Let's sit around the ole yule log and tell a wild life story.
What beasts have you encountered?
Pictures much appreciated!
Let's sit around the ole yule log and tell a wild life story.
What beasts have you encountered?
Pictures much appreciated!
Armadillo under my hammock that sounded as big as a MOOSE in the dark! Also got yipped at one night sitting around the fire by what was either a fox or coyote I think.
Seeing snakes while on or near The Trail is not unusual
https://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=63578
but seeing one that is finishing off a meal is pretty rare.
https://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=63577
Of course, my most notable meal is a bear finishing off some road kill
https://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=35958
when I saw a family that included a young child walking towards this bear jam, I chose to warn the parents: "This is Yogi Bear munching on Bambi."
Through my hiking adventures I have for some reason found it comical to get selfies with the wildlife I see. Thus far...
Black Bear
Rattlesnake
Alligator
Peeing Deer
Several owls
Beaver
Porcupine
Trail Miles: 5,265.4
AT Map 1: ✔ | 13-21'
Sheltowee Trace: ✔ | 20-23'
Pinhoti Trail: ✔ | 23-24'
Foothills Trail: ✔ | 24'
BMT: 168.3
CDT: 210.9
GSMNP900: 134.7
AT Map 2: 279.4
years ago, along lakeshore trail, between CS 88 and hazel creek----I spotted this big black mass that was just lying on the ground....'
it was in a little dip down on the trail and curled up......
looked like a bear but couldn't tell so i made a bunch of noise.....
i musta been yelling/making noise for about 5 or so minutes and it just never moved.....
finally, it looked up, and yup, a bear-----and then went promptly back to sleep......
i could have walked up on it, smacked it on its ass before it woke up....
I think I've posted this on the forum before, but since you asked... This was at Rip Rap Gap. Another hiker pointed out a bear was on a parallel path with me and pacing me. I took some pictures as we crossed a road stopping traffic. Then it occurred to me that I should be filming this and so the video. We came upon several other hikers on the other side of the road when the bear decided to cross the AT path and eventually took off with another hiker chasing him.
saw a bear getting chased by a momma hog and her hoglets deep in an off trail area
in the smokies.....
That's why I wonder why don't we ever hear about hog attacks?
a hog is rare to spot in the backcountry......
mainly moves at night but can be out during the day....
and they seem (at least in my experience) to be more skittish than a bear.......
I want to add to mine :
Rattlesnake
Copperhead
Ring neck snake
Cotton mouth snake
Owls
Bald eagle
And two dung beetle working together to roll this dung i don't know where. Nor do I know what type of dung it was or where they got it from and how the hell did they shape into a perfect ball for transport.. I must have watched them dung beetle working together through all that thick grass to roll that dung, for about an hour and they got 10' . ( im easily amused)
During a 6 night Sweat Crew we were camped just off the AT in the vicinity of Thunderhead. One night I got up to pee and heard an animal huff and trot away. Second night , same thing. I could not see what I thought was a deer.
Third night when it happened again I decided to get a better look. So I turned off my light, waited and crept forward. Animal huffed again and trotted a short distance away. I waited a few minutes and crept forward in the dark as quietly as possible.
Then I heard something to my right turning over rocks. To my left something was turning over rocks It suddenly dawned on me that deer don't turn over rocks.
Pretty sure that I walked into a herd of pigs. I quietly retreated to my tent.
speaking of beetles, on at least 2 separate occasions I came across a group of a few beetles that were devouring the carcass of a mouse, bones and all. I literally saw half of the mouse eaten off and the beetles going at it. My only other thought was if a snake bit a chunk out of the mouse but they usually eat it all and I saw this more then once. I have pics somewhere I'll try to find them.
NoDoz
nobo 2018 March 10th - October 19th
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I'm just one too many mornings and 1,000 miles behind
While sitting against a tree relaxing, I saw a very large tom turkey being stalked by a very large coyote. Both walked out of sight, don't know the outcome.
When I have seen hogs in the backcountry it has typically been just a fleeting glimpse.
On a loop hike from Twenty Mile to Gregory Bald in the Smokies I saw hogs at two different times during daylight hours.
One was a hog that just walked into campsite 92 in early afternoon as we sat around a campfire. It still had water dripping from crossing the creek and stood and stared in our direction. My companions thought it looked "mangey" but I think it may have been a hybrid with spots. When I clapped my hands it ran away.
The other encounter was on Long Hungry Ridge. As I rounded a corner my hiking partner said "there are little pigs on the hill". The piglets still had their stripes.
I responded that mama was in the trail.
She was jet black and rooting up the trail. I froze in my tracks. We were close enough that I could see that the hair on here back was standing up and could hear her grunting. The sow was not huge but her tusks were as long as my fingers.
We stared at each other for what seemed like 20 minutes but it was probably 20 seconds. Neither of us moved until the piglets ran off and she followed.
Most noteworthy backcountry sighting probably hogs in the Big Frog/Cohutta wilderness..seen a few but never one with prominent tusks.
Bears, rattlesnake, turkey, owl, muskrat, grouse, mice, deer, salamanders, turtles, etc..
So many. One memorable experience was in 1984. Wife and I were in Maui taking a day hike on the Halemau‘u Trail in Haleakala NP. about a mile from the trail head you get to an overlook at the rim of the volcano's crater. It is a thousand feet down to lunar-like crater floor. To the left you can see 8000 feet down to the ocean. Warm air rising forms clouds below you that were pouring into the crater through a gap in the rim. I was so captivated by the view, it was a few moments before I noticed an odd noise. I look down at my feet and find I am surrounded by a dozen or so Nene, or Hawaiian Geese - the state bird. The park ranger at the visitors center told us it was unlikely we would see one as they are exceptionally rare and endangered. I did a little mental math and calculated that I was standing within 10 feet of 5% of the world's Nene population.
That's something happens just about every trip in the woods is them grouse they like to wait until you're right up on them then they'll jump up and fly away ,startles me every time.
I was hoping a certain someone on here would respond considering he used to live in a tipi and take 3 weeks trips, spends alot time in the woods probably got some good animal stories. But I'm not gonna mention any names.
Saw this moose in August at Imp campsite one morning. Rocks in foreground are along trail that leads to all the tent platforms. I was sitting on our platform. She (I think it's a female) came down the hill but her path was blocked by the line of tent platforms and other structures. She went back and forth a few times looking for a way to cross. At the point when this picture was taken I was not much more than 30' away. I have some pretty good video, but I suspect the file is too large to upload.
Another time maybe 2-3 years ago we had camped literally right beside the trail in the 100-mile wilderness (because that's where we found a place - prefer to be off trail...). The next morning we heard a noise close by, and quietly unzipped the door. 15' away a moose was standing behind a small tree and other vegetation looking at our tent. It melted into the woods. We found it's hoofprints in the trail within 3' of the tent.
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