They have used the "sleep late" tactic too much.
The deer hitting the car is hard to take.
And then even though she knows she's late she stops to try to help a deer that doesn't need helping.
And at the end she gets out of the car to look for it. The deer is gone. It's been hours. For it to be somewhere nearby it would have to have received a near-death injury.
Review of The Deer Hunters
