Living in Wisconsin

As a life-long Wisconsinite, a trip to the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona, really opened my eyes to the vast differences in landscape, culture, and animals. I was amazed at the beautiful painted sunsets in the desert, the sound of coyotes yipping in the distance, the quail and roadrunners scuttling across the desert wash, and the towering saguaro cacti.

I also never thought about some of the dangers of living in the desert. Although I was told to take a walking stick with me when hiking in the mountains (in case of rattlesnake encounters), and not keep the outside door ajar (as a stray javelinas may wander into your house), no one told me not to lie on the ground while taking pictures of cacti (there are lots of scorpions), or that there were mountain lions in the desert--that never even occurred to me.

It was the case of being a stranger in a strange land. Fortunately, I didn't see any scorpions, javelinas, or mountain lions while in the desert, but it makes me wonder what I would warn visitors about before they began exploring the forests and prairies of Wisconsin (bears, deer ticks, and skunks come to mind!).

I've had a few wild animal encounters in Wisconsin. While riding my bike one fall evening, a six-point buck leapt out of the woods, across the gravel road about 10 feet in front of me--scared me half to death! I also had a near-miss with a skunk while on my bike--that wouldn't have been good! Oh, and did I mention that I had an opossum living under my deck in Menasha?!

While camping in Peninsula State Park one summer, the zipper on our tent broke--right after we had just unloaded all of our food supplies. Since it was raining, we left everything in the tent, and headed back into town to buy a new tent. We returned to find a skunk leisurely munching on marshmallows and Hershey bars in the tent, and biggest raccoon I'd ever seen eating a half-opened bag of bread in the woods nearby. Needless to say, the next morning, we headed back to town to buy more groceries.

During a stay at a bed & breakfast on Madeline Island, I woke up to find a black bear staring at me through the patio door while hanging by his paws from the deck above. It seems that he had a hankering for some birdseed from the second-story bird feeder, so he climbed up the deck railing for a midnight snack. His feast was abruptly interrupted by the innkeeper shooing him off the deck with her broom. The next night, we kept a careful watch while sitting in the outdoor hot tub!

Do you have any Wisconsin wild animal encounters that you'd like to share?