happy adventures

Sunset

with my kids a couple of days after Christmas at one of the beaches we visited about  on the 27th the rest were taken about 1 hour ago.

The Streams in the forest from all the rain are visited by me and our family dogs. the Yellow lab is a rescue dog we got this summer. He loves to chase the orange tennis balls I get without fur at a pet shop so he doesn't choke on sand and cough up sand. He really loves doing this. I usually wear crocs for walking through streams this time of year. However, if you are in deep water like a lake or crossing a fast moving river you want something more like Tevas or something that covers your toes so you don't stub them on underwater rocks or other things you might not see underwater.

Also, Crocs tend to float if you are walking out into a lake and if you step in deep mud you tend to lose them in the mud too. So, Tevas will tend to stay on your feet more if you strap them on tight with velcro or other types of waterproof sandals or shoes.

In the bottom three photos I'm 1 to 2 miles from the nearest human being. However, most of these places have cell reception if there is an emergency. 

I haven't heard a mountain lion howl and scream out here for around 10 years now. I have never seen one in the wilds but I have seen Bobcats up in Mt. Shasta. However, if they are stalking me or my dogs I usually feel it on the back of my neck and look back a lot more and walk more dominant for safety. Some people carry golf clubs when walking for wild loose dogs and mountain lions in this area but I don't because I'm 6 feet 5 inches tall.

The other important thing to know. People think deer are helpless. They are not helpless and far from it. Especially mother deer can be really scary if you corner them and they feel threatened. Usually where I live there are a lot of deer because it isn't legal to hunt them here. So, this is why Mountain lions show up here because of all the deer. They wouldn't stand a chance against a mountain lion because of the way mountain lions hunt.

But, never corner or make a mother deer upset and keep your dogs away from male deer and especially male deer during rutting season when they have antlers. I once saw with in a mile or two of these pictures what happened to a black labrador dog and his owner a 13 year old girl was hysterical. I was riding a mountain bike and asked if I could help the girl and she said, "No' she probably was worried whether her labrador was going to die. It was obvious what had happened because it was rutting season and he had attacked a male deer (really bad idea) when it had horns. It had thrown him with the horns obviously and torn off all the flesh on his right chest down to the chest bones so you could see the bones and the skin and flesh was flapping as he sort of walked sideways home. 

So, don't let your dogs chase deer because this can happen. Also mother deer have razor sharp hooves that they know how to use like knives. The go up on their rear legs and cut people or animals with both front hooves. They are anything but helpless. They just look helpless but they are not.

It's important to remember just how lethal even female mother deer can be if they are alarmed about their fawns. 

The Deer, the raccoons, the coyotes, the wolves, the Mountain Lions in the Western Part of the United States are not tame wherever you are. There is an awful story about parents from another country who put their 4 to 5 year old child on a deer thinking it was tame. The buck deer kicked the child off and promptly killed it in Yosemite National Park. No, the deer aren't tame. In fact, I would say the bears in Yosemite are less scary and more tame  sometimes than the deer are because they are top of the food chain (unless you take their babies or compete with them for food). If you do either of these you will soon be dead or maimed.

just like with the deer.