Wildlife Encounters.., Have you had any? Options

[Denise]

What an ordeal it has been trying to make sure the cat and dog don't harass the bunnies that have been coming in.
It's to the point now that when I go out to fill the water dish and put out bird seed, one of the bunnies comes running in at me following me around till I'm done.

Surprisingly, the dog only wants to watch them while she lays in the shade. She has sat before under the bird feeder watching, while the birds almost land on her. One bunny even hopped over to her as to say "what are you going to do about it", but she just watched, never moved. She enjoys the wildlife also.

The cat on the other hand acts like he just wants to watch, but when a bunny or bird makes a fast move, he jumps up like hes going to pounce. Don't worry, I have this cat under control. He had his chance to be a good boy, but he blew it.

[Woody]

I seen Jim do this song in a concert at Paonia way back in the late 70's or possibly 1980. It was at the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival they have there every year. Or at least they used to. I don't know if they still have those. It was a great time for us kids. Thanks for the freebie trip down Memory Lane, Woody.

[Denise]

Your welcome Woody, nothing better than a free trip down memory lane with music as the ticket to get you there.

[ASTROBLEME]

I am NOT a fan of spiders!

I'm starting to not trust spiders since one seems to be claim jumping. Check out this mini mine shaft.




ASTROBLEME

[Denise]

Silly me, and here I was thinking/hoping that those "mini mine shafts" were made by the Jerusalem cricket, but Timmy also found one with a big spider climbing out of it.

When Woody mentioned that Colorado also has a version of the camel spider, curiosity almost got the best of me but I couldn't bring myself to ask you to elaborate.

Guess some things are best learned hands on.
Its all Woody's fault we are seeing these things now!
Spiders should not have hair!! Its just not right.

Female wind scorpion.....


The Wind Scorpion......

Legend has it that it's name came from the fact that they could run like the wind. They are very fast!

The fastest can run perhaps 16 km/h (10 mph) for a short distance, nearly half as fast as the fastest human sprinter.

But while bent over observing this scorpion, it rolled into a ball and took flight into the wind towards me.
Sorry, but I didn't stick around to see what it did next.

[OklaPony]

I'm starting to not trust spiders since one seems to be claim jumping. Check out this mini mine shaft.




ASTROBLEME

Did you pan the tailings just in case? :)

[Denise]

Good question OklaPony, but Im not sure spiders dig deep enough to get a good sample.
I remember at an outing in Fairplay after checking out the area, Dan made a comment about testing the dirt from a huge ant pile in a good location.
Sounds silly, but those guys started to dig and found nice gold.....all the same size.

Pop quiz!
Who can tell me why all the gold found in the ant hill was the same size?

[Denise]

No one wants to even take a crack at the answer?

It's pretty interesting information I think.

[Woody]

You’re killing me here smalls,

I've been patiently waiting to hear the answer to the ant question. All the while I have been trying to come up with a sound, "witty" response. And once again, I got none. The only thing I can come up with is this,
Is it because they are all genetically the same size and strength and they all want to move the best/heaviest material that can find. Therefore making all the material uniform in weight?? Just my guess, Woody.

[swizz]

Today's encounter.
I didn't have my dog or pea-shooter, but thankfully at least I had my camera this time! Thank God my dog wasn't there, would not have been good.
Took this while I was chinking one of the small cabins at the ranch today (ever get that feeling someones looking at you? ). I weigh-in at about a buck seventy... and I'd put this cinnamon Black Bear easily at twice my weight and then some. Definitely one of the largest I've seen and it wouldn't scare off. He lumbered away when he felt like it... I need to change my "go away Bear" routine to something more fresh .
I took a bunch of shots but my adrenaline was full tilt and this is one of the few with good clarity.
Starin' at me like a plate of pork chops?

[russau]

Starin' at me like a plate of pork chops?
No , not like pork chops but more like Swizz Chops!

[Woody]

Great looking Bear Swizz. I hope you were able to have a good look at his tracks. In compairson, they should of been noticably larger than the ones we saw two weeks ago. If I see this one during Archey SeasonI'd go ahead and take him. Nice Picture, it kind of looks like he wanted to talk to you. See you on the weekend, Woody.

[dickb]

Great shot Swizz!

Nice to have the camera ready when a nice shot like that comes along.

The bear looks calm, just curious I would guess. No agressiveness about him. I bet that shot will crop down to a very nice protrait.

I just picked up a used d200 for my bag and I have AF lenses that go from 28mm out to 1000mm

Diickb

[Denise]

Fantastic picture Chris, even has wildflowers!

Dang, when you said you were a bear magnet this year you weren't kidding. Your encounters have Dan and myself thinking that there may be more to it than meets the eye. Lets break this down a bit shall we......

Well we know you like to get out there in remote places and enjoy this great land of ours.
We also know you love to prospect and fish.

But wait


Bears love fish!
Could you be mixing the two causing you to have a "fish smell" on you when you are out prospecting ......like your hat or coat that you wear when you fish and prospect that doesn't get washed as often? Bear's have great sniffers and it wouldn't take much of a smell to bring them in. Just a thought.

Any more guesses/answers on why the gold from the ant hill was the same size? Lets hear them now so we can put poor Woody out of his misery.

I also took an encounter picture recently, but it gave me an idea for another fun thread.

[swizz]

Thanks yous guys!
Denise, I like the fish theory... that may hold water.
However... I don't think that was the case in either of my encounters this year. I think this Bear is the Ranch trouble-maker... caretaker said a Bear's been flipping over dumpsters at night. The Ranch is way off the grid and there isn't civilization for miles, large property surrounded by many miles of NF. I bet that Bear has laid claim to that turf cuz it's the only party in the woods. Odd to see him in broad daylight though... scarier at night I bet.
My other Bear encounter this spring was also in broad daylight but a worse scenario, it was in interested in my dog tied up at camp. Bear was on the other side of the creek facing her with front paws in the water until it saw me. Lulu was fired up and ready for action on this side of the creek with her paws in the water snapping and such... Jesus that was a panic. It was all I could do to furiously untie her from the tree and scramble to drag her into the safety of the vehicle. I then faced the Bear and it stayed there for a while after I secured Lulu... listening to me yelling at it... then it walked upstream and disappeared. That was spring and I suspect that one had not been out of hibernation long. We made eye contact for a while (10 seconds?) and I'm really curious what that one was thinking. It didn't give me the impression that it was hostile but I have to wonder what would have become of my dog if I wasn't there. I didn't see any cubs around but ya never know in a situation like that. It was an adult but not as big as the one I just took pics of.