# Sharing the trails



## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Deer, Elk, Moose, Buffalo, Antelope, Wild mustangs, cattle on grazing permits, rarely a bear or cougar, wild turkeys, pheasant, quail, coyotes and the occassional red fox.

I did see a big rattlesnake on Sunday morning. It was laying in the trail, but just slithered off as we came by.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Gorgeous pictures!!! We saw some baby racoons the other day and I was trying to get out my camera and wasn't fast enough! We saw an adult raccoon Saturday, we have seen deer, turkeys, all kinds of birds such as hawks, eagles, several species of ducks and loons, alligators, wild horses, opossums, rabbits, snakes - coral, grass, hog snakes, etc. and of course plenty of wild hogs. Nothing exotic...just regular old wildlife!

Oh yeah...Portuguese Man O' War's on the beach...we steered clear of those!!!


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

QOS said:


> Oh yeah...Portuguese Man O' War's on the beach...we steered clear of those!!!


:shock: :shock:
Wow.


Mine is quite pitiful..... The most I have ever seen was an armadillo, deer, and turkeys. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

I was stung by a Portuguese Man O War when I was 13 on a beach in Panama City - it was on the sand and I moved it with a styrofoam cup and on the of tentacles wrapped around my thumb. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: 

OMG it lit me up and left a welp that was nasty. I don't ever want to tangle with one of those again!

They have a gorgeous purplie blue color that is so entrancing - it makes you want to pick one up but I told everyone to make sure their horse didn't step on one. There were hundreds of them on the beach that day. Here is a picture of some of them


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Owls. Coyotes, bobcats. My horse would probably have puppies if we saw what you all see .


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

LOL I forgot that I have seen coyotes twice before. Once at my cousin's ranch when we were riding in the back and once at Tyrrell Park. We don't have elk, moose, buffalo, bears or big horned sheep here except for some exotics on a few ranches. We have some big alligators - so we are on the look out for them and because Troy is not here to yell Shoot 'em Elizabeth and we aren't packing heat in the first place, we don't want to tangle with them. My cousin and a friend rounded a corner a few years ago and a huge (think 10' big!) alligator rolled over into the water splashing loud right in front of them. Both of their horses did a 180 and took off...thank goodness they weren't dumped!


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## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

Bears with some regularity when riding the low country near Seattle. Elk and turkey pretty often. Alligators? wow. 

Painted - is that a 1st Mar Div patch on your jacket? Semper Fi.


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

all I see are deer sometime a coyote but very often


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

City people with jogging strollers,
I dont get pictures of the other stuff because my horse seems to think that pulling camera out of bag is the command to do a pirouette on one leg.


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

Ohio doesn't have anything too spectacular.....LOTS of deer (some nice bucks too), pheasants, red foxes, *****, turkeys....

Haven't seen a yote but have heard them at night.


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## Jolly Badger (Oct 26, 2009)

The most "unusual" critter I've met in the woods was a male peacock. Full plumage - just beautiful.

Most likely, it was turned loose by a local-yokel who bought it because they thought it would be "cool" to have one, decided the bird was too noisy to keep around the house. My Little Black TWH was fascinated when we rounded a bend in the trail and saw the peacock standing there. It ran along the trail in front of us for a good hundred yards or so - my horse kept trying to get closer to it for a better look at the "weird blue turkey."

More typical wildlife are whitetail deer, wild turkey, red foxes, red-tailed hawks, groundhogs, pheasants, turtles (usually smaller box turtles, but also a couple of LARGE snapping turtles) and occasionally owls. 

Some snakes - mostly black snakes, though I saw a very pretty bright green snake tucked in among the branches of a honeysuckle tree a few years ago. While riding the trails at East Fork Stables (TN) we stopped just above Deer Gap and I spotted a good-sized rattlesnake in one of the rocky caves. We've also seen rattlesnakes sunning themselves near the side of the trail at Brown County State Park in Indiana. 

A couple of months ago I spotted a Bald Eagle perched on a branch overlooking the river. That was a nice thing to see - I'd heard they were moving back into the area but this was the first time I saw one around here.

When I worked at a summer camp in northern Wisconsin we occasionally saw black bears on our trail rides. The horses were _not_ thrilled about that. Lots and lots of Bald Eagles up there, too.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

We see deer, rabbits, rattlesnakes, squirrels, turtles, turkeys, armadillos, hawks, quail, vultures and other birds quite often. Occasionally we may see a fox or a coyote. I have seen a bobcat a couple of times. Oh, and flies. Deerflies, horseflies, gnats, more deerflies...........


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## FirstLightFarm (Jan 20, 2012)

Do imaginary sabre-toothed tigers count? My horse says our woods are full of 'em!


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## Shenandoah (Aug 9, 2010)

We saw a turkey vulture on the trail the other day. He was eating a deer carcass, and we scared him off as we came up the trail (and likewise, he scared both me and my boy as he flew up out of seemingly nowhere). I tried to get a picture, and I'm not sure which my boy was more nervous about - the turkey vulture who was now on a nearby fence trying to get back to his dinner, or the carcass. He kept looking back and forth between the two, nostrils flaring.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Here kitty kitty









A bull moose









Cattle grazing on the mountain









Elk









Deer









Big Horn Sheep









Wild Donkeys









Wild Mustangs









Buffalo









The black spot at the end of the red line is a Wolf. He didn't wait around for me to get the camera out.


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

Dude, your rides are simply epic. If I'm ever out west I will have to find you.


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## princecharming (Dec 2, 2011)

deer, fox, squirrils(SOSCARY) when passing farms, some pigs...

AND TODAY:

on a peaceful trail through the snow...i felt a presense...i looked around and saw...
A MAD SITTING IN A TREE
it was a deer hunter  i apoligized for interupting and he just glared at me, we RAN out of there. 

and snakes :/ those scare me though


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

princecharming said:


> AND TODAY:
> 
> on a peaceful trail through the snow...i felt a presense...i looked around and saw...
> A MAD SITTING IN A TREE
> it was a deer hunter  i apoligized for interupting and he just glared at me, we RAN out of there.


I would have neither apologized nor would I have gone away any faster than I came in.

Unless you were trespassing, he had not right to expect the woods to himself. If he doesn't like it, he can get himself some private land to hunt.


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## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

Wow, many of you have EPIC trail mates out there! We meet nothing that spectacular around here - deer, moose, occasional cattle, squirrels, gotta be careful not to step on a viper, and there also have been sightings of wild boar - wouldn't like to meet one of those during the piglet season. There are said to be also some wolves in the region, but I've never met one of those. I have no photos, though, I usually trail without a camera.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Painted Horse, we all want to come ride with you.


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## princecharming (Dec 2, 2011)

mildot said:


> I would have neither apologized nor would I have gone away any faster than I came in.
> 
> Unless you were trespassing, he had not right to expect the woods to himself. If he doesn't like it, he can get himself some private land to hunt.


no, i wasnt tresspassing but my horse was CREEPED out. he was not happy with a man sitting in a tree looking at him. 

but i agree, there is plenty of woods for both of us. im just glad he didnt think i was a deer and try and bow-and arrow us.


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## jumanji321 (Dec 1, 2010)

Where I used to keep my horse, she pretty much shared the pasture with mule deer. That's all you see around here because I'm in the city, but when I went up to the mountains we saw buffalo and elk.


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## traildancer (Oct 27, 2010)

What a cool thread.

When I lived in AK--moose, bear, wolf (once), ptarmigan (exciting when they explode right under your horse's nose).

In OR--bear (once we saw two cubs up a tree), deer everywhere, elk, antelope, black and red fox, wolf (in Eagle Cap Wilderness; I thought it was a hiker's dog), couger (once), porcupine, skunk, turtle, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbit, turkeys, bald eagle, redtail hawk, buzzards, Canada geese (mostly in the pasture), ducks, many other birds, rattlesnake, rubber snake, bull snake. Someone mentioned flies--are those really wildlife?!! I would add bees. Over in the Steens Mountains we saw lots of sign of wild horses but never caught sight of them.


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## VT Trail Trotters (Jul 21, 2011)

I dont, but ATVers on trails that are ATV and horse trails i guess the ATVers can get pretty mad saying trail riders should not be on the trail and are a nusence. And they first shouldnt complain if its a ATV and horse trail and THEY should be aware of trail riders if they know there is a possibility of trail riders.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

The only "wildlife" that caught Biscuit by the short hairs was a baby in a stroller! He has had little pigs explode out literally from under his feet and he just kept going. We were in Brazos Bend Park in December and saw a couple with a stroller. Biscuit was fine til we came along side of them...on the other side of the road for safety and all of a sudden his butt was going around his front feet and if that baby had jumped out Biscuit would have hauled his butt over the moon in 2 seconds. It was kinda funny considering pigs under the feet did nothing!!! Horses are so funny!


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

AWESOME pictures!
Have seen: coyotes, turkey, bob cat, *****, armadillos, snakes of all kinds, wild guineas, neighbors feral horses ugh, razorbacks, whitetail, turtles, hmmm...
Hope not to see: one of the 500 black bears in my woods it's just a matter of time, released lions, neighbors have seen one on occasion. They aren't supposed to be out here but they are.

I was racing my husband along our river/hay field and a GIANT tom came out of the grass right in front of my horses nose. It scared me more than him, I almost came off his back! He didn't even shy, actually veered after him. I hate how they wait till the last possible moment.


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

VT Trail Trotters said:


> I dont, but ATVers on trails that are ATV and horse trails i guess the ATVers can get pretty mad saying trail riders should not be on the trail and are a nusence. And they first shouldnt complain if its a ATV and horse trail and THEY should be aware of trail riders if they know there is a possibility of trail riders.


I have some adult words for those guys.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

FlyGap, your turkey story reminded me of an incident that happened to me many years ago. I was riding deep in the woods. It was turkey breeding season. A large tom turkey walked out into the path and started coming after my horse. It almost scared him to death. My dog was able to drive the turkey off the path so that we could get by. I have never seen anything like that before or since. That turkey was determined to protect his territory.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Bear, thank goodness it took off when it saw us. And of course deer and all the other typical woodland creatures.


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

Well, I can't outdo Painted horse...

but I did come across this HUGE herd of beasts. There must have been a thousand of them, just sitting behind this thin wire of a boundary watching Indie and myself as we tried to cross the pass. Every time we go past they follow us closely as if we're the next Moses, it creeps us both out... and I think they're trying to tell us something. Still, Indie and I brave this herd of ravenous beasts, she swears up and down that they will continue to grow in size and numbers and will eventually attempt to overcome us... she does not believe that boundary will keep them at bay for long, and I for one do not doubt her opinion. 

For now, at least, Indie and I are keeping close record of this herd of creatures, we are at this moment in time unsure of their intentions; but I cannot imagine it is anything pure of heart. They have quite a fierce and evil look in those cold, blood thirsty eyes, do they not?

Here is a picture I snapped before we ran for our lives, it was a daring move I know. 










Perhaps now with a picture, you all can see just what kind of monsters roam these North Carolina fields. How Indie and I survive;... well... sometimes even I am at lost for words to that.

:rofl:


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

X^D strange Beasties!!!! LOL!

C- thank heavens for dogs! Funny theyre more afraid of a dog than a 9 ft horse/woman!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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