[Pops]

Well I had a big wake up call this afternoon. It was about 2pm and I was running through my favorite twisties on my way to my son's baseball game. I was just coming out of a very tight, blind, hairpin in a heavily wooded area and found myself in the middle of a flock of turkeys. There was at least 12 of them and luckily the turn was so tight that I didn't have much speed going because there was no where to go that wasn't going to involve feathers. I know to watch for deer, dogs, small children, horses, skunks, ect..., but I had never considered turkeys. These didn't fly which I guess was a good thing because a face full of wild butterball would most likely impair the vision and tend to separate rider and bike but they didn't get out of the road very quickly either. This will serve as a good reminder to me not to get into the ride so much that I let my mind drift because Murphy's Law is always at work.

Pops

 

[Haggis]

Did you manage to toss one in your saddlebag?

 

[Pops]

Where are the bags when you need them

No I had taken the bags off. I believe turkey season is in though. If I had thought quicker I could have probably have gotten one with a boot and then put it under the tail net. If I got stopped I could have said that it must have gotten stuck there as I was riding down the road like the bugs on my face shield.

Pops

 

[redbaron586]

I believe people can take roadkill home with them. In VA, if you hit a deer or foul, if my memory serves me, you can toss it in your car and take it on home, provided it's already dead

 

[Pokeyjoe]

I believe people can take roadkill home with them. In VA, if you hit a deer or foul, if my memory serves me, you can toss it in your car and take it on home, provided it's already dead

In Montana, roadkill or not, you'd better have a tag on it.

 

[davidc]

Nearly hit a wild turkey myself while it strolled casually across the road. Those critters are definitely not in any hurry. The next day, a black bear bolted across in my path - had to lock up the brakes!
It is a wild world out there!

 

[tbcblues]

Many years ago

I came around a blind curve in Colorado and there was a dead bear in my lane. Must have been hit by a truck cause he was a mess. I managed to miss him by inches. I figure it would have been a bit like hitting a mattress in the road, only smelly and bloody...

 

[BigChiefWoody]

I read in the paper last week that some guy in the NorthEast got hit in the chest by a turkey while riding. He was geared up pretty well, but still ended up breaking his collarbone. Those turkeys could be like getting hit with a bowling ball at 50 mph. Ouch!

 

[modre]

the warnings just get laughed at until the veterans just don't bother to weep over stupidity anymore...just bury the rock stars and move on.

I've seen a couple dozen a year eat it since 1960-ish.

Bob Minetti graduated hs 1960 with my brother and just finished building our in ground pool with his dad...bought himself a Triumph 500 (I believe it was). sitting at a red light when a steel truck flipped on the corner and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bob's brother Jim and I were in 1st grade 50 years ago.

the moral of the story is don't do corners hot if there's turkeys there...and don't trust intersections.

the veterans can meet later at the picnic...I should be there.

 

[koifarm]

Wild Turkey

I see lots of turkeys down here in Florida, especially along the back roads surrounded by swamp or lowland scrub. I've never had a close call with them mostly since the road where I often see them is long and straight. Last week I saw three hens with babies, had to slow way down while they casually strolled across the road in front of me. I'd be more afraid of a deer in any event, those suckers just come out of the woods at a full gallop and run right at ya......
At twilight the deer come out on the roadside of the interstate to graze.....very few try to come across....and on some nights at the right time you may see 30-50 of em on the roadside having dinner. It does not make driving any easier since you have to assume one will pick the time you come by to jump in front of you.
Wisconsin has the most liberal road kill law....if you find one, you bring it to a forestry office and they will tag it free of charge and you take it home. Good eating and in some cases, already tenderized!!!!

 

[mikeinva]

I believe people can take roadkill home with them. In VA, if you hit a deer or foul, if my memory serves me, you can toss it in your car and take it on home, provided it's already dead

You have to call and get a tag or the man will get you in VA.

 

[me1.0]

Turkeys are all over the place in TN. I see more and more every day. Wandering flocks of 3-15 are common. Don't look forward to a run in.

 

[Sofiaspin]

We get rabbits here. Too cold for turkeys. It always pays to have a roll of bacofoil in your rear rack, some garlic, a liberal dose of rosemary and pepper and wrap the corpse in the bacofoil. Then attach it to the cylinder head with the wire you also will be carrying and ride like a banshee for 75 miles around the lochs and glens. As long as you keep the speed up and revs high, the rabbit should be well cooked by the time you get home. If you have planned ahead, you may also have par boiled some new potatoes and thrown in a carrot or two into the bacofoil mix. The alternative is to ignore the rabbit on the road and buy a takeaway which can be a lot easier than driving like a lunatic in order to have baked Thruxton Triumph rabbit.

 

[Pythas]

I read in the paper last week that some guy in the NorthEast got hit in the chest by a turkey while riding. He was geared up pretty well, but still ended up breaking his collarbone. Those turkeys could be like getting hit with a bowling ball at 50 mph. Ouch!

I hit a tiny little bat that flew in front of me while wearing my Vanson and it damn near knocked me off the bike, it was like riding into a baseball. Couldn't imagine hitting a turkey in the air... my god that would hurt.

Pops glad you missed the turkeys.

 

[Aussiematt]

I hit a skunk near SF late last year - I was in a curve when it ran straight under the front wheel. I only saw a flash - off I went and slide down the road at 60 mph following the bike (Thruxton). I broke my shoulder and wrist but thats all as I was wearing all my protective gear which was totally shredded. Yep - we don't know what is around the next corner...

 

[Pythas]

These thoughts further my investigation into a sidecar... that combined with needing the bike as my fall/winter wheels next year.

 

[Bath Bonne]

Turkey's are not a regular hazzard we have to watch out for in the UK, but it can happen, there was a lorry crash in a part of England called the Fens a few years back, tipped into a ditch loaded with Turkey's on the way to the slaughter house!
We ran a wildlife hospital at the time and the Police requested we help catch them up!
We got all of them o.k.
The law says we can pick-up road kill providing we did not hit it, in other words the bloke in front hits it, you get to keep it, pretty good system I think.
The place is full of Pheasants at the moment, must find me a car to follow.......................................I've been called a pheasant plucker many times, atleast I think thats what they said!

 

[Pops]

Liberal Roadkill law

I am not sure of the exact regulations on road kill in Tennessee but I believe the law is quite liberal. I am not much of a fan of "sun dried 'possum" myself but wouldn't mind a little venison Fender-Loin ! There have always been native turkey in the mid-south area of the U.S. but about 30 years ago stocking programs were put in place to bring the populations up for sport hunting which has been very successful. The turkey, like the white tail deer and coyote, have adapted very well to urban life and have reach nuisance levels in some areas. I saw a turkey picking in the grass in the middle of I-40 near 2nd Ave in down town Nashville last spring. Flocks of 50 turkey are not uncommon in housing developments. I love the wildlife but it does give us one more potential hazard to watch out for. If I am going road kill hunting I think I will take my 1985 GMC pickup. It has a little more knock down power.

Pops

 

[johnny black]

Hit a koala at 110 klicksJ.B.

 

[Sal Paradise]

warnings`\

Last summer I was riding down a country road and a flock of turkeys lifted of the road in front of me. I kept riding about 30 mph and the turkeys were all desperatey trying to outrun me. The turkeys were at about 30 feet of altitude when they decied to start "bombing" me en masse. That sure slowed me down!

Its not just curves. I was on a straight road yesterday and could see about a quarter mile. I got a little to hot on the throttle and noticed I was on patch of sand Just then a small car appeared making a left in front of me . He had been hidden by a dip in the road. Scared me.Luckily, he saw me and waited because I couldn't stop.