I did my first extended weekend on my new to me 2002 LT by doing a tour from south eastern Wisconsin (USA) to the northwestern part of the state. The bike ran perfectly, but this morning when I left to come home, it was cold at 36 degrees. Most of the time I was on small county roads and when I came around a tight corner, I saw 3 or 4 black shapes that were moving along the side of the road. I immediately thought they were small bear cubs and I wondered where the mother was. I had visions of being chased by a bear...

It turns out they were large turkeys and several had their tail feathers extended just like Thanksgiving pictures. They seemed to be quite as surprised as me!

Bear wouldn't be able to keep up with those 100+ horses

Wild Turkey 101 proof??

Bears seem to run away from motorcycles in my experience, grizzly bears just ignore you, but turkeys take off and fly right across your path which seems more dangerous to me.

Gerhard

This is the Best/Worst bear story I've seen on here. Its good to see how tough an LT can be.

http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/showthre...ht=bear+skyway

Bruce

Thanks for sending the link! Amazing and glad it did not happen to me.

On the '01 'Butt, when coming back down from Prudhoe Bay, I saw a magnificent grizzly about 50 yards off of the road. I stopped to take a picture; he was clearly on a mission and was moving very deliberately. I could see the massive muscles under the fur on his shoulders. Anyway, he looked over and saw me, stopped, got up on his hind legs and sniffed and stared at me. I guess I didn't smell so good, (4 days and about 3300 miles will do that to a guy), since he just dropped down and marched off. All in all, a really cool encounter.

I saw a bear in Yellowstone last year.
It was some distance from the road. At first the scattered cars over the road was an indication something was afoot. I had to inquiry not by choice "what's everybody looking at" All I needed was a glimpse while everyone else was picture taking.
I was much relieved when the park rangers broke things up and got the traffic moving. I too had thoughts of a stampede if the winds changed. Further down the road I got a few shots myself of bison at a stream and moose in another part of the park.
ride safe

A few years ago, I went for a ride to Radisson Quebec . Radisson is 450 miles up a private paved road in Quebec owned by power company. They have a bunch of hydroelectric dams up there in northern Quebec, & put the road in to get the stuff up there. Nice place to go for a ride, if you get a chance to go it is worth it. You just stop at the check point at the start of the road & tell them who you are & were you are going, & how long you plan on being there... We went out & stuck our front wheel in James bay which is off Hudson's bay.

There were 6 guys on that trip, & we ended up with a faster & slower groups of 3. I was with the faster group & we were on the way home. There was a Dennis on a R1150GS, then me on a R1100GS, & Jerry on a 2005 R1200GS. We were on 101 east of Chapleau Ontario when we passed by a small ( 100LB.) black bear. Dennis got by the bear by 60- 70 ft. or so then stopped. I stopped 30 ft. behind him, & Jerry was not too far from the bear were he stopped. The bear came out on the road next to Jerry, then back to the shoulder of the road. He did that a few times, then he went up to Jerry & sniffed his motorcycle. He did that a few times too... I had my camera in my tank bag, but I could not get it out to snap a picture...& not fall on my keaster. As it is hard for me ( 28" inseam ) on a tall motorcycle to do anything but stop & go.

Anyway, Jerry has killed quit a few bears over the years with his long bow . He was president of the Michigan long bow hunters at one time. He later told us the bear would not look at him, & felt the bear was timid & not aggressive at all. Then, later at diner in Chapleau we heard about a bear that was around that spot that was begging ...& getting hand outs. Probably the same bear


Any who, That is my bear story.

Your moose didn't by chance look like this one did it? I thought it was fake, since it never moved for quite a while…

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Nope my moose was real alright
That I could stand around to take pictures of. On the other hand a bear demands more respect. That was my 2nd sighting in 2 days. I saw a couple at my campsite the evening before (last pic). We don't have that in the mid- west.
ride safe

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Black bear are almost never aggressive to anything- though there are a few very rare cases of huge old males (600-700 lbs for a black) attacking and killing hunters or others in the woods.
I've spent long hours setting camera traps for them as a kid and been as close as arms length to one feeding on grubs for quite a long time when armed with nothing but a bow (in deer season, I don't kill bears because I don't like to eat them and hunting them over bait which is the usual method isn't my idea of sport) Never have I felt even slightly threatened by a black bear.

The large brown bears are another matter entirely. Different temperament as well as size. Different diets and behaviors. Have only modest experience around them but for sure wouldn't want a wild one at arms length no matter what weapon I had.

And I wouldn't be too worried about getting hit by a turkey. The ones that are used to feeding along the road often don't even look up when you pass. They can tell when turkey season opens and know they're safe otherwise, except from their natural predators. I suspect hens will actually take their young broods to the roadsides to feed knowing vehicles scare off predators, pretty much on the same logic that purple martins deliberately pick nest sites within 100 feet or so of a human dwelling. I have had big toms fly up almost to my feet and feed around me when I'm wearing bright orange in deer (gun) season. even while talking to my hunting buddy. They are hilarious to watch taking off through dense trees- looks more like a controlled crash as they thrash branches out of the way.

As long as its not rut, moose are pretty harmless unless they catch the parasite carried by deer that destroys their brain tissue- then can go beserk and even attack vehicles. I've had one step over me in the middle of the night while camping on a trail in Maine- a moose looks forever tall when you're on your back looking up. They apparently see pretty well on dark nights. The most obnoxious behavior one often sees is failing to get out of the road even when honked at repetitively- they like the easy walking too well and it gets many killed by cars.