So I ran over a deer that was lying dead in the road.

My shifter is stuck in drive, I can not move it.

The transmission is stuck in 1st.

I haven't gotten the car in the air yet, but from what I can see nothing appears bent.

 

The bracket and shifter linkage on the side of the trans pan is probably jammed or bent.

 

I got a couple of pictures when I washed off everything, but I don't really know what I am looking at.

Never messed with the transmission at all.

Can I simply disconnect the cable there at the bracket and see if it shifts using the bracket?

 

So it was the shift cable. I replaced it with an ATP cable and the plastic connector that goes through the bracket at the transmission is garbage.

It barely holds in the bracket, and I had to run some wire under the squeeze part to keep it spread out enough it doesn't pull back out.

Is there a better brand cable available?

 

Yes, I got tired of the bad aftermarket ones, too. Check out Shiftworks.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ent-cable.html

 

To help clarify what you are looking at, the shifter cable connects to the shifter arm via a bolt, and the shifter arm connects to the transmission via another bolt. The shifter arm.pivots around that other bolt, and it pivots into whichever gear you are selecting. The front position will be park. If it is jammed, then the shifter lever will not pivot.