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pcg
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PostThu Apr 05, 2018 8:41 am 
Brushbuffalo wrote:
Keep 'em coming, people!
OK, sort of related... We once found a turkey vulture in our open garage eating dry cat food. I was used to finding possums doing this, but this was a first. It was obviously malnourished and possibly ill so I cornered it and threw an old blanket over it and took it to the local Audubon rehab. Another time we came home from a week's vacation and heard a rustling sound coming from a large sack of dry catfood in the house. Inside was a one-eyed flying squirrel!?? We decided he came in from an open attic window. And re. open windows, we sleep with BR windows open and used to not use screens until one morning we found a dead bat in our bedroom, most likely whacked by our ceiling fan during the night.

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Brushbuffalo
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PostThu Apr 05, 2018 9:48 am 
pcg wrote:
used to not use screens until one morning we found a dead bat in our bedroom, most likely whacked by our ceiling fan during the night.
Be careful about bats. Some are rabid. 6% -10% is too high for a risk that is easily reduced. Here is an article that says 10% of bats in Washington are rabies carriers, with a link to how to "bat-proof" your home.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Humptulips
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PostThu Apr 05, 2018 6:30 pm 
Timber companies used to and still do hire trappers to control Mountain Beavers. It is amazing what runs their tunnels. Weasels, spotted skunk, mink and all matter of small rodents but would you think birds? You would think it would be a death sentence for a bird to go into a hole like that but when the weather is bad they use them for cover. I've seen robins, thrush and even grouse in mountain beaver holes. Not just at the entrance but deep inside.

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Bernardo
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PostThu Apr 05, 2018 6:34 pm 
All those critters end up in traps deep in the tunnels?

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coldrain108
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 9:56 am 
I found this fellow in my Seattle backyard;
I used to have chickens in the same backyard, we built a nice coop for the ladies, with a lockable hinged door. After a few years we were down to one bird and it became a house pet - slept in a bed in the garage instead of the coop. The coop was now the cat house. One morning I look out and see a dogs head peering out of the coop door...as I open the back door a coyote jumps out of the coop and climbs the fence and disappears. My very first bear sighting was very odd. We were canoeing in the Adirondacks, in a very large lake (Henderson Lake), we were way out in the middle of the lake when we saw a dark object swimming ahead of us. We figured it was a beaver as there were many of them in the area, but as we got closer the creature kicked into turbo drive and swam as fast as it could to get away from us. We followed, when the critter hit the shore and ran like crazy into the woods we realized it was a young bear.
A friend and I climbed Del Campo a few years ago and when we got to the top a golden retriever was on the summit waiting for us. In early June on some peak near Crystal Lakes in MRNP we found the exposed summit rocks covered with lady bugs.

Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
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Brushbuffalo
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 11:09 am 
coldrain108 wrote:
A nice female ring-necked pheasant. They seem to take a liking to suburban settings.
coldrain108 wrote:
In early June on some peak near Crystal Lakes in MRNP we found the exposed summit rocks covered with lady bugs.
Ladybugs concentrated on summits is a surprisingly common thing.Here's an interesting article about the phenomenon. I've also had occasions where flying ants were concentrated on the summit at annoying levels, most recently on Reynolds Peak.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Humptulips
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 2:45 pm 
Bernardo wrote:
All those critters end up in traps deep in the tunnels?
Back before Initiative 713 we could use conibears in the holes. With them you could pretty much avoid weasels and all the birds with the proper trigger configuration. Much harder with the traps that trappers are forced to use now. Not an everyday occurrence but it does happen, The birds only during bad weather. Not near as much mountain beaver trapping going on now either. They are virtually gone from some parts of their previous range. The Trappers association is making some initial attempts to find out what is going on., Carcass collection for study.

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mike
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 4:06 pm 
Years ago in we were sitting down by the shore eating lunch at a jobsite. Current was running pretty fast and we noticed a branch cruising along way out in the channel. A bit odd as the movement didn't track with the current. Pretty soon we could see that it was a small buck. The closest island was several miles away. It finally made it to shore at the little pocket beach in front of us and stood there and shivered for 15 minutes or so then shook off and headed up into the brush. This was not summer and it was 50° or cooler. Since then I've seen several more deer swimming.

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Brushbuffalo
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 4:29 pm 
Humptulips wrote:
mountain beaver trapping going on now
When I was about 13 or 14, my buddies and I in North Tacoma would goof around in the gulches and trap mountain beavers. We even called our band of "mountain men" the Royal Order of Mountain Beaver. It still amazes me that my Mom tolerated me boiling the skulls of the critters on the kitchen stove. I have forgotten my intent. Maybe I fantasized about becoming a taxidermist..

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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tinman
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 5:47 pm 
Watched a deer swim across Lake Crescent once and had a yearling cougar knock on my glass door to the deck. I was sitting 8' away in the family room looking right at it. It had apparently seen it's reflection in the glass and was pawing at it. It stood there briefly and then calmly walked off the deck, down the driveway and over the back fence.

Wherever you go, there you are.......
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pcg
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 7:36 pm 
Anyone ever been attacked by a mountain beaver? I was coming home one day and saw something in the middle of the road. I stopped the car and got out and saw it was a mountain beaver. As I was walking up to it the little guy charged me and latched his teeth onto the sole of my running shoe. So glad my toe wasn’t in there! Since he was hanging on I dragged him off the road and after several attepts was able to fling him off my shoe and into the brush.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 11:57 pm 
pcg wrote:
Anyone ever been attacked by a mountain beaver? I was coming home one day and saw something in the middle of the road. I stopped the car and got out and saw it was a mountain beaver. As I was walking up to it the little guy charged me and latched his teeth onto the sole of my running shoe. So glad my toe wasn’t in there! Since he was hanging on I dragged him off the road and after several attepts was able to fling him off my shoe and into the brush.
Haven't been attacked by a mountain beaver (haven't ever seen one), but I did have a marmot take a test bite on the toe of my hiking boot, while I was wearing it, up on Sahale Arm. Just casually walked up to me and then gave me a little chomp. That was unexpected.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Apr 06, 2018 11:59 pm 
Good swimming deer stories. On a rafting trip I saw one cross the John Day River thru a section of small rapids.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSat Apr 07, 2018 12:02 am 
Saw something along the Icicle on the edge of Leavenworth, don't think it was an otter, mink was my best guess at the time. Definitely had the long slinky weasel type of body. Was on the edge of the water, I think it got in but I cant remember for sure.

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RodF
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PostSat Apr 07, 2018 12:50 am 
Apantomancy and ornithomancy are definitely preferable to anthropomancy or trumptweetomancy!

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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