Commuting - Running with the herd

I love the wildlife I get to see out on my commute, last night the 3/4 moon, and the bobbing white tails of deer on the move was a special sight. These deer are monsters, I'm not a good judge of animal weight but I'd guess they'd top off at 200 or better, they're huge, and scary runing beside me, along the bike paths.

I saw more last night than I have all summer, and they are big does. Too bad I don't hunt, and I don't have a doe permit. I love venison, it makes one heck of a good chilly!

I love the wildlife I get to see out on my commute, last night the 3/4 moon, and the bobbing white tails of deer on the move was a special sight. These deer are monsters, I'm not a good judge of animal weight but I'd guess they'd top off at 200 or better, they're huge, and scary runing beside me, along the bike paths.

I saw more last night than I have all summer, and they are big does. Too bad I don't hunt, and I don't have a doe permit. I love venison, it makes one heck of a good chilly!
"I love venison" "licks lips"

1. venison steaks (on the grill)

2. venison roast (the rear quarter)

3. venison sausage (With lots of seasonings)

4. Venison pizza

I to get the chance on a weekly basis to see deer on my commute to work.It's simply amazing to see the agility of these deer.

Be careful, I was driving (sorry, I do own a car :o) on a country road and startled a deer. She ran parallel to me for a bit and then swerved right into the passenger door and bounced off. Deer ok, car door ok (after a whack with a rubber mallet) driver freaked. :eek:

Be careful, I was driving (sorry, I do own a car :o) on a country road and startled a deer. She ran parallel to me for a bit and then swerved right into the passenger door and bounced off. Deer ok, car door ok (after a whack with a rubber mallet) driver freaked. :eek:
I think I would have been dead if I had been on a bike, she hit hard!

One of the joys of cycling for me is all the critters you encounter. I am pretty well resigned to the idea that sooner or later I will either hit or be run into by a deer. My commute via bike trail passes through a lot of deer habitat and after dusk and before dawn they are always moving. It's only a matter of time.

The possibility of being hit by a White tail is very low.Do to the fact that we travel at a much lower speed than motor vehicle traffic.White tail have the ability to change directions on a dime. But when they are confronted by high speed moving vehicles,They freak out.
It's nice to see others here enjoying the beauty of Mother nature.

While not encountered while commuting, but around here in addition to deer, you have Elk, bear, and Antalope. Oh, and my favorite critter to catch off guard, the noble Skunk! :eek:

My experience is your average mule deer couldn't hold a candle, intelligence wise, to your average white tail. They freeze in bike headlights just like car headlights (as do whiteys) and have a habit of tripping and falling on their butts when startled on pavement. Muleys really are dumb and for the most part not graceful either. I do hope you are right though Gojohnnygo, as I really don't want to smack one.
On a side note I saw a bobcat the other day, right in the middle of a class I trail in the middle of town. I've seen more mountain lions in the last 20 years than bobcats so it was really cool to see one.

The other day I was cycling a loop in one of our local parks and I saw 2 does hanging out a little way up the road I was on. I was on my fixie which is really quiet so I was able to creep up real close to them. I was probably only 40 feet away and I stopped and just watched them for 20 minutes or so. It was definitely one of those times that I wished I had my camera.

I love the wildlife I get to see out on my commute, last night the 3/4 moon, and the bobbing white tails of deer on the move was a special sight. These deer are monsters, I'm not a good judge of animal weight but I'd guess they'd top off at 200 or better, they're huge, and scary runing beside me, along the bike paths.

I saw more last night than I have all summer, and they are big does. Too bad I don't hunt, and I don't have a doe permit. I love venison, it makes one heck of a good chilly!

Let me get this straight. You were biking at night on a trail and deer were running beside you while you biked? Is that right?

Man, that's cool.

It seems you guys have a really nice wildlife over there in US. Here in Sweden the only dangerous animals to run in to is a hedgehog, if you know what I mean :p

Yes, we also have bobcat, wolf and bear. But the chances of seeing one of these predators are microscopical :mad:

I used to live a little outside town and when commuting home in evening in the autum when it´s getting dark early I was always afraid of meeting a big elk. I used to whistel or sing lout to my self just to make sure the eventual elks would not get caught by suprise and do something stupid. Darn, a close encounter with a animal this big could kill you, I was really carefull. I never did run into any elks. Maybe thanks to my singing ;)

Anders, your elk are what we call moose and I don't blame you for being cautious around them, they can be very aggressive, expecially if they have young! I'd be singing too!!! :D

i have done some whitetail hunting this year with no luck. Hey Gojohnnygo, I asked my daughter what she thought of deer and she said. "MMMM! their delicious!"
HA! I have seen a lot of deer lately while mtn biking and a few on my commute in the morning. I think they laugh at me as i go by. Fair is fair.

:)
CD

i have done some whitetail hunting this year with no luck. Hey Gojohnnygo, I asked my daughter what she thought of deer and she said. "MMMM! their delicious!"
HA! I have seen a lot of deer lately while mtn biking and a few on my commute in the morning. I think they laugh at me as i go by. Fair is fair.

:)
CDMy 8 year old nephew says the same.I have only been 4 times this year with no luck,It would be nice to see a 12 pointer in my scope later today.

This one fortunately didn't involve me and my bike. I was privileged to travel to a wildlife preserve in Africa. We drove through the park and saw phenomenal creatures engaged in their normal routine. One morning we saw a lion guarding her recent prize giraffe carcass. Very exciting and dramatic -- all from the safety of our car. But a short time later, a bike rider rode to the bend in the road (presumably on his way to work at one of the park camps). He waited about 50 yards away for half an hour or so before turning around, perhaps to find an alternate (and safer) route. It's great to see exotic creatures on a ride, but, then agaiin, there are limits.

It seems you guys have a really nice wildlife over there in US. Here in Sweden the only dangerous animals to run in to is a hedgehog, if you know what I mean :p

Yes, we also have bobcat, wolf and bear. But the chances of seeing one of these predators are microscopical :mad:


And let's not forget the most verocious (sp?) predator of them all: the mighty mosquito. But I guess you don't have many of those in Southern Sweden?

--J

And let's not forget the most verocious (sp?) predator of them all: the mighty mosquito. But I guess you don't have many of those in Southern Sweden?

--J


No, mosquitos are no problem here in Gothenburg but these brown southern snails looking like our black natural wooden snail. They are everywhere and specially at bicyclepaths. Thank god for mudguards or should I say snailguards :rolleyes: .

It must look kind of funny to people watching me cuise through these piles of snails as I don´t want to hit them. They are disgusting but I´m into this no killing thing.

Rather than start a new thread about an old topic, I'll dust this one off. I found myself riding amongst a variety of animals on the commute home. As I rolled along Medicine Lake, I broke up a pack of Fox. Not sure what they were doing so close the road, but it was cool to see their bushy tails disappear in my headlamp. Then I disturbed a couple deer. Chased a couple rabbits, another pack of fox, a skunk, an oppossom, and two racoons fighting. Definately a fun night, especially under a full moon!

1 night ive had a bat fly right above me. it was guiding me through my path. ive also seen deers doe and bambi

I only see whitetail when I'm out mountain biking-I usually stop and we'll watch eachother for a minute before they inevitably run off. I still feel privilaged to be in their company and am astonished at their athleticism. On my commutes I see: Osprey, Beaver, Black Snakes, turtles, and the occasional Bald Eagle. This morning I stopped to watch an Osprey hover over the Potomac in his search for fish-beautiful.

I remember on full moon night in the winter back in Montana. Ate a little something and got really restless about 4 hours later for some unknown reason at about 2am - went out for a ride.

I ran into a herd of dear who had come down into town from the mountains for food - it was great! I must have hung out with them for about 1/2 an hour slowly following them through people's yards. It was really neat seeing their habits - the herd would hide behind a large bush or on one side of the house, then the largest doe would go out really slow and sniff... go across to the next hiding spot, then kind of cough and the others would go across one by one. They must have thought that there were predators in the city!

I never spooked them, though. Eventually realized I was really cold and rode home.

This was a couple months ago...

The only thing I see on my commute are squirrels, pigeons and the occassional hooker.

The only thing I see on my commute are squirrels, pigeons and the occassional hooker.

I forgot that one! I ride through the country on bike paths that dump me into a seedier part of Minneapolis, then I trek across town to Saint Paul. 5 Oh has done a good job of cleaning up a lot of nefarious activity, but last night there were a couple crack hoes out, and called out to me. "Hey Biker Man, wanna by some cracker?" I thought this rather bold, she had no idea who I was.
As I rode off, I thought what smart a55 answer I should have given her. I haven't really got an answer for it. Being a recovering addict myself, she would have been hard pressed to supply what I would have needed, as MORE is ALWAYS better.

Bat are about all I see, although I'm not totally convinced that a high percentage of the population of Surfers Paradise is exactly human.

all the wildlife i see is dead... sometime unidentifiable. the rest just smacks into me and doesn't taste good. but i have this horse in the yard behind.. and some rabit that just hops around all day. O_o

Rather than start a new thread on wildlife we see on our commute, I'll dust this one off.
I saw a friggin' fox in the middle of the Greenway this afternoon. He was taking advantage of the warm pavement laying in the sun. He didn't seem to be threatened by me, he hung close to the edge of the path as I passed then back to the middle of the path. Too cool!

It's been weird lately. Today was definitely wildlife day on the way home; woodchucks, tons of chipmunks, squirrels, cats, all kinds of stuff scurrying off into the ditch as I rode by.

One day last week was "dead snake day" - I have seen maybe 4 flattened snakes all year up until then - that day I saw about 20 freshly flattened snakes all along the entire route.

Last year I had deer run in front of me 3 different times; two times within 10 feet. Only little does though, probably 120 pounds max. A 200 pound deer is huge, and it's unusual to see several of them together. Must be a lot of corn fields around you for them to feed on.

There are huge numbers of white tailed deer here. Outside of town, the farm areas are crawling with them. I try to bring a headlamp with me at night, so I can cast a beam across a farm field and see several deer munching away. Out in the farm areas, there are a few parks where there is no hunting. So, white tails grow large, and they're often out on nearby roads.

There are so many deer around, actually, several of them live in my small town. They live in stands of trees just a few hundred yards on a side. These stands are surrounded on all sides by streets with houses.

I worry about hitting deer. A couple of times deer have come bounding out of woods just a few yards in front of me. It's enough of a worry that I slow a bit when the woods come right up to the edge of the road.

Riding at night has made me one of the very few people I know to have seen live coyotes around here. I've caught a couple of them unawares, riding up quietly behind them. They take off at surprisingly high speeds when they spot me. In some places where they're used to humans coyotes can be bold, but they're hounded mercilessly here.

I once saw elephants, tigers and bears (oh my!) on my way home. The circus was in town and the city shut down the tunnel at night to bring the animals in to Manhattan.

It's that time of the year again when you see lots of wildlife running around. Some are scurrying around trying to find food for winter hibernation and some have lust for love, Like deer and bear. Wildlife can become a bit unnerving this time of year.
The coy dogs were howling last night on my way to work.

Once while MTBking I supprised an adult buck with the biggest set of antlers I've seen on a deer, it bolted through the woods so fast it was unbelievable. What struck me dumbfounded was the realization that the buck wasn't catching the antlers on any tree trunks or branches. I still can't figure out how it did it. I can't walk across a room without tripping over something.

Yeah, it's amazing how easily a deer can move through stuff. I've seen deer run through those 3 wire fences along roads without breaking their stride. A limbo and a hurdle at the same time. But occasionally they mess up. Had to call the rangers last fall because one was laying down next to a trail. Here the police are going to cull the deer popluation by over 500. That's inside the city limits. And that's just for starters.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050809/NEWS01/508090351/-1/CINCI

There are a lot of deer in my area. I have a large area of scrub and trees behind my house, so they pass alongside to get to and from it. One morning about two weeks ago I was walking out to unchain my bike and right in front of me, ten feet at most, was a group of three does. They were knocking on my bird feeder to get at the corn bits! They scared the everloving poo out of me. I wasn't expecting to see anything, especially that close. I scared the everloving poo out of them, too, since they bolted as soon as they saw me.

Certainly gave me a good adrenaline boost for the morning commute!