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Unusual Animal Encounters


Alan2

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I was benchmarking in Central Jersey. Raritan Borough, to be exact. Hey, this is the suburbs. Walking near the rail lines, lookin for a bridge with a bechmark disk on it. I heard a rather loud noise approaching from the north. I contiued on, to the bridge. The disk was missing. I took a look back up the tracks, and found this critter watching me. Not the greatest picture, from about 500' away, but I was not about to get any closer. We all know that there are no mountain lions in New Jersey, but... This sure as heck looks like one!

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I was in the Kensington Metropark in Michigan working trying to finish a multi cache before it got too dark. I was following a small trail along a lake when I went around a bend and found myself about ten feet from a big doe and a ten point buck :shocked: . We looked at eachother for like five minutes. I tried numerous times to get a pic with my phone but it was too dark. My buddy said it looked like an ultrasound.

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As a kid, my dad always counted a deers points by the number on the side with the most. a four-pointer would have four points on at least one side of the rack. Was wondering about how it is for the other people around the country since I see some people say "ten pointer" and such.. & i've never seen a deer with 10 points to a side.

 

Just so this post isn't completely useless...

Feed an animal!

Edited by Marcie/Eric
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Anybody know what kind of snake this is? I saw it in a park in Northern Virginia.

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looks to me like it's a milk snake (no not a milk SHAKE) i have heard of these kinds of snakes, being a boy scout.

 

Actually, its a northern water snake.

 

edited for spelling.

Edited by GPSHERPER
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Turkeys: Try night-caching!

 

Flushing turkeys out of the tree tops in the pitch black is VERY startling! You have no warning they're about to take off, but suddenly they fly. Such a big bird, weighing as much as a bowling ball is NOT something comfortable to have overhead!

 

The surround branches break and snap as they try to fly their huge mass through. Similarly, during the day a friend of mine watch one fly across the highway at windshield-level! Would suck to have that happen...

 

Then there's this gal...

 

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Found her about 1 am near a cache probably wondering what that bright flash was!

 

See the full-size image where you can actually discern the pupil of her eye!

 

Lastly, I too have had fawn's come up to me while caching. 'Twas an event cache last year where campers apparently frequently feed the deer. This guy chased me a good distance before I outpaced him...

 

Sad, reminds me of the key deer in the Florida Keys--the population can't grow 'cause of roadkill. They aren't scared of cars/people 'cause tourists feed them. I actually had several come out of the woods to approach me as I walked on a side road! Shouting and clapping my hands didn't frighten them much at all.

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

I've been reading past posts for info and intertainment. Today, 10/03/06, while out seeking a microcache I almost step back onto a bird. It didn't make a move as I quietly knelt behind it,and with gloved hands, picked it up. I gently examined it for injury and found nothing. I then released it under a low shrub so it would have some cover. When I got home, I grabbed my bird book. It was a hermit thrush, probably exhausted while migrating through. God speed small friend. Wish I had remembered my camera!

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I was benchmarking in Central Jersey. Raritan Borough, to be exact. Hey, this is the suburbs. Walking near the rail lines, lookin for a bridge with a bechmark disk on it. I heard a rather loud noise approaching from the north. I contiued on, to the bridge. The disk was missing. I took a look back up the tracks, and found this critter watching me. Not the greatest picture, from about 500' away, but I was not about to get any closer. We all know that there are no mountain lions in New Jersey, but... This sure as heck looks like one!

1c1f05fc-0b34-4254-b541-6b309a90280e.jpg

 

 

This Wouln't be a mountion lion,but a red fox!!!! ;)

Too bad we were not there we have not sewen one for a while now. :unsure:

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:laughing: Was camping in Damascus, Va looking for the Sawmill Trail Cache (GCVWF3) by DMFlyer during the week of July 4th. Walking up the Sawmill trail headed to the cache site. Looked up ahead and saw a big black Dog, well that dot sniffed and stood up on 2 legs - My thot "Hmmm, That's not a dog". Ended up being a huge bull Black Bear!! Beautiful - took one look at me and a couple sniffs, I had been caching all day and was pretty rank, and took off (could have been the smell) up the hill. An amazing encounter!!!
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On the way to a cache recently I found a racoon. He didn't bother me though. He was dead. It was the weirdest thing. I'm walking down a trail toward a cache, as we all do, when out of the corner of my eye I see fur. A lot of fur with a big fluffy stripped tail. I don't care how many animals you see out there, it still makes you pause. Laying on a fallen tree facing away from me is the biggest, fattest coon I've ever seen. I like animals but you have to be careful with wild animals right? Well, thinking this big thing is sleeping, I toss a few acorns at it from a distance. Who wouldn't, Right? Well, after finally hitting it, I new it wasn't just a sound sleeper. Evidently, it just laid down and died. It was kind of a different experience. I appologized for the acorn thing and went on my way sure that nature would take its course.

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Here's a just a few of new friends I have made while geocaching & benchmark hunting in Southern California. It ain't all Disneyland out here!

RattlerToKlems.jpg

Red Diamond Rattlesnake (stay AWAY). He was about 5 feet long.

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Tarantua with morning dew / fog on him (yes, it's a guy - the gals have got the big abs).

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It's a Tarantula Hawk, they hunt tarantulas. Harmless to people (or they ignore us, anyway).

Jerusalem_Cricket2.sized.jpg

Jerusalem Cricket (harmless, except for some big pincher mouths)

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Horney Toad - you don't want to grab one!

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Scorpion. With the dime tossed in there for scale, not so scary

Baby_Rattler.sized.jpg

Just a baby. Mohave Green variety, I believe.

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And last but not least, an "out of control" local park nearby! You know what they say about rabbits!

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I was benchmarking in Central Jersey. Raritan Borough, to be exact. Hey, this is the suburbs. Walking near the rail lines, lookin for a bridge with a bechmark disk on it. I heard a rather loud noise approaching from the north. I contiued on, to the bridge. The disk was missing. I took a look back up the tracks, and found this critter watching me. Not the greatest picture, from about 500' away, but I was not about to get any closer. We all know that there are no mountain lions in New Jersey, but... This sure as heck looks like one!

1c1f05fc-0b34-4254-b541-6b309a90280e.jpg

 

Looks like the Jersey Devil to me...

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Found this entry while searching for caches to do:

 

November 4 by XXXXXXXX (161 found)

Watched the ducks whoop the huskies then took off for some caching headed for salem, got this one @650 and traffic was stop and go on I5 so we turned around and headed for home......ps be carefull where you step, especially at night and in the rain, I was fortunate enough to step on a neutria while trying not to fall down the small slope near the cache. Mr.neutria-----NOT HAPPY, sorry dude! serves me right for not useing my flashlight when hopping gaurdrails and stuff. TNLN

 

:(

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Earlier this fall, I had a run in with a porcupine. Kind of funny actually. Here's my log from County Line Stump .

 

 

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

Found the cache at dusk. Last one of the day. TNLNSL Thanks!

 

Little did I know that I would have even more fun times getting back into my truck after finding the cache! As I approached my truck in the failing light, I noticed this large dark blob right next to the drivers door. Hmmm. Don’t remember that when I got out. Uh oh… It just moved to put it’s back to me and those things sure look like quills… Yep, it’s a porcupine all right!! Downwind of the engine compartment of my truck getting warm. Ok, no problem. Just yell at it and clap your hands and they usually leave. Nope, not this one. All that did was get his quills up again. Ok, plan B. Remote start the truck. Nope, now he just hunkered down for more heat. Plan C. Hit the alarm. Now the quills are back up. And it’s starting to rain/snow. Hard… Time for plan D. Gather sticks and stones and start bombing him. After many hits with trigs, pebbles, rocks and chunks of wood, he finally decides that maybe this is not a good spot to sit after all, and very slowly(as only a porky does) waddles far enough away so I can get in the truck!! I’m wet, cold and laughing as I quickly jump in! This is one I won’t forget!!!

Edited by Stumpy75
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i was biking to a cache then i took a sharp turn and i pulled the brakes and i am just sitting there and its sitting there looking at me about 10 ft from eachothere now i didnt want to move so after about 20 seconds off staring she finally went away now that deer scared me i cant belive i almost hit a deer on my bike usually it happens in the car lol :)

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one of my gfs way before she started to geocache found the Stargate.

 

yes. The Stargate. I'll ask her for a pic of it.

 

Back over a decade ago, during some 4X4ing with an ex, we came around the corner and nearly ran over a pair of beavers.

 

Came across a cariboo carcass and moose skull with antlers too.

 

And the same friend who found the Stargate, she and I were in one park together and came across not one but at least two squirrels letting us know how ferocious they were, a hobo's camp, and lastly, a dinosaur viewing area. All while trying to find one cache.

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If I wasn't such an arachnaphobe, this might have been a cool sighting. I did manage to stick around long enough to snap the picture, but then I was out of there! That cache had to wait for another day.

 

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Ok, I just gotta know -- what kind of spider is this??? We sure don't have these things around in the Ozarks. Where did you find this thing?

 

Jim

This looks like a fisher spider. Go to www.bugguide.net and post the picture there under "ID request". Fisher spiders are usually quite large and are all over the US.

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After about 7 hours of hiking, uphill of course, I was headed back down when my "trail buddy", a not to happy Javalina, wanted to know why I was on his trail. Of course I wonder the same. We both kept an eye on each other for a while and moved on.

:huh:

 

Same thing happened to us while hunting a cache just south of Austin, but he was on the other side of a small river, grunting along at us, making it known that our presence wasn't appreciated. Fortunately he didn't decide to swim across to tell us in person.

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During a wonderful cache hunt near Palm Springs CA last month the "Alaska Wolfpack" (now there's an unusual wildlife encounter!) ran across this little cousin on the trail to Pushawalla Power Path #20 Cache, near the Pushawalla desert palm fan oasis on a spur of the San Andreas Fault...

 

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The fox moved off the trail, keeping an eye on Team GeoRanger (above us, on the lip of the wash)

 

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The fox perched for a few minutes to watch the cautious approach of the 4-man group down the wash towards him (and, coincidentally, the cache a few hundred feet past him!), before slinking into the brush right behind him...

 

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Only twenty or so feet off the trail, under the dense cover of brush, this fox rested in the shade while we passed. I paused and snapped a few photos... then moved on before he got nervous about my stopping. His tracks ran up and down this wash, the stream at the oasis, and beyond into the larger desert wash.

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So really funny story, but it doesn't have to deal with geocaching :(. I was walking home from high school, it is about a half mile from my bus stop and there is a corn field on the right side of me. I was probably ten, I don't like dogs I don't know, scared of them. I see this little dog come out of the corn fields and start barking at me and running towards me so I take my back pack off and swing it at him a couple of times to scare him, and then I work up my courage and yelled at the dog "You are so small, I can kick you like a football if you try to bite me."

 

Then the small dog runs back into the corn field thinking he was gone for good, I was like awesome, finally got to my driveway and as soon as I got there I heard a rustling in the corn field and saw the darn dog run back out barking at me and not as scared and then I hear more rustling and a freakin doberman comes out of the cornfield right after the other dog and I was freaked so I backed down my driveway keeping an eye on them and got into my garage safe and sound.

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Cachers looking for GCABED Polar Bear's Folly and / or GCTATE Roam to Rome, at Wandlebury Country Park, just outside Cambridge, England UK, might see these beasties. www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/image_galleries/snow_eb_07_gallery.shtml Can't guarantee the snow, though!

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Some folks recently posted this log on my cache Growth and History.

 

April 11 by Jury (1215 found)

Yes, we felt the "modern pressures" crowding in on the trail, but Mother Nature has not given up completely yet. As we walked the trail we came upon a big fat porcupine grazing at the edge of the trail. Not wanting to get too close to his lethal tail waving in our direction, we urged him to get off the trail. Instead, he just waddled down the trail ahead of us. So, for the rest of the hunt, we moseyed down the trail behind him, at his pace, until we reached the site for the final, whereupon our friend plodded on out of sight.

Nice job on the cache. Thanks.

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I was doing a off set cache. Found the tree the cache was supposed to be in, started to look in and seen fur. walked around the tree and found the cache on the ground. After signing the log I put it back on the ground next to the tree and looked back in to see what it was. There was a possum starting back at me and it wasn't playing dead. LOL.

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As a kid, my dad always counted a deers points by the number on the side with the most. a four-pointer would have four points on at least one side of the rack. Was wondering about how it is for the other people around the country since I see some people say "ten pointer" and such.. & i've never seen a deer with 10 points to a side.

 

Just so this post isn't completely useless...

Feed an animal!

 

Theres 2 ways to count the points on a buck the Eastern and the western system. The eastern system you count all the points on the rack so if you get one with 6 on one side and 4 on the other its a 10 point. the western system the same buck would be a 6 pointer cause you count the side with the most point( tines). or you could just use the Boon and Crocket scale and use the trophy scoreing method.

 

as for seing animals while cacheing I've seen a balck bear crossing the road going into the gully that I was just caching in so i was glad I was leaveing when I did.

 

Dave

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c5d05188-9569-478e-9e91-ce009ff28801.jpg

Here's a picture of a Nihon Kamoshika that my brother took just a few feet from the cache. Within about five feet of the cache there is a place that looks like the animal as made itself at home. There is a rather large area of (lets see how can I say this nicely) "poo". I looks like the Nihon Kamoshika is the type of animal that returns to the same place to do it's business.

 

Here's the cache: Stained Glass

Edited by rokclmb
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