Wild animal encounters

Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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My wife and I have snorkeled amongst a school of squid in St. Lucia, and seen a keg-sized lobster snorkeling at Pennekamp (in Key Largo), but this from earlier this year was quite the surprise.
Fake news! Lobster do not snorkel...

:hahaha:
 

CDGator

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Jul 24, 2020
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Was sitting on my porch this AM enjoying a cup of coffee and a crisp fall morning and had a couple of visitors.
26062

beautiful! Where are you?
The weather in KY has been amazing. It’s shaping up to be a gorgeous fall. Leaves are starting to change.
 

CDGator

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On my bike ride this afternoon.... stopped me dead in my tracks:
26081

Wow- that's quite an encounter! Do you see them very often around Ocala? There was one on UK campus last year but we don't have sightings very often.
 

bradgator2

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Wow- that's quite an encounter! Do you see them very often around Ocala? There was one on UK campus last year but we don't have sightings very often.

This trail is through a known bear habitat. There are signs everywhere warning you. I have ridden this trail almost daily for 4 years and this was my first siting.
 

MJMGator

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This trail is through a known bear habitat. There are signs everywhere warning you. I have ridden this trail almost daily for 4 years and this was my first siting.
I’ve never seen one in the wild.
 

Alumni Guy

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Nov 7, 2015
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I was walking in a nature preserve, dry brush/pine needles, listening to music with earbuds.

Between songs I hear a sound like hawking up a phlegm. I look down and a diamond back rattlesnake is less than 6 feet from me, coiled up rattling away.

I think we stumbled on each other and that phlegm sound I heard was a strike at me. If I weren’t between songs, I would have walked right on top of him.

I was about a mile in from the trail head too. Could have killed me. Still gives me the hee-bee geebies.

good reminder, if your walking in flat brush, always scan for the rattlers.
 

Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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I was walking in a nature preserve, dry brush/pine needles, listening to music with earbuds.

Between songs I hear a sound like hawking up a phlegm. I look down and a diamond back rattlesnake is less than 6 feet from me, coiled up rattling away.

I think we stumbled on each other and that phlegm sound I heard was a strike at me. If I weren’t between songs, I would have walked right on top of him.

I was about a mile in from the trail head too. Could have killed me. Still gives me the hee-bee geebies.

good reminder, if your walking in flat brush, always scan for the rattlers.
I had a similar experience a few years ago out in Colorado Springs, CO. I was walking to get some exercise before going in to work (I was TDY for a few days) and decided to walk in the grass beside the road instead of on the hard pavement. Took just a few steps off the pavement and instinctively took an extra long step because something caught my eye. I looked back and there where I would have stepped was a baby rattlesnake. It had struck at my foot as I stepped over it. He was MAD! I watched him from a safe distance for a few minutes and every time I would move anything close to it he would strike at it. Then the craziest thing ever happened. A large rock, about the size of a volleyball fell out of the sky and crushed that little guy's head.
 

G8trwood

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Nov 29, 2015
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Was sitting on my porch this AM enjoying a cup of coffee and a crisp fall morning and had a couple of visitors.
26062

I had some grazing around me smoker last week. Wife, did you plant seed out back? Me yes just trying to get them used to it. Her.. don’t you dare...
 

BNAG8R

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I was walking in a nature preserve, dry brush/pine needles, listening to music with earbuds.

Between songs I hear a sound like hawking up a phlegm. I look down and a diamond back rattlesnake is less than 6 feet from me, coiled up rattling away.

I think we stumbled on each other and that phlegm sound I heard was a strike at me. If I weren’t between songs, I would have walked right on top of him.

I was about a mile in from the trail head too. Could have killed me. Still gives me the hee-bee geebies.

good reminder, if your walking in flat brush, always scan for the rattlers.

This is one of the reasons I never hike with earphones. I want to hear the out-of-doors, especially spotting wildlife, and I’d like to hear a bear charging me from behind right before my certain death.
 

Swamp Donkey

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This is one of the reasons I never hike with earphones. I want to hear the out-of-doors, especially spotting wildlife, and I’d like to hear a bear charging me from behind right before my certain death.
the good news is you're unlikely to hear a big cat and they go straight for the neck, immediately paralyzing you.
 

crosscreekcooter

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Rode on the backs of some sea turtles in Hawaii, grabbed the tail of a 6 foot reef shark in The Keys, and was gang raped by bunch of ne’er do well prairie dogs in Kansas. Mostly boring stuff.
"Ne'er do wells huh? Yeah well we had to tie a 2x4 across our ass to keep from falling in."
2b0d2d08a3bd5c3e7e720a5a198b0929.jpg
 

bradgator2

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I was walking in a nature preserve, dry brush/pine needles, listening to music with earbuds.

Between songs I hear a sound like hawking up a phlegm. I look down and a diamond back rattlesnake is less than 6 feet from me, coiled up rattling away.

I think we stumbled on each other and that phlegm sound I heard was a strike at me. If I weren’t between songs, I would have walked right on top of him.

I was about a mile in from the trail head too. Could have killed me. Still gives me the hee-bee geebies.

good reminder, if your walking in flat brush, always scan for the rattlers.

Same exact trail as the bear....

038FCC01-1D99-4BEE-9FD3-BEC2C761DA0A.jpeg
3D3364B4-5356-4B8D-92FA-1BF9DB745112.jpeg
 

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