Wildlife?

[crux]

Something I miss about heading out on epic rides is the wildlife that one can see from time to time. I have never really been all that good with my camera since it is always buried somewhere in the bottom of the pack. Found that my friend was apparently quicker with his camera than I on a recent adventure to get this pic.
http://bikeabout.net/ZExtra/PhotoGallery/03GoingWest/images/0813egeria29m.jpg


Any other good wildlife photos?

[gopherhockey]

Any other good wildlife photos?

OMG, is that a real photo taken by a mountain biker? Too scary. :crazy2:

I tend to not have my camera with when I see anything cool. Best I've seen were two elk crashing into each other at Apex trail in Denver. I could hear their eerie sound miles away, then when I came around the corner there they were smashing into each other.

I took one look at the horns and prepared my exit strategy. Was a great wildlife experience tho.

Turkeys are probably the most popular find. And the owl that lives at Leb.

One day I'd like to see a Lynx or Bobcat. Not a mountain lion tho!

[Danimal]

Nothing like turning the corner and having a cougar staring at you.

I remember back when I was a kid taking the garbage out at the local skating rink my folks volunteered at (Pennsylvania). Many times I opened the dumpster only to have a black bear jump out. Scared the hell out of me every time it happened. Good thing the bears were just as scared of me and just ran into the woods.

I think I'd definately crap myself over a cougar though, they like to stalk their prey which means he has more time invested in having me for lunch than I have at simply looking at him.

[Shorty]

Over a weekend of riding in Door County, Wisc. while I was a kid, I came around a corner to find a porcupine and its baby.

Quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen - the baby porc was literally a small, brown ball with legs, just waddling along the forest floor. If I had a pic, I haven't seen it in years.

[jitterjepp]

I don't ever want to see one of those on a trail. My climbing partner and I had two grizzly bears cross our path in the tetons about 100 yards away. I also saw black bears when I lived in Pillager and once I saw a lynx which is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Josh Erdamnn and I also had a pack of wolves run through our campsites on two seperate occasions in the BWCA. I also got chased about a block by a big fat raccoon when doing a grounds check in the middle of the night when I got between the mother and her babies near a dumpster when I was an overnight staff at a treatment center in Eden Prairie. The grizzly and the wolves kind of freaked me out but I'll still take all that over one mountain lion sighting. I don't ever want to see that.

[jitterjepp]

Over a weekend of riding in Door County, Wisc. while I was a kid, I came around a corner to find a porcupine and its baby.

Quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen - the baby porc was literally a small, brown ball with legs, just waddling along the forest floor. If I had a pic, I haven't seen it in years.Those things are kind of funny animals. Our dogs used to come home with quils stuck into thier faces. Our lab went and sat on the porch and whined the last time one came through our yard because she had been through enough encounters with them to be afraid.

[ryno lite]

I was in Glacier N.P. on a backpacking trip and was walking up the campsite path and I got a weird feeling, I looked up and probably 8-10 yards from me was a grizzly. Those damn grizzlies are big up close! I was able to move to our site and join my buddies and a couple from Vancouver. They tend to leave groups alone. Turns out there were two of them actually. They didn't even care I was there. They were just passing through. It was neat to see but scary! I've seen grizzlies a few times, but that close is odd. The only other beast that has scared the crap out of me in the wild are rattlesnakes. When you stumble across one of those up close and they give you the warning rattle, it scares the crap out of you!

I've seen pretty much most larger animals in the wild except for a cougar. I'd like to see one, but maybe not too close! I've seen cougar tracks and I'm sure they have watched me, but no sightings as of yet!

[Nita]

*gulp* I'm still thinking about the woman who was dragged off her bike by a mountain lion in Southern California a few years ago. That lion had also killed a biker a few hours earlier while replacing a broken chain. The only reason she survived was her riding buddies refused to let go of her legs as the lion tried to drag her off! They kept throwing rocks at it. Talk about great friends!

The most interesting thing I've run into was a nasty porcupine that wouldn't let us pass at Levis Trowe. He actually blocked the trail and made us re-route rather quickly only for him to magically reappear a short while later.

[bakkeb]

I remember that story from SoCal. No good. Seeing this pic of the mountain lion freaks the crap out of me. I've often thought of what it would feel like to come around a corner and see that.:scream: . Whenever I'm at Leb. by myself and I'm on the part of the trail where you are right next to the MN Zoo fence line, I get a little jumpy thinking that "what if one of those tigers or lions got lose, and just happened to be on the trail.":jumpy: For some reason it goes through my mind everytime I'm at that part of the trail. Though very, very unlikely that this could ever happen, it would also be no good.:etard:

[Tex]

I remember riding out in Golden CO and dropping this insane downhill section only to round a corner at the bottom and almost plowing right into the back end of one of those elusive free range cattle out there. Seriously, I was going so fast if I would have hit it I would ended up inside it:jumpy:. Dumb a$$ cow wouldn't even move off the trail for me, he must not have read the sign designating that mountain bikers had the right of way.

[shourtt]

Now that I live in Puerto Rico, I might get the chance to see monkeys while riding. I thought that they were only on the south side of the island, but this link and talking with some local friends confirms that monkeys are located at a trail near my home.

http://www.ponceweb.net/mountainbike/viewtopic.php?t=1072

[transplant]

I've seen turkeys, coyotes, javalenas (sp?), rattlesnakes, scorpions (really freaky), turkey buzzards, wild horses, deer and geckos. That's between here, Arizona and Illinois.

The turkeys scared me more than any of them. I was cruising along a tight trail in IL when all of a sudden the underbrush around me literally exploded and my heart about stopped. Next thing I know I'm chasing about a dozen of them and they're all over the place trying to run, fly, whatever. It was funny watching a few of them trying to fly. Like a plane augering in.

[Paul Swenson]

Now that I live in Puerto Rico, I might get the chance to see monkeys while riding. I thought that they were only on the south side of the island, but this link and talking with some local friends confirms that monkeys are located at a trail near my home.

http://www.ponceweb.net/mountainbike/viewtopic.php?t=1072

You win.

The only way I think I'll ever see something cooler is if some animals make a break from the zoo. could happen but unlikely.

[Paul Swenson]

I've seen turkeys, coyotes, javalenas (sp?), rattlesnakes, scorpions (really freaky), turkey buzzards, wild horses, deer and geckos. That's between here, Arizona and Illinois.

The turkeys scared me more than any of them. I was cruising along a tight trail in IL when all of a sudden the underbrush around me literally exploded and my heart about stopped. Next thing I know I'm chasing about a dozen of them and they're all over the place trying to run, fly, whatever. It was funny watching a few of them trying to fly. Like a plane augering in.

I've been seeing a lot of turkeys lately. I think they're the new geese.