# MTB Wildlife Sightings



## WoodCore (Jun 7, 2009)

A thread to post your interactions with natures creatures while riding!

I had a great one about a week or so ago while riding the Larkin Bridle trail. A young whitetail buck was out in the middle of the trail as I approached on my bike, he froze for a minute and then decided to head left off the trail. I continued to pedal and the deer ran out of room and came back across the trail within 20 feet of my bike. Once on the right side of the trail the deer having nowhere else to go actually ran parallel to me for almost 50 yards before it darted left again in front of me by no more than 10 feet and off into the woods.


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## Paul (Jun 7, 2009)

Almost ran-over a bunny rabbit today.


Wife just missed a Rattlesnake last week.

That's about it.


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## Johnskiismore (Jun 7, 2009)

In Littleton, NH we saw a moose in the twon forest.  Full grown moose was curled up and sleeping on the side of the trail!  We thought it might be dead as there was no movement...  we managed to wake him up!  He stood up, stared at us, we stared back blankly, thought of the rifle locked away nicely at home would come in handy about now if he charged -- but he just ran up the trail.  Too bad no pictures


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## JD (Jun 7, 2009)

This year has been pretty good.  Lot's of great bird sightings.  Scarlet Tanager (male), Gold Finches, Eastern Bluebirds, got attacked by a grouse, and chased a Turkey down the trail quite a ways.  Also had a Bull chase me down the street (behind his little fence) with all his cows running after him.  THAT was hilarious.  Cows are dumb, but funny.  Also saw a broad wing hawk and a marsh hawk.  Love spring.


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## bvibert (Jun 8, 2009)

I saw 2 or 3 deer on the side of the trail at White Memorial.  They ran off as soon as they heard me coming...


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## gorgonzola (Jun 8, 2009)

i've had lots of run in with critters over the years, deer and turkey are the most common, squished a mole or two, bunny hopped a few snakes, got ran into by a squirrel, gave a box turtle a ride in the camelback to take home to the kids (it was the end of the loop). the scariest were a close encounter with an owl in flight, a potentially rabid raccoon and seeing a mama bear and 2 cubs up close on a solo ride. thats one advantage of early morning rides.


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## Greg (Jun 8, 2009)

Mostly deer, vultures, and smaller rodent like animals - chipmunks and whatnot. Saw a cool bright orange salamander at the truck trail/B street four way in Nass. Supposedly there have been several bear and a few mountain lion sightings in Burlington, CT too.


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## powhunter (Jun 8, 2009)

Plenty of deer, and turkeys...Hoping to see a bear one of these days...last week I almost ran over a huge snapping turtle..stopped the bike and decided to f with him a bit ..got him to snap a 1 inch branch a few times


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## 2knees (Jun 8, 2009)

powhunter said:


> Plenty of deer, and turkeys...Hoping to see a bear one of these days...last week I almost ran over a huge snapping turtle..stopped the bike and decided to f with him a bit ..got him to snap a 1 inch branch a few times



didnt you see some cougars at nass last year?  :lol:


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## RENO (Jun 8, 2009)

The best for me was almost hitting a female moose at Killington. :-o We were staying in a house on Telefon Trail road in the Fall over 10 years ago and just got back from mountain biking near the breadloaf wilderness and decided to take the bike out for a spin in the neighborhood. I was on one of the gravel/dirt roads off Dean Hill Road (I think) and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Thought it was a person on horseback coming out of the woods. Turned out to be a moose! Scared the shit outta me! I slammed the brakes and twisted left as I slid and shot up dirt and rocks on her which startled her and she took off into the woods on the other side of the road. I took off. About a 100-200 feet I came across her calf which was just walking straight slowly up the road. He/she stopped and looked back at me then ran through someones yard and into the woods. I then was worried that the mother would come back for the calf and I really took off quickly. My heart was pounding. Something like that will probably never come close to happening again. I've seen moose a couple more times in Killington after near the gates at Bear Mountain and 1 ran through the parking lot and across Killington Road when we were outside eating dinner on the deck at the Grist Mill restaurant...


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## BackLoafRiver (Jun 23, 2009)

This taught my girlfriend and I a lesson...

Yesterday we went out for a quick 45 minute ride to the end of my road.  I have never been past my driveway and heard that it eventually turned into a dirt road.  The weather here has been pretty crappy so I figured, "hey...it's not raining. Lets get outside and ride".

30 minutes down the road, my girl is a few feet ahead of me and I hear her yelp.  Not more than 20 feet away was a female moose.  She was staring right at us.  We stood there in  awe for a minute until we thought, "uh, if she has any babies with her, we're done for. Let's go".

Of course, neither of us had a camera or phone.  From now on, camera AND phone will go in the pack.


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## RENO (Jun 23, 2009)

BackLoafRiver said:


> This taught my girlfriend and I a lesson...
> 
> Yesterday we went out for a quick 45 minute ride to the end of my road.  I have never been past my driveway and heard that it eventually turned into a dirt road.  The weather here has been pretty crappy so I figured, "hey...it's not raining. Lets get outside and ride".
> 
> ...



That's what we say now after a few sightings! Never leave without the camera out and ready. The digital camera we have now is awesome! Super tiny and lightning fast turning it on...


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## Grassi21 (Jun 23, 2009)

I have seen a ton of upper-middle class types walking around wearing business casual....


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Jun 23, 2009)

Grassi21 said:


> I have seen a ton of upper-middle class types walking around wearing business casual....



I laughed..I don't know why..lol..the worst is when they dress business casual for a weekend outing to the grocery store..even if it's an upscale market like Wegmans, Freshmarket or Wholefoods..lol


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## o3jeff (Jun 24, 2009)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> I laughed..I don't know why..lol..the worst is when they dress business casual for a weekend outing to the grocery store..even if it's an upscale market like Wegmans, Freshmarket or Wholefoods..lol



Search the "Tyler Mill" TR To truly understand Grassi's post.


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## Grassi21 (Jun 24, 2009)

o3jeff said:


> Search the "Tyler Mill" TR To truly understand Grassi's post.



+1 :lol:


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## mlctvt (Jun 25, 2009)

Sightings from Road biking too. In the last few weeks I've seen

Lots of dead roadkill snakes this year, A copperhead, many garter snakes, black racer
A live fox that I almost ran in to. 
Several deer, 
Several bluebirds, hawks, osprey,turkeys
A very large live snapping turtle that a guy had stopped his car and I helped him move it to the side of the road. The turtle didn't like us.
I saved a few painted turtles earlier this year too.


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## JD (Jun 25, 2009)

Close encounter with a mama bear and her 2 cubs today.  Cubs went up a tree and the mom and I just stared at eachother for about a minute.  I was waiting for the other 2 riders to catch up.  Before they did, one cub came down and she escorted him off into the bushes.  When my crew rolled up i told them they just rode by a bear and another cub was still treed.  We paused for a moment to get a glimps of the cub when mama made her presence know again by bolting back up from down the hill and leaping onto the tree trunk abouty 5 feet. She was panting heavy and giving us the eye so we rolled.  We were about 40 feet from eachother for what seemed like a solid minute.  One of my most intimate sightings of a bear, and although I ussually see at least one a year, this one was great.  I got to really study her.  She was big, black, and beautiful.


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## kingdom-tele (Jun 26, 2009)

its  magical to stare them in the eye huh JD, similar experience in northern maine a few years ago


mtb up here we've crossed blackies, turkeys, porci's, deer, moose, best story was my buddy almost riding into the ass end of a big ol bull moose, making the big bending turn into jaw (KT) I  just hear him scream MOOOOOSE, I round the bend to see the big boy trucking down the trail, rack resting on his back, by buddy says he was standing in the trail eating, still not sure who was more surprised, its crazy how they dart into the wood, we watched him turn in and charge into the brush, but even knowing where he went in it looked like the woods swallowed him up


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## JD (Jun 26, 2009)

Moose are strange animals.


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## playoutside (Jun 26, 2009)

JD said:


> ... We paused for a moment to get a glimps of the cub when mama made her presence know again by bolting back up from down the hill and leaping onto the tree trunk abouty 5 feet. She was panting heavy and giving us the eye so we rolled. We were about 40 feet from eachother for what seemed like a solid minute. One of my most intimate sightings of a bear, and although I ussually see at least one a year, this one was great. I got to really study her. She was big, black, and beautiful.


 
Last year we had a mama and her cub visit our back yard pretty often (neighbors trash was in a shed they knew about). One day the cub got treed by some noise that spooked him and mama stuck around. Then other human noises sent mom up the tree -- amazing how agile she was and pretty quiet in her climb. The cub fell asleep in the tree and I think mama got bored. She climbed down and started to wander thru neighbors yards towards the woods. Something made her concerned before she made it to the woods. She came charging back across yards, making that aggressive panting noise and leaped right up the tree!! It took her no time to cover several hundred yards and get up that tree -- made me really understand you cannot run from a bear! They are really beautiful and nurturing. She had to wake the cub up and coax him down the tree. I love watching them; hate being startled by them when I leave for work in the morning and they just appear out of nowhere.  Below is a picture of mama that day.  The baby was higher and I never got a good picture of both in the tree.
View attachment 2686


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## JD (Jun 26, 2009)

Awesome photo.  They are very cool animals. My folks had one coming around their house in Jersey this year.  In some parts of Jersey they are getting really used to humans, much like the deer down there.  It's rare to see deer up here, back in Jersey I would see 20-30 every night driving home.


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## bvibert (Jul 1, 2009)

bvibert said:


> I saw 2 or 3 deer on the side of the trail at White Memorial.  They ran off as soon as they heard me coming...



I've also seen a few beavers swimming in ponds or streams while at WM.


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## mlctvt (Aug 17, 2009)

On our road ride yesterday in Greenfield MA my wife and I saw a black bear. I'd say about a 250 lb bear. He ran across the road about 150 feet in front of us. Just like the last time we saw a bear, my wife brakes while I accelerate so I can get a better look. I couldn't believe it because it was so hot yesterday. 

Then in the car on the way home we saw a pair of large Pileated woodpeckers.


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## Greg (Aug 17, 2009)

Saw a big slug on Saturday...


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## kingdom-tele (Aug 18, 2009)

saw a beautiful auburn 6 point buck saturday somewhere in burke, I was 30 min into a climb and I spooked him, he was 20 ft from me, it was humbling how quickly he darted uphill


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