RC and wild animals

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

So I was wondering, I know a good few bike and foot trails through our south part of Croatia, stretching some even for more then 30 km towards the border of Montenegro.

And I did encounter a FOX, approaching my TA05 while parking lot bashing in my home town, also I am familiar with our woods being home for jackals and rattle snakes. :/

So... I would spend 400$ on a crawler to use it for trail walks, to go in the wildness and crawl. So... that  jackals or a fox approaches my for example TRX4. I would not feel calm with wild animals following me while I crawl... with a bike I cant really care about animals as I am going fast... but while crawling I could spend just 1 hour on 1 spot...

I am insterested about your thoughts, do you sometimes attract wild animals with cars?

my TA05 was smelled by a FOX, it was a bit like a Whats that all about then? moment, and I left, I didnot feel comfortable anymore, I want the Fox to understand it is not a toy, it should watch and admire its speed, not play with it.

 

[Fuijo 880]

I would have thought wild animals wont really want to play with anything unless they are extremely well-fed, which is unlikely.

It's more likely the movement catches their attention, so they investigate in case it's food. When they get close enough to smell that it isn't, they'll lose interest pretty fast.

Foxes and Jackals aren't going to be a danger to you, as huge as you Croatians are.

 

[Mad Ax 9313]

I'm not sure what the wildlife is like in southern Croatia but here in southern England we killed off all our predators and other dangerous animals long ago.

I live in a rural area, even so I rarely see a fox.  If I do it's usually a flash of red as it scarpers into the undergrowth.  I've never seen a living badger, I only ever see dead ones on the roadside.  We now have some wild boar in a few locations but they're far from here and I'd expect notices about what to do and what not to do in their presence.  Such is like in the UK - you can't climb a step without a sign warning you to mind it.

I imagine a stag would put up a good fight if cornered but deer are generally very shy and get out of our way long before we get near them.  IIRC mothers will sometimes leave baby deer if humans approach and might abandon the young if humans interfere - hence why we should leave them be.  I sometimes see deer in the woods while walking but never seen any while playing RC.

I saw a heard of about 20 deer while travelling across the Cairngorms in Scotland on holiday last month, at around 4am.  That was quite a majestic site.  They weren't hugely bothered by the rapid approach of a Peugeot 308 and didn't seem in much of a rush to get out of the way.  We don't get anything as big as that (individuals or herd wise) down south.

We have venomous adders but they usually do a good job of getting out of the way long before blundering human feet arrive and despite all our parents warnings about not running through long grass, nobody in the UK has died from an adder bite since 1975 (with only 12 deaths being recorded in the last hundred years).  Obviously a rattler is a different story entirely, I don't know their habitat but not sure if you might disturb one while crawling?

TBH the worst thing that wildlife has to offer here is the stuff it leaves in the undergrowth, although more often than not it was dropped by a dog with an irresponsible owner.

I think domesticated livestock is likely to pose a greater threat to RC throughout western Europe.  Search "biker vs ram" on youtube.

The most dangerous creature in Britian right now is the Mamil, or Middle Aged Man In Lycra, who comes in two varieties, the Greater (or Urban or Road) Mamil, who is recognisable because his head is lower than his buttocks, and the rarer Lesser (or Mountain) Mamil, who had broader shoulders, greater plumage around the hind legs and tends to be found in the same leafy glades and steep hills where we like to play with our trucks.  Both types of Mamil are generally harmless and often quite friendly when found alone, but can become quite aggressive in packs, especially if they feel their natural habitat is being unfairly invaded.  While rarely violent, the Mamil has an instinctive knowledge of its rights (sometimes less so its responsibilities) and arguing with one is usually pointless.

As for your neck of the woods - I'd be looking at local guidance on what to do if you encounter anything less timid than a fox.

[Ray_ve 1043]

Only encountered the occessional wild dog while driving a rc car, they start as tame home dogs but turn wild when they see a fast moving target.

Here in the Netherlands, a fox is about the biggest predator thing you'll find, but the wolf is making a comeback recently.

Buddy of mine ran into some elephants in a local park/beach/lake area where we used to live as kids. A circus had arrived and the guy was taking them out for a stroll. They love playing in water.

I think I did have a duck or swan attack an rc boat I had, that's wat you get during breeding season...

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

The most dangerous creature in Britian right now is the Mamil, or Middle Aged Man In Lycra, who comes in two varieties, the Greater (or Urban or Road) Mamil, who is recognisable because his head is lower than his buttocks, and the rarer Lesser (or Mountain) Mamil, who had broader shoulders, greater plumage around the hind legs and tends to be found in the same leafy glades and steep hills where we like to play with our trucks.  Both types of Mamil are generally harmless and often quite friendly when found alone, but can become quite aggressive in packs, especially if they feel their natural habitat is being unfairly invaded.  While rarely violent, the Mamil has an instinctive knowledge of its rights (sometimes less so its responsibilities) and arguing with one is usually pointless.

I love your description of this species!

[markbt73 5316]

Somewhere I have a photo of my old Holiday Buggy and a small snake. The snake decided that my side-yard RC playground was the perfect place to sun itself, and was completely motionless across the track. I drove around it several times, nothing. Drove over it once, still didn't budge. At this point, I thought it might be dead, but when I nudged it with a twig it finally slithered off into the grass.

[Theibault 1535]

Well, living in Colorado, I have seen all manner of animals from mountain lions to bears. And these have been in the back yard of my old house. I have never run across animals other than squirrels and chipmunks on the trails I run. I have been attacked a few time (my quad, not me personally lol) by birds of prey while flying my FPV quadcopter. I highly doubt that the animals would be anything other than curious and mostly keep away from the noise an RC makes. PS, RC cars are toys. They serve no other purpose.  

[Juggular 4964]

Dogs and horses cause problems.  We have horse trails along various creeks around here.  Nobody is around, it's perfect, right?  You'd run your cars on a quiet straw covered trail.  You don't realize straws are not produced along the creek.  After a dozen feet or so, you see the first heap the horses have laid down for your viewing (and smelling) pleasure.  Once you see the heaps, then you realize that you've been running your car on very old and frayed straws that came out from the backside of a horse.  In the summer, you can even spot dung beetles too.  One man's waste, another man's gourmet, I guess.  After seeing them, you don't find the "off the beaten path" so attractive anymore...

Unlike horses that cause a problem only from the rear end, dogs can cause problems at both ends.  At least the rear-end problem doesn't attack your car with teeth.  Apparently, your tires are like the balloons you can pop with darts.  Fangs are likely to land on them.  One dog might be timid.  Two dogs?  They play, the "pop-the-balloons" game.  Even a nitro Mad Bison wasn't loud enough to keep it from being molested by animals.  They ran after my red truck like 2 bulls going after 1 red flag.  With my palms sweating, I desperately evaded 2 dogs.  And there is no reverse for a nitro car!  But a clever turn evaded them once, and twice... In the end, they cornered it, and succeeded in peeling the tires off the wheels.  The dog's owner, who was smoking on the side with the other owner, said, "oh, is your car okay? it looks expensive..."  But I could've sworn she almost smiled at the triumph of her valiant Labrador over the annoying little truck.  It's my fault.  It wasn't a dog park, but I should have withdrawn as soon as 1 dog appeared.  The lesson in life for me, was to retreat immediately when fangs on 4 legs stare longingly at your tires.  

 

[Nobbi1977 1793]

I find dog owners a pain as well. They seem to think the world revolves around their stinking growling animals. It is not just kits, I have had “friendly” dogs jump up and knock my daughter over while the owner laughs about how friendly they are. They soon lose the smile when I offer to knock them over as well.

My son liked chasing pigeons with his Madbull but apart from that England is a little devoid of wildlife. 

[Juls1 1661]

I don’t think a fox could do much to a RC car, you guys in England with your lack of foxes, come over to Australia and collect your stinking foxes and take them back!!, our native animals had no predator before the fox arrived with English settlers and they have decimated our native species and led the the exctintion of some, the fox is completely out of control here in Australia. 

To give you a idea how many we have, read the link below about the yearly cull in just 1 small country town in Western Australia.

701 foxes culled in a weekend

 

 

[svenb 3778]

3 hours ago, Nobbi1977 said:

I find dog owners a pain as well. They seem to think the world revolves around their stinking growling animals. It is not just kits, I have had “friendly” dogs jump up and knock my daughter over while the owner laughs about how friendly they are. They soon lose the smile when I offer to knock them over as well.

My son liked chasing pigeons with his Madbull but apart from that England is a little devoid of wildlife. 

I've got a dog!.......................

..... thanks

[Kingfisher 1171]

The fox see's that the car is smaller than it and is curious to see if it could be a meal. The fox won't bother you because humans are much larger than the fox. The fox knows it cannot take you down so it'll run away when you make yourself known. 

 

I've only ever seen jackals in David Attenborough shows. 

[StrokerBoy 772]

Mr Tweetles always seems interested.

[GooneyBird 938]

@Fuijo and myself once ran across (and almost into ) a frog.

Get this: on an indoor carpet onroad track. :O

[Pablo68 1049]

Not really.
There is a family of Australian Magpies that I feed regularly. My place is part of their territory. Sometimes one or two of them will come and check out/chase my cars if I'm using them.
Pretty harmless really.
When I'm out and about with one of my cars someones dog will come and have a look, growl, bark or chase it. I usually stop the car and wait, have a pleasant chat with the dog owner, usually letting them know that it's all good.
I often run my cars in a park which is a shared environment. So I'm careful and look out for the kiddies and doggos.
Should a dog catch and damage my car, well sucks to be me then, and I'll just go and fix it.
The dog owners around here are usually very concerned about damage to the cars, which is nice of them really.

Edit: We also (my brother and I) have drones. The local birdlife often come in to try and see them off. We ground the drone immediately. Don't want to hurt the birds.

[WillyChang 1814]

Magpies are the natural predator of the MAMILs.

 

[Mad Ax 9313]

6 hours ago, Pablo68 said:

Edit: We also (my brother and I) have drones. The local birdlife often come in to try and see them off. We ground the drone immediately. Don't want to hurt the birds.

Not sure if it made the international news, London Gatwick airport, one of the busiest in Britain, was completely grounded yesterday after unknown drone operators started flying drones near the airspace.  Thousands of people affected, some people left stranded at the airport for hours at a time, reports of people being stuck on grounded planes for 6 hours without being let out.

The best suggested solution for tackling drones in airspace?  Trained falcons

[WillyChang 1814]

1 hour ago, Mad Ax said:

Not sure if it made the international news, London Gatwick airport, one of the busiest in Britain, was completely grounded yesterday after unknown drone operators started flying drones near the airspace.  Thousands of people affected, some people left stranded at the airport for hours at a time, reports of people being stuck on grounded planes for 6 hours without being let out.

The best suggested solution for tackling drones in airspace?  Trained falcons

yeah Gatwick made the news... sounded like idiots launching an IRL DDoS attack not just clueless flyers testing out their new xmas pressies? 

[Pablo68 1049]

3 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Not sure if it made the international news, London Gatwick airport, one of the busiest in Britain, was completely grounded yesterday after unknown drone operators started flying drones near the airspace.  Thousands of people affected, some people left stranded at the airport for hours at a time, reports of people being stuck on grounded planes for 6 hours without being let out.

The best suggested solution for tackling drones in airspace?  Trained falcons

Ahhh, there you go then.

[Mad Ax 9313]

4 hours ago, WillyChang said:

yeah Gatwick made the news... sounded like idiots launching an IRL DDoS attack not just clueless flyers testing out their new xmas pressies? 

Lots of internet expert speculation but no official news AFAIK...  

[Novastar 241]

I’ve had a large Kite Hawk swoop down to try and pick up my Blazing Star once, must have thought it was a white rabbit