[mike721]

Well this morning the ride to work was a bit more interesting than usual.

The weather was actually perfect at 5am, crisp, clear, a bit chilly at 47F but I was dressed for it, and with the heated grips on I was toasty warm. For the first time this month I think there was no rain, wind, fog, lightning, mudslides or tornados in the area for a change.

The traffic was nonexistent, it was 5 am on a Sunday, so that was a nice change too.

My route takes me through about 5 miles of serious deer country on a side road, as always I was very alert on that stretch, no deer, which is actually unusual, but that was just fine. I was actually chuckling..hmm, I hope they aren't hiding to ambush me! I kind of felt let down, what a peaceful ride...too peaceful...almost TOO peaceful.

I got to the last town just before I cross into NJ, no deer, no traffic, all clear, and then a freakin cat ( white, not black at least), comes tearing across the parking lot of a fire company, running flat out, zig zagging like he is storming a beach under machine gun fire! I watch him , he's more or less headed away from me as he approached the road, clearly going to ass behind me and then he suddenly takes a hard right and makes a beeline for the one point that will intersect my path. Do cats commit suicide? This one damn near did.. full on emergency braking, down to 15 from 50 mph, I miss him by about 3 feet with the front wheel. Damn that was close, sure it was only a cat, i could have probably ran him over and kept going but still...

Ok, enough excitement for the morning, it was so quiet, I knew SOMETHING had to happen, thought that was it...

I rode the next mile to the bridge, and on the approach to the bridge, concrete on both sides, no where near any woods, from just a tiny bit of bushes on the side of the concrete wall out steps a damn BUCK right onto the bridge and stops glaring at me. A small one, young, with just small antlers, I think he thought about challenging my me to dare cross HIS bridge! Second panic stop in a mile, I stopped, he stood another second then walked to the center divider of the road, I slowly rode past hoping he stayed there. He did..

The rest of my 70 mile ride into work on the interstate was uneventful... and the sunrise was beautiful this morning!

Be careful out there...

 

[Offcenter]

Holy moly Mike!
You must be doing something to attract them!

 

[Critter]

So much for a peaceful ride. Must be those whisper quiet pipes of yours.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

Most of us try not to run over even the smallest critters.
You reminded me that I passed a deer Thursday morning. He was in the ditch at the side of the road. I was doing at least 60 3 feet from the edge of the road. Too late to do much for either of us, except look. I assume he heard me coming as it is really quiet on the Island. The morning bus to the ferry was behind me. The school bus was at least 30 minutes earlier going the other way. If the deer had stepped on to the road I would have nailed him. At least I think I would.

UK

 

[hogcowboy]

Mike, was it you or someone else that installed deer whistles? They don't really work anyway, was just wondering if you might be yet another to confirm they don't work. :grin:

 

[mike721]

Nope, no deer whistles on my bike, I never heard anything positive about them either.

I was considering mounting a .50 cal in an automatic turret though...

Mike, was it you or someone else that installed deer whistles? They don't really work anyway, was just wondering if you might be yet another to confirm they don't work. :grin:

 

[mike721]

We have so many deer that I literally pass 6 or more on a typical day. Now that it's rutting season it's much worse,today I saw a dozen at least, including a herd of 4 or 5 right on the shoulder of the interstate 80, standing there nonchalantly while heavy traffic is flying by 4 feet away at 85 mph.

We need more hunters...

Most of us try not to run over even the smallest critters.
You reminded me that I passed a deer Thursday morning. He was in the ditch at the side of the road. I was doing at least 60 3 feet from the edge of the road. Too late to do much for either of us, except look. I assume he heard me coming as it is really quiet on the Island. The morning bus to the ferry was behind me. The school bus was at least 30 minutes earlier going the other way. If the deer had stepped on to the road I would have nailed him. At least I think I would.

UK

 

[hogcowboy]

The deer hunters here just sit around camp drinking beer. They are useless for keeping deer under control. Plus deer around here are having twins every darn year doubling the population every dang year.

 

[DoBro]

I ride a lot in the country on curvy county roads. I have had deer to be on the side of the road and I would slow down and usually go on by, but, I had one to not try to cross paths but instead decided to try to race me. It ran on the side of me and I was doing about 40 mph! I've thought about getting a pair of those deer whistles to put on the bikes! I had a owl fly about 3 feet from my head for atleast a mile before also! Gotta watch for fowls too!

 

[hogcowboy]

I ride a lot in the country on curvy county roads. I have had deer to be on the side of the road and I would slow down and usually go on by, but, I had one to not try to cross paths but instead decided to try to race me. It ran on the side of me and I was doing about 40 mph! I've thought about getting a pair of those deer whistles to put on the bikes! I had a owl fly about 3 feet from my head for atleast a mile before also! Gotta watch for fowls too!

As light as owls are, they can still do a lot of damage if hit head-on. Encountered my share of them on my morning commutes before retiring. They have a HUGE wingspan that will scare the heck out of you if it's a close call and not a hit. They'll make you think twice about riding in the dark times.:wink2: