Be Careful out there, wolves.

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:26 am

Motorcyclist dies after hitting wolf
Cass County authorities reported Friday that a Boy River man died after being thrown from his motorcycle after he apparently collided with a timber wolf.

The accident occurred at about 9 a.m. Friday on Cass County Road 4, about 2 miles east of Boy River.

The victim, Robert Tellstrom, 62, Boy River, was airlifted to a Duluth area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities reported that the dead wolf was under the motorcycle when motorists discovered the crash.

From the Brainerd Daily Dispatch

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:55 pm

Wow, that's a first. Animal strike is one of my biggest fears. Growing up in PA, hitting deer is a common occurence. A girl died here in MA some time ago (in a car) after she hit a moose on the MassPike.

While test riding my wife's CM400 a few years back (at nite) I nailed a porcupine. Stayed upright, and you should have seen the spines stuck in the front tire.

I love riding at night, but we have deer, moose, bear, plus there is always the chance of a stray dog. I rode home last saturday night from Altamont, NY, about 2 1/2 hours. Beautiful full moon, great weather. The worry about critters definitely kept my speed down.

YIKES!

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:14 am

Regardless of which part of the country you live in ,there are real concerns for motorcyclists. Urban and suburban guys worry about people yakking on phones or 100 yr old people and turning in front of you. The rural guys have great roads , no traffic and still have to worry about an animal running in front of them and causing a disaster.

Being a suburban guy, I have been lucky to avoid animals on my motorcycle.

I have hit a squirrel at 30 mph pedaling downhill on my roadbike ( bicycle).
Kept my weight back and rolled right over him. He ran away too.

I almost ran over a Red tailed Hawk on my mountain bike.I came around a corner BTTW and saw it on the trail in front of me. Did a major stoppy(near vertical) and It flew into a tree about 10 ft away at eye level and looked at me. It scared the shit out of me. I looked down and saw a rabbit still on the trail , laid open from head tail and still breathing. Picked up my bike and walked through the woods around it. Guys in this area don't get to see stuff like that too often; it was spectacular.

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:14 am

there are approximately 300-350 deer known to be in the missoula city limits year around [along with the skunks, racoons, bears, and occasional mountain lion]. i was cutting across town one night on my mountain bike and came upon a herd in the middle of the road on a street with very little light. i was zipping along at a pretty good clip and suddenly i was in the middle of all these deer. guess they didnt hear me coming down the road on the bicycle, and that will teach me to ride with my bike light off Shocked

of course we dont have the problem alaskagriz has. i see in the paper that they are having a problem with bears attacking people in anchorage Confused

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:04 pm

i took out a 180 lb doe with my astro van, that morning i made the decision not to ride that day cuz it was a bit foggy...manglefucked the front of the van... glad i was in a cage

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:27 pm

I'll see your wolf and raise you a horse. About three weeks ago in N. GA. a horse got loose from the field and wandered out onto the road. Got broadsided by a lady on an HD. The rider, the horse and the HD were all totaled.

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:21 pm

i uh.....hit a cow in my truck last year.... i have pics but im at school and cant login to my photobucket. it was dark and it was a black cow. hit it doing about 35. yeah not pretty. the kicker. the cow got back up, walked to the side of the road, and died.

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:06 am

Redlightning, my Dad has often told me of when he & his father were smuggling booze from LA over into TX, say about 1960 or '61 (Dad born in '45). His dad, driving, topped a hill, broadsided a cow, & wiped out the front end of my Dad's '52 Chevy. They had to drive about 50 miles further with no lights. Bootlegging in East Texas!
I bagged & truck & didn't ride anything but an ambulance. Very Happy

TB

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:13 pm

If you duck you could go right under a Moose.. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:18 pm

CowTownBiomed wrote:

If you duck you could go right under a Moose.. Very Happy

Words to live by.

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:54 pm

True that...
If anyone has never seen a Moose think of a Clydesdale on stilts....
When you hit one they "fall" off the stilts and land right in your lap....usually killing both the moose and the vehicles occupants...Pickup trucks/SUV's are not immune to this...

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:22 am

Steve, I guess you don't ride Ocean Parkway or Robert Moses at night. I've seen many a deer there. They aren't afraid of traffic and will actually continue to walk across the road. They expect you to stop!

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:25 am

CowTownBiomed wrote:

True that...
If anyone has never seen a Moose think of a Clydesdale on stilts....
When you hit one they "fall" off the stilts and land right in your lap....usually killing both the moose and the vehicles occupants...Pickup trucks/SUV's are not immune to this...

funny thing about moose....they cant see for shit, and being the size that they are, are still easily frightened and panicked. unfortunately, having the brain of ...well, a deer, they are not smart. the things that panic a moose, like small birds, squirrels, or twigs snapping can make them tough to hunt, but a logging truck barreling down a gravel road blowing its air horn doesn't faze them, and freight trains rolling at them at speed will piss them right off. i was riding up in the northwestern part of the state a few years back, when i came upon what looked like a young bull standing in the middle of the highway. i DID NOT try to ward the guy off the road by blowing my horn or reving my engine, instead stopping a good distance away and patiently and politely waiting for him to decide to meander off the roadway. this is also a good policy when on a bike and meeting buffalo around Yellowstone park, free range cattle in south eastern Montana, or bears anywhere. Laughing

of course, the most dangerous creature you can meet on the road anywhere.......is a chipmunk Shocked

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:51 am

rtabish wrote:

of course, the most dangerous creature you can meet on the road anywhere.......is a chipmunk Shocked

amen to that. little suckers dart all over the road. when you try to avoid them they run in front of you, like they want to get hit. they're cute but stupid, very very stupid. (except for the one that figured out how to get into my sealed bird seed container.... he died happy though, ate himself till he was too fat to get out of the hole he used)