Unusual Animal Encounters

June 14, 2004

Walking on a local greenway in Madison, AL I ran across this little guy:

He was puttering along, so I thought I would prod him off the trail with a little stick since there were dogs and bicycles frequenting the track. When I reached down with the stick toward his tail, he jumped about 6" in the air, did a 180 degree turn in mid air and snapped at the stick with a loud *crack*.

After that, I just took his picture and left him alone -- he can take care of himself...

June 16, 2004

Read the logs on this cache.

I had a similar encounter with geese at this one Strike @ Maple Isle

June 28, 2004

Yesterday I was walking along a trail when I heard a grouse flush. No big deal usually, you jump and see it fly off.

Well, this one must have had a nest close by as she came charging straight at me! I had to hold out my trekking pole in order to fend her off! Then she charged me again!

I got out my camera to try to get a pic if she charged again, but she just circled me puffing up her feathers, and making hissing sounds!

I decided to get out while the getting was good! :mad:

Not my pic, but that's what I was dealing with.

Imaging this thing flying out of the bush, charging right at you!

Scott

Edited June 28, 2004 by McKenzie Clan

June 28, 2004

June 29, 2004

Last Saturday, tenacious_dml and I were on our way out from doing the Jefferson Notch Cache - GCH39E. We continued driving out along the road we came in on to see where it connected. The area is heavily wooded, and we saw a quick flash of a medium-sized critter with a lush black/brown coat and a long tail as he headed into the woods. Too big to be a cat, too small to be a dog... I'm sure it was a fisher! Having never seen one in person, and living in Manchester, NH where our new local baseball team is the NH Fisher Cats, I was amused to see one in person. He went by so quickly I didn't have a chance to grab my camera, but he looked like this:

Yep, you most likely saw one of NH's infamous fishers. We haven't got wolverines or badgers here in NH (I've had to convince folks over the phone before that they haven't been seeing wolverines - the descriptions are usually *waaaaay* off, one was a porcupine). From your description, it's a fisher or otter. From the location, it's a fisher. And the new Fisher Cat logo is way cool.

The story on does and fawns is that the doe will usually leave the fawn alone for much of the day; the fawn is born with little scent of its own, and its best defense from predators is to have its deer-scented mom far away and not attracting coyotes or whatnot. The fawn's instinct is just to freeze curled into a ball when any potential predator stumbles upon it. If you find one, move away quickly so as not to put it at risk by creating a trail for predators.

Oh, and for those folks who feel an insatiable need to move a snapper, it can be done. Pick it up by the non-business end, hold it at arm's length, have long arms, hold it with the belly facing toward you, move *fast*! I trapped and marked some snappers in college, and it can be done, just don't try to cuddle them. They can do you some serious damage if they can get their jaws on you so steer clear unless you're very confident you can pull it off. That neck is a lot longer than it looks.

The neatest thing I've seen caching to date is a mama grouse that decided to nest about 75 feet from a cache. Just as I came off the trail to bushwhack to the cache, she started doing an "eat me, I'm a wounded grouse" act. I was watching her as I consulted my gps, and it was obvious she was losing patience with me for not following her. First she stopped dragging her wings, then the calls got less frequent, then she stopped walking around (all of this about 10 feet from me), then she just wandered off with an occasional random chirp to remind the stupid predator there was an injured grouse in the neighborhood.

June 29, 2004

Mopar where did you find Burros in New Jersey?

My guess is that he was nowhere near NJ, but instead in NV. THat background looks an awful lot like the desert near Red Rock Canyon, home of many burros.

I do remember Mopar logging a few of the Red Rock caches, maybe I'll check to see if any of them have this picture attached.

Shannon

VegasCacheHounds

22k · June 29, 2004

Yep, you most likely saw one of NH's infamous fishers

I'll second that, definately a fisher. (Martes pennanti)

July 18, 2004

Last night I was out caching at dusk in the woods. Suddenly I hear some noise, like something moving on the ground about 20 feet from me... what the hell could it be... couldn't see anything but it came closer and closer... finally I see something moving, very close to the ground, some white and black patches, seems to be some hairy stuff, still approaching... movement is very wierd, wavy, different parts of the thing moving in different directions, and the entire thing seemed to be pretty big, maybe the size of a big cat, but the mass was moving very close to the ground, slowly but steadily advancing towards me... now at this point I was a bit scared, could this thing be a snake or what? but it seems to be hairy... I jumped out of the woods (I was at the edge) but the thing was still coming right at me. I turn on my small LED flashlight and I see two little eyes on the thing lighting up... then this hairy mass suddenly turns around and moves away, still with a movement reminding me of a snake.

I did some research on the internet and now I think I know what this thing was. Anyone wants to make a guess before I describe mine?

Ah, the location is Western New York (upstate).

July 18, 2004

I'll make a guess only if you stand downwind of me......

My best skunk story involves one inside my garage at night.....

July 19, 2004

Bingo!

I also think it was a group of young skunks moving tightly together. The trick is that this way they look like one bigger animal, which provides good defense against predators. Well they sure tricked me, too! They scared the hell out of me

So what's your story?

Edited July 19, 2004 by as77

July 19, 2004

The following link shows a photo of young skunks, quite similar to what I saw (except that I saw them at night)

http://community.webshots.com/photo/63038015/63055090RzBsPz

Edited July 19, 2004 by as77

July 19, 2004

AS77,

Left the garage door open one night after dark. Heard a scratching at the door between the house and the garage, so I went to let the dog in----oops, I never let him out!----hello Mr. Skunk!

I slammed the door in his face, he ran to the back of the garage and hid.

July 19, 2004

I was out caching today and was bushwacking through some dense bush and trees. I happened to scare up a couple of young squirrels. They ran up a tree about waist high to me, and stopped to see what I was. I just stood there for a second, and then did something really stupid; I tried to do a "squirrel call".

All of a sudden, they both started chirping at me, and one of them ran right at me and went right up my leg! Did I mention I was wearing shorts?

Well, like any well adjusted outdoorsman, I jumped 6 feet into the air, screaming like a little girl , and ran out of the woods.

I did eventually make it back to the cache, but not without carrying a big stick with me to fend off the killer squirrels.

Oh, and the first person to make any jokes about about "squirrels and nuts" gets a smack on the head!

July 19, 2004

I have had my fill of rattlesnakes this year. Three so far....one just today. Seems every one of them sounds different. I wish they'd all get on the same key so I know one when I hear one.

July 19, 2004

All of a sudden, they both started chirping at me, and one of them ran right at me and went right up my leg! Did I mention I was wearing shorts?
Well, like any well adjusted outdoorsman, I jumped 6 feet into the air, screaming like a little girl , and ran out of the woods.

Hmmm, wonder if they are related to this squirrel that went after a motorcyclist and some policemen. Story Here

Louis

July 25, 2004

These guys were cool to watch. Ran in to them at this Cache

August 4, 2004

I was hunting this cache http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=33283 in the Rattlesnake Recreation Area last night when I ran into two women who had just set up a barbed wire hair trap for collecting bear hair samples for DNA analysis. The trap was placed within 400 feet of the cache. As I was preparing for the return trip, I heard a loud crashing noise from the vicinity of the trap <_< Needless to say I had the pepper spray ready to fly in record time! Had to take an 'alternate route' around the trap area to avoid a possible twilight encounter with Smokey.

August 5, 2004

I feel pretty lucky. Last night I was out placing a new cache about 1/2 mile from my truck and was just waking back (into the setting sun) when I happened to glance down and saw that I was about to walk on the biggest Mojave rattlesnake I have seen in years. He was giving me ample warning, but since I am going a bit deaf, I didn't hear him until I was on top of him. He uncoiled in time and I estimate his size a 5 feet, and as big around as my forearm. Of course I left my camera in the truck. He would have made a great picture.

August 6, 2004

Last Saturday, tenacious_dml and I were on our way out from doing the Jefferson Notch Cache - GCH39E. We continued driving out along the road we came in on to see where it connected. The area is heavily wooded, and we saw a quick flash of a medium-sized critter with a lush black/brown coat and a long tail as he headed into the woods. Too big to be a cat, too small to be a dog... I'm sure it was a fisher! Having never seen one in person, and living in Manchester, NH where our new local baseball team is the NH Fisher Cats, I was amused to see one in person. He went by so quickly I didn't have a chance to grab my camera, but he looked like this:

The road we were following ended up at the Mount Washington Cog Railway, where we saw a fox.

It was a good weekend for wildlife! In addition to these guys, we also saw a partridge and several moose.

** edit pwatol is right, wolverines don't seem to range east to NH, must be a fisher.

Here's some links:

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0818780.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0852625.html

http://www.borealforest.org/zoo/fisher.htm

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilde...s/wolverine.htm

Edited August 6, 2004 by geoSquid

August 6, 2004

Here's my log from a recent cache:

Log

I had a run-in with a bee hive... it was really fascinating to look at, BEFORE it got startled by my presence.

Here's a pic from another cacher :

August 10, 2004

Now I havehad it with rattlesnakes. I knew the cache had to be in one of the many holes under a big sandstone rock. I finally got down on all fours and began to look in each one. About the third one, I bent down to look and was looking eye to eye with another big Mojave rattler. He didn't strike, thank goodness and I did find the cache, but from now on I'm going to poke in those holes first! :lol: :lol:

August 10, 2004

I was out caching today and was bushwacking through some dense bush and trees. I happened to scare up a couple of young squirrels. They ran up a tree about waist high to me, and stopped to see what I was. I just stood there for a second, and then did something really stupid; I tried to do a "squirrel call".
All of a sudden, they both started chirping at me, and one of them ran right at me and went right up my leg! Did I mention I was wearing shorts?

Well, like any well adjusted outdoorsman, I jumped 6 feet into the air, screaming like a little girl , and ran out of the woods.

I did eventually make it back to the cache, but not without carrying a big stick with me to fend off the killer squirrels.

Oh, and the first person to make any jokes about about "squirrels and nuts" gets a smack on the head!

DigiFerret, I had almost the same experience without the chirping. Here is an excerpt of my log:

As I walked down the path back to my car I came across a squirrel. As I got closer he didn't scurry. As I drew within a couple feet he still didn't bolt and just as I was thinking that this was the closest I've ever been to a squirrel he jumped off the ground and onto my leg! He landed on my left thigh which caused me to leap in the air and yelp at which point he jumped back off and hopped off. I think he got the better of that interaction.

Scared the you know what out of me. I was definitely the prey in that relationship.

Edited August 10, 2004 by Theseus

4.5k · August 11, 2004

Attack squirrels are rather common it seems. Once, not while I was caching, I was sitting on a bench in a small park chatting with a friend. We were watching a black squirrel on a tree trunk about ten feet away. Suddenly, it flies off the trunk onto my friend face makes another jump onto my face and offf he jumps off in the other direction. It was almost as if it was using us a tree trunks or we were in its way to where it wanted to go.

We both had scratches from it's "claws" which cut fairly deep. Pretty amazing.

Edited August 11, 2004 by Alan2

August 12, 2004

I ran into these guys early one morning last month.

Before i knew what was tramping around in the woods with me,

i was completely surrounded by the whole herd.

I thought i was being attacked by G-d knows what untill they

started to moo.

This was in a wildlife management area with a farm about

1 /4 of a mile away. There is an old barb wire fence , but

it needs mending.

Edited August 12, 2004 by Larry H

August 12, 2004

Not caching related, but unusual animal encounters...or perhaps not, since it's happened to me 3 times! One instance was boring (walking out of a building, and finding it on the steps) but the other 2 :

camping with my family in the Great Smokey Mountains while in high school. My parents were off somewhere and my brother and I were sitting by the campfire having a fascinating game of throw things at the bugs landing on the latern nearby. A Gypsy moth landed and was not afraid of the towel I threw at it and crept closer to me. I got up to get away from it, as did my brother. However, he stopped dead after a couple steps. He yelled, "Skunk!" There was a happy little guy -- apparently coming to join our game. My brother and I ran one direction, and the skunk went the other way. Surprisingly, with all the screaming the brought out the whole campground, no one got sprayed.

then we fast forward to my college days in Eau Claire, WI. I was sitting on a friend's porch one evening, shooting the breeze, when I heard a rustle in the nearby bushes. Must be a kitty! "Here kitty, kitty, kitty..." I called. Well, it was a poleCAT the came trotting up the sidewalk to the house to see me, almost like he would jump into my arms. My friend and I ran into the house very quickly. Again, no spraying noted.

So being out in the woods at dusk now makes me think of my skunk calling gift. I'm hoping these talents have gotten lost as I've aged.....

Bec

4.5k · August 12, 2004

I ran into these guys early one morning last month.
Before i knew what was tramping around in the woods with me,

i was completely surrounded by the whole herd.

I thought i was being attacked by G-d knows what untill they

started to moo.

This was in a wildlife management area with a farm about

1 /4 of a mile away. There is an old barb wire fence , but

it needs mending.

http://harrop.us/hiking/albums/oddities/fo..._cows_sized.jpg

They look like cache cows.

September 30, 2004

Can someone help identify these little critters? I took this picture while hunting a cache recently. They were small and there were thousands of them clustered on a tree branch. They seemed to be waving or twitching that little fluffy thing.

Thanks,

John

1k · October 1, 2004

Here's a milk snake (I think) that was sitting in a hollow tree at a cache site.

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.

Then there's this beast that I keep running into at cache sites (BIAI!!!)

1.4k · October 1, 2004

I got "Skunked" on this cache. Heres the log.

Skunked

October 1, 2004

I got "Skunked" on this cache. Heres the log.

Skunked

:huh: :lol:

October 1, 2004

Here is a picture I took the other day when I visited a local park to log some locationless caches (lighthouse and birdhouse and bandshell, all within the same park!)

I took a few more pictures of these guys but I'm too lazy to upload them. Also had some pretty close encounters with a bunch of ducks and geese.

October 1, 2004

A giant slug

That is what we saw about 3 inches long.

I thought they were really cool. Not slimy at all, velvety. We were in Scotland, which is gorgeous. No mosquitos, although the midges are mean, to some people.

2.7k · October 1, 2004

Last Saturday, tenacious_dml and I were on our way out from doing the Jefferson Notch Cache - GCH39E. We continued driving out along the road we came in on to see where it connected. The area is heavily wooded, and we saw a quick flash of a medium-sized critter with a lush black/brown coat and a long tail as he headed into the woods. Too big to be a cat, too small to be a dog... I'm sure it was a fisher! Having never seen one in person, and living in Manchester, NH where our new local baseball team is the NH Fisher Cats, I was amused to see one in person. He went by so quickly I didn't have a chance to grab my camera, but he looked like this:

The road we were following ended up at the Mount Washington Cog Railway, where we saw a fox.

It was a good weekend for wildlife! In addition to these guys, we also saw a partridge and several moose.

Wolverine?

I encountered a newborn fawn on one cache hunt last spring. It was lying right smack in the middle of the trail and appeared to be dead. Upon doing a simple "post mortem" I discovered that it was alive. It was gone upon my return from the cache. (no camera- BUmm!)

Yep...gotta be wolverine. I remember reading that they have those long claws. CAn be nasty like the badger.

1.3k · October 1, 2004

There's a similar thread in Nordic & Baltic Countries forums, check the photos there: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=71574

October 3, 2004

While driving towards Wallys World (GCKK3G) in Nebraska,

3 pigs escorted me to the cache along a county road.

(Sorry...no pics or proof, but this IS Nebraska so you

know it's true).

AND for being the 1st finder of the cache, the 'Walgren Lake Monster'

(kinda like Loch Ness...only different)

followed me back to my motel, and didn't even help pay for the

room! What kind of a 1st finders deal IS THAT?

=)

Edited October 3, 2004 by bodolad

October 3, 2004

We were caching in a park in Montreal when we ran across this guy:

We didn't know what it was so we approached as close as we dared and snapped some pics with our cellphones.

After returning home I did a web search and it looks like it was a muskrat. Apparently they can attack humans without provocation and are very vicious! Had we known that we might have kept our distance a bit more.

October 4, 2004

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.

EWWW! how big was it? :mad: I would not go within 10 feet of that thing!

October 4, 2004

Can someone help identify these little critters? I took this picture while hunting a cache recently. They were small and there were thousands of them clustered on a tree branch. They seemed to be waving or twitching that little fluffy thing.

Thanks,

John

what area were you in when you saw them?

October 4, 2004

Better watch out for these guys!!

(Notice fuzzy catapiller on my sleeve)

I'm just glad I don't have to deal with half the stuff you guys find! We find lots of deer, and plenty of bugs and squirrles. But only 1 snake and nothing else...knock on wood!

October 4, 2004

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.

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

1k · October 4, 2004

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?

Actually, I would like to know what kind of spider it was too. I've tried searching the web a few times, but usually get grossed out by looking at all the spiders before long. My best guess so far is a wolf spider, since it looks like that it some pictures I've seen.

This spider was actually in upstate New York, not far from Rochester. I didn't think we had things that big around here either.

The photo is a bit deceptive for how big the spider really was. It looks like it was enormous, when it was only huge I would estimate that it was about 7" long including the legs.

October 4, 2004

We have also found a few new friends during our caching travels:

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/c8e0c...cbe3680b72b.jpg

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/48b29...7b545664140.jpg

Trust me, the Grizzly was shot with my telephoto, at about 200 yards from the cache we were at. We decided we did not need the smiley that bad!

This is a great thread, will be following it with interest!

October 4, 2004

Forgot this one!

2.7k · October 5, 2004

Excellent wildlife shots!!!!

October 6, 2004

Can someone help identify these little critters? I took this picture while hunting a cache recently. They were small and there were thousands of them clustered on a tree branch. They seemed to be waving or twitching that little fluffy thing.

Thanks,

John

what area were you in when you saw them?

I was in NY state at Letchworth State Park. (just outside of Castile NY)

If you look for cache GCKKV6 Bo's K9 Hideaway (sorry I can't link to the cache page, I'm at work and I can access the forum pages but not Geocaching.com )

The critters were found about 10 feet from the coordinates listed for the cache.

I'm getting excited that someone may actually know what these are. <_<

October 6, 2004

You saw what I believe to be Mealybugs! http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r107300511.html

October 6, 2004

Can someone help identify these little critters? I took this picture while hunting a cache recently. They were small and there were thousands of them clustered on a tree branch. They seemed to be waving or twitching that little fluffy thing.

Thanks,

John

They are called "woolly aphids".

They suck the sap out of the tree branch and excrete a honeydew. If you look on the ground or the branches under them you will see a grayish coloration that will eventually become black as a sooty mold fungus grows on the honeydew. Then another fungus will grow on it that looks sort of like a clump of coral, only soft, called "Scorious spongiosus" ( I'm not sure of the spelling on that.)

As a protective device tha woolly aphids are not only covered with a waxy coating, but when disturbed will wave their tails in an attempt to make the group look like one bigger animal.

October 6, 2004

Better watch out for these guys!!
(Notice fuzzy catapiller on my sleeve)

I'm just glad I don't have to deal with half the stuff you guys find! We find lots of deer, and plenty of bugs and squirrles. But only 1 snake and nothing else...knock on wood!

Careful... that's a young tiger you're holding!

Okay, maybe not what you think of as a tiger, but it looks like it'a a wooly bear caterpillar, which is the larval stage of the tiger isabella moth.

October 7, 2004

junglehair,

the spider you photographed is a Fishing Spider. pretty common along rivers and streams in N.C. absolutely no danger to people. pretty neat to see such a large spider, hunh? -harry

Edited October 7, 2004 by shawhh

2.6k · October 7, 2004

junglehair,

the spider you photographed is a Fishing Spider. pretty common along rivers and streams in N.C. absoulutely no danger to people. pretty neat to see such a large spider, hunh? -harry

That's a cool pic! What size is that? Hard to tell from that photo without anything to compare it with.

Unusual Animal Encounters

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