, step on the brakes, front tires lock,(winter time....) so the back tires.... spin twice as fast. Stuffed me into the wall pretty hard. My blazer was about two inches shorter....

 

True... Also true is that I'd rather have brush scratches than bent sheet metal so I won't have a brush guard. Instead I'll go with this which is (more or less) a stone wall guard:



Of course I'm not intending to use it for anything but keeping Bambi from kissing the grille.

 

After I hit a deer doing 45 on a dark mountain road last year I was going to put a brush guard on similar to that earlier on in this post. The shop guy I had look at the rest of the damage (radiator, headlights, AC condensor, etc, etc) told me a brush guard would just fold back in an impact due to the way they mount. After he showed me where and how they mount I agreed. I called the insurance co, had them send me the check, bought new parts myself and for another $500ish bucks got a real bumper instead :-). You can see it below. For those wondering about weight, this one weighs in at about 250 lbs and drops the front end probably 1.5" from where it sits without the stock bumper (I think it sits an inch high that way), so I think it handles it just fine.

 

I don't experience many deer here, but I have a Ranchhand heavy duty brush guard.
I say heavy duty because I can put most of my weight on the hoops and the truck moves, not the guard.
It looks great and is (I think) a better construction than most other guards out there.
Only problem is that its so beefy, I can't get into the engine bay easily....damn size 12's. lol

BTW, its 120lbs IIRC.

 

I simply cannot justify paying more for a bumper, than I did for the whole truck....... I don't have a brush guard either. The body on my truck most certainly isn't the best, and I just don't care about brush scratches and such. It was a farm truck before I got it, and it has more than its fair share of dents, scratches, and other assorted body abuse.

 

I'm more concerned about the people in the truck than I am about the truck itself. I've seen too many people coming into town in an ambulance or meat wagon because they encountered a suicidal Bambi on the road.

 

Those damned old Atlanta deer are everywhere! lol. And as far as vehicles go, rams a pretty safe bet to be a winner versus the many hybrids and smart cars putting around in my area. I will use that money to put steel bars on my house, but I guess its all geographical needs.