I know I still owe many people a good blog entry about beliefs. I will get to that when I can but for today I want to talk about deer, specially the White-tailed deer which also seems to be the South Carolina State Animal. Good morning Deer! I hope to never come across you on the path again.

I was on the mountain bike this morning about 20-30 feet near a turn off right before the middle of the trail I hit, two large deer popped over the creek bed to my right and went to the paved area I head through before I hit the side (dirt) trail. I stopped of course and one darted back off into the creek that runs along side of this part of the run. The other one was so spooked it charged at the fence towards the left side of the trail (when looking at the image below the red spot is the deer).

My question is how does one protect themselves if a wild deer charges at them? Of course I am not thinking this, I am thinking “What the hell, this is the stuff you see in the movies and on TV”. I am 5’10, 143lbs. in the middle of “the woods” on a mountain bike. At best I could toss my bike at the deer and try to grab my cell to call for help after climbing a tree. I would not want to harm any wildlife intentionally (we see deer, turkey, rabbits and beavers in this area). I understand a deer charging at a human is not uncommon, it has happened before, even if rare but I would like to know what are the best steps to take if this happens again.

This morning I saw them and waited it out. I swear it felt like a good 20 minutes but looking at my tracking for this morning my entire run was only 19m:49s when most run times are for a full 25m which makes sense since I lost about a mile off today’s workout. I think about three minutes was the “stare down”, the other extra two minutes was my truck up TH. I waited a few minutes while the second deer beat the fence a good bit, he went up towards the two gate/bridge area (orange circle on pic). Then I turned my bike around and pedaled back home once we had a bigger distance between both the of us.

I am sure both were just as freaked out as I was standing there on the trail somewhat in shock and still half awake. I was not going to stick around to find out how pissed off this charging deer was. I was secretly hoping he was just as blind as I was when it comes to distance as I slowly backed up. At the same time I could still not believe my eyes that I was actually witnessing a wild deer charging anything, let alone a metal fence that easily stood 8-9′ high. The sound alone I feel will ring in my head for the next few days.

Most of the time coming up this end stretch before the corner area I am doing anywhere from 10-15MPH, considering the dead stop from when I took a fork to the knee, I would hate to think what would happen if I had hit a deer going 10-15MPH. To the deer or to me, forget the bike. A stick that is 3′ long wrapped in my back tire had me limping for a few days and it is now two months later with a knee that still does not feel “quite right”. Hitting a deer going that fast, I doubt I would be walking at all.

During the time this crazed ordeal was going on I keep hearing my mother’s voice in my head telling me about a story of someone she knew that had hit a deer while driving. The deer came through the front windshield, panicked and ended up killing the driver by kicking with such a force that it was a “massacre”. I secretly hoped this was only a story she told me so I would be a better driver on the roads.


These deer had to be close to adults, if not, then damn close enough. I am on a 2005 Specialized Rockhopper and my seat is high enough that I barely tippy toe off the ground being 5’10” and I swear these two looked me dead in the eye. I took my sunglasses off just to make sure I was awake and not dreaming.

Compared only to the single time I went hunting almost 15 years ago I am pretty sure this is the first time I have been out in a wooden area and felt like nothing. If they were bucks they had to be about a year or two (no antlers) but these were pretty damn stocky for being that young. If they were only females (which I have never seen two traveling together) they were very big for being “young” females (which I doubt).

Either way I would love for others to chime in here and I prefer to keep this non-hunting related. I am not planning to hunt off of a mountain bike, nor do I need or want to. When I did hunt years ago it was the first (and only) time I had hunted deer and I quickly realized I do not like deer meat. I would rather appreciate them from afar when possible and not eat them. Now chickens on the other hand, give me a chicken and we are game on.

When you are out in the woods besides getting up and turning away, how do you protect yourself from an attack without a gun? I know it seldom happens but after this morning I would rather be ready and never need to defend myself than scream like a little girl being attacked by Bambi. The deer that ran off (white arrow) was pretty much with the attitude of “I’m out” but the other one was a bit more aggressive (orange arrow to orange circle) from what I could see. I have never startled a wild deer before and after seeing what I did today I am wondering what happens the next time we might meet. This is an area I ride about three times a week pending weather conditions.

I turned off for a few reasons, one I knew damn well after the fiasco with the fence this deer was not in the mood. I have a feeling the next time I go past this area the fence will more than likely be torn up. Just the sound of the deer trying to fight the fence was enough to make me cringe (and be bummed for most of the day). I was on their turf, I was in their homeland area. The sizing, there is no way I could have defended myself against a charging deer…with a mountain bike. The hopper is a little heavy but I doubt I could imagine picking the bike up and throwing it at what I consider a “big ass deer”.

I have a feeling if either had attempted to charge as the one demonstrated his/her strength at the fence, the best thing I could have done was grab my phone off the mount, bite it with my teeth and climbed up the closest tree in hopes to call for rescue…from Bambi. So far I have seen jack rabbits, deer (up until today always from afar), turkeys (which always run off), one turtle and two snakes (one far off and another dead). So what can one do to be safe in the woods?