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Sorry if this thread is a repeat. I was just curious about it. I haven't geocaching in a while and this last week I got back out there again. I was thinking today that I must be one of the slowest geocachers. I generally have a pair of binoculars with me and will stop to look at the smallest thing. I'm a birder too and I like the way geocaching will inroduce me to new areas for birding. Sometimes I see some cool stuff while I am out there. Today I saw a number of birds. The highlight was probably seeing an American kestrel eat a mouse. And watching as some rodent was just yanking down stalks of grass and other vegetation. I'd see movement in the bushes and something obviously pulling on stalks of grass. Oh and a nice close encounter with a gray fox too. All this and only logged 2 caches today. LOL. Well what do you guys see? What's your coolest wildlife story?

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I was at the oldest cache in the East SF bay area, and about 30 ft away, 25 turkeys walked by.

At another cache, at a DNF, a dozen turkeys walked about 20 ft away. When i finally got it and was sitting in the car logging it on my Palm, two pheasants walked right in front of my car.

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We see stuff all the time.

 

Cliff went after one at Disney and while he was gone a coyote walked past the front of the truck. Saw me there and just kept walking past like I was no big deal.

 

Cliff was startled by a little green grass snake wrapped around a little tree limb. It was one of those pretty light green ones. It was so cute.

 

We try to take pictures of the things we see when ever we can.

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Was two miles up the Big River State Park haul road in Mendocino County, California on my bike, on my way back from a more distant cache when I met a mountain lion in my path. It stared at me for a few moments and I at it, then it turned and lumbered around the bend on the road we were on. Beautiful animal and I was happy that it wasn't exceptionally hungry.

 

Oh yes, and a rattlesnake at Sugarloaf SP in Sonoma County on our way to a cache.

Edited by Team Sagefox
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I've seen Elk, Deer, Bear, Fox, Coyote, Wolf, Turkey, Moose, Rattlesnakes, Bison, Eagles (and all manner of birds), Lynx, Antelope, Reptiles, Gun Totin beer swillin N Idahoans, and 1 partidge (in a pear tree).

 

I almost forgot about the Skunk....

 

Idaho has an abundance of wildlife.

Edited by BadAndy
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Here in socal, about the most exciting wildlife I've come across (other than assorted lizards) has been assorted silly lookin' muggles!

Lot's of wildlife in SoCal. I used to live down there and I've run into coyote, bobcat, rattlesnakes, mule deer, just to name a few. All manner of birds and lizards. Even urban LA has coyote (as was attested to earlier in this thread). The hang out in the refugia of steep canyonds that haven't been developed yet. We had a guy from the university up here doing grad work on them a while back.

Edited by Coffea robusta
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Saw this guy on Tuesday while searching for a cache....

Sweet! That looks like a great-horned owl. I found one dead the other day on the side of the road. Good condition, pretty fresh. I collected him for the wildlife meusem at Humboldt State. Funny thing was they said great-horned owls get hit by cars quite a bit and they had plenty. Thanks but no thanks. They did take the meadowlark I collected on the same day though. [:lol:] Go figure.

Edited by Coffea robusta
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There was one cache we did in western Indiana this spring that was this high cliff, lover's leap, sort of cache where we had a Bald Eagle fly by us almost at eye level as we stopped to have dinner up there.

 

One of my personal favorites was this fern covered pine stand cache just south of Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan. We were literally surrounded by the flute playing of Hermit Thrushes, as well as all the Black-throated Green Warblers, Nashville Warblers, and Ovenbirds. Our hands were also full of low bush blueberries that we had picked when we got back to the Herd mobile. :lol:

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I've seen a bunch of wildlife out there including deer, snakes, birds, turtles, coyotes, a fox, etc. However, my favorite encounter would have to have been at Chloe's Cache (GC3792) in CT. While walking back from the cache, I turned a corner on the trail and walked up to within 10 feet of this guy enjoying his lunch which consisted of what was left of a squirrel. He actually sat there long enough for me to get the camera out of the pack, turn it on and click a few quick pictures:

 

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The wildest wildlife I ever find while out caching is my caching buddy, Little Boo:

 

9be63d00-1ab8-42a7-85b1-269e477e3b6b.jpgB):D:lol::P

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I guess my favorite was a momma moose and her new born. The new born was afraid to cross the road. A state policeman came along and had me block the road with my van from one direction while he blocked the road from the other direction. The small moose finally got its legs under it and crossed between us. I got a nice picture, but unfortunately am on the road right now so cannot include it.

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You know why people watch birds? Because they can. It's so doggone hard to watch mammals. Yeah, you get the occasional deer, a glimpse of a fox, some kind of manky wood rodent. But, really, mammals are so shy. I'm thinking of compiling a field guide to poop, because that's all the wildlife I usually see on the trail.

 

I'm serious. I'm sure field guides touch on the subject (all the ones I own deal with microorganisms, which make minimicropoops), but I keep running across interesting crap on the trail. Deer are easy. Distinguishing predators from prey is easy. But, like, what small predator left this in my trail?

 

04d9cc07-d246-449d-83f2-cd16bd01c4f5.jpg

 

And why do they go in the middle of the trail? Surely a very vulnerable place for an animal to be immobile for a moment. And as an extra bonus, if anyone inquires too closely why you're searching around in the undergrowth, you can flash 'em your copy of Auntie Weasel's Field Guide to North American Poop, and I bet they'll leave you alone.

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But, really, mammals are so shy. I'm thinking of compiling a field guide to poop, because that's all the wildlife I usually see on the trail.

And most mammals are active at night. Any good tracking guide is also going to go into scat. Animal tracking is not just about looking for trcks, it's about looking for animal sign as well. Fur left on a branch, the way the grass is bent, and the scat they leave behind. These are all clues to who has been where. Peterson's makes a pretty good guide. There are others too.

 

A Field Guide to Animal Tracks (from Amazon.com)

 

You can also find online guides.

 

Beartracker's Animal Scat page LOL check out the human scat! eeeewwwww!

Tracker Trail

And why do they go in the middle of the trail?

Well actually they don't all go in the middle of the trail. Some animals like to display their scat, like foxes and racoons. It marks territory. Other animals bury their scat, like Mt. Lions. Some animals use particular places to do their "duty", called latrines.

 

It's hard for me to get a size of the scat you have pictured, but the leaves give me some clue. My guess is a fox or racoon. I know gray foxes leave similar scat but generally have a little twist at the end of it. I'm not sure where you are. You may have red foxes too. It might be some help to know what is in the scat. Oftentimes you can identify bits of bone, fur or insects in the scat as a clue to what kind of animal it is. For example, river otter poop will likely have fish scales and smell fishy. Identifying tracks near the scat can help too.

 

After I ran into the fox I described at the begining of this thread, I was excited to find some extremely fresh scat a little ways further down the trail. It was still warm, and had a smell to it. It was about the size a mid sized animal like a fox would make, was long, tubular, brown, and pointed at the ends, with green grass at one end (either partially digested or thrown up). My first thought was the fox had made it and thus was a chance to view fresh gray fox poo up close and personal. However, it had that even consistency, smell, and lack of fur or other bits so typical of domestic dog-fed-on-dog-food look. So I changed my identification to domestic dog. And as there were homes nearby, not a bad guess.

 

Good luck on making the field guide AnutieWeasel. Have fun! Keep in mind though that scat will be different depending on age of animal, age of scat, and what the animal has been eating! People that love to look at scat are some of the most interesting people.

 

Bonus pic: What animal made this?

bearscat0ae.jpg

hint: Yes they do go in the woods. ;)

Edited by Coffea robusta
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Here in Pennsyltucky we have the pleasure of seeing all sorts of fauna. On any given day it's not unusual to spot deer, turkey, grouse, pheasant, raccoon, rattler, copperhead, eagle, heron, even the occasional coyote, bear, or bobcat. One of my favorites is the porcupines. They pretty much don't have a care in the world, and you can follow them all over the place, as long as you don't try to get too close. They just lumber along, looking for a nice tree to chew on.

 

One night my caching partner and I decided to go looking for a hide that was in a secluded area of the forest along the lovely Allegheny River. We set out at something like 11:00 pm, on mountain bikes, since the cache was located near a rail-trail. It involved crossing an old railroad trestle across the river first, then descending down from the bridge to the lower trail along the river bank. The ride across the trestle at night was a treat in itself. Shortly after hitting the lower trail, I began to smell the stench of a bear, real close. We could only see straight ahead of us, with my bike light. She didn't have one, and just stayed close on my tail. After a mile or so, the bear smell went away. Several miles down, our GPS readings took us straight up into the woods, away from the river. Flashlights in hand, we made our way on foot into the thicket to look for the cache. I was a little leary after the bear thing, and I really didn't think we'd find it; but she did. Shortly after the re-hide, I noticed something furry right at my feet. I looked down and saw this little fellow, frozen in my light. He wasn't much more than six or eight inches long. What a cutie!

possum.jpg

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Don't know if this qualifies exactly as "wild"life, but we were part of a CITO/trail cleanup in a Columbia nature preserve/swamp area this summer and met up with this orange fluffy fellow. About half a mile into preserve, this kitten walks up and demands attention from everyone - good thing it was people he asked and not the local wildlife - the preserve is a habitat for alligators, hawks, and many other predators that would have thought the kitten made a nice snack. There were no houses anywhere near the swamp and obviously the kitten hadn't been out there long. He followed us on the trail cleanup for about an hour (well, followed might not be exactly the right word, he insisted on being carried for most of the trail and mostly stayed underfoot when we weren't moving). Anyway, we brought this bit of wildlife home with us (by the way, we named him Garmin).

garmin8tt.jpg

 

More on topic, we ran into a couple of the locals in Woods Bay State Park in South Carolina two years ago on the hunt for a cross-state multi.

 

This Yellow-Bellied Slider is about 18 inches long.

turtle4ys.jpg

 

This fellow is about 7 feet long. We were happy to be on the path several feet above the water.

gator14wq.jpg

 

We've seen a few other interesting fauna on our caching adventures in South Carolina including a reasonable selection of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, some larger alligators, lots of deer, foxes, turtles ranging from the size of a quarter to the slider above and even an armadillo but usually not when we had a camera ready.

 

Jon & Miki

Edited by jon & miki
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I forgot about the snake (common garter snake). A group of us were caching together and several of us tried to grab it, but it took a bit for one to finally catch it. I doubt it really wanted to spend a few minutes of its day being examined by cachers and didn't like us very much, since it sure took off in a hurry after being let go. ;)

 

1c5d95af-5312-46a6-a167-348efbee7eb7.jpg

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It's hard for me to get a size of the scat you have pictured, but the leaves give me some clue.  My guess is a fox or racoon.  I know gray foxes leave similar scat but generally have a little twist at the end of it.  I'm not sure where you are.  You may have red foxes too.  It might be some help to know what is in the scat.  Oftentimes you can identify bits of bone, fur or insects in the scat as a clue to what kind of animal it is.  For example, river otter poop will likely have fish scales and smell fishy.  Identifying  tracks near the scat can help too.

I'm in Southern New England. It is quite a petite poop and made by a successful carnivore. I was betting on fisher cat, but then I'm partial to mustelids.

 

Raccoons like to poop on high, don't they? My mother had a pet raccoon that used to climb the railings and poop on the balcony. I don't rightly recall what that looked like, though.

 

Thanks for the links.

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Nobby-what a beautiful picture of the deer. You should have that one in a contest.

We also have seen lots of wildlife on our hunts but the scariest time was when we found a gopher hole where a snake had shed its skin while it was laying halfin and half out of the hole. Then we saw another like this and then another one and then...we left.

Edited by shuccrum
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We've had the occasional snake encounter, quite a few deer, turtles, tortoises, armadillos, raccoons, eagles, hawks, vultures, about a dozen turkey (all at one time), mosquitos larger than some birds, a large warthog (with a huge set of tusks), and lots of alligators.

 

The last armadillo was rather funny - we came around a bend in the trail, and there he was about 5 feet in front of us. We watched him digging around for a good 90 seconds before he realized we were there, then let out a little squeak and ran into the palmetto.

 

I had a fascinating gator encounter back during the summer. While caching with a friend, we spotted one alligator that had killed another gator and was getting ready to eat it. The dead one is upside down in the photo.

 

060d80ed-7c05-4f29-8d87-1eea58d61928.jpg

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I've seen a lot of different wildlife while caching and I have a few good stories.

 

Saw a near newborn deer fawn just inches from a cache once.

 

Had 3 or 4 close encounters with snakes.

 

Found a litter of coyote pups nesting in the pile of sticks over a cache.

 

Best story is my encounter with a wild turkey. There is a cache (placed with knowledge and permission) in a national wildlife refuge. The big requirement is that you must log the date/time of your visit along with any wildlife spotted. It was late summer when I went searching for this one and I was having a bit of trouble locating the cache. While slowly circling ground zero I spotted a large turkey laying flat on the ground with its head stretched out at an odd angle. I immediately avoided what I thought was a poor dead bird, and continued searching. Over the next 20 mins or so my frustration grew as I could not locate the cache but I could still occasional see that poor dead bird. Finally I concluded that the cache just may be under that big 40 pound animal so I found a large stick and prepared to push it aside. I was standing about 6 feet away when suddenly the bird jumped to its feet and beats its large wings until it was airborne. The whole time screaming poultry obscenities at me. The wind from the beating wings plus my startled and stupified body stumbled backwards. I jumped up to run and noticed a large nest filled with eggs under where the bird had been. Just playing dead, an effective strategy for all but the vultures. Scary!!

 

On a second trip I found the cache about 15 feet south of the nesting bird. She was still there - and trying to play dead once again. Three other searchers were equally starteled.

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I'm in Southern New England. It is quite a petite poop and made by a successful carnivore. I was betting on fisher cat, but then I'm partial to mustelids.

 

Raccoons like to poop on high, don't they? My mother had a pet raccoon that used to climb the railings and poop on the balcony. I don't rightly recall what that looked like, though.

 

Thanks for the links.

Well, I am hardly an expert. I'll go with mustelid scat, sure. <_< Here in the west are fishers are normally found in the higher elevations. Another source I have tells me the pressence of porcupine quills is a sure sign of fisher poop. Sounds painful. And you're right about racoons displaying on a log, rock or railing. Our gray foxes will do the same.

 

Quote from a pamphlet I have:

Marten scat is long, thin, and looks twisted and folded and tapered on both ends.  Approximately 2.5 to 5 cm long and about 1 cm in diameter, marten scat are often  deposited upon prominent logs or rocks, often lying in a semicircle. Mink scat is often  dark brown or black, and roughly cylindrical. Approximately 12 to 15 cm long, mink scat  are sometimes segmented, often with bits of fur or bone, and usually deposited on rocks,  logs near water, and beaver lodges. Fisher scat is also about 12 to 15 cm long, dark, and  roughly cylindrical, and often segmented. Fisher scat may show fur, bone, berries, or  nuts. Scat with porcupine quills is almost always a sure sign of fisher.

Bonus picture of raccoon scat:

raccoonscat.jpg

 

And I just had to add this one:

wilsonwarbler.jpg

Ok not taken while I was hunting caches. I took this over the summer while bird banding.

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It's fun because I almost always cache with my boys (4 &5) who are wildlife in their own life. They have gotten to see tons of deer, ducks geese, a peacock, vultures, hawks, adult skunks, tiny little baby skunks, a fox, rabbits, squirells, rats, lizards, and a snake or two.

 

Friv

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Since most of my caches are in the back country, I've seen Bears, Pumas, Wapiti and the buck in the picture. I watched him all summer and when Bow Season opened up. Zip now I have meat.

29c3b184-acc0-498d-a9c0-e60cd8cf04f5.jpg

I saw five of these walking in a row. They stopped and looked at me for five minutes as I watched them from twenty feet away. We all looked at each other like martians in a strange place.

 

I am still kicking my own butt for not having my camera with me!

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Nobby-what a beautiful picture of the deer. You should have that one in a contest.

We also have seen lots of wildlife on our hunts but the scariest time was when we found a gopher hole where a snake had shed its skin while it was laying halfin and half out of the hole. Then we saw another like this and then another one and then...we left.

thanks.

 

ifyou know of any contest then let me know. complete fluke to have got it as was just walking past the field and happened to glance over as it poked his head up! :D

then it stayed still while i took the photo. it's good when the wildlife are understanding of those of us who are not sa quick and adept as others. i got the vain deer who was happy to pose! :rolleyes:

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