Wildest Sight and Animals on a trail run?

In coastal central Florida:

Deer

Fox

Otters in a canal

large assortment of raccoons, rabbits, armadillos, possums

Ran an xc race around a gator infested lake once. Recent rains led the lake to overflow its bank, forcing short jaunts through ankle deep water.

One time I saw 21 alligators on a run at this park in Florida south of Tallahassee. We did an out and back run, and 17 were on the way out and 4 on the way back.

long runs in the Sierras and desert around Reno were always good for something. Best was a Golden Eagle flying right next to me for 200m. I stopped to check out a distant Bald Eagle once. Loads of coyotes, deer, gopher snakes, jumped over a BIG rattler once. Its amazing how easy it is to get close to wild animals on a run. I've lost count of the number of people getting up to other "activities".

Definitely not a trail run, but last summer, about 1/2 mile from my home in suburban NJ, I had a deer cross the road about 75 ft in front of me. He crossed onto a lawn, leaped a fence and was gone. Startled me a bit. We've taken away their habitat, so they come into ours.

Yup they are everywhere... Just in the Princeton Area I routinely see deer everywhere One scared the hell out of me one mornig jumping out of a bush literally no further than ten feet away from me... Had a small bird on a cycling ride fly right through the triangle between my legs once on a fairly busy road. Add to that the the other local denizens like fox (only twice) shitloads of geese that charge at you from tim eto time, bunnies, possum, squirrels, and yeah believe it or not Wild Turkey and it leads to interesting times.

Had one run a few months ago where I am running along and I see someone running up infront of me with long hair so I look and all of a sudden the person dives off down this hill along the side of the path into the woods.. I then see another walk up and start running infront of me and a guy up walking along. I get up closer and see off to the side a young girl running down along the rocks and water and mud and the oter one was a buy walking next to an older man (I presume the father) Well the dad looks extremely pale almost albino although I cannot swear to that. Well I am close to where I was going to turn around so I pass them and go about a mil eor so up the path and turn and see them on the way back. I get a better look at the girl this time s she was closer to the side of the path and she is fairly wild looking long hair flying everywhere running through the mud at this point barefoot. The guy just smiles at me and keeps ambling along... Just a little odd

On different trail runs around the country you can add a bear and a coyote

Everyone in my office is looking at me since I just laughed out loud reading this.

Fartleker. wrote:

Saw 3 pygmy goats chasing a homeless man a couple of months ago...

Many many many deer, fawns to 10 point bucks, horses, chipmunks running across the trail onto my feet, turkeys, pheasants, coyotes, michigan rattle snake, hawks, a guy who was releaving himself on the side of the road that made a half turn too much to see who was coming...

Funny story I had been stopped by someone while running who asked me to help her find her cigarette it was her last one and she went to ash it and threw it out the window instead, she said she figured I was in shape so I should run around and find it for her...um NO!

Wayne B wrote:

Definitely not a trail run, but last summer, about 1/2 mile from my home in suburban NJ, I had a deer cross the road about 75 ft in front of me. He crossed onto a lawn, leaped a fence and was gone. Startled me a bit. We've taken away their habitat, so they come into ours.

Wayne Brother,

You and I seem to agree mostly, but I'll give you an alternative view point on the deer population.

1) There are more because there are fewer deer hunters these days.

2) The deer are closer to population centers because there are actually more acres of FOREST in the United States today than there were in the early 1900s - that's because with the increase in technology fewer farmers are needed to grow the same amount of food on less land, and what was at one time farmland has been allowed to grow back up as forest.

3) There are in fact too many deer in most parts of the US today. This is one reason why the coyote population has expolded - more little deer for them to get. Every county in Ohio now has coyotes.

Anyway, don't cry for the deer, and we're doing quite well in the US right now with forest acerage.

Once I was running with some teammates on some trails after a storm, and we had to take a detour to get to another part of a trail since trees had fallen in our way. Well, the detour took us by an old guy's house, and he didn't like us running near his house very much. He yelled at us, and decided that he would chase after us and teach us a lesson since we laughed at him. He ran about 20 feet, tripped and fell. We weren't doing anything wrong so I didn't really mind laughing at him as he lay on the ground.

It was about 95 degrees on a bright sunny summer day. I was nearing the end of a long run on a lonely deserted farm road when I glanced over to my right and there was a dead tree with 8 large birds perched there watching me. Since I was rather brain dead from the run, it took a while for my mind to register that these weren't just crows or hawks which I was used to seeeing but vultures. After living in Michigan for 45 years it was the first time that I'd ever seen vultures. I kept wondering if it was a sign or perhaps they knew something that I didn't know. After doing a quick pulse check and determining that I probably wasn't about to die, I continued on my way. Nonetheless, vultures are not a pleasant sight during a difficult run.

Joel I have to encountered these creatures, but while driving not running...I once was in the same situation 95 degrees country road and about 14 miles into it I swear I saw a black panther cross in front of me about a quarter of a mile ahead...funny thing is the following week in the local paper there was a column about sightings of a large cat in that area, that the residents found rather large paw prints and some livestock was disturbed....needless to say everytime I run that road I am extra cautious...

I agree, deer are overpopulated in many areas. However, your reasoning for this is a bit skewed. There is FAR more farmland now than in 1900. In fact, the acreage tilled has been steadily increasing every year. The thing is, Whitetail Deer thrive in farmed areas due to the availability of food. Heavily farmed areas often have some of the densest deer populations-ie, Iowa, Illinois, etc.

As far as the forests are concerned, they are definitely in trouble under the current administration, particularly in the West.

As for animals seen on runs, I usually see plenty of deer, turkeys, and rabbits. I've never encountered a bear but did get a good scare from a skunk once.

1. 6' Cotton Mouth

2. black snake "mating ball"

3. a chipmunk fight (most hilarious thing I've ever seen)

4. a hawk of some sort snatching and carrying off a smaller bird midflight

5. not on trails, but ran up on two stupid ass teenagers spraypainting swastikas on the street; i was on mile 6 of my early morning 8 hilly course, but found the energy to sprint after one of them (they split) for about a half mile before he ducked into a forest...ballless idiots.

I saw someone walking a hog (yep, an overgrown pig) on a leash while I was running on the Trinity Trails within the shadow of downtown FW.

In Shenandoah park where the animals are quite tame, I came around a corner and was about 10' from a gigantic black bear (maybe 400 lbs) eating berries.

It paid me no mind whatsoever, but for a split second there I nearly lost my shit.

Ran too close to a duck that was protecting its ducklings. It ran/flew after me for about 200 yds. I've had geese hiss and run after me for a few steps, but had never encountered a hostile duck.

Found a half starved mutt on a run about 20 years ago. It had no tags and stayed with me for a few miles. Wound up being the best dog I ever had, and we won a local man/dog 2 mile race 4 years in a row (came close, but that dog could never break 11 minutes).

Did a morning run a few years back up the Pinnacles in eastern PA and nearly stepped on a large timber rattler. I don't know how many of these are in PA, but it can't be that many.

2 15 year olds rolling a keg up a massive hill; this was on a friday during the summer (as the sun was going down; twilight); they got scared so they tried to make it look like nothin illegal was going on.

1. Coyote

2. Bobcat

3. Hunter with 30/06 almost shot me (on a Sunday)

4. A Civil War ghost on the Appalachian trail in PA

5. Sydney Mauree running 5:00 per mile for 10 miles at 6:00a.m.

While running on a trail early one hazy morning, I saw what appeared to be a rather large rock right in the middle of trail. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't a rock, but a rather large snapping turtle. The thing was almost as big as a car tire.

1. Timber wolf - 50 yards (Minnesota)

2. Bears - < 30 yards (Minnesota)

3. Bighorn sheep - 10 yards (Colorado)

4. Moose - 30 yards (Alaska)

5. Bison - 30 yards (North Dakota, Yukon)

6. Rattlesnakes - inches (Colorado)

7. Couple bangin' away in broad daylight - a few feet