animal sightings

I was reading the last post about moose, and it occured to me that Ive nver seen one on the trail. As a matter of fact I havent seen anything in N.H. while walking. Ive spotted -ran into actually - a doe, on my way up Khatadin, and spotted many bear in western Ma. had a porcupine eat my breakfast at the cape, but Ive never had any encounters in N.H. Is this typical? I consider myself a very quiet and alert person in the woods....maybe im fooling myself.
Anyone out there have any stories to tell?

not seeing much in Maine

I've been working outdoors, at night, in Maine, in fairly remote places, for the last two months. Until last night I had not seen a single deer. I am hoping to see a Moose before I leave, but I am not holding my breath.

I hope to work days at some point so I can see the mountains that, I have heard, are plentiful around here.

Incidently, one thing I did find in Maine that was a very pleasant find is Geary's IPA. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm.

Mike

You aren't the only one teloshykr, most of my animal sightings were outside of NH too. I think it's just there tends to be a lot more people on the trail in NH... (at least where I'm hiking...) while it's easier to get in remote spots in Maine or Vermont.

I tend to see a lot of snowshoe hares in NH and I've seen a black bear & several deer while on the trail in NH, but all of my moose sightings in NH have been on roads (I have seen moose in Maine while on the trail.) My only porky sighting was in VT. I've heard coyotes at night, but I haven't seen them, in both CT & NH.

- Ivy

I've seen moose from the trail in BSP and the Whites in summer.

In BSP they are very common in Sandy Pond, but we also saw one cross the trail between Roaring Brk and Chimney Pnd.

Also came upon a mother and calf while canoeing Fourth Lake Stream (between Fourth and Third Machias Lakes, ME).

In the Whites, I saw one near to and crossing the Gale River Tr .5-1 mi from the parking lot.

Moose like ponds, and moist and swampy areas.

Doug

I had 4 deer run across the back yard this morning in Tyngsboro, MA (just South of Nashua NH) The Beagle and Huskie were outside and did not like it one bit since they were in their kennel. Also saw a very fat Coyote on the way to work two weeks ago. As far as hiking in NH, only seen Moose along the side of the road, an occasional Partridge and a fox. In Vermont - Deer, Bear, Fisher, Coyote ... My little brother, who still lives in Vermont hunted a total of 100 hours this past season and saw just 3 deer, all Doe.

I ran into a moose, or rather he almost ran into me, last May near the Crawford Path trailhead. I had a trip report on here with pictures, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

I've also encountered several large ground-nesting birds. I don't know if they're called pheasants or patridges or grouse or whatever. I do know that they scare the crap out of me most of the time, the way they come flying out of the undergrowth squawking and carrying on.

One other time, I forget which trail it was on, I was surrounded by chipmunks. They were running all around, ahead of me, behind me and along the sides. Chipping away like crazy. There were so many of them and they followed me for quite a while, it was beginning to feel like a Hitchcock movie.

On my daily dog walks here in the Blue Hillls (Ponkapoag side), I feel at times I am on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

I have seen on multiple occasions coyote, deer, fox, owls and Red Tails. Raccoons are common but surprisingly no skunks.

The hawks hunt mainly on the expanses of the golf course. You can sometimes sit on a small hill and watch them hunt...pretty cool.

Peace.

I've seen in WMNF...
-coyote pack feasting on a deer on Mountain Pond at sunrise, then a bald eagle taking a few bites later that day.
-mama bear nursing her three cubs from about 10 feet away.
-spruce grouse sqwawking and faking a broken wing, leading me away from her chicks.
-fisher cat
-falcon, scared the heck out of me on Scaur Ridge
-hundreds of moose encounters, including the time I saw a big bull on the trail when I glanced up Boot Spur Trail from Tuckerman Ravine, as I thought to myself "I'll never see any wildlife on this busy trail".
-a big buck on the top of Deer Hill
You'll see more if you hike solo. Once on Carter-Moriah Ridge, on a busy Saturday, I was hiking down from one of the peaks into a col where I saw a moose and two calves. I stopped and watched them for a few minutes, they were on the trail. Then we all heard the next party coming, talking about some stupid TV show. The mama turned her head toward the noise, her big ears straight out. She quickly trotted into the trees, the calves right behind her. It was about 5 more minutes until the other party arrived at the spot.

Animal Sightings

I dont understand how people can go more than a year without seeing an animal in the White Mountains. The real explanation I think lies in where people hike. Lets just say 80 % of the wildlife are not near busy areas and not near high mountains. I hike into very remote places, and its just insane what happens to me. Ask Steve Smith..I have literaly almost been killed several times. Once by a rutting bull moose in the pemi, another time by hungry black bears in the wrong place(pemi), and many other encounters that got scary as hell. Iv seen about 15 spruce grouse, hiking 20 moose in the wild, 5 bears, falcons, lots of tracks of bobcat and fisher but none seen yet, bunnies, and others. Its just amazing what you can see if you step off trail or go into the more forgotten places. -Matt (check out the link for the moose that almost took my life)
http://www.geocities.com/mattlacroix4/pemi_moose.html

http://www.geocities.com/mattlacroix4/great_outdoors.html

My list...

-Grouse - Lots and lots on the Sandwhich Range.
-Moose - It made a bluff rush at me. I almost crapped myself.
-Lots of deer
-A family of FOX - My first animal sighting ever. It was near Greylock in MA.
-Huge Porkupin (bad spelling) - I was with a youth group. It was night and we first thought it was a bear cub. It was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!
- Paragan Falcon - Also on Sandwhich Range. I was working trail crew and we had to post signs for people not to approach cliff edge. The big daddy falcon almost killed us!
- Lots of dogs!
- This weekend the only sign of wild animals was some small birds and a raven.
- At my old house in Sudbury, MA there was a conservation area behind my place. I used to see tons and tons of deer. Once a moose! Yes a moose! It was on the news.

My daughter's first 4000 footer also included a mother and calf walking through the Nauman tent sites near Pierce/Jackson this past July.
I also hear that Nancy/Norcross Ponds have a lot of moose activity.

Speaking of animal sightings, I solo alot and have often wondered about coming across animals in the wild, will most animals that we have in the northeast just run from the sight or sound of humans?

Howack,

In almost 50 years of living in Vermont, NH & Mass every wild creature I have come across has run, trotted, crawled or waddled (Porcupines) away as fast as they could except Skunks (I run) and rabbits (I'm convinced that they think if they don't move I won't see them). I have fortunately never come across anything that appeared rabid, so I would guess if something like a racoon did not move away I would.

After a lifetime of hiking in the northeast, I had never seen a bear on the trail before last summer. Famine and Feast- I saw two bears four days apart! One near lake Jimmy on my return from Allen (In fact, I saw more bear than people that day, one to zero), the other while trail running through a section of national forest near my house.

Mammals on the peaks

I love spotting wildlife. There ought to be a 'list'.

While walking up NE 100 Highest peaks, I have seen these mammals:

Black bear (North Brother)
White tailed deer (Hamlin and others)
Moose (Tripyramids winter, Boundary, and others)
Coyote (Peak Above)
Red fox (many)
Fisher (Weeks, Killington)
Pine marten (North Brother winter)
Ermine (Bigelows winter)
Beaver (many)
Snowshoe hare (many many)

and of course more common stuff like racoons, porcupines, skunks, squirrels, shrews, mice, bats, etc.

They are around. It helps to get up early and walk alone.

I am still looking for:
Bobcat
Lynx
Catamount
Wolf

Tramper Al,

I've seen two of your wish list in the same area;

Catamount (although F & G deny they exist) low on Blue Ridge near Rutland Vermont.

Bobcat right behind me on top of Bloodroot, also near Rutland Vt. Scariest sound I've ever heard in the woods.

My sister saw a catamount this past fall in Braintree Vt.

I've seen moose very close on the trail in Nova Scotia at Cape Breton National Park and I saw a bald eagle and a bear off in the distance on the same trip. The moose very very docile and didn't run even though there was a lot of activity on the trail.....people running back to their cars for cameras and such.
I've seen a coyote on the side of the road near the trail head to Slide Mt. Usually hiking I think we are too noisy to see many animals, but we usually scare up some grouse. I've heard owls frequently.
I've seen a bobcat twice near my home (northern Dutchess County, across the river from the Catskills) My dad saw one with it's kitten in it's mouth. I've seen a lot of red fox and coyotes. We had a red fox that used to sleep in the tall grass near my clothesline.
I saw something last week that I've never seen before......a flying squirrel sitting inside the metal cage of my squirrel proof bird feeder. It is smaller than a grey squirrel and it has big eyes because it's nocturnal. It has webbed skin under it's legs and it doesn't actually fly, but I did see it glide.

Rugger said:

Tramper Al,

I've seen two of your wish list in the same area;

Catamount (although F & G deny they exist) low on Blue Ridge near Rutland Vermont.

Bobcat right behind me on top of Bloodroot, also near Rutland Vt. Scariest sound I've ever heard in the woods.

My sister saw a catamount this past fall in Braintree Vt.

Click to expand...

Very nice. I tried to track the Acton (MA) lion, but she got away.

I'll have to do some more hiking in the Rutland area. Obviously, the cats are much more active after dark.
I wouldn't mind bumping into a Bobcat while night hiking, but . . .

Have seen lots of moose in Maine and New Hampshire and several bears in New Hampshire. forestnome's list is a good one and if you've ever had the good fortune to see a bear suckling her cubs count yourself very lucky ... on two counts, one seeing such a cuddly sight and two, not being attacked by a defensive Mom. 10 feet!? wow. I saw mine from about 50 feet higher up on Webster cliff.

I'd say you'll see more wildlife the quieter and slower you move. Most wild animals avoid human contact. Just sitting still for a while will likely draw things back out. Often you might be looking right at something and not really see it. I shot a video of a moose about 20 feet away in some brush. She was so well camoflagued that for the first minute or so you cannot discern this hugh bulk from the background ... until she wiggles her ear. Then the whole form takes shape.