Originally written by sidecarLenny on 11/27/2004 7:59 AM
I've hit a rabbit, and a squirrel(several times), Once in Northwestern NJ
I was driven my hack and a Black Bear cub was near the side of the road
(behind some trees), as we noticed each other he just stood up and watched
as I went by.
Iam sure some others in the Northwestern NJ/PA area have encountered/seen a
black bear while driving/stopping in this region.
Just remember - when you see "Baby Bear," it more than likely means that "Momma Bear' is nearby. Odds are she wont be takin' much of a shine toward you *or* your rig. Best to use that throttle and git the hell outta Dodge.
I once hit SOMEthing w/ my '90 R-100 GS/PD in the middle of Nowhere, NV at dusk. I pulled over, did the cursory look-around, neither saw, heard nor smelled anything, and cautiosly got underway. At about 30 mph, I started to hear a "whap-a wahappa-whap-whap," coming from somewhere in front of my right boot. It sounded like when a piece of brush gets caught in the skid plate.
I stopped again, dug out my 3-C Maglite, and crawled over the bike from bow to stern. Nuttin'
Corn-fuzed, I started to leave again, until I noticed what turned out to one gi-huge-ic desert bat inside my right handguard, lodged between the brake lever and the plastic. He must have just got up for his early evening bug munchin' Evidently what I had been hearing was his wings flappin' in the breeze.
I scooped him out (wearing gauntlets) set him on the ground near a bush and watched while he shook off what must have been one sumbitch headache, clumsily took off and woozily flew into the twilight.
I mulled over this for the next 200 miles until I reached my destination of Cedar City, UT
I too have hit dogs in my many travels in an automobile. Invaribly, they always were in a lane where I had no choice but to continue straight ahead or they jumped out in front of me when I could not possibly reduce my speed to avoid them. I mull over them every time and can't begin to say how it plays on my mind afterwards. However, my travels were always through the back roads and long winding roads of open plains, sagebrush and mesquites. I told myself that if I ever hit a wild animal I'd just keep on going. My natural instinct is to go back and examine the hurt animal, but a wild cyote, mountain lion, wolf, skunk or so forth is not necessarily going to treat you as a humanitarian or such. I suspect they are quite dangerous and have little regards for your act of kindness in returning to help them. Never hit one of those yet, but I'll have to fight the urge to be a good guy if it ever happens. I only have a finite amount of hands and legs in the first place and I don't need to go missing one because a wounded animal ate it for lunch. 🙂
Huey
Once I was riding home in a light rain with my daughter and I hit what I thought was a leaf. It was flapping off the side of my windshield at a closer glance it turned out to be a BAT!! So I just spead up and waited for it to slip off. She was actually pretty calm! I have hit several road kill COONS but thats it!
I once hit a bird in the rain, myself. However, it was in a car and not on a motorcycle. It was pretty horrible, as the kiddos, who were about 6 and 8, were in the back seat and the darn bird hit the windshield and jammed right into the wiper. The wiper blade kept swishing it back and forth across the windshield as the kiddos hooted and hollered in the back seat. The wife and the kiddos were all upset. I had to pull over and remove the thing which was a real mess. Yeash!
Huey
Back in the forties I had 1/2 partnership in a 1929 Model A sedan. One night on the way back to the farm, I swerved and hit the brakes to avoid hitting a skunk in the road. I drove the car into the garage/woodshed and closed the door. When my partner opened the door in the morning the smell was overwhelming. It was several days before we could get back in the building to see what had happened. The skunks carcass had lodged in the front radius rods. So much for evasive maneuvering. If you look at you're going to hit it.
Lonnie
Hit & killed a large deer in Sept of 2003. Wife & I were riding on my 03 Road King. Bike was pretty much totaled and we had some road rash. The very next time my wife got back on a bike was during Bike Week in 04. We were riding my new 04 Ultra (replaced the totaled RK) down on Alligator Alley heading toward the Keys when this large black bird came horizonatally at me like a missle and hit the fairing. Scared the living hell out of me. All I could think of was if we laid this bike down we were going to wake up all these alligators that were 10' off the road. We now have the hack on the Ultra, and the wife feels alot safer.
Scrubs
I've been pretty lucky in the 44+ years of ridding 2 wheelers and Hacks. The most troublesome non miss was catching up to the East End of a West Bound Wasp at 60mph. Hit the bugger on the side of my cheek just under the edge of the helmet and drove the stinger in about as far as it could go before hitting bone. The Luck thing was that I didn't have a severe reaction to it as many do. One buddy up north caught up with one much the same way just above the eyes at the Mouse Trap on I-25 in Denver. He wasn't so lucky and just bairly made it to the side of the busy hiway before his eyes swelled shut. You never know when you will have a reaction to a Bee or Wasp sting untill you have one. which is one reason I always have a windshield on the bike.
As for larger critters there have been any number of Close Encounters with Deer & Elk but having grown up in their terratory I make allowances for them around every corner and especially at night. Elk arn't as much of a problem as Deer but when they start crossing the road or Fence Line it is One At A Time untill they are all across no matter how long it takes.
Big Birds can be a problem and having spent many years in Farm Country, where we are moving back to, I have had many Close Encounters with them and just last fall one actual Hit. The Eagles, Hawks, Owls etc all tend to swoop down on Road Kill thinking that they will get away just in time. Well sometimes they don't! We caught one while it was comming inbound toward us at 65 MPH. It was mostlikely an Owl or Hawk, couldn't tell with the twilight. Anyway it hit between the Sidecar and Bike square on the 1/4" Plexi Airfoil I use for Wet and Cool Weather driving. Distroyed it too but lucky for us and the dogs none of the parts his us. I was going to leave the Airfoil off but thought about it and built a new one.
As for Big Birds and Snakes. Yes they do drop 'em to Kill 'em. Sometimes they will do it over the hiway but most of the time I've seen them do the Drop It 'Till It's Dead thing has been away from the roads over open country. Years ago I worked at a Very Remote Micowave Repeater site in SE CO. We had an Owl that loved to drop Snakes in the Tower Yard because it was filled with a nice rough gravel and it was just below it's nest. Needless to say we were very cautious going into the Tower Yard.
Never have heard of anyone getting one dropped on 'em but there were more than a few visitors that wouldn't go out back.
Jerry
