Who has hit a bird or animal at speed?

[fastwin]

Yea, in 1982, a great big friend of mine took a goose in the chest (yea, one of those big Canada Geese) at about 60 mph as it made a  vector across his path at some speed.  Damn near killed him.

I always thought his size helped.  At 325 lbs. he looked gaunt - big as they would let an a submarine at 6'8". Great big red cheeked bowl haircut, just like he'd stepped off the front of the Hansel and Gretel story book - just big.

He road a RT1000 Beemer.

LA

Damn, I'm only maybe 175, a turkey or goose hit like that would have killed me. Glad my big tom turkey hit me in the head... my Arai Corsair and genetic hard headedness saved my a##!

[fastwin]

Your famous!  Did you post that story here?  Glad to hear you've recouperated somewhat; ride on brother ...

I was also relayed a 3ird hand story of a duck that hit a guys helmet visor and cracked it; luckly he managed to stay on the bike but had some wiplash ...

Yeah, someone posted a link to an old thread on this board a few posts ago. I told my story there. I don't feel famous. Just damn lucky and blessed. Just wasn't my time. Had I wadded up the bike right after impact or hit something solid like a tree or guard rail I would be dead... or at least paralyzed from the neck down. My head wasn't really attached. Some angel somewhere had control of that day. Damn sure wasn't me. Friends tell me it was the turkey's time not mine. Personally... I take it as a warning.

[theducatikid]

A couple weeks ago I had a hawk fly out from the trees and damn near swoop right into my head.  I didn't hit it, but it had a squirrel or something which it dropped right in my path. Luckily, I was only going about 45 and was able to avoid it.  I guess we both had an "oh s@#$" moment at the same time.  It was more bizarre than scary.

[the_Journeyman]

Took out a opossum less than a year after I got the M750.  Hit it mid-corner & took quite a slide but didn't crash.

JM

[SubyBoyRS]

on 5/1 I was out for a ride through the country side during midday.  Nice road, lots of twists not a whole lot of traffic, speed limit is 55.  Was probably 10 miles from town in the middle of a tree farm, and 3 deer came off a hillside, 2 doe and a buck.  The 2 doe were smart and stopped at the bottom, buck not so much, and crossed.  I hit him right in front of his rear legs and high sided (probably because I was unconsciously on the brakes, loading the front suspension).  Landed on my left shoulder and rolled for a while.  Had all my gear on so had a few roadrash marks.  Have an AC Joint tear in my left shoulder.  Other than that i'm fine, Duc is totaled though.  I hate deer.

[Howie]

Oh man, sorry to hear.

To a speedy and complete recovery

[SubyBoyRS]

Oh man, sorry to hear.

To a speedy and complete recovery

Thanks! Yeah I'm definitely lucky considering the speed and nature of the accident.  They had to argue with me to get me to go to the hospital in an ambulance but I did, glad I did tho.  My jacket survived and definitely did its job, and seeing the marks on my helmet kinda freaks me out a bit.  I find myself noticing much more when I see guy out with no gear.  It bothers me,  I'd still be in the hospital with skin grafts if I wasn't wearing my gear.  I see guys with no helmet/gloves/jacket, and wearing shorts.  Dumb.  Now I gotta figure out what I want next, I'm a mechanic so I've been off work for a while.  I've been browsing around, Def want to stay naked.  Thinking Ducati SF or maybe Aprilia Tuono, or an S4RS if i can find one close enough. Decisions decisions.

[herm]

on the bike, or in any vehicle?

bike- bird, bat, rattle snake, coyote (almost.....in fact so close that i still have bad dreams about it)
truck- birds, bats, ducks, snakes (lots) rabbit, skunk, squirrels.

[tlloyd66]

Not very dramatic, I know, but last year I was riding along minding my own business when a squirrel started running across my path, and stopped. I was pretty happy about that, because I didn't need a furry speedbump, but then the lil bastard bolted out in front of me! All I felt was a little *bump* out of my rear tire... I'm glad Bullwinkle wasn't following him!

[Tekneek]

 Last week was a bad week for me and wildlife on the road. 15+ years on a street bike and never had a critter try to take me out. Then last week I had two in two consecutive days. The first was a robin that thought he could obviously beat me across the tracks in heavy traffic. Came from my right rear and glanced off my headlight. I don't think he died immediately but I'm sure he got smooshed soon after. The second was the fattest groundhog I've ever seen. This bad boy came full throttle out of some long grass and ran right under my front tire. Braking didn't seem feasible with fuzznuts in the F-150 tailgating me. I simply got my weight back and cracked the throttle to lighten the front wheel a little to kinda loft over him. If years of freeride and downhill mountain biking has taught me anything, it is that if you can get your front wheel over an obstacle, the rear will almost always follow. Translates well to running groundhogs over on an S2R. The rear wheel simply mashed him flat right through the middle. I turned around to check out the damage and he was laying just like I left him. Deader than a doornail. I hope the size cycle breaks with him. I'm in no mood to plow a deer.

[ducrider45]

I was hit by a bird twice in the same day. The first bird was hit by a van driving in an opposing lane. I saw it about 30 meters in front of me. The bird bounced up in the air and it hit me in the hand on the way down. It hurt a bit. The second one was on 95 south between Baltimore and DC. I was doing the usual 80MPH for this section of HWY. The bird was just flying a bit low and got me in the face. It almost took me off of the bike. That thing rung my bell!
A few weeks later a friend of mine hit a bat and it got stuck in my frame.

[flynbulldog]

I've hit a dog, a cat, and a bird on my monster...

The dog, a fat Boston terrier, was chasing me and ran right into my front tire - smacked it hard and tumbled a bit. no harm to either of us.

The cat, same owner as the dog! Ran out in front of me, it was really strange, the cat was hiding in the grass on the side of the road and like
a deranged, possessed demon animal - darted right under my front tire! I hit the binders hard but it was too late, ran him over and killed him. I had to take the cat up to the guy.
I felt really bad but there was nothing I could do. ( didn't tell him I hit his dog a month earlier...)

Bird was a little sparrow, splattered down below the headlight and wedged parts into the forks and triple and guts and stuff all over the front cylinder. What a mess!

[KnightofNi]

i've hit a small bird (robin i think), and a couple of squirrels, and baby rabbit.
one of the squirrels fell out of a tree over the road and either bounced or jumped up into the toe of my boot.

the rabbit i didn't even realize i had hit until i came back down the road. it was a gravel road and i was on a dirtbike. that little rabbit didn't even make a little wobble.

i've come relatively close to hitting black bears 2 times now.

[Clickjack]

I hate deer.

My brother is a pilot for XTO Energy out of  FT. Worth, Texas.   I was visiting him recently, and his boss told me he was riding his BMW (I think)  and T-Boned a Deer doing about 55.  No gear, No helmet.  Totaled the bike.  Spent like a week in the hospital, broke an arm I think and scraped up his head, but he's fine.    Couple of the guys went to look for the deer, there was no sign of it.   They found it a couple days later in the top of a tree near the crash site.

[Chchadder]

Came up to the top of a little rise this Sunday at about 50mph only to see a buzzard in the middle of the road feeding on something he didn't want to abandon without a fight.  Slowed down a bit and moved off to the left since it didn't seem like he wanted to move, only to have him take off at the last minute right into the nose of my bike.  He just kind of bounced off and flopped down on his feet on the other side of the highway.  I raised my arm in victory and rode on...