I almost stepped on a deer!

[kneedownnate]

A tiny fawn actually.  I was hiking along a very busy trail in the alps yesterday, crossed a little creek and noticed a couple ladies stopped in the trail about 20-25 feet ahead.  It looked like one of them was pointing toward the rocks I'd used to cross on and said something very quietly that sounded like she was saying that's where they should cross.  I said hello, noticed something next to me out of the corner of my eye and thought it was their ankle biter dog, looked down and it was a little fawn that didn't even come up to my knee  and I have stubby legs too.

I just continued past it without changing speed so I didn't spook it further.  It was shaking and appeared to be kinda weak.

The ladies said it was walking on the trail with it's mom, but when they approached the mom bolted.  I have to think that means it's a first or second time mom because a more experienced doe will usually try and make sure the fawn at least gets moving out of the way before running herself. 

I'd met and passed another hiker a little earlier on the trail, and just after I'd stopped she came across the creek and around the corner.  At that point I said "well I might as well keep moving, no sense in staying here and further stressing it" figuring that'd be a nice gentle nudge to get them to pass it and keep moving. 

I stopped at a couple places up the trail to look for creek access and let the other hiker catch.  I asked her if the ladies had moved on or just stayed there and she said they were saying "it looks thirsty, we should give it some water... oh, we should give it a sandwich!"    We shared a mutual    and I said  "they need to just walk past the deer so it's mom can come back and do her thing", she agreed and we shared another    before she pushed on up the trail.

Made me wanna go back, chew some ass and tell them to or get off the pot!  I don't know about you guys, but when I was a little kid in school I was taught NEVER to handle a baby wild animal or the mom very well could shun it.  Even if that isn't the case, the poor thing was over stressed already and had a hard enough time just standing on it's puny little legs, it didn't need these wierd animals which stand on only 2 legs (how crazy is that!) pawing all over it and giving it a heart attack! 

God damn city slickers    Makes me wanna either find or make up my own little dos and don'ts for hiking and animal interaction and hand them out to people I see doing stupid stuff on the trail!

Oh yea, I did see a buck while hiking out, which was odd because I almost never see bucks in the alps!

[NorCalToy]

stupid people...they mess stuff up bad, take your picture or whatever, but stop feeding em, and petting em, and making them dependant and screwin it up for them.

just to be sure: im not a greenie, i just think animals should stay wild.

[kneedownnate]

just to be sure: im not a greenie, i just think animals should stay wild.

  couldn't agree more!  I'm a huge opponent of feeding wild animals for just that reason.  I've always thought it ignorant and irresponsible when the townies feed the deer then pregnant dog about how everybody "drives too fast" and runs over the deer when they wander out in front of cars    No, you A: made them comfortable around the houses, and B: attracted them to the area and kept them around by feeding them!  It's your fault there are always dead deer on your street!

I don't know where the ladies were from, never thought to ask.  The chick who was behind me was from new york, spoke to some others who were from the seattle and vancouver area.  Of the 12 cars at the trailhead I only checked a few license plates, most being from either oregon or california, so there's no way for me to peg down where the ladies were from, but let's hope there aren't any deer nearby or they'll undoubtedly help lead to their demise too!

[Gittinit]

I found a baby opossum in the ditch that borders my property just last week. I watched as it turned circles and kinda staggered about. It was a baby and seemed as though it should have still been in the care of its mother. Mabye rodents like that don't take care of their young..... A neighbor kid came to see what I was watching, and started saying how cute it was. I quickly explained what a nuisance they are and that they carry diseases. I guess I am a bad person cause its life was short, but not short enough in my opinion. Oh well, it is now buried next to said ditch, and I had to chase another one out of my trash just 2 days ago.  The trash, other than when its on the curb, is now kept unaccessable.

I know that a opossum is not as pretty as a deer, but do ya think those ladies would be standing around saying, how cute it is, if it snarled its disease carrying teeth at them? Heck I even felt bad for the poor creature, well for a minute.

Should I have left it alone as well, and hoped it went away, or is this situation just different?

[Stocker]

Ooooo, don't get Nate started on the possums!   

[Lady Di]

Poor little possum

Possums are not disease carrying rodents, (yes, here I go again...) they are marsupials, like kangaroo's, that carry their young in a pouch, when they are too big for the pouch they will ride on the mother's back for a while before they get too big for that. They are not aggressive creatures, and they are highly misunderstood.

As some people know we have had a few in (literally) and around the house. Haven't seen any in a while though. Had to stop feeding them when we started having problems with cats in the yard.

It's very unlikely that they would carry rabies as the possum's body temperatures are to low to harbour rabies.

Many people consider the opossum a filthy animal. In truth, however, the opossum is one of the cleanest animals around. They groom and bathe themselves meticulously, as scrupulously as the most finicky house cat, and have even been observed to stop in the midst of eating to clean themselves several times before finishing.

And yes, they do have very sharp teeth and like any animal will attack if cornered but the fact is they will rarely fight, despite putting up a fearsome display if threatened, and most likely will simply attempt to flee or play dead.

AND... they do eat rodents, and bugs so they are actually good to have around for pest control.

http://opossum.craton.net/faqs.htm

[Lady Di]

And Nate, I would have tactfully told those women that they best thing they could do for the poor little thing is to leave it alone rather than just hoping they took a hint and moving on.
They thought they were doing the right thing by wanting to help it, unedumacated idiots obviously, but they will never learn if someone doesn't help.

[Rocksurfer]

I would have told them to take a hike.

[kneedownnate]

And Nate, I would have tactfully told those women that they best thing they could do for the poor little thing is to leave it alone rather than just hoping they took a hint and moving on.

First, I didn't want to stick around any longer and ad to it's stress.  But, I thought in this day and age people would be smarter than that, they have to be!  Who goes hiking in a wilderness area without at least a basic knowledge of how to conduct yourself out there?  Any of the decent hiking books/guides will have a section on interacting with wildlife and will warn against this sort of thing, and I have to think those ladies had read them before.  , there are signs at ALL the trailheads telling people not to feed or interact with the animals.  Maybe that's just a pipe dream, cause people still litter, smoke, use drugs and drink themselves into obvlivion, so who knows 

If I had it to do over again I would have definately suggested they shove off, and if they started pulling their "it's so little and weak, we need to help it!" routine I would have turned into a prick. 

[Rocksurfer]

If People were smart they would have to post a sign, and obviously they didn't read it.

[jimbo74]

possums are fugly

[kneedownnate]

If People were smart they would have to post a sign, and obviously they didn't read it.

I'll have to try and remember to take a pic of the signs when I go up again in a couple weeks.  They put up bear advisories too, and one trail had a sheet where people wrote their accounts of bear sightings on the trail.  There were several written up by the time I went up there, including one which told of seeing a BIG bear at about the X mile mark.  Nathan saw a bear at almost the same exact spot and it wasn't big at all  , MAYBE 200 pounds.  And no, I didn't try to feed it, but I did succeed in missing a pic opportunity when fumbling through my pack for the camera.  I've hiked with it hooked to my belt loop since, save for the last trip when I thought I forgot it but later found it in the pack underneath my bladder 

[Lady Di]

possums are fugly

Bulldogs are fugly too, but people keep them as pets

Possums are cute in their own way. They're really funny when they eat.

[mudguts]

Alps? Ca and Oregun license plates, where you was at Nate?

[NorCalToy]

theyre the Trinity Alps....

[Gittinit]

Poor little possum

Possums are not disease carrying rodents, (yes, here I go again...) they are marsupials, like kangaroo's, that carry their young in a pouch, when they are too big for the pouch they will ride on the mother's back for a while before they get too big for that. They are not aggressive creatures, and they are highly misunderstood.

As some people know we have had a few in (literally) and around the house. Haven't seen any in a while though. Had to stop feeding them when we started having problems with cats in the yard.

It's very unlikely that they would carry rabies as the possum's body temperatures are to low to harbour rabies.

Many people consider the opossum a filthy animal. In truth, however, the opossum is one of the cleanest animals around. They groom and bathe themselves meticulously, as scrupulously as the most finicky house cat, and have even been observed to stop in the midst of eating to clean themselves several times before finishing.

And yes, they do have very sharp teeth and like any animal will attack if cornered but the fact is they will rarely fight, despite putting up a fearsome display if threatened, and most likely will simply attempt to flee or play dead.

AND... they do eat rodents, and bugs so they are actually good to have around for pest control.

http://opossum.craton.net/faqs.htm

WOW I'm amazed at all the posotive info on what I viewed as a pest. I personally know people who keep racoons, deer, and other wild animals as pets. I don't think its right, but they are within the law in doing so. I never for the life of me would have thought of a opossum, as a good thing to have around though.
The Opposum that got in my trash a while back hasnt been sniffing around lately, so mabye he got scared, and moved back into the wilderness. 

[kneedownnate]

theyre the Trinity Alps....

  not that far from you as the crow flies too!  These first few are from my first hike this year I think.  I'll give you guys a guess as to what this creek is called...

[kneedownnate]

I think the first pic is from 3 hikes ago.  I didn't get very far up the trail before my knees were just too hammered to continue, maybe 2 miles or so.  Whenever the water would smooth out enough I could see 1 or 2 little trout darting around in this little hole.  I will go back and catch them one day 

The rest of these pics are from 2 hikes ago.  A lot more snow than I expected to see, especially on the ridge tops where it gets a lot of sun.  I think I may have walked a little shy of 1 mile in almost constant snow.

Then, not long after thinking about how I'd never seen an elk in or near the alps, I see this cow elk on my way out.

[mudguts]

 O OK, have a turdle poynt Nate for enjoying the great outdoors 

[kneedownnate]

Thanks muddy, back at ya 

[NorCalToy]

now ya got 3

name for creek? white creek? or white water creek? idk, seems legit to me.

btw nice pics

[Stocker]

Nice pics, Nate!   


I think I might know the name of that creek...   

[kneedownnate]

Yea, I think you're a cheater too    I was dumb founded when I randomly looked over and saw that elk!

now ya got 3

name for creek? white creek? or white water creek? idk, seems legit to me.

btw nice pics

Thanks bud!  Good call on the creek name, but it's just a little off 

[NorCalToy]

clear creek?

[kneedownnate]

Hint:  pay attention to the water flow...

[NorCalToy]

dont tellme its something as dumb as "fast creek" or something...

[kneedownnate]

  Ok, you're close enough, it's SWIFT CREEK    Close enough though!  It's fishable once the flows go down, but when I was up there there was some runoff, and a week or two after that was when it got well over 100 here so I'm sure it was flowing super fast after that!

[NorCalToy]

alright swift creek is mildly classy, better than fast creek or some stupid ...sometimes the stuff people name stuff though... what were you on people?!

[Rockcrawlintoy]

let me know if you ever mosey on up to southern oregon ill be down to hike with ya

[kneedownnate]

Werd, thanks man!  I'm trying to stretch the money from my stimulous check far enough to last all summer by only going hiking every 2-3 weeks, but I kinda want to go tomorrow again.  I'm trying to hit as many different trails as I can, but with the crappy condition of my knees and hips I end up going to trails I've already hit and know to be reasonably easy, though this last one was a new one to me.

I need to start getting my stuff ready today if I'm going to go tomorrow though.  I always wait until the morning to get ready and end up leaving way later than I want to.  There are so many fires around here and the smoke is so thick over that way that I wouldn't be surprised if I couldn't make it to some of the trails!