Annoying and sometimes Frightening wild Critters!

[Gina D.]

In all my camping, in both the wilderness and in RV parks, I have run across both cute and annoying little critters, and a few big ones too.

I have stared at passing bears, who couldn't be bothered to stare back at me, they were just passing thru, ended up right on top of a Bobcat, who chose only to growl at my little Beagle as a warning, seen (and ran over) more rattlesnakes, lizards and other crawly things than I can count, and had a skunk hold me and two dogs in prison in the trailer until it chose to quit snooping around.

I have had raccoon raids, chipmunk muggings and stalking coyotes, but have never been attacked by anything, even when I surprised them.

Except for one.

By far, the only animal I actually fear is this





hideous creature.

It's a Stellar's Jay, and they fear nothing. They hate dogs. Today, I had one in my campsite dive bombing my male for fun. At home, they attack squirrels, the neighbors Chow, and poop on my car. I have had them drop on my head, and when I had a cat, he wouldn't go outside because he feared them so. They would rip fur out of his back! Pure evil.

They are common, almost rampant, as a matter of fact, here in the San Bernardinos. And everywhere you go, there they are.

I know they are elsewhere on the west coast, but they are EVERYWHERE here.

Whats in your natural areas that make vicious pests of themselves? NON HUMAN.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Gotta Jay story for you, yes Stellar's Jay.

Our youngest daughter was about 5. We were at Larch Mountain, Oregon. Anne and I left the 3 girls at the picnic table and a couple cookies each. We started taking the picnic stuff back to the car when the youngest let out a hollar and started crying. She was so upset she couldn't tell us what happened, one of the other girls had to tell us. You guessed it, a Stellar's Jay stole her cookie right out of her hand. To make matters worse all the cookies were gone. To this day (she's 30 now) she don't like Stellar's Jays. So I gotta agree with you Gina, they're evil, evil.....

[Alf S.]

Hi: Why is it that "EVIL" seems to come Wraped in such a nice Package???
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Robert Brummett]

I guess I'd have to say coyotes occupy my top most-loathed spot. I have three dogs, two biggers and a littler, and I watch out for the littler very closely, whether camping or at home, as coyotes like little dogs for lunch. This winter I dispatched two prowling coyotes from my front porch, so bold they can be. The other critter-non-grata would be the porcupine. It's no fun to have to hold a dog down and extract quills from nose and lips! Skunks would be a close third I reckon. Keep that bottle of peroxide handy!

[Bobbie Mayer]

I agree: coyotes. (Normally in Washington, not in California; I have yet to see a coyote in Fresno.) For the same reason- concern about small pets. That and occasionally having to listen to them make a kill. And they are getting more brazen. I have not seen one in Fresno, but they've come right into Seattle and Boston (and I imagine other major cities.)

Bobbie

[Christi V.]

I tell ya another one that is known to swoop down and pick up small dogs are the Hawks!!

[Bobbie Mayer]

I think my second least favorite would be raccoons. I was a counselor at Girl Scout camp in the early 70s, in the Los Padres National Forest area. We slept on mattresses out in the open (no rain.) One night three or four enormous raccoons (the size of small bears) attacked our campsite. We threw pinecones and yelled at them and they wouldn't leave, just retreated a bit and waited and then came back. We had no food- they wanted our toothpaste! Horrible brazen creatures.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want the corgis to meet up with a bear, either.

Bobbie

[Chester Taje]

I just don't like snakes-Real ones or the human kind.

[Roger H]

I can and have dealt with bears, coyotes, rattle snakes, fire ants, scorpions, tarantulas and other aracnids and insects... if you see them first, you can usually avoid them, or get out of their way... or they'll get out of yours... birds are annoying, but if they're particularly bold, usually a home-run swing fixes 'em... but none of them leave anything behind like the aftermath of an annoyed or scared skunk.

Roger

[Morgan]

In all my camping, in both the wilderness and in RV parks, I have run across both cute and annoying little critters, and a few big ones too.

I have stared at passing bears, who couldn't be bothered to stare back at me, they were just passing thru, ended up right on top of a Bobcat, who chose only to growl at my little Beagle as a warning, seen (and ran over) more rattlesnakes, lizards and other crawly things than I can count, and had a skunk hold me and two dogs in prison in the trailer until it chose to quit snooping around.

I have had raccoon raids, chipmunk muggings and stalking coyotes, but have never been attacked by anything, even when I surprised them.

Except for one.

By far, the only animal I actually fear is this


Attachment 7663


hideous creature.

It's a Stellar's Jay, and they fear nothing. They hate dogs. Today, I had one in my campsite dive bombing my male for fun. At home, they attack squirrels, the neighbors Chow, and poop on my car. I have had them drop on my head, and when I had a cat, he wouldn't go outside because he feared them so. They would rip fur out of his back! Pure evil.

They are common, almost rampant, as a matter of fact, here in the San Bernardinos. And everywhere you go, there they are.

I know they are elsewhere on the west coast, but they are EVERYWHERE here.

Whats in your natural areas that make vicious pests of themselves? NON HUMAN.

Gina,

What you're seeing is learned (from us) responses; even to stealing cookies.

Here at home we have Mexican Jays, but the Gila NF is rife with Stellar Jays. I have a series of photos of one trying to get to some pancakes Lee had put out on a plate. He would jump toward the plate then make a wild jump to the side to avoid any possible predators. He would then go back toward the plate. After five minutes he finally got to the plate (it was empty, the chipmunks beat him to it). We called him the <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%">Blue Bird of Silliness</span>.

I get along with all those creatures you mentioned except certain bugs and [b]all terradactyls.

[Doug Mager]

I HAD to vote for bugs, not because I fear them or anything like that, but they are just sooo darn hard to control or get away from. While I've had to deal with almost all the other listed critters at one time or another, BUGs just a royal PAIN in the a !!!!

[Al V]

Bears
just because if one has a mind to gain entry into your egg it will. and i bet the damage it does will not be pretty.

[Donald Stahl]

Evil blue jays? lol !! Well, tell ya a story. One blue jay which hung around our cabin, apparently converted from evil to good. Though there were many jays which pestered the squirrels which begged us for peanuts, this particular one used a different tactic to get his share of peanuts.

While we sat at the table on the deck, he would swoop in from the forest, sit on the top of the table, and squack his head off until we handed him his morsel. A few times he would even sit on my lap using his charm and wily ways, knowing full well that I would cave in to his wishes. He earned the name of Mr. Piggy. We looked forward to his many visits too. Now, Mr. Piggy has gone forever, his habitat destroyed by a wildfire, and frankly, we do miss the little guy. Don

[Robert Brummett]

Ah, blue jay stories!

I was camping in the Ozarks and had taken my laptop out to the picnic table at the site. A jay started fussing and flying around close to the table. He would land in the tree next to the table, on a limb directly overhead, and stare down at me. I got the sudden brain-flash that it was not a good idea to have my laptop out there, directly under this fellow. Just as I snapped the lid shut I got a generous aerial gift on the back of my hand, right where the keyboard would have been. The gift, amazingly copious, was accompanied by a raucous squawk which I interpeted as laughter. I was relieved enough that I had "saved" my keyboard that I had to join in.

Never trust a blue jay directly overhead.

[BOBSMITH]

I guess I'd have to say coyotes occupy my top most-loathed spot. I have three dogs, two biggers and a littler, and I watch out for the littler very closely, whether camping or at home, as coyotes like little dogs for lunch. This winter I dispatched two prowling coyotes from my front porch, so bold they can be. The other critter-non-grata would be the porcupine. It's no fun to have to hold a dog down and extract quills from nose and lips! Skunks would be a close third I reckon. Keep that bottle of peroxide handy!

I like coyotes specifically because they do eat dogs. It's been great to see their numbers expanding here in the East. The Great Smoky Mountains now has a large and thriving population of coyotes who are, among other things, helping to keep down the introduced pests known as Russian wild boars.

[DaveK]

You left out the most feared, most vicious predator in the forest: the dreaded chipmunk! At the USAF Survival School at Fairchild AFB in 1972, I learned that the only time they ever completely lost a student in the woods, they found his body surrounded by chipmunk tracks. .

If you're too big for the chipmunks, they send out their bouncers, the bears. Minimum wage but mean. If they can't handle it, you'll find yourself under assault by a horde of Ninja Squirrels. Face it, the woods is mean.

And don't even get me started on Banana Slugs....................

[Palmer M]

I voted for bugs because they SO annoy at the campsite, and daily I dispatch a few stragglers from the ant colony that established a beachhead behind my spare tire last summer.
(WHAT are they living on?!)

But what do I most FEAR?

The BUZZARDS!

Every time I get to a mountaintop here in NC, within minutes there's a couple of 'em gliding over checking me out.
A couple becomes a half a dozen pretty quick and that gets me moving on.
I don't want to be around when some tiny evolutionary tweak makes these birds realize that it would only take a few of 'em to carry me away!
It's a good thing the buzzards don't have the moxie of your Stellar's Jays!

When I'm on the trail, what am I thinking about the most? Not bears, snakes, coyotes, or any of the rest. I keep my sense of smell keenly tuned for the foul odor of a....

BIGFOOT

They eat people, you know.

P

[Linda R002]

Bugs. Ticks, they drop from the trees, and bushes and suprise you with their invasion of your most private places. And spiders. Nothing makes me scream more than walking down a trail and getting a web and big hairy black spider in the face.

We have delt with raccoons that tried to drag a small dog off and coyotes that tried to break through the chicken fence but those you can see and run off or scare off. Spiders can hide in your coat or sleeping bag and you don't even know until it is too late.

And throw in the yellow jackets in that bug catagory and I think everyone has a story about those mean guys getting involved with their outside meals.

[bonnie w]

Cougars are one thing to be leary about here on Vancouver Island especially camping in out of the way places. They are very cunning because they attack from behind, and watch out for your children. Pets are also on their diet.

While travelling up north close to Whitehorse, my friend and I experienced small field mice. Two were inside the trailer scratching and scurring around. I sat outside for awhile because I was so freaked and there seemed to be hundreds underneath the trailer darting here and there. The friend got out the handy duc tape and taped over a hole by the bench, but never did know where they went.

[Carol H]

Cougars are one thing to be leary about here on Vancouver Island especially camping in out of the way places. They are very cunning because they attack from behind, and watch out for your children. Pets are also on their diet.

The Cougar gets my vote as well even if its not on the list. It is the one animal I am always keeping my ears and eyes open for, not only when on the Island but in our local mountains as well. I always jump a little when I think I hear something behind me when walking on trails. Bears on the other hand don't scare me but they can become a bit of a problem when they take up hanging out in local yards and start to overly enjoy the neighbours ponds and hot tubs. ;-)

Carol