# Lots of Wildlife in My Yard and in My House



## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Just a few minutes ago, I walked out and saw 25 wild turkeys in my yard.  Whew, they are oooogly.  Not nearly as ugly or as large as the turkey vulture I saw in a tree once.  My german shepherd spotted it and barked at it.  He really went bonkers.  When it flew away, you could hear the wings flapping. 

Every once in awhile we see red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons. 

We have tons of coyotes here.  It's rare to see one during daylight hours.  Yesterday, I was outside around 4:00 pm (practicing my form!) and I saw a golden-colored "dog" on the back of the property.  It was running along our creek.  It was definitely a coyote.  I like to walk my dog back there but now am concerned there could be a coyote den back there.  Coyotes usually run around 30 - 40 pounds and my german shepherd is about 85#, but coyotes often travel in packs.

Two winter ago, I saw bear tracks in the snow in my backyard.  Now bears/bear tracks scare the heck out of me.

When it gets dry here, the cougars come down from the hills.  About two months ago, I was walking my dog after dark and I heard a wild cat not too far from the neighbor's horse.  The scratching "wee-owww" sound it made was so loud it echoed.  I got home pretty fast.

Of course we see deer every day of the year up here.  One time, there were over 10 in my yard.  If you go out at night, you can hear a buck snort every once in awhile.  We have to be careful because bucks can be aggressive.  I can't believe it, but we haven't hit a deer with a car yet.  You'll be driving along a country road, 45 mph, and boom, a deer will run out in front of you.  Then, they turn and go back in front of you again.  Then, they turn and go the other way again.  They give you at least three chances to hit them.  Next, their herd tries the same thing, usually two to five more.  On the highways that are 55 - 65 mph, the deer explode if a tractor-trailer hits them.

Skunks.  You think skunk smells are bad?  My husband thinks my coffee smells the same.  I say Coronas smell like skunks.  One night, we had a smell to beat all.  Because we live in the Northeast, we don't have air conditioning on the ground floor.  We sleep with the windows open in the summer (unless it's too cool).  Gee whiz.  A smell woke us up about 1:00 am.  It was horrible, all-consuming.  I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes.  My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad.  Our eyes began burning, tearing up.  The smell kept us awake all night long.  We figured it was a skunk though.  It must have been outside of our bedroom window.

Then there are the owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs.  The groundhogs leave huge holes and you have to be careful.  You could break a leg if your leg went inside of one.  I have come face-to-face with groundhog families.  They are fat devils.  The babies are cute.  My german shepherd nosed a baby and it shrieked and ran off.

Unfortunately, we have squirrels that live in our attic and have storage places in the ceiling and the walls.  It's not unusual to hear plop, plop, plop in the wee hours of the morning as nuts fall into the wall or skitter across the ceiling.  I don't know if they are playing soccer or what.

The mice aren't so cute. Neither are the rats.  Once we had set mousetraps.  We went to check on the mousetraps and they'd all disappeared.  Gone.  Zip. Zero.  I bought a rat trap and caught a big ol' greast rat in my root cellar.  I guess he'd been carting off the mousetraps with the mousies in them.  Yuk.  Now, the mice have returned.  I need another rat.


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## Bigshadow (Sep 20, 2007)

Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York.   HAHAHA  



Lynne said:


> A smell woke us up about 1:00 am.  It was horrible, all-consuming.  I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes.  My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad.  Our eyes began burning, tearing up.  The smell kept us awake all night long.  We figured it was a skunk though.  It must have been outside of our bedroom window.



That was probably a bear!  They stink awfully bad!  

Of course it could have been sasquatch or what is called a "Skunk Ape", maybe it was the chupacabra!  HAHAHA :lfao:   J/K


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## tshadowchaser (Sep 20, 2007)

with out the deer ( seldom see them in town) it sounds like my yard.
we have all of those lovely critter around this place.
Hell my wife goes out and pets a couple of the skunks ( I am waiting till they spry her because it is only a matter of time) and one of the little things sits by her as she waits for a ride to work each morning.
If I travel a few miles we get to see the der. The bears, well there have been more than a few that wondered into town.
The police station had a visit from a young Moose the other year.
And we have bald eagles around here also ( they are simply beautiful)

Seeing all of this wild life is one of the reason I love the country


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Bigshadow said:


> Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York.  HAHAHA
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Luckily, we live in an agricultural area, the foothills of the Appalachians.  But the taxes are high.  The electricity is outrageous at around .15/kwh.  The winters are rough.  I grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, lived in Fort Worth Texas, and have lived in Seattle, Washington.  There's nothing like stepping outside in the winter and your nose hairs freeze instantly, lol.  I can't walk my dog in the winter of course.  Poor guy.  You can't do anything outdoors.

Maybe that was a bear.  It really didn't smell like a skunk.  There was a skunky smell but it had the other smells going on.  You would have thought someone had been peeling yellow onions our eyes were burning so bad.  We even closed the windows and we could still smell it and our eyes continued to burn with the windows closed.

We've seen black bears (mother and cub) about 2 miles from where we live.  It spooks me, especially when they have cubs.

Seems the chupacabra is a South American or Southwestern thing.  You never know!  They could migrate.


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## bydand (Sep 20, 2007)

Sounds like a bear was right outside your window.  They stink something awful.  I have been really close to several bears and most of the time they are not too bad, but always have this earthy, skunky, almost "hot" smell to them.  If it has been a hot period without rain for a bit, they get downright ripe. Shoot I've had bears climb into my basement around here, just leave the outside door open and they always head for home by early evening.  Moose in the front yard several times, and I live right in town. 

Your electricity is outrageous?  Trade you for mine here in Northern Maine - 428Kw just ran me $187.


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

tshadowchaser said:


> with out the deer ( seldom see them in town) it sounds like my yard.
> we have all of those lovely critter around this place.
> Hell my wife goes out and pets a couple of the skunks ( I am waiting till they spry her because it is only a matter of time) and one of the little things sits by her as she waits for a ride to work each morning.
> If I travel a few miles we get to see the der. The bears, well there have been more than a few that wondered into town.
> ...


When we were living in Washington state, my husband had gotten a job offer here in NY.  New York!  Ugh.  Then, my husband explained that the area near Binghamton was rural, argicultural, with small mountains (or is it large hills!?).  Oh, ok, no concrete jungles.  I've never been to New York City and have no desire to go except maybe visit the museums.

So you don't have the deer?  Well, they are beautiful.  I do have to be careful during deer season.  I will not go on the back of my property.  There are field on the other side of our creek and there are hills and fields all around us.  Accidents can happen.  Also, we have fools who live next door.  The young woman said she had almost shot me twice when I was walking my dog.  Gee.  Thanks.

Your wife pets the skunks and has actually made friends with one?  How cute until...I've heard those fumes can be very overwhelming, maybe even take your breath.  I don't know if that's an old wive's tale or not.  How did she get close, start feeding them?

I think we're lucky to hear the coyotes.  Actually, the "townfolk" don't hear the coyotes at all.  They live in a suburban neighborhood with a green that looks straight out of Currier and Ives. Go down the road three miles and you are in the country.  I think their calls and howls are a hoot.  One night we were startled - we thought a woman was screaming and then realized it was a coyote.  Then, the others joined in and were yipping like crazy.

We have an almost 90-degree curve about 1/8 of a mile from us.  The milk trucks wake us up about 4:00 am some mornings.  They have to apply their air brakes going around that curve.

We don't have much of a spring here and the growing season is short.  But the fall and summer are very nice.  

Living in the country isn't as quiet as some people might think


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

bydand said:


> Sounds like a bear was right outside your window. They stink something awful. I have been really close to several bears and most of the time they are not too bad, but always have this earthy, skunky, almost "hot" smell to them. If it has been a hot period without rain for a bit, they get downright ripe. Shoot I've had bears climb into my basement around here, just leave the outside door open and they always head for home by early evening. Moose in the front yard several times, and I live right in town.
> 
> Your electricity is outrageous? Trade you for mine here in Northern Maine - 428Kw just ran me $187.


I've not seen Moose - I don't think they've migrated this far south.  Bears climbing into your basement?  Well, that smell you describe sounds like what we smelled.  I think I know what you mean by the "hot" smell.  It also explains why it didn't smell exactly like a skunk, but so much more...

Unfortunately, we bought an all-electric home.  This house was originally built in 1800.  It could use some more insulation.  We are very cold in the winter. We have a pellet stove in the basement but pellets are now $5.00/bag - you can go through a bag a day. The pellet stove does help though.  We have baseboard heat.  Now, I know why they house sat on the market for several years.  No one in their right mind buys an all-electric house here.  Our bill in winter runs around $500 - $800 a month and that's with trying to be frugal.  We would install a wood/oil furnace, but we'd have to have all the piping run.

The real estate agent lied and lilly-guilded the information on the fact sheet about the house.  She said electricity ran around $100 a month.  It does when there is no one living in the house.

The rats have actually carted off some of the insulation  - we saw where it had been moved around in our root cellar.  I guess they are keeping comfy in the winter, bless their little hearts.


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## theletch1 (Sep 20, 2007)

Hey, Lynne.  We have the same scenario around here.  Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side.  The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window.  When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?"  Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them.  They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another.  Bears? Yep.  Got them too.  Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears.  Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable.  I love it out here.  After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.


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## OUMoose (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynne said:


> I've not seen Moose -


Huh?  Did someone need something?



Lynne said:


> Seems the chupacabra is a South American or Southwestern thing.  You never know!  They could migrate.


I think you're right... Isn't it the mothman on the east coast?


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

theletch1 said:


> Hey, Lynne. We have the same scenario around here. Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side. The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window. When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?" Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them. They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another. Bears? Yep. Got them too. Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears. Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable. I love it out here. After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.





theletch1 said:


> Hey, Lynne. We have the same scenario around here. Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side. The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window. When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?" Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them. They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another. Bears? Yep. Got them too. Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears. Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable. I love it out here. After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.


I see you live in the Roanoke/Lynchburg area, a very beatiful area. I also love Charlottesville. I'd love to live in the Shenandoah Valley.

I grew up in Chesapeake right on the edge of the Dismal Swamp (or rather it was swamp until homes were built).  Our biggest problems were copperheads and water moccasins.  We lived right on Deep Creek, so the mosquitoes and these yellow/black biting flies we called yellow jackets made life miserable at certain times of the year.  

We only saw bears, raccoons and such if we drove into the Dismal Swamp.  Once we drove down a dirt hunting road that I swear never ended. We went miles and miles.  We spotted raccoon families travelling across the branches that overhung the road.  We spotted some wild grapes and thought we would pick some.  Notice "thought."   My brother and I got out of the car and were immediately beseiged by hundreds of mosquitoes.  Later, I counted the mosquito bites.  In less than two minutes (probably one minute was all I was really out of the car), I'd gotten over one-hundred mosquito bites.  Anyway, I looked down and screamed, "SNAKE!"  It was the largest copperhead I've ever seen.  I almost didn't see it as it was mixed in with some dried leaves.  It must have been six-foot long.  I did see the entire snake.  My dumb brother was trying to find it because it disappeared under the leaves. He said, "There it is!"  It wasn't the same copperhead.  How do I know?  Because this one was larger in diameter!  Then, we realized the place was crawling, literally, with snakes.  We got back in the car so fast it would make your head spin.

The Dismal Swamp is the spookiest place I have ever been.  I don't know how to describe it.  It was dead silent when we got out of the car.  You couldn't pay me to spend a night in there.

My uncle's house backed right up to the swamp and they did have a black bear problem. They had a picnic table near the edge of the forest.  They'd been eating watermelon at the picnic table.  One day, my uncle came out and the picnic table had long scratches all over it and had been gnawed on.  Well, don't feed the bears they say.  The bears (more than one) decided to start coming close to the house.

As a child, I didn't see too many snakes.  I think kids are just oblivious or something.  God only knows how many times I came close to danger.  We used to go exploring in the woods, pick mistletoe, whatever.  My mother was always fighting off water moccasins in her flower bed.  She'd get a hoe and go to it.


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

OUMoose said:


> Huh? Did someone need something?
> 
> 
> I think you're right... Isn't it the mothman on the east coast?


 
How'd you know we were talking about you?

Oh, yeah.  I remember something about the mothman - not growing up.  I saw something on TV this past season.  Some goobers in Massahusetts or somewhere?  (Northern states do have rednecks, trust me)


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## Blindside (Sep 20, 2007)

Backyard mule deer:






Frontyard pronghorn:





Front window moose (my young 'un meeting a moose young'un)





Somewhere around I've got a picture of a mama moose and her calf right out my front door.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 20, 2007)

Yep, I know how that goes Lynne. When we lived in rural NC for 5 years we had wild turkeys all over the place. There was a bobcat in our back yard, and once I was driving to the barn and a black bear crossed the road in front of my car. We had the typical herds of deer, there was an apple orchard in our front yard, and we watched 2 bucks sparring in our front yard once. That was very cool.

We also a neighbors horses get loose and run around our front yard. One time as my husband was leaving for work in the morning, he was walking to his car, it was early, still kinda dark and very foggy. He walked into a cow. lol! Someones cow got loose, wound up in our yard, as all the critters seemed to do. 

It's actually pretty cool I think.


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Blindside said:


> Backyard mule deer:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wyoming.  You lucky turkey, I mean guy.  I bet your little one loved seeing that moose up close.

The only time I've seen deer that weren't skittish was on Orcas Island, Washington.  They aren't hunted there and will come right up to you.  I let a doe lick my hand (wary of those razor hooves).

The moose appear to be rather brave where you are.  

We have the large spruce trees like you have.  When we have a wet snow it looks like a Christmas card here.  I never had a white Christmas growing up, always wanted one.  Now I get them almost every year.

Thanks for showing the pics


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Jade Tigress said:


> Yep, I know how that goes Lynne. When we lived in rural NC for 5 years we had wild turkeys all over the place. There was a bobcat in our back yard, and once I was driving to the barn and a black bear crossed the road in front of my car. We had the typical herds of deer, there was an apple orchard in our front yard, and we watched 2 bucks sparring in our front yard once. That was very cool.
> 
> We also a neighbors horses get loose and run around our front yard. One time as my husband was leaving for work in the morning, he was walking to his car, it was early, still kinda dark and very foggy. He walked into a cow. lol! Someones cow got loose, wound up in our yard, as all the critters seemed to do.
> 
> It's actually pretty cool I think.


 
When we were living in Fort Worth, Texas, we went to a party in Dallas.  We were on our way home about 2:30 in the morning.  We were on a four-lane highway with a grass median.  It was pitch dark (no streetlights in that rural stretch).  We saw something across our two lanes.  It was about the size of a pickup truck.  We thought someone had spun out.  As we got closer, we saw it was white.  And then something moved!  It was a longhorn steer standing in the middle of the road, sideways!   He had turned his head to look at us (or challenge us, who knows?).  So, we are in this little Dodge Shelby versus, what, 3000-5000 pounds of bull?  We worried he might ram us or just step on us, lol.  To floor it or not to floor it, that was the question.  He wasn't going anywhere.  He just stared at us with those evil eyes.  We slowly went around him, then floored it!


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

The Texas Longhorn Steer (shorter horned ones are called bulls), aka, _Mister_ Testosterone:

http://www.tlonghorn.com/bulls2.html

I don't know how much they weigh, but they're bigger than a Buick. I do know their horns can span 120 inches from tip to tip.

Get a look at "Ladies Man."  Ha ha...wow.


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## Kreth (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynne said:


> turkeys...turkey vulture...red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons....coyotes...bear...cougars...deer...owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs......squirrels


Welcome to upstate NY. Up here in Oneonta we have deer running through the city occasionally, and last year I saw a bear cub on I-88 just after the flooding (thought it was a large dog until I got closer and it stood up ).



Bigshadow said:


> Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York.  HAHAHA


Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:



Jade Tigress said:


> We had the typical herds of deer


Except fully-grown NC deer are about the size of NY fawns...


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Kreth said:


> Welcome to upstate NY. Up here in Oneonta we have deer running through the city occasionally, and last year I saw a bear cub on I-88 just after the flooding (thought it was a large dog until I got closer and it stood up ).
> 
> 
> Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:
> ...


 
Hi Kreth,

You're just a little ways down the road.  I live in Tioga County.  A bear on I-88 - who would have thought.  I'm glad we don't see a lot of bears.  I know they're lurking close by though, probably closer than I want to know!

Fawns are born in the spring, correct?  Even at this time of the year, we have seen small speckled deer that look like fawns and I wonder if the white-tail deer has two mating seasons (or an extended season).  My stepfather (from Virginia) says there is no way we would be seeing fawns this time of year.  They aren't Sitkas because they have white on the underside of their tails.

Oh, yeah.  I've seen the deer in suburban areas!  They'll go anywhere to eat the flowers and shrubs.  It's weird to see them in a neighborhood.  I suppose seeing coyotes walking down Phoenix streets is even weirder though.


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## Bigshadow (Sep 20, 2007)

Kreth said:


> Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:



Yeah, that is what I thought.... You have been sending them here for years!    We have too many raisin farms!  Please stop sending them. 

There are many similarities between Racoon City (Resident Evil) and The Villages (one of many local raisin farms).    Who let the zombies drive? :uhyeah:


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## bydand (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynne said:


> Fawns are born in the spring, correct?  Even at this time of the year, we have seen small speckled deer that look like fawns and I wonder if the white-tail deer has two mating seasons (or an extended season).  My stepfather (from Virginia) says there is no way we would be seeing fawns this time of year.  They aren't Sitkas because they have white on the underside of their tails.



A bit further North than Virginia, is the reason.  further north the later they are born generally.  A Whitetail deer usually gives birth sometime around May or June and a fawn won't lose its' spots until after they are weaned.  That is usually 3 or 4 months after birth, so this is about the end of the time we should be seeing a spotted fawn yet.  They are probably the later spring births and are just about to wean from Momma.  Hope this helps answer your question.


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

bydand said:


> A bit further North than Virginia, is the reason. further north the later they are born generally. A Whitetail deer usually gives birth sometime around May or June and a fawn won't lose its' spots until after they are weaned. That is usually 3 or 4 months after birth, so this is about the end of the time we should be seeing a spotted fawn yet. They are probably the later spring births and are just about to wean from Momma. Hope this helps answer your question.


Thank you!  It does.  I knew I wasn't seeing things.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 20, 2007)

Kreth said:


> Except fully-grown NC deer are about the size of NY fawns...



Yeah? So what's your point?  

Oh, and that cow my husband wound up face to face with in the fog was a big fat black angus. 

Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh


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## Lynne (Sep 20, 2007)

Jade Tigress said:


> Yeah? So what's your point?
> 
> Oh, and that cow my husband wound up face to face with in the fog was a big fat black angus.
> 
> Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh


I've seen bucks that I would estimate weigh close to 300 pounds.  Right now, we have one on the back of our property whose hoof print is as big as that of a quarter horse.


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## Kreth (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynne said:


> Hi Kreth,
> 
> You're just a little ways down the road. I live in Tioga County.


Well, we may have to train together at some point. I'm one of those sneaky ninja, though 



Jade Tigress said:


> Really, are NY deer that big? I dind't know that, that's pretty wild. heh


Oh yeah... Basically, the deer get fatter the farther north you go. In my jarhead days, we'd see deer occasionally out in the field, and the Southern guys would be amazed... then I'd tell them about the fully grown deer in NY.


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## Tez3 (Sep 21, 2007)

I live in the Yorkshire Dales, if you've ever seen the James Herriot "All Creatures Great and Small" films that's exactly where I live.

We have two types of deer Red and Roe, badgers, hedgehogs, weasels, stoats, peregrine falcons, kestrels,harriers, barn owls, tawny owls and bloody grey squirrels ( please take them back they are killing our native red ones!) there's otters as well as water voles (think Wind in the Willows) grouse and pheasants ( they get shot in autumn) geese and swans. There's three types of snake only one, the adder, is poisonous. We of course have thousands of sheep, Swaledales, all over the moors. There's beautiful Dales ponies too.

Further south from us down in Derbyshire there's wild wallabies which will surprise all the Aussies lol!


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## Lynne (Sep 21, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> I live in the Yorkshire Dales, if you've ever seen the James Herriot "All Creatures Great and Small" films that's exactly where I live.
> 
> We have two types of deer Red and Roe, badgers, hedgehogs, weasels, stoats, peregrine falcons, kestrels,harriers, barn owls, tawny owls and bloody grey squirrels ( please take them back they are killing our native red ones!) there's otters as well as water voles (think Wind in the Willows) grouse and pheasants ( they get shot in autumn) geese and swans. There's three types of snake only one, the adder, is poisonous. We of course have thousands of sheep, Swaledales, all over the moors. There's beautiful Dales ponies too.
> 
> Further south from us down in Derbyshire there's wild wallabies which will surprise all the Aussies lol!


 
Sounds beautiful, Tez.  I was surprised to hear about the wallabies. That would be a sight.  Do people get pictures of them occasionally?

I have heard the only poisonous snake we have in my area is the Timber Rattlesnake, but I'm not sure it is actually in my area.  I don't miss the poisonous snakes.  We do have brown recluse spiders but it's too cool for the black widows.

I never heard of the Dale pony.  Are they wild?  I've seen the wild herds of ponies on Assateague Island, Virgninia.  Have lots of pictures, too.  I should upload them sometime.

Anyone with kids should take a trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands.  The best time to go is in June so you can see the foals.  In July, the fire department has their yearly pony roundup.  They swim the foals across the little channel between the two islands and then auction them off.  A lot of people do like to go in July so they can watch the pony swim but it's a zoo and the hotels are overpriced.  If you do go, make sure you take the trolley trip on Assateague.  The trolley goes into an area where you are only allowed on foot, which is where the two wild herds are.  It's about a 90 minute trip on the trolley and well worth it.  Just driving around the wildlife loop, you have a good chance of spotting a few ponies.  There is, of course, lots of other wildlife, including the little Sitka elk (imported for some reason), the Delmarva squirrel (a huge black squirrel indigenous to the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula), swans, great herons, ducks, etc.  It's a real thrill to see the ponies standing in the waves though.  It's magical, like something out of a fairy tale.


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## Tez3 (Sep 21, 2007)

http://www.dalespony.org/Breed.htm

The Dales ponies are bred here but sadly aren't wild. In Dartmoor, Exmoor and the New Forest ponies run wild. In Wales there's the Welsh ponies who are the only real native breed and have been wandering the hills there for 2000 years.

The wallabies escaped many years ago from captivity and surprisingly thrive in the British countryside. Not all escapees are welcome though, there's wild mink now which are very destructive. there's supposed to be a couple of wild cats loose on the prowl ie panthers but that maybe an urban myth no one is sure!


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## Lynne (Sep 21, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> http://www.dalespony.org/Breed.htm
> 
> The Dales ponies are bred here but sadly aren't wild. In Dartmoor, Exmoor and the New Forest ponies run wild. In Wales there's the Welsh ponies who are the only real native breed and have been wandering the hills there for 2000 years.
> 
> The wallabies escaped many years ago from captivity and surprisingly thrive in the British countryside. Not all escapees are welcome though, there's wild mink now which are very destructive. there's supposed to be a couple of wild cats loose on the prowl ie panthers but that maybe an urban myth no one is sure!


Quite the sturdy pony, the Dale pony.  I see they were bred for work.  Very thick necks and large legs.  When I was a child, I had a Welsh pony.  She was about the size of the Dales pony, around 14 hands.  She was beautiful, white with brown spots, a brown head with a white blaze, and her main and tail were black and blonde.  She was also a mean stinker.  I think people are quite surprised when they see a pony that size - almost the size of a quarter horse.

I've heard minks are ferocious little buggers, aka, you wouldn't want to meet one.  What do they destroy?

I wouldn't be surprised if you had some kind of cat around there although a panther does sound like an urban (or rural) myth.

We wonder if we've heard wolves.  Coyotes usually don't howl very much.  Mostly, it's yips and stuttering barks.  Their howls are more like a screech or a scream.  One night, my husband and I heard a long drawn out howl followed by a few others.  They never erupted in the wild yipping.  We wonder if it we heard timber wolves.  I've heard they are in our area but that sounds like a legend, too.


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## Blindside (Sep 21, 2007)

.


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## Blindside (Sep 21, 2007)

Lynne said:


> We wonder if we've heard wolves. Coyotes usually don't howl very much. Mostly, it's yips and stuttering barks. Their howls are more like a screech or a scream. One night, my husband and I heard a long drawn out howl followed by a few others. They never erupted in the wild yipping. We wonder if it we heard timber wolves. I've heard they are in our area but that sounds like a legend, too.


 
If you are still hearing coyotes regularly, you don't have wolves in the area.  Canids tend to displace each other based on size, wolves displace coyotes who displace fox.  A wolf pack moving into an area can actually have the indirect impact of increasing fox (which then promptly decrease the local waterfowl.)  

Lamont


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## Lynne (Sep 21, 2007)

Blindside said:


> If you are still hearing coyotes regularly, you don't have wolves in the area. Canids tend to displace each other based on size, wolves displace coyotes who displace fox. A wolf pack moving into an area can actually have the indirect impact of increasing fox (which then promptly decrease the local waterfowl.)
> 
> Lamont


Oh yeah.  We have loads of coyotes.  Could have been dogs howling or just an unusual coyote howl.  No wolves then.


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## Paul-M (Jan 15, 2008)

I'm amazed reading all these lol. I live in the UK and all we get around me is squirrels and rats lol. Would love to go to the American country and see some of this wildlife, sounds beautiful.


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## Tez3 (Jan 15, 2008)

Ah but Paul you live in Cardiff and have aliens from space dropping in all the time lol! It's true! I watch Torchwood! :ultracool


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## still learning (Jan 15, 2008)

Hello, On the Big Island of Hawaii....on/ near the highways you just see Goats, wild pigs, turkeys, donkeys,chickens sometimes  loose cows and horses.

On my wife parents coffee land..lots of wild pigs come out to eat the macadana nuts that falls on the ground.  Turkeys, chickens (wild) are common to see in the coffee land too.

Road to Waikoloa has lots of goats feeding on the young shoots of grass on the side of the roads

In Hawaii the wild life is consider the [ the tourist ]  just kidding...

Aloha ( at least the goats and wild pigs do get eating!)  UM!   We also heard donkey make good jerky meat too! Sweet tasting! 

PS: Coconut meat taste good too!


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## Live True (Jan 16, 2008)

Wow...I've loved reading about all this wildlife!  I live in central Virginia, and I LOVE the wildlife that surrounds me.  I've seen red tailed hawks, turkeys (mine weren't so ugly...a mama leading a line of babies...kinda cute), grey foxes, raccoons, squirrels (LOTS ...OY!), a wide variety of fowls, snakes (mostly non poisonous black and garters...but still wouldn't want a bite and some blacks can get long!...have seen one that was roughly 6'...erg), spiders (lovely orb and writing spiders to black widows), skunks, lots of deer, etc.  It is so cool to sit in your living room or look out your window while washing dishes and see the deer checking out your garden (wait....maybe "cool" isn't the right word....)

Funny story, I had lived in the city for a long time, and moved about an 1 1/2 out so I could enjoy the "quite country life"....we had trouble sleeping for the first week because the tree frogs, owls, adn all were sooooooo LOUD!

Now, I have trouble sleeping without those sounds...strange, eh?


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## Live True (Jan 16, 2008)

Lynne said:


> Anyone with kids should take a trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands. The best time to go is in June so you can see the foals. [...] If you do go, make sure you take the trolley trip on Assateague. The trolley goes into an area where you are only allowed on foot, which is where the two wild herds are. It's about a 90 minute trip on the trolley and well worth it. Just driving around the wildlife loop, you have a good chance of spotting a few ponies. There is, of course, lots of other wildlife, including the little Sitka elk (imported for some reason), the Delmarva squirrel (a huge black squirrel indigenous to the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula), swans, great herons, ducks, etc. It's a real thrill to see the ponies standing in the waves though. It's magical, like something out of a fairy tale.


 
My husband and I liek to take wandering vacations...this is where we have a beginning and midway spot chosen...make no reservations and just drive where we feel like and stop when we feel like it....they are some of the BEST vacations...one time, on the way to Amish country in Pennsylvania from Richmond (and via the Baltimore Harbor...lol) we spent a day or two in Chincoteague.  We rented bikes and did a tour of the islands and saw the horses (and a couple of horse freindly herons perched on their backs)....didn't get to see the roundup...but it was an amazing trip nonetheless!  

Perhaps we should wander back that way in June/July.....


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## Lynne (Mar 27, 2008)

Live True said:


> My husband and I liek to take wandering vacations...this is where we have a beginning and midway spot chosen...make no reservations and just drive where we feel like and stop when we feel like it....they are some of the BEST vacations...one time, on the way to Amish country in Pennsylvania from Richmond (and via the Baltimore Harbor...lol) we spent a day or two in Chincoteague. We rented bikes and did a tour of the islands and saw the horses (and a couple of horse freindly herons perched on their backs)....didn't get to see the roundup...but it was an amazing trip nonetheless!
> 
> Perhaps we should wander back that way in June/July.....


I'm so glad you got to visit Chincoteague/Assateague and on bikes.  It's funny to see the herons perched on the backs of ponies.  I have a picture of a foal rearing up to try and knock a heron off of its mother's back.  I take it you cycled around the wildlife loop, then?  If I recall correctly, they don't allow bicycles in the area where the two herds "live."

If you go for the wildlife roundup (I think it's around the 2nd or 3rd weekend in July), let me warn you in advanced that hotels are outrageous at that time.  Also, you may want to book way in advance.  Another nice time to visit is September because hotels are cheap.  But no foals.

I agree that a relaxed vacation is best, too.  That's what we've done as a family.  Our relatives live in Richmond and Chesapeake and we just planned to see some sites along the way and stop wherever.  Our family loved Luray Caverns.


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