Animal Encounters on the Trail

[Remix]

Some company on the Tongue Mountain Loop.....

 

[sardog1]

View attachment 5193

Some company on the Tongue Mountain Loop.....

Looks like a rattlin' good time! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Remix]

Thanks!

Just one important lesson learned--- Snakes detect the presence of prey and predators using infrared "sensors" in their tongue. Most point and shoot cameras launch a powerful infrared beam either to remove red-eye or to ensure that the picture has the correct focus. It would be very wise (for your sake, and the animal's sake) to disable this feature. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[sierra]

One of my favorite encounters was a Fisher at close range ( 10 ft ). He was sitting on a tree branch on the Whitehouse trail and we surprised each other. He hissed at me, spraying spittle in an ungodly fashion. Im perfectly fine with lowering myself ( might not have to go low) to an animals standards, so I started hissing back at him. This competition of whits went on for a few minutes, then I decided to be the bigger animal and move on, as he kept hissing at me. Ok, I might have turned around for one more hiss.

 

[wardsgirl]

I thought I'd be funny and hoot back to the barred owl that called its distinctive hoot in the middle of the night.

I was alone in the Langdon Shelter last fall.... alone until the owl landed in front of the shelter!

"Uh... sorry!" I said.

He gave an indignant squawk and flew off.

 

[Tim Seaver]

I have seen bears, moose, a bobcat, mink, beavers, etc and many birds The rarest, at least for me was a Spruce Grouse
that was on the Baldface Circle Trail between the N and S summits. It let us walk to within a few feet of it before it walked off into the scrub.

That's exactly the spot where this guy came out courting me for a good ten minutes. Pretty brave birds!:

 

[sardog1]

That's exactly the spot where this guy came out courting me for a good ten minutes. Pretty brave birds!:

Great pic! That thing looks like it's ready to take on a capercaillie.

 

[sierra]

Im no Botonist, but you know that moss like vegetation that grows along trail corridors? It grows shoots in the spring and the Grouse love it. Ive seen many walking along the trail nibbling. Unfortunately, those days are gone, My Aussie Bud has cut down on my wildlife sightings verses my solo days. I miss the Grey Jays the most.

 

[jrbren]

Not a VFTT experience, but it was a trail. Last Saturday while hiking at a point on the Wachusett Reservoir, where I know there is a bald eagle's nest on a small island about 100 yards off shore, I spied the nest carefully looking for any signs of the eagle, who I have only seen once there, a year ago in the spring No signs of the eagle on the island. Then I heard a large commotion right about my head like a huge bird being startled and taking flight. Sure enough, I got a great view of the eagle's butt as he flew away. He headed for the island and circled a bit so I saw all sides of him, albeit from a distance (could have been her, I do not recall if the white head is only a male thing with these birds). In the northeast mountains, I rarely see larger animals. My only bear sighting was at high noon at the hitch up Matilda's in the ADKs many years ago. I recall a red pine marten near the Indian falls campground in the ADKs during a winter descent of Marcy a few years back.I have seen white tail deer a few times in the mountains, but not nearly as much as a saw in my back yard in South Hero VT when I lived up there, or in the woods around the Wachusett. My moose sightings are numerous but almost always on the drive there or back along side the road. Hearing spruce grouse is almost as common as White Throated sparrow, but I have only seen them on a couple of occasions. I suspect wild life sees me much more often then the other way around.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

I suspect wild life sees me much more often then the other way around.

This is very true. Over the years Lauky has let me know many times that we were being observed from the woods and in some cases even followed for a while. There have been times I have had to restrain him from going after whatever it was. Sometimes I wish I had his sense of smell, although in through hiker season I think I'm better off as I am.

 

[TCD]

On a similar note, my wife and I were setting up camp about 200' from a very popular trail. It was early May (no leaves), so we could easily stand still and watch many parties walk by on the trail (In this case, WE were the wildlife!) One family walked by, about 5 humans, absolutely no awareness of our presence. Their dog, who was following a couple steps behind, walked along until he was parallel to us, and then just turned his head and looked at us, and smiled: "Of course I know you are there."

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Their dog, who was following a couple steps behind, walked along until he was parallel to us, and then just turned his head and looked at us, and smiled: "Of course I know you are there."

The nose knows.

Tim

 

[rup]

All of the above, and I hesitate to mention this again given the reception it got 2-3 years ago, active signs of what must have been bigfoot. Anyhow, the incidents so thoughly scared the cr@p out of my wife and 2 others that they refuse to go into the woods anymore.

 

[Tom Rankin]

While I am not one of them, there are a few people who take Bigfoot seriously. By that, I mean they are gathering evidence with the goal of forming a conclusion, positive or negative. If that sort of sounds like the scientific method, you are correct!

Contact them and see what they have to say about your experience.

There have been large mammals 'discovered' by science in the 20th and even 21st century.

P.S. Many people would have a hard time disproving the notion that the Earth is flat!

 

[Hillwalker]

My most exciting encounter animal encounter was while on my way out from Zealand Hut just after "leaf out". Just before the A to Z trail intersection I left the trail for a short distance to take care of some business. I had nearly finished digging the "cat hole" when I heard some rustling in the brush. I paused in pulling up my trou and looked into the wood to see a gigantic black shape slowly heading my way. My pack was at my feet but I managed to get my camera out of its pouch and stood still while a huge Bull Moose came up to within about six feet of me and stopped. I took a couple of pictures, and talked calmly to him about how good it was that he wasn't going to kill me. He had been headed directly toward me and here I was immobilized by being a bit dishabille. He paused, not directly looking at me, urinated about a gallon, and then proceeded off at a slight angle from me. One funny thing that sticks in my memory was how dark his pee was and that he needed serious hydration.

 

[summitseeker]

My most exciting encounter animal encounter was while on my way out from Zealand Hut just after "leaf out". Just before the A to Z trail intersection I left the trail for a short distance to take care of some business. I had nearly finished digging the "cat hole" when I heard some rustling in the brush. I paused in pulling up my trou and looked into the wood to see a gigantic black shape slowly heading my way. My pack was at my feet but I managed to get my camera out of its pouch and stood still while a huge Bull Moose came up to within about six feet of me and stopped. I took a couple of pictures, and talked calmly to him about how good it was that he wasn't going to kill me. He had been headed directly toward me and here I was immobilized by being a bit dishabille. He paused, not directly looking at me, urinated about a gallon, and then proceeded off at a slight angle from me. One funny thing that sticks in my memory was how dark his pee was and that he needed serious hydration.

View attachment 5201

Wow! That is a truly impressive animal encounter.

I am glad he was an amiable sort of bull and that things ended well for you. In that situation and position it is unlikely that you would have been able to make much of an escape if the tables turned. I was only about 8 feet from black bear when I turned the bend and it was too busy watching the approaching hiker to notice me. I paused and "clicked" my poles together and gave a very calm and relatively quiet "Hey Bear". It ran off without pause and much to my relief.

It makes one wonder how the volume and tone of the human voice are interpreted by wild animals. I assume if they have heard humans before they can recognize excited tones versus normal ones. That is pure conjecture on my part of course, but I am guessing that screaming at an animal conveys a different message.


Thank you Hillwalker and, of course, everyone else for sharing their accounts. I am glad that people are still contributing to this thread.

Z

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

While I am not one of them, there are a few people who take Bigfoot seriously. By that, I mean they are gathering evidence with the goal of forming a conclusion, positive or negative. If that sort of sounds like the scientific method, you are correct!

Contact them and see what they have to say about your experience.

There have been large mammals 'discovered' by science in the 20th and even 21st century.

P.S. Many people would have a hard time disproving the notion that the Earth is flat!

 

[Driver8]

My friend and I saw our first bear on trail today - and on our first hike together, at that! It looked to be about two years old, I'd guess. A small adult, on the east bank of the Housatonic River in North Kent, CT, opposite the Appalachian Trail, where we were hiking, very close to Kent Falls, State park. We watched it rummage round on the opposite bank for about three minutes and took some photos and video of it. I'm not having luck posting these now. Will try tomorrow on a different computer.

 

[blacknblue]

Coming across wildlife can be exciting and a bit frightening. In the Sierras, I came across a bear and two cubs in the dark, within 10-15 yards, via headlamp. That was... exciting. I've come across bears a number of times, usually without incident, although with cubs a few times.

I've seen moose several times with hiking. I got to watch a moose swim across a pond in Baxter SP; they swim surprisingly fast.

I once bailed out of a campsite overnight when a skunk was harassing me.

A friend and I came across a rattlesnake in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think I jumped about twenty feet in the air after almost stepping on it.

In Florida, I've seen wild boars and an alligator or two. (Though it hardly qualifies as 'hiking' when hiking in FL.)

In the Grayson Highlands of Virginia, there are wild ponies that are quite tame. We had 18 of them invade our campsite once. They don't mind being petted at all.

In Colorado and Banff, I've seen a lot of mountain goats. It's pretty amazing the terrain that they travel.

I've also seen pine martens, foxes, deer, grouse, owls, eagles, gray jays, porcupines, coyotes, and probably others I can't think of right now.

 

[Grey J]

Two snake encounters from my days in Florida stand out. I once came across a HUGE rattlesnake blocking a trail near the Santa Fe River. He raised his head and shook his tail and I thanked him for the warning and cut a very wide berth around him. Working as a seasonal at Ichetucknee State Park, I found a guy scrabbling around on hands and knees in the brush off trail. "Did you lose something?" I asked him. "No, I'm looking for this beautiful little snake I saw. It's red and yellow and black." When he stood up, the coral snake emerged from the leaves where he was rummaging around with bare hands. I informed him of his close call and told him that it would be safer to stay on the trail and not go snake hunting.