# Road Kill Faces of Death CAUTION!!!! GRAPHIC PICTURES OF DEAD ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!



## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

I am trying to get a little more serious about my picture taking. I thought I would do a theme rather than a ride report. Just a little information.


No animals were harmed further during the shooting of these pictures.
These pictures were taken in the span of two weeks.
No animals were moved or manipulated for the shots.
Reality is messy sometimes.


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

More pics


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

eeeww


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## gutfiddle (Apr 27, 2006)

roadkill is always more upclose and personal (and stinky) via bike.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Yikes. The opossom made me laugh. I guess I'm sick. I don't think I'll be showing these pics to my wife any time soon. But, I may have to pass this around amongst friends. Good report. . .if not a little creepy.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

morbid


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

Nice fresh kill!

I rarely see smaller road kill on my commute, but dead deer are a common sight. It amazes me how fast turkey vultures can pick a deer carcass clean. A few weeks ago, I saw a pretty fresh deer carcass near my house when I was leaving on a ride. The turkey vultures just were beginning to pick at it. When I returned two hours later all that was left was bones. Unless the Baltimore County birds stay away from your neck of the woods, my guess is none of your furry friends were dead more than an hour when you snapped them.


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## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

Why is it that most people avoid cute fuzzy critters, and purposely run over snakes?


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## khill (Mar 4, 2004)

My Own Private Idaho said:


> Why is it that most people avoid cute fuzzy critters, and purposely run over snakes?


Seems like a pretty high "furry critter to snake" ratio in those pics.

Are you sure that possum was really dead?

Aside from missing a raccoon and a skunk, you've pretty much captured the roadkill diversity I see around SE Pennsylvania. I haven't seen a turtle yet this year, though.


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*road kill strategies?*

Well, as long as you brought it up, maybe we should discuss road kill strategies.

1. Approaching road kill -- hold breath for 30 seconds to avoid smell? May not work climbing hard.

2. If in path, hit it, bunny hop or swerve?

3. Stare at it or look away?

4. Call it out to pace liners, or let them deal with it?

5. Remove it?

6. Substitute for power bars if bonking?

7. Bonus points for observing hawk picking up road kill? 

8. Bonus points for actually seeing it hit by vehicle?

9. Penalty points for actually hitting it and killing it?

10. Big time bonus points for finding turtle on road, stopping, picking it up, and setting off road. (Although, probably will return to road and get run over, but we can only do so much.)


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

Fixed said:


> Well, as long as you brought it up, maybe we should discuss road kill strategies.
> 
> 1. Approaching road kill -- hold breath for 30 seconds to avoid smell? May not work climbing hard.
> 
> ...


*Definitely. I can remember when I was about 6 years old and we were staying at the beach, my father came upon a turtle in the road, picked it up and brought it back to the house. We then put it in the yard and it ambled off, hopefully not back into the road*.


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## ashpelham (Jan 19, 2006)

Weird. Good, quality photos. Still, weird......That possum just looked like he was day-dreaming. This morning I passed by the flattened corpse of a chipmunk that I'd seen on my main road about a hundred times over the past few months, each time narrowly escaping the car tires of a huge honking auto. Apparently, this morning or overnight, he met his maker. He now resides in chipmunk heaven, where the acorns are plentiful, and the storage holes are already dug for him.


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## schimanski (Jan 11, 2002)

ashpelham said:


> This morning I passed by the flattened corpse of a chipmunk that I'd seen on my main road about a hundred times over the past few months, each time narrowly escaping the car tires of a huge honking auto.


Last summer I had on one of my regular training routes a squirrel ran over by maybe a hundred times or more by buses and cars and just lying on the road. It was flat. Really, really flat. Too bad I never photographed it but passing by on a bike there was nothing of it that looked liked it was NOT a part of the road surface except of course the fact it was or had been a squirrel once. Never seen something like that before.


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

The cat and the turtle bothered me. I've got cats. Never had a turtle. Dunno why it bothered me, but it did.


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## Bulldozer (Jul 31, 2003)

The opossum wins for ugliest furry critter in North America.


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## CleavesF (Dec 31, 2007)

nice pictures.


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## Kenacycle (May 28, 2006)

wow, where do you live. You are able to encounter so many variety of animals in two weeks?

They all seemed to have died in the same spot. Looks like it's someone's front yard or even driveway than on a highway.


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## 10ae1203 (Jan 14, 2007)

MarkS said:


> ...*The very few times that I actually have seen a vehicle hit an animal have been somewhat traumatic. I really do not like to see actual hits.*
> ...


I heartily agree. Not cool. Especially when some dumbass dog chases you and gets whacked on a holiday weekend. That's still sad when I think about it.

The pictures, though, are interesting, in that I have wondered about similar pictures from time to time. I may even have ended up with unintentional roadkill in previous ride reports.


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

Well, the pictures are well done. Good composition. Sharp. Definitely sad.


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## Leopold Porkstacker (Jul 15, 2005)

The worst for me was seeing a cat get hit out in front of my ex-girlfriend’s house a number of years ago, and then the poor thing was jumping and flopping around (with an obvious bunch of broken joints) with it’s eyes completely popped out of the sockets. People really needed to slow the föck down on that street—30MPH zone and everyone would go zooming through as fast as their car would go, so it seemed.


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## jaimeS (Nov 18, 2005)

Nice pics, but I can't stomach them. I've thought about doing the same but the smell always turns me off. I prefer the living critters instead.

Concerning turtles, beware of what you're trying to save. I came across this guy on a ride in SC and thought I'd spare him from certian death. I tapped his shell to test his alertness and proceeded to lift him from the shell just above his rear legs. I had barely gotten him off the ground when he snapped his head back at an angle and speed I hadn't imagined possible and almost bit my left hand. Scared sh!tless and laughing my ass off I immediately dropped him. He turned to face me hissing and chased me away from the road. I guess I was successful because I didn't see him smooshed on my return trip. Lesson learned...they're called Snapping Turtles for a reason.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Nice-in a country boy sort of way.

Not quite up to Arbys "Splat Rat" gore levels-thank goodness.


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*pointy ones*



jaimeS said:


> ..they're called Snapping Turtles for a reason.


Growing up in rural Missouri, I learned at about 3 years old to stay away from the ones with pointy beaks. I've seen them break a 1 inch wide stick in half.


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

jaimeS said:


> they're called Snapping Turtles for a reason.



I would call that one a soup turtle. My father would be taking that one home with him. That is a big one.


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## the_dude (Jun 25, 2004)

excellent composition and exposure. interesting subject matter. i'm going to give it two thumbs up. 

//the cat and turtle shots bothered me too, and only those two.


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## livin4lax09 (Mar 15, 2008)

yeah, same here. Turtles take a long time to breed or reproduce, so it's always important to get them out of harm's way whenever possible.


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## Infini (Apr 21, 2003)

*While we're at it....*

This one wasn't actually road kill, but rather a young bird that fell from it's nest on a downtown street corner.


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

Just relooking at some of the artistic photos.


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## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

Ever have one of those big green flies get in your mouth as you pass a roadkill? Gross. I feel horrible when I hit an animal on the road. Last Sunday a mother duck walked out of the grassy median in front of me. I was in traffic so I didn't swerve, and as I looked back I saw the mom and a few little ones flying around from my tires. I feel very sad when things like that happen, I'm kind of a softie towards animals


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## PBike (Jul 6, 2007)

I started a project years ago when I was traveling cross country as an entertainer. I was shooting roadkill and my girlfriend of the time was going to write a poem for each. We were going to do a coffee table book. We broke up before we finished. I have often thought about resurrecting the project. The photography can get a bit smelly at times. :lol:


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