Mountain Biking - Wildlife you've seen

I saw a Bald Eagle while I was riding near Lake Mead today . This got me thinking about all the wildlife that mountainbikers see that MOST others never get to see unless they're at a zoo . What animals have you seen while on a ride ? I have seen Bears in Colorado and Whistler . Coyotes , Big Horned Sheep , A Desert Tortoise and a few Bald Eagles in Nevada .

Coyotes is more or less constant. Come summer time they are everywhere. I almost ran one over once on b-line cross connect to Cheap thrills. Bears are pretty much constant too. Black bears are generally just ******* so they avoid us and people tend to take pics from far away.

Past that not much beyond the normal coons :)

Oh and of course the flock of bald eagles every springish in Brakendale. A site to beyond to see 1000's in one area :)

I've seen lots of black bears while riding, Word is, a friend of mine actually hit one, left a little fur in his bar end. Dont quite know if I believe it though.

Not a whole lot of bears where I ride, I've never seen one anyways. I've seen a couple of bald eagles. Nothing else too exciting. Quite a few grouse where I ride. They can kind of spook you when they flush right next to you. Lots of whitetail deer. I've almost hit a few of them. They're fun to chase down on your bike.

All I see are bunnies on the side of the trail. I hate it when Im going down the hill and all the flying bugs are just floating in the air and some accidently get in my mouth lol.

I've seen lots of rattlesnakes and scorpions , and a couple of tarantulas. Lots of Elk and Deer and Pronghorns , but most people have seen those . When I was staying in Moab for a while , my friends and I had this Kiwi we met looking for " Jackalope " . :D This went on for weeks ! That was 11 years ago, and I still cracked up when I remembered it. Good times in Moab.

Elk, Deer, fox, coyote.
Startled a bull elk once coming around a curve, downhill with some speed, his first move was to lower his antlers and step into the trail, then he bolted off into the woods, thought I was a goner.
Passed a fox on the trail, I was goind up, it was going down, I moved to the left and it passed on my right, not 3 feet from my bike. Passed a fox off the trail once, it dropped in behind me and followed me for a couple hundred yards.
Saw some deer remains once, a fresh kill by a moutain lion, closest that I want to get to a mounain lion.

When i was in the catskills area of New York State, I saw many creatures of the wild.
Deer, buck, possum, rabbit, quite amazing there...

Jackrabbits, various birds mostly. Saw a buffalo in the wild only once.

I've seen a sassquash or 2.

deer, rabbits, birds, snakes, bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, lizards,

theres a whole crapload of wild life out here

bugs,birds,racoons,foxes,mountain lions,bears,rats,snakes,deer,cows,sheep,goats....

Same wildlife as gmoney - bunches of it. I will say that I have yet to come across any of the mountain lions that I know are there...knock on wood. Now watch, I just jinxed myself and tomorrow I'm screwed.

Coolest was a bobcat about 20 feet away...startled it a bit.

deer (hit one), rabbits, birds, snakes (ran over a few), bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, lizards, bears, cows (hit one) and plauges of mice.

Black Bear, whitetail deer, coyote, ruffed grouse, rabbit, rattlesnakes, copperheads, more eastern rat snakes than you can shake a stick at, jumping bass and catfish, rolling carp and suckers, ermine, weasel, and fox. First eight are abundant in my locale. Fishing is great on the New River, and so is the biking. Last three I have seen while riding a trail that a guy was using as a trapline. Its not one that you want to walk off of to relieve yourself!

Mostly just Deer and Rabbits. The odd sasquatch here and there.

Chipmunks.......I hate those things!!! They can scare the crap out of you while riding. How can something that small make so much freaking noise?!?!?!?!

Now that I am in Texas I have seen a Bobcat and a cottonmouth snake laying on the trail. Too close for comfort. I reacted w/ a b!@#$ scream and was paranoid everytime I heard an armadillo rustle around the remainder of the way.

I was riding along a trail one day and merged into a pack of Javelinas. They looked up at me and wondered how I got there and then split up.

As a roadie, I don't see the live fauna quite as often as you folks - I see more road kill than I care to think about, though. On local rides, live deer and lizards are fairly common, coyotes, every so often.

Most unusual animal sightings for me were on a long-distance tour some years back. I had a moose (female, so no antlers) clamber up onto the road about 20 feet in front of me :eek: - I don't know which of us was more surprised. I also saw a bunch of bison from a significantly greater distance. Them suckers are massive.

chupacabra

Chipmunks.......I hate those things!!! They can scare the crap out of you while riding. How can something that small make so much freaking noise?!?!?!?!Cottontails and Jack Rabbits do the same thing to me all the time, Quail startle me fairly often too.

Deer are frequent on my rides, especially when I go out in the hills out my back door (I've got 40 acres outside Spokane); wild turkeys are downright pests (and they crap all over my yard :mad: ) ; the occasional coyote; grouse scare the bejeebs out of me when they practically explode out from under my front tire. But the kicker was the evening I was screaming down a fire road dropping back into my valley, rounded a corner and darned near ran into a young bull moose! Fortunately, he wheeled and ran back down the road ahead of me.

Deer, elk, squirrels, chipmunks, various birds, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, horses and humans are most common. Bears are the scariest.

I was riding up a trail in Canmore one time and saw a big brown rock move. As my friend and I kept riding toward it, we noticed the rock was eating berries off of a shrub. With only 20m to go, we realized it was a juvenile grizzly, spun around and got the **** out of there. I've never descended as fast.

Another bear run-in was more spooky than scary. 10 of us were out on a night ride, and we noticed two little dots of light in the shrubs up ahead. Then we noticed two bigger dots of reflected light about 6' off the ground and spaced farther apart. Ma bear and cub. We made a lot of noise as we turned around and headed back the way we came.

Hmmm. One other time I was riding up a stinking hot section of steep singletrack, and came up behind a bear cub. I saw a large movement on the trail past the cub. Second-fastest descent ever.

I once hit a squirrel on my bike and it had a baby squirrel in its mouth. When I hit it the baby fell out of the adults mouth and the adult ran up a tree. So I picked up the baby squirrel and put it at the base of the tree that the adult squirrel ran up, then like 10 sec. later the adult squirrel came running down, grabbed the baby then ran back up the tree. it was kinda funny.

Hmm many a deer, this one rabbit on my normal route that waits for me, and races ahead when i get within about 10 feet, and keeps its distance for about 1/8 of a mile, same stretch every night. I have seen over 100 turtles in one 80 mile day, i actually counted due to the terrain being very mild, snakes, squirrles, a possum,people, dogs (on leashes) a few cats, sheep, cows,horses,llamas, zebras and bison on this guys farm, thats about it

Today, jackrabbits and roadrunners.

Hmm many a deer, this one rabbit on my normal route that waits for me, and races ahead when i get within about 10 feet, and keeps its distance for about 1/8 of a mile, same stretch every night. I have seen over 100 turtles in one 80 mile day, i actually counted due to the terrain being very mild, snakes, squirrles, a possum,people, dogs (on leashes) a few cats, sheep, cows,horses,llamas, zebras and bison on this guys farm, thats about it
Dogs , people , and cats? really? I've never seen them before. :p

On any given day I can see: Bald Eagles, Blue Cranes, buffalo, Ostrich, Llamas, dairy cows, cattle, Deer, beavers, four species of spawning salmon, steelhead and an assortment of fury rodents

Mmmmn! Steelhead... aaahhhhh

true, the above named are kinda rare but i am lucky enough to have a few pictures of them too

Last weekend while riding with Snuffalupagus I rounded a curve and almost hit a hawk. He must have caught something in the trail and he took off right in front of my face...........Hawks have large talons.

I grew up in alaska and have seen most everything, Black Bears, Moose and Caribou. Got chased by a Moose down the main road in the middle of my town at Midnight, got home and was surprised to find that I did not infact CRAP MY PANTS!

I saw a gray fox while exiting the MTB park. It was crossing the road with that big long tail waiving in the breeze.

Deer packs (if that's what they're called) which I often barely miss hitting. I never notice them until they move and they just have to run in front of me. Coyotes once in a while. Rabbits and chipmunks and squirrels, and once a possum ran in front of me while i was drinking from my bottle with my right hand so i squeezed the brakes and almost flipped... but nothing spectacular like some of you other guys.

Lots of deer, rabbits and tree rats. But I did see my first copperhead in the wild from about 4 feet away though. It froze then I froze, then it slinked off in the the brush. Saw some ducks and other birds. Oh..and a few North American Jackasses ;) .

At Lysterfield I see Kangaroos, Wallabies, Womats, Cockatoos, Ducks, Rabbits. There are many different types of birds that I haven't seen yet that are supposed to live around Lysterfield. I'm also guessing snakes would definatly be around as well around summer.

Turkey Vulture (really bad omen), foxes, tons of deer, small snakes, racoons, possum, ground hogs.

Hit a squirrel once. Darn thing ran out in the middle and faked going lef and right anout three times each and ended up in the middle with my tire going over it's back.

It gave me dirty look and ran off.

genius creatures I tell you

At Lysterfield I see Kangaroos, Wallabies, Womats, Cockatoos, Ducks, Rabbits. There are many different types of birds that I haven't seen yet that are supposed to live around Lysterfield. I'm also guessing snakes would definatly be around as well around summer.what's a Womat?

what's a Womat?

He made the B silent. :)

We saw lots of black bears in the summer. 3 in one day once, and they were 10 kms apart. We've seen lots of foxes and fish I guess too.

I live beside a lake and also a wild bird sanctuary so I often see and hear birds. Eagles are all over the place and there are lots of Chipmunks too. Common are Bears and Deer [ DOGS ] and then comes a fear of mine, the Cougar. I do some hiking and things so I worry about the Cats because I share this country with them and they are not all that timid. I havent came in sight with one but I havent lived in an area of the Province where they habitat for very long.

I used to live in NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA and I have seen more FOX than anything up there!!

How cool is it that many of us have seen Bald Eagles ? When I was in elementary school (in the 70's) they were so endangered that they were on the verge of extinction .

How cool is it that many of us have seen Bald Eagles ? When I was in elementary school (in the 70's) they were so endangered that they were on the verge of extinction .

The first time I saw one was soon after I moved to WA for the first time (lived there twice) in 2000. the eagle was sitting on top of a tree across the road from my house. It was an amazing sight. I've seen others flying in that area, but none since.

Beautiful and majestic.

I was just riding home from school the other day and a blue-jay dive bombed my head.

Do you have Stellar's Jays in your area? Those birds are frickin' huge!

I'm not to sure, blue jays are really rare so I doubt we have those.

On a ride after a long week of rain last summer I saw the biggest crayfish I have ever seen right in the middle of the single track. I had to stop to look at it. It must have been 9"s. Also, it was a good mile from the nearest stream or creek.

BTW, crayfish around here are normally in the 2-3 inch range. this was like a little friggin lobster.