what wildlife should i worry about when doing a thru-hike on the appalachian trail?
andy
Wildlife worries
system
#2
Shelter mice in your food bag.
And other peoples’ dogs, both on-trail and off.
Maybe bring your boots into the tent up north; at night, the porkies like to chew for salt. I saw porkies starting in NJ, but no damage until VT.
If you have a tarp, sometimes the NC skunks will march in like the family cat, for a friendly visit.
The fearless deer in the Shenandoahs will about take your tent down. The product of being fed by tourists.
Ticks. I know more people brought down by ticks (Lyme’s disease)than anything else.
And you were worried about bears, right? Not that you want to eat fried chicken in your tent or get between a mother and her cubs, but my initial fear of bears was over-rated. On the AT, they tend to want to leave you alone if you leave them alone. NJ has had problems in the past, but I had no problem thru there. Saw bear prints and scat in NC (LOTS around Standing Indian) and VA, saw actual bears in VA and Maine and was glad of it.
Jan LiteShoe
system
#3
a) Dogs - everyone thinks their dog on the trail is perfect. Far from it. It is animal abuse to bring a dog on a thru-hike.
b) Mice - dirty animals that run around in the shelters.
c) Ticks - you will pick off dozens, lyme disease has KO’ed hikers
d) Snakes - once in a while, they will take over a shelter. Don’t blame them, mice make good food for them.
e) No see ums- most frustrating
f) Black flies - eat you slowly
g) Bears - annoyance but once in a while, do cause damage by stealing your backpack etc.
I always felt the good way to get rid of shelter mice is each shelter maintain a cat. You have a cat, you don’t have mice.
Wake
system
#4
Actually my trail name is Doc Holiday…Doc Panther on a sports forum…but back to the black snake story. I was nearing the end of about a 100 mile jaunt thru southern Virginia when my last stop going southbound before Damascus was Lost Mountain shelter. This had been a fun filled hike but with some customary blisters and some other small injuries. Lost Mt. has a nice overhang and I was boiling water for some Lipton chicken noodle soup…actually had it in a bowl when about a 3 foot black rat snake who had been watching me from the rafters leaned over too far and splat…directly into my soup…followed by me needing to change my shorts. He was harmless however and was the reason there were no mice in this shelter…should be mandatory for all shelters…a resident mice eater…I took him up the trail and had a restful evening with the rain falling on the metal roof…hiked 17 miles the next day down to Damascus for some real food.
Doc Panther
system
#6
Biggest threat I saw were ground bees. Right on the trail. They would sting the crap out of you when you least expected it.
Virginian
system
#7
Let’s see… A rabid racoon. That was a funny one. The thing was standing propped up against a tree on the side of the trail (like within 6" of the trail) and my husband, walking in front of me, went right by it without noticing. I got to the spot and smelled something skunky. Looked up to see a raccoon sittin there chewing on itself. :x I detoured around it, cause my first thought was it must be rabid! I watched my back for awhile to make sure it wasn’t after us like Cujo or something.
Almost ran into a bear in the Shenandoah’s. Had my head down because of the rain and looked up to see it 10 feet in front of me! We both took off in opposite directions.
Other than that, lots of ticks (look out, they’re small), rattlers, moose, deer, more bears, coyotes, porkies, mice of course, and lots more. Oh, and dogs seemed to hate me - almost every one I saw (well, in town, I guess) just growled and barked. I really began to avoid them. I think they’re scared of the packs. Or else the stench… 
Woo - long post…
Loony
system
#8
Dang, Big B, everyone saw a moose at Rainbow Lake but me! Look at the banner photo by Jan LiteShoe. That was the day before I got to Rainbow Lake. I have seen black bear in Maine, copperheads in Pennsy.
Do you know what critter scared me the most? It was a nesting ruffed grouse in NH. It makes a noise like a dying dog. It was in a bush, making that horrid noise. I scampered off as fast as I could. The next day, I saw one right on the trail making the same noise.
Harry Dolphin
system
#9
its people you need to worry about. People stealing, weird people at trail crossings… etc.
Aswah
aswah
system
#10
Wow Doc Holiday/Panther! That’s a good story. I had a close encounter with a bear in the Smokies. Check out my TJ “Bearly Surviving” incident of June 29, 2002. I’d just as soon not see any more bears unless they are way over there… Incidently, that was not the first time I’ve been too close to bear, thank you very much. :eek:
Lady Di