I almost ran into a bear today.
I dropped my girlfriend off at a sunny gravel bar on the river, left her with the car, and rode off to find a dirt road. Most of them were gated. I took the first one I came to, let's see where this old double track goes. About a mile in, I'm riding slowly up a hill, and a snout pokes out of the bushes, then a bear behind it. It looked happy and lumbering, climbed up, walked into the road, looked at me, then obviously startled and ran off into the bushes. I stood there telling myself "don't run don't run don't run" and it was gone. Waited until there was no noise, then left the way I came.
If getting away from cars is part of why we do gravel, I guess wildlife goes with it. What have you seen lately?