Your Most Interesting Wildlife Sightings!!
I think many of us GBers are or were outdoorsmen. I'm sure many of us have seen many really great things in the great outdoors. So share some of the things you were lucky enough to see.
I have many interesting stories but one was when I was 22 and in the Jim Bridger National Forest in Wyoming. I stopped my truck, got out and stood on a culvert that ran under the gravel road. It was still light but the light was fading pretty rapidly. The culvert was about 24 to 30 inches in diameter. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement. As I slowly turned my head to see what the movement was I realized not only was I looking at a beaver, he was swimming towards me. He swam right into the culvert I was standing on. I ran across the road, stood at the very edge of the other side of the culvert and got to watch the beaver swim out of the culvert all of 18 inches below the soles of my shoes. This same evening I jumped two elk, the first elk I had ever seen in the wild!!
Ok. I'm going to beat a couple of you to the punch!! The wildlife sightings I'm refering to have nothing to do with seeing a couple of naked chicks skinny dipping or other forms of human wild behavior!![:D][}:)][:D]
I have many interesting stories but one was when I was 22 and in the Jim Bridger National Forest in Wyoming. I stopped my truck, got out and stood on a culvert that ran under the gravel road. It was still light but the light was fading pretty rapidly. The culvert was about 24 to 30 inches in diameter. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement. As I slowly turned my head to see what the movement was I realized not only was I looking at a beaver, he was swimming towards me. He swam right into the culvert I was standing on. I ran across the road, stood at the very edge of the other side of the culvert and got to watch the beaver swim out of the culvert all of 18 inches below the soles of my shoes. This same evening I jumped two elk, the first elk I had ever seen in the wild!!
Ok. I'm going to beat a couple of you to the punch!! The wildlife sightings I'm refering to have nothing to do with seeing a couple of naked chicks skinny dipping or other forms of human wild behavior!![:D][}:)][:D]
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I posted the story with pics a few years ago, in Yellowstone I had the honor of watching a few wolves try to take down a buffalo, the buffalo won and the wolves sat on thier asses howling for quite awhile after. 0 -
You re minded me of one. My Run in with a Peacock.
Was riding into work on the Harley when I see something in my lane ahead. Just for safety I had slowed down, Got closer but because It was early could not tell what it was till it fanned out all those feathers.
That is one way to wake up fast.0 -
to me, these days of being a "in town" dweller, i am blessed with all kinds of wildlife sightings, albeit in an urban setting. i provide birdseed, and other goodies, for the various critters around. a new visitor recently is getting my attention lately..i know its someone's pet, probably discarded, and living wild.it visits 2 times daily to partake of the birdseed, cracked corn, and clover in my lawn...i've never seen one this color before. 
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You are right Dad, that is certainly a domestic. Pretty little bunny too. Probably will not last long. 0 -
Looks like a Palimino rabbit to me. If it weighs 7 to 10 lbs. that is probably what it is but it could easily be a crossed up Heinze 57, particularly if it is a small rabbit (4 to 6 lbs.). 0 -
About twenty years ago I was sitting in a ground blind on the opening day of whitetail season in Northern Illinois. It was cold and the wind was blowing 20 MPH +. I was on a hill facing North but was sheltered by a higher hill 40 yards over.
A young red tail hawk was circling and dropped out of the sky and nailed a big rabbit. He killed it quickly and feed on it for awhile. The Hawk then grasped it in both talons and took off with a great deal of effort. He was fine until he rose high enough to catch the wind. It flipped him over and he tumbled through the air all the way to the ground.
He hit pretty hard and just layed there for a minute or two, but never
let go of the rabbit. The hawk finally popped up and just shook his head and looked at the rabbit. He then nailed it again like he was tryin to kill it again....He fed on it for another 20 minutes or so and left..
Same deer blind and placement but a year or so later. Right as the sun came up a big raccooon walked right past my blind and headed down the hill. At the bottom he started climbing a tall straight bearch tree and got about 20 feet up when the bark gave way and he fell stright down.
He hit with a loud thumb and just layed there not moving at all. I figured he killed himself with the fall. Almost twenty minutes later he jumped up and fell back over. He sat down like a dog and just shook his head back and forth. After getting his berrings, he slowly walked away...0 -
About twenty years ago I was sitting in a ground blind on the opening day of whitetail season in Northern Illinois. It was cold and the wind was blowing 20 MPH +. I was on a hill facing North but was sheltered by a higher hill 40 yards over.
A young red tail hawk was circling and dropped out of the sky and nailed a big rabbit. He killed it quickly and feed on it for awhile. The Hawk then grasped it in both talons and took off with a great deal of effort. He was fine until he rose high enough to catch the wind. It flipped him over and he tumbled through the air all the way to the ground.
He hit pretty hard and just layed there for a minute or two, but never
let go of the rabbit. The hawk finally popped up and just shook his head and looked at the rabbit. He then nailed it again like he was tryin to kill it again....He fed on it for another 20 minutes or so and left..
Same deer blind and placement but a year or so later. Right as the sun came up a big raccooon walked right past my blind and headed down the hill. At the bottom he started climbing a tall straight bearch tree and got about 20 feet up when the bark gave way and he fell stright down.
He hit with a loud thumb and just layed there not moving at all. I figured he killed himself with the fall. Almost twenty minutes later he jumped up and fell back over. He sat down like a dog and just shook his head back and forth. After getting his berrings, he slowly walked away...0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
You are right Dad, that is certainly a domestic. Pretty little bunny too. Probably will not last long.
i figure he is a crossbreed..his fluffy tail is same as a cottontail, the ear size and control suggests wild also. however his body length is shorter than wild. very compact form, at most 4 lbs but getting bigger. he has been around since march of last year. i believe he is taking up residence under a bunch of pruned tree limbs i have in the back yard waiting for the next burning season.[fall] if he is still there i wont burn the slash.0 -
Two catfish larger one had the smaller one by the head both upside down getting sun burned.
Still good eating0 -
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Watched the Amazing, Dizzying, mating Dance of Bald Eagles one Spring while waiting for Wife who was shopping at COSTCO.
Incredible! Time and again Climbing nearly out of sight, grappling a d tumbling till just before the ground!!! Amazing!0 -
This was one of my more interesting sightings. I was working out at the edge of our lawn when I heard a real commotion near the top of the tall Pine Trees just off our driveway. I looked up in time to see a Kestrel, what we always called a Sparrow Hawk, fly out of the top of a Pine with a baby Blue Jay in its talons and mom and pop Blue Jay chasing it and making all sorts of noise. I watched them fly out of sight and then went back to work. About 10 minutes later I heard the same commotion again and witnessed the same scenario, Kestrel with a baby Blue Jay and mom and pop giving chase. This same scenario repeated one more time, but the forth time the Kestrel came up empty; I guess the nest was picked clean.
When I told my wife what I'd witnessed, she was really sad for the Blue Jays, until I explained to her how big of a bully Blue Jays are!0 -
quote:Originally posted by Old-Colts
This was one of my more interesting sightings. I was working out at the edge of our lawn when I heard a real commotion near the top of the tall Pine Trees just off our driveway. I looked up in time to see a Kestrel, what we always called a Sparrow Hawk, fly out of the top of a Pine with a baby Blue Jay in its talons and mom and pop Blue Jay chasing it and making all sorts of noise. I watched them fly out of sight and then went back to work. About 10 minutes later I heard the same commotion again and witnessed the same scenario, Kestrel with a baby Blue Jay and mom and pop giving chase. This same scenario repeated one more time, but the forth time the Kestrel came up empty; I guess the nest was picked clean.
When I told my wife what I'd witnessed, she was really sad for the Blue Jays, until I explained to her how big of a bully Blue Jays are!
From what I've seen around here that would be called payback.0 -
Got some lousy pics of bobcat at 100 yd plates. He watched me, got closer and then went all out for me. I ran to car, slamming doors as I got around to my door, on Thursday and unarmed cept for Bobcat.22 in pocket. 0 -
Watching one of my cats sitting face to face with a fox. Having the other chased up a tree by a squirrel. The cat was 4 times larger then the squirrel. 0 -
I was working construction in SW Wyoming about 30 years ago, digging ditches. I was with about 3-4 other shovelers down in a cut-away trench, about 12-15' below ground level with the 4' safety side steps dug out when a badger dropped down into the end of the trench and came running towards us. Luckily he saw us when he got to within about 30 feet of us- maybe the commotion of so many people scrambling to climb those side walls, or maybe the smell of panic- but he turned around and headed back the way he had come.
About 10 years ago I was sitting on a bluff in Western SD looking for antelope, and I watched a hawk dive for a rabbit but the rabbit ducked into a hole just in time. The hawk sat there for a couple of minutes and took to the sky again. About 10 minutes later I saw him dive around a corner I couldn't see, but soon he came laboring back with about a 3 foot snake wiggling below him and I watched him fly off, struggling to keep altitude.
The meanest animal I've encountered was a blue grouse in Western Oregon while bowhunting, I never even saw the bugger, but my heart stopped beating for several minutes.0 -
quote:Originally posted by GreatGuns
I had two, from a pack of five wolves run right past me while I was laying prone about to drop a bull elk. The other three were chasing a cow elk, nipping at her hind quarters until she went down. Her calf just stood there watching. The herd ran back into the woods, so although I lost my shot, I had a wolf tag and took one of the wolves. Also took one of the cow quarters after approval from FWP (who also watched it happen). As soon as we walked away, the pack came back to finish what they started with the cow elk. [^]
That's too cool.
Good wolf is a dead wolf.
Too bad you you couldn't have whacked him before they worked the cow over.
Mule0 -
Had my motorhome parked next to a big lake in Alaska just after sunup one morning. I had fished the night before and having my first cup of coffee while in the driver's seat, prior to cleaning my meager bounty when a middle aged female walked up next to my door right out of the blue. I rolled the window down and gave a pleasant greeting. She began talking about fishing and that she had spied some fish on a stringer at the water's edge, (mine), and that they were dead or dying along with some other negative type comments about cruelty. I guess I'm a bit slow sometimes, because she turned and walked off before I could determine how to handle what had just happened. I had never met an activist face to face that I could ever remember. I'm here to tell you that when they have their mouth shut they appear to be of our species. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by grumpygy
quote:Originally posted by Smitty500mag
Probably not the most interesting but definitely the most surprising. Rounded a curve in Yellow Stone and suddenly we were beside this big guy lumbering down the road. He didn't even bother looking.
Camp Pendelton Casey Springs they are all over the place. I was fishing one of the springs and heard my trucks springs creaking. Had one scratching on the front fender. Lucky it was an old beater truck. Had to stay where I was till it was gone.
Camped at Casey Springs area at a unit party back in '81. Night began to come and I drove my Alfa next to the lake, laid the driver's seat most all the way back and went to sleep. Woke up about dawn with a Buffalo snout inches from me. The animals breathing was rather loud and his nostrils very wet. One big eye was looking dead at me for the longest. Finally the thing wandered off. The animal was huge. I peered out the window and a whole herd of them were camped out around me and the edge of the lake. A few minutes later they got up and walked to the other side of the lake.0 -
This close encounter i actually got on video. I was hunting in the stand on a very windy day and not seeing anything. I decided to go find the deer my self since the wind was so bad they were most likely bedded down. I was doing a spot and stalk style of hunt, walking very slowly down a old logging road. This buck came out of the brush and never saw me until i spoke up. Was pretty funny really....
Here is the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C7PCaAic1Y0 -
Saw this pie bald on the way home from work one night. Made a quick u turn , rolled the window down and gave a sharp whistle SNAP this was a cool deer0 -
quote:Originally posted by 4406v
Saw this pie bald on the way home from work one night. Made a quick u turn , rolled the window down and gave a sharp whistle SNAP this was a cool deer
IIRC you posted that picture here right after that encounter? Cool, I've never seen one.0
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