_ForceD_

I saw this meme in another non-cycling forum. But I immediately thought about how this happens to me all the time on rides through wooded areas. I hear rustling just off the side of the road and think surely that must be a deer/moose/bear…only to look over and see only a squirrel. — Dan

staehpj1

Cnipmunks are even noisier than squirrels. Bears can move through the woods silently.

dedhed

Every, single, deer, hunter, knows this

rumrunn6

good meme except for the "fat girl" part

livedarklions

I can say from experience that if I get close enough to a deer for us to startle each other, the deer running makes plenty of noise. If you're close enough to a bear to actually hear it, you might be in trouble.

skidder

You've never been to Walmart, have you? If you went into the Walmarts near me it makes perfect sense.

freeranger

Had a deer startle me while riding. Stopped by a fence to allow some further back to catch up. Unknown to me, on the other side of the fence, was momma deer and fawn. Realized she was there when I heard her snort! Glad the fence was between us! They were less than silent going back into the woods. But yes, on a normal basis you won't hear them.

Pratt

Often hear their hoof beats as they take off.

Gyro

I had a deer just miss running straight into me on a bike path along a 4 land highway. He was trying to cross the road and his hoofs were flailing about from I guess the asphalt road bed. If I hadn't started braking when I saw him. He would have slammed right into to me. He missed my front wheel by inches. His panic was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time.

_ForceD_

FYI, I didn’t create the meme. I just copied and pasted. Perhaps it could have said 300 lbs “weight challenged person” instead.

Dan

Broctoon

The following is a true story.

A few months ago I was hiking in the mountains after dark with my dog. I had a good headlight, but we were in a densely wooded area, so I could see the trail ahead of us and trees immediately surrounding, but nothing beyond.

I heard something moving, a few footsteps or a little shuffle on the twigs and rocks lining the ground. Whatever it was, it sounded close. I stopped and held very still. Nothing. I pointed my light toward where the sound came from. Only trees.

My first thought was that it’s probably just a deer. I heard it move again, just one more step, and then silence.

I thought I’d better restrain my dog so there’s one less thing out of my control. I reached down and attached the leash to her collar while still listening and scanning the darkness.

Next I thought that although a deer or elk was the most likely explanation, it could also be a cougar, bear, or… a Sasquatch. Maybe a chupacabra or wendigo. I’m not really an expert on wendigos, their behavior, or their typical range during that season, but in that moment it seemed completely plausible that I was facing an imminent attack from one.

I wondered if I should make a bit of racket to scare off whatever it was or at least get it to move again. I considered loudly grunting, “Who’s out there?” I really didn’t think I was dealing with a human, so of course I would get no reply, unless it turned out to be a Sasquatch, perhaps. Later, I thought I really should have picked up a small rock and tossed it into the woods in the direction away from where my trail was headed. If I’d been dealing with some innocent thing that’s as fearful of me as I am of it, the sound might scare it away. On the other hand, if I were being stalked by something powerful and malevolent, it might have moved toward the sound. You know, the old decoy-stone-toss-and-run-the-other-direction routine. That one might even work on aliens, and I definitely didn’t want to get probed.

After several tense seconds, I simply started walking again, but faster (a lot faster). I found renewed interest in getting back to the highway quickly, which turned out to be less than a half mile away. I looked back over my shoulder a few times and never saw anything following.

I hindsight, I probably got myself worked up over a squirrel, a rabbit, or even a bird. Then again, it could have been a deer. Probably not a giant bloodthirsty mutant zombie deer, but you never know.

dedhed

A good chunk of car hits are the deer hitting the car, not a car hitting a deer.

dedhed

Depends on the brand of bear and their personal demeanor. This black bear was 10 yards in front of me looking back before I noticed it coming out of my stand in the dark. A couple of "Get out of here bear" and it did. Did a lot of looking over my shoulder the rest of the way out of the woods.

livedarklions

I'm just suggesting that why squirrels seem so much louder is because we're a lot closer than 10 yards away from them. I was within about 50 feet of some pretty big black bears a couple months ago, and I definitely didn't hear them. Squirrels usually seem to be in the bushes near me or, worse, a couple inches in front of my front tire.

indyfabz

A squirrel has a relatively large “contact patch” with a leaf covered forest floor and ambulates much different than a deer.