What wild animal have you run into? (Page 2)

The two cool ones were turkey and chicks (first time I  have seen chicks).

The coolest one was a few months ago when we were leading a trail run on our MTBs.  At least two dozen deer came out of the woods ran past us.  A most excellent morning.

black snakes, rattle snakes, other snakes all EEWWWWWW Turtles of all shapes and sizes, deer, raccons, road runners and bunnies, turkeys, eagle, armadillos (one time a tiny tiny baby armadillo SO CUTE) and.........dum da dum alligator.

Edited by Socks 2009-06-29 9:06 PM

In MA worst are wild turkeys. Those things are mean and big and stand their ground on the road.

My favorite in MN I see bald Eagles..once while riding a converted to bike path train track I felt this large shadow go over me and it was a Bald Eagle pretty close to me. I see them doing ows when I breath.

We have peacocks around that escape from the little zoo and I hear them but don't see them.

In FL big black snakes..yuck! Doing a brick run after the big black snake I almost stepped on another different kind of snake..yuck times two!

Swimming I see lots of fish and in FL had two dolphins swimming along beside me for a long time. Freaked my husband out some but I never saw them otherwise would have freaked me out. The dolphins and me were the big attraction on the beach that morning. Plus breathing to see eagles pretty much rocks.

I crossed the path of a family of raccoons this morning - 4 little baby ones.  Pretty cute!
I'd like to see this baby beaver again... saw it once before - their little tail was cute

Kangaroos.I don't trust them for a second.

I wasn't aware that Bald Eagles did open water swims, much less even swim at all.  

Uhm I think you win this one

WOW where you guys live?  I thought I am remote enough living in sub area but I guess I am still a city boy...

I get to see all kinds of desert creatures while I'm training.  On average I see about 10 lizards every run.  They like to race me....actually they are running from me but when they get scared and run the same way I am it seems like they are racing.  They always win too!

I've had a couple humming birds race me on my bike.  They fly alongside me taunting me with their rapidly beating wings.  Then they zoom off and they always beat me too.

One evening around dusk my wife and I were riding and trying to get back to the car before it got completely dark.  We're cruising along at a decent clip when we see this blob waddling up to the bike path just ahead.  We can't really make out what it is but I was guessing that it was a skunk.  We figure our bike noise will scare it off but it just keeps waddling toward the path and the timing looks like we are set for a close encounter.  We zoom by just getting passed it before it makes the path.  Turns out it wasn't a skunk but was a porcupine.  We were so glad we got by it without incident.

Mountain biking in AR:
1.)  5+ ft black snake crossing the singletrack. It was huge! 
2.) Came too close for comfort to numerous water mocs when I've been on trails by water's edge. 
3.) Have caught lots gigantic spider webs & huge spiders in the face on little-used singletrack that resulted in dumping the bike, ripping my helmet off & flailing wildly, and screaming like a little girl

Running:
1.) Hit on hip by a dove on a pre-dawn run.
2.) Came across a 5-6 ft boa or python sunning itself on an asphalt city park trail once. I assume it was dumped, and was living off the land.  I made a wide path around, and it paid me no attention. 

Road biking:
1.)  Close call once with a wild turkey - I scared him as much as he scared me - fortunately, didn't crash as I veered around.

Those dang spiders are the worst. Ick.

Cheers, Chris

Mostly normal stuff like squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons.  I did have a couple of deer jump right in front of me while riding, but I was able to stop in time. During the same ride, there were some wild turkeys.  I've also seen snakes and possums, but mostly as road kills.

One of the routes I run is near a lake with lots of geese.  They are really mean!  Hate running by them.

While mountain biking I almost ran head on into a deer.  We stopped and stared at each other for a moment.  I've also seen elk and turkeys.

On my road bike I got sort of chased by an emu.  Or perhaps he just wanted to race me

I also rounded a corner once and spooked a bull.  He took off running up the road looking for an opening to get away from me.  Who knew they spooked so easy?

Just the normal snakes,, a couple of years back we had a coyote problem, my dog got bit by one when we wandered into his path.  Lately there have been a lot of bobcat sightings, but I havent' seen any yet

Riding last week, I managed to see deer, coyotes, and rattlesnakes.  All in one ride.  I love Colorado!

We have a lot of wild life here. My most interesting encounter was one day riding up our bike path and I saw two tourists taking photos into the hillside. I thought it was just a deer or something. As I got about 100 feet from them, a moose charged them. Then she saw me, changed her direction and charged me right down the bike path. I slammed on my brakes, unclipped, spun the bike around and sprinted the opposite direction. It sounded exactly like a horse chasing me.

Eventually I looked back and she'd given up. Once she walked down the hill away from the path I rode up to the tourists who had no idea they'd just escaped certain serious injury and maybe death because as it turns out there were two moose and one was a calf.

I wish I'd gotten their names because they probably have photos of the moose chasing me.

I went on with my ride and and hour or so later when I got back to that spot the two moose were just standing on the path which was now closed by police with lots of cyclists waiting on each side of the closure. They also had personel on the freeway down the hill ~100 yds away so that they could close it to allow the moose to cross back into the wilderness. After an hour or so of waiting the moose went down the hill and they opened the path.

During a heavy drought a couple years back, there was a coyote that had taken to hanging around a bridle path I used to run on next to the LA River.  Saw him in the same spot right on the side of the path a couple days in a row...first time, he edged away toward the brush, but the next day he just stood there by the path and watched me run by.  A little spooky.

I posted this cos I knew you would all think that. But, the thing is I think skunks and the like are pretty exciting.