Animal Encounters

pilotrunner

pilotrunner

Barefooters
Feb 18, 2011
353
186
43
#1
It's amazing what you see at 0430 in the am...

Three weeks ago - Coyote
Two weeks ago - Bobcat

This am? A little skunk.

So here's the picture:

0430, running in very dark conditions with headlamp and small LED flashlight. I ran 6 miles today and have a 2.1 mile loop through two neighborhoods. At the top of my first loop, I smelled a skunk. Not unusual for these parts, but it was quite strong. I keep the flashlight scanning to illuminate any critter eyeballs looking my way as that's how I spotted the coyote last month.

At the top of the 2nd loop, the skunk smell was still fairly pungent so I kept the flashlight scan going. I turn a corner and about mid street, 15 feet from me is a little kit skunk waddling up the gutter splatting through the lawn sprinkler runoff. He wasn't looking at me because I didnt' get an "eye glint", but I still gave him a wide birth and as soon as I got downwind...WOW! Yep, this was the skunk-sprayer I smelled earlier.

Just another day in Texas...
 
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#2
It's a wildlife show when I run around the farm in the morning. My dogs will usually find a skunk or two or a whole family of them. It's been a dry year, so I am seeing many animals coming to the fields searching for water. I've seen more deer, porcupines, and fox this year. Even domestic animals are escaping their pastures for water. I've had the neighbor's cows and horses on the fields. I like watching the hawks searching for their breakfast in the mornings.
 
#3
you can see some "wild life" around here too....just swing by campus or student housing near the university on the morning after Halloween and you can see them in their natural environment....its pretty amazing and sometimes scary...they too are in search of water rickwhitelaw...:p
 
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#4
I've been running late lately, heading out about sunset (probably my favorite thing to see on a run anyhow) and have to switch the headlamp on by mid run. Monday night I passed by a skunk in the dark without realizing it until we were broadside... so lucky he wasn't spooked!
 
#5
He didn't get any on you, did he?
 
#6
I can't run on Tuesday mornings because everybody has their trash out for pickup and there are skunks EVERYWHERE. You can't even run down the middle of the street 'cause you'll see them crisscrossing and waddling along.
 
#8
Saw what I thought were two stray dogs running away from me, then realized that they were small deer nibbling on my neighbor's roses. Something's been eating our hydrangeas, but I've never seen it.

Also, the occasional armadillo, stray cat, small birds trying to chase away hawks from their nests.
 
#10
I've startled deer many times, flushed many a pheasant, freaked out a coyote once (who subsequently freaked me out when he ran by me in his panic), lots of bunnies and raccoons. The one that really got me was the bear, who was fishing in the middle of the river I run along occassionally. I couldn't decide what I should do and ended up just running past him/her while he continued fishing. When I looped back he was still there, and I ran by again. I don't know if he was aware of me or not, but clearly the fish were far more interesting (although I expect I would have been easier to catch). I ran that loop about 5 min faster than normal.....due I expect to the rather considerable shot of adrenaline.
 
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#12
I see my aunts quite often at family gatherings. ;) On a side note though I have run into bears a few times during my early runs at the cottage. They seem to be more scared of you then we are of them as long as there is no cubs nearby. If I even think I saw a cub I turn around and break speed records heading back. It is amazing how fast one can go when he has too.
 
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#14
Bare Lee said:
Has anyone mentioned ants yet? I've seen ants.
Click to expand...
When running early/late with headlamp I often see spiders... With the headlamp at near eye level their eyes reflect back. On high power on some stretches it can be kind of freaky looking at the pavement ahead of you and seeing a good dozen pairs of eyes looking back at you. Switch to handheld and you usually can't see any of them.

I tried to see if I could get the effect on camera and went out to my driveway... these spiders are all the same type and on the road, lawn, garden, etc.


spider1.jpg


spider2.jpg
 
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#16
Cool! It looks like they stay on the ground. I would hate to run through a web and have one of those mothers tangled in my hair like happens all the time with our local garden spiders. They're bad enough. Yours look like wolf spiders. Anyone know their name?
 
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#18
I usually see lots of rabbits, cats, rabbits, the occasional rabbit, rabbits, and rabbits. Sometimes if I am lucky I will catch site of some rabbits as well.
On a serious note though, I find it humorous that animals in highly populated areas seem to be freaked out by my silent running. I have nearly kicked several cats, and believe it or not, almost tripped on a good number of rabbits.
 
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#19
Yah, I was kidding about the ants, but definitely cats, squirrels, and rabbits, and you're right, they seem freaked out when a human doesn't make lots of noise, maybe because we're predator sized and exhibiting stalking behavior if we're silent. We do have a fox around here, and the occasional deer, and muskrats, but I haven't been running mornings enough yet to have seen them on a run. When I was a kid this neighborhood had lots of salamanders, butterflies, dragonflies, and fireflies, but they filled in the ponds nearby to make warehouses and stuff, and now they're gone. A few snakes too when I'm on the trails.
 
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