Wildlife sighting when riding?
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I met a woman in Jeffrey City, WY who told me she and her husband had a freezer full on antelope meat.
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Deer at the towne campsite in Waterton Village, AB. It's actuallt kind of sad. The deer are so habituated that they have no fear of people. In fact, that morning we saw one harassing a woman who was walking her dog. The deer thought she had food. She kept flinging her arm to shoo it away, which only made things worse because the deer was expecting her to throw it something to eat. The dog was barking the entire time, but the deer paid it no mind.
Habituated mountain goats can also been seen roaming freely about town.
This eastern water snake was fascinated by us. He kept following ius as we walked along the bank of the Delaware River. Raven Rock, NJ.
Very hard to see, but a moose with a newborn in the Big Hole Valley SE of Jackson, MT. Same vallet I saw the badger mentioned above way back in 2000.
Nice view once you make it to the 7,300' pass.
Habituated mountain goats can also been seen roaming freely about town.
This eastern water snake was fascinated by us. He kept following ius as we walked along the bank of the Delaware River. Raven Rock, NJ.
Very hard to see, but a moose with a newborn in the Big Hole Valley SE of Jackson, MT. Same vallet I saw the badger mentioned above way back in 2000.
Nice view once you make it to the 7,300' pass.
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This was freaky. I had just retirned to camp after a day ride to the beach during a loong weekend trip. All of a sudden, there was massive buzzing and something plopped down on the picnic table, almost hitting me on the shoulder.
Turned out to be a bald-headed wasp destroying a cicada. Got this shot just before the wasp flew off with part of the cicada. You can see various parts of the victim scattered about.
Turned out to be a bald-headed wasp destroying a cicada. Got this shot just before the wasp flew off with part of the cicada. You can see various parts of the victim scattered about.
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#79
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some big birds over the years like california condors, golden and bald eagles, peregrine falcons. plenty of snakes and tarantulas.
deer and elk and a moose. one or two bobcats. wild horses/mules or donkeys. bighorn sheep. wild turkeys.
the most intimidating encounters have been riding arizona hwy 67 from the hamlet/junction of jacob lake to the edge of the
northern rim of (the) grand canyon national park and back. there is a decent-sized grouping of bison (80-120 head?) just inside the park entrance
of the north rim before the road tilts up. it's at the extreme eastern edge of the miles-long meadows. they are all too close to the road
and it is always an adventure as to how fast/slow to go and what gear you wanna be in as a roadie. have successfully gone with the 7-8 mph but
in the middle of the gearing in case of needing to sprint closeish to the edge of the group (relatively flat stretch).
deer and elk and a moose. one or two bobcats. wild horses/mules or donkeys. bighorn sheep. wild turkeys.
the most intimidating encounters have been riding arizona hwy 67 from the hamlet/junction of jacob lake to the edge of the
northern rim of (the) grand canyon national park and back. there is a decent-sized grouping of bison (80-120 head?) just inside the park entrance
of the north rim before the road tilts up. it's at the extreme eastern edge of the miles-long meadows. they are all too close to the road
and it is always an adventure as to how fast/slow to go and what gear you wanna be in as a roadie. have successfully gone with the 7-8 mph but
in the middle of the gearing in case of needing to sprint closeish to the edge of the group (relatively flat stretch).
Last edited by diphthong; 11-13-23 at 02:32 AM.
#80
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I wasn't able to get pictures because I was descending quick, flowy single track on my mountain bike, but I had a groundhog run underneath me, yes between my front and rear wheel, without out hitting him and causing me to crash. It took me a few minutes to realize that I just missed a really bad crash.
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Mr. and Mrs. Sasquatch, Yaak, MT, 2019.
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Heard of doe elk with calves (with one whitetail thrown into the mix) west of Thompson Falls, MT. My stopping to take the photo made them nervous. As as I started riding again, they got totally spooked and stampeded across the road in front of me. The hooves on the pavement made a loud noise.
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Curious deer wandered through my campsite at Wayfarers State Park in Bigfork, MT in 2019.
Hard to see, but a little porcupine in Old Millbrook Village, NJ.
Former wildlife from Lake, Ontario near Mexico, NY, 1999.
Hard to see, but a little porcupine in Old Millbrook Village, NJ.
Former wildlife from Lake, Ontario near Mexico, NY, 1999.
Last edited by indyfabz; 11-15-23 at 06:53 AM.
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Two sandhill cranes in Whitehall, MT, 2019.
Bald Eagle near Ekstrom's Stage Station, MT, 2011.
Another along the Allegheny River Trail south of Franklin, PA, 2022.
Bald Eagle near Ekstrom's Stage Station, MT, 2011.
Another along the Allegheny River Trail south of Franklin, PA, 2022.
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I’ve seen quite a few coyote on my early morning rides through the citrus orchards and the canyons. Also , occasionally, deer . The coyote always make me a bit nervous , especially when they are on the side of the road just watching me pedal by.
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Brent
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I live in a town of over 100,000 people and ride from my house, so the country I ride through is not wide-open country. That being said, I do see the occasional deer, and at various times have also seen live box turtles, vultures, hawks, wild turkeys, scissortail flycatchers (our state bird), and around dusk: skunks, opossums, armadillos and even a fox. I have not seen a live coyote while riding, although one did wander into my neighborhood not long ago. Unfortunately, most of the smaller critters (skunks, opossums, squirrels, turtles, snakes) are much more common in road kill form.
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Philly is blessed with a huge city park system. We have all sorts of critters running around. We have even had a few bears inside the city limits over the last 10 years. Those are only the ones we know about.
Several years ago, I was a few miles from the city line on my way back from a long weekend tour. Pulled off a very popular bike trail for a nature break. Walked into the woods at a local park with a creek. Looked down in the mud and saw bear tracks.
This guy paid a visit to a park area popular with hikers and mountain bikers back in 2016.
Several years ago, I was a few miles from the city line on my way back from a long weekend tour. Pulled off a very popular bike trail for a nature break. Walked into the woods at a local park with a creek. Looked down in the mud and saw bear tracks.
This guy paid a visit to a park area popular with hikers and mountain bikers back in 2016.
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One wild, one not, but unusual
Deer and a couple of yaks
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Twice now I have come across a rattlesnake that refused to move off the trail while I was mountain biking. I have seen deer run across the highway (and one even hit a rider we were riding with). Plenty of coyote and deer sightings, and even once saw a deer chasing a coyote!
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. Ran across this little guy while on a trail run. Actually an area that has been having a lot of Griz activity lately. going up in the morning for a 16 mile power hike and hope to cross paths with it. Last week we thought we were going to see it but it ended up being a cow and calf moose. Gave us a bit of a startle as it was still pretty dark and all of a sudden two big black figures go crashing through the trees....after my son in-law who works for the forest service told me the night before that one of his co-workers encountered a griz on the trail.
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Nice. I tossed a rock in front of it trying to scare him off, but my aim sucks so bad I actually hit it on the head. Still accomplished the goal though.
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Last edited by urbanknight; 11-15-23 at 08:50 PM.
#93
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I'm on the gulf coast 45 minutes NW of Tampa. On the local trails here I've come across gators (of course), bobcats, wild boar, deer, rattle snakes, water moccasins, turkeys, tortoises, fox squirrels and all kinds of birds and assorted large bugs...
#94
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. Ran across this little guy while on a trail run. Actually an area that has been having a lot of Griz activity lately. going up in the morning for a 16 mile power hike and hope to cross paths with it. Last week we thought we were going to see it but it ended up being a cow and calf moose. Gave us a bit of a startle as it was still pretty dark and all of a sudden two big black figures go crashing through the trees....after my son in-law who works for the forest service told me the night before that one of his co-workers encountered a griz on the trail.
And shouldn’t he be getting ready for a long nap?
BTW...I that in Lolo N.F.?
Last edited by indyfabz; 11-16-23 at 01:49 PM.
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Great blue heron seen from the Island Line Trail just north of Burlington, VT.
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In SE Florida (about 100 miles north of Miami), over the last ten years I've seen mostly at dawn:
many bunnies
some racoons
opossum
eagles
turkey vultures (circling over me once while riding real slowly up a hill)
owls
alligators-- many in the water but two out of the water on my path: one was a baby 18" and the other was about 5-6 feet long. It was just before dawn and I noticed it too late to turn around. He couldn't care less about me as I passed him about 4-5 feet away. Scared the hell out of me though.
red fox
many turtles-- had too move a couple
oddly no snakes
few deer
Oh, yeah! Two wild boar, but one was scary: While riding before dawn, a wild boar charged my group of four riders and turned around about ten feet before hitting us. This was on a street next to an open field in an area that's being developed. I don't know what spooked him to turn around, but the other guys saw him first and yelled.
many bunnies
some racoons
opossum
eagles
turkey vultures (circling over me once while riding real slowly up a hill)
owls
alligators-- many in the water but two out of the water on my path: one was a baby 18" and the other was about 5-6 feet long. It was just before dawn and I noticed it too late to turn around. He couldn't care less about me as I passed him about 4-5 feet away. Scared the hell out of me though.
red fox
many turtles-- had too move a couple
oddly no snakes
few deer
Oh, yeah! Two wild boar, but one was scary: While riding before dawn, a wild boar charged my group of four riders and turned around about ten feet before hitting us. This was on a street next to an open field in an area that's being developed. I don't know what spooked him to turn around, but the other guys saw him first and yelled.
#100
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I added a couple new sightings to my list in the last couple days. I saw a flying squirrel glide from tree to tree yesterday and also they day before a coyote ran across the path. The coyote was far from the first I have seen while riding, but it was the first I have seen on my morning mtb rides here in Tallahassee (I heve seen plenty of coyotes before even in Tallahassee).
I seem to see something new to me fairly regularly even after all these years of riding.
I seem to see something new to me fairly regularly even after all these years of riding.