Grizzly Hit By Motorcycle

[Jamie Bradford]

A member sent me this. This is pretty neat.


Can you believe a motorcycle killed this HUGE GRIZZLY? This grizzly was hit by a Harley on Lolo Pass. This is the pass between Lolo , MT and Kooskia , ID.
Lolo Pass , elevation 5,233 feet (1,595 m), is a mountain pass in the northern Rocky Mountains on the border between the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho approximately 25 miles (40 km) west-southwest of Missoula , Montana .
It is famous as the location where the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the summit of the Bitteroot Range via the Lolo Trail on their outward and return journeys in 1805–06.
Look at the claws on that sucker!

The biker spent three days in the hospital!

The hog's a wreck!
Lesson learned: Don't go Bear Hunting with a Harley, they don't last but one hunt!!!!!!!!!

[merle&louise]

Can you imagine the headlines if the bear had lived!

Has the motorcycle rider been interviewed yet?

I would love to hear his story about what happened!

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Tuga, that's not fair, you asked all the questions in one post.

JIM ;)

[AmeriStar]

I seem to recall seeing this in an email several years ago. At that time the bear had been hit by a pickup near Haver, MT.
Regardless, it's still interesting fodder for thought.

[Ronald Hiemann]

Not exactly related but this is why I dislike very much to drive the bus at night. I have seen slaughter on PA highways, where I have seen assorted deer parts, small and large, spread out over many miles attesting to the facct, that multiple animals were killed during the night. Always wondering, who the poor soul was who hit them. Must not be pretty and probaby life threatening, too. Most recently, on the way back from Orange Beach, I decided to keep on truckin' and drove for 11 hours to return to St. Pete. This included some serious nighttime driving and I observed quite a few deer grazing on the side of the road. I will try not to drive at night.

[merle&louise]

We don't drive at night any more unless it is absolutely necessary. If you have a mechanical problem the darkness just compounds it plus there are more crazies out in the wee hours.

I have never come close to hitting an animal at night or in the daylight hours for that matter but I agree with Ronald, I bet it could scare the heck out of you not to mention damaging your bus.:(

[gmcbuffalo]

I hit a deer one night with my Excursion and the deer ran off. I sure not far, but it happens so fast you don't have much time to react. Over $5,000 in damages to the 9000# Excursion. The wife hit a deer with my Explorer at night also. I don't drive a night and I got deer whistles for the Excursion, I have had close calls even during daylight hours.

[rahangman]

I'm pretty much in agreement with all of you....driving the bus at night (especially here in the Ozarks of Arkansas & Missouri) can be a bit of a stress. Actually just driving most of our highways even in the daytime can be a stress, if you take into account the hills up and down let alone just about any wild animal you can imagine. Be safe out there, a rush to anything can lead to problems.

[merle&louise]

I have noticed as I drive around this great country that almost all interstate hiways have fences on both sides of the road. The fences are abut 4' high and I assume they are there to stop small animals from wandering onto the roadway. Of course there are breaks in the fences where small animals can get thru if they really want to. And deer can easily jump a 4' fence perhaps even a 6' fence. The deer can graze on the road side and as we all know the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This is how the accidental mishaps occur.

In Texas (one of my favorite states) on back roads you can find "game fences" which are about 12' high. The deer can not jump this high; however, the cost of building a game fence is very expensive.

Until a better solution is found, we will just have to be diligent and watch out for deer grazing on the sides of the road.

[rahangman]

Along the Ohio/Indiana Turnpike , I80, between Elkhart and South Bend, they have installed IR sensors that detect movement within about 5' of the Roadway and will light up Danger lights similar to traffic lights to let you know there could be something about, and allow you to be on the look out.

[GDeen]

Last summer on the road to Glacier and Alberta, first morning we topped a hill near Brady TX and there were large chunks of feral hog scattered across the road. Very fresh and I was on top of it. I quickly picked the smallest pile and centered the bus over it. A couple of bumps felt as we passed over a nice rear leg quarter but no damage (other than some blood).

Later that day, near Trinidad CO, we had just passed an elk crossing road sign when I very fortunately spotted a large cow in my lane of the 4 lane roadway. I climbed on the brakes and got it slowed enough to not hit the elk, just easing by her straddling the shoulder. The real issue became the impatient yahoos who blasted by us in the left lane placing themselves in imminent danger of a high speed encounter with 1/2 a ton of elk as she ambled across the road. I told Jennifer to grab the big knife in case I had to do emergency back strap removal surgery on the highway.

The next day, while on a back road detour into Sheridan WY, we plowed into a big old pheasant hen that came running across the road. ("you just hit a chicken!"). Fortunately, I caught her on the bumper so no damage. I was getting pretty gun shy by that point and we weren't even in the mountains yet!

[merle&louise]

Gordo,

You encountered more wildlife in 2 days than I usually see at the zoo!

You bring up a good point though; hitting 1/2 ton elk with a car or bus will ruin your whole day not to mention your vehicle. I'll bet an encounter with a compact car would totally demolish the car!

[rfoster]

Gordon. Sounds like y'all was eatin first classs road kill. Bet y'all was tickled cause that home grown armadillo is mostly shell you can't eat.

[Will Garner]

I had a lady call the office requesting a "Duck" crossing sign. I guess I was not in a good mood that day so I asked her if the ducks always crossed at the same location. Well no was her reply. I then said that unless they crossed at the same place the sign would be ineffective in saving the ducks. However, I did offer her a solution that she could pursue. I suggested she get some orange reflective material and sew some reflective vests for the ducks. They may not be able to fly but would be seen when walking across the roadway. There was about 30 seconds of silence on the other end of the phone line and then the lady professed to understand what I was telling her.
A couple weeks later in Durham, someone actually did erect a "Duck" crossing sign in town. End of this story.

[garyde]

In Nevada, Oregon and Idaho there are areas of open grazing on either side of the highway meaning 'watch out for cattle'. Driving late at night years ago heading back to California from Idaho , traffic was non existant. I noticed up in the distance, half a mile maybe, an auto braking , then swerving, and then continuing on. I slowed down from 70 to 35 and then slower, suddenly, right in the middle of the road, on a moonless night, a cow standing perpindicular across both lanes. I slowed to 5 mph and passed the damn cow. If it wasn't for that car in front of me in the distance I would have plowed into the cow killing it and probably me. There isn't many areas of open range any longer, but they are dangerous.

[GDeen]

King, you know it. I had traffic backed up for 2 miles while Jennifer was out in the field with the World's Smartest Dog on point looking for that pheasant.

Tuga, I was extremely gun shy by the time we got to Sheridan. Fortunately the rest of the trip consisted only of the random small bird. We did have to wait on a herd of Big Horn Sheep to get off the road while in the car on the Maligne Lake rd outside of Jasper.

[Gary Carmichael]

Night time is for drinking and love making, not for driving a bus all this carousing goes on in a parked bus! Now that's what I'm talkin about!