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Re: [at-l] Rattlesnakes ( Make noise )

>When its warm weather you get a lot more up here in NJ.  Had a six foot
>black racer cross the path to two hikers. They froze. The snake is really
>not a hazard. Awhile later when I was looking to bed down in the ridge
>meadows ( see http://members.aol.com/visitnj NJ AT ), a deer jumped out of
the
>woods and pranced in front and snorted at me so I moved to the next meadow
>and as I was ready to select an area, a rattlesnake gave me a big hiss.
>So I went to the next meadow.  That morning a porcupine was in the trail, I
>let him/she be too. I didn't see any black bears that day since we have
>hundreds

Were there any buzzards overhead ?  :-).
porcupines ...... WOW. I never really though about them living in the mid
atlantic region. I wonder if we have them in Va. I have never seen one
outside of a zoo. Not even in road. I thought they lived out west or
someplace. Have only seen maybe two bears in the wild my whole life and
that was their butts running through the thickets. Well inn the SNP at
campgrounds I have seen a couple but I dont consider that the wild. They
are very illusive around here. I reackon thats why they are hunted with
dogs. I am not agianst hunting but dogs should be illegal. Alot of sport
that is. Let a pack of dogs chase them up a tree while the hunters sit in
camp consuming mass quantities of beer then follow a radio beacon on the
dog to the tree and shoot the bear out of it. Woops !! Sorry Didnt mean to
start another contaversal subject. Last fall we ran across a couple of
backpackers in Dolly sods Wilderness in W.Va. that had found some hunting
dogs. They had gotten lost from thier owner/hunters. They looked like they
had been lost for awhile and they were starving. They were really skinny
and the one was almost dead. The two that found them were going to stay put
with them a couple days and feed them until they got their strength back
and then take them out. They had xmitters on thier collars and owner name
tags. Bear hunting is very popular around here (not with real hunters). You
hear of alot of dogs getting mauled by bears also when they get the bear
trapped and it cant get up a tree to get away from them. Just doesnt seem
right to the dogs or the bear. Anyway back to snakes. Think I'll attach
some horse shoes to my hiking boots and stomp while hiking and hopfully I
wont see any snakes either.  :-)  . Take care and happy hiking.





                           Daryl Cline WB4YEX
                            Harrisonburg, Va.
                  Web page: <http://www.cfw.com/~clines>
          Outdoor pictures:  <http://www.cfw.com/~clines/outdoors>

                               
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