gravelschlub

If only something could be done about all the deer in A2 - something like a cull...

...wait a minute...

chaadster

Hey! No politics in this forum! 😉

GhostRider62

They manage to hit you. See the difference? Maybe not.

GhostRider62

I was descending a mountain in California some years ago at sunset and an elk jumped over the road right in front of my eyes. I can still see the rack, it was right in front of my eyes. I see deer on almost every ride that I do. Sunrise and sunset are the most dangerous because that is when they are moving to or from where they "bed". During the middle of the day, they usually bed down but usually get up once to eat.

MNebiker

The local metro bike trails run through a forest preserve, wooded parkland, and wetlands, so it's not uncommon to see deer on the trails. In the last couple week I saw several does with fawns. They are in pretty safe areas and must be used to humans on "their" trail as they usually just watch us and then amble off into the woods when we get within about 20 feet. One doe and her two fawns walked down the trail for about 50 yards with me following behind until she decided to turn into the woods. It's amazing how they can completely disappear into the woods in just a few seconds.

But about 2 years ago I was riding a trail on a side slope with tall brush up close to the trail edge when a buck jumped across the trail from the high side right in front of me. I never saw him coming. He was about level with my shoulders - if I had been five feet further down the trail he would have taken me right off the bike. Later that year another buck did the same, but he was about 25 feet ahead of me that time.

My worst deer scare was several years ago. We lived near a county park that was home to a large deer population. They would come out of the park at night to graze in the surrounding farm fields. Driving home from work in the dark, freezing rain, hilly blacktop country road covered with ice. I'm in a pickup truck with no traction, easing it home at maybe 20 miles an hour when my lights picked up a buck with five or six does starting up the shoulder of the road in a line. There was no way I could stop the truck, and with them strung out in a line it would have been like trying to drive through a picket fence. I started tapping the horn and the buck stopped dead still on the shoulder and looked at me. I went past him with us staring at each other, then the whole string crossed behind me. Slow enough speed that it would not have been a big impact, but I'm sure the truck would have spun on the ice and wound up down the embankment somewhere with me hanging on.

Milton Keynes

They need to move the deer crossing signs to spots where there's less traffic so there won't be so many vehicle/deer collisions.

indyfabz

I am assuming you've heard the famous audio of the woman who called into a radio show complaining about the location of deer crossing signs.

One of favorite wildlife signs was in VT. I think it was around the top of Brandon Gap. We passed it crossing the country. It read something like "Moose Crossing Next 1250 Feet." I don't recall the exact number, but we were scratching our heads over how the number was arrived at. Did someone go out, observe where moose crossed and then take a measurement? Would the average driver be able to tell when they have gone 1250' and are thus no longer in the danger zone? And would you trust moose to follow the rules? I hear they can be quite stubborn.

Milton Keynes

Yeah, that's what I was getting at.

Wildwood 

Bambi needs some love. It was their land long before cyclists (and motorists) arrived.
Ya just gotta think like a deer ... put yourself in their hooves.
"Hey everybody - which way ya think that cyclist will go? Speeding on our trail. Oughta be over on the highway!"


Silver lining = at least the cyclist did not run into a herd of elk. Much tougher hide.

indyfabz

And much larger. Had a herd of cow elk with calves stampede across the road in front of me in Montana in 2019. I knew they were coming so I had the chance to stop. A few days later I was pulling out of a campground just before dawn and saw a young bull elk in the road. He was relatively small but still had antlers. He ran off before I could get a photo.

Cougrrcj

My kid sister has hit elk on TWO separate occasions with rental cars between Phoenix and Show Low AZ in just one year...

Folks used to do the Alaska Highway from Seattle to Alaska - you don't even want to know how many Moose get nailed on a daily basis... and they stand with bodies/bellies above eye-level if driving in a car... and they weigh two-three time what a deer weighs... Car roof caved in, etc...

indyfabz

I rode through Mazama twice coming down from Washington Pass. Can’t remember if the sign was there way back then (‘99 and ‘00), but I can believe it. Saw deer running around Winthrop, which is the next town down WA 20.

Wildwood 

This one? Data a decade old but from July of that year. Never saw a deer across the whole of the Great State of Washington. Luckily, I guess.

kahn

I just rode down Washington Pass about a month ago. We were heading over to Twisp (cheaper lodging for our own cabin with kitchen) for an event in Carlton. Friend dropped me off at the Pass and I plunged down hitting a top speed of 45mph. It was a blast until I hit Mazama where it became a blast furnace and finished in Winthrop. The friend I was with use to live in Winthrop (three blocks from "downtown") on an old apple orchard. Three or four deer were there every day. A cougar had been shot there a number of years ago.

Friends just sent me a video from their driveway in Mazama with flames roaring across the way. Terrible.

I did RAW (Ride Across WA) way back when from Puget Sound to Newport, ID over all those mt passes. I've done the pass a number of times. Screwiest was a night ride up from the east side to make breakfast at the overlook for sunrise. And twice from Mazama in snow up to the pass - quite chilly and harrowing coming down.

I am marginally saner these days.

Wildwood 

... the thread's stream of pleasure. Thru the American Alps - our scenic northern roadway east to the Okanagan.

Descent going east from Washington Pass

Watch for road irregularities, .... at speed

3rd week of July, 2011

Local feel and good humor

Fly with me - early departures

edit: used to be an annual excursion, .... well, not a full century in advancing years, but doable with various auto assisted starting points.

indyfabz

HTFU and do it in late May fully loaded. Can't tell from the photos, but it was snowing after starting as rain before Rainy. Started from Colonial Creek Campground.

Clyde1820

I've come near, on a few occasions over the years. Not yet had one jet into my path and strike me, thankfully. 5-10x the weight of a dog, and corners on "a dime" just as fast but with less predictability.

Condolences to your friend who got hit.

Milton Keynes

I really don't want to know what's going on there...

rumrunn6

dang! you couldn't call for transport?

rumrunn6

lol omg

Milton Keynes

The funny thing was that lady actually thought that the deer pay attention to the deer crossing signs. Like they're specially trained, or something.

Back in a previous life as a dispatcher, we once got a call from a woman complaining about a deer which ran across her back yard. She said, "Isn't it illegal for deer to be inside the city limits?" Sure, lady, we'll go arrest the deer for trespassing.

OldTryGuy

"Quote:
Originally Posted by OldTryGuy
STRAVA IS COOL because it shows the exact data info when a wild MAMA hog ran into me resulting in 2 cracked ribs, punctured lung, cracked scapula, impact trauma to left shoulder
4/27/2020
1:25AM
Speed 20.1 mph
At mile 34 of a planned overnight 100 miler
4 very slow mile ride back home"

Just my typical stupid older man response of a soon to be a 70yo Geezer. I did have a bicycling buddy riding with me that night who wanted to call 911 but instead I asked him to lift up the bike, hold it tilted over and then upright so I could mount and ride home while he followed.

Korina

IMO, it's better to crash at 10 mph than 25.

rumrunn6

ah, OK, probably adrenaline kicking in too. but reminds me of that Monty Python skit where the guy keeps getting limbs cut off but still keeps threatening his opponent (the Black Knight?)

Bill in VA

As I read all the comments, I counted myself fortunate that my encounters with deer were when I was driving in cars.

But to me, a wild or feral hog in a car and especially a bicycle, would be very, very bad. They are nasty, compact, hard as a rock and fearless, not to mention can take a lot of punishment, which means they will want payback.