Jump to content

wildlife


Recommended Posts

the bridge was washed out so i followed the river down about 1/4 mile and crossed on a fallen tree.The worst deadfalls i've been in in a long time.100 feet of the cache...thought id cross the river again on another fallen tree.Im happy i looked good before going any futher...what looked like a lnyx sleeping in a cave on the other side.Heard tell of cougars never ran into one of those but close enough to scare the crap outta me!! :o any similar stories?

i'd love to read.

Link to comment

the bridge was washed out so i followed the river down about 1/4 mile and crossed on a fallen tree.The worst deadfalls i've been in in a long time.100 feet of the cache...thought id cross the river again on another fallen tree.Im happy i looked good before going any futher...what looked like a lnyx sleeping in a cave on the other side.Heard tell of cougars never ran into one of those but close enough to scare the crap outta me!! B) any similar stories?

i'd love to read.

 

No direct encounters yet. Did have a large nimal (think it was a bear) grunt in the bushes about 50 feet away when I was signing a log. Also had a bunch of coyotes howling with the closest one about 100 yards away. There were at least 20 of them all around us.

And was face to face with a grisley spider about half dollar sized. He was about 3 inches from my nose when I finally saw him. In many ways I would rather face a cougar in a cave 100 feet away.

Link to comment

I've had my share of bear encounters both here in Washington State and Canada, the closest being 30 feet away. And then in March I went to Florida where a friend and I bumped into a gator sitting along the shoreline...he was maybe only 15 feet away? However, for some reason none of these encounters scared me. I was more thrilled to see the animals B)

 

Another time I was caching in Cascade, Idaho walking through some tall grass near GZ and heard a rattle snake. It sounded like it was only a few feet away, but I couldn't see it. That was kinda scary =P I'm not afraid of snakes, but not knowing where it was made me uncomfortable.

Edited by tsunami_KNUW
Link to comment

Ironically I jumped a half grown coyote pup at a cache at an animal graveyard. He was napping just a few feet from the container, just past the graves. Guess that IS a good place for a dog to sleep. :laughing:

 

A raccoon and I scared the crap out of each other at another cache on a mountain ridge.

 

No cougars or bears, so far.

Link to comment

I met once 2 boars. I could hear them comming, but I wasn't sure, what they are. So when they came out from the bushes I was surprised. They were a bit scary, but they were more scared from me I guess. They ran away so fast, I couldn't take my cam out and take some photos.

Link to comment

Bears while in and out of the car (us, not the bears :o), and a beautiful cougar while driving home two weeks ago. Snakes fairly often, cool salamanders, and a mystery creature 40 feet into the brambles that got us singing and clapping, just in case he was a yogi.

Edit to add -a very big barn owl once - that was cool - wouldn't have seen him if he hadn't moved.

Edited by doingitoldschool
Link to comment

Not a scary animal, but the other half of the team stepped ON a newborn fawn. When the fawn bleated (loudly) jumped and ran, both of us were looking for some TP to use (I had already walked passed it -- the fawn, not the TP).

 

THEN........ mama deer came blasting through the bush and blew between us (occupying the majority of the five feet that separated us) going to take after her offspring.

 

Dangerous, no. Heart-stopping, yes!

 

:o:unsure::unsure::unsure::huh::D:D

Link to comment

Not a scary animal, but the other half of the team stepped ON a newborn fawn. When the fawn bleated (loudly) jumped and ran, both of us were looking for some TP to use (I had already walked passed it -- the fawn, not the TP).

 

THEN........ mama deer came blasting through the bush and blew between us (occupying the majority of the five feet that separated us) going to take after her offspring.

 

Dangerous, no. Heart-stopping, yes!

 

:o:unsure::unsure::unsure::huh::D:D

 

Was the fawn OK?

Link to comment

I was in a state park scouting for a place to finish a long night cache, when I had a experience I dont want anymore. I was roughly 200 feet from a highway up on a small ridge that was about 100 feet above the road. It is pretty thickly overgrown and from where I was you could not see the road, but you could easily hear the traffic.It was about 30 minutes before sunset.

 

I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden I heard horn blow and tires screeching, within a couple seconds , over the top of the ridge running full boar was a huge buck, scared to death from about getting hit and was wanting out of there. He was about 250 lbs. Looked like 900 from less than 10 feet away!!!

 

I did the only thing I could do, I fell to the ground and covered up. I still dont know who was scared worse!

As I look back on this, it might be one of the greatest things that has happened to me while caching.

Link to comment

We were searching for a "canoe access only" cache on the Indian River near Warsaw Ontario. The cache required you to land the canoe at the only flat spot at the base of a steep limestone bluff and scale the wall to the cache.

 

As we were only about 5 feet from shore and gliding in for landing, a porcupine scooted out from under a small rock overhang directly in our path. Instead of running, he ducked right back under the rock where we came to rest! He must have thought we couldn't see him. The smart thing to do would have been to leave, but we had paddled way to far to let this cache go. My daughter and I very slowly climbed out of the canoe and ever so quietly climbed over his hiding spot. We were excited but my wife was down right terrified. She sat in the canoe with white knuckles holding on to her paddle, ready to swing if it moved. When we got to the top of the cliff she let out a scream from below; the porcupine had come out of hiding and was now moving our way. We took the long way around to get back :shocked:

Link to comment

Well, I am still relativly new, however I was out looking for a quick cache with my daughter around dusk and we were climbing up a step incline and lo and behold there was a ragged skunk looking at me at eye level. I am not afraid of animals, however I really did not want to get sprayed. We back pedaled and then yelled to scare it away. I continued on to the cache while my daughter was constantly looking for the skunk to return.

 

Another occasion I was checking for a cache in between some big rocks and was ready to reach in when I noticed two eyes staring back at me. It startled me, and I decided to check some other holes instead. Don't know what it was.

Link to comment

We have both black bears and cougars here in Kitsap County but no rattle snakes. Only seen one bear when fly fishing. My closeth encounter was in the Brooks Range on Takahula Lake. My son was renting a homestead cabin but I was there alone. Before he left flying a National Geographic photography around we had cut downed trees and cut them in 20 foot lengths and threw them in the lake. My job was to round them up with the canoe and tow them back to the cabin and cut them up for firewood. As I was walking up the hill to the cabin I turned and there was a black bear not more than 5 feet from me. I looked at him and he looked at me and then he took off up a very steep hill. I thought to myself "boy you sure are calm about this" Just then a small squirrel barked at me and I jumped about three feet in the air. I think I was in shock. We always carried a high power rifle or revolver when hiking or fishing the river, but never came face to face with one before.

Dick, W7WT

Link to comment

Mine is pretty lame. I was trout fishing (not geocaching) and cutting the "corner" of the river by bushwhacking through an area instead of following the shore line and I jumped a deer who was bedded down. I never saw it and it didn't move until I was just about to step on it (my foot was about 12" from landing on it) and then it quickly stood up. I could have reached out and touched it. It immediately bolted in the opposite direction. Now I know what people mean when they say the "jumped out of there skin". Absolutely, freaked me out.

 

Actually, it was the GPS's fault. If I wouldn't have know that the river made a sharp bend, I would have never tried to bushwhack it. The mapping software told me the river doubled back and with a quick 150' bushwhack I could cut out almost a 1/2 mile of river, which I knew was poor fishing.

Link to comment

Okay, my wild animal story is a joke in comparison to meeting a bear, lynx, coyote, or what have you. But I think it's still worth sharing.

 

At a recent cache I encountered a crazed, rabid squirrel, which made several unsuccessful attempts at "attacking" me, if you can even call it that. There was something definitely wrong with this squirrel because it CHARGED directly at me at least 4 times while I tried to look through the cache and sign the log. I actually had to dodge it to avoid getting bitten or scratched. I'm not sure how adept a squirrel is at attacking, but I wasn't taking any chances if it had rabies.

 

I couldn't even scare it away. I stomped and clapped my hands, and the little guy actually started GRUNTING and advancing closer to me. :) Never seen anything like it before.

Link to comment

Either you look like a nut, or it was rabid (for sure). I'd bet on the latter.

 

In fact had it hung around me like that, I probably would've clubbed it, just to make sure it didn't get the next cacher. :grin:

 

 

EDIT: CRAZY MAN ARRESTED charged with attacking a defenseless squirrel. Says he was just out geocaching. :);):rolleyes::D

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
Link to comment

Okay, my wild animal story is a joke in comparison to meeting a bear, lynx, coyote, or what have you. But I think it's still worth sharing.

 

At a recent cache I encountered a crazed, rabid squirrel, which made several unsuccessful attempts at "attacking" me, if you can even call it that. There was something definitely wrong with this squirrel because it CHARGED directly at me at least 4 times while I tried to look through the cache and sign the log. I actually had to dodge it to avoid getting bitten or scratched. I'm not sure how adept a squirrel is at attacking, but I wasn't taking any chances if it had rabies.

 

I couldn't even scare it away. I stomped and clapped my hands, and the little guy actually started GRUNTING and advancing closer to me. :) Never seen anything like it before.

 

Maybe you were close to a litter of squirrel puppies.

Though it's not impossible, squirrels rarely get rabies.

Link to comment

Either you look like a nut, or it was rabid (for sure). I'd bet on the latter.

 

In fact had it hung around me like that, I probably would've clubbed it, just to make sure it didn't get the next cacher. :grin:

 

 

EDIT: CRAZY MAN ARRESTED charged with attacking a defenseless squirrel. Says he was just out geocaching. :);):rolleyes::D

 

That squirrel was not defenseless! It had sharp fangs, razor-sharp claws, and was foaming at the mouth. I swear, officer! :laughing:

Link to comment

Doing a cache in the bush about 10 minutes from home, we spotted a tiger snake (a venamous ozzie snake).

 

I'm not sure who was more scared - the snake did a runner(!), my daughter screamed and started to head back to the car. The dog decided he wanted to play, but thankfully the snake was quicker and got away!

 

We still got the cache!

Link to comment

SCARIEST:

6-8 foot alligator surfacing within arms reach of me on my sit-on-top kayak, but not noticing until I had pulled another stroke of the paddle between us!

 

STRANGEST:

I once had squirrel charge me while climbing a hill on a mountain bike. Freaked me out to have that angry little thing coming at me. I have had them insist on being fed (near parks), but never had been charged by one before. I would NOT one to get on my body in that state. "Mississppi Squirrel Revival" by Ray Stevens comes to mind!

Edited by Tuco Rojo
Link to comment

Okay, my wild animal story is a joke in comparison to meeting a bear, lynx, coyote, or what have you. But I think it's still worth sharing.

 

At a recent cache I encountered a crazed, rabid squirrel, which made several unsuccessful attempts at "attacking" me, if you can even call it that. There was something definitely wrong with this squirrel because it CHARGED directly at me at least 4 times while I tried to look through the cache and sign the log. I actually had to dodge it to avoid getting bitten or scratched. I'm not sure how adept a squirrel is at attacking, but I wasn't taking any chances if it had rabies.

 

I couldn't even scare it away. I stomped and clapped my hands, and the little guy actually started GRUNTING and advancing closer to me. <_< Never seen anything like it before.

Not as unusual as you might think. Seven of us were walking along a trail when we spotted a flying squirrel on the ground. The squirrel looked confused for a couple of minutes but then ran up to my friend and proceeded to run up his leg. My friend did a fantastic dance and the beast jumped to the ground. I thought that was hilarious but my laughter was suspened when I noticed the squirrel coming my way. Sure enough - up my leg as well until I, too, "danced" him off. Both of us were wearing shorts and the squirrel made it to the short's legs in both cases. We still get the required jokes concerning his goal.

 

On another cache, my son and I flushed out a mule deer from about 20 feet. A lot of noise and two startled cachers. About 100 yards further on up the hill, I heard a strange sound and instinctively yelled "stop" to my son. There was the rattlesnake just under the small boulder I was going to climb over. So much for boulder hopping.

Link to comment

Not a scary animal, but the other half of the team stepped ON a newborn fawn. When the fawn bleated (loudly) jumped and ran, both of us were looking for some TP to use (I had already walked passed it -- the fawn, not the TP).

 

THEN........ mama deer came blasting through the bush and blew between us (occupying the majority of the five feet that separated us) going to take after her offspring.

 

Dangerous, no. Heart-stopping, yes!

 

;):mad::blink::blink::blink::blink::blink:

 

Dangerous....YES! More people are killed in this country every year by White Tailed Deer than by bears, cougars or any other large predator. Especially Dangerous because you were betwen a Mother and her young. I was on a muzleloading hunt once and was charged by a White Tail Buck...he ran up to within 5 yards of me snorting and stamping the ground with his head lowered. I had shot and missed only moments before and as such was standing there with an unloaded .50 cal Rifle in my hand. This is one of those moments that is only funny when it happens to someone else.

Lying still is the young fawns only real defense mechanism...I bet you did nearly mess yourself...glad no one was hurt.

Link to comment

Got this in a log yesterday. It was after he had come across what I think was a harmless ringneck snake which had gotten the cacher's heebie jeebies up. He's not from the area originally, so he probably didn't know what a ringneck was and that its completely harmless.

 

He ended up moving my cache. In this case I don't mind. Probably better that way.

 

"I spotted a likely spot and managed to go up a very steep grade. As I crouched to reach into the hiding nook, I felt a rustling on my left wrist. As I looked over, I about wet my pants -- a juvenile copperhead (about 6 inches long) had slithered up and was crossing my hand!!! [:blink:]

 

I prayed to every heathen diety and our Christian supreme being that the little fellow would not scamper up my shirt sleeve. Thankfully, my prayers were answered as it moved along and then slithered over my shoe and into the leaves. I grabbed the container and moved about 15 feet away to more secure footing to sign the log.

 

As I began to return to replace the container, another 3 juveniles stuck their heads up just mere inches from where I was. I hope the cache owner does not mind, but I rehid the container in a nearby tree and not immediately in the vicinity of the snakes."

Link to comment

The one that made me the most nervous was a small pack of feral dogs warning us to stay away. They stayed in the woods, but I didn't like the way they were maneuvering. Too many folks just let their unwanted animals off way out in the woods to fend for themselves.

 

The scariest was while canoeing. Considering things like this happen around here. We're out on a lazy canoe trip on the Wadboo Creek. We've already seen some decent sized alligators both sunning themselves and in the water. Nothing too big. As we come around one bend we what at first looks like the carcass of a massive bull alligator on shore. It's dry and really appeared bloated. I was sad at the thought of such an animal just rotting away, but such is life. The orientation was we came on him tail first. He didn't appear to be moving, so, we weren't too concerned. As we moved along I got the bright idea of bumping the paddle against the side of the canoe. At this time I could see that he would completely fill a 14' canoe. He's probably 11'-13' long. An eye opened. The eye focused on us. Then the head raised. By this time we're about even with him, about 15'-20' away. He saw that we were something moving the water and of a size he didn't want to mess with, so he jumped in with a massive push. That caused a good sized swell, large enough to make me nervous about tipping the canoe the way I was sitting. ...and now with a man-eating sized alligator in the water somewhere beneath us. Does the "Jaws" theme come to mind? Yes, just like that. Fortunately, after the water calmed that was the end of the encounter.

 

That was the scariest while geocaching. The scariest in my life was as a kid when I was walking out of the woods after deer hunting when I happened upon a covey of quail roosting. The sudden burst of sound and some things fluttering up past my face in the beam of the flashlight I didn't know what it was that was about to eat me alive. It scared me so bad I dropped everything and fell 10' into a creek. The flashlight was up on the trail so I had to climb out in the pitch dark. Nothing was hurt but my pride. I just picked myself up the best I could and made it back to the Jeep.

Link to comment

I was hiking an earthen dike used for flood control. There was a cache hidden in the woods along the steep embankment of the dike about 20 feet below. I had just found the hide when I heard rustling above me. Thinking it might be another cacher and not wanting to give the location away I quietly rehid the cache and tip toed to a spot I thought I could climb the embankment without being noticed. Just as I started climbing I came face to face with an 8 point buck. I fell back down the embankment and he haled rear the other way. I scared him as much as he sacred me but after my heart stopped beating a mile a minute I had to laugh. :huh:

Link to comment

:) At the Slaty Gap Cache (GCGQKV), we came with in 18-inches of this Timber Rattler!

 

9ed7fc9d-8052-4dc0-9d94-fc753f162cc6.jpg

 

Beautiful timber rattler!

 

A friend and I were doing some caching locally and we came across a snake that looked just like this little fella. I didn't bother asking if we could stretch it out to measure it, but I figured that we were looking at roughly 5 to 6 feet of pure Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. It was a rather chilly day and it was sunning itself before we arrived.

 

EasternDiamondbackRattlesanke.jpg

Edited by rocketsteve
Link to comment

Friday the kids and I were trying to make our last find of the day. It was getting dark, so we decided to grab our flashlights and give it a try. As we were walking back into the woods, an amublance passed on a near by road. The sound of the siren excited a pack of coyotes that were real close to us, and they started hollowing and yelping. It was enough to make us turn around and save it for another day!

Link to comment

My friend BigJax and I were caching at a lake in San Diego... it required some mountain climbing in tall brush. I was about halfway up the mountainside when i felt something watching me. i looked down to see my friend's balloon bobbing about 200 feet below me. I looked up toward the cache and saw a coyote peering over a rock just above my head. It had been following me the whole time and continued to follow me until we left. It was a little freaky and a little dances with wolves... wish i had a camera

Link to comment

Does this look like a scary enough animal encounter?

 

squirrelattack.jpg

 

Do I look scared?

 

Sometimes you feel like a nut! ;)

 

sometimes you are :D

 

My scariest encounters werent while out caching (though with my luck i will have more while) they were while i was out hitchhiking about 10 years ago.. First one, was out in colorado after helping another (female) hitcher to her destination in teluride. on my way back toward indiana i decided to find a nice spot off the highway to set up a tentless quick camp (was a nice night), well i was getting over some bad water sickness i had picked up about a week before (even with proper meds it takes a minte for it to clear and it sucks) and since i was hitching im sure i smelt pretty ripe (maybe almost carcase like).

well i had just gotten my eyes closed when i felt like a pawing at me in my bag, opened my eyes to find 5 or 6 coyotes standing around looking like they were trying to decide if i was edible or not. well first thing i did was jump up screaming at them likea mad man and they scattered and disappered into the dark.. i decided to walk down the highway a little bit and found a nice little hotel with an electric fence all the way around the field side and a nice little dip right before it that became my sleeping spot for the night..

 

the second one i was in North Mich (not U.P.) near traverse city about 3 months later going to camp with a group i knew were going to be setting up in the area soon ended up being there the night before everyone else got there that night i had a bear decide that the camp spot i choose was also a good place for him to sleep. that was a night spent in the tent kinda shivering hoping for him to go away, after a few hours i heard him lumber away after sniffing the side of my tent and (i think) finding it un interesting, at least not interesting enough to do more then sniff a few times. thank the universe i had my food pack seald away, thoug wish i had hung a bear bag.. that night wasn't a very good sleep but at almost daylight the rest of the group showed up and well that was a day i only got collecting firewood done..

 

actually thinking about it they will always be the most memorable moments of my life, saying no sustained injuries in

Link to comment

Saw a major "Two on One" squirrel fight. Wish I had a video camera to capture it. Never realized that squirrels can be so mean to their own species. That poor little guy got put in his place and pwned!! And why? Over nuts?

Edited by CAAGD
Link to comment

We were geocaching in Idaho and had to walk through a campground that had some tents etc. but no people and surprised a bear who thought he would just wander in and see if the people had left anything interesting lying around. He was NOT happy to see us and he dejectedly disappeared into the bushes. We decided to log a DNF rather than continue our hunt. I also stepped into a bee nest while caching in Indiana and got several stings, luckily I am not allergic, we DID persevere to find this cache.

Link to comment

I have this bad tendency to run across snakes while caching. In San Diego I have stepped over a few while hiking in the brush, but the scariest moment was when I actually stepped on a rattlesnake while caching... It was early in the morning while I was hiking on table mesa near Golden Colorado.

 

He rattled as soon as I stepped and I swear I didn't know I could jump that high. I think that because it was a cold morning he was lethargic and slow or I could have been in trouble.

Link to comment

While hiking to GC1ADZ9 I encountered a covey of quail, about 10-15 birds, that flushed out of the brush right beside me on the trail. I have hunted quail in the past, and have NEVER gotten that close to a covey. That was approx. 0.11 mile from GZ. About 50' from GZ, something large ran through the brush, most likely a hog, although I never saw it nor heard it grunt or squeal. Both encounters stopped me in my tracks, heart pounding, wondering why in the world was I out there, no cell coverage and armed only with a hiking stick!

Link to comment

I have a couple wildlife encounters. One caching, well almost, and one at work. I walked out to my truck one morning to go out for some caches. I came around the back of my truck to the driver's side and saw a 5-6 foot western diamndback sunning itself about a foot away from the door of my truck. I turned around, and went back inside the house. Never did go caching that day!

 

Just this past November, I started a new job as a security guard. I was working at night at a resort that was being built. It was out in the middle of nowhere. My job was to check worker's trunks and trucks to make sure they weren't stealing anything. Problem was, noone worked at night except myself and two other guards at different locations. Needless to say, it was a VERY boring job. In order to keep the boredom from putting me to sleep, I began walking around the immediate area (usually only walking about 50-70 feet from my post and my truck). On one of these walks, I had gotten about 100 feet away as I was turning around to head back, I heard something. It sounded like a small stick snapping. I spun around and my flashlight's beam landed on a mountain lion staring at me! Of course he was in between me and my truck, so I kept my light in his eyes to try and blind him a little. Thankfully, I grew up as a hunter in Oregon, even hunted big cats, so I knew what to do in this situation. After a lot of yelling and screaming and making myself look bigger, he took off. I got in my truck and stayed there until the sun came up!

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...