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I'm not a big fan of squirrels, they destroy just about everything and breed like rats! There is no sense in even trying to keep a wooden birdhouse outside because the little buggers destroy them trying to get at the bird eggs. If you put out birdseed for the birds the squirrels get the lion's share and then make even more tree rats! With all the squirrels there is no since in even planting a garden anymore; they will help themselves long before you ever get one piece of fruit or even vegetables.
I wished they all got drunk and played under the red-tailed hawk!
Squirrels definitely throw mast -- mind you, I'm not claiming they have good aim
If you want to keep squirrels out of your bird feeders, google "Yankee Flipper"
Quote:
Originally Posted by fisheye
With all the squirrels there is no since in even planting a garden anymore; they will help themselves long before you ever get one piece of fruit or even vegetables.
I wished they all got drunk and played under the red-tailed hawk!
I make sure garden-raiding squirrels take a long nap out in the sun, oddly the turkey vultures usually find them before the hawk does.
If you use Google and YouTube you will see that many think and feel that the squirrels are smart enough to throw acorns and pinecones at humans. I am not 100% convinced, but there are some pretty convincing films and observations if you take the time to read all of them.
I certainly do not believe that squirrels are doing this intentionally, they are just dropping cones and shells to the ground, the people are just in the wrong spot at the wrong time, I doubt the squirrel is even paying attention to the humans beneath.
Squirrels dont really bother me, I think they are kind of funny to watch though, an old house I lived in years ago had a back porch and backyard had numerous trees, I would sit out there sometimes and watch them, they do some hilarious things here and there.
I certainly do not believe that squirrels are doing this intentionally, they are just dropping cones and shells to the ground, the people are just in the wrong spot at the wrong time, I doubt the squirrel is even paying attention to the humans beneath.
Squirrels dont really bother me, I think they are kind of funny to watch though, an old house I lived in years ago had a back porch and backyard had numerous trees, I would sit out there sometimes and watch them, they do some hilarious things here and there.
If you read my first post carefully you would see that I said I did not believe it was intentionally, but many people do believe it is intentionally.
What I did say is that while we are hiking or moving through the woods that it could appear that somebody or something is following us or throwing something at us. There are so many squirrels, because of all the people that feed wild birds, that it is hard hike anyplace that they are not around. When the acorns and pinecones are ripe and ready to harvest, it could appear that an animal is throwing pebbles and following us. Now is the time of the year where the squirrels are harvesting the nuts and seeds for the winter.
You look at nature and you only come up with paranormal answers. Nature is pretty amazing without those explanations.
If you read my first post carefully you would see that I said I did not believe it was intentionally, but many people do believe it is intentionally.
What I did say is that while we are hiking or moving through the woods that it could appear that somebody or something is following us or throwing something at us. There are so many squirrels, because of all the people that feed wild birds, that it is hard hike anyplace that they are not around. When the acorns and pinecones are ripe and ready to harvest, it could appear that an animal is throwing pebbles and following us. Now is the time of the year where the squirrels are harvesting the nuts and seeds for the winter.
You look at nature and you only come up with paranormal answers. Nature is pretty amazing without those explanations.
That may explain some incidents....with some other 'rock throwing' incidents, they are not small sized pebbles being thrown, some were pretty large.
Seems like you all want to always come up with some natural explanation...when the details do not always match the description though.
I go hiking almost every day. Alone (I know, I know) but with a dog & a stun gun. Or I have my giant 16 year old with me but he is autistic so I am not sure how much of a help he would be. He basically exists in the standard "scare a bear away" mode; he walks everywhere flapping & waving his arms around & making loud noises. Oddly, large dogs are drawn to him, only rarely has an aggressive breed ever barked at him.
You would be surprised at how much of a racket a small bird or lizard can cause in the brush but they don't pace; they move randomly & rustle away. I have been paced before & it's creepy.
Last month I was watched while hiking back to the car at dusk by something I could SEE but it was not close enough to hear & I couldn't make out what it was. It was at least as tall as a man & over 50 yards away from me on the horizon of a large, grassy meadow. It was going west, as I was hiking east & I caught the movement of 'the blob' out of the corner of my eye. I stopped & turned to look & it stopped too, standing very, very still. I turned to walk & caught it's movement again so I stopped & it stopped again too. It turned into a sort of game. I did it over & over just to make sure this thing was moving intentionally & it definitely was. I never did see what it was; told my son to keep walking to the car & we made a beeline for it. This is not a place you'd want to be after dark & I had seen a bat. The bats are my cue; when I see the bats fly, I know I am running late in this particular area.
Fwiw, in my experience; deer do not pace humans. If you are close & spot them; they will stop & stare (I posted a picture of two doing just that on another thread here the other day). If you don't see them, they will let you get a few feet away & then they bolt away from you. They are not stealth about it & will darn near give you a heart attack when it happens. I had two large bucks do this to me on Thursday & I just about fainted, lol. I was wondering why my dog kept turning around & pulling me on her leash, I really should pay more attention to her cues.
Coyotes pace humans & so do mountain lions but in my area; lions pace from the trees & you are unlikely to hear them on the ground. Our coyotes pace in a pack & will stay right along with you, going at your speed in a circle, so you would hear something on one side of you one minute & the next minute you would hear something on the other side of the trail.
My eeriest hike was just two weeks ago by the caves in Manitou. It's the old abandoned entrance for the Cave of the Winds. It used to have a maintained trail through Williams Canyon until a post-wildfire flood wiped it out in 2013. It's officially 'closed' but us locals disregard that, lol. I saw tons of bear scat & was trying to make a lot of noise as I hiked by just talking to my dog & even singing but what was strange is how quiet the area was, even less than a mile from highway 24, it was eerily quiet. Because the area flooded, it's easy to get on the wrong path & find it dead ending into a tree on a cliff & have to backtrack to climb over the rocks below. The only wildlife I saw was raptors & snakes. Just deathly quiet.
There was this one bird ... that landed on a rock ahead of me & stopped & stared at me. As I got closer, it flew up ahead & landed & stared at me again. This happened over & over again. I got the strange feeling it was leading me further up & further in. I stepped to avoid a pile of bear scat & two snakes slithered out from underneath a rock, as if I was standing on a nest & that was it. i was done, lol.
That may explain some incidents....with some other 'rock throwing' incidents, they are not small sized pebbles being thrown, some were pretty large.
Seems like you all want to always come up with some natural explanation...when the details do not always match the description though.
We were lost and didn't know where we were.
On July 4/2003. We sat up camp about dark in SE Oklahoma. We were lost and didn't know where we were.
Right next to a small creek. I waded out into the creek and it was just under waist-high. After an 8 hr drive, I was hot, dusty, and tired. I was sitting in a chair about 20 ft from the creek. Suddenly off to the east about 1/4 mile away; I heard my 1st Howls! Four time with 3 howls each. The sound was so deep and long. I have heard Howler Monkeys, and wolves up close and these howls were so mucher deeper and longer.
Suddenly out of the dark a large rock landed in the creek right next to us. The next day I easily found the rock in the creek and it weighed at.about 5 lbs.
There are little birds that tend to stay in the underbrush, looking for grubs, bugs, berries, etc. The funny thing about them is, they hop. They hop to hopefully stir up the underbrush, and hopefully stir up something yummy to eat. I mention this because they can be kind of noisy, and being kind of little, not the easiest to see.
I go hiking almost every day. Alone (I know, I know) but with a dog & a stun gun. Or I have my giant 16 year old with me but he is autistic so I am not sure how much of a help he would be. He basically exists in the standard "scare a bear away" mode; he walks everywhere flapping & waving his arms around & making loud noises. Oddly, large dogs are drawn to him, only rarely has an aggressive breed ever barked at him.
You would be surprised at how much of a racket a small bird or lizard can cause in the brush but they don't pace; they move randomly & rustle away. I have been paced before & it's creepy.
Last month I was watched while hiking back to the car at dusk by something I could SEE but it was not close enough to hear & I couldn't make out what it was. It was at least as tall as a man & over 50 yards away from me on the horizon of a large, grassy meadow. It was going west, as I was hiking east & I caught the movement of 'the blob' out of the corner of my eye. I stopped & turned to look & it stopped too, standing very, very still. I turned to walk & caught it's movement again so I stopped & it stopped again too. It turned into a sort of game. I did it over & over just to make sure this thing was moving intentionally & it definitely was. I never did see what it was; told my son to keep walking to the car & we made a beeline for it. This is not a place you'd want to be after dark & I had seen a bat. The bats are my cue; when I see the bats fly, I know I am running late in this particular area.
Fwiw, in my experience; deer do not pace humans. If you are close & spot them; they will stop & stare (I posted a picture of two doing just that on another thread here the other day). If you don't see them, they will let you get a few feet away & then they bolt away from you. They are not stealth about it & will darn near give you a heart attack when it happens. I had two large bucks do this to me on Thursday & I just about fainted, lol. I was wondering why my dog kept turning around & pulling me on her leash, I really should pay more attention to her cues.
Coyotes pace humans & so do mountain lions but in my area; lions pace from the trees & you are unlikely to hear them on the ground. Our coyotes pace in a pack & will stay right along with you, going at your speed in a circle, so you would hear something on one side of you one minute & the next minute you would hear something on the other side of the trail.
My eeriest hike was just two weeks ago by the caves in Manitou. It's the old abandoned entrance for the Cave of the Winds. It used to have a maintained trail through Williams Canyon until a post-wildfire flood wiped it out in 2013. It's officially 'closed' but us locals disregard that, lol. I saw tons of bear scat & was trying to make a lot of noise as I hiked by just talking to my dog & even singing but what was strange is how quiet the area was, even less than a mile from highway 24, it was eerily quiet. Because the area flooded, it's easy to get on the wrong path & find it dead ending into a tree on a cliff & have to backtrack to climb over the rocks below. The only wildlife I saw was raptors & snakes. Just deathly quiet.
There was this one bird ... that landed on a rock ahead of me & stopped & stared at me. As I got closer, it flew up ahead & landed & stared at me again. This happened over & over again. I got the strange feeling it was leading me further up & further in. I stepped to avoid a pile of bear scat & two snakes slithered out from underneath a rock, as if I was standing on a nest & that was it. i was done, lol.
Sounds like you possibly intruded unto its territory and it was just pacing you, to make sure you were 'on your way out', I bet had you attempted to stop and set up camp, it would have gotten much closer and probably start to do intimidating things, to make you want to leave the area.
It also sounds like it 'allowed' you to see it...even though you didnt see the entire form...it showed enough of itself to let you know it was large and had intelligence beyond an animal (since it was pacing you)...if it had wanted to stay totally invisible, you would have never seen or heard a thing.
The thing about situations like this, (and it was similar to what I experienced), even if I had shrugged off the fear, and attempted to get closer to this thing, or try to draw it out, it would never work to my benefit, the thing would have just kept moving further away.
Im planning to go on another hike in this area within the next week or so, as long as the weather cooperates and I have enough time, Im trying to think of some way of recording my hike on video, (from my perspective), maybe find a way to mount my cell phone to my shoulder, and video the hike, although Im not sure a cell video recorder will record something that long, (maybe an hour or two?)
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated...I will definitely upload the video here too!
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Squirrels definitely throw mast -- mind you, I'm not claiming they have good aim
