Several years back a friend had gone rabbit hunting in a state not known for black bears. There had been rumors of sightings along the border of another state but not much else in years prior. Anyway, he called me and said he swore he saw bear tracks in the snow but couldn't be sure, and this was dead center in the middle of this state where no such sightings of black bears had been heard (that I know of anyway, as I follow this kind of stuff closely).
So he wanted me to take a trip and head down there the next day for a rabbit hunt, but more to the point so I could see these tracks and convince him he wasn't crazy. So we started down this old logging trail, as I was in the valley and he was on a nearby ridge spine some 20 feet higher than me, should any rabbits get kicked out either way for both of us to have a shot at...When I came upon the general area where he said he saw the bear tracks, and sure enough I looked down in the snow and saw them myself. We followed them for a while, and while they weren't as big as what you would think would be typical, they were bigger than any dog track I ever saw and also had that distinct look of the pads bear tracks have on them, complete with the claws.
That was the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Never saw a bear in real life, let alone it's tracks. Far as I know nobody that I ever heard from had reported bears being dead smack in the middle of that state. Only along the far border to another state with a small population of them.
Just goes to show, that animals are rather elusive. Chances are when they say some animal is extinct it's just that it's population has dropped so far in numbers that nobody ever sees one again. Plus, animals hunted to near extinction tend to be very shy and elusive. The only ones left are the ones with the genetic traits to have personalities so as to avoid man at all cost.
Another time I was sitting on a deserted road in the wild at night, and for no rhyme or reason I turned my head lights on to take a quick gander around me. Directly in front of my truck I saw four glowing eyes. As they moved off I could see it was a pair of grey or silver fox. Those animals are extremely rare compared to red foxes in many states, including where I was at. Felt bless to have seen such a thing.
I've also got on video a piebald buck I stalked in the woods. I've completed editing the video on youtube but I'm hesistant to post it. I don't want people bothering that deer, though I edited the video to avoid disclosing the location. Still, I don't want a bunch of people bothering me asking where it was. Some people get trophy crazy that way, and although I am a hunter I don't want to see that deer harassed.
Besides, the video was from about 7 years ago when it was probably two years old by the looks of it's rack. Chances are that deer is long dead, although I did catch a glimpse of him about 3 years ago or so, but it's rare for a deer in the wild to live much beyond about 5 or 6 years or so. One day here if I decide it's worth the risk to post I'll throw up a link to the video. Right now it's set as private by invite only.
Oh yea, got another one that comes to mind- Several years ago I was detecting in the woods. Heard a loud racket making it's way up the hill to the top of the ridge spine I was on. I sat on a log and watched, wondering what the heck was making so much noise. As I anxiously waited, suddenly I saw a flock of about 9 turkeys peak the hill about 20 yards from me, 2 or 3 of which were completely white albinos. Very cool. Just wish I had my camera for that one too...
One more...Sitting in a deer stand one day I saw something small and black making it's way down the deer trail. Turned out it was a ferret-like looking animal about the same size as one. I suspect it was a weasel but not sure on that.
