The Carolinian's Archives
Follow  Alastar Packer
  • Home
  • BOOK SHOPPE
  • CONTACT ME
  • Dim the Lights!
  • Mists & Moonlight
  • Once Upon a History
  • Carolina Critters

TRAIL CAM ANIMALS OF CAROLINA PLUS SOME NATURE PHOTOS

9/19/2016

 
Picture
​“Every creature was designed to serve a purpose. Learn from animals for they are there to teach you the way of life. There is a wealth of knowledge that is openly accessible in nature. Our ancestors knew this and embraced the natural cures found in the bosoms of the earth. Their classroom was nature. They studied the lessons to be learned from animals. Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe..." ~ Suzy Kassem

Picture
Maybe the interesting thing about these trail cam and other photos is that they were technically taken in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area. On 90 acres of privately owned land near Crowder's Mountain State Park, in fact, which is just west of the big city in Gaston County. 

​Delightfully, perhaps even remarkably, they show just how well medium and even larger mammals, as well as game birds and raptors, are adjusting to living within short distances of large concentrations of human beings. Let's hope it stays that way for a long time - for Mother Earth, the animals, and ourselves.

​The photos come courtesy to Carolina Critters and Other Animals of the South by a gentleman named Tommy Wade. Mr. Wade is a hard-working and very successful family man and we at the CA can't thank him enough.
WHITE-TAILED DEER
Picture
A magnificent Buck
Picture
In the light of day
WILD TURKEY
Picture
SOME PHOTOS OF THE PROPERTY - Rural landscapes in the Piedmont of Carolina often consist of patches of cleared land, meadows, thick woods and brush.
Picture
COYOTES below - with one appearing to be a better hunter than the other.
 Coyotes are considered by some folk as pesky critters - good for nothing in other words. I make no judgements as every land owner and deer or turkey hunter have to make their own decisions on the matter. They do take large and small game animals as prey and on occasion domesticated creatures like chickens, ducks and such.

​Personally, here's the way I like to look at it: a retired woodsman friend of mine in Tennessee takes care of problem animals for people in that state. He prefers to trap and release when possible. One time he was employed by a fellow with a lot of rural property who had some domesticated fowl being taken at night and hired the friend to take care of the coyotes - all of them. The friend told the man that he would identify the problem without having to kill the whole lot of them. Fine, the man said, and he agreed to the hunter's caveat and how he wanted to proceed.

​It turned out that the culprit was a  slightly crippled and aged coyote who could no longer hunt well. The woodsman told me he felt bad about having to take the old boy out, but at least he solved the man's nemesis without having to kill every single wild canine night howler who otherwise were causing no upsets to this particular farmer. In conclusion, this certainly might seem to be a nature and wildlife friendly way to do things.
BUSY COOPERATING RACCOONS-there would be other animals like skunks and opossums in the area too.
Picture
OLD VENERABLE TREES
This is a very cool looking old oak tree to the left eyeing us, well, sort of. The other appears to be a different kind of tree and a rather unique tree at that. I wonder if it has a guardian nature spirit or something similar - for those who believe very old trees can be dwelling places for other entities, like many people of Celtic or Native American origins do in many cases, for instance. We became convinced it's a possibility by a digital taken one day by associate Janice Gale at the tallest cottonwood tree east of the Mississippi River. That photo can be seen on the Boone's Cave story, which is on the Mists and Moonlight blog pages here on The Carolinian's Archives.  
BEAUTIFULLY MARKED BOBCAT ON THE PROWL
Picture
BLACK BEAR TRACK?
Picture
Possible black bear track Mr. Wade found one morning. Black bears are moving out of the mountains into some western piedmont areas of North Carolina, and, staying put. They're generally quite shy of human beings so long as folks don't feed them in their backyards or harass them. However, any extraordinarily large males should be reported to wildlife officials for removal to more secluded areas as they can become testy during mating season. 

​Tommy might put his trail cams out again in the hope of maybe catching a bear image on them. If he does we'll surely try and get it up on the article for folks to see.
HAWK
Picture
Magnificent low flying Red-Tailed Hawk pic taken by Tommy

PEE DEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: VISIT AND PHOTOS

8/5/2016

 
Picture
Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion. ~ Lorraine Anderson

​
It's always nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life to a place that is dedicated to wildlife and nature. Sometimes a person or two can find such a refuge, and if they're lucky, have it practically all to themselves for a while. A bit over fifty miles east of Charlotte, NC, just north of Wadesboro on Hwy 74, is a comparatively small(8,500 acres) but marvelous wildlife preserve that is a very special place.

​The following article will be a picture tour with a bit of text on the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge. I hope any reader who might not get to visit this little wonder will enjoy all this and for those headed to the beach or Wilmington down Hwy 74, and who haven't done so, may want to consider taking an hour or two to explore it some time or just drive through it a bit. Yes, you should be delighted if you do, as we were in August of 2016.

Picture
At the entrance are the bathrooms and information boards with maps. The Federal Wildlife office is on the opposite side. This article is far from being an all inclusive look or information piece about the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge, but I hope it will at least give you a feel and understanding of this peaceful place.
Picture
This is Sullivan Pond
HISTORY
​In 1903 President Teddy Roosevelt started the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Pee Dee refuge is near to what was once a well known water spot known as "Lockhart Gaddy's Wild Goose Refuge." In 1934 Gaddy turned from hunting the Canadian geese to admiring and attracting them to his pond. Today the spot is simply called "Gaddy's Goose Pond." After the passing of Mr. and Mrs. Gaddy the pond was closed to the public in 1975.
Picture
Some Canadian Geese at Sullivan's Pond
WILDLIFE HABITATS
​There are a lot of different habitats on the refuge that sustain a wide variety wildlife species. The refuge also holds within its borders 3,000 acres of contiguous bottomlands. As a matter of fact, Brown Creek forms the heart of the largest bottomland hardwood tract left in in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Additionally, 2,000 acres along Brown Creek and Thoroughfare Creek bottoms are deemed a Significant Natural Heritage Area.
Picture
The refuge also has around 1,200 acres of upland pine forest and about 4,300 acres aged fields, croplands, moist-soil units, and intermingled pine-hardwood patches of forest that intermix with lakes, ponds, creeks and the Pee Dee River itself. Many of the old fields have been reforested to provide the necessary habitats for a wide variety of wildlife species. It is also interesting to note that open prairies were once in the Piedmont of N.C.
While there I and a companion saw two nature trails. The first is called the Brown Creek Nature Trail and is a quarter mile long. We went a ways down the three-quarter mile long Tall Pines Nature Trail and took the five photos below. There were a goodly number of tree types on this trail, some of them very tall. A fine walk it is.
Picture
We turned left off of Wildlife Drive and went down the dirt gravel GTR road. It had a few water puddles but was a great experience. The Brown Creek was to the left most of the way and was quite full of wildlife. When we stopped the car once I walked maybe ten feet over a rise to take some photos of it. Fish swirls were everywhere and many turtles slid off of limbs and rocks into the muddy creek, along with frogs jumping off the banks and then plopping  into the water. We saw and then got a picture of a white egret on the other side of the GTR road too. To me, it was like going back in time, when this creek was in the pioneer era or even before.
Picture
Picture
That almost looks like an otter sticking its head and neck out of water in the lower right portion of the pic
Picture
Picture
Picture
WILDLFE
​The Pee Dee Wildlife Refuge holds many species of animals. In the avian department there are all-season and migratory songbirds, a wide variety of ducks, geese, egrets, herons, quail, and even the occasional tundra swan, just to name several bird species. Predatory birds are hawks, owls, sometimes peregrine falcons, and in winter the Southern bald eagle. The list could go on.

Some mammal species include the following: bobcat, beaver, otter, muskrat, white-tailed-deer, grey and red fox, gray and fox squirrel, and the Eastern cottontail rabbit. Again, the list could go on.

​The reptiles are a plenty as well, with lizards ( the lovable green anoles being one), Eastern toads, the Eastern box turtle, River cooters, salamanders, black rat snakes,  corn snakes and Eastern kingsnakes. There are some copperheads but these are rarely encountered so no one should have any fear of them. 

​As I mentioned about Brown Creek, the refuge is full of fish; like bass, catfish and bream etc. Fishing season is available from March 15 to October 15 on some ponds, Brown Creek and the Pee Dee River. Sullivan Pond can be fished year round. There's a primitive boat ramp at Arrowhead Lake. No gas motors are allowed, thank god, and the fishing boats must be loaded and unloaded by hand.
Before going down the GTR Road, I  met the Assistant Refuge Manager in his office. His name is Greg Walmsley. Gregg was very nice and knowledgeable, talking about things and showing me some of the displays and stuff that were about. That's a feral hog jawbone in the pic above. Another interesting fact emerged when I asked him about the snakes around. Although Timber Rattlers are know to show up in Anson Co. ( some of the northern refuge is in Richmond Co.) on occasion, it's been a long time since one has been seen in the refuge.

Also, there are no water moccasins there either, their range ending somewhat to the east. However, there are several harmless water snake species about and one is very similar-looking to the cottonmouths. Greg said that he once did a double take at that similar looking one  when he eyed it! I took a digital of this friendly young gentleman Federal Wildlife Officer, but to my regret it didn't come out. Anyway, if you visit this wonderful place, consider stopping by and saying hello to Gregg, or whoever else might be there that day.
Picture
Picture
Picture
We only encountered two other cars (with one woman parked at a pond having lunch) and no walkers on the trail the whole hour and a half or so we were there. That's one reason it felt like being in older times to me. Just a hundred feet down the road we turned onto after leaving the boundary of the place, something caught my eye over to the left, over a little embankment just off the road.

​It turned out to be a very old grave site, perhaps a families, perhaps some of, our even, the first settlers to the area. It was marked an archeological site so I  stayed outside the small perimeter to snap these digitals, zooming in on the last one, which had the only engravings left on any of them. What a fitting way to end the relaxing visit.

Here's a link for more detailed facts and info:​
link

COPPERHEAD SNAKES: FACTS & STORIES

2/8/2016

 
Picture
Why do you kill all snakes? ~  Native Americans to early colonists.

​What was that hubbub? As an 11 year old I ran to our garage, only to see that half the neighborhood's little kids and teenagers were milling about at the entrance to it. I guess someone had spotted this item of intense fascination go in it on a visit and word quickly went down the grapevine.

Their interest was piqued by a snake that had gotten into the garage and was hiding under the International Harvester riding lawnmower. Being a brave, or foolish lad, I stuck my head down under the yellow tractor and practically eye-balled the thing - rounded pupil to rounded pupil. To be honest about it, the 3 foot snake didn't look all that deadly. But yep, just about everyone was convinced it was a dangerous copperhead. I was to later find out snakes like coppers, rattlers and cottonmouths have elliptical pupils, not rounded ones like most harmless snakes in the U.S. do. An exception would be, a fortunately docile and shy species called a coral snake, that has neurotoxic venom.

​Anyway, back to the garage intruder, who was probably searching for mice.
 
Some older kid finally killed it. A couple of us boys, being really curious if this limp horror was truly the dreaded serpent most everyone believed it to be, took it around the neighborhood to find out for sure. I think the second adult man we showed it to said he didn't think it was. Turned out the innocent creature was a beautifully-colored harmless corn snake. To cut to the chase here with this opener, that incident started me on a search for the truth about these generally feared and hated animals. Shoot, the lady next door would literally faint if she even saw a picture of a snake. Anyhow, that was the day that began my intense interest in them, and it was a long learning.

Picture
Pic courtesy of friend George
'That's a good-sized and well-fed Appalachian mountain, or to be more precise, northern copperhead snake above. And it's fixing to get somewhat bigger. We'll get to the interesting story of how the picture came to be taken in just a bit. Did I just write bit, how appropriate, maybe, as concerns that encounter and digital.

​Folks, this article is written in a Carolina Critters and Other Animals of the South way, or, to be more accurate, a Carolinian's Archives style. And I'll add this too before you read any further: This fellow likes snakes and feels strongly they have as much right to live on this spinning sphere as much as any other animal.

​The following read will contain some facts on Agkistrodon contotrix, which is obviously the creature's scientific name, but the majority of the text will be several anecdotes- experiences with them through my life,  and one story by George about the picture that starts off the article, and another one by a friend named Carey. I've seen some sources that state there are three sub-species but others that say there are five. A great recent publication, called "Snakes of the southeast" by Whit Gibbons and Mike Dorcas say there are three so that's probably the correct answer.

​To start off, in the early 70s, I was a boy scout in summer camp on Lake Norman, NC. Three of us decided one day to walk down a trail to the commissary store. As we walked down the path, which had thick undergrowth on both sides of it, I suddenly noticed the middle of a very big copperhead laying in our way. The boy in front of me got lucky because he was in mid-step, about to place his foot right on the snake, when quickly, I grabbed his collar and pulled him back.​ ​And by the way, that fellow scout thanked me with a sincerity that has stayed in my memory all the many years since that incident.  

​Anyway, the ol' fellow with the hourglass markings went into a defensive posture when he suddenly became aware of these tall furless bipeds - no doubt, he'd never encountered such giants before. The snake was in a bad position, for if he'd turned tail and tried to escape into the thickets, he would have left his rear open going into the thick underbrush, so he did the only thing he could.

​Two of us watched him while another boy ran off to get a counselor. The counselor finally come huffing and puffing to the scene, carrying some sharp-bladed instrument, and what then took place was an unforgettable experience. That old copperhead fought hard for his life, successfully dodging the first three or four swings the older boy made, aiming at his head. But on the forth or fifth attempt he caught the snake on the neck and it was all over but for the death contractions.

​The counselor wanted the body, but I claimed first rights as having spotted him first. I skinned and salted the snake and he turned out to be close to four and half feet long, as big as these species get. Kept it for a long time, too, until it got lost in a move. And to finish-up this first anecdote, on reflection over the years, I began to feel bad about its fate. He meant no one any harm, and having a watched him for a while like I did, the realization came that the aged and startled old boy, wasn't purely acting on instinct. There was intelligence in those eyes.​
PictureWikipedia commons copperhead ranges
SOME FACTS

​Now to some interesting facts about these pit vipers. There will be a link to a site with more factoids for any reader desiring them. According to this source I'm looking at right now, a person in the U.S. is far more likely to be killed by a lightening bolt than by a venomous snake bite. Maybe that's because we have hospitals nearly everywhere, but in the copper's case that doesn't seem to be the reason. The snakes, as a rule, just don't deliver that strong a bite with their hemotoxic venom. Apparently, according to several sources, in up to 40% of defensive strikes they don't even release venom. Not that a bite from them is to be taken lightly. Although fatalities are extremely rare, they do have the potential to put a painful hurt and localized swelling on someone. Their fangs and sacs are simply Mother Nature's way for them to secure prey.

​Snake-handling churches. Maybe the Holy Ghost does come down and  protect those sipping strychnine and handling pit vipers. To be honest about it, I don't know. But I do know this, after catch-and-releasing perhaps a dozen southeastern species over the years, that once they sense no more threat, they can be like babes-in-arms. Most of these creatures last desire is to bite a human. Juveniles, however, for obvious reasons, can be more likely to. If I ever see the faithful pick-up fistfuls of juvenile coppers and rattlers without being bitten, perhaps I'll be more certain about the preternatural protection. And for some reason, North Carolina has the highest number of bites recorded yearly. I once saw something on TV about a snake-handling member who got tagged on a finger by either a copper or rattler. But, because of his religious beliefs, he didn't go get medical help and actually died. Very sad, but perhaps it shows that one shouldn't try picking one up unless an expert.

​As far as eating, copperheads seem to be equal opportunity employers when it comes to prey, much more so than many other venomous species. They'll go after, or lay long in wait, for frogs, lizards, other snakes and even big insects. But their main victims are small rodents, particularly rats and mice. They're probably as important to rodent control as the now protected hawks are, but don't count on too many state legislators giving them any protection as it wouldn't be popular with a lot of their constitutes. However, as guest contributor Phyllis Burns points out in the comments, rattlesnakes, at least, are protected by law in Nevada.

Now to how the digital at the beginning of the article came about: There's a relative and friend of mine called George, who once every year camps out for a week on Lake Santeetlah with buddies and sometimes kinfolk. George and his camping companions like to fish the lake in their kayaks. One day, George's son beached his kayak and started walking around the rocks and boulders on shore. Apparently he stepped over the copper as it was heading for the lake's edge. A close and lucky call, maybe. That snake had clouded eyes which  indicates it was in the process of shedding its skin, and not being able to see well during the process can make them a bit more testy, of course. Anyway, back in their kayaks, one of them took that great photo of it. 

​Now on relating this, George mentioned that it was fortunate his son's legs were cold from wading in the lake's chilly water, considering that pit vipers have those two heat sensors on top of their heads, between the eyes. Possibly so. However, here's something interesting that just happened to me in September of 2015: Coming home late one night, I suddenly noticed a big copperhead stretched out in the road, apparently enjoying the remaining heat of it. Excited, I put the headlights on the animal, and cautiously got up rather close behind him. The old fellow didn't make a move. He was headed for a wooded area, so to save him from getting squashed, I tapped his tail with the end of an umbrella, and dear reader, you should have seen that chap take off for the forest lickity-split! He wanted nothing to do with me and my Homebasix and that's for sure!


Picture
Kingsnake sub-species devouring copperhead - photo gifted to site by friend Carrey
SOME MORE FACTS AND AN ANECDOTE

​Besides humankind, obviously, the subject at hand does have its share of predators, especially the young that are preyed on by mid-sized animals that know how to avoid their bites or are willing to take their chances on one with a mildly venomous delivery. King snakes are probably their greatest threats, being immune, but I saw where opossums may have some kind of immunity, too, and possibly even pigs and wild boar. I'm not sure about those last three but it would seem practical for them to be so, in a sense, that is. Especially with the opossums, being one of, if not the, oldest mammal in America which would have given them a  long time to develop some immunity. Phyllis Doyle Burns also tells us in the comments of an amazing experience she had watching a hawk take a rattlesnake in Nevada. Maybe that goes for hawks and owls in the copperhead's case too?

​The snakes barely go down into the Florida panhandle and don't roam the Florida peninsular or the southern most parts of Georgia according to the range maps. Maybe a herpetologist or other expert can enlighten us on why this is in the comments someday. However, Mr. Randy Godwin in the first post on the article, posits an interesting possibility as to why this could be. In the colder regions they inhabit, copperheads will sometimes hibernate in communal dens with others of their species or even timber rattlers. They also seem to have mostly gone nocturnal, at least in my area, in their main activities, hiding or holing up during the day..

For some reason, which the media says is because of a mild winter, this year of 2016 has seen an increase in copperhead bites and snake activity in general, at least in N.C.. Thinking on it though, a mild winter would have given them the possibility of getting something to eat during hibernation; thus, a cold winter, one might assume, would make them hungrier and more mobile come the warm months? Just a speculation of mine, of course.

​Bites could be seriously reduced if folks would just watch where they're walking in the woods, look over fallen trees before stepping over them, don't stick hands into things like root holes, or into rocky crevices when out climbing. Certainly there are many other precautions one could take, like having a flashlight when strolling about at night where they're known to be. But above all, be careful taking logs off of wood piles, and especially don't stick a hand into the bottom of one, as this is one of the most frequent spots they like to take cover or make temporary homes, of a sort.

​That these log piles can be particularly so, I can attest to that fact from personal experience. When trying to get my reptile study merit badge as a boy scout, I asked a friend of the family to help me catch a copperhead. The friend's name was Black Sam and he was a tall and beefy, sixty-something African American who was friends with my father. He also worked as a groundskeeper on a lodge in the Uwharrie National Forest, which is in the middle part of North Carolina.

​We drove there and Sam knew exactly where to find one. He went right to a rotten log pile and started throwing the crumbly logs off one at time. Sure enough, at the bottom, a surprised small-sized copper stuck its head up through the sawdust. I kept that snake in a heavy-wired chicken cage for while too, until the old man said it had to go. He supposedly gave it to a nature museum but probably dispatched it. I once saw dad almost dislocate his shoulder picking up a massive rock to smash a little garter snake to smithereens is why the latter possibility
​ is most likely what happened to my prized fellow. Mom always kept a "serpent hoe" when out gardening too, no doubt dispatching dozens of little green snakes, not to mention the smaller ring-necked and worm snakes about.
​ 
PicturePhoto courtesy of friend Carey
​Phobias are nothing to be taken lightly, whatever they are, and that includes the subject matter at hand. Some people are interested in them, even like them, and some hate them and always will. However, the facts should be known by everyone. Here are a couple of misconceptions I've heard about copperheads over the years: They like to bite trees to watch them swell up and die: Blacksnakes are mating with coppers; as likely a possibility in natural nature as blackbirds mating-up with bluebirds. Now in some top secret cloning lab...maybe, I wouldn't know about that. And here is my favorite, although not about the species of the article: an educated fellow from India once swore up and down by Shiva, and to me, with all the belief and sincerity within him, that after the monsoons end, cobras come out of secret hiding places and relentlessly hunt down people they don't like.​

​
​Carey took the photo above in NW Georgia back in the '70s. He kept it all these years as an excellent example of how well copperheads can camouflage themselves. This is definitely the kind of ground cover to poke around in with an implement before walking through it in the woods. Carey points out that two subspecies overlap in that region: the southern and northern. This is a southern one, which may not have the usual prominent hourglass markings of the northern subspecies. He also said the snake measured about 3 feet. Only the mid-part is visible here and it took me a minute or two to spot it - incredible when I thought about it. See how long it takes you - which will hopefully be a lot quicker!

And to finish the article, I wouldn't blame anyone from sending off a pit viper hanging around grandma's garden or wood pile, and certainly not one found in a backyard where children play. But I do hope snake haters would at least not purposely run over them in the road in rural areas, and above all, not arbitrarily kill them out in nature while fishing or hunting or whatever one might be doing. There can be no doubts they play an important role in keeping rodent populations in balance, if for no other reason to let them go their way out in the wild. And it wasn't snakes that almost took out half the world's human-beings in the mid-1300s, but the fleas on the rats that did; and Europe, which was hit particularly hard by the Black Death, was rather bereft of rat eating snakes.

​Here are two links. The first one is to a great article, with lots of personal photos, by Randy Godwin on Timber Rattlers, and the other one is to a pretty good site with more detailed facts concerning copperheads.

​http://hubpages.com/education/The-Timber-Rattlesnake

​http://www.livescience.com/43641-copperhead-snake.html​

Mountain Lion Encounters in Georgia and the Alabama Sand Hills

8/2/2015

12 Comments

 
Picture
When the story On the Track of the NC Mountain Lions was published on another site a couple of years ago, it was responded to by many folks. The article now has a permanent home on this site and is at the bottom of the scroll down of Carolina Critters and Other Animals of the South. I would like to thank all who posted on that first publishing, but only a small portion of the comments with actual encounters and sightings were feasible to be transferred here.

​I was asked by some folks why the wildlife people won't generally admit the cats are in the mountains, even officially declaring the Eastern Cougars extinct not so long ago. After reflecting, and with sympathy, and maybe, some understanding, here's what I concluded: the wildlife officials have got enough headaches as it is. To proclaim the felines extant would bring on, well, let's admit it, ignorant fear from good people, a big outlay of funds, calls to action galore, poaching protection and last but far from least, scare some hikers and no doubt a lot of the tourists. So be it, if any or all of these reasons are correct.

​Over the last four or five years, even before, I've made it a point to ask any long-time residents of the Southern Appalachians, especially the deeper parts, if there are still any cougars in those mountains. This question has been asked of probably eight or nine people. With a single exception( this fellow said all the rednecks had shot them out!), their answer was yes. Does this prove anything scientifically, well, no it doesn't. But these folks answers (and they're not Deliverance-types either, far from it in fact), along with all the other evidence and reports throughout the many years, says to me that, indeed, the cats are still in those mountains, and in some southern parts of GA, too.
​
​Now to the gist of the article.

One man- who was an avid game bird hunter, and if not mistaken, college teacher- had a most remarkable, if not unforgettable experience, coming close to what was a wild, fair-sized mountain lion while out hunting turkey one day. The Lion had the same idea as the experienced outdoorsman did concerning what was a pretty good-sized turkey flock.

This occurred in 1978 in the Georgia mountains and the gentleman corresponded with a study that was researching whether the cats were still in the state, I believe, of North Carolina. He was very helpful and I'd like to thank him once again. He never did say if he minded his name being used, so for now it won't be until and if his permission is ever given. 

​After the following story, there's a letter he wrote to Outdoor Life, a popular magazine covering the study. He also gave me kind permission to publish it on the site some day. This first part is a short read, slightly edited for length, and the second half of it is also slightly edited down for length, and concerns Alabama's Sand Hill area. I hope you'll like reading these first person reports and encounters as much as they were enjoyed here.

PictureMt. Lion marks from GA sent in to site. If 5 marks then bear, if 4, then cougar. Far left small one seems to be tree blemish?
Backstory to this photo by Josh @ [email protected]
I think my girlfriend had one come into our camp site in Raven Cliffs in North Georgia about 1am. We heard something moving through our campsite when the metal on the stove started scraping. We laid still for a couple minutes then heard a thump on the ice chest. Normally I keep the ice chest in the car but we've camped there a 1000 times and only dealt with an occasional raccoon or possum. And I was to tired to drag it to the car so I just drug it about 25 yards away. Anyway after the ice chest thump I jumped up with my head lamp and opened the tent intending to scare off a raccoon. And immediately I could see the glowing eyes. It had jumped up next to a tree on a little hill. I couldn't see much cause the fire was out and I just had my head lamp. But its eyes were 3-4 feet off the ground. I'm assuming it was standing up but i could only see the eyes and a faint silhouette of the head. So I walked about 10 yards closer really slowly and grabbed a rock from the fire ring and tossed it over. It then jumped up in the tree about 10 feet up. And for the first time I saw the silhouette of the entire thing and it looked 6 or 7 feet long because it was wrapped around the tree. At this point I was a little freaked out so I threw another rock. It jumped off and I saw the long tail as it ran down the hill to the little river in the valley. I watched it as it tracked along the water and went up the other hill as I could still see its eyes for about 5 minutes. We ended up leaving because we didn't know enough about behaviors and would it come back. But have been googling for hours. We did get a pic if the claw prints on the tree next to my girlfriends hands but we were so freaked out we didn't think to check for tracks down by the stream. I can send the pic if you'd like. But I've read about bobcats and they say they're around 40lbs. No way it was that small. It was at least 80-90lbs from when I got a good look when it was wrapped around the tree.
​
OUTDOOR LIFE LETTER FROM TURKEY HUNTER

Dear Mr. D++++++,
I recently read in Outdoor Life magazine of your study of the Eastern Cougar and thought you might be interested in an experience I had. It occurred in April 1978 in the Cohutta Management area, about the northern Wilderness Area in Georgia, along the northern edge of the Cohutta. I was at the northern foot of Buckeye Mountain at dawn in an attempt to make the most of the last day of turkey season.

About a mile from the wood, as I neared the area where my gobbler apparently roosted, I stopped to listen for his morning gobbling; but suddenly, I became aware of a scratching in a deep hollow beside me and realized that the entire flock of hen and yearling turkeys were inhabiting the area feeding - and feeding straight towards me at that.

I hid between a log and a large pine beside an old logging road they would have to cross and arranged my camouflage. In the next few minutes the entire flock of 15-20 turkeys passed around me. Although there wasn't much of a chance the gobbler being among them, a possible shot at a jake gobbler was, of course, still better than only hearing one.

While trying to inspect each turkey I caught a glimpse of movement to the left, about 40-50 feet yards up a slope through thin brush. I immediately assumed it to be a deer, although subconsciously something didn't register just right. Up and about, as to the turkeys, they passed all around me. I saw the movement again and caught the color - too light for a deer and being on a log about three feet off the ground, it had to be a bobcat. Even then, something didn't seem just right. However, I was too excited with being surrounded by turkey to worry much about anything else right then.

Picture
Photo taken in Rock Springs, Georgia - about 25 miles west of Dalton. The debate is ongoing on FB North West Scanner page but it sure looks like a cougar to many. Pic courtesy of friend Carry
PictureThis was taken on the east side of the Cohuttas in the 1960s, and as our guest writer points out, it could be an ancestor of the one he saw.
About a minute later, I spotted the movement again through a six foot opening in the brush as it neared the end of the log. This time I had a great look for about 10 seconds as the magnificent-looking cat crept slowly forward, its belly on the log. At first the long body was confusing since I had never heard of a cougar in this area. When the long tail twitched, however,  there was no doubt.

I would estimate the body weight at around sixty pounds, give or take. The color seemed darker than the few bobcat I've seen around here and measured out from the  rump about 3 feet to the base of the tail. The tail was maybe 2 to 2-1/2 feet long. The weight, as said,  was about sixty pounds. I'm basing this on a medium-sized German Shepherd.

While I had the cat in sight, a turkey also spotted it and the flock then disappeared in tw0 directions. The cat stood and jumped off the log in the direction of one group of turkeys. It was a magnificent sight, never to be forgotten. Five minutes later I heard something from that direction between a snarl and a roar. Since then, I've been on the lookout for anything I might find while hunting or fishing in the area; but have seen nothing but one set of what I took to be bobcat or dog tracks.  

I told S++ P++++++, a biologist with the Ga. Game & Fish commission who passed it on to a Mr. C++++++ in Layette, Ga:, who passed it on to S++++ J++++++ in Albany who is involved in a study similar to yours. Since that time I've  heard of one other sighting in the Cohutta area and two others between Calhoun and Lafayette. 

I hope this is of some value in your study as I would recommend you get in touch as I consider myself pretty reliable in the observation of detail and am 100% certain it wasn't a case of mistaken identify.  For further reports in this area I would recommend you get in touch with the right person at the Cohutta Ranger District...]

The second half of the post mostly concerned the man's back and forth with other experts and academicians and is shortened due to the correspondences and a Sand Hill's resident anecdote length, plus privacy matters not particularly pertinent to eithers' story concerning the subject matter. It's really about two long-timers' experiences in northeast Alabama's Sandhill region back in 1979, and a year before that, that really matter and are of especial interest.  

Our Guest writer continues: Since writing the original letter I have attempted to follow up on two other sightings in this area with limited success. The first took place I believe in the spring of 1979 and a year before involving a very close contact with a cat of the approximate dimensions I described. The cat came across the end of the fellow's pasture while he was working in his garden. He at first thought it was a dog because it was following a well-used deer trail with its nose near the ground. His small dog bayed at the animal and Mr. S++++ approached to within 15 or 20 feet, throwing rocks in an effort to distract its attention away from the dog.

He described it as being in poor condition, thin and with rough, unhealthy looking fur. I have known this man a long time and have found him to be completely honest. He has told me of killing three "panthers" about 20 years ago in the Sand Hill area of Alabama. These mountain lions were black. They were skinned and pictures were apparently taken.

​[I've heard from another man familiar with South Georgia cats in the 1950s and '60s that many down there were black, too; one this color even jumped across a dirt road directly in front of his papa's truck returning to the farm in mid-day. On the other hand, a contemporary South Georgia friend says that several he has seen back over the years, with at least two of these sightings at a fairly close range, were more of a brown or tawny color ~ AP.]

Back to the Guest's narrative: Another interesting sighting took place in his neighbor's pasture the previous fall. Mr. C+++++++ is probably the finest turkey hunter in this area, having learned all the skills important to that endeavor. He is now retired and spends most of his time in the woods. One particular evening he heard a cow lowing as she was about to have a calf. As he drove his truck to her across the pasture the headlights struck a female cougar and tw0 half-grown kittens attempting to drag the newborn calf into the woods. Several others in the vicinity have apparently seen the cat.

The other sighting or series of sightings took place over a period of the past few years northeast of Dalton, about 10 miles east of the Cohuttas. Several people in the area have seen the cat, and I have one friend who has heard it more than once. He described it as being unlike any bobcat he's heard. He further mentioned that it apparently "comes through every spring". Could this be the same cat, possibly a female in heat? 

[If so, this could indicate a breeding population in the region; this of course, is obvious, and thus very intriguing, whether indigenous or not: pet releases and any progeny can't be completely ruled out with all these reports, but hardly seem the answer. Some have even suggested they may be coming up from the Everglades or other areas?]

And as a last bit of info for this article,  I remember as a young boy in the early 1970s a very popular, and in my case, well-thumbed, American mammal paperback book which included species ranges of the time, and in the chapter on the big cats, it actually showed that some cougars were still extant around Mt. Rogers, Virginia.

12 Comments

Bird Sanctuary & Animal Habitat in Sleepy Creek, "West by God" West Virginia

6/26/2015

 
Picture
Picture
Debbie Allen's second guest write here on the Carolinian's Archives delivered right where it was needed most. And that was a contributory piece on Carolina Critters & Other Animals of the South. West Virginia is right on the line between north and south but its animals are basically the same as the ones in Carolina and elsewhere roundabout. Besides, it's a fine first person read, for those familiar with these creatures and those not so.

Here is a great link for you by Debbie:
http://allmyanimaltales.blogspot.com/

Sleepy Creek is a Wildlife Management area located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Some of the state nicknames for West Virginia are "West by God" and "Wild and Wonderful". Both are very true to this state. It is a wild place and truly a beautiful one with wonderful people. It has high mountains and low valleys and lots of gorges, meadows, lakes, rivers and streams that run from the bottom of the state to top in the Northern Panhandle and over through the Eastern Panhandle.

It also includes an area that is a Bird Sanctuary. I live in this part of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. Among one of the beauties of the state is Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area. West Virginia has a diverse amount of wildlife and I have seen plenty of it.
The Sleepy Creek area and there have been places I've had many sightings of them, right into me and my husband's property. There have been many critters reported around this area for sure. One is the Black Bear. Sorry, but I do not have a picture of this. I would rather not see one up close and personal, if you know what I mean. The one that was cited was a momma and she was with her cub. They roam these forests all the time but we rarely see one up close and personal. There have been reports that they have even been in the city neighborhoods in the valley below this mountain that I live on.

Among the other furry creatures that I have seen and do have pictures of dine on the cat food on my back deck. They come and eat whatever my cats do not eat. I once tried to move a dish with too much food from a raccoon and that raccoon surprised me. It picked up the dish and pulled it towards him and then proceeded to take it to the other side of the deck. He did not growl or try to attack me. I left it with him, and he did get a really fulfilling meal that night.

Picture
Two raccoons enjoying cat food
People tend to think that all raccoons are rabid. There are so many myths out there about this single animal. I have lived here many years and have yet to see rabid animals, much less a rabid raccoon. Oh, I do not go up and pet them, but I do have the privilege of watching them through the French doors on my deck as you can see in my pictures here.

PicturePossum on the cat food
There is another critter called an opposum that I have seen all over the place, in my back yard and also in the side of roads. These are slower animals, unless they have a cat that is chasing them. They’re pretty fast when you see that comical thing around here. They are flat footed, like a human hand. I thought that they were really ugly until I watched them all eat and congregate on my back deck.

They may look like big rats, but they all have a family affair when the show up on my deck. Sometimes it is one that will come up to also finish the cat food and then sometimes there will be a family of about three or four that will come up. They do not like the cats at all and will stay away from them. When surprised they will growl and attack the stick or broom that you are trying to move them with. Never have I had them go around the broom or stick to attack me. I often wonder where they go when they mosey into the forest behind my house. I often wonder where they sleep. One thing that I do know is that they stink to high heaven. They smell like stale mud.


I have seen deer and lots of them. They are all over this mountain. One year I saw a young buck stand across my yard on the other side of my garden. He had just started growing his antlers and they had the velvet on them. We did a start down thing and I said to myself that I was not going to be the first to move. They have come to my gardens for salad of their own. I stopped that by putting windmills around my gardens. One day I was standing on my deck talking to my cat. She seemed scared of something and she rarely sits right down in front of me or by my side like that. Yes, cats are very afraid of deer. My dog, well he doesn’t even know they are around. I got a really good picture of the couple of deer that were standing in my driveway and in the road. These were only a few deer that was in the herd. When I counted all that I could see, there were like 8 of them crossing the road and going into the corner of my yard and into the small park nearby.

Picture
White-tailed deer
PictureTailless Gray Squirrel
I think just about everyone has their run of grey squirrels. I have them all over the place. I even have one that sits on the deck railing in the morning and thinks that I am feeding him instead of the cats. Laughing Out Loud, he watches me too during the day when I pass from the living area to the kitchen.

There are French doors there and we can see through the glass. Here is one, without a tail, that was feeding at the blue bowls for breakfast. He was born without that tail and sad to say I did not see him again the next year.


PictureRare Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Wood Pecker. I have tried many times to get a good picture of this bird but it is very camera shy. The picture that I did finally get was taken through the screen of my window. Each time that I would point my camera to the bird when it was on the tree behind my deck that sucker would go around that tree. I tried waiting for it one day and it finally flew off into the woods and didn’t return that day. Now the birds are many in this area and are all protected species. 


PictureWoodpecker hole
When I first moved here I thought that I had gone back in time to a prehistoric time. These birds are huge and they are as big as cats, beak to tail feather. They are also wonderful to watch. They had a nest inside a big hollow tree when we moved here and I watched each and every year the babies that were hatched by the one couple that graced our back yard. I got to watch them come out and learn how to fly. One of my cats got one and brought it to me. She did not hurt it at all and I was able to put it back in a tree. About three hours later my cat brought it back to me and again did not hurt it. I put the bird higher in a tree and pretty much nearer to the nest it came from. My cat didn’t bring it to me again. The first year that I was privy to watch, there were three babies hatch.

The next year it was two and so with three years after that and the last time she had three again. Then we had to take down that tree because in an ice storm we had in early October most of the branches broke off of the tree. That was when we found that the whole tree was hollow. It was a nice, roomy place to build nests and other critter’s homes too. I know some lost their homes and maybe even their lives when the tree limbs fell. I do not see the Pileated Wood Peckers out back now. I know they are around though as one has pecked a hole and made a nest in one of the trees along the street in my front yard.

Picture
Cardinal pair. Male is bright red
Cardinals are around here. They are migratory birds and come back in the early spring. Sometimes there is still snow on the ground and they seem to leave late in the fall. While they are here it is so nice to sit on the back deck and listed to them sing. I have had many kinds of bird feeders and baths made from all kind of things that others would call rubbish. They don’t consider them as that. They take anything they can get. Here is a Cardinal at the feeder that I had under the wispy White Pines in my yard.

Doing so the thought came to mind that I was saving the enemy. These birds are gorgeous, We also have Blue Jays and I got the opportunity to save a baby the other day. While I was but they are as mean as mean can be when they find something to eat. I have seen these beautiful birds attack cats and other birds for food. I have seen them empty a bowl of cat food in less than ten minutes. I have seen them dive bomb the cats if they get near their food bowl.

Picture
Blue Jays can be domineering over other songbirds
Other birds that I have heard and seen in these woods and on this Bird Sanctuary are Turkey, Grouse, Hoot Owls, Red Tail Hawks (saw one dive to get a snake out of my garden), Chickadees (got them at my bird feeders all the time) and hummingbirds.

PictureCommon Garter Snake
That reminds me, I have seen many kinds of snakes on this mountain too. We used to have a big black snake that would sun itself on one of the many branches that hang over the ravine beside my property. I also have garter snakes and one day my cat saw one slithering through the yard and she stopped it and decided that she wanted to play with it. I don’t like snakes. I have another cat that will go into the ravine and come back out with a baby snake and those that she catches are not the non-poisonous kinds. We have rattlesnakes on this mountain and that seems to be her taste in snakes. Last year we had to kill three rattlesnakes. I have also seen a snake that I have no idea what kind it was but it was the only time that I had seen it and I didn’t have my camera. It was black and a neon green striped, head to tail.


Picture
Eastern Box Turtle. In the Appalachians their shells are often brighter
We also have Eastern Box Turtle and I got to see one almost running through my yard. I had not seen one of these in years. The last time I seen one it was walking across the road and when my car came close to it, it stopped and closed up. I got out and moved it into the woods and it opened up and went on its way.

There are so many species of animals, birds, reptiles and insects up here. It truly is a beautiful state and I can see why it would have the nickname West by God and Wild and Wonderful.

Animal Habitat & Nature Museum at the Grandfather Mountain Park

3/25/2015

 
Picture
Entrance to the park - Grandfather Mountain in center
HISTORY OF THE MOUNTAIN, ITS PEOPLE AND WILD ANIMALS

Long before the construction of the nature museum and wildlife habitat the mountain was being birthed below the ground a billion years ago. It began emerging and building in spurts from underground in titanic shock waves between 500 and 200 million years ago. The mountain at one point may have reached Himalayan heights, but more likely settled into high Rocky Mountain elevations before erosion inevitably set in. Grandfather today is a modest 5,946 feet ( 1,812 m) but is still a high peak for the Appalachians. Fifty-three peaks in NC and Tennessee exceed six thousand feet in elevation and are called the Southern Sixers to put things in perspective.

It had been a long hike like most of the others were in the western half of North Carolina. One boy following the other with our heavy backpacks on and hiking shoes laced tight. Most of us boy scouts had our heads down at the moment I saw it, bent over and picked it up. It soon became completely apparent to me this was no ordinary stone, and so I eagerly ran forward to the head of the line to show it to the scoutmaster, who said something to the effect: Well I'll be, you did find one! What the scoutmaster confirmed was the true nature of the ancient Native American stone spearhead in the picture above. Many years later on, looking through artifact books, the closest stone spearhead resembling it had a date of roughly 3,000 BCE, or about five thousand years ago.

Grandfather Mountain and its environs have played host to an extremely diverse assortment of wildlife for a very long time. This collection of animals is what first drew the progenitors, in a sense, of what later became the Cherokee people, 10,000 or more years ago, to the area of the state park. Being animists, who believed there was spiritual power in other living things, they lived with nature and respected its wildlife, always ensuring there was something for the next hunting season, and the ones to come after.

A good visual example of these beliefs occurs at the beginning of Michael Mann's excellent film The Last of the Mohicans, which was made in the beautiful NC mountains by the way.. The scene has the three men thanking the Elk's spirit for its sacrifice, after a hard, exhausting chase. If we go back much farther in time than the  mid-1700's that the movie is set in, the mammals, fish and birds the ancient Amerindians encountered were basically the same ones we have today: the black bears, the white-tailed deer, hawks and fish, for just several examples.

At say, about 13,000 years ago, there would have been many prehistoric genera of mammals that later went extinct during the soon to come Younger Dryas 1200 year epoch in the Appalachian's area, and, of course, a great many other places, too; increasingly believed to have been the result of a comet fragment's impact on the Canadian Cordilleran Ice Sheet, with fragments striking southeastward and even into areas of Europe, and its ice cap, and even some northern parts of the Middle East. 

Many, many thousands of years forward, in more recent times, some species would became extinct, or rather over hunted or exterminated, with firearms, traps and organized hunts, like the eastern elk ( thankfully and successfully reintroduced into the Great Smoky Mountains) and timber wolves, to name just two. These extinctions eventually happened with the coming of the white man and his Judeo-Christian ethic of exploitation and taming of natural resources, as the Bible was interpreted in those days for man to be a stern, masterful, and sometimes cruel master, over all the creatures on earth that he saw fit to be so to.

The pioneers also brought the practice of fenced and unfettered livestock tending with them, which sometimes
put these folk at particular odds with predators who would occasionally prey on their animals. Blessedly, though, there has been a reevaluation,  a reconsidering if you will, of what the Good Book truly meant in regards to our way of interacting with wildlife by many Christians and others of today.

Of course, it should be remembered that the first white settlers to this region were more or less children (which they often referred to the Indians as) of their new mountain cabins in the wilderness and simple survival and prosperity never came easy for them. This was previously mentioned in the article about Stone Mountain State Park -- and that mention was that blood, sweat and tears were often their lot, as these pioneers truly lived by the ax, plow, and gun and the vagaries of nature and circumstances to be found in a tough frontier home life. 
Picture
THE WILDLIFE HABITAT and its OVERLOOKS

The habitat began with this trail. The first animal enclosure I remember seeing was the one devoted to the otters. It was rather unique as one can see the River Otters outside of the aquarium first and then go into a small building and view them from underwater. These charming creatures really seemed to be enjoying themselves frolicking about. Sometimes their movements and antics swimming are simply amazing. The pic below to the far right only caught the tail of one as it agilely torpedoed and twisted through the water. These aqua critters were just so fast!

The otters had been pretty much hunted out or forced to more secluded areas away from the North Carolina Appalachians by the mid-twentieth century, but have since been reintroduced to many rivers in the region. They seem to be doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances and no doubt most of us hope this will be a permanent situation for them. They certainly belong in the wild in their ancient home turf.

 Yes indeed, the ones at the Grandfather Mt. Wild Habitat were very happy and enjoying themselves immensely. The visitors watching them were mighty delighted as well. The beaver and otter pelts were ruthlessly taken in the old days by white trappers and Amerindians for shipment back across the Atlantic to the fur ravenous Old World. What a joy it is to see them back where they belong -- although the beavers can still cause private land owners a problem sometimes with their damming up water and things. Most owners I know with that problem don't kill them but have them removed to other secluded areas where they won't be such a nuisance. Thank you landowners with a beaver problem, when it's feasible, to do it that more difficult but humane way.

Below are some pictures of the black bear enclosure. To be perfectly frank about it, these three or four rather small bears kind of stayed up close to the wall at first and just stared at us for the most part. Whether hoping for handouts, curiosity or just out of self-pitying boredom, I can't say for sure. In any case, what a big and most welcome scene to witness from the amphitheater experience told about at the beginning of this article.

As cute as these animals can seem, they are nothing to be fooled around with in the wild. The recent tragedy in New Jersey that had four hikers come on a very large male, about 300 feet away from where they were hiking, is a good case in point. After one fellow shouted at the others to come over to where he was and see the bear down in the woods, these four young men made a terrible mistake when it slowly started moving towards them, in fits and starts.

First off, they apparently had no strong bear repellant to hand and instead of standing together shouting with hands held high or holding sticks, which would probably have backed the big male off, they did the worst thing possible by panicking and running off in different directions. If the news article is remembered correctly, the bear went after the one with the camera or cell phone, mauled him lifeless, and was still there hovering over the body many hours later when the park rangers showed up to dispatch it and recover the poor lad's remains.

A horrible shame all around, really, and our sympathies certainly go out to the young man's family and friends.

But those bears at the park were obviously at least semi-tame and fun to look at -- for a short while that is. The children loved them, of course. Generally, black bears in the wild during past times would run or tree from man with his bows and spears and later, firearms and dogs, unless injured or protecting cubs. The unwise habit of feeding them at picnic areas has been banned or discouraged these days, and for good reason. Still, it is very cool thing to be riding in the mountains and  come up on bunches of cars pulled over to the side of the road, with dozens of folks gazing  up a tree at a cute and furry cub. ...But hopefully, only if the mother is not out and about! 

There was also a Bald Eagle penned enclosure but the one seen blended so well into its silent perch that its picture hardly showed up at all and is not included. This national bird, animal and symbol of the USA has made somewhat of comeback in North Carolina but are still far outnumbered by the now protected, large red-tailed hawks. These birds-of-prey were mercilessly shot out of the skies in the past,  until it was figured out how very important they were at rodent control.

​ Thank goodness these large magnificent birds are now very common and sights to behold as they soar through the air or are seen single-mindedly diving for prey- or even on the ground, hunting, say, a rabbit. Once while walking in the woods, I unintentionally interrupted one ground-stalking a cottontail and it turned and gave me an absolutely unmistakable look of disgust before flying off. Thanks a lot, buddy, it seemed to be conveying.
Picture
Without a doubt, the most anticipated animals were the mountain lions. The nature preserve girls had quite a time getting them into their out-of-site enclosures so they could hang toys in a tree directly under the viewing platform. I think some of the bigger cats- at least one of them- was all the time completely hidden in the big rocks, which were a bit farther back in the place. I don't think the magnificent big male cat was ever in any enclosure the whole time at all to be honest about it.

When all was finally ready and the cats were released - the biggest one came lazily onto a big boulder and was a stupendous sight to behold -  the fun and amazement began. The children and adults watching were really excited as can be imagined. What was really interesting was how a younger cat, super-cautiously, followed the caretakers scent all the way to the tree, and then instead of immediately playing with the hanging toys, went to a limb over them and continued with its cautious sniffing. It never did play with the toys as things turned out. Regardless, it was the highlight of the nature preserve experience observing these intelligent, crafty, extremely cautious and seemingly happy felines go about their business.
Below is the Mile-High Bridge. An interesting observation is on viewing to the right, on top of the mountain rocks past the bridge, towards the college town of Boone, one sees some development amongst the forest, which is a bit of a bummer. But thank goodness the expansive view to the left was heavily forested with no man-made structures visible to my eyes that day.

The bridge is a new construct and for many years previous there had been a less sturdy real swingin' bridge. It was a challenge with fine rewards for those with a fear of heights, vertigo or wobbly legs. The present one is still fun and generally windy, and progress, as most of us know, must go on! Of course, it's up to a person's perspective as to whether this is always a good idea in these kind of situations...or is not. Perhaps more visitors, the old bridge's age and condition, or for whatever reason, necessitated the new one.
Picture
Above and below are some of the many exhibits in the Nature Museum. And a most interesting and enjoyable museum it is. In the first gallery are pics of a frontiersman's musket, satchel bag and powder horn; a gold-panning mine and gold nuggets; and a replica of a tree part found at Grandfather in times past of a Daniel Boone carving that said "D. Boon  killed a Bar on this tree 1760."

The other six photos are of local animals and a bisected massive rock of some sort that greets visitors on entering the museum. As stated before these are just several of so very many exhibits and other things in the building.
Picture
As mentioned at the beginning of the story, many folks will be familiar with the park. But for those readers from around the world who are not so, it should be pointed out that this article is far from an all-inclusive look at the awesome Grandfather Mountain Park. The map above points out the many other activities and points of interest that can be had and seen there.

Particularly, the annual and long-running Highland Games, which celebrate the Scottish heritage of so many
people whose ancestors were pioneers to the park, its wild environs and the southern Appalachian Mountains in general. And for any who remember the movie Forrest Gump, where he is running up a mountain road, that was filmed at number 13 spot 0n the map here. As a final bit of interesting info, it is the only privately-owned park in the world among the International Biosphere Reserves.

In conclusion, thanks, as always, to all followers and visitors to the Carolinian's Archives for coming by. 

ON THE TRACK OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAIN LIONS.

6/19/2014

13 Comments

 
PictureFishing Creek 1987- track discovered next year about a half mile downstream from this spot
An Unexpected Sight

Splash! I saw it jump while kneeling on a narrow, natural earth bridge across Fishing Creek, about ten miles or so below Mt. Airy, N.C.; called Mayberry by some, being the hometown of the late, great, Andy Griffith.

It was a warm and overcast day back then in the summer of 1988.  I was about half a mile down the spot where a road crossed over this, varying, maybe ten to twenty foot wide creek, when a very big small- mouthed bass made leap beside a partially sunken tree limb, probably going after some flitting insect. 

With some Georgia wiggler worms, and a Zebco rod n reel in hand, there was really no alternative but to try and catch and release that monster. The only problem was how to get close enough to toss that hopefully enticing worm near the limb without snagging the hook, and let the creek's slow current carry it right past where I believed the bass was hiding under the wood.  On the big limb's side, there was a sloping embankment covered in foliage and other difficult to get through obstructions -- so that way was probably going to be out.

On the other bank it appeared to be about a thirty foot struggle through some thick briers, short bushes and stinger plants.  The latter was chosen and a stout stick found as a poor substitute for a machete. Necessity is the mother of invention however, and the stick did a pretty decent job of getting through the tangled-up flora.

When the optimal spot to cast the bait was reached, almost right across from where the fish had jumped, there appeared a small break in the plant growth, where six feet or so from the creek, a slanted mud bank ascended up a couple of feet to grassy ground that covered a large field, or perhaps meadow is the better word for it. 

And there it was.

At the moment of looking at the mud bank leading up to the meadow, I saw a sight that was not only startling but very nearly bowled me over.  The big bass wasn't going to see any Georgia wiggly-worms right away, nor were any of the catfish or bream in the stream going to see one either for that matter, as I now had something else to ponder on for the rest of the day and a long time to come.

What this boy beheld in the middle of that moist mud was the biggest cat track he'd ever seen in the wild by far.  On eyeing it closer my amazement went up some more, for then I was almost certain -- knowing the native animal tracks fairly well -- that this almost assuredly wasn't made by any super-sized bobcat or even a very large dog. [ At this point it should be noted that big dog prints are sometimes mistaken for cougars as they don't always leave claw marks; at any rate, the track was unlike any big dog print I'd ever, or have since, ever seen.]

The print, perfectly formed and recent, was indelible and set the mind to wondering then and for ever after.  It was as best could be measured by the fingers 3 x 3 1/2 square inches in size, but was probably closer to 10 or 10 1/2 inches in total.  From that day forward, the significance of the discovery aside, the assumption that the big mountain cats no longer roamed those parts, was gone for good as far as I was concerned.

Before we proceed with the story a few things are in order:  Fishing Creek, at least at the time back then, was a low-populated area of Surry County, N.C.  From the creek's head water, roughly a good mile and a half or so, which is about as far as I ever went down it,  had no housing or commercial development in sight.  Now that's possibly changed some over the intervening twenty-five years, but it was a nice, secluded fishing stream back then. When it rained and muddied the water up considerably, one could pull catfish out of it by the bucket full.

What to my intuition was a very clever animal, had approached the creek from a hilly and wooded expanse.  Crossing the creek, it then went up the bank onto the grassy meadow as mentioned before, which was interspersed with copses of medium-sized trees.  The small town and county seat of Dobson was in that direction, but could have easily been skirted by any smart and large animal headed for a mountain fastness in the nearby Blue Ridge.  It was also full of small game with a healthy deer population, as both were often sighted by me while fishing, especially in the early morning.

The big cat crossed the water at the hardest, most inaccessible place on the entire length of the stream I was familiar with.  It was definitely an area no man or dog in their right mind -- unless by an extremely unusual situation -- would ever be near.  There was even that dirt bridge not thirty or so feet away.  Why would it choose the most difficult part of the water to cross, which right there at that spot, was a deep and maybe 12-foot wide stream?  Happenstance? Single-mindedly zeroed in on a prey animal? Or was something else going on?

Picture
Purported Mt.Lion pic taken on trail cam in the Pisgah Natl. Forest near Asheville. Cat appears to be watching farm dwellings before making its next move.~ courtesy of brokenhousefarm.com
The Recent Announcement

Not so long ago the U.S. Fish & Wildlife department formally announced the Eastern Cougar extinct. Yes, the American Eastern Cougar is no longer extant -- presumably meaning east of the Mississippi River. Those that think they are make some good points, and those who think not do as well.

Ever since revelations concerning the Kennedy and MLK assassinations, the Vietnam War tragedy and the Watergate scandal, a majority of the American people have rightly been rather hesitant to believe absolutely and without question, certain official announcements.

This is not meant to say all such announcements are in error, or disparage the many truthful, hard-working and excellent people who work in an official capacity, no, it's just a factual statement available for reading and viewing in many popular history books, television series and reliable internet sources.

The following two old anecdotal stories and all the sighting history in North Carolina could speak for many other areas along this very ancient chain of mountains. The steep peaks and thick foliage of eastern Tennessee, eastern West Virginia and northern Georgia in particular for the southern section of the Appalachians.
Picture
Lake Fontana and the Great Smoky Mountains
A Couple of Anecdotal Histories

Mountain Lions, or "Painters", as they were often called in the past, were fairly common in the N. C. mountains up until the 20th century. Unrestricted hunting -- with bounty's paid for the "varmints" - and the extensive timber cutting by the sometimes voracious lumber companies, took a heavy toll on the animals.

Even what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was nearly half-logged; but the North Carolina mountains still retained steep and heavily forested areas thousands of square miles in extent, where the wiliest cats could remain reproducing and roaming about to a reduced degree. Perhaps, they simply adapted.

The Smokies greatest early 1900s hunter and guide, a man who knew the region better than anyone else, was once asked if he'd ever been lost in them. His answer went something like: "Well, not exactly, but I have been known to wander 'round and 'round a bit at times."

The following is an account of supposedly the last "Painter" slain in the Great Smokies during the winter of 1920. A mountaineer named Tom Sparks was nearly mauled by what appeared to be an injured mountain lion as he herded  sheep on Spence Hill. Attacks like this were quite rare in these eastern mountains however.

During the assault he managed to inflict a deep shoulder wound on the cat with presumably a firearm. Many months later, a W. Orr slew a panther near Fontana Village, ( which is a tourist attraction now, with the very beautiful, man-made, 900 foot deep Fontana lake nearby). Orr found that its left shoulder blade had been cut in two. This was thought to be the same cat Sparks had shot and the last of its kind in the immediate area, but not in the mountains as a whole.

A late 19th century story has two mica prospectors chancing on an abandoned cabin during a savage blizzard. Due to blood spots, horrible cries, crashes on the roof and foot-falls, the men concluded the place was haunted, or hainted, as the vernacular had it back then. In the morning mountain lion tracks were found and the mystery solved. The cats had a den nearby on a wild and rugged precipice and had been using the cabin as an additional home. Soon after a systematic hunt was organized with all four panthers treed and killed after a long chase.
Picture
Picture
Interesting photos from Yellowstone showing deer seen 2 years running near fishing spot. Scars under mouth, across snout, on neck, side and rump.
Some thoughts on the subject and theory

The list of sightings, video, and other evidence are far too numerous to include even a goodly portion of them here. Presumably the Fish & Wildlife says if they're there, they have to be released pets or zoo escapees. The supposition that a very small remnant survived the attempt at extermination might seem the more likely answer to some people, though.

The continuity of sightings through time along with the craftiness these cats often display, says more to me than just free running ex-pets who've been propagating with each other all these years. But even if that's the reality, the fact remains they do appear to be extant in the southern mountains and, some northern parts of the Appalachians too.

Whatever the case may be, the reports continue to come in: a late night crossing was reported by two well-respected gentlemen in the north-west corner of the state recently.  A relative, an experienced outdoorsman, unmistakably sighted one recently on an eastern branch of Lake Santeehelah, about 15 miles from the Great Smokey Mt. National Park.  When he reported it to a Wildlife person, they told him it had to have been a bobcat; not so according to the relative, who clearly saw a very long tail on the large tawny feline as it slouched between the thickets.

Hind-sight is 20/20 and I do wish that way back then I'd returned and taken pictures of the track and reported it.  A good photo could have at least confirmed it as a mountain lion print or some other large species.  So with that said, the following is only a loose theory of mine and I in no way claim it to be the complete or even right answer but here it is.

Something happened in the first half of the twentieth century, where the few remaining indigenous cats had a new survival strategy come to the fore.  They largely removed themselves to the most remote and inaccessible parts of the mountains -- as far away from human beings as it was possible to get. Possibly even deep into places like the vast Cohutta wilderness in NW Georgia.

Many of them now knew, whether instinctively -- or by independent thought, that when the baying of hounds was near, their usual last ditch defense of treeing meant death.  Later on in the century they possibly mated up with some released pets or escapees.  As to why they are rarely killed on the roads, like almost all other large, and many not so large wild mammals, they've generally gone nocturnal in their main activities.

When they do venture near them late at night, they know the danger and cross quickly. How many bears does one see on the side of the road? it's not often they're hit, and although bears are not dumb animals, I believe the cats are not only smarter but much cannier. A good example of this difference might be the young Pennsylvania bear who made the news in 2013 by getting its head stuck in a plastic jar for at least 11 days. A young Eastern Mountain Lion would never make that mistake in my humble opinion.

Some will say this is all wishful thinking and perhaps in part they're right. Occasionally there are hoaxes or flights of fancy as one man has admitted to near Asheville, N. C., not so long ago. Apparently there was some kind of wish fulfillment fantasy about a mother and cubs. This is a good case to demonstrate the passions these cats can stir in people, that is, pro and con, as to their reality or non-reality east of the Mississippi watershed.

Whatever the case may be, I know what I saw and believe that the hundreds of reports through the years and up until today are largely made by honest folk, and are not always hoaxes, misidentifications, drug or drink fueled hallucinations or aerie-faerie nonsense. Reason just says that with all the reports, sightings, and other evidence, they must be extant to some degree. 

One has, apparently, even tried to take down a horse in Lexington, NC recently, which is more in the western Piedmont section of the state. ​This would imply, they, like other species such as coyote and black bear, are extending their normal range on occasion. That is if wild-born mountain lion felines are still in our big Eastern Mts. to start with, of course. Indeed, if still there, this incident is a rarity as they appear to stay as far away from us and our domestic animals as it is possible for them to be.

​What's left of the wild Appalachians may still hold mysteries for us to this day.

​NOTE: View a new article on the subject by clicking the Carolina Critters tab for Mountain Lion Encounters in Georgia and the Alabama Sand Hills.

13 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Appalachians
    Cougars
    Great Smoky Mountains
    Mountain Lions
    Mountain Lions In NC

    Share

    Archives

    September 2016
    August 2016
    February 2016
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    June 2014

    RSS Feed

    Carolina Critters
    Mists & Moonlight
    Once Upon A History
    Dim The Lights
    Home
    Contact Me
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.