Amusing Wildlife Encounters

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

Found a California giant millipede under another cache

 

 

Here are some giant millipedes I saw near a cache. It was the entrance to Mikumi National Park in Tanzania. While in the park we saw elephant, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, hippo, impala, warthogs, baboons, and at one point had about a dozen tsetse flies in the vehicle.

 

 

 

[+Viajero Perdido]

Oh right, speaking of...

 

That's not a millipede Mate, THIS is a millipede:

Sorry, I just had to use that line again.

From a failed FTF hunt in Brunei; it walked through the scene as I was searching.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Don't turn around!

(Maybe this belongs in the shopped-pictures thread...)

[+Alkhalikoi]

My vision is such that while I can still make out shapes pretty well at a distance, the details lost. I wouldn't say I'm blind at 50 yards, just not very certain of what I'm seeing -- I can see trail, but not really the edge of the trail. Well, hiking in the East Bay hills, I was wiping off my glasses and made a sharp bend in the trail -- and saw a mighty a mountain lion -- rare, yes but not entirely impossible And I was about 30 yards away. At first, I nearly wet myself, then steeled myself for a fight if need be. What a crappy way to go, if it came to that.

 

But put on my glasses and saw that it was merely a pretty good sized bobcat. He looked at me with exactly the same contempt as might a house cat, and he sauntered off at a leisurely pace without giving me a look back.

[+dameetro]

I found these little guys snuggled up with the container. I didn't sign the log so I wouldn't wake them up.

[+colleda]

I found these little guys snuggled up with the container. I didn't sign the log so I wouldn't wake them up.

 

Wouldn't this invoke an instant NA?

[+Ma & Pa]

I told this story some time ago but here it is for those who haven't seen it.

 

MA and I were walking on a trail heading for a cache. The cache was about 25 meters from the trail in a group of trees in a depression. Ma stayed on the trail while I went down into the depression for the cache. It was a reglar size cache and I emptied it to study the contents. I glanced back to the trail and MA was not in sight. I hurriedly finished checking the cache contents and signed the log and replaced the cache.

 

When I climbed back up to the trail, I spotted MA far down the trail heading back the way we had come. I hurried but it took me quite a while to catch up with her. I asked why she had left and she told me that she had seen something heading into the woods and thought it was a bear.

[4wheelin_fool]

While caching in a large grassy area I spied a very large groundhog the size of a small fox. It was so large and fat I wanted to get a picture but it started to run off. Instinctively I went after it and figured it wouldn't get very far due to its weight, but it dropped down into a large hole. I got my flashlight out and shined it in there for the heck of it, and then soon saw it. It was about 100 feet away, with its head stuck out of another hole, watching me. I got the camera ready and ran over quickly, but it dropped down and disappeared until a few minutes later it stuck its head out of a third hole. I started to go after it again, but instead went to the first hole, but it tricked me and ended up at the second one. I ended up running around for a bit chasing it between the 3 holes, and eventually I managed to make it to one at the same time it reappeared but I never got a picture, and after that it never came up again. It was kind of funny though, like I was playing with a puppy.

[+wmpastor]

I found these little guys snuggled up with the container. I didn't sign the log so I wouldn't wake them up.

 

Wouldn't this invoke an instant NA?

It would invoke a higher difficulty rating.

[+hzoi]

Seen some buffalo out and about in my last few cache forays. Then again, I do live right next to a wildlife refuge that protects a small herd.

 

 

[+beauxeault]

I was at a roadside overlook in the Great Smokies National Park one day where a small crowd of people had gathered on the parking lot side of a roughly knee-level rock wall. On the other (forest) side of the rock wall was a juvenile black bear that was pacing along his side of the wall, evidently looking for someone to feed him. It's not uncommon in the Smokies for people to underestimate the dangers (to both man and animal) of close encounters with bears, but this was a particularly amazing case (I've also seen people approach a baby bear with its mother nearby!). People were cooing at the bear like it was a puppy and, while no one actually offered it any food, some would reach out their hands to attract its attention and then act like they were going to pet it.

 

Eventually, the bear evidently got tired of not getting any food. He propped his front feet on the top of the wall and let out a little "woof!"

 

Suddenly, the same thought popped into each tourist's head: "Hey, this is not a tame puppy, and it's not a zoo enclosure. This is a strong, wild animal that can be on my side of the wall in one second."

 

Zip! At the speed of light, all those gawkers vanished from the wall and reappeared behind safely slammed car doors.

 

Another time, my wife and I had a memorable, if not amusing encounter. We were driving out of the Smokies on a gravel trail heading south out of Cades Cove when we spotted a reddish-brown "dog" standing in the road. We stopped while he gave us a look-over and then sauntered peacefully back into the woods. We had noticed his large, unusual-looking collar. It seemed a strange and remote place for a dog of any kind, much less one with a collar. Later, we figured out that we had seen one of the five highly-endangered red wolves that had recently been re-introduced into the park in an attempt to re-establish a wild population.

 

Also memorable: sighting a peregrine falcon that had nested near the top of John Rock in the Pisgah National Forest in western NC.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I don't think I've told the tale of the pee-licking deer.

 

From my log:

I quickly figured out why the deer were so friendly. They were after my pee. Figure: two days times a lot of beer, spread over a variety of spots because there's absolutely nobody around so I can take care of business whenever I get the urge, it adds up to a lot of different spots where I added, I think, a bit of salt to the ecosystem each time. Those deer found every one of those spots and licked the dickens out of the ground each time! Once I figured this out, taking pictures of them was a snap. If I wanted a shot of a deer beside a certain tree in front of that mountain, I just had to take a leak in the right spot, then sit back and wait. I am not making this up. Seeing this even gave me an appetite for salt, so I cooked up a snack of ichiban noodles (for myself), which I think worked out well for everybody. Trickle-down economics.

[+wmpastor]

↑↑↑ Hilarious! Thanks for the great anecdote about the salt-crazed deer.

[+Viajero Perdido]

 

Further to that story... On a return visit the deer were still there, and this time I'd been using the same spot every time. (It was a flattish rock with some depressions, so it wouldn't all just run off into the ground. As a courtesy to my new friends.) Anyway, I noticed it would take the deer 15 or 20 minutes to thoroughly work over the spot, and if I was really into the beverages and with my old-guy bladder, I could work on roughly the same schedule. So occasionally I was ready for "the spot" while the deer was still working on it.

 

Excuse me please.

...

Excuse me.

 

And the deer would grudgingly trot off, only to return a minute after I was done.

 

I should remember to bring a salt block the next time...

 

PS: Another place, another time, another deer doing exactly the same thing. This is one of my buds sneaking a picture of it:

Edited January 16, 2014 by Viajero Perdido

[+mertat]

While caching in a large grassy area I spied a very large groundhog the size of a small fox. It was so large and fat I wanted to get a picture but it started to run off. Instinctively I went after it and figured it wouldn't get very far due to its weight, but it dropped down into a large hole. I got my flashlight out and shined it in there for the heck of it, and then soon saw it. It was about 100 feet away, with its head stuck out of another hole, watching me. I got the camera ready and ran over quickly, but it dropped down and disappeared until a few minutes later it stuck its head out of a third hole. I started to go after it again, but instead went to the first hole, but it tricked me and ended up at the second one. I ended up running around for a bit chasing it between the 3 holes, and eventually I managed to make it to one at the same time it reappeared but I never got a picture, and after that it never came up again. It was kind of funny though, like I was playing with a puppy.

Sounds like a groundhog version of Wack-a-Mole.

[+QClan]

How about this log

 

Decided to take a little hike in Cronan before it gets to warm and to see how my recovery is going. Had a nice 5+ miler and found a few cachces so it was a great day. Plus got to kill a rattlesnake. This is where I got to. Arrived and started looking around the base of the tree and my face ended up two feet from the face of the forked tongue monstor. I backed up and since it was at the base of the tree I had to take action. Lobbed a rock in which hit it and it slithered a lttle ways away but was strung out below the tree where I needed to go. Piled a bunchof rocks on the area slithered up (pun intended) to sign the log.

 

Why did the poor snake need to die?

[+TopHatSnake]

I once found a letterbox hybrid cache that had an awesome whitetail buck stamp in it. After taking a copy of the stamp, my geo-mutt and I headed on down the trail towards another cache, only to turn a corner and come face-to-face with two real, live bucks! Often an older dominant buck will have a younger, smaller buck tagging along with him during mating season, and that was exactly the situation here. Neither of these bucks had any fear of this cacher and his four-legged partner as we faced each other down, standing in the trail about 20 feet apart. My dog was off-leash at the time, and my first thought was "oh Lord, Lexie's gonna chase these deer into the middle of next week, and I'll never find her again in this brush!" Lexie is actually a coydog, a dog-coyote hybrid, and can be a bit unpredictable and headstrong. So what did my coy-dog do, as a full-furred member of two predator species, truly only one generation removed from her wild "ancestors", when the lead buck stomped and snorted at us? Cowered behind my legs and WHIMPERED! Thanks for the back-up, ya worthless mutt! Thankfully I've been around livestock most of my life, and am well-versed in all the loud, harsh vocalizations and wild body gyrations proven to get any large ungulate moving, and these hot-blooded bucks proved to be no exception. I'm still gobsmacked by the coincidence of finding the deer stamp, followed mere minutes later by two live specimens. It makes for a good story anyway.

[+Fugads]

Had an amusing encounter with some a pair of javelina yesterday while out hiking with the dog. Below is an excerpt from my log for that cache.

 

Just before arriving at Stage 1, we came across a pair of Javelina. The dog took off after them, despite my calling her back. Usually when she chases animals she doesn't have a chance, but she was as fast and agile as the Javelina. The pair of hogs split and my dog chased the slower one. They disappeared around the ridge, but not long after I heard yipping barks from my dog. I hoped she would keep her distance, I bet the Javelina could do more damage to her than she could to it. I finally got up to the mine near stage one and was able to call the dog off. The javelina she had been chasing had either given up, or had simply decided to stand its ground. It continued to stand, panting, about 100 ft away from us, as I gave my dog water and tended to her now bleeding paws. Chasing something through the desert here is highly hazardous! But man was she one proud puppy having chased down this wild beast. Dog thoroughly pleased, I proceeded to search for the first stage. The javelina didn't budge and continued watching us for the 15 minutes it took me to locate the stage, occasionally gnashing its teeth at us. Even after we had set off up the mountain, it continued to stand its ground by stage 1. Too bad I had left my camera back in the car, I could have taken a decent picture.

[+Anansi Joy]

Caching during a very dry summer, so everything was caked in dust. I was at GZ, peering into the depths of a shrubby hackberry sapling. Everything was the same color in there: dusty brown-grey. But then, AHA!! A bit of shine. Obviously, the cache. I reached in for it, and was perplexed and startled to see that it moved back away from my hand. I withdrew my paw with haste, looked more closely, and saw the beautiful Eastern Grey Racer snake that was draped over and around the branches. An absolutely gorgeous snake: olive grey on top, lemon yellow on the belly.

 

I decided to look for that one on another day.

 

I had a horse nibble on my hair while I was looking around a fencepost. I jumped a few feet, (and said several of Those Words) since I had no idea she was there.

[+edscott]

Best one for me was lifting an ammo can out of a hollow tree and finding 5 or 6 little raccoons under it. They immediately began climbing all over the place. Signed the log, herded them back into the lowest part of hollow area and gently put the ammo can back over them.

[+Psychoticjesters]

Had an encounter with this guarding a challenge cache the other day...

You actually don't see true black widows (just false widows) in my area so it was a newer experience for me.

[+The_Incredibles_]

My bear-encounter story:

 

I really enjoyed this puzzle. It gave me a chance to review my math and boggle Grandpa Incredible's brain too. I had to re-read the very entertaining story many times to get the diagram right. With a bit of fiddling, but I soon had the coordinates. I was in the area for a puzzle round-up and this one was on my list. I thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack on the way to GZ. Lots of huffing and puffing and stopping to 'admire the view' and lots of sweat dripping down my face. That was quite the workout. On my way up, I remembered something that Arnold Schwarzenneger had said about how when it hurts, that's when you're improving. So I pushed myself a bit and soon was thankfully at GZ. I had a little giggle when I got there, as there was evidence that someone had met an untimely death. I snapped some photos of the skeleton and proceeded to look for the cache.

 

The native blackberry vines are really starting to take over and I got tangled in them as I searched. Fortunately the pants I was wearing already had a rip in them from another caching misadventure. I found the cache pretty quick, noted how infrequently it is found and replaced. This is one for sure that will never get muggled.

 

I then noticed that there was another puzzle cache nearby so I sat down on the ground and tried to figure it out. I don't know anything about poker so it was not easy. After Googling a bit, I gave up and started down the trail. This is when things got interesting. About 1/2-way down, I heard a loud crashing in the bushes to my left. I stopped to see what it was, expecting to see a deer pop out. I watched and soon saw a pair of ears. They were not pointy deer ears. They were ROUND ears. Pointy ears GOOD. Round ears BAD. Round ears REALLY REALLY bad!

 

The head belonging to the ears made a horrible noise and I thought for sure I was a goner. I looked around me for things to defend myself. Naturally, all my emergency supplies were 180 meters downhill in the cachemobile. Fortunately there were lots of rocks on the trail so I piled them up and looked for some pokey sticks, all the while keeping an eye on the bushes. At first I thought it was a cougar, as the head was quite small, but judging by its behavior and the sound it made, I came to the conclusion that it had to be a small black bear.

 

Now I know all about black bears and have encountered a number of them while hiking as a child. I KNOW that they are generally scared of humans and do not want to get involved with us, however I had it in my mind that maybe, just MAYBE this was the ONE black bear that wanted to EAT people or at least just maim them. I worked my way slowly back up the hill, making little piles of rocks and clutching my pokey sticks. I could hear whatever it was crashing around in the bushes. It seemed to be taking a path parallel to me which kind of freaked me out. I had heard some hikers on the trail earlier while finding the cache so I headed up to the viewpoint in the hopes of running into them. I called home to give my daughter my coordinates and explain the situation. I didn't feel an adrenalin surge, but it must have been there, because although I had previously found the terrain challenging, my performance was suddenly enhanced and I was able to make it uphill with the ease of an olympic athlete. I hung out at the viewpoint for a good 45 minutes hoping that would give the bear time to move on. I kept a watch downhill, with plans to climb the fence and over the barbed wire if necessary. Ouch!

 

Finally I came to the conclusion that it was not coming after me so I slowly and quietly inched my way downhill. I had considered taking an alternative and longer route back, however not knowing which way the bear had gone, I decided to just go back the way I came. I KNOW you are supposed to make noise when around bears, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I tried to be as quiet as possible, the whole time listening carefully for noises which might give me an idea as to the bear's location. I was just about at the place I'd encountered the bear when my phone rang loudly, giving away my location. My daughter was calling to see if I was still alive. I told her I was OK and would call her back in 10 minutes.

 

The rest of the journey down was uneventful, albeit slippery and I was REALLY glad to see the cache mobile.

 

Note to self...bear spray is not very helpful unless you actually bring it with you.

 

Thanks for the puzzle and the, shall we say, stimulating adventure?!?