Wild Animal Encounters?

[poppa23]

I usually bike in the forest preserves around Chicago and have heard of attacks made on joggers by wild dogs. Just recently me and my cousin had a couple of dogs chase us. If we weren't on our bikes I think we could of gotten attacked. Have any of you people had situations similar to this with wild dogs or any other animals and if so what's the best way to deal with em? I sometimes ride with my dog also and it makes me hesitant to bring her along.

 

[maarten]

I see baboons on every second ride and the occasionally snail as a road rider. I just ignore them they haven't bothered me up to know.

 

[DanTheMantisMan]

Hi I have encountered a couple of mountain lions and a bear in the woods of the PNW. in the last 5 years.

Originally posted by poppa23
I usually bike in the forest preserves around Chicago and have heard of attacks made on joggers by wild dogs. Just recently me and my cousin had a couple of dogs chase us. If we weren't on our bikes I think we could of gotten attacked. Have any of you people had situations similar to this with wild dogs or any other animals and if so what's the best way to deal with em? I sometimes ride with my dog also and it makes me hesitant to bring her along.

 

[JohnO]

Wild dogs are bad news. They have no natural fear of humans, and usually don't know how to find food, so they're desperate. Best thing to do is run, and try to inform whoever is in charge of the park.

I came across a 4 foot long rat snake a few weeks back. A real beauty, you don't normally see them that big. Nearly ran into a turkey one day.

Snails aren't a problem where I ride, but they keep drafting me...

 

[devon inbred]

i frequently come across badgers and deer around my local trails, plus other furry little buggers

 

[hybridhybrid]

Poppa,
I'm in Chicago too.
Those weren't WILD dogs- those were STRAY dogs on the south side (near Beverly...95th+Western).
That area is downtrodden to say the least = bad neighborhood = gangs raise pit bulls and rottweilers to attack for sport.
Don't assume a couple stray dogs in a remote forest preserve in one small area of the Chicago area mean that all forest preserves in Chicago are dangerous.

 

[poppa23]

Originally posted by hybridhybrid
Poppa,
I'm in Chicago too.
Those weren't WILD dogs- those were STRAY dogs on the south side (near Beverly...95th+Western).
That area is downtrodden to say the least = bad neighborhood = gangs raise pit bulls and rottweilers to attack for sport.
Don't assume a couple stray dogs in a remote forest preserve in one small area of the Chicago area mean that all forest preserves in Chicago are dangerous.

Actually I was just going to the Botanical Gardens that time on the North Branch trail just for a little fun...but yeah...those dogs on the south side are mean...

 

[hybridhybrid]

Oh my! There are wild/stray dogs on the paths in my area?!?
Where'd you see them- umm, where'd they chase you!
I saw a small cougar/lynx off the bike path in Skokie around Church/Dempster a couple years back. And every other year you'll hear about a coyote that found it's way into the city/preserves.

Haha, I live in Skokie and park over at the lots on Golf rd. and Harms and either bike to the Botanic or south to Elston.
Or I park by Northwestern and bike down to Grant Park.
But this is just for now- I plan to bike Busse woods soon and when I get the cajones to take my chances and share roads with SUV's...my trips will be more interesting.

After a 10 year hiatus to cycling I'm a newbie again.(27 -athletic male). I'm riding a road bike because I personally don't like the rolling resistance of mountain bikes- but wish I could beat on my bike and not care like my old trusty ten-speed when I was in highschool.

We should get a Chicago CyclingForums Meet together next spring- that would be cool!

 

[Duckwah]

Big Ass snakes

Australia has got a bunch of very nasty snakes and they like to sun themselves on the trails in spring. I heard about a guy who hit one and his rear wheel flicked it into the guy behind him who found a very ****** off snake bouncing off his helmet

but then i'm not going to vouch for the accuracy of that story...

other than that the hills around sydney are full of mountain goats between 0600-0730 most weekdays, they are dangerous because on the long climb out of Bondi beach they make me look like i'm going backwards

 

[Jim]

I saw a koala yesterday.

It actually surprises me that, despite Australia's reputation, we have very few dangerous animals. Sure, we have more venomous snakes and spiders than most of the world put together, but you're never actually bothered by them. Their existence seems to be an unsubstantiated rumour.

Just about every species of spider around my area (south east QLD) is non-venomous. I hate to be the first person to break the trails in the morning, peeling the webs off my face as I go, but I rest easy knowing they're almost certainly non-venomous.

 

[mmpc001]

Great thread - and something I've been thinking a lot about. I'm just getting back into mountain biking after about 10 years and looking forward to riding the trails again. Recently there have been more bear and mountain lion sightings in my area, however, so I've begun to wonder what (if anything) I should do to avoid a close encounter.

Do any of you guys carry pepper spray or something should you encounter a wild animal on the trail? Dogs don't concern me nearly as much as an angry/startled bear...

 

[big_h]

Hi

I did work on a sugar factory in Tanzania. The farm shares a boundary with the Selous Game Reserve on the Great Ruhua River. Had my MTB there and would go for rides in the cane fields. One day I saw a large yellow dog cross the road quite a distance before me. When I reached the spot I slowed down to see where the dog was but it disappeared. The next day one of the Agricultural Managers shot a very old and decimated lioness in the same area. I still shudder to think she might have lurked closeby and maybe squared me up as her next meal. I also once came across Hippo early one morning as well as an Elephant.

Keep those wheels spinning

Big H

 

[billo]

In Downieville this past summer, on my second run of the day down the XC course, just past the third bridge and most of the way up the last real climb of the run, I saw a bear on the side of the trail.

For a moment it seemed nearly as startled by me as I was by it. Then, looking over its shoulder at me, I swear it practically shrugged. "Oh, another of you damn bikers."

I looked around for cubs, and thankfully found none, so I stood there watching it, a black bear standing perhaps four feet at the shoulder, as it wandered down off the hillside, onto the trail, and ever-so-nonchalantly made its way up the trail.

By this point, two minutes into this encounter, I was thinking, "Okay, cool, a bear. Now, I'm riding here, buddy, so can we get this show on the road?"

Finally, he/she wandered off-trail downhill to investigate a berry bush, and I clipped in and spun past as fast as I could, about fifteen feet uphill from it, confident but less than totally sure that it wasn't interested in eating me.

Definitely the coolest wildlife siting of my rides.

 

[Duckwah]

Geez i wish i could see lions bears and hippos out on rides

all i ever see is skinny people in lycra going past me on the hills and then them dissapearing behind me on the down hills

 

[big_h]

Sometimes the skinny people in lycra are more dangerous than our wildlife encounters!!!!!!!

 

[hdtvkss]

Also living in Australia i gotta agree about the snakes! im lucky enough to live opposite a nation park out in the kenthurst area and damn do we get some snakes! riding the trainls the other day feeling the burn and my mind a millinon miles from anywhere i nearly shat myself as a 4 - 5 foot black snake slithered quickly past the front of my bike! i swear, anything that even made a small rustling sound near me caught my attenion on the way back and now i keep a good eye out for the things.

Also have come across an echida who was ambling his way across the trains, cute lil bugger.

oh and foxes are common 2. damn pests

 

[Blimp]

sheep, deer and the occasional angry bull who has been locked out of his paddock

bulls can run fast

great interval training

 

[Alnamvet]

Came across a pack of jackals while riding the Serengeti;

Colonel Colt...never leave home without him!

 

[-m A s s-]

5 bobcats....thats all i can say i was 2 damn frightened 2 remeba anything else....just sprinted downhil awayfrom them

 

[mtnbkr]

I frequent the trails all around Boise, ID and have seen Bald & Golden Eagles, fox, cyote, wild turkeys, deer and elk. One day I spooked some elk off the road as I came over the top and a minute later one of them crossed the road on the run right in front of me and kicked dirt and dust up in my face. Very cool!!