runwyrlph wrote on 11/13/10 at 10:04:57:Somebody ahead of me hit/ killed a black bear this a.m. - apparently just happened a few minutes before i got there - he had a F-250. - better him than me!
wonder if anyone's ever hit a bear with a motorcycle?
I have, or to be precise he hit me.
I was living primitive at the time up in the Selkirks of Idaho. One of my entertainments in the spring of the year,(snow melt runoff).
was to carry my kayak 12 miles up river with my P/U. And launch at a small park. i would shoot rapids and paddle back to my property and pull the kayak out at my meadow, then get on the dirt bike and go get the p/u.
Late one morning after my trip down the river, I was on the 350 headed north. The road? was badly rutted and not quite solid so I was paying a lot of attention to that. I was going about 30 to 35MPH when movement to the right caught my eye. I glanced at it and went back to watching the road thinking "The largest rottweiler in the world is coming out of the swamp to chase me."
Then my brain caught on and I realized there should not be a rottweiler in the wilds. I looked again and saw a 400 pound black bear running beside me going just a bit faster than me. As he began to pull ahead, he turned his head towards me open mouthed and lunged at the front wheel. My foot was between his head and the engine block on contact. The bike lifted slightly and slewed left as I down shifted and rolled the throttle open.
The bear rolled a$$ over teakettle as I roosted away. After about 25 yards I glancd back and saw him get to his feet and gallop up the hill.
My foot was numb but I didn't stop for about a half mile. Then I took my boot off and saw that my foot was black and blue but not broken.
I had been carrying a .45 auto inside my jacket, but if I had gone down I don't know if I could have gotten It out in time.
After I retrieved the p/u and was driving home with the bike in back, I stopped to look at the tracks at the site of the incident. The tracks showed that it was no accident. There were deep sideways scrapes by his front claws at the point where he had lunged at the front wheel.
The bike tracks ended at this point and continued on at a point about three feet left and six feet forward of that spot.
I was in my late forties back then and still had good reflexes. I am sure that my time racing bikes on TT tracks when I was younger had a lot to do with my not falling. That and the fear of what might happen if I did.
Phelonius
I don't worry about bears any more. Aloha