Mountain Biking - Wild Life Encounters on a MTB?

Hey ya'll.

I just saw a documentary on the National Geographic channel about mountain lions and mountain bikers.
It seems that more and more mountain bikers and hikers, etc. are having close encounters with dangerous wild life on the trails. A large portion of the program re-enacted a situation when a mountain lion killed one mountain biker and then attacked and almost killed another biker all in the same day! :eek:

Just wondering if anyone out there has had any similar encounters. If you did, I sure am glad you lived to write about it!

P.S. I hope I'm not breaking any kind of forum etiquitte. If so.... sorry :o

This wasnt on a bike, but I think it counts..........

To understand the story here is some background info; I am an aspiring herpetologist, I live for reptiles and amphibians, which is how I got into mnt biking, biking to areas I looked for snakes just set the hook in my mouth to get a good rig and ride for pleasure. My father is a hunter education instructor for the state, and we travel in the counties to places to teach. NOW on to the story............

We where at a local range club teaching a class, I got board, and hearing of copperhead stories I decided to try and check some venomous snakes off of my 'to catch list' as I wander down a trail I notice some interesting things, targets, I had stumbled on to the tarchery trail, no worries I had blaze orange on, and no one was to be hunting on the property. The targets where foam animals, turkies deer etc etc, even some baboons and other funny animals.

As I meander down the trail I think of things, current events, life, everything, its really a self centering practice. I remember a story of the hiker/biker being attacked by the mountain lions and I sart to think what would I do in tha situation..........lets pause I just want to say that ALOT of mental preperation is not enought to equip you for some instances PLAY......... As I pass a few piles of stacked wood I saw him, crouched, ears back, and looking DIRECTLY AT ME!!!!! I froze, there are no words for the fear that gripped my heart, I was dead, a squishytoy for my opponent. As we sat at a gaze (he gazed, I froze). A million things ran through my head.......................then one caught me.............I was in the middle of an archery range.....................with foam dummies as targets....................I had been in advertantly punked!!........my formidable opponant was a foam dummy, and I almost had to explain why I peed myself infront of 100 people I didnt know!! (Ididnt pee myself but I was close)

So inclosing I would just like to say that no matter how much you think you will never be prepared for the real deal.
-Jacob

I'm down in FL. I was riding a trail that parrallels a small creek. Where the tight singletrack trail I was on intersects another wider trail there is a small drop (maybe 12-18 inches). It's kind of blind, so you just hit it and launch.

As I'm approaching it, nearly at the lip, I see him. About a 6'0" alligator right at the bottom of the drop. I didn't have time to stop, so I launched. Hit him near his hip with my back tire and scared the living bejeezus out of both of us. He high tailed it toward the creek and I left a brown stain in my shorts.

I ride a lot in a place called Bartram Forest, in Milledgeville, Georgia. I've seen a lot of wildlife out there, but, thankfully, none really dangerous. I've seen quite a few deer, and once, a buck stood in the middle of my trail while I was coming at him. He let me get about fifteen feet from him before he darted away. I've also seen a lot of different birds: wild turkeys, ducks, geese, some that looked like quail, and some buzzards. There are a few ponds in the forest that the trails circle. I've seen a snake on the edge of one of the ponds once.

I enjoy seeing these animals out there while I'm riding. Bartram Forest is mostly truck paths maintained by the Georgia Forestry Dept. I think if I were riding a lot more on single track, I would be more concerned about it. When you're on a single track switch back leading to a down hill, you don't always have much time to react to what's in front of you.

OMG mountain lions, alligators, dummies :eek: thank goodness i live in the UK!!! The most ive ever seen is a badger, a fox, some cows and sheep. What a dull life i lead.... ;)

No insanely huge animals in the Uk that will eat you alive, but the worst thing thats tried hunting me down when on a trail was a little jack terrier Dog...

And last week, i was out mountain boarding with a mate and we accidently rode through a horse field, they weren't too happy, imagine this, 2 guys, crapping themselves running, doing 20+ mph on 2 boards, with about 15- 20 9 foot horses galloping after you... I dont think ive ever been so scared in my life.. Not to mention im not a huge fan of horses anyway...

OMG mountain lions, alligators, dummies :eek: thank goodness i live in the UK!!! The most ive ever seen is a badger, a fox, some cows and sheep. What a dull life i lead.... ;)

Come to Cornwall and check out or beasts.... Furry animals wherever you go!

There are huge banana spiders on one of my local trails, but you only see them if you go early in the day. I have also heard of someone being bitten by a water moccasin there.

Came down a hill to see a skunk. Luckily it was looking the other way as I flew past it. I got tot he top of the next hill and turned to try to get my riding buddies to stop. Glad I didn't have to ride home with them.

Never attacked us, but we shared trails with wild boar in Germany. They'd take off as soon as they heard us comin', tho. Almost had a run-in with a 12 point buck here during hunting(rifle) season. I was flyin' down the first DH on the trail and the buck was standing at the bottom. I hit my brakes and he took off. The scariest part is forgetting that it's deer season. After the buck and I spooked each other, I only rode another couple hundred yards before deciding there was way too much gunfire around there.

While riding on some VERY technical singletrack we had a run-in with a bear cub. At first we thought that it was a racoon, so we stopped to look at it. Then we saw it run and we were just like "oh jeez, its a cub" and I have never done that singletrack so fast in my life after that. We were afraid mom was close behind.

Another time we were on a group night (about 6 people), we all had our lights and we came into a field area right next to a reservoir. We stopped at the opening into the field because we saw probably 20 eyes in the field. All we could really see was the eyes though because they were too far for the light to reflect off of anything else. We thought they might be coyotes or something, but we eventually worked up enough guts to start riding across the field and saw that they were a bunch of deer. We felt like wimps, but it was a cool sight because they let us get pretty close to them, then all of a sudden they all took off running.

My only encounter with a dangerous animal was during my 1/2 day visit to Whistler's bike park. It was getting late and was tired after four hours of my downhill debut and crashing once per descend so I come out of a right turn and find this brown bear in the middle of the trail. He was not that big by bear standards (compared to a Grizzly) but big enough to produce serious damage if angry. He ran into the woods and I sped up in case he changed his mind about me. Around here in Chicago I can only be attacked by a racoon :D

Rattlesnakes
Elk/deer*
Big horn sheep*
4' black bear

* nearly been squashed by 'em several times. Much neato.

The worst ive seen is big brown snakes everywhere in my trails in summer. One time we saw 3 brownies in the space of one minute so we decided to ride somewhere else that day ;)

one day this summer at diablo mtn bike park there where a few bears hangin out on the BMW trail. i managed to steer clear but i saw them from the lift. i had a closeer bear encounter trail riding at waywayonder st park in North NJ going through this section called the swamp. the bear jumped out onto the trail ahead of me and ran ahead of me . i think we scared him but i almost crapped my pant.
countless dear encounters but they dont count because they're cute. and on a tripto Arizona while riding on south mountain a copper head was chillin in the middle of the trail luckily i saw it and didnt run it over.it would of probably been pissed

Damn, you Americans and Canadians have an animal problem compared to the UK, i dunno what i would do if a bear jumped out in front of me.... Apart from try and get a new pair of boxers..

I see rabbits darting across the greenways all the time, they'll actually stop in my headlight sometime.

Bear. Its common enough where it doesn't even matter anymore. What scares me are the cubs. I see those and I turn around.

Coyote...they got hungry one day and came down to the public area of the mountain.

Otherwise eagles, deer, rabbit, all the usualy forest suspects. Bears actually being the most common.

..........I had been in advertantly punked!!........my formidable opponant was a foam dummy, and I almost had to explain why I peed myself infront of 100 people I didnt know!! (Ididnt pee myself but I was close)

So inclosing I would just like to say that no matter how much you think you will never be prepared for the real deal.
-Jacob

DUDE! You had me at the edge of my seat until that last line. Then I almost wet myself! :roflmao:
Thank God it WASN'T the real deal!! :D

He high tailed it toward the creek and I left a brown stain in my shorts.

I probably would have left more than just a stain! :eek:

I'm such a chicken!! :(

I almost had a head-on collision with a squirrel.

I was riding a narrow, worn in singletrack this afternoon and a ground squirrel was running in the rut in the opposite direction. At the very last second it darted up the side of the rut, but I thought I had hit it for sure.

I had an oppossum come after me one time. He got a swift kick to the grill when he tried to kamikaze my bottom bracket.

I deal with coons all the time at my summer job. They always get into trash dumpster and get stuck if there isn't much trash. Usually we just get a rake and pin it in the corner and try to hook it under the front legs. Then we just lift up and they scurry off. Then there was the time one of the ladies told be to "Grab it because it looks so cute and harmless." Idiot

My closest trails are on the hog-backs at the start of the Colorado front range and they are dry, mostly sage brush, few trees, and hot. Great rattlesnake country and it isn't uncommon to see one when you are grinding up on a climb. It makes you forget about the lactic acid build up in your legs every time.

i came within a few feet of hitting a bear. just came over the crest of a hill, had a bit of speed, saw the bear and just naild the brakes. it just stared at me untill i stopped and then bolted. scared the hell outta me. ive seen lots of little animals too. iv actually ran over a squirrel and came close with mice and a rabbit. when you live where i do its a normal thing to see a few moose or deer and a bear every once in a while.

I'm still looking over my shoulder because of this encounter.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=69168&highlight=Coy+dogs

Coy dogs. Has anyone had any experiences with Coy dogs? Do they attack humans?

This is what I've been getting. They seem to be waiting for me on my commute at 2:45am.- 3:30am For the last 6 or 7 days. ( The bear spray is always ready)

Last night I could hear them for at least 3/4 of a mile. before riding in to a field of them(4 or 5). after coming off a trail I take all summer long with out any problems. I stop point my head lights toward them .They all stop howling and focus there attention on me. Then one of them starts to growl at me. Thats when I say it's time to go!

I see lots of deer,black bear,snakes and the like here in N.C. I was riding a trail not far from my home when a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed right in front of my tire. I was moving pretty good and it scared us both. He was pertty funny trying to go 6 ways at once. :D

SilverTip grizzly, bull elk, moose, brown bear, porcupine, coyote: Banff National Park.
Black bear, deer, eagles, ravens: Vancouver Island.

Not all on a bike.
I believe I have been stalked by cougar, all the wildlife stops making noise. And it keeps happening.

I often feed raven, crows..they will warn if they notice a preditor coming close to the free food source when camping.

I ran over a a snake, when I was riding, not sure what kind it was. It looked so much like a big stick that I didn't give it a second thought, till my dad yelled snake, too late.

Great stories, guys!
Please, keep 'em coming! :D

Not gonna get into any details... But this is the truth....

Ran over 2 Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes, one of which I killed later with a rock.... ( 56" long, 13 rattles...)

So many Black Racer snakes (8' + long) it isn't even funny. These things reach from one side of the gravel road to the other....

3 Black Bears (no cubs, this time), one of which was about 10' in front of me, but still A-hole & Elbow's running away from me!

So many WhiteTail deer I can't even estimate the total #, but 2 stick in my mind, a 10 point Buck & a doe were mating when I rode upon them on the "Never Ending Road". They only paused for a few sec's, then went back at it in the heat of the passion. I counted his antlers, then kept riding.... They're not afraid of us Biker's for some reason....

About 8 - 10 Rotweiller's on a Bear hunt training session.... This was the scariest of all encounters ever for me.

The End....

Seen a few black bears, only one while riding MTB. The one I saw while riding didn't stick around long enough to scare me. I was tearing downhill, making a bunch of noise and probably scared the hell out of him. I came face to face with a bear while hiking one day though that took my breath away. He was probably only about the size of a large dog, but I froze as we locked eyes for probably 10 or 15 seconds. Then he freaked and bolted, I shat myself, and then cautiously made my way back to the trailhead, looking over my shoulder the entire time. I believe it when I hear people say you can't outrun one. They're fast as hell. I passed another bear while hiking the same trail and we basically just acknowledged each other while slowly moving off in separate directions. It scared me but not as bad, he was fairly distant and we didn't startle each other.

Just a wild Turkey (he was on the downhill portion of the trail and I was *moving*) that eventually ran off the trail after I had slowed.

Saw a deer once, but I was going uphill so it's not like I would have hit her or anything.

I'm still looking over my shoulder because of this encounter.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=69168&highlight=Coy+dogs

Coy dogs. Has anyone had any experiences with Coy dogs? Do they attack humans?

This is what I've been getting. They seem to be waiting for me on my commute at 2:45am.- 3:30am For the last 6 or 7 days. ( The bear spray is always ready)

Last night I could hear them for at least 3/4 of a mile. before riding in to a field of them(4 or 5). after coming off a trail I take all summer long with out any problems. I stop point my head lights toward them .They all stop howling and focus there attention on me. Then one of them starts to growl at me. Thats when I say it's time to go!


First of all :eek:

OK, now that I have that out of my system; I would definitely try to avoid the area. Sounds like they have the pack thing going and that couldn't be good for you to try and cycle through - especially since they "know" your schedule so to speak.

A friend was walking on his farm property in a dried up creek bed and heard some noises. Long story short, he realized it was a pack of wild dogs (probably 15-20 of them!) surrounding him. The leader of the pack came down the bank and stood in front of him about 20-30 yards away. He took his rifle and dropped the dog in its tracks. The others took off. That story freaks me out every time I think about it.

I swear I came across a wolf on a ride in Wyoming State Forest is Pa. This seems unlikely as ther are no wolves east of Idaho. And yet having seen several stuffed wolves I really think it was one. To large for a coyote, not a dog, and a very cool animal. I waranted only glance as it crossed my path

pigeon, blackbird, magpie(tried to steal my bike becasue it is shiny! i gave it what for though...) squirrel.

gojhonnygo- you can get these things that emit high frequency signals or something and they scare dogs away from up to 40 ft. Dunno if they work on coy dog though....

I was turning a blind corner on some double track and there in front of me was an average sized coyote. Not at all unusual because they own the area I used to live. But this coyote was looking right at me while taking a dump in the middle of the trail. I rode right up to him and tried to scare him off but he wouldn't leave until he pinched the turd off. Funniest thing I had seen for a while.

Well I've never had a close encounter while riding, but I see/scare animals, like deer, partridge, chipmunks, and in a couple occasions loose heffers.

I'm still looking over my shoulder because of this encounter.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=69168&highlight=Coy+dogs

Coy dogs. Has anyone had any experiences with Coy dogs? Do they attack humans?

This is what I've been getting. They seem to be waiting for me on my commute at 2:45am.- 3:30am For the last 6 or 7 days. ( The bear spray is always ready)

Last night I could hear them for at least 3/4 of a mile. before riding in to a field of them(4 or 5). after coming off a trail I take all summer long with out any problems. I stop point my head lights toward them .They all stop howling and focus there attention on me. Then one of them starts to growl at me. Thats when I say it's time to go!

I live in an urban and rural area, but still, even on the road at midnight, I have seen plenty of coyotes, deer, fox racoons ,etc. but after reading that thread, I may just stay in for a while. I have seen a pack of coyotes, but not on the bike. I know they are in this area. I think I'll go lock the door now. :)

Where I live some idiot had female and male mountain lions, over time the lions grow from small little cats to very large killers. So the guy decided to let them loose right in the escarpment area. Since then the lions have bred and have had babies. There have been several cases where mainly bikers were attacked but not killed because the lions saw them as moving targets. A guy has shot one so far... but one day I was biking along the trail when I started to feel like I was being followed. I caught a glimpse of something very large fly out of the bushes 20 meters behind me, so I just floored it out of there. Several days later the mountain lion was caught going throught someones garbage and was chased away. On that same path I've had squirrels and chipmunks fly through my rim spokes, and some people have been squirted my skunks. O ya did I mention the path is also covered with gravel and lots of people fall on it because they get stuck in the gravel. Talk about the path from hell.

I came across a mountain lion when I lived in San Francisco a few years back. It was before those attacks happened and it was very freaky but very cool. I'd never seen one even from a distance. I came down a descent over in Marin County, around a corner to where the fireroad flattened out and it was cruising up the fireroad towards me. I jammed on the brakes, we had a stare off for about 5 seconds and it ran off in to the long grass. It was early morning, nobody was around. I was in awe of the beast, it was amazing, I took a few seconds and then tore off hoping it wouldn't think about tracking me.

These days all I see are kangaroos and wallabies, the odd snake and the usual birdlife we have here.

Just Turkey, Rattlesnakes, Moccassins and deer on a bike. Canoe tripping in Canada: 8 Moose, 1 Woodland Caribou (rare in Ontario), 1 lone Wolf (not rare), 7 or 8 beaver, 2 Sandhill Cranes, a few Otters, many dozen Loons and 4 or 5 mink-like critters. Backpacking: 4 black bear encounters, many deer, and a wild Boar. Hiking in N Florida: half a dozen Alligators, Deer and many snakes.

My last backpacking trip about three years ago, we passed the actual site where a woman was killed and partially eaten by a Black Bear two months before. Very unusual for a Black. They never caught it. Later on that trip, I had a head-on meeting with a young black bear. No problem; I just raised up with arms held high and gave him my alpha bear growl. He turned and ran. However, I always carry pepper spray ever since hiking in Glacer National park in the spring when the Brown Bears are hungry.

Al

Wild boars and rattlesnakes. Needless to say I get the flying ****************** out of there ASAP

does people having sex in the woods count??

mtn lion on two occasions; closest was maybe 20 meters away, crossing the fire road i was riding up. melted away into the forest like nothing had ever been there.

hmmmm. lots of fox. quite a few coyote. deer/elk all the time. a few marmot. many snakes of various types.

got licked up and down my leg one day by some mountain goats while riding the access road back to my car from a trail. i apparantly was a moving salt lick in their minds. i'd stopped to let them cross in front of me, but they had other ideas. i felt used........ ;)

got licked up and down my leg one day by some mountain goats while riding the access road back to my car from a trail. i apparantly was a moving salt lick in their minds. i'd stopped to let them cross in front of me, but they had other ideas. i felt used........ ;)


I used to live near a National Battlefield that my family hiked and biked often. Once we saw goats on adjacent property. I was only 7 or 8 so I wanted to check them out. I started petting one through the fence and he started trying to eat my T-shirt. I started crying, but couldn't get away cause my shirt was halfway down his/her throat. LOL Ah, memories....

No crazy grizzley or cougar tales here in south Saskatchewan. There was a large coyote hanging out by one of our riding places late last year, that was cool. Other than that lots of deer, hawks, beavers, prairie chickens, gophers, etc. The coolest animals I've ever seen on my bike were a pair of snow owls we encoutered last last year. It was after the first snowfall, which had melted, thus it was easy to spot these little white beauties on the trees.

As a roadie, my biggest concern is riding over a Rattlesnake..I've seen them in the road. Particularily in may...MTN. biker friends pack a gun, because of mountain lions..Reason to be roadies', I think...Maybe not in the back country.?

does people having sex in the woods count??

only if the girl is hot....and you took pictures.

Rattlesnakes..... I got freaked one time. My friend started yelling "Rattlesnake Back Tire" I threw the bike from under me with the whole that that it was just my luck to have a rattler wrapped up in my spokes somehow. I walked up to the bike really slowly to find it was the shedded skin.

I have had mockingbirds attack me on the trail once. Thank god for helmets.

Do lawyers count? I had one following me on a 4wheeler yelling about how I was trespassing, and how he was going to make sure my life was hell. Funny part was he was the one trespassing.

Bees count..Pretty common event ,particularily around blooming citrus trees...
In regards to rattlesnakes...One about to crawl under your tires as you are moving at 15 mph..Some big/fat enough you might fall over ! If not what is best approach..Can't affoid the critter...? Dont' they sense heat...Think any good to unclick and lift up your legs...Think they would strike you or the bike? ANy precautions should you be unavoidably heading one's way.