Home › Forums › Campfire Forum › Most Admired Predators
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Yeah, Don’s article was really enjoyable and refreshingly open-minded. The singing bowyer (Mark Baker) has a similar article in the same issue. Which is most “admired”? Depends on what aspect we’re admiring. The grizzly for grandeur and majesty. The wolf for wildness, musicality and society. But overall I’d have to say the coyote — also for musicality plus tenacity in the face of adversity, frugality in needs and adaptability in diet and habitat, but mostly because it’s a ubiquitous connection to wildness and freedom. Lots of people have never seen a grizzly or wolf and never will. But you pretty much have to live in an urban cave to never have heard a coyote yelp. I admire them all above insect size.
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In terms of predators, I would have to say wolverines. Mainly because they are not very common (making them that more precious) and their remarkable ferocity and toughness. I read an article where one radio collared wolverine travelled from Glacier to Jackson Wyoming area and back (all in one summer). That, and I have actually seen one in the Beartooth Mountains in Wyoming and the North Cascades in Washington. Two of the most memorable wildlife sightings in my life.
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The first thing that poped into my head when I saw this thread was the coyote. For all the reasons Dave mentioned. I watched a pair hunting cooperativly this past winter. It’s amazing how they seem to read each others thoughts. It’ll make you question our assumptions on such things.
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I personally admire the Great White Shark over all predators. They outlived the dinosaurs and their ferocity is second to none. I would love to see one in the wild, albeit from a cage! Unfortunately and rightfully so, we can’t bowhunt these wonderful animals, which takes me to my second most admired predator: The Polar Bear. While I have a healthy fear for them, I am continually in awe at their beauty and power. I have never seen one in the wild, hopefully one day I will get a chance to observe this amazing animal. Like most other predators, I have no urge to hunt the great bear, I would rather just sit back and watch the show. :shock::shock:
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Golden Eagles. I find it fascinating that they’ll hunt in tandem at times. They can take animals, MANY times their weight, and are the epitomy of majesty to me. Plus they taste delicious. 😆
Orcas are amazingly intelligent. It’s amazing how they vary they’re hunting styles to best suit the the environment and prey they are after. Plus they are just plain cool looking.
Mountain Lions are such incredible ambushers/stalkers.
Grizzly Bears for their “brute” strength, among many admirable qualities.
Wolves for the same reason Dave expressed.
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M, great answer! You are funny. On my way into town today, I was fortunate to see one of my all time favorite predators; The red tail hawk. I see them just about everyday and they have a solid place in my heart. A true predator and beautiful as all get out. I love that they hunt for their food and usually don’t depend on carrion.
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M wrote: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
😯 I hope your not rabid. I heard viruses can spread via computers!
T Downing wrote: On my way into town today, I was fortunate to see one of my all time favorite predators; The red tail hawk. I see them just about everyday and they have a solid place in my heart. A true predator and beautiful as all get out. I love that they hunt for their food and usually don’t depend on carrion.
BY FAR the coolest sound too! Although, those who only hear it via movies and TV shows probably think that sound comes from a bald eagle 🙄
Speaking of hawks, I love to watch Rough Legged Hawks “hovering” over a grassy field, scanning it for voles, mice, etc. Very pretty birds, in their many morphs.
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I saw a wolf for the first time a few months ago. It was on my way to work in the early morning. I was passing through an area of state forest and he ran across the road about 25 yards in front of me. He did not look at my truck. He appeared not to care about my truck. He just kept looking straight ahead where he was going with a determined look on his face. Just like he was from a parallel universe where cars and trucks do not exist. Awesome sight. It would have been scary if I was on foot and in his world. 😕
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Hard to say.. I admire, respect and love them all. But I have to agree on the coyote. Cunning, adaptability, survivalists under great adversity. And he keeps on truckin’.
On another note, behind my home is all woodland and wetland.I was noticing late last fall a sharp drop in the rabbits I was seeing behind the house. I let the dog out one morning and she comes back with a whole rabbit in her mouth completely intact with the stomach almost inscissored open and all the insides missing. I had to chuckle… only a weasel kills like that.
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Steve, I’d overlooked weasels. Not my favorite predator but they’ve sure entertained me many times while hunting, and at home. Too many stories to tell but I can’t think of another predator who consistently and successfully takes on prety many times its own size. Pine martens are weasels too and extremely entertaining.
My least favorite predators are feral housecats. Where are the coyotes when we need ’em?
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David Petersen wrote:
My least favorite predators are feral housecats. Where are the coyotes when we need ’em?What a conincidence! I was outside working in the gerden this morning and my neighbor up the road stopped by, he was looking for his cat. I know axactly who’s dinner table the cat went on, 😆 but I bit my toungue and just told him I’d keep an eye out for him. 😉
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Cool thread Pat!
I’ve got to give it to the Mountain Lion. I read a fascinating article about how they practice stalking to hone their skills. This can and often does include human beings. You could be a practice stalk and wouldn’t ever know it!
I also love the Golden Eagle. I’ve been watching their hunting videos on YouTube and I cannot believe what they can do.
I saw both animals at the John Ball Park Zoo here in Grand Rapids the other day and I was amazed.
I’ve also got to give a lot of credit to the Coyote and to the Owl. My Dad saw an Owl pounce on, pin, and tear the wings off a hawk the other day. Unbelievable.
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LimbLover wrote: My Dad saw an Owl pounce on, pin, and tear the wings off a hawk the other day. Unbelievable.
Great Horned, I presume. That’s another one for me. I’ve never watched one catch prey, which would be sweet. I know hawks, amongst other birds, even turkeys (I imagine), have to be careful where they roost because of ’em.
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Patrick wrote: [quote=LimbLover]My Dad saw an Owl pounce on, pin, and tear the wings off a hawk the other day. Unbelievable.
Great Horned, I presume. That’s another one for me. I’ve never watched one catch prey, which would be sweet. I know hawks, amongst other birds, even turkeys (I imagine), have to be careful where they roost because of ’em.
Yes I believe it was. I saw one in the middle of the road on my way out to a paintball game a few years back. It looked like a tree stump. I had no idea they were so big. -
I think one of the coolest animals I’ve been lucky enough to spot while bowhunting is the Bobcat. This is an animal we usually only get a parting glimpse of. Or hear thier screams on the ridgetops at night. Several years ago one afternoon I was hunting a local horse farm in the back fields and from my stand I had the opportunity to watch a bobcat “mousing” the entire field edge for about 20 minutes. That was neat!
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I’m going to chime in here and cast my lot with the cougar. As a young boy, I was blessed with a book called Yellow Eyes, by Rutherford Montgomery. As a budding young archer, it solidified my notion of silence, stalking, and kill. It affects me to this day and stays on my Top Shelf in the library. I’m now 53 yrs and received the book at the age of 11yrs. My wife also would like to put in her 2 cents worth here and votes for the Red Fox. She saw one go through her chicken yard a couple of years ago and was devastated, and amazed. 5 dead hens in about 30 seconds. She broke out her 20ga. pump gun and the next afternoon, ended that foxes career.
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M wrote: My least favorite is the praying mantis the females mate then chew the head off the male. Reminds me of my ex-wife.
😯 Good thing she became your ex, before you mated! :lol::lol::lol:
M wrote: BTW I am still my favorite predator. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr Patrick.
I’m sure you are, but I expected that of many, so I wrote:
Patrick wrote: …and I’m wondering what predators (excluding humans 😉 ) you most admire.
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Rocks — before a wildfire wiped out pine marten habitat where I live in CO, we had a lot of them and they frequently added to the pleasure of my hunts. Sometimes they were shy and disappeared. Other times, most times, they would ignore you and go about their business of hunting for dinner. Once I was sitting over an elk spring with a little ditch, maybe 2′ wide x 3′ long and a foot deep, close in front of me. A marten came through and was sniffing around and flush a vole to sprinted off and tumbled into the ditch with the marten right after him. While the vole did a good job if escaping the weasel’s grasp for a long time, it was trapped in the ditch and eventually the marten caught it. Then the remarkable thing happened: the weasel brought it’s dinner right up to me and ate it, in about 3 bites, while sitting right in front of my boots and looking me in the eye. I think it was boasting about being a better hunter than me! And have you ever seen one run flat-out over flat and open ground? I never dreamed anything could move that fast. Just pure lightning. While their prey base has returned sinced the fires 8 years ago, we won’t have martens again until we have mature conifers. I really miss them. dave
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Wombats!
Well, ok, they’re herbivores. But they’ve got spunk! From the wiki:
“When threatened, however, they can reach up to 40 km/h (25 mph)”
And…
“Humans who accidentally find themselves in an affray with a wombat may find it best to scale a tree until the animal calms and leaves. Humans can receive puncture wounds from wombat claws as well as bites. Startled wombats can also charge humans and bowl them over, with the attendant risks of broken bones from the fall.”
“…bowl them over…” LOL, that would be something to see!
Gorbin.
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I would have to agree with Nick on the Mountain Lion, as we have them here in NW Montana, and they take game just as much as the wolf does. Coyotes and wolves are lothed here, to the extent that people just want to wipe them out altogether again. But now the wolf is amoung our hunted with being in the hunting season, where now we are going to get 2 weeks Archery Only on them prior to the rifle season beginning. The quota is going up on how many can be taken state wide.
But the Mountain Lion is my favored of all predators, next to the bear being black or grizzly.
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I like all the predators listed but, I would like to add the bobcat. I have only called in one and seen a few others but to me, they are little sticks of dynamite with lots of attitude!
Like their bigger cousins, mountain lions, they just give you that “I don’t give a dang- I’ll kick your butt” look. I’m not sure they are afraid of anything.If I could get one with my bow, it would be my “totem” animal.
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Talk about tough choices! Excellent arguments have been made for the coyote and the cougar, and i find it hard to disagree with those choices. But I’m going to go with the Alaska brown bear (same species as the interior grizzly, of course, but there are real differences). I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of experience with these incredible animals, as a bowhunter, photographer, Alaska fly-fisherman, and, yes, as a brown bear guide. They never cease to amaze me with their power, cunning, speed, intelligence, wariness, and toughness. I’m sure I’ve seen a thousand of them in the wild, but each one leaves me just as fascinated as the first. Cheers, Don
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Ive thought long and hard about this and M is definately my favorite predator, lol:shock:
No really, I think this one was tough. Pound for pound I think the weasels got em all beat. tough and smart, best of both worlds. There are so many to choose from . . .
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Australian salt water croc.
Don’t know if I admire these as a predator or survivor.
I’ve never encountered them but my youngest son has whilst fishing, he said there reactions are like lightning and from lying motionless for hours can sprint fast enough to catch dogs over a short distance or anything else from pig to fisherman. They move silently and will attack from land or water.
He also encountered some spiders out there that laid siege to a camper van, left two guys in the outback for four days without access to any of their gear.
Mark.
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Birds of prey are on the top of my list. Where I work I regularly get to see peregrine falcons and ospreys at work. To see a peregrine explode a duck at 90 mph is pretty awe inspiring. The first time I saw an osprey hover, spot a fish, and dive from way high to catch a trout I started clapping. I think the guys with me thought I was a little wierd.
Rick -
Though a bit late on this topic, I’ll throw in my 2 cents. I surmise we’re all interested in the predator/prey relationship because we wish to remain in the former category instead of the latter! If I lived in Africa, it would be the lion, leopard, wild dogs; India-tiger;Latin and South America-jaguar and here in North America we have all manner of predatory water, air and landbased life, some of it even lives outside of Washington D.C. with honesty and dignity. Not discounting any of your choices, and in the interest of posting this before being erased, I’ll propose a predator that most of us see every spring, summer, and fall as a beautiful, magnificant and useful predator- of course I’m talking about the ubiquitous dragonfly- what colors, acrobatics and grace. Their hum means summer has arrived and I never tire of delighting in their spontaneous dance. When we say goodbye in the late fall,we know winter is close. Besides they don’t sting or bite humans and have the main attribute of hunting and eating those damn mosquitoes that render our outdoor adventures a slapping hell. So I nominate an insect as my most admired predator- long live the noble dragonfly!
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I gotta go with
1) Wolves…just about any wild dog ( not ferral)
and
2) The badger. Corner one in a barn or in a trap, then you’ll see what I mean.
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I am not sure I have a favorite yet I look to them for characteristics that I lack in my own abilities.
The solitary cats such as the cougar or leapord for theit stealth.
Canines, coyote,wolf or wild dog for their cunning.
The weasels might remind me to lighten up and enjoy some humor.
Spiders remind me to be patient.
When I think of bears strength an perserverence come to mind.
Intelegence comes to mind looking into the eyes of the raptors.I have to remind myself that all these predators are full time professionals, I am a part time amature.
Bill
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Great thread. I’m also a huge admirer of the Predator kingdom. I enjoy observing them in the wild every chance that I can. I would have to throw in a second vote for the Polar Bear. Here is an animal that makes a living on nothing more then an ice skating rink.
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My favorite predator is the Red tailed hawk. Love to watch them hunt. Seen them take squirrels and other small critters from my treestand. They are my constant hunting companion,it seems! Good things happen when they are around. I once had one fly in behind me and settle in a branch a few feel away,just above me,to my left. What a cool thing,we were BOTH hunting!. He,a small critter and me,hopefully something a bit bigger. Neat thing to see and experience. Take care,Lee 😀
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I actually saw a male Bald Eagle here in Northern IN this spring. It was only about 120 to 150 yda from the road feeding on a young deer. It was so beautiful and majestic. I have a score to settle with the local coyote population though, theyre ruining the turkey hunting on the property I hunt. Took out two so far this year, both in turkey season.
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