Has this ever happened to you?

Almost ran into a pack of Coyotes in the desert. I missed the one that was the size of a German Shepard by about 10 feet at 50mph.

Almost hit a doe once but stopped just in time, in time enough to see the little fawn curled up right in the middle of the trail! Good thing we didn't hit him

Never really hit an animal on dirt that i can remember... hit a few while on-road though (squirrel, snake), thankfully never went down because of it... 

my strangest animal encounter... i'm riding at St Joe State Park, a big open sand area in Missouri.... and a bird lands on my throttle hand while i'm going like 20 mph... and he just stays there... rides on my hand for maybe 15 minutes.... it was surreal.... 

Years ago…when WRC seemed as huge as F1…

I remember a Factory Mitsubishi (I think?) getting destroyed when it hit ome sheep…at speed…it was one of the WRC bad-ass drivers, too…if I recall correctly? It was literally horrific.

Myself? I’ve been blessed, I’ve had the privilege of having wild horses “run with me” while racing Vegas to Reno(they run along-side about 50 yards away…and it is AMAZING)…I’ve had cows clear the trail just ahead of me in Baja…I’ve had coyotes and amazingly large cats watch me go by…all of which seems like a blessing…to me. 

I don’t know how many know this, but…we lost Kurt Caselli to an animal collision. KC66…not many like him.

What we do is dangerous. Be careful out there.

May you all have the best of luck. 

My first thought was that in the most Canadian way ever, I hit a moose. I wasn't moving too fast maybe 3rd gear and Luckily it freaked out and ran the other way, if it would have been mad that fall would have been way worse.

In another event, I came over a big floater over the top of a hill and as soon as I left the ground, I saw a black bear right in my landing spot. It was already running, so thankfully it wasn't there when I landed, but it was sure close enough to scare the shit out of me. That one I was cruising pretty good on a wide open truck trail, top of 5th. It would have sucked.

I was also attacked by a pheasant one time on my bike. I must have ran over its nest or something to piss it off. It was incredible how relentless that thing was. It was fucking terrifying lol. I only had one option to make it stop... oops.

I ONCE RAN OVER A LARGE OAK SNAKE AS A KID LATER, AS AN ADULT, I WAS RIDING WITH RCS MOM ON THEIR MULE WHEN SHE RAN OVER THE BIGGEST OAK SNAKE IVE EVER SEEN. JEANNIE IMMEDIATELY WENT FULL BEAST MODE AND STARTED REPEATEDLY RUNNING IT OVER, BUT LARGE LOW PRESSURE ATV TIRES ARE PRETTY HARMLESS TO A SNAKE ON DIRT. A FRIED THEN RAN OVER WITH A 22 AND PUT IT DOWN.

I was not aware that Kurt was an animal collision.

I hit a fellow competitor’s dad once when I was a kid! 

We were on KX60s, he was ahead of me and fell off, his dad jumped the tapes right in front of me and I rode straight in to him!

Only on the road (125 XR).

I had a full-size pheasant fly into my chest sideways on at 55mph.

It made this weird noise, presumably caused by all the air getting knocked out of it, and then just sort of exploded... Feathers everywhere, dead. Me a little shaken honestly.

Very lucky I didn't get knocked off as it was a killer road with a local reputation. Thought "sod this" and went immediately home.

Had a huge steer charge me full on with complete intent to steamroll me.   Was riding single track in open range and I was the last guy in a line of 3.  First 2 guys didn't see the steer under a mesquite tree about 30 yards off the trail.  It locked eyes on me and started it's charge.  I could have easily gassed it and outran it but the other 2 guys were putting along blissfully unaware in front of me clogging up the trail.   I was screaming and revving the piss out of my engine but they never realized what was going on.  Luckily I was able to go just fast enough to not get plowed over as I was rubbing my front knobs on the other guys back knobs screaming my brains out.

I have had a close call with Deer out on the track in my backyard.  there is a roughly 500 foot long straight away with 2 singles to slow it down (I'm still working on the final layout and adding more jumps). I was in my SXS and came around the corner that is right before the straight and was wide open off the first single when 2 small deer ran in front of me.  I locked up the brakes as I hit the take off at around 40ish MPH and endoed then slid to a stop as the little deer bounced  SAFELY  away. 

 I reviewed the footage on my camera and You can just make out the deer as they run across in front of me. It was getting dark and I only had a cheap lower quality camera on so the footage isn't worth posting. 

I've had a few close calls with a large Buck when I'm out on my MTB on the trails that crisscross the track. 

I had a close call with a Fox one time when I was younger out trail riding. 

One time not on a bike, so it doesn't really count. But its kind of a funny story if You read to the end.   My buddy, his girlfriend and I were on our way back from riding and we heard a loud thud and saw something bounce off the windshield. It seemed pretty big so we got out to see what it was. Turned out it was a small owl. The aunt of the girl we were with was the local animal control officer and we called her to find out what to do. The little critter was breathing but knocked out. After talking with her  , we followed her directions and wrapped the critter up in a blanket/towel or sweatshirt, and we got back into the truck with the owl in the backseat with my buddy. We started driving and a minute later the owl woke up and was flying around inside the truck and  freaking us out as it flew around at warp speed. I pulled over quickly and opened a window and the little guy flew out the window and flew away, off into the night. We laughed and were all glad that it seemed like the little owl was ok.   

Not my video, wild local harescramble.  
Cows on the course, check
Poorly marked, absolutely
Weaving through a junkyard, of course
Riding through piles of biosludge, next level

I came face to face with a black bear on a mountain bike ride. I came around a blind corner and it was chilling out picking berries and scampered down the trail. While I waited for my buddy I emptied out my shorts and when he got there he asked why I was stopped. I told him I almost kissed a bear, and he called BS. I told him he was welcome to go on down the trail, and around the next switchback, there it was. I guess it got spooked, caused then it ran into the woods. Max heart rate scenario

About 25 years ago I almost ran into an ostrich in the hills up behind the San Diego Wild Animal Park (now called something else). My buddy was behind me quite a way and I heard him honking, (he was on a TW200) So I turned around to go see what he needed and here comes this ostrich running straight at me at about 35mph. Trails were not that wide and in my head I'm thinking WTF? Almost went off the trail trying to not get head on with this big ass bird. I'll never forget that.

TM

Domestic pig on the course 
video

Never hit anything but had a black bear run right out in front of me on a trail. I grabbed a handful of brakes and washed out my front end. Never got up so fast with the wind knocked out of me. 

What the fuck ahhaha thats wild man

I think its a screenshot from a video that Police were called to stop people from riding on a guys farm during a race. The video did not explain what happened, but it looked like either the course was marked wrong ,or the guy was confused about the property lines.  They had a group of riders stopped and the police did not seem to understand what a race was or what to do.   Its on Youtube.  

@3strokemx linked this video in his comment haha you probably didnt see that. And yes its like u said. In the comments someone said this:

"Ill finish the story. Jimmy the leader ended up winning. When they complain to race holder they went back to look for the supposed property owner and cop. Nowhere to be found! The owner of the property was not the person in the video. He thought he was on his friend's property who had previously reported stolen property including a high powered rifle. The local police didn't offer a explanation nor entertain the idea to apologize as they in good faith responded accordingly. Eventually the police woman was fired for accusation of being inappropriate with animals from the shelter."

Went over the bars to avoid hitting a moose from the back on a MTB ride about 10 years ago. Stood up and was looking right in its asshole. It didn’t kick me thankfully but I was riding solo and got really lucky 

hit a Moose when snowmobiling - yeh, Canadian problems ! ! ! Dem fukers are huge - i got lucky i snuck under it for the most part 

Yah the video link didnt show on my computer, but its there now that im on my phone. Such a strange thing to happen. 

Not dirt bike related, but i’ve almost hit two squirrels and a cat, none of which wanted to move until i got super close to them going down one of the streets i live on.

Hit a turkey vulture at about 80mph at the Baja 1000, narrowly missed a kangaroo the jumped out of the bush at the Australian 4 Day enduro and have had to slam on the brakes for countless deer and 1 black bear up in the Sequoias. Here’s what was left of the vulture 400 miles later

Hate to laugh as I did. But, isn’t knocking the wind out of yourself the scariest thing every damn time you do it? 

A mate and myself were trails riding and rode through a swam of african killer bees.

By the time we got back to the pickup I could barely see. My face was so swollen up that my eyes were these thin slots.

Had a few close call with goats and cattle over the years.