Awesome Backyard Wildlife: Share Your Stories!

[HypoLyf]

Backyard buddies in Maine... hmmm, here are a few.

1) When I was younger, my mom kept horses in the field behind my house. One afternoon, a bull moose decided he didn't like the horses, so he busted through the fencing and chased them around. My mom and my grandfather had a fun time getting the horses into the barn after that!

2) There's always been a black bear wandering through the field across from my house every summer. One day, when I was probably 14 or 15, my mom and I (mostly my mom) decided to videotape him. We hopped onto the four-wheeler, her driving and me operating the camera, and sped through the field toward the bear, stopping about 150 feet from him. I started taping and everything was fine until the bear looked up at us and took a step toward us. My mom freaked out, yelled "Hold on Timmy!" and gunned it down the field toward our house, almost throwing me off. The camera recorded the entire scene of me holding on for dear life as my mom turned into a backyard NASCAR driver, almost throwing me off multiple times as she seemed to hit every bump in the field at full speed (her driving scared me 1000x more than the bear ). I'll need to find the tape the next time I'm home to relieve that wonderful moment. On a side note, the bear didn't move from his spot and continued on his merry way across the field.

3) Other wildlife I've encountered include: a baby raccoon, coyotes, garter snakes, deer, foxes, and a host of others. At my girlfriend's, it's common to come across a rafter of turkeys, deer, a bear, coyotes, and a few months ago a Canadian Lynx (I believe that's what it was) stopped by on their front porch.