Wildlife adventures while camping

[fin]

OK, what memorable critter/wildlife adventures have you had on the trail?

One of my favorites was the time a cow moose swam up to our campsite in the middle of the morning, walked up the bank towards our tent, then realized we had a dog in camp and were all sitting around eating breakfast. I've never seen a more excited dog, or a more awkward looking animal as the moose crashed through the camp with the dog on its heels, taking out a clothesline in it's scramble up the hill. I always wondered what would have happened if I had been hammock camping at the time if the moose would have taken my hammock up the hill as well.

[Lone Wolf]

I was hiking in Kumbrabow State Forest and had to "take care of business". I was on an incline and dropped my pants and squatted against a tree(my back was facing downhill). A squirrel that I didnt see came running down the tree and used my shoulder as a springboard. That surprised me to the point of me losing my balance and tumbling backwards head over heel a couple of times and was stopped by a bush with my butt in the air and my pants around my ankles. Fortunately I hadnt started my "business and was alone.

[FanaticFringer]

I was hiking in Kumbrabow State Forest and had to "take care of business". I was on an incline and dropped my pants and squatted against a tree(my back was facing downhill). A squirrel that I didnt see came running down the tree and used my shoulder as a springboard. That surprised me to the point of me losing my balance and tumbling backwards head over heel a couple of times and was stopped by a bush with my butt in the air and my pants around my ankles. Fortunately I hadnt started my "business and was alone.

Get's my vote for funniest post ever here on hammock forums.

[fin]

I was hiking in Kumbrabow State Forest and had to "take care of business". I was on an incline and dropped my pants and squatted against a tree(my back was facing downhill). A squirrel that I didnt see came running down the tree and used my shoulder as a springboard. That surprised me to the point of me losing my balance and tumbling backwards head over heel a couple of times and was stopped by a bush with my butt in the air and my pants around my ankles. Fortunately I hadnt started my "business and was alone.

Get's my vote for funniest post ever here on hammock forums.

And makes for a great visual!

[fin]

OK, another Animal Story.

When I was younger, and much, much less experienced in camping where I had to take care of my own gear and food supplies, I used to car/tent camp every weekend. I would pick a state park every weekend, and spend at least two nights. My third time out on my own, I was camping at Wildcat Mountain State Park in Wisconsin. After a day of hiking and then having a few cocktails in my campsite, I fell asleep in my rope hammock. I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of my cooler and cooking gear rattling around, five feet from my hammock. I flicked on a flashlight to see a family of raccoons and my entire coolers contents strewn across the campsight. One of the raccoons had my box of oatmeal cradled against its body/belly as he sat near my overturned cooler, which he promptly dropped and rolled it as he sneered/laughed at me and then scampered off into the night, family in tow. The campsite looked like my oatmeal box had exploded, with oatmeal everywhere you looked. My pancake mix was a cream-colored smear down the side of the hill. But they didn't get the Rum! I knew there were no bears around, so I wasn't that concerned about leaving things laying around, and didn't really know any better. I learned that night to secure your food and cooking gear from critters, big or small, no matter how drunk you are. And I really felt sorry for anyone who had that site after me - I can only imagine that it was a smorgasbord for all the mice and raccoons for the next few days after, with oatmeal, pancake mix, and granola strewn about the site and down the hill in a trail behind the fleeing family of 'coons.

[Ramblinrev]

I wouldn't mind sharing if they would simply be polite, not take it all and clean up after themselves. I mean really.... Is that too much to ask of the critters?

[neo]

we had a blue heron and a couple racoons in our camp last night.the blue heron walked thru our camp last night and yesterday and today,he tried to roost on my youngest sons tarpneo

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery...r&imageuser=11


http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery...r&imageuser=11

[angrysparrow]

This is not exactly an animal adventure, but I thought it was odd -

Friday night, while on a kayak trip with a friend, we were just sitting around the campfire at our camp beside the river. A beaver wandered up out of the river and into camp. He wasn't aggressive or anything, and seemed content to just check us out, even getting within a few feet of the fire. He scurried off when I started talking to him, though.

I've seen beaver in the wild many times, but they either were unaware of my presence or fled as soon as they spotted me. Finding a really curious one was amusing.

[Bug-Bait]

This happened a long, long time ago when I was a boyscout at scout camp. We slept in large canvas wall tents that had 4 cots in them. In the middle of the night I heard some rustling around and heard "someone" tearing the aluminum foil off of some Hershey Kisses that I brought to camp. I flashed my light on the culprit which turned out to be a skunk sitting there feasting on the chocolate. I didn't take the time to wake my tent mates up and high tailed out the back of the tent. Fortunately, that skunk didn't spray...but, you could smell that he/she was in the tent that night.

[fin]

This happened a long, long time ago when I was a boyscout at scout camp. We slept in large canvas wall tents that had 4 cots in them. In the middle of the night I heard some rustling around and heard "someone" tearing the aluminum foil off of some Hershey Kisses that I brought to camp. I flashed my light on the culprit which turned out to be a skunk sitting there feasting on the chocolate. I didn't take the time to wake my tent mates up and high tailed out the back of the tent. Fortunately, that skunk didn't spray...but, you could smell that he/she was in the tent that night.

Are you sure the smell wasn't from your hiking/tent mates? Boy Scouts can get pretty ripe!