I’ve been fotunate to see a lot of interesting wildlife here in North Carolina.

1. A co-worker caught a black widow in a zip-loc bag back several years ago and used it to scare the ladies in the office.
2. We had a cottonmouth snake about 4’ long drop into our canoe from a log above about 4 years ago.
3. Three years ago we saw an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled up on the edge of a hiking trail at Hanging Rock State Park. Yeah they do make that sound.
4. I saw a mountain lion cross a two lane Rte 16 southbound, in Ashe County, North Carolina about 5 miles south of the intersection of Rtes 88 and 221. That was back in August 2006. That was a rare sighting so I reported it to the State.
5. I saw a bobcat cross the Blue Ride Parkway in September 2006.
6. In September 06 I saw a dead wolf on the center line of 4-lane Rte 421 in Wilkes Couty, near the Watauga County line.
7. My dog treed a small (150#) black bear about 30’ from my cabin in Avery County, October 2006.
8. I caught a brown recluse spider in my house last year. They’re more poisonous than a black widow.
9. Three weeks ago, again at the cabin, I was woken up by my dog barking outside. She was about 20’ away from a 300# or so bear up against a tree, again about 30’ from my house. The bear was hissing like you’d expect a big cat species to do.