Funny Wildlife Stories

[+crzycrzy]

Have a funny animal related geo cache adventure ?

Feel free to spin your yard about it, but keep it fun !

 

Here's mine.

A friend introduced me to geo-caching and we went out to find our second

or third geo-cache when he slipped and went for a little tumble down a hill.

When he stood up, there was an enormous lizard clinging to his butt.

How enormous ? Ahhh heck, I will leave that to your imagination.

(Evidently the lizard had figured him for a fencepost.)

In any case, my friend had figured out that the lizard was on him and started

out immediately with a frenzied dance to get it to crawl off of him.

The lizard did depart with a furied fervor, and it took about 3 minutes before

I was able to speak again because of the degree to which I was falling over

laughing.

In any case, it was a great day and I think we managed to find two caches that

day.

 

So what's your tale ?

[+TeamK-9]

I got chased out of my neighbors yard by a raccoon (during the day)...

 

..Oh wait, I was looking for a tennis ball, not a geocache...

 

Umm, my dog freaked out on my first attempt to find a cache and dragged us around the park chasing some snake or something for about 5 minutes that's about all...

[+garri]

My uncle and me we found a big one while caching.

 

We found a naked guy seated on his jacket happily in the middle of the trail. It said to us timidly "hello" and it was shamed.

 

Perhaps did he hope that nobody see him in the middle of a big trail of a mountain?

 

Now, every day that we celebrate a familiar supper my uncle always says that Tarzan exists and he lives at 40 km from home. Still nobody understands what he says.

Edited December 29, 2003 by garri

[+pater47]

Well, I won't mention any names because I don't want drat19 to think we're picking on him, but one of our "city boy" cachers came up into our local woods on June 8 and had a wonderful experience with our rabid deer and coyotes!

Edited December 30, 2003 by pater47

[Mr. Big]

Not exactly geocaching, but I frequently ride my bicycle near the "Sketchy Oaks" cache, and the last time I was tearing down a hill, I surprised a bobcat lounging in the road. Rather than leaping to the side over a low barbed wire fence, the cat took off down the road, with me gaining on it fast. Finally caught up with the situation and made a dive over a fence, me laughing all the way.

[Cholo]

me we found a big one while caching.

 

We found a naked guy seated on his jacket happily in the middle of the trail. It said to us timidly "hello" and it was shamed.

 

Perhaps did he hope that nobody see him in the middle of a big trail of a mountain?

 

Now, every day that we celebrate a familiar supper my uncle always says that Tarzan exists and he lives at 40 km from home. Still nobody understands what he says.

I find it amazing that the new guv of collie fornya finds time to post here. Will you be back?

[ucmike]

while placing our "what land trust" cache in a preserve near here, we heard a turkey gobbling over the top of the hill, not uncommon here in north/central nj. we sat for a while letting the gps average to get good coords as the gobbling got closer. finally we saw him, a real young, lanky looking male turkey. i guess he was looking for females, but not having luck, because the area has a lot of big, healthy males and i'm sure he was too new at the game to give much competition. he was concentrating so hard on his own search that he walked within about 40' of us, gobbling as he went. we were moving and talking and laughing at him, but he didn't even notice us. he continued on down the hill, gobbling as he went. he reminded us of a freshman at the senior prom, wandering around, trying to get a girls attention, but way too lanky and goofy to compete with the big boys.

[+MAntunes]

Once, I almost have an close encounter with a bull, when I was returning form a cache. Bull in the path. I managed to hide before it convinced me

[+_canadianbacon_]

Two encouters so far. While doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow I moved 20 feet from cache to a picnic table to write up the log. And low and behold I look down and there was a squirell starting up my foot and leg, looking for nuts. (no not mine). I almost felt guilty not having a snack for the little guy.

 

And while up at Burnaby Mountain, soon after the first snow fall, i had a few coyotes wandering around me and my car, these ones may have wanted part of me! Coyotes near cache site. Ok, i know they're shy usually, but I was nervous.

Edited January 2, 2004 by _canadianbacon_

[BmxBum]

I think this was funny but i saw two pairs of squirles humping.

[+GeoBond007]

Thats when you need a camera

 

GeoBond007

[+stu_and_sarah]

Probably not so big by American standards, but this grasshopper was HUGE by our British standards. And it was found making its way up Sarah's skirt.

 

 

Cache log here.

Edited January 3, 2004 by stu_and_sarah

[+GeckoGeek]

I think this was funny but i saw two pairs of squirles humping.

Four of them? A group thing???

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

I think this was funny but i saw two pairs of squirles humping.

Four of them? A group thing???

Have to check with your local park ranger but in most states thats illegal, especially in public.

[+Dragonpearl]

While letterboxing with a friend, we were wlaking down a paved trail when I saw the strangest lizard I had ever seen. Turns out, it was a copperhead trying to eat a frog. What i saw was the frog with a VERY long tail behind it. I veered away from it, still not too sure what it was and my friend saw it and screamed. the snake let go of the frog and the frog just sat there. I had to chase the frog off of the path and make sure the snake was far away before she would move again.

 

Needless to say, it was interesting.

[+Lone Duck]

I think this was funny but i saw two pairs of squirles humping.

Four of them? A group thing???

Have to check with your local park ranger but in most states thats illegal, especially in public.

Squirrels are the origional Swingers, what with dangling from a limb and all.

[BmxBum]

Its good to know im not the only one who found that funny.

Edited January 5, 2004 by BmxBum

[+WaldenRun]

I was searching an old cabin foundation for a cache, when I climbed the chimney to look in the obvious spot. What was obvious was that I almost tumbled off when I stuck my head over the top and a raccoon snarled at me from within.

 

-WR

[TahoeJoe]

I once found a snake under a ammo can.

[+crzycrzy]

Then there was the fellow who found ammo under the snake can...

[+wildlifeguy]

Two encouters so far. While doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow I moved 20 feet from cache to a picnic table to write up the log. And low and behold I look down and there was a squirell starting up my foot and leg, looking for nuts. (no not mine). I almost felt guilty not having a snack for the little guy.

 

And while up at Burnaby Mountain, soon after the first snow fall, i had a few coyotes wandering around me and my car, these ones may have wanted part of me! Coyotes near cache site. Ok, i know they're shy usually, but I was nervous.

With a moniker like canadian bacon I would be afraid of the coyotes too!

 

Peace!

[+Sparrowhawk]

Somewhere on our planet (I ain't tellin' where! ;-) is a cache made out of a tall, narrow, Pringles-potato-chip type of can. The cacher deliberately nailed or taped a very realistic-looking plastic lizard on the side of the can.

 

What cachers experience with this cache is spying the end of the can inside a hollow log, pulling on the can, and then YIKES!!! Lizard coming out at you with it!!

 

Apparrently that particular cache has "flown" more than once when it was found. ;-)

[+quills]

we've come accross a couple of snakes and deer while caching but our most unusual experience was today while hiding a cache. we were walking accross a field to get to the woods and the snow had that ice crust over it do you know what i mean. we were about halfway accross the filed and i was about to take a step when i saw a mouse running through the snow under the crust. it looked like a brown streak with a tail. i thought it was pretty cool.

[+Spzzmoose]

Long read...but worth it. Not a geocacher but I still think it fits this thread. Every time I read it I laugh like it is the first time.

 

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I never dreamed slowly cruising through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous! Studies have shown that motorcycling requires more decisions per second, and more sheer data processing than nearly any other common activity or sport. The reactions and accurate decision making abilities needed have been likened to the reactions of fighter pilots! The consequences of bad decisions or poor situational awareness are pretty much the same for both groups too.

 

Occasionally, as a rider I have caught myself starting to make bad or late decisions while riding. In flight training, my instructors called this being "behind the power curve". It is a mark of experience that when this begins to happen, the rider recognizes the situation, and more importantly, does something about it. A short break, a meal, or even a gas stop can set things right again as it gives the brain a chance to catch up.

 

Good, accurate, and timely decisions are essential when riding a motorcycle.at least if you want to remain among the living. In short, the brain needs to keep up with the machine.

 

I had been banging around the roads of east Texas and as I headed back into Dallas, found myself in very heavy, high-speed traffic on the freeways. Normally, this is not a problem, I commute in these conditions daily, but suddenly I was nearly run down by a cage that decided it needed my lane more than I did. This is not normally a big deal either, as it happens around here often, but usually I can accurately predict which drivers are not paying attention and avoid them before we are even close. This one I

missed seeing until it was nearly too late, and as I took evasive action I nearly broadsided another car that I was not even aware was there!

 

Two bad decisions and insufficient situational awareness.all within seconds. I was behind the power curve. Time to get off the freeway.

I hit the next exit, and as I was in an area I knew pretty well, headed through a few big residential neighborhoods as a new route home. As I turned onto the nearly empty streets I opened the visor on my full-face helmet to help get some air. I figured some slow riding through the quiet surface streets would give me time to relax, think, and regain that "edge" so frequently required when riding.

Little did I suspect.

 

As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it-it was that close.

 

I hate to run over animals.and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact.

 

Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels can take care of themselves!

 

Inches before impact, the squirrel flipped to his feet. He was standing on his hind legs and facing the oncoming Valkyrie with steadfast resolve in his little beady eyes. His mouth opened, and at the last possible second, he screamed and leapt! I am pretty sure the scream was squirrel for, "Banzai!" or maybe, "Die you gravy-sucking, heathen scum!" as the leap was spectacular and he flew over the windshield and impacted me squarely in the chest.

 

Instantly he set upon me. If I did not know better I would have sworn he brought twenty of his little buddies along for the attack. Snarling, hissing, and tearing at my clothes, he was a frenzy of activity. As I was dressed only in a light t-shirt, summer riding gloves, and jeans this was a bit of a cause for concern. This furry little tornado was doing some damage!

 

Picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and leather gloves puttering maybe 25mph down a quiet residential street.and in the fight of his life with a squirrel. And losing.

 

I grabbed for him with my left hand and managed to snag his tail. With all my strength I flung the evil rodent off the left of the bike, almost running into the right curb as I recoiled from the throw.

 

That should have done it. The matter should have ended right there. It really should have. The squirrel could have sailed into one of the pristinely kept yards and gone on about his business, and I could have headed home. No one would have been the wiser.

But this was no ordinary squirrel.

This was not even an ordinary pissed-off squirrel.

This was an evil attack squirrel of death!

 

Somehow he caught my gloved finger with one of his little hands, and with the force of the throw swung around and with a resounding thump and an amazing impact he landed square on my back and resumed his rather anti-social and extremely distracting activities. He also managed to take my left glove with him!

 

The situation was not improved. Not improved at all. His attacks were continuing, and now I could not reach him. I was startled to say the least. The combination of the force of the throw, only having one hand (the throttle hand) on the handlebars, and my jerking back unfortunately put a healthy twist through my right hand and into the throttle. A healthy twist on the throttle of a Valkyrie can only have one result. Torque. This is what the Valkyrie is made for, and she is very, very good at it. The engine roared as the front wheel left the pavement. The squirrel screamed in anger. The Valkyrie screamed in ecstasy. I screamed in.well.I just plain screamed.

 

Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a slightly squirrel torn t-shirt, and only one leather glove roaring at maybe 70mph and rapidly accelerating down a quiet residential street.on one wheel and with a demonic squirrel on his back. The man and the squirrel are both screaming bloody murder.

 

With the sudden acceleration I was forced to put my other hand back on the handlebars and try to get control of the bike. This was leaving the mutant squirrel to his own devices, but I really did not want to crash into somebody's tree, house, or parked car. Also, I had not yet figured out how to release the throttle.my brain was just simply overloaded. I did manage to mash the back brake, but it had little affect against the massive power of the big cruiser.

 

About this time the squirrel decided that I was not paying sufficient attention to this very serious battle (maybe he is a Scottish attack squirrel of death), and he came around my neck and got IN my full-face helmet with me. As the faceplate closed partway and he began hissing in my face I am quite sure my screaming changed tone and intensity. It seemed to have little affect on the squirrel however.

The rpm's on The Dragon maxed out (I was not concerned about shifting at the moment) and her front end started to drop.

Now picture the large man on the huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a very ragged torn t-shirt, and wearing one leather glove, roaring at probably 80mph, still on one wheel, with a large puffy squirrel's tail sticking out his mostly closed full-face helmet. By now the screams are probably getting a little hoarse.

 

Finally I got the upper hand.I managed to grab his tail again, pulled him out of my helmet, and slung him to the left as hard as I could. This time it worked.sort-of. Spectacularly sort-of, so to speak.

 

Picture the scene. You are a cop. You and your partner have pulled off on a quiet residential street and parked with your windows down to do some paperwork.

 

Suddenly a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a torn t-shirt flapping in the breeze, and wearing one leather glove, moving at probably 80mph on one wheel, and screaming bloody murder roars by and with all his strength throws a live squirrel grenade directly into your police car.

 

I heard screams. They weren't mine...

 

I managed to get the big motorcycle under directional control and dropped the front wheel to the ground. I then used maximum braking and skidded to a stop in a cloud of tire smoke at the stop sign at a busy cross street.

 

I would have returned to fess up (and to get my glove back). I really would have. Really. But for two things. First, the cops did not seem interested or the slightest bit concerned about me at the moment. One of them was on his back in the front yard of the house they had been parked in front of and was rapidly crabbing backwards away from the patrol car. The other was standing in the street and was training a riot shotgun on the police cruiser.

 

So the cops were not interested in me. They often insist to "let the professionals handle it" anyway. That was one thing. The other? Well, I swear I could see the squirrel, standing in the back window of the patrol car among shredded and flying pieces of foam and upholstery, and shaking his little fist at me. I think he was shooting me the finger.

That is one dangerous squirrel.

 

And now he has a patrol car.

 

I took a deep breath, turned on my turn-signal, made an easy right turn, and sedately left the neighborhood.

As for my easy and slow drive home? Screw it. Faced with a choice of 80mph cars and inattentive drivers, or the evil, demonic, attack squirrel of death...I'll take my chances with the freeway. Every time.

And I'll buy myself a new pair of gloves.

[+GeckoGeek]

I never dreamed slowly cruising through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous!

What does this have to do with Geocaching? NOTHING? But entertainment value .... oh, I've got tears in my eyes from laughing so hard .....

[+Team Heather-Kat]

(maybe he is a Scottish attack squirrel of death)

You know, I don't even CARE if this is true or not - it's the funniest darn thing I have read in AGES ! you can bet I am going to forward this to lot's of folks. Man, we all need a laugh once in awhile, but did I have to pee my pants ?

 

Hilarious story !

[+RJFerret]

That's the first forward/internet post that made me truely LOL in years--thanks!

 

(BTW: It could've happened on the way home from a cache--took attack squirrel TB, dropped off in cop car..)

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

[BeadBoy]

CALL ANIMAL CONTROL!!! Mad squirrel on the lose!

 

Picture this evil squirrel ruling the world.

[+Sparrowhawk]

I just HAD to find the source of that thing... here it is.

 

http://www.leathernecksmctx.org/oneday.htm

[+GeckoGeek]

I just HAD to find the source of that thing... here it is. 

Are you sure that's the source? I don't see an attribute or name like I'd expect if it was fiction or an actual story close to the author.

 

However, this was worth a good giggle.

 

Follow-up: this page looks more like what I'd expect from an author. Damm, now I've got to go buy his book. Fiction or not, THAT'S Entertainment!

Edited January 24, 2004 by GeckoGeek

[+T-storm]

I read that story a few weeks ago on a motorcycle riders' forum. I laughed until I cried , and once I recovered, I e-mailed the link to several folks even though I usually won't send a joke or such via e-mail. The story reminds me of the sort of tales Jerry Clower told. Good fun!

[+Planet]

OK, there is no way I can top the incredibly funny squirrel story, but I do have some animal encounter from geocaching. One is when 68Dodger (now known as Micqn) came from utah and we met for a couple of caches involving a deer, and the other is more recent and involves a hawk, you can read it here.

[+programmer64]

while hunting this Cache I had a nice little deer encounter. I went in found the cache and was on my way back out to the road. While walking the trail I come face to face with a nicely racked buck. Apparently he thought these where his woods, because he started grunting at me. I figured cool this is his territory I'll just slowly walk away. Well this buck would have none of it, he starts chasing me through the woods. I run, stumble down the hill,get up and run some more. He chased me for about 1/2 mile or so. Needless to say I'll be staying away from those woods for awhile!

[+Spzzmoose]

"But this was no ordinary squirrel.

This was not even an ordinary pissed-off squirrel.

This was an evil attack squirrel of death!"

 

Thanks for the replies folks. Glad you liked it!

 

Quote Edit.

Edited January 28, 2004 by Spzzmoose

[+Spzzmoose]

The engine roared as the front wheel left the pavement. The squirrel screamed in anger. The Valkyrie screamed in ecstasy. I screamed in.well.I just plain screamed.

 

And yes...it's a true story.

[+Bos]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...93-ab5451f50431

 

Bos

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.asp?A=17029

[+beatnik]

While coming down the rock strewn hills from the Styx Mine cache in the Wichita Mountains near Lawton, OK me and OKDoke had quite the experience. OKDoke jumped off a boulder and came around a small scrubby tree only to realize he was face to face with a several 1000 pound male bison.

 

I heard him yell, WHOA! Thinking he had found another tree climbing snake like we had spotted on the way up, I run up behind him like an idiot not seeing what he was yelling WHOA! about. Let me tell you, it's amazing how fast a sleeping Buffalo can rise to his feet when woken. His legs seemed to pop out from under his body like landing gear.

 

Realizing what it was I quickly high tailed it down several boulders and got the Hell out of Dodge so to speak. Like a true geocaching buddy, leaving OKDoke to fend the Bison by himself. Like they say, you don't have to outrun the animal just the othe guy with you. Thank goodness OKDoke was able to back away slowly and then joined me in a quick dash down a few boulders.

 

It was nice that we got to laugh about it later. I had images of seeing OKDoke tossed over my head as I was running away. It was also a great chance for OKDoke to tell me another story from the Wichita Mountains where he jumped off a Boulder on one of the mountains and almost landed on a Turkey Buzzard. The buzzard took flight and OKDoke almost did as well.

[Gary the Possum]

One time I was hiking in a park looking for some geocaches. My friend Austin was with me.

He was walking in front of me on the trail and just came to a complete stop! I thought he stopped because of a mud puddle. I was about to walk around him and jump the mud puddle when he said, "Stop, don't go over there!" I was like, "What it's just a mud puddle." THEN I saw what Austin was looking at. There was a full grown Red Tailed Hawk standing right next to the trail! I was like, "Whoa, thats what you saw!"

We just stood there and stared at it and it stared at us. We were standing there and some guys on mountain bikes were coming down the trail. We tried to tell them to stop because there was a big hawk right next to the trail. They didn't here us or they weren't paying attention. The first guy in the line finally saw the hawk and hit his brakes when he was about 3 feet from it. His buddies just about ran into him, then, they saw the hawk too.

So Austin and I and the mountain biking guys just kind of stood there and stared at the hawk. None of us really wanted to get too close to it. The guys with the bikes got off and walked their bikes around the hawk. They made sure they kept their bikes in between themselves and the hawk.

When those guys walked past it, the hawk stretched out its wings and opened its mouth and just stood there.

Well finally Austin and I decided to get on down the trail. We went off the trail and put about 40 feet between ourselves and the hawk and walked on up some before we got back on the trail!

That was exciting!