wild animal stories, got one??

[Silver Fox]

Several yrs ago I was camping at the top of Stehieken(?) Lake in WA. Was a gorgeous cold autumn night, so my mummy bag was tied tight round my face. after watchin the stars and drifting to sleep, I felt something at my feet. I open my eyes to see a bear pawing at my bag!!! I can't get out of my bag so I jump up & scream for all I'm worth. She rears up & I see a cub with her. I'm thinkin ok they're gonna find me in bear scat, but she makes a wierd scream herself & runs off into the dark. My campin buddy has been watchin all this happen & is about as white as a ghost. We knew there was supposed to be a camp hut up the path so without sayin a thing we pack up & shakily make our way to it. the sleeping shelves are about 6 ft off the ground so up we go. Believe it or not I was actually able to go back to sleep after about 4 hours of shaking. Once again I wake to something pawing at my bag!!!!! My hiking buddy is pawing & cracking up!! That was the last time I ever hiked with him! & no he lived to tell about it. I didn't kill him. but sure as hoot thought about it!!

Well, not quite a wild animal tale, but wild nevertheless. I went to Quebec on a day trip with my metal detector and was left at a park to be picked up later. I was scoping the area to find a place to start when I heard screaming and galloping. In front of me I saw a carriage being pulled by a horse that had spooked and the 2 passengers were holding on for dear life as it looked like the carriage was going to overturn at any minute. The driver was on foot running just behind the teetering carriage yelling commands at the horse. I was in the path of the horse and the look on this animal's face was just one of fear. I din't know which way to go 'cause I didn't know which way HE was gonna go. So, I froze and fortunately about 20 feet away the horse veered to one side and the carriage was toppled with the passengers being thrown off but landing unharmed. The horse came to a stop and for a moment we all stood around shocked. I'll never forget the look on the horse's face.

Silver Fox

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

Animal story from today in South Florida: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-401gatornabbed,0,338400.story Wandering 10-foot gator halts traffic on State Road 7. Just a normal day.

 

[mamabear]

hope he can run fast! I would not want his job!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

hope he can run fast! I would not want his job!

Usually special trained animal control agents like Pesky Critters are called, but the local police lassoed, duct taped and hogtied this guy up themselves and did a good job!

 

[mamabear]

above & beyond the call of duty! with a name like bigcypresshunter, you must wrestle some gators for treasure.

 

[fossis]

With springtime here at last, the 'Snapping turtles' are moving from place to place, in search of mates, & greener pasture.
On my way back from the post office, I picked up one on the hwy to show my Grandkids, & let them see how fast they can 'strike' at you.
I turned him on his back to show how he can use his nose to turn over, & demonstrated how to distract them & pick them up by the tail.
After a warning to never get their hands or feet near enough to be bitten, I released it in a local creek.

Fossis..............

 

[bluestem]

River Rat...

I discovered Puff Adders as a teenager while out riding my horse. I thought some nutcase had lost his "pet" Cobra!! I was so relieved to find out it was native and non-poisonous.

Another black panther story. My brother and his family lived on the edge of the Big Thicket in East Texas for several years on an old farm. They had lots of wildlife adventures, mostly unpleasant. They heard the screaming woman several different nights. One night they were coming home from somewhere and a black panther walked right in front of their car in their driveway. It had just walked right past their porch and didn't seem at all concerned about their moving car. They had to brake for it. They finally gave up on that place and moved back to civilization.

We had a little bug problem when we first moved in to this house. We were sleeping on an air mattress at the time. One night when hubby was out of town I woke up because something was crawling up the top of my head and onto my forehead. I very sleepily reached up, picked it off of my forehead and threw it. Then wondered what bug feels like a stick? I thought of a walking stick, a praying mantis...surely I didn't just pick up scorpion by the tail off of my forehead. That's just too creepy to contemplate. I turned on the light and there was a scorpion on hubby's pillow.

Yes. A scorpion was on my forehead and I managed to grab it right under the stinger. *shudder*

Boy, did we go round and round that bedroom! It kept getting under the air mattress and it took both of my hands to throw the mattress as best I could, and before I could grab something to kill it with, it would dart back under the mattress. I finally won. And moved into the living room.

I've never been fond of scorpions, they've always kind of made my stomach roll, but now I have a much stronger aversion to them. And I had some trouble sleeping for awhile. You know when you lay down and the hairs on the top of your head succumb to gravity one by one? That's EXACTLY what it feels like when a scorpion crawls up your head.

About a week later I was washing dishes and felt something on the high side of my ankle. It was a scorpion. I was surprised it got so far up my leg before I felt it. Now before the forehead incident I would have calmly taken a plate or something and flicked it off of my leg before killing it. But oh, no. I just wasn't capable of that anymore. I had an all out shrieking, foot stomping, dancing around hissy fit. I thought it would run, but it just slowly slid my leg a little further with every stomp. Seemed to take forever.

It turned out one of our air ducts wasn't quite sealed. Once that got fixed, no more scorpions. I'm sitting here thinking summer is coming. Canada is looking good.

 

[Bridge End Farm]

With springtime here at last, the 'Snapping turtles' are moving from place to place, in search of mates, & greener pasture.
On my way back from the post office, I picked up one on the hwy to show my Grandkids, & let them see how fast they can 'strike' at you.
I turned him on his back to show how he can use his nose to turn over, & demonstrated how to distract them & pick them up by the tail.
After a warning to never get their hands or feet near enough to be bitten, I released it in a local creek.

Fossis..............

We call them aligator turtles here Fos and your right they can take your finger off. You have to be quite careful as they can almost reach around and get you going for their tail.
Seen some as big as wash tub but not in years. They are protected in Florida now.

 

[mamabear]

we have 2 types of snappers here. the alligator snapper is protected here too. the first time my husband saw one was when he pulled one in to the boat while we were fishin. we had just pulled up our trot lines with 2 cats that had been munched on. he got a bite on his rod, so he reels it up when I see it's a snapper I say cut the line, don't bring that thing in here. (it's a little 12 ft dinghy) but does he listen? oh noooo! he pulls it in & drops it in the middle. you should have seen him jump when it shot out its neck & bit through the pole! he didn't know their necks extend so far, & that they move faster than the speed of light! luckily no one was hurt but the turtle. we tried eatin a soft shell turtle, but it was really muddy tasting. we made it when my in-laws were visiting. they were very polite about it, but don't think they wish to have that dining experience again! it's just about time to see them coming out of hibernation again.

why did the 'possem cross the road? to show the snapper it could be done!

 

[mamabear]

bluestem, I don't like scorpions either. when I lived in Hawaii, we had to put the legs of my daughters crib in deep bowls of water so they & the poisonous centipedes wouldn't crawl up the legs. who said that's Paradise?

 

[Bridge End Farm]

we have 2 types of snappers here. the alligator snapper is protected here too. the first time my husband saw one was when he pulled one in to the boat while we were fishin. we had just pulled up our trot lines with 2 cats that had been munched on. he got a bite on his rod, so he reels it up when I see it's a snapper I say cut the line, don't bring that thing in here. (it's a little 12 ft dinghy) but does he listen? oh noooo! he pulls it in & drops it in the middle. you should have seen him jump when it shot out its neck & bit through the pole! he didn't know their necks extend so far, & that they move faster than the speed of light! luckily no one was hurt but the turtle. we tried eatin a soft shell turtle, but it was really muddy tasting. we made it when my in-laws were visiting. they were very polite about it, but don't think they wish to have that dining experience again! it's just about time to see them coming out of hibernation again.

why did the 'possem cross the road? to show the snapper it could be done!

Next time you have one ask I will give you my recipe for soft shell turtles

 

[Bridge End Farm]

bluestem, I don't like scorpions either. when I lived in Hawaii, we had to put the legs of my daughters crib in deep bowls of water so they & the poisonous centipedes wouldn't crawl up the legs. who said that's Paradise?

what about those cane spiders? ever see them?

 

[mamabear]

my first experience with a cane spider was on my first night in Hawaii. I woke up to see one on the wall right by my face. They are Huge! now I fight black widows! rather have cane spiders!

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

That's funny about the scorpions (I know, not to you), but it reminds me of our neighbor, who found a tarantula by her front door - she totally freaked out and killed it.

Then she called the exterminator, because she wanted her entire house searched and kill every single one of them.

After 2 whole days of 2 guys going through every single nook and cranny of her home, they hadn't found any others, and told her so.

She was very relieved and finally was willing to come back to her house and sleep. (she had gone to her sister's house).

The one exterminator was a curious, though - he was adamant that there were no more tarantulas, but wanted to know if she wanted them to do anything with the 14 bark scorpions they found in her bedroom closet!!!!! (they had already destroyed them, and put them in a jar).


B

 

[mamabear]

aren't bark scorpions poisonous?

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

The smallest AND the most poisonous.

B

 

[mamabear]

Mrs. O where do they live? I don't want to meet one in a dark alley.

 

[mamabear]

Bridge end, do you make turtle soup? my Pop use to fry the turtes & they wern't too bad. course he fried everyhing 'cept cow tongue.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Bridge end, do you make turtle soup? my Pop use to fry the turtes & they wern't too bad. course he fried everyhing 'cept cow tongue.

You seem to know a lot about cooking wild animals, mamabear. I hunt wild hogs here in Florida. I can cook pork roast. But how do a make a nice juicy pink ham, like they sell in stores? Something with salt? I tried a smoker but it is not the same. It is not pink.


bark scorpian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_bark_scorpion

 

[mamabear]

bigcy, my family use to make hams, but it's not easy, pretty or pleasant to smell. there are different methods, brines, injections, etc. all involve aging, some smoking, and hanging in a climate controlled environment. I would do a lot of research before I would try it. best to get an elder from your community to show you. It's not impossible, but I have ruined a few hams before, & was greatly dissapointed. myself, I love chops, & tenderloin, & the local meat shops specialty ham.