anyone ever encounter wild animals

[nismo driver]

has anyone ever encountered a wild animal on the trail, bears, wild dogs, cyotes, elk, moose, angry beaver, snakes?

i do alot of riding alone in the woods and there have been frequent bear sitings in the area and lots of snakes recently. anyone ever have a confrontation?

 

[MountainPro]

we dont have bears and stuff in Scotland but i frequently see foxes, buzzards, weasles, seals (when cycling a shore route) red deer, fallow deer of course the occasional loch monster.

 

[Scotty_Dog]

Living in central Florida, many of the local trails are situated in and around old reclaimed phosphate mines. The topography of these areas often includes lakes and ponds, so it is fairly common to find 6-14 foot alligators very near and/or actually on the trails.

 

[nismo driver]

Living in central Florida, many of the local trails are situated in and around old reclaimed phosphate mines. The topography of these areas often includes lakes and ponds, so it is fairly common to find 6-14 foot alligators very near and/or actually on the trails.

how do you handle these encounters? do they snap at you or just take off?

 

[RubberSideDown]

I've come across a rattle snake one time. It was actually pretty cool. I had never seen one up close like that or heard one for that matter. The only problem with rattlers are, they say it's always the second rider that gets bit. Fortunately no one was right behind me and I was able to warn the other riders following. I took a long stick and pushed it on it's way.

 

[Scotty_Dog]

how do you handle these encounters? do they snap at you or just take off?

Most times they seem just as scared and surprised as myself, and scurry out of the way.

I do recall reading about an encounter earlier this year, in which an alligator actually bit and held onto someone's front wheel. The rider came around a blind corner of the trail and practically ran over the gator before he realized what was going on. Besides a trashed tire, no harm was done.

Alligator encounters are very common in Florida, and not just with cyclists. Most Florida locals are used to this, and it probably compares to someone from another region seeing bears or the like.

 

[Brunswick_kate]

I was hit by a deer....yes that's correct...Bambi did the slam dancing on me, the poor innocent cyclist.

 

[Aurawolf]

We have sucidial little parrie dogs here in northern colorado, but other then that seen mule deer, rabbits, a couple different snakes only one rattlesnake and it was off the side of the trail minding his own stuff and signs of courgar which has been roaming the front range since last year never actually seen the cat itself just a deer leg and some tracks.

 

[lumpy]

Well, today I saw whales migrating along the coast. Saw a shark, oh so slowly, killing a seal about 2 months ago. I've seen skunks, countless deer, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, rattlesnakes, suicidal squirrels, newts, etc.

Never had a run in with any of them however.

 

[Shreklookalike]

I didn't vote because the animals I've encountered so far are not dangerous. A couple weeks about a half dozen or so antelope crossed the road in front of me. And earlier this week I was nearly buzzed by a rather larger radio controlled model airplane. Not a wild animal, but sure would have been an interesting collision to tell the grandkids about.

 

[penguinrusty]

I've seen a cyote walking on the trail, as well as several large bucks and a whole unch of dogs that chased after me.

 

[mithril721]

I heard a story about a cyclist riding out in Colorado I think and he came across a mother bear on one side of the trail and her cubs on the other side and was killed by the mother bear because he was between her and her cubs. I don't know how true this story is.. it was more like a friend of a friend's friend or something. Also, if the guy died, I don't know how they would know the story, but yeah... it's still scary to think about, as I'm sure it's possible.

Personally, the only thing I've come across was a whole family of large ground birds.. may have been grouse... I'm not really sure. Also, here at school there are deer all over the campus and around the trails, but I pretty much dismiss them because we see them all the time and they're pretty used to people. I've yet to have a true run-in with one.

 

[BungedUP]

HA! That's pretty funny about being hit by a deer. Did it linger and stomp you a few times, or was it a hit and run?

 

[Juba]

Me and my friend were riding up a long gradual climb. From off to our right we heard something crashing in the trees, and a fully grown male moose charged through the treeline, stopped and stood there staring us down about 10' from us. Needless to say we climbed the rest of the hill in what must have been world record pace.

Cheers,
Juba

 

[Brunswick_kate]

HA! That's pretty funny about being hit by a deer. Did it linger and stomp you a few times, or was it a hit and run?

Hit and run...she hit me and fled up the trail. Both of us were scared 3/4 to death. She had come bounding out of the bushes and hadn't been expecting this foolish middle-aged broad on her bike at that hour of the morning.

 

[sungchang]

I see bunch of deers, squirrels and birds as I ride near a Wild Life preserve.

 

[allanw]

has anyone ever encountered a wild animal on the trail, bears, wild dogs, cyotes, elk, moose, angry beaver, snakes?

i do alot of riding alone in the woods and there have been frequent bear sitings in the area and lots of snakes recently. anyone ever have a confrontation?

Twice I came across black bears here in washington state, on cougar mtn...

 

[whackyscientist]

Plenty of occasions. Here are two.

I live in Australia.
One time I was riding a single track in suburbia when I turned a corner and something was across the track. I thought it was a small stick / log etc. I bunnyhopped over the obstrcution and looked down upon doing so to see if I was going to clear it. When looking down I noticed that it was a red bellied black snake! A venomous snake and potentially dangerous snake, not something like a python.

Another occasion I was in an MTB orienteering race with a friend. (all groups are in teams of 2). We were deep into the bush/forest etc, far away from anybody else. We where trying to find the next checkpoint but got lost. My partner got a flat, stopped to fix it and I continued on further to try and find our location and pinpoint it on the map. I came upon a slope going down and just locked up both wheels. I was sliding on the dirt and rocks and then unclipped. I wondered why I decided to just stop. It must have been that I knew that I would just have to come back up. Then I looked at the ground, about 4metres (12 feet) ahead of me was a snake. It was dead still in the middle of the track. Then it slowly lifted itself about 45centimetres (1 1/2 feet) from the ground. I just unclipped my other shoe and slowly walked backwards up the hill. I didnot think I was ever going to make it up the hill and the snake would strike. I had to walk backwards up a loose dirt and rocky slope, with a camelpak on containing about 3litres of water and other equipment, and a rack on my bike with a tent, sleeping bag and other things as well.

 

[MaggieMay]

has anyone ever encountered a wild animal on the trail, bears, wild dogs, cyotes, elk, moose, angry beaver, snakes?

i do alot of riding alone in the woods and there have been frequent bear sitings in the area and lots of snakes recently. anyone ever have a confrontation?

The only wild animals I've encountered are the one's driving cars. Oh, and yes I've been attacked by vicious Magpies.

 

[whackyscientist]

Seen another red bellied black snake this afternoon. Not in the same location as previously seen, about 8km away.

The tail of the snake was about 3m /9ft away, with the head about 1.5m /5ft further away. It looked at me, raised its head about 15-20cm /6-8 inches and then went towards the creek.

Startled at first, but was relieved to see that it was a red bellied black, and not a brown snake.