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barefoot
11-30-2007, 11:39
I stumbled on this article about animals on the AT. I've only hiked about 175 miles on the actual AT in the south and really haven't seen alot of wildlife except for deer, snakes, and mice (in shelters)! Seen bear poo and paw prints but no bears. What have you actually seen? I had friends last weekend @ Mt. Rogers see a large cat only 30 yards away on a ridgeline. That would be so cool!

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/18/elusive_appalachian_trail_animals_appear_on_candid _camera/

Pedaling Fool
11-30-2007, 11:48
They'll see you, but you'll rarely see them.

barefoot
11-30-2007, 11:51
Of course it did mention them coming out at night. Now that its winter its always dark when we get to the trailhead and do some night hiking. But I still haven't heard or seen anything. Not sure that I do in the dark.

Pedaling Fool
11-30-2007, 12:04
During my '06 hike I was walking through SNP, along one of those narrow dirt paths with lush green grass on either side. All of a sudden I heard and saw something dart away from my left foot; I looked off into the shrubbery and saw a tiny fawn.

It had been sitting next to the trail, if it did not move I never would have seen it and it was, literally, only inches from my foot.

DAKS
11-30-2007, 12:27
i was at big meadows in SNP last weekend. i must have seen 200 deer around that area in the three days i spent there! they are way too tame!!! i've seen my share of mice in the shelters just like everyone else has i am sure? i've only seen one bear though. he/she was a very calm and social being that was just wandering through the calf mtn. shelter area last summer. i was a bit nervous however as i had just taken my food bag down off the pole. the bear just wandered off without incident. pretty neat! saw one copperhead this summer crossing skyline drive. or at least that is what it was trying to do if you know what i mean? car versus snake, not so pretty!

Footslogger
11-30-2007, 12:39
I stumbled on this article about animals on the AT. I've only hiked about 175 miles on the actual AT in the south and really haven't seen alot of wildlife except for deer, snakes, and mice (in shelters)! Seen bear poo and paw prints but no bears. What have you actually seen? I had friends last weekend @ Mt. Rogers see a large cat only 30 yards away on a ridgeline. That would be so cool!

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/18/elusive_appalachian_trail_animals_appear_on_candid _camera/ (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/18/elusive_appalachian_trail_animals_appear_on_candid _camera/)

============================================

Get up REALLY early and hike quietly. Bears and other 4 legged critters are active in the dark ...and they tend to walk ON the trail.

At least that's my experience ...

'Slogger

Pedaling Fool
11-30-2007, 12:43
i was at big meadows in SNP last weekend. i must have seen 200 deer around that area in the three days i spent there! they are way too tame!!!
You got to love SNP’s "Wildlife" (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=15506&original=1&c=member&imageuser=6936)

DAKS
11-30-2007, 12:48
that's a fantastic pic john!!!

jersey joe
11-30-2007, 12:48
Just south of Pearisburg I ran into a goat standing on the trail. I'm guessing it was a domesticated goat that got away?!? I'm sure it was harmless but I'm not accustomed to dealing with farm animals and it had pretty big horns so I gave it a wide berth.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-30-2007, 13:08
I've seen too many snakes to estimate how many, many dozen deer, dozens of bears, dozens of wild hogs, dozens of skunks and a handful of mice (don't sleep in shelters so rarely see them), one big cat and several bobcats.

4eyedbuzzard
11-30-2007, 15:08
I've seen pretty much all of the normal forest creatures on the AT, but in much lesser numbers than in lower areas. Mountainous forests are poor nutritional environments compared to lowlands and open areas with more browse. And as you've noticed, water is much harder to find the higher up you go. All that equals a lot less wildlife than you'll see where there's water and more food.

AT-HITMAN2005
11-30-2007, 15:13
i was in SNP in '05 and hiking near dusk looking for a good spot to camp and the trail passed through some bushes and 3-4 deer jumped up and darted away. startled me pretty good. i agree with slogger though you'll see more animals if you are being quiet.

sasquatch2014
11-30-2007, 15:50
I too have only done a bit over 100 miles so far of the trail since starting this August but have seen a bunch partly I think because I go out at odd times and also in marginal weather. The two best things so far have been a small bear that was close to the road as I began my hike one rainy night and a large flock of turkey. The photo is really bad I am sorry to say but was unable to get close enough for a good picture and when they flew overhead they were too fast. I first flushed them when I came to a campsite for lunch. They went off into the woods and uphill. That happened to be the direction of the trail and so after lunch I crossed their path again. They tried to make it up a small rocky ledge area and some made it others ran into the ones trying to get up the hill and flew off into the trees and some ran back to where they came from. All in all it was a turkey train wreck. I went up the trail a bit and sat and listed to them call trying to all get back together. This was during a weekday in Nov so I was the only one around for a ways.

2712

Use your imagination and the blob is a big hen turkey maybe 20lbs.