Yes, I hope that he is doing well, too. Our wildlife has definitely been more frequently exploring our roadways the past year or so. Last year, I came VERY close to hitting several (yes, several) deer. It was raining, dark, wet, and cool, and I was on my concours doing about 50 MPH on a 50 MPH road. Coming around a corner I saw a female deer standing at the edge of the road on my side, I slowed down but didn't hit the brakes especially hard due to the conditions, I kept my eye on her and my fingers on the brake lever, foot over the rear pedal, in anticipation of her bolting across. She didn't budge, I started to take a breath just as I noticed movement on the opposite side of the road - 4 more deer were crossing over to her and I was almost on top of them ! I managed to slow down further, sliding the rear tire a bit on the wet road, and ended up miraculously cutting through the gaps in the group of deer while still going about 25MPH before I came to a stop, right side up. I rode slower and didn't even blink my eyes once for the rest of the 80 mile trip back home !
This year, I've been especially on the lookout for deer, so it was quite surprising to have a bear charge across the road in front of me one evening this summer.
I think that he was more frightened than I was - I've never seen a bear accelerate so quickly after he looked up and saw my headlight dipping toward him. It wasn't as close of a call as with the deer, but it would have definitely hurt more, I think. Especially if ol smokey decided that he didn't like my insurance card.
