Animal encounters while hiking

January 16, 2009

I have ran across many animals here in Florida mostly harmless but I have also encountered more than my share of poisonous snakes and Alligators. Whats some creatures you've came across?

January 16, 2009

Lots of rats, rabbits, coyotes, a few snakes and a few birds of prey.

Scariest was a big buzzard roosting in a tree right off a walking trail on the path to the cache. On the way back to the walking trail I heard this really loud hissing and saw movement about 10-15 feet above me in a large tree. Kinda jumped back until I figured out it was harmless.

Apparently, the tree had a fork in the trunk and one side had broken off. As that part of the tree rotted, a large depression was formed, making an ideal nesting spot for the buzzard. He or she was simply guarding the nest.

January 16, 2009

My family was climbing the trail from Blue Rocks campground to the Pulpit in PA when on the way down we saw a mama bear (black bear) and her cubs. Very scary, but really cool at the same time.

Muggs

9.5k · January 16, 2009

The best encounter I had was Before geocaching (B.G.?) when a small herd of elk came through my campsite just after dinner. Otherwise the below is the most I saw...

January 16, 2009

Here in Europe we don't have to worry a lot about dangerous animals or plants.

Although in central Europe near the Alps, there are some free running wolfs. But that is not where I live or go geocaching. Most of the animals you will meet here, will run away from you as soon as you are coming closer.

But recently I had a close encounter with an animal that could have injured me.

While nearing a cache in a forest, I suddenly saw what appeared to be a person with a grey coat kneeling on the ground. A fellow geocacher, I thought, already logging the cache I was searching. So I went to him.

Suddenly there were several load squeaks and a group of wild boars, previously hidden from view by a small ditch, run away with high speed. Including the "grey coat", which also turned out to be a wild boar...

Afterwards I realized that I must have been very lucky, that they haven't attacked me. Boars, when surprised or cornered do that and they can injure you very severely! There were several reports recently in our local newspapers reporting cyclist or hikers being attacked by wild boars. I met wild boars before but always saw them in the distance and fleeing from me. Never that close as with this encounter!

Millhouse.

January 17, 2009

Wild Boar was probably the one that got my heart pumping the most as it came tearing out of the brush.

Once, while hiking along the beach in Northern California, I came across a herd of Roosevelt Elk - those things are huge, nearly as big as a horse. They eventually wandered from the beach back into the woods, and we were able to move on.

Edited January 17, 2009 by Jeepergeo

January 17, 2009

The most animals we run across in Michigan are squirrels, hawks and white tailed deer.

10.1k · January 17, 2009

Bear! There are a lot of black bear in New Jersey. (Also seen them in Maine.) Rattlesnakes. Turkeys. Hawks. Lots and lots of vultures.

Before geocaching? Moose, alligators, bobcat, mountain lion (or so I claim.)

January 18, 2009

Though I've never encountered one (yet), a rabid animal is my greatest concern. The recent news event about a lady jogger who had a rabid fox latch onto her arm & not letting go as she ran a mile to her car, then finally getting it loose and locked in the trunk, is a very unnerving story.

Has anyone here ever had an encounter with a rabid animal??

January 18, 2009

In June 2006 myself and 2 friends were set upon by a rather miffed looking Partridge whilst bagging peaks in Buttermere

We reckon we must have been close to its nest because it was like it was swearing at us in bird speak lol!

I am always wary of meeting something with fur and teeth when out on night walks though, especially if plugged into the mp3 player and I don't hear it sneaking up... :huh:

2.3k · January 19, 2009

After a week of over 80F temps here in Los Angeles (peaking 88F, today 82F), some animals are confused and a rattlesnake was seen today in a local park....

January 19, 2009

Bear! There are a lot of black bear in New Jersey. (Also seen them in Maine.) Rattlesnakes. Turkeys. Hawks. Lots and lots of vultures.

Before geocaching? Moose, alligators, bobcat, mountain lion (or so I claim.)

Well...that's the one reason to pack a side arm. Convienent that she was able to have the fox hold onto her..so they could be sure about the rabies. She had to have the shots..I'm afraid. dfk

January 19, 2009

Though I've never encountered one (yet), a rabid animal is my greatest concern. The recent news event about a lady jogger who had a rabid fox latch onto her arm & not letting go as she ran a mile to her car, then finally getting it loose and locked in the trunk, is a very unnerving story.

Has anyone here ever had an encounter with a rabid animal??

Woops..meant to quote the rabies one!

January 19, 2009

We were in a park and I was just about to give up on this particular cache and I leaned over close to the ground to try to get a gound level view when a tiny brown bunny exploded out of the palmeto bushes and breezed right past my nose! It woke me up and I found enough adrenaline to keep looking until we found the cache!

3k · January 19, 2009

All kinds of animals including deer, bear, porcupine, raccoon, owl, rabbit, otter, mink, all manner of fish, frogs, box & snapper turtles, fresh-water snails, herons, cranes, eagles, hawks, ducks, geese, rattlesnakes and garter snakes. My all time favorites though are a red tailed hawk and an eastern banded watersnake. I was searching for a cache when I stopped to take a rest after a long uphill hike and was leaning against a tree to enjoy the view off the hillside. I heard a slight movement above me and just beyond arm reach a red tailed hawk spread his wings and glided out of the tree while looking back at me. I was completely shocked and more than a little awed at quickly he sailed away without even flapping his wings. The snake encounter was while doing a little maintenance on a cache along a stream. As I was picking up some small paper litter I suddenly noticed what I believed at the moment to be a rattlesnake right at my feet. I felt like leeping right out of my skin, but upon further inspection noticed the pupils of his eyes were round and not slitted so he wasn't poisonous. So instead I got down on my belly and took some closeups...

February 1, 2009

We have seen black bear, foxes, rattlesnakes, deer, elk, eagles, squirrels, but our favorite (and scariest) was this big cat that run about 40 feet in front of us then stopped and checked us out before continuing down the mountainside. Hemi snapped the photo; I had my hand on the 357!

February 1, 2009

2 years ago I and a friend hiked to Seymour Mt. near Tupper Lake NY, When we summited the mountain, I rested on a rock with my trail mix next to me imagine my surprise a chipmunk was trying to get in the bag.

February 2, 2009

We have seen black bear, foxes, rattlesnakes, deer, elk, eagles, squirrels, but our favorite (and scariest) was this big cat that run about 40 feet in front of us then stopped and checked us out before continuing down the mountainside. Hemi snapped the photo; I had my hand on the 357!

When another cacher and I were returning from placing a couple of caches night time befell us. Walking out in the dark on an overgrown road I saw something black in the trail ahead of us. I had no light so I had my friend shine his ahead. The thing had moved but its eyes soon glowed. moving a little we were able to see it was just a deer. I was afraid it might have been a bear by the dark color or even a Cougar. I had spotted cougar tracks in the snow in this area the winter before and they had been following some man tracks!!

After we reached our truck and were a few miles down the road we saw a cougar running down the road. I was glad we hadn't seen him on the trail.

February 3, 2009

Rattlers, usually sunbathing, many rabbits, elk, deer, moose and many birds of prey ..incl Red Tailed Hawks, Owls, Eagles and once a P-Falcon bringing down a pidgeon.

3 Bears encounters. The first was on the AT Trail ..a mama and 2 cubs..but we were headed to them..50 yrds away and she had them retreat. The 2nd was a grizz in Denali. This grizz..when we first spotted it was 1000 yrds away down by a river. It began walking toward us..and they actually walk fast. Within a minute or 2 ..it was 100 yrds away (pic non-zoomed):

Well..when I turned back to say..."huh"..to my wife..she had bugged out..! I retreated also..but backing up, slowly, with my eye on the grizz!!

The other episode, also a black bear was out here, in NM, and also a non issue! Dan

Edited February 3, 2009 by NewMexicoOutdoor

February 4, 2009

We've spent about 25 years or more putting lots of miles on the hiking boots. The most troublesome wild animal we came across was a ground squirrel and Stellers Jay. They went right through two zip lock bags and into our weeks worth of trail mix. But we survived quite well anyway.

There was one other occasion when there were a couple party animals on the other side of a wilderness lake. Just us and them. They must have packed in a lot of booze. They were up whooping and hollering most of the night. We were glad to move on the next after a lot of pot banging in the process of fixing an early breakfast.

Now as for predators, poisenous creatures, and large aggressive creatures. I guess you could count the elk. But the most bothersome of the larger creatures was the deer that kept nosing my tent at first light.

The most fun encounter was with a spotted owl. I heard him around 1:00am. Spotted with a light in a tree pretty close. At first light he moved in a bit closer and woke me up. I stuck my head out of the tent. The left the branch he was sitting on dropped down to land on a burm about 10' away from me. I talked to him in english and spoke back in spotted owl. Neither one could understand what the other was saying but we both seem to enjoy the conversation. After about 15 minutes and his english never improved so I went back to sleep only find him still hanging around when got up. Sometime while I was cooking breakfast he took off. I guess he wasn't interested in pancakes that day.

There's a few more neat stories about animals encountered while backpacking.

14.3k · February 4, 2009

I've seen all the normal critters that we all see in Southern California but I still really like seeing these:

Does anyone know what it is?

(Hint: Ventura Highway)

February 4, 2009

Does anyone know what it is?

(Hint: Ventura Highway)

Funny, we've always pictured them like this...

:bad:

Edited February 4, 2009 by Arse&Hemi

14.3k · February 4, 2009

Does anyone know what it is?

(Hint: Ventura Highway)

Funny, we've always pictured them like this...

Seeing Alligator lizards always make me think about the song "Ventura Highway" by America because of the lyric "Alligator lizards in the air." I did some research to find out what that lyric means and found out some interesting tidbits about the song. The song itself tells of Dewey and his time living in Omaha in his youth - "chewing on a piece of grass". The winters in Omaha were brutal - "this town don't look good in snow" and he would dream of California and wonder how much longer he was going to stay in Omaha. The city that most attracted his attention was the 'mythical' city of Ventura, California. Between 1955 and 1974 (the song was written in 1972) the "Ventura Highway" was a real name for the segment of what is now US 101 that went from route 134 to the northern end of Ventura County. One day when Dewey was in LA he spotted some Alligator lizards on a very smoggy LA day. The smog gave the illusion that the lizards were in the air.

February 4, 2009

In the UK we have very few dangerous animals, though I have met most of them.

Adders are our most poisonous snake (though small fry compared to many of your snakes). I come across one every couple of years.

I've come across Wild Boar twice. The last one was a huge beast, but I backed off quietly and he was fine.

I had a great encounter with a bird of prey once that swooped down and took a squirrel (before dropping it) only 20' in front of me.

The strangest one I had was at night when my head torch was lighting up some eyes on the other side of an old wall. I had assumed they were sheep, but they were too high. I eventually swung my torch round to look and it was a herd of deer standing 10' from me. They stayed a fair while then left, all but one, which stayed for several minutes.

We even had a deer in our back garden a couple of months ago.

I have had the worst encounters with cows! I walk with my dog, Bob. Some cows don't like dogs at all. Some don't even like people. Others couldn't care less. We've had a cow galloping 200yds to get to us. Fortunately it wasn't fit enough and had to give up.

We also had a herd try to stampede us, though we managed to jump a gate just in time.

We've had horse rearing up and nearly landing on my old Golden Retriever, Sid. They are fascinated by dogs for some reason.

Bob frequently flushes out foxes and an occasional badger. One nearly knocked me over.

Nearly forgot, my son spotted an owl sleeping on a telegraph pole in the middle of the day one day last September.

February 5, 2009

Wild Boar, Spooked Deer, the odd Adder and panicked rabbits scampering across my path at lightspeed.

I've had a close encounter with a Wild Boar when overnighting in the Forest Of Dean, I was woken to the noise of something scuffling about at the foot of my sleeping bag, so on went the headtorch and there looking back at me was a Boar, so in my panic I pulled my sleeping bag cord to fully close my bag and at the same time started thrashing my feet about wildly, making enough noise from my Gortex bivy bag to wake up the other two guys who by now can just see me having some sort of mad episode as this Boar has taken off and they have no idea what's come over me

Aside from being spooked by deer and sheep that have been sppoked by me as I bushwack through the undergrowth looking for a suitable place to hide my camp, The biggest scare I've had was one time I was stood in the camp early one morning, with a couple of mates drinking our first morning brew, when at great speed a Deer came from nowhere and was running straight at us, being chased by two dogs, then we went into panic and the Deer spotted us and did a few mad direction changes and bolted straight through the middle of our camp, then the dogs spotted us and slowed down and the Deer managed to get away, and I would always put my money on the deer but these dogs seemed to have the edge on the deer as they came at it from different directions and were making good ground.

A couple of years back seven of us rented a cottage in Glen Ure in Scotland, just outside Oban, and one evening we were on our way back from a hike up the side of a waterfall and found that we were surround by deer, and I mean lots of them. I have them on video and you can easy count 250+, and they had no fear of us just stood and watched as we slowly wonderd off towards our cottage. That to date has been my best deer sighting, but also as close I want to get to such big beasts as these guys were.

As sid and bob say in there post, here in the UK it's the hoarses and cows that get moody at times. I've been chased over fences by unhappy cows a few times, and have heard from other guys that they've been chased.

One time a I was out for a hike with a mate of mine and he stopped to give a hoarse some fuss and then the thing followed us and kept head butting my mate in the back as we tried to make our exit from the field as this hoarse seemed to get more and more upset that we were leaving.

I was up in Cumbria a few years ago, up to visit Sleddale Hall (Crow Crag) from the fantastic cult film Withnail And I, and was all set to camp on some nice soft heather and dropped my pack down while my mate went off to investigate the signs that we kept seeing on fence posts in the distance, when he came back telling me that the signs were warnings that the area was littered with Adders that ended up being the worst night I've ever spent sleeping in a car

I've got a small one man tent but seldom use it, being under a tarp is great for the view in the morning and that feeling of being outdoors, it also leaves you open to investigation from the animals, but in my eyes it has to be the best way to camp

3.3k · February 5, 2009

This is an excerpt of a log that solidifies my reasoning for carrying bear spray, and a sharp knife, while hiking in the forest.

Iron Mountain geocache

True, the trail was maintained from this point on, and I never lost the trail again,

but I was not expecting to be watched. I do not know it it was canine or feline,

but it was watching me. [] At first I thought it was 2 small lights up on the

hill, but I realized that it was an animal and it was watching me. I yelled at it

several times, and it ran just 5-10 feet away and took up a new position. For all I

know, it could have been a lost dog, looking for a new home, or a mountain lion

looking for dinner. [xx(] It was up on the hill just out of range of my rock

throwing ability. I don't usually spook easily, but I was pretty uncomfortable. I

had not seen anybody for hours, and my cell phone does not work within 10 miles of

here. I started to pick up the pace and made a lot of noise. I was in a fast jog,

singing "I don't know but I've been told..." After a while, I was pretty sure that I

was no longer being watched. It had been a long time since I saw those eyes staring

back at me.

February 5, 2009

I saw these critters last week while in Southern Florida doing a virtual.

Edited February 5, 2009 by prntr1

9.5k · February 5, 2009

This is an excerpt of a log that solidifies my reasoning for carrying bear spray, and a sharp knife, while hiking in the forest.

Iron Mountain geocache

True, the trail was maintained from this point on, and I never lost the trail again,

but I was not expecting to be watched. I do not know it it was canine or feline,

but it was watching me. [] At first I thought it was 2 small lights up on the

hill, but I realized that it was an animal and it was watching me. I yelled at it

several times, and it ran just 5-10 feet away and took up a new position. For all I

know, it could have been a lost dog, looking for a new home, or a mountain lion

looking for dinner. [xx(] It was up on the hill just out of range of my rock

throwing ability. I don't usually spook easily, but I was pretty uncomfortable. I

had not seen anybody for hours, and my cell phone does not work within 10 miles of

here. I started to pick up the pace and made a lot of noise. I was in a fast jog,

singing "I don't know but I've been told..." After a while, I was pretty sure that I

was no longer being watched. It had been a long time since I saw those eyes staring

back at me.

If nothing else, that provides a Plan B.

-=-=edited to fix a fat finger typo=-=-

Edited February 5, 2009 by TotemLake

5.9k · February 5, 2009

3.3k · February 6, 2009

Oh Schist!

February 6, 2009

February 6, 2009

I saw a skink once when I was pulling some leaves off a cache. I thought it was a snake for a second and screamed like a little girl and did the "icky" dance behind my brother. x_x icky icky icky.

I learned a very good lesson about poking at things with sticks first.

February 6, 2009

I saw these critters last week while in Southern Florida doing a virtual.

When we were at Busch Gardens recently the Alligator keeper told us that more people are killed by vending machines in Florida each year than by Alligators. From other things he said I got the impression that it's not that uncommon for them to take a limb and then let you go though. :unsure:

I went searching for a cache by a lake with a "Don't feed the Alligators" sign. I must admit I was a bit twitchy routing around in the undergrowth for Tupperware. :laughing:

April 6, 2009

Up here in Montana I have ran across mostly deer,elk,and of course the usual small critters.I have ran into a few mountain goats and 1 black bear (I backed away slowly and luckily as soon as he seen me he took off running the other direction.I always make some noise as I hike( including talking to myself...go figure) to hopefully let any dangerous animals hear me way in advance.I also try and keep an alert eye around me as I go along.

Edited April 6, 2009 by skeezicks

April 30, 2009

Walked right past this bison while out in Oklahoma. Didn't even know it was there until it stood up after I passed by.

Animal encounters while hiking

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation