desert dweller
Trail Wise!
Power to the Peaceful...Hate does not create.
Posts: 6,291
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Post by desert dweller on Nov 7, 2016 21:13:24 GMT -8
I see foxes scampering around base every now and then. Military bases have some of the largest swaths of remote natural areas.
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tarol
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Redding, CA
Posts: 582
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Post by tarol on Nov 14, 2016 13:43:34 GMT -8
On night one of a 3-day backpacking trip in the Golden Trout Wilderness in 2005 we heard a loud awful animal noise over and over and it freaked us out, couldn't place it for the life of us, and we didn't get much sleep that night.
Several years later on another trip therein we camped at Grey Meadow, below the ridge where we had camped back in 2005. The range permittee was there at the historic guard station with his stock and we heard it again, closer this time. I got up to check it out and turns out it was one of their mules! I asked in the morning if he had the same mule back in 2005 and he said yes. Now, mind you, I grew up in the mule capital of the world (Bishop, CA) but I'd never heard a mule sound like that. But very glad to have solved the mystery.
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tarol
Trail Wise!
Redding, CA
Posts: 582
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Post by tarol on Nov 14, 2016 13:45:52 GMT -8
Almost 2 years ago exactly I was on Isle Royale and 3 nights in a row we heard a wolf howl. I think there were only 2 or 3 left that year. :( But it was awesome to hear it howl. Seemed like it was coming from miles away! I spent 8 days on Isle Royale a few years back and each night I hoped we'd hear wolf howls. Only heard loons, which kind of sound like a howl sometimes.
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Post by Coolkat on Nov 14, 2016 13:52:24 GMT -8
I spent 8 days on Isle Royale a few years back and each night I hoped we'd hear wolf howls. Only heard loons, which kind of sound like a howl sometimes. Speaking Loons. The very first lake I came to (almost exactly straight up from the rangers dock) there was a loon giving a call. It just kept going. I took that as my signal that it was welcoming me to the island Thats my side of the story anyway.
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Post by hikingtiger on Nov 30, 2016 10:30:06 GMT -8
You can come to my house and hear the "Coyote Group" any calm night. It's usually when they get near the chicken houses down the road. There will be a few dog barks mixed in.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 9:45:40 GMT -8
I recently did some camping on the coast, and the sea lions below my camp were farting super loud all night, and there was another weird clicking sound, that I couldn't figure out until morning when I was making tea and saw a pair of ravens and it was them making the sound.
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Post by bluefish on Dec 2, 2016 16:39:24 GMT -8
I love to hear owls; screech, great horned and barn are common in my area. They don't keep me up, just make me excited to know they're out hunting in the dark woods and fields. My wife and I got a good laugh in the Golden Trout Wilderness at Horseshoe Meadows spending a first night acclimating to altitude . A drunk couple near us were scared witless by the sound of the mating noises of tule elk . What they thought it might have been, I have no idea, but they had some very funny conversation and locked themselves in their car.
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Post by johntpenca on Dec 4, 2016 16:22:15 GMT -8
the sound of the mating noises of tule elk . After decades of traveling the sierra, I'd never seen a tule elk. Then one day driving SB between Bishop and Lone Pine there was a massive herd (200?) between the 395 and the eastern sierra. The only time I've heard elk bugle was camping in the fall in Grand Teton; a most amazing sound that captivated me.
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Post by bluefish on Dec 4, 2016 16:51:36 GMT -8
the sound of the mating noises of tule elk . After decades of traveling the sierra, I'd never seen a tule elk. Then one day driving SB between Bishop and Lone Pine there was a massive herd (200?) between the 395 and the eastern sierra. The only time I've heard elk bugle was camping in the fall in Grand Teton; a most amazing sound that captivated me. John, the Tules bugling isn't near as euphonious (sorry, like that word-pleasant sounding) , as Roosevelts. Think a little mule added in. In all likelihood you saw the Tinemaha herd between Independence and Big Pine. There's some irrigated alfalfa they like to get into and of course clump grasses among the sage. They were introduced to the Owens Valley in the mid-70's. After they were introduced, I crawled on my belly through the desert near Tinemaha reservoir for a quarter mile to get a close look. Luckily I was upwind and got within 30 yds. or so of a 4x4 bull and around 25 cows. Their history is an interesting read, worth looking up. Their population is managed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2016 4:52:27 GMT -8
the sound of the mating noises of tule elk . After decades of traveling the sierra, I'd never seen a tule elk. Then one day driving SB between Bishop and Lone Pine there was a massive herd (200?) between the 395 and the eastern sierra. The only time I've heard elk bugle was camping in the fall in Grand Teton; a most amazing sound that captivated me. If you hike the Point Reyes peninsula you can see lots of Tule elk. It's an easy day hike, out and back, just under 10 miles.
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davesenesac
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Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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Post by davesenesac on Feb 28, 2017 7:14:20 GMT -8
Missed this thread earlier.
Listened to each coyote link including the moonlight howl. Coyotes are especially common summer in the Eastern Sierra Nevada up to timberline elevations because of the large numbers of rodents. The Owen's Valley sage brush talus fans they live at during rainy season are much closer versus lower elevations west of the crest.
Generally human wary coyotes avoid areas where hikers and backpackers travel and camp but if one rambles away from such places as I do, one is much more likely to come across them and hear them at night.
If I wake up so at night during howling, love to join in and sometimes have gotten other groups to respond haha.
The best howling experiences are when there are several family groups off in all directions. On the "moonlight" link it was obviously near a family with pups. Coyotes obviously love the once nightly howl especially the puppies. The best I've heard was near Minaret Lake at 10k.
In towns in third world countries like Thailand where I was stationed in the VNW, human pet dogs are usually allowed to run free never tethered as they stay about their master's homes. But at night in wee hours many escape away to run about towns in sizeable packs always with a lead alpha dog. And do they all howl together packs all over a town at once, just like coyotes once each night.
It also tends to eliminate any night burglar activity as the night packs can be aggressive snarling and barking. Once faced off with such a group in backstreet slums but as a dog person growing up, talked the alpha dog into leaving me alone as canines are extremely sensitive to non-verbal body movement and emotion.
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Post by takinadio on Feb 28, 2017 21:21:18 GMT -8
jeez! I hope to one day wake up to a friendly neighborhood coyote! Sounds terrifying yet captivating at the same time. I was surprised that where I am stationed in Florida, near Fort Walton beach, I see foxes scampering around base every now and then. Their is a pack of coyotes that live right next to me An I frequently hear them howling! I've even seen quite a few of them playing around with each other or looking for shade in the summer
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Post by Lamebeaver on Mar 2, 2017 12:50:01 GMT -8
I don't mind adult great horned owls, but the juveniles don't hoot, they screech, and it's annoying as heck. Especially when they're sitting on the clothes posts in the back yard in August with the bedroom window open.
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herm
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I love the Sierra Nevada, the California coast, and the Mojave Desert
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Post by herm on Apr 3, 2017 18:34:48 GMT -8
Once while camped at Heart Bar in the San Bernardino Mountains, my wife and I were first entertained by the call of a sawhet owl; sounds similar to a back up indicator on a vehicle. After a few hours of non-stop vehicle in reverse, our entertainment turned to annoyance. I decided to make the call of a great horned owl. After a few hoots, the sawhet owl moved away from our camp. Later the next morning, we had the pleasure of meeting tarol's parents, who happened to be the camp hosts.
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whistlepunk
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I was an award winning honor student once. I have no idea what happened...
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Post by whistlepunk on Apr 7, 2017 9:02:40 GMT -8
I think every jungle scene in every movie ever made, no matter the plot setting, has dubbed in a kookaburra call.
I like hearing how the calls distort at night. As the sound moves in and out through pockets of dense still air it changes tones and pitch. Ordinary coyote howls can get real eerie sounding, owl hoots turn unwordly, sometimes I cannot tell what the animal is (sasquatch? mothman? aliens coming to abduct me?).
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