Was his first name Timmy?
OT: Rarest Animal You've Seen in the Wild in PA?
- Thread starter PharMorNightStocker
- Start date
Muscrat Suzie or Muscrat Sam?
Now there's an old, awful song reference for you!
Honestly, I've never seen a fox or coyote outside of a zoo. Saw a coyote in my neighborhood a couple years ago and a fox in my neighborhood a few weeks ago.
??. Not the same.
The golf course is rated the best public course in the state. Stayed there a couple times, hosted meetings, etc. Rooms are older but the public areas are great.
designed by none other than donald ross. i'm not a golf buff but still a pretty cool PA history nugget.
Last edited:
Was not when I lived in Pittsburgh but telling mine for the hell of it. Live in the Las Vegas suburbs and maybe 10-12 years ago was walking my dog in the neighborhood and saw some sort of giant bird hovering above us that looked like something out of a horror movie.
Wife thought it was some kind of a vulture, my first thought was it almost had to be fake. It loomed above us for a good minute or so and it got to the point that there was some worry about our dog who was just sitting there staring at this giant thing.
After we got home I looked it up and discovered it was a California Condor we had seen, and we weren’t the only ones as there was a story about it on the local news that many people had seen it and details about how it had likely been diverted from its usual flight path for some reason.
Wife thought it was some kind of a vulture, my first thought was it almost had to be fake. It loomed above us for a good minute or so and it got to the point that there was some worry about our dog who was just sitting there staring at this giant thing.
After we got home I looked it up and discovered it was a California Condor we had seen, and we weren’t the only ones as there was a story about it on the local news that many people had seen it and details about how it had likely been diverted from its usual flight path for some reason.
Last edited:
The first fox I ever saw outside of a zoo was when I was laying in a pool at the outer banks, it was 20 yards from us. The year before that sitting in a pool there I saw 3 deer In our yard.
About 7 years ago there was a family of albino deer that lived in my back yard in Bethlehem WV. I’m not the best at identifying gender in young deer but there were two young albino deer and an albino mother. There was always a buck around but was regular colored. It was truly an amazing sight. One little one ended up roadkill on 29th street and never saw the two other ones after that. I imagine someone has them stuffed over their fireplace.
I remember seeing some cougars down at donzis back in the day lol..
Walking around my town a while back there was a family from another country nearby. They went bananas when they saw squirrels playing in a tree.
Funny how something so common to us is rare (or in this case completely alien) to others.
Funny how something so common to us is rare (or in this case completely alien) to others.
I grew up in DuBois Clearfield county and spent about half my second decade in the woods there and surrounding counties, still get there a lot. I never saw a rattler until this past summer I saw 3 in one day near Emporium (Cameron County I think). 2 were sunning on the side of a dirt forest road near a stream where a lot of timbering was going on on top of the mountain. There was a bad drought at the time and they came down for water. Then later that day driving home through a rainstorm a real big rattler was crossing the paved road and the car in front of me and I drove right over it without hitting it and I believe the car behind me also missed it.
Every summer there's a rattlesnake roundup in Sinnemahoning (Cameron County) and people catch snakes and bring them in to be measured. Then they're released back where they were caught.
Not only are they measured, they are milked of their venom which is used for antivenom and a number of other drugs.
Rattlesnakes are a protected species in PA. They are not aggressive, unless cornered and feel threatened. If you're bit, you've done something reckless.
I believe the person who died was bit when he reached into a woodpile for firewood. This is a common haunt for big woods snakes who seek peaceful and reclusive areas.
I fish Spring Creek a lot in the late spring and summer. There are definitely rattlesnakes in the area. I saw one swimming across the creek near where I was fishing. Live and let live. Just make some noise and use the butt of your fishing rod to brush the weeds ahead of you and take your time. Don't blindly step over logs or reach or get too close to rocky outcroppings and you'll be just fine. If you see one on a road, simply go around it.
If you want to see an impressive snake, check out the Eastern Diamondback in the coastal areas of the south. I lived on Sapelo Island GA for a year working at the Marine Institute and the rattlesnakes there made timber rattlers look like nightcrawlers!
Now the cottonmouth is a different story. A very nasty and aggressive pit viper. Definitely give them a lot of room!
We're lucky we don't have any saw-scaled vipers in this country. I watched a video on them before... Scary that something so small could be so deadly.
LOL.....I swear to god I think I saw the same turkey at that location. Just completely blew my mind.
I spent 2 weeks in Queensland, Australia for work. They were building a huge Magnesium plant there and they went belly up, and we sold them alot of material. So we were buying it back, I was sent there to make sure everything was still in tact and they were packed and identified properly (yeah, not a bad gig). Anyways.....every morning to the job site (it was somewhat remote) I saw these in the fields just we see deer in the fields here. It was always fun.
A long time ago, I played golf at the Country Club of Emporium. Signs everywhere warning you to beware the rattlers. Late 70's
A wily old cougar on the prowl can be terrifying for a young buck.
I was deer hunting once and saw an albino coyote. Freaked me out at first, had no idea what it was as it ran towards me.
My favorite animal I spotted was ring tailed cat at around 2am. Heard something in the trees and put a portable flood light on it. Cool looking animal. This is all California though so disregard my post.
My favorite animal I spotted was ring tailed cat at around 2am. Heard something in the trees and put a portable flood light on it. Cool looking animal. This is all California though so disregard my post.
Semantics. Perhaps reckless was not the proper word. Careless, nonchalant, ill informed or unlucky could all work.
When in snake country, educate yourself but do not be fearful. Encounters with rattlesnakes are rare, unless you are actively seeking them. Most snake hunters know where the dens are and most snakes are captured in near proximity to these.
Sadly, many people have irrational fear of rattlesnakes and kill them on sight. They don't deserve that fate.
The cottonmouth isn’t native to PA. If you see them here, you probably are seeing a copperhead, which are very common in PA and the two snakes are often confused.
Saw the cottonmouths in GA. No mistaking them. Pretty obvious where they got their name.
Coiled up with snow white mouth open, just waiting to get in range!
Is Sapelo Island worth the hassle for a visit? I understand you have to get permission from the state to take the ferry out to the island.
There are a couple eagles that fly the Mahoning creek every morning where it flows into the Allegheny. I have a camp there. Pretty cool. Tons of bears up there but I'm the only person to never see one. There is a beaver lodge being built across the creek from us. Its cool to watch them at work.
I know a few folks at the game commission who say that it is highly unlikely that panthers are in pa. They leave lots of sign. You'd have scat, remains ftom their kills, etc. They would also not last in PA due to our pop densities (too many roads). Most evidence they get are bobcats or coyotes. Also, if there was a mt. lion around, they'd get rid of coyotes pretty quick. They don't mix well.
I know a few folks at the game commission who say that it is highly unlikely that panthers are in pa. They leave lots of sign. You'd have scat, remains ftom their kills, etc. They would also not last in PA due to our pop densities (too many roads). Most evidence they get are bobcats or coyotes. Also, if there was a mt. lion around, they'd get rid of coyotes pretty quick. They don't mix well.
Cottonmouths are in Raleigh. I’ve had them swim toward me while fishing from the edge of a river. I’ve pushed them away with the tip of my fishing pole, only to have him try harder to get to me. The current pulling them down river was the only thing that stopped their attack. VERY aggressive.
I’ve also killed a Copperhead in my driveway.
At age 11 or 12, I was with a friend flipping over railroad ties from an old RR track bed catching salamanders. We found these two snakes like none we had ever seen. So of course we picked them up and took them home to show my dad. We knew he would know what they were. We walked into the kitchen with the snakes and my mom nearly fainted. Then my dad freaks out telling us to take them out to the yard. He gets his garden hoe and whacks them up. My sister saw that so she was screaming, my mom was crying, and my dad was pissed that we had brought two copperheads into the house. At least I then knew what a copperhead looked like.
The rattler death in PA was about 3-4 years ago IIRC. It happened in Medix Run which is well known for snakes. A man camping with his wife went out to the campfire at night and was bit. His wife drove him to the hospital in St. Mary's where he got antivenin and he was life-flighted to Pittsburg. He died during the flight.
The only reason I can see doing this, as someone who's family once had a camp in Elk County, if you have dogs.....and kids....you don't want them around. Because if you have a camp, you know you have a woodpile. And rocks around where they like to sun themselves. So I can understand preventive measures if you find a rattler near by. If you are walking in the woods or hunting, that is a different story, very easy for you to evade the snake.
In PA I guess same as most answers...black bear, bald eagle. I spend a lot of time on the Rachel Carson Trail where you go by both the north park Eagles nest and not far from another above route 28/the Allegheny.
The scariest was hiking in the Topanga Mountains in LA, we ran into a mountain lion at dusk. I read they thought there only 3 left in LA then, now they count 23. Anyway it's eyes were glowing, we had no idea the proper way to exit the situation and just ran haha.
The scariest was hiking in the Topanga Mountains in LA, we ran into a mountain lion at dusk. I read they thought there only 3 left in LA then, now they count 23. Anyway it's eyes were glowing, we had no idea the proper way to exit the situation and just ran haha.
Anyone seen a ruffed grouse, the PA State Bird? Only one I ever saw was in 2001 in Deep Creek, MD.
That was my favorite thing to hunt when I was a kid. I had my Grandfather’s single barrel shotgun, and learned how to be a good shot while hunting grouse. That was late 70s / early 80s.
I first one I heard take flight was about three feet from me it took off. It had been sitting in a pine tree that was right beside me. It scared the heck out of me, and I can still hear my Dad laughing.
Similar threads
