Oh, deer! Camera captures animal flying toward cyclists after being hit by car

Graphic video footage captures a deer being struck by a car in North Carolina. (YouTube)

Some cyclists in North Carolina were nearly hit by a flying deer after the animal was struck by a car -- and it was all captured on video.

The collision occurred Wednesday as Peter Flur and four friends were finishing a 45-mile bike ride from the Brace Family YMCA in Charlotte through Union County. Mounted cameras on the front and rear of Flur’s bicycle captured the incident, the Charlotte Observer reported.

As the group approached an intersection, a large deer sprinted across the road in front of lead cyclist Missie Mansfield and was struck a split-second later by a dark-colored Audi traveling in the opposite direction.

The car sent the deer hurtling through the air, back across the double yellow line. Cyclist Melonie Norris can be seen ducking while trying to keep her bike steady.

“I look up and see this thing flying at us,” Flur said afterward. “For a few seconds, I didn’t even know what it was. ... It happened so fast, at that very instant, we just didn’t know.”

Flur said he believes the deer did not survive but can't be sure.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

The driver of the Audi continued on without stopping.

The group had been helping Norris train for next weekend’s Ironman World Championship competition in Hawaii. Still in shock, they pulled off to the side of the road to process what had just happened.

“As we were heading back into the Y,” Flur said, “Missy looked back at me and was like, ‘Oh my God, you have that on video.’”

Flur uploaded the video onto his computer and contemplated whether to share with the public.

After discussing it with the other riders, Flur posted the video on YouTube and it has been viewed more than 10,000 times.

“Really, from my perspective, it was just: These are the crazy things that we see when we’re on our bikes,” Flur says when asked why he decided to make the footage public. “It’s still shocking to me to think that we actually saw that and caught it on video.”