rm -rf

I find that a loud hiss usually gets the squirrel to dive off the road right away.

billridesbikes

Yeah, but mountain biking in the woods in Grizzly country so….

indyfabz

Just need to exercise some restraint/caution. That first photo I posted was taken on a Forest Service road in the far NW portion of Montana. Had a day off while touring and rode up looking for critters. I kept my head on a swivel because there are blacks and grizzlies up there. Gave up after a while and started to head back to camp. Then something told me to not be so impatient, so I stopped and hung out. Not 5 minutes later he walked out of the forest. Didn’t even notice me. I let out a loud “Yessss!” That caused him to stop and check me out, which gave me time to get out and fire up my camera. He wandered off after a minute or so. When I got back to camp the host told me he and his girlfriend had driven up a side road that morning and saw a lion. Jumped down from some rocks and ran in front of their truck for a bit. He said it was the third one he’d seen that year, and it was only late June.

delbiker1 

Obviously, individual situations are different. Sometimes one's reactions happen before they can be overridden. Sometimes an event takes place before one can react. My youngest sister was walking six weeks ago and saw a frog that was snagged on some trash on the edge of a drainage ditch. She started down to free the frog, it was alive. When she slipped and fell, she broke both wrist bones in her right arm. The breaks were severe and required surgery. Would she try to help in that same situation? The point is, it's not the same situation.

As stated above, awareness and being prepared is key to making snap judgments To me, that means eliminate, as much as you can, the unexpected. Training and experience make for better results in that process, No guarantees, there is way more out of our control than in it.

JoeyBike

I had a squirrel try to jump through my front wheel on a road bike. Grey squirrel. I held my line, he changed his mind at the last second. Got halfway through the wheel. I looked for a soft spot on the concrete to land. I pushed my weight all the way back, like descending a steep trail on an ATB. Squirrel made two entire revolutions through my fork past the caliper brakes and got slung out a few feet ahead of me, and I was STILL UPRIGHT! He was badly kinked up and couldn't navigate very well and I wasn't balanced enough to maneuver so I ran dead over the beast with both wheels. What a bad day for that little guy. He then limped, scooted over to a big oak and tried to climb it with little success. I kept riding with new found religion.

Miele Man

I'm amazed at the number of people I see bicycling at high speed on trails where there are very poor sight lines and/or blind corners. You never know what's around a blind corner thus it's best to slow down a lot before entering one.

Where I am the greatest hazard on the trails are der that graze in the hollows on t he sides of the trail and then bolt just as you're about to pass them. I've come within a half second of hitting one or being hit by one. Dusk seems to be a particularly bad time to be riding at speed as that's when the deer around here are more active.

Cheers

c_m_shooter

At bicycle speeds I wouldn't worry much about deer, Just avoid the pointy parts. I've hit 2 with motorcycles and it was ugly both times. Neither deer nor motorcycle survived.

indyfabz

At 35-40 mph I shouldn’t worry about broadsiding a deer? Ok.

flangehead

Back before LED lights were affordable, I rode a gravel road using ambient light. One morning I caught sight of a white stripe about 5 feet ahead… not enough time to do anything.. I got a little bit of the spray on my back, but it wasn’t noticeable by the next day.

Anyone flatted by a porcupine?

Moe Zhoost

This is one example of why low spoke count wheels are not always the best option. They are less visible to squirrels and allow greater penetration before getting trapped.

When I commuted to work, I preconditioned my response by repeating the mantra "Don't swerve for squirrels" over and over. The critters freak me out when I see them contemplating which way to run.

c_m_shooter

I bet you spend more time closer to 20mph than 40.

BobbyG

I don't know how he didn't get squished, but no animals were harmed in the making of this video from my commute three years ago.

indyfabz

But I have done a lot of loaded touring the mountains of Montana (among other places), where deer like to hang out in the road. During long descents I am easily doing 35 mph in spots. Last time I descended Thompson Pass I came around a curve and encountered a half dozen of them. Fortunately, it was raining so I was keeping the speed down. Lots of them here in PA as well. Nearly slammed into one going about 30 while descending from Cowans Gap State Park. Thing bolted out of the brush. Crossed in front of me at about 10'. When I think there is a potential for deer, I periodically yell out "Yo, deer!" to let them know I am coming.

Not everyone rides like you think the average person does. Maybe learn from those of us who have had to deal with deer, elk, coyotes, buffalo, free range cattle and even bears. (Have yet to encounter a moose in the road, knock on wood.)

livedarklions

I've had closer calls with squirrels and chipmunks, but not on video

livedarklions

He's right but he's wrong. Obviously, your typical speed is a lot less than 35 mph, but the speeds in the places where you actually have to worry about such things are often that high. In the flat in the low 20s you and/or the deer will probably have plenty of time to get out of each other's way. That's the situation when I've had close encounters with deer, and it isn't even slightly scary.

Moose would probably be a different story, they don't back down and frequently do the opposite. Given their predilection for killing other moose at the risk of their own lives, I really don't want to learn first-hand how they relate to a bicyclist.

I deliberately slow on hills if I'm going over 35 as I don't trust my feeble old colorblind eyes to pick up road obstacles any faster than that.

livedarklions

On the positive side, at that speed you probably won't experience any regrets.

Oso Polar

Unfortunately, apart from blind turns that do occur on the flats as well, deer have a bad habit of not necessary escaping in the correct direction. I've had a few very close calls with deer, both on a bike and in a car, when deer which were hidden from the view on the roadside among the trees, which were completely out of harms way, became spooked by car / bike and suddenly jumped not inside the forest but on the road - right in front of the approaching vehicle. Somehow I doubt that crashing at 20 mph is too much fun... Close by deer smell like cows, ask me how do I know this...

livedarklions

I've had some close passes with deer on the bike path I ride after work, but they get the idea pretty fast, and we haven't gotten closer than 10 feet. Did you have a headlight on your bike? Just asking because that deer in headlights thing isn't just a cliche, but I don't know if bike lights have that effect on them.

Oso Polar

No, I did not. The only common factor I can think about was that in all those cases they were in groups - 4-5 (may be more) together. May be in case one deer in a group gets spooked and runs, others immediately just start to run in whatever direction they were facing at that moment even though they still have no idea where the danger is coming from and what it is? Just some instinct kicks in that tells them that it is usually better to run somewhere, anywhere than to stand still and get caught by a predator?

Pratt

Around here, VT, in June when the does drop their fawns, they kick last year's fawns out. This yearlings are dumber than dumb. They will start across the road, hesitate, go back, get cornered by a fence, etc. It is a miracle any of them make it to hunting season. Everything seems to get activated at the change of seasons. Right now, deer, turkeys, and woodchucks, rarely sighted during the Summer, are all over.

livedarklions

My funniest encounter on a bike path ever was with an aggressive woodchuck. It tried to charge me making an absurd hissing sound. It only got close to me because I at first thought it might be a skunk and was preparing a U-turn alternative.

kaseyriot

would sacrifice myself for an animal any day haha

Litespud

was out riding with a friend when a squirrel runs into the road in front of us. I’ve seen that pic of the dead squirrel and the broken fork, so I hit the brakes, the squirrel passes in front of me and launches itself through my buddy's rear wheel. Lucky for the squirrel it was a Campag G3 wheel with large gaps between the spoke triplets. He leaps through a gap and an ascending spoke launched him ~ 5 ft into the air. He hit the ground and scampers off, apparently unhurt. We got a laugh and there’s a squirrel out there who’s now a lifelong Campag fan.

KLiNCK

Aim for the spine.

ExPatTyke

I see quite a bit of wildlife on my commute, especially in Autumn and Winter when I'm more likely to be riding as the sun rises or sets. Fortunately there are no bears in the UK, but I see quite a few rabbits and deer, as well as foxes, badgers, and pheasants - they're all of a size that I'd try to avoid rather than running them over.

I find the behaviour of rabbits quite interesting - when you come towards them in a car they run back and forth across the road in utter panic, and frequently go under the car, whereas approaching them on a bike they simply hop into the verge in a straight line and watch as I ride by. Perhaps it's the two headlights on the car that confuses and panics them?

Deer tend to just loiter in the road, and there's one track in particular on the route to work where I've come around a bend a few times and seen a deer just ten feet in front of me. They normally just jump the hedge there straight into a field - it's quite a sight to see them go from motionless to huge jump in a second - but on occasion they've gone galloping down the track in front of me.

Foxes and badgers I usually see quite a few yards ahead as they amble along the roadside paying me little or no attention, and they rarely cause a problem, although I had a fox run in front of me last year, prompting some hard braking.

I think pheasants are amongst the worst - they're often in the road in flocks and run around the road in panic, some take off and fly past at low level, some flap into the hedges beside the road, and some just keep running in front of you. It's a case of slowing right down until they're all out of the way. They act in the same way whether you're in a car or on the bike, and pheasant is far and away the commonest roadkill I see.

One other bird I see on the road is peacocks - a local estate has them, and they quite often find their way onto the lanes around the estate. The peahens are fine, and quite predictable in that they tend to run for cover in the nearest hedge, but the cocks can be quite aggressive when defending their hens, and will turn and try to face you down. It's a case of slow down and ride around, not getting between the peacock and the peahens.