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Encounters with Animals (Read 1435 times)

    I am sure many of you have had some pretty funny or scary encounters with animals on your runs. I am still fairly new to running, as I have been running for less than a year, but I still have some funny, and scary encounters with animals along the way. Since the majority of my running takes place in the weee hours of the morning I am sure I have had many more encounters with animals than if I was to run in the evening or sometime during the light hours. A few of my stories.... and I will keep my favorite to last. One morning I was running along a dark road, the road I run every morning I run because it is the one leading away from the neighborhood. While I was running I heard this rattling coming from the opposite side of the road. Since it was dark, I couldn't see a thing. Well, I am not that far in the south, but early morning runs without being able to see anything - all thoughts were going through my mind. Turns out it wasn't a rattle snake (yes big imagination) but rather a sprinkler system in a new neighborhood on that side of the road. Another morning I was running along that same road when off in the distance I saw something coming towards me in the middle of the road. As it got closer I saw that it was a red fox, and it saw that I was an intruder in it's early morning stroll down the vacant road. Even though these are very small I have heard they can be mean. I guess he thought I was big and mean, so we both stopped dead in our tracks and slowly walked around each other. On the way back through that stretch on my return run I was very observant. I was up in Indiana for Thanksgiving, and as everyone else was sleeping I went for a 5 mile run. This was an area I didn't know anything about, and should have driven it before I ran it - especially in the dark. The run went good, even with the multiple dogs (untethered) scaring me. The highlight of this run was having 4 deer see me and bound across the road right in front of me. My favorite story includes a dog. As with any runners dogs can make you very nervous, especially when they come running up to you at 5:00 in the morning when nobody else is around, and you don't know if they are mean or friendly. I have had my share of dogs chasing me, even nipping at me, but this morning was different. This dog came running up to me, and as he got closer I could tell he was friendly and just happy to see me. That being the case I still watched him very closely, but wasn't concerned. This dog followed me, running with me (all over from side to side of the road - almost causing accidents - making drivers made at me not controlling my dog) He continued to run with me as I ran out onto a main road, and at one point was leading me a little bit when I turned into a different neighborhood. He stopped turned around and continued to follow me. He followed me for almost 4 miles before taking off into a third neighborhood. It was the most interesting run I had run in a long time, and the run went by really quick. OK, how about you? Do you have any funny stories about running and animals? I would love to read them. I am sure you all have much better stories than I have, especially if you have been running longer than I have. I have also posted this over on my blog, but figured it would be fun to read the dialog here as well.
    "Better to take the slow approach then the no approach."
    My Quest to a Marathon blog.262quest.com
      Well I'd becareful in your neck to the woods too about rattlers. The Eastern Diamondback is nothing to mess with!! But trust me when a rattler buzzes you can't mistake the sound. I have twice found rattlers the hard way. In Montana I found myself standing on a 3 ft Timber Rattler. I had on very GOOD boots at the time!! BTW I still have him around. He is hanging over the door to our "office" In CA, I stepped over a Pacific Diamondback missing his nose by less than a quarter inch. How I didn't get bit is beyond me. Oh and he is sitting on my book shelf behind me. When I am on leave I run in the early AM when it is still dark. I assume the growling I heard along the road was a coon. I never did seem him. Another time a skunk seemed to charge me, but it turned out he was heading at light speed for a culvert to get out of my way. I live in the country so animals are a daily thing. All the dogs are in or staked for the night and just bark when I go by. We have deer and coons along with a fox or 2. Even have wild turkey. In 12 years living here I have never seen the turkeys. I hear them a lot in our back woods. My wife says there are 9 of them as she has seen the group twice. Someday!!!!!

      To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire


      Kings Canyon NP 07'

        Back in November I was running in Mexico. (San Jose Del Cabo), and decided to go off the beaten path from tourist row and see how the locals lived and what the real country was like. That is the great thing with running, one can see sights not offered from the pool bar, or local Americanized shop/restaurants. I saw a couple of guy herding cows though a dried riverbank. Thousands of cats, and other wild creatures! On I went up a hill, past a church, past a school, saw a lot of people just hanging around looking at the crazy American in running gear. Of course I had an i-Pod on, so the noise of the surrounding area was gone. I passed a guy in a driveway like setting, and out of nowhere a mangy German shepherd was a foot behind me, barking and leaping towards my head. I screamed a very unmanly scream and came to a screeching halt. The guy in the driveway yelled at the dog, and he retreated. I quickly ran back to the safety of Resort Row.

        left-right-left-right-repeat

        freckles


          I tripped over a duck once.

           

          You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

           

            I see coyotes all the time. Also rabbits, owls, and a bobcat. The funniest animals I've seen recently were a cat and the mouse it was chasing along a gutter near my home. Both cat and mouse stopped running long enough to watch me go by. After I passed, they resumed the pursuit. New Mexico is full of wildlife, some of it you definitely don't want to see during your run. (We've actually had a Jaguar sighted in the southern part of the state).
            Do bears bear? Do bees be?
              Well I'd becareful in your neck to the woods too about rattlers. The Eastern Diamondback is nothing to mess with!! But trust me when a rattler buzzes you can't mistake the sound. I have twice found rattlers the hard way. In Montana I found myself standing on a 3 ft Timber Rattler. I had on very GOOD boots at the time!! BTW I still have him around. He is hanging over the door to our "office" In CA, I stepped over a Pacific Diamondback missing his nose by less than a quarter inch. How I didn't get bit is beyond me. Oh and he is sitting on my book shelf behind me.
              You really shouldn't kill snakes (I'm taking it you didn't turn these fellas/gals into pets.) Obviously these ones did nothing to you and now they're dead. Snakes play an important role in the ecosystem. People fear them for no reason. Oh, and I've seen them up close and in the wild. Killing them is kinda like saying, oh, once, there was a dog not on a leash while I was running. Got him mounted on ma' door. I've seen bunnies, deer, snakes, dogs, groundhogs, and some cool birds on my runs. Heck, I even like seeing squirrels.


              Beatin' on the Rock

                I often run in a State Forest near my home. Almost every time, at the same spot early in "my" trail, I see a large female Gopher Tortoise. She's just lovely. And, even slower than me. Big grin I've seen coons aplenty; one GIANT wild, black hog, running away from me - big! A neighbor and I saw an alligator snapper about the size of a Volkswagon bug - no exagerration. (I know, I know... NOBODY believes us; we just nod at each other and smile). I've encountered way too many dogs off leash - one particularly skewed German Shepherd comes to mind... Undecided By far the coolest thing I saw was as I was getting my shoes on one sunrise, sitting on the back stoop. Meandering down our dock's walkway - it's about 300' through the wetlands -is a full-grown Florida Panther. My husband had just dumped a bunch of Grouper carcasses over the edge, and I guess the smell was too enticing. It was really lovely, thin, with a shiny coat, and a long, swishy tail... she took SUCH long, slow strides - like she hadn't a care in the world. It really wasn't scary at all. Breathtaking. Not sure I'd feel the same if I ran up upon her eating her breakfast!
                Be yourself. Those that matter, don't mind. Those that mind, don't matter.
                  You really shouldn't kill snakes (I'm taking it you didn't turn these fellas/gals into pets.) Obviously these ones did nothing to you and now they're dead. Snakes play an important role in the ecosystem. People fear them for no reason. Oh, and I've seen them up close and in the wild. Killing them is kinda like saying, oh, once, there was a dog not on a leash while I was running. Got him mounted on ma' door. I've seen bunnies, deer, snakes, dogs, groundhogs, and some cool birds on my runs. Heck, I even like seeing squirrels.
                  The one I was standing on actually left me no choice. IF I was stupid enough to lift my foot I would have been bit at least once. The other one was in an area where I had people I was responsible for and couldn't just leave him be. Actually I like snakes. Got into it with the guy in the next house over snakes. His yard was (the guy has since moved and the new guy much smarter) a huge mole run. Seemed to have runs EVERYWHERE. But he hated snakes and killed them on sight. I told him to either leave the snakes be or stop bitching about the moles. My wife will even stop and make sure the snakes get off the drive or road to safety now. She still won't pick one up or try and catch them. We have Black Rat snakes here BIG ones!!! One I KNOW was more than 9 feet. He was crossing the driveway and I could not see either end of him. Yep I like snakes!!! Spiders on the other hand I can't stand!!! I know in my head that it is silly to be afraid of spiders. Totally ire rational! Yet I'll be 50 feet away and picking up speed before it hits me I am running. Something in my brain triggers my response long before I even know what is happening. My kids got great entertainment from that growing up

                  To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

                    Good to hear on snakes. Spiders hmmm. I used to be DEATHLY afraid of them until the summer between 8-9 grade, I believe, when my friend came back from Ariz. w/ two big hairy tarantalas. It was also his sister's 16th birthday and their mom allowed her to have a kegger. I partook, got drunk, held the tarantuala and let it walk on me (until it peed, then he/she ended up on the bed as I instinctively withdrew my arm.) No more scared of spideys. Then his mom took my friend and I to see The World According to Garp. She was in AA (yeah, I know, why let your kid have a kegger?) but someone had put a beer in her purse. She let me have it. Beers are loud opening them in a theater. I don't remember all of Garp, but again, no scardy anymore of spideys. So, I recommend getting drunk to overcome that fear.


                    Life is Good

                      I live in the country and see many critters on my runs, but one of the best things I have seen occurred when I was taking a run through a local campground, in the woods out of the corner of my eye I saw a spot of white among the pine trees and heavy foliage, so I just stopped in my tracks and waited and looked and there was a fawn hidden ever so well behind a log that had fallen, I was so close to the thing I could have touched it, it was awesome.. I wish I could have taken a picture. this is not running related but it is definitely animal related! I was sitting in my patrol car in a subdivision culdesac one day, eating lunch, minding my own business, when a huge mammoth of a creature bolted out of the woods and jumped through my back window ( which were rolled down) scarred the absolute hell out of me. it turned out to be a dog! like one one below: Photobucket

                      Run 1000 miles

                      bike 500 miles

                      finish a half Ironman triathlon

                      Warrior dash 2012

                      Chickamauga battlefield half 2012

                      and a few small races in between

                      Len


                      Damn Yankee

                        I also live in the country. I typically see deer, bobcats, coyotes, ducks, feral cats (unfortunately), and too many birds of various species to count. Most snakes get a pass and we have tons of them, but I do not play with venomous snakes, ever. I was nearly bitten by a cottonmouth running across a creek by my house last summer, he's in the freezer waiting for the appropriate practical joke.

                        Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. Carl Bard

                          These are too funny, but scary at the same time. I remembered one other after reading through your posts. I also had a pheasant or other bird like it burst out and flew right behind my legs as I was running past in the dark. I didn't see it, but I felt the wind as it went past the back of my legs. It scared me to death, and I almost fell I jumped so high. On my blog someone replied and said that they were being chased by a wolf, but as the wolf came across the road at them it was hit by a truck. Now that is too close for comfort. I see snakes in our yard all the time, because we have a creek running (or sitting - since we are in Atlanta) in our backyard. Most of the snakes I see are smaller and non-venomous, but my wife will still not work in the yard because of them. I usually just let them wander off to the creek because they are scared of me.
                          "Better to take the slow approach then the no approach."
                          My Quest to a Marathon blog.262quest.com
                          Trent


                          Good Bad & The Monkey

                            Bear Poop is back!!!!!!! Big grin Yeah, we get loads of encounters with wild animals while running around where I live.
                              Went for a very early run at the sancuary. As I rounding a turn I looked up ahead and coming towards me on the trail was a big black feral hog. It's head was down "rooting" so I don't know if it even saw me. It was close enough that I could swear I heard it snorting. I turned around super fast and did some killer striders getting outta there. Man....my heart was a beatin'! Jewels
                              But in the end, I'm more afraid of not trying, than failing. JJJessee


                              Queen of 3rd Place

                                Running on the bluffs overlooking the San Joaquin River on a really foggy day, I love foggy days not only because they're beautiful but because sounds are muffled. Suddenly, out of the fog a great white egret flies across the path right in front of me, then disappears just as quickly back into the mist. It was like a ghost. Arla

                                Ex runner

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