Posted on Aug 29, 2014
Sgt Packy Flickinger
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So whats your experiences with wildlife on base? In Cherry Point NC, we have a challenging mountain biking course. One day, coming back from mountain biking at dusk, I came around a bend in the road and there was a small field opposite the forrest. It was about 50' x 100' and in it was an entire herd of deer. Maybe a dozen. They didn't run when they saw me but did start walking away. It was so cool, I was maybe 50' from them. If only I had a camera.

I know many of you are thinking "if only I had my rifle". I don't hunt but it would have been a photographers dream.
Posted in these groups: Animals logo AnimalsPhotography logo Photography
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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Edited >1 y ago
I have two:
1. Once I had my company out doing night land nav. The Company Commander and I accompanied a couple of our youngest troops - we were in groups of four as our supply of NVGs was inadequate for everyone to have a set.
The captain was NOT an outdoor cat. He was nervously making small talk about the wildlife on Camp Ripley, asking what was out there. I informed him (truthfully) that there were possums, raccoons... bears... "Bears!" he says. "Well they stay away from people, right?" "Actually sir, I just saw one this morning by the A Range complex. There are also two packs of wolves..." "No there isn't. You're pulling my leg..."
Right on cue, the howls start. I couldn't see him in the dark, but I think the man turned white as a sheet. Voice trembling a bit, he tried to reassure himself, saying "well, we'd hear them coming, right?" Smelling blood in the water, I said something like "you'd probably hear their panting and feel their hot breath right before they clamed down on your throat."
CPT B didn't want to talk much more after that. The two PFCs on point probably got a good chuckle out of the deal.

2. I went to Alaska to work on a road construction project back in 2001. When on down time, I indulged my love of fishing. The Humpback Salmon were running, and with minimal effort you could catch dozens in an hour. We ate like kings.
One day, I was down in my favored spot just below a waterfall where the fish would spawn. It was at the bottom of a ravine, and you had to traverse a bunch of muskeg (a kind of peat that is spongy and darn near bottomless as the vegetable matter never decomposes in the 40 degree wetness) to get there. I had a five gallon bucket about half full with the day's catch when I heard a noise that halted me in my tracks. Looking up from my task and separated by a mere 3 meters of creek, was the biggest damn Brown Bear I have ever seen. It was looking at me intently - too intently. Thinking fast, I tossed it a fish and was going to extort my buddy to retreat up the ravine... he was already well on his way.
Thanks buddy.
I slowly backed out up the incline and once far enough away, beat feet to the road meeting my buddy at the trailhead. He made supportive words about thinking I was right behind him... Whatever.

After a time, we went back down to recover our bucket and tackle. The bear had crushed the pail and consumed all its contents, of course. But at least we could go fishing again.
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MAJ Charles Ray
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Coyote on Ft. Irwin, California.
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Sgt Packy Flickinger
Sgt Packy Flickinger
>1 y
WOW, hes a scrawny fart. We get some good coyotes at my house but never able to get a pic.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
1SG (Join to see)
>1 y
Some of the mangiest ugly coyotes I've ever laid eyes on were in Fort Irwin. They look like those feral dogs that run around Afghanistan.
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SFC Mark Merino
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Alaska was crazy! If it can kill you, it was on post. There are pictures at McDonald's of a moose sticking his head through the drive thru window and them feeding him lettuce. That place is truly the great outdoors!
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Sgt Packy Flickinger
Sgt Packy Flickinger
10 y
Didn't the moose read the sign that said "walk ups not served"
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MAJ Raúl Rovira
MAJ Raúl Rovira
10 y
Yes, Moose run wild in JBER. The brother of one of my former boy scouts was trampled by a moose. Just 100 yards from my quarters in the Richardson side (Birch Hill). The boy lived.

Always scan before stepping outside your door.
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