[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]Me and a bud went out this weekend to tear up a little mud and everything was going good. After about 4 hours and 15 miles we got back to the road. We were coming back to my house, and hit a straight stretch of road and started to open them up we were running about 45 to 50. When all of a sudden a medium sized dog stood up in the middle of the road. We both grabbed our brakes but it was to late the dog stopped right in front of me, so I got right back on the gas to get the front end a little lighter and splat. I thought I was going over the bars but it bearly shook the bars. All of this happened in a matter of 1 or 2 seconds, I'm glad I didn't hit it with the brakes still on. No damage to the bike but the dog didn't fare so good, but he didn't suffer. It could've really been bad, especially if it had been a deer instead.
But there was a lesson learned, don't fly down the road at night. By the way I was staying right with him, 00 Kodiak 27" bugs. My 98 500 would out run him but he would smoke my auto.
Also hit a tree and tweaked the front bumper, they are not as strong as the older style.

 

MudCat-
Very sorry to hear about the dog. Glad though that neither you or your buddy got hurt. Is the new bumper a lighter guage steel or what? It looks to be the same design bumper, just with that plastic "cherokee" grill replacing the old style. As far as running over things goes, my cousin and I were riding through one of my meadows once last summer-he was in the lead, I saw the brake light hit hard, then nothing, some lights shining up in the sky, then nothing. Next thing I know, he's coming strait at me scared to death, saying he just ran over a bear. We're in the middle of a grassy meadow, so I'm wondering what a bear is doing "sleeping", as he had said, in the middle of my meadow. So, decided to take a closer look. Upon further inspection with all our lights, we found a rather dumbfounded huge black brahma bull with a bad headache, titan 489 tracks up one side, and a rather "drunken" look. Man, he was p_ssed! We left pretty quickly. The next day, I found that same bull further up the meadow. He heard my 'Cat coming, took off running like I'd never seen before, it was really quite funny-still had tire tracks on him too! The bumper was pushed slightly back, just to where it touches the left headlight, that was all the damage done-either from the bull, or a tree my Dad had hit that we never noticed before.

Anyway, best of luck, hope you have a more pleasurable experience next time out. Did you find the owners of the dog? How'd they take it?

Mike

 

The bumper is bent back & to the rear from the factory and when you hit something with it it just goes a little farther. I realy didn't hit it that hard, I've hit a lot harder before and not bent a bumper.
Wow a bull, I thought a dog was bad! I have no idea who owned the dog it he was just sleeping in the middle of the road, we have lots of strays around here.
We are going to try it again this weekend. I was just glad to be keeping up with him, we don't do a lot of high speed riding but it is good to not be the last. I think the 00 & 01 cats are realy restricted in the exhaust end, they just sound like it. I didn't notice it until I got my 02 and rode with a 98 & 01 500m. I wish someone would make a quieter pipe for these. I seen a 01 400 with a Supertrapp race core and it ran real good but man that thing was loud. It might be ok on the trail but around the house I couldn't stand it, let alone the wife or horses.

 

Well, its not as crazy as a dog or a bear, but its still pretty strange. I was riding down a track a few weeks ago going about 45 km/h (Yep, I'm Canadian) when out from the bushes just ahead, two small animals, one a black fox and one a little rabbit came tearing out onto the trial. The fox was chasing the rabbit and the rabbit was running straight for me. I stayed on the throttle because I was sure the rabbit would run back off the track once he saw me. Wrong! He kept coming. I turn to the side of the road... he turns too. Now I start to break but I was too late. The fox aborted his chase while the rabbit took cover under my tire. Duh! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] The sad thing was I was about one metre (there I go again with the metric crap - its about as long as a yard) from a full stop. Oh well. I wonder what the fox thought? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

We was riding a while back and I was about the 3rd or 4th one back. We stopped in the middle of the trail and we all asked what was up, then we smelled it a skunk. So we all started giving the leader a hard way to go because his famous saying is " I aint scared ". Well he was then. We just let old stripe have the trail and we started busting brush for a while. Our bikes smelled for the rest of the night but not too bad. I've been sprayed before and that is something that you never want to do again.

 

Just the other day I was riding my KDX down the rock road and not 10 feet in front of me out jumps a big doe. This happens quite a bit here in rural pike county and it always give me a rush. I just haven't hit one yet on my dirtbike or ATV's. I have only hit a deer once in my truck and that caused over $3,000.00 in damages. Chet

 

After reading the stories about the quads and critters, an experience I had came to mind.

One night I was riding my 230 Quadsport in the river bottoms during the winter time. I was riding through a field on some snowmobile tracks and noticed a pair of eyes glowing in the woods. I got about 50 yards away and stopped to watch the racoon. He stopped what he was doing and took notice of me. He eventually sat up and started playing with some low hanging branches for a bit and then started working his way towards me. I left my wheeler running the whole time. Eventually he closed the gap to the point he was under one of my front tires and then moved to the other. When he was done there he crawled up on the front of the machine, with it still running and the headlight on and sniffed around until he decided he had enough and returned to the woods. The only I was concerned about is if he had rabies and how easily he could have jumped in my lap.

 

GOOD THING THAT "COON" DIDN'T BITE YOUR "PETE"