Unidentified roadkill

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Matthew
Driving this morning, came across a cop car blocking one lane of traffic for no apparent reason. As cars were passing him, they slowed to a crawl. Finally it was my turn and I saw what they were staring at. A blood stained road in front of the cop car, and something in the lane. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was about the size of a half-deflated basketball, smooth, and bloody, and looked like something that used to be inside something else. Made me glad I already had eaten breakfast. I hope it wasn't human.
 
I once saw a CHP trooper standing in front of a very large black bear corpse on US395. Blood everywhere. Lots of it. Though I saw no evidence of the vehicle that presumably hit it. That had to do some damage.

I don't know what he could have done. Those things are enormous.
 
Back in college my roommate and I were driving late at night on a KS state highway and saw a trooper or deputy on the side of the road with his lights on. We looked to see what he was stopped behind, but neither of us said anything. Finally I said, "You're going to thing I'm dumb, but that looked like a bear." He then said, "That's what I thought, but I didn't want to say it first." We never did figure out what it was.
 
Some years ago I came across a gruesome sight. A blood trail maybe 1/4 mile long along the roadbed of Hiway 101 between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. This stretch of road is clogged during the morning commute. I imagined that someone hit the deer then each car rolled the carcass a it further. Until nothing left but the head. I told you it was gruesome.
 
I've seen deer that have been pretty well demolished after being hit by several vehicles on the highway. But at least you could still tell it was a deer.

My guess on this is that something got hit and most of it had been removed either by a road crew or it was still attached to whatever hit it and an unidentifiable piece was left behind.
 
Richard said:
Some years ago I came across a gruesome sight. A blood trail maybe 1/4 mile long along the roadbed of Hiway 101 between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. This stretch of road is clogged during the morning commute. I imagined that someone hit the deer then each car rolled the carcass a it further. Until nothing left but the head. I told you it was gruesome.
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Driving through Camp Pendleton once, we saw a mama duck and 5 ducklings all in a cute little line try to cross I-5. Mama saw the 18 wheeler bearing down on them and flew away. 5 ducklings, well, you can guess. They didn't even make it across the right lane.

Then there was the flock of birds my wife drove over in middle-of-nowhere, MT, that was a bit too busy eating some unidentifiable roadkill. It wasn't enough to smush one bird. Thump thump thump thump smash. There were bird guts in the drive belts!
 
Driving home one evening I saw a bird in my lane. It just had to get that last peck of whatever was already in the road. It waited until the last second to hop out of the way...right in front of the truck coming from the other direction. I started laughing so hard I nearly crashed.
 
About twenty years or so ago, I was helping a friend move from Chicago to Snohomish, Washington. We were driving through Montana and happened upon a black labrador eating out of a carcass of a deer on the side of the road. The sight turned my friend's stomach...she was ready to barf. To me, with the big sky behind them, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I can't really explain why it appealed to me so much. Of course, I am the guy who used to eat pizza while watching the "Surgery" channel in college. :D
 
KeithASanford said:
About twenty years or so ago, I was helping a friend move from Chicago to Snohomish, Washington. We were driving through Montana and happened upon a black labrador eating out of a carcass of a deer on the side of the road. The sight turned my friend's stomach...she was ready to barf. To me, with the big sky behind them, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I can't really explain why it appealed to me so much. Of course, I am the guy who used to eat pizza while watching the "Surgery" channel in college. :D
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That reminds me of "Dogs in Elk":

http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~solan/dogsinelk/
 
Over the years I've picked up a coyote, grouse, deer, and almost a mink on the road. I called in a dead bear in Northern Wi at 2:00 A.M., right in the middle of the lane. Then there was the deer that was injured but still alive.

What was that movie' 'Pet cemetery'?
 
We see road kill where I live all the time. Usually deer.

The saddest one was in the neighboring county that's a suburb of the city.

I'll explain. In our county, a deer that's been hit will be put out of any misery in the three seconds it takes for whoever is there, including the Sheriff's Deputies, to shoot it. (Then they'll ask if anyone wants to take it home to clean it so it's not a total waste.)

In the neighboring PC suburban county... well... one night we came upon a deputy with lights flashing and a Cadillac Escalade with the grill smashed in.

As we creeped by, in the minor traffic jam, we realized the deer was lying on the ground screaming (and I do mean screaming, if you've never heard a deer in that much pain, it's awful), with at least two broken legs and trying to stand up and run away. Probably other internal injuries too. The Escalade wasn't going anywhere, that's how much damage it had. Pretty sure the radiator was back where the belts were supposed to be.

Deputy dip-**** was just standing there watching this with an M&P .40 on his hip. I was disgusted.

I'm sure he was bound by some retarded department policy that he had to wait for animal control to show up.

Two hours later going back home we saw that animal control was there and the deer was dead in the center median. I doubt animal control has been there very long.

Poor deer had been hit a mile east of there, it wouldn't have suffered for two or three hours.
 
Matthew said:
I've seen deer that have been pretty well demolished after being hit by several vehicles on the highway. But at least you could still tell it was a deer.

My guess on this is that something got hit and most of it had been removed either by a road crew or it was still attached to whatever hit it and an unidentifiable piece was left behind.
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Naw, I didn't mention the bits and parts strewn along the debris path. I've skinned enough deer to ID the parts. Road crew? What's that? They operate of govt time.

Someone mentioned the damage from deer. My brother and me were in his Dodge Tradesman van when I told him to slow up 'round the next bend cuz there are always deer crossing. Well, he didn't and there were. He hit a 6 point square on the nose. Grill destroyed and MIA, radiator gushing like Ponce de Leon's dream. I grabbed a 5 gal bucket and hoofed it down to a stream and we limped to the next town where we bought a junked radiator and made it work for the next 40 miles. Took 5 hours. That poor buck disappeared into the woods. Funnier than all get out my brother thought we should go after it. Uh huh, uphill, through poison oak and all.

One of the coolest sights was at night I ran across a mouse (I'm fairly certain he slipped between the wheels) just as an owl was swooping down. My passage caused the owl to suddenly divert. I figure my truck appearing as it did saved the life of that critter...if he survived me rolling over the top of him. My headlights probably blinded the owl.
 
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Chupacabra no doubt.:lol: The goats sleep soundly tonight.
 
Matthew said:
Driving this morning, came across a cop car blocking one lane of traffic for no apparent reason. As cars were passing him, they slowed to a crawl. Finally it was my turn and I saw what they were staring at. A blood stained road in front of the cop car, and something in the lane. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was about the size of a half-deflated basketball, smooth, and bloody, and looked like something that used to be inside something else. Made me glad I already had eaten breakfast. I hope it wasn't human.
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I'd guess a feral pig if you're in that neck of the woods.
 
Years ago I was a firefighter and paramedic. Our territory included a ten mile or so stretch of I-95 NE of Baltimore. Maryland State Troopers are always a piece of work (cast out of the same mold) so in the middle of treating people from a seven car morning rush hour incident I knew it would be something good when the officer told me to take a look in front of the first car to see what caused the accident.

There was a mother and a whole string of baby ducks. First car brakes for ducks, then people start slamming into the assembling pack. By the time we cleared the scene we had to go prep for the Shockarama helicopter landing because another car had come upon the backup at speed and ran off the road and struck a tree.

I can't tell you how many time one incident has transformed into two or three because people don't use their head when zipping down I-95 at 80 MPH.
 
I came across a gruesome scene a few years ago on I-29 headed to KC. A motor cycle dude had lost control and hit a guard rail. Said biker rode the guard rail for a a hundred feet slicing and dicing him up like a ripe tomato. When I looked at the odometer of his brand new Honda Gold Wing it read 666 miles.
 
Matthew said:
Driving this morning, came across a cop car blocking one lane of traffic for no apparent reason. As cars were passing him, they slowed to a crawl. Finally it was my turn and I saw what they were staring at. A blood stained road in front of the cop car, and something in the lane. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was about the size of a half-deflated basketball, smooth, and bloody, and looked like something that used to be inside something else. Made me glad I already had eaten breakfast. I hope it wasn't human.
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I wonder what prevented the cop from kicking that thing into the ditch and re-opening the lane. Or was he contemplating whether it would make good lunch??
 
BigBadLou said:
I wonder what prevented the cop from kicking that thing into the ditch and re-opening the lane. Or was he contemplating whether it would make good lunch??
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What prevented him from kicking it onto the median? I would not have touched it without a shovel.

When I saw it, and I still don't know what it was, my first thought was, "Is that a stomach?"
 
ae1teg.jpg

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Saw a dead mountain lion in the median on I-25 south of Casper, WY. I was shocked at how large it was.
 
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