Animal Encounters on the Trail

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Dug, yay! on saving the loon. For future reference, the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences (VINS) in Woodstock, VT, rehabs all kinds of injured birds and abandoned baby birds. Last month, after calling and speaking with an expert there, I brought down 5 baby bluebirds that were abandoned (the parents most likely killed by the cats of neighbors who allow their felines out of doors - grr!!) in one of my bluebird boxes that I had been monitoring. Received word that the birds were released last week. :)

As for critters seen while hiking... Grizzly and black bears, buffalo, elk, bighorn sheep, mtn goats, wild burros, deer, coyotes, cattle (hah), ibex (Italy), a badger, bobcats, pine marten, foxes, fishers, lots of rattlesnakes, tarantulas, bunnies, many kinds of squirrels, chipmunks, hundreds of marmots, porcupines, skunks, raccoons, armadillos, turtles, and whales... Seen from a couple of different coastal mtn trails in California.

Have heard wolves in Minnesota but never lucky enough to see one. Always wanted to see a mtn lion when I lived out West, but it never happened...
 
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So today, while on a 2hr tour of the woods behind my house, Marlie encountered her first porccupine. She took off in front of me like she saw a squirrel but when I caught up to her she was looking down instead of up a tree. About 2 feet infront of her was a porccupine! After 3 calls she came back to me with only a single quill on the tip of her snout. As I checked her over the porccupine was in no hurry to leave the area. It only moved about 10 fee in 5 minutes.
 
Elephant seals off of Big sur,Bald eagle in the Kilkenney,lots of spruce grouse.My favorite is a pair of Ospreys which I see towards the end of winter every few years.For a long time I thought they were just white hawks and then after some research realized we really do not have white hawks in this area.Two winters past the lack of snow/ice seemed to bring these amazing creatures close to the water to "fish".Maybe the most unusual animal I saw was a gray fox who I saw two days in a row hiding underneath my winter camp.The 2cd time I saw him/her I got the drop on it by coming up a hill quietly and using the wind direction to my benefit.Once the fox saw me he was gone like the wind,but to get within 10 feet of it was awsome.I never saw him again.In the north Chester woods one time I stumbled into the mother of all wild turkey flocks,must have been like 40 of them.
Animals I would like to see the most would be a condor and snow leopard[in the wild].Great thread here!
 
Remarkably few notable animal encounters over the years. Naturally lots of chipmunks, squirrels, snakes, and birds.

On the return from Allen Mtn. a couple years ago I was nearly attacked by a ruffed grouse -- tail-feathers were fanned, he was strutting straight towards me, hissing. I held my treking poles out in front of me to fend him off. Eventually he ran to the side of the trail and then proceeded to do the broken wing routine. Moments later, topping out on a rise between Lakes Sally and Jimmy, we saw a bear sitting with its head sticking up above the the tall grass. Took one look at us and took off running the opposite direction.
 
dug said:
It was a weird scene. It was Veteran's Day weekend, cold and snowing. I see something move, and there's this loon in the woods, not happy. We had a snack and debated...do we let nature take it's course (my idea, honestly) or do we try to bring him back (my buddy's idea). We left to hit North Carter and turned back...deciding if it was still there we'd take it. About an hour later, there it was. I cleared the bottom of my pack and put him in there, keeping it unzipped a bit.

We were camping down low, in the woods where the Nineteen Mile Brook trail splits. We put him in our tent for the night and did our usual hanging out for a few hours. He pecked away for much of the night, not causing any damage, and in the AM we broke camp. He tried to get away at one point, walking through the woods for several yards, before we gathered him back up. Packed him up and put him in a safe spot for the ride home. We tried to feed him bread (only thing we could think of) which didn't fly.

Calling that afternoon trying to find someone who could care for him was the most frustrating. I know some people at the Audobon Society, and to say I was less than impressed is an understatement. They were more concerned with having him die so they could see if he died from lead poisoning then helping. We found a rescue place in York, ME who brought him back. A few weeks later, they released him over the Atlantic. I still tell my daughter a made-up children's story about "Carter the Loon".
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Nice Work, Dug! I am glad you finally found somewhere to bring "Carter". He sounds like a fighter so I bet he made it :)

Z
 
Many Moose, once 12 in 10 days in the early Spring in 1990, two bears, one on the Imp Trail that took off like a four wheel drive up the side of the mountain, several Spruce Grouse up close, a young moose, up real close on the Zeeland trail in the Fall of 2007 who the German woman with me called an Elk, Red Fox, Deer, many many different species of birds, a snowshoe hare on the AT north of Madison where the trails meet and one goes off toward Dolly Copp and others too numerous to count. One of the best parts of hiking. Of course, having our four footed companions with us can keep the wildlife at a distance and who wants to deprive our canines the same pleasure we get from being in the woods :)
 
I've seen a lot of wildlife, being a soloist gets you closer. My favorite animal in the wild is the mountain goat. When I first went to CO my goal was to eventually see some goats. My third hike was on Grey's and Torrie's ( 2- 14ers). When I arrived at the summit of Torries, there was a family of goats, mom, dad and two kids. I sqeezed in amounst them and sat with them for about an hour, petting the little ones the whole time. The parents seemed curious, but I talked to them in a calm voice and they seem to accept me right off, that summit was priceless to me.
My second greatest encounter was being stalked for about 30 minutes high above treeline on the Crags route of Pikes peak by a very large mountain Lion. He was definitely sizing me up for dinner, how it ended I aint saying.
 
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I didn't mention my grouse encounter. May 2012, descending the A.T. northward on Stratton, about 2/3 the way down the mountain, I'm ambling along at a good pace when suddenly there's an avian explosion! Mama grouse had laid her nest about 5' left of the trail, if that far, and was prepared to fend me off ferociously. She glowered at me from right of the trail after she landed. I quickly figured out the situation and moved on - she didn't pursue. Wonder how many other hikers were treated to her theatrics. Not the best choice of nesting site.
 
Many years ago when I was in college I saw a dark colored, bushy tailed animal, somewhat low to the ground at Lake Arnold, on the side of Mt Colden in the Adirondacks. The next day when I hiked back out to Marcy Dam I asked the ranger what animal I had seen. He told me I had seen a raccoon. Geez, I had been a Boy Scout and had fed raccoons in the leanto at Boy Scout camp, so I knew what a raccoon looked like. I went home and went to the library and found a picture of a pine marten. That was the animal I had seen.

This year at the junction between South Carter and Carter Dome, I was talking with about 5 hikers who happened to stop. We saw a curious pine marten that kept checking all of us out. He'd move and hide near a tree, and kept an eye on us, but was not in any hurry to run away. Somewhat unusual since this is generally a shy animal.
 
I feel blessed to have seen so many wonders. Some very up close encounters:
While sitting against a tree, a cottontail rabbit ran over my boots. 10 min later a white ermine with black tip on it's tail ran right over the boots in hot pursuit.
California Condor gliding 20' above me at the Grand Canyon.
2 moose calves within arms reach on the shore of a BSP pond with momma watching from deeper water.
Dozens of elk crossing the trail all around us above the tree line in RMNP.
Large black bear and 3 cubs running down a woods road away from us.
Mountain goats in Lake O'Hara area in the Canadian Rockies.
Spruce grouse within petting distance on numerous White Mt summits.
Ruffed grouse exploding from underneath the snow all around us on Balsam Lake Mt.
Ravens 'ballet' on Bondcliff.
Coyote running right next to me.
Porcupines close enough for Bookah to 'touch'.
Nocturnal beaver encounter right on the Avalanche Pass trail.
...And lots of timber rattlesnakes.
 
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Years ago in early spring, I descended off the Carter range into the Wild river valley just to camp as I wanted just one more night out. Anywho, me and my bud where taking a break and just walking around, when I saw a rabbit. Now look, Im not fibbing here, he stood about 28 to 30 inches tall and his ears where at least 10 inches long. I talked to game wardens and such and have yet to find anyone that believes such a rabbit exist, but trust me, he does.
 
I've seen the normal deer, bear, porcupine, birds, squirrels, etc (no moose though). The two that stick out for me both happened on Mt. Monadnock. One was just a quick flash, but I am pretty sure it was a bobcat running away next to me on a lesser used trail. That is the only animal that makes sense given all the circumstances. The more impressive one though, was a Snowy Owl near the summit of Monadnock on a winter hike where I didn't see many other people. The moving white object caught my attention just before take off. It flew off long before I would have gotten my camera out though.
 
One of my coolest interactions was on the Lost Pond trail. We ended up coming across a beautiful red fox (that wasn't rabid so far as we could tell). It had found the rest of someone's discarded sandwich and was happily trotting down the trail with it (it caught up with us while we were stopped). Once it saw us it turned and followed a herd path into the woods.
 
Sleepy_mike, they're not that shy once they discover that backpacks contain food.



I may have told this story here before, but one of my most memorable encounters was while camping in Denali Wilderness. We were camped beside a stream. In the middle of the "night" (there was hardly any darkness, it being spring in Alaska) I was awakened by a splashing noise right beside my tent. Sounded just like a dog lapping water with its tongue. Except ... it would have to be a BIG BIG BIG dog.
Practically everything in my tent was noisy nylon, but somehow I crawled to the door and unzipped it without interrupting the beast... which turned out to be a beaver working upstream through thin ice and slush.
 
Some of my favorites:

My SAR dog and I flushed a couple of wolves that were hunting in a creek bed right below us, in Alaska. We had been working our way into the wind along a ridge that paralleled the creek. I figured at the time that they didn't hear us above the noise of the water. I watched them for a while until they spotted us and exited over the opposite ridge.

My dog came across a bear in the middle of the night in Minnesota. Dog came back to me when called, bear went up a tree.

Another of my SAR dogs and I stumbled across a black bear sow with cubs in Washington, again near noisy water. It was "interesting" to suddenly hear her growling and popping her jaws from amidst brush that I couldn't see into ...

Had a bobcat stalk me once when I was calling turkeys. My first inkling it was nearby came when I heard it land very softly on the stone wall I was braced against.

Had a black bear that would not back off once, alongside a trail on Vancouver Island. This was despite the presence of a German Shepherd Dog, two terriers, my wife and me. Only time I've felt like I didn't control the situation with a bear. We had to make a detour, which is very rare for a black bear encounter.

Don't get me started on porcupine encounters ...
 
A thread resurrection...

Just below the summit of Mt. Moosilauke but above treeline - midday, midweek - we witnessed a snowy owl being chased by a pair of crows. This was a first for me. Curious: Has anyone else on this board seen snowy owls in the Whites? At 4000+ foot elevation? It was pretty awesome!
 
Stinkyfeet said:
A thread resurrection...

Just below the summit of Mt. Moosilauke but above treeline - midday, midweek - we witnessed a snowy owl being chased by a pair of crows. This was a first for me. Curious: Has anyone else on this board seen snowy owls in the Whites? At 4000+ foot elevation? It was pretty awesome!
Click to expand...

I saw one near the summit of Mt. Monadnock (3,165 ft) two winters ago I think it was. No time to get out the camera before it flew away.
 
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