Stupidest animal on the trails

i'm surprised people are still alive. firsties.

It's got to be the turkey. Anyone who's run in the arboretum in Madison knows what I'm talking about. They will turn and run in front of you on the trail looking back in a worried way wondering why you're still following them. They usually stop once they get around a corner and then look surprised when you come round the corner after them. Eventually they bob their way off the trail.

I would look at horses and think how magnificent they are. Now I look at em & just think how stupid they are. I mean, we know how smart dogs are. Horses are so much bigger that I thought they must be smarter than dogs.

Running on the Ice Age Trails in Wisconsin we run into horses all the time. One of the dumbest animals on earth.

it's gotta be deer. I've had numerous encounters of the type arb lover describes with wild turkeys on trails, but with deer. they just can't seem to figure out the whole right angle concept. it makes me feel guilty for running on the damn trail. usually it takes 4 or 5 times of me "startling" them upon the trail (cmon, deer you knew I was coming), before they finally decide to get of the trail. maybe they just dislike brambles as much as we do....

exactly! on a run yesterday, i passed by a deer hiding in the bushes. obviously, i startled it, and it ran away. however, i ran up and down that trail 5 times, and each time, that stupid deer was around that same spot and just as startled...

Brutal

Hmmmm,...we put on special shoes to go running in the woods. We put on special clothes for cold, rain, heat, have to carry our own water (or special energy drink)...animals tend to rest in the shade when it is hot, stay in their lair when it is cold. They have no need to brag about how cold it was during their last run. They drink from whatever is out there.

Animals know to run from just about everything, humans let total strangers get close enough to get mugged, robbed, or whatever.

Deer know not to leap into briar patches--their feet won't touch the ground and they are dead right there. Cattle (big old dumb cows) will not, of their own will, go into caves or tunnels if they cannot see a way out--man will blindly venture into almost any opening found.

Horses seem to get spooked easily when approached from the front--horses cannot see directly in front of them, so a person could easily be in the horse's blind spot. Humans can see directly in front of them and will still walk directly up to something dangerous--confident technology or superior intellect will get them out of harm's way.

Almost every animal in this world flees by running directly away from what they are fleeing. Evasive activities such as left, right, zigzagging, and so forth have to be taught. If a person sees danger coming, the instinct is to turn and flee...run in the opposite direction from where danger was sensed. Aminuhls live in a world where a short bit of elusiveness is usually all that is needed except for when being pursued by predators that run in packs--long distance (relative) pursuit is not something instinctive--pausing to look over your shoulder to see if you are safe, is--even for us.

Aminuhls can survive in the woods without our help or without a trip to REI.

What is it we humans do in the woods without all our special added equipment--we die of exposure, starvation, and thirst.

Tough question, what is the dumbest (least likely to survive) animal in the woods?

Man (with no gender connotation intended)

cows...look as you run by them..they just......stare.

person...watching the cows stare...and then tripping over a root 'cause of not watching the trail.

The stupidest animal that ever got in my way was a human being wearing a USA shirt. I think they call them American distance runners. These guys just need to stay off the trails and out of the way of much more superior distance runners. They are just cluttering up the trails with slowness and wasting money. They just need to quit period.

Deer are stupid I agree, but recently encountered some black bears and coyotes on trails near me.

What about encounters you've had with animals such as snakes? I came across a big copperhead last year on a run;right in the middle of the damn trail. It stopped my cold.

I stood there wondering if I should just go over/around it when he lunged at me. I did the only thing I could do. I ran back several feet, picked up a log and smashed him with it. Just wondering if anyone else had this or something similar happen. Don't tell us about dogs. We covered that previously.

maybe in the eyes of the animal, they're thinking "why is this stupid human running for no reason?"

That is, if you think the animal is even capable of rational thought.

Duh...snakes like to sun themselves in sunny spots (middle of a trail) unaware of how frightening this is to people like you.

I suppose you had a good afternoon feeling all powerful for picking up a "log" and smashing him with it. The snake was doing what is natural for it. Couldn't you have just gone around it? During the past two weeks or so we are seeing a of snakes on "our" trails. So far we have each escaped harm from the other--it's been that way for over 20 years of running trails--haven't had to kill anything yet.

TravBo, that story is hilarious. How big was the log? Did you just go mental?

haha i hope no one saw you repeatedly smashing a snake on the ground with a log...

I was just in Alaska and encountered a Moose on a trail in Kincaid Park (Anchorage). He just stood there as my friend and I tried to get him off the damn trail so we could run by. After about 5 minutes of this standoff, we decided that he wasn't budging and turned and hit a different trail. I suppose if I were that big, I'd stand my ground as well. I heard a story about a guy that was throwing snowballs at a moose in Anchorage a few years ago, and the thing trampled the man to death.... Probably a good idea that we found a different trail.

Finisteré wrote:

Aminuhls can survive in the woods without our help or without a trip to REI.

whats an aminuhl?