Most seen wildlife?

imported
#1

I’d like to get everyone’s opinion on this. The question is what type of wildlife do you see out there on the AT from most abundant to least abundant. I’ll go first with my list. This is what I see/have seen.

Deer — see quite a lot of them on the AT
Ground squirrels ---- ditto
Gray and Fox squirrel — a few now and then
Ruffed Grouse — see them quite often
Various birds (crows and smaller birds)–often
Wild Turkey — every now and then (not too often)
Bears (very seldom–see a few, but very seldom)
Snakes (very seldom)

So, is anybody’s list different than this? What am I missing?

See you out there.

Maintain

#2

Don’t forget moose! We saw several of those in Maine. Also hawks, herons and eagles.

Ginny

#3

A moose almost walked on me while I was sat quietly eating a breakfast bar along the trail in New Hampshire. A very smart gray jay tried to yogi some food as we walked near Zeland Fall hut.
I consider this real trail magic, life is good on the trail.
Swamp Dawg

Swamp Dawg

#4

Lots of Mice around shelters. I’ve seen some pretty wild people too. Do black fly’s and mosquitoes count? If so I’d have to say I’ve seen more of them than anything else.

I saw a bear cub and mother just north of Gulf Hagus once. The cub was coming down the trail toward me. We both stopped at the same time. It turned and booked it in the other direction bawling as it went. I started hiking but after about fifty yards I saw the mother bear up the trail standing side to. She looked at me then looked in the direction the cub went in then looked at me again and didn’t move. I got the message and back tracked a couple hundred feet, waited for ten minute made some noise then started up again.

That’s only the second time I’ve seen a bear that it didn’t run like hell. The first time the bear didn’t know where I was.

Never saw a fisher or a bobcat on the trail yet. Saw two mink a long time ago playing, chasing each other. They ran right down almost into me. Boy were they surprised, scared the poor little things half to death.

This is one of the biggest reasons people should leave their family pets at home. If more people did you’d see more stuff on the trail. If people are so afraid to go into the woods that they have to take a dog then they should just stay home. There really isn’t anything that pisses me off more.

Sorry for the rant.

Crusoe of Lonesome Lake

#5

It seems that there are more black bears on the trail than ever before. I counted 25 on my thru-hike last year (including the bear in the Bear Mountain Zoo) - which is considerably more than when i hiked in '96 and '01.

If you want to see a lot of interesting wildlife, i found that early morning and early evening were very good times for some spectacular viewing. A lot of the larger animals use the Trail at night. On one particular sunset walk in the Smokies i saw 3 elk, a huge wild boar, and a bunch of Barred Owls which seemed to be following me up the trail from tree to tree!

A guy named Johny ‘Rocket’ saw a mountain lion just before dark near Cheoah Bald (Wesser), NC last year. He said it was about 150 lbs and stepped right onto the AT in front of him, within four feet!

Happy Trails!

freebird

#6

In 02 I saw 8 moose,in NH/Maine. 8 bear,2 in Va and 5 in NJ. 2 rattlesnakes,1 in Va and 1 in NJ. 1 stripped skunk in Ga and 1 porcupine in Vt. Oh yeah and Badger. Not the animal but the hiker.

Virginian

#7

And then there are the racoon, chipmonk, mole, and 100’s of birds to add to the list.
I remember sitting in my Triumph TR2 on the side of a rural road in Maine late one night. Back in the 60’s. It was mid-August. I began to hear galloping sounds from far away. Whatever was charging down the road was getting closer fast. I debated whether to turn on the lights or sound the horn and decided to just sit this one out. Soon, 2 bull moose galloped by just a huffing and a puffing. I drove home and cleaned my pants and put the Lysol to the car seat.

that guy

#8

Mice and gnats. Not necessarily in that order.

Skyline

#9

This December I was hiking the AT in the Shanendoah’s. I saw one bobcat and my hiking partners saw 2.

Also elsewhere on the trail lots of chipmunks, bears, skunks, rattlesnakes, pheasants, turkey, blacksnakes, racoons, salamanders, deer… Lots of wildlife!

Grassy Ridge

#10

The least number of any type of wildlife I saw were: 1 Moose, 1 bear, 1 Groundhog, 1 Copperhead snake, 2 Bobcats.

I also saw some small animals that were standing on their hind legs by the side of a stream in VA. They dived in as soon as they saw me. They were about 6-9" high. Were they Marmots perhaps?

Downunda

#11

Downunda, they were most likely muskrats. Could have been beaver or mink but definately not Marmots. Marmots are similiar to and also called Groundhogs. They do not live in or near the water and do not go swimming. I’d say you saw a couple of muskrats.

See very few snakes along the trail, but have seen a few.

See you out there. :cheers :cheers

Maintain

#12

There’s a large black snake who frequents Lost Mountain shelter near Damascus.

2 years ago I saw some wild pigs near Wayah Bald.

Doc Holiday