What wildlife do you see on your rides?

[Aggie_Ama]

On our normal ride the other day I BAFFLED to see elk. I guess that is what they were, sure as heck were not white tail deer. There is a large barbed wire area on the side of a busy road and there they were. Huge antlers, big animals. I googled Elk and that is my guess of what they are. If I can find my digital camera I will HAVE to take a photo. Talk about a shock, isn't it too hot for elk here?

[bcipam]

On our normal ride the other day I BAFFLED to see elk. I guess that is what they were, sure as heck were not white tail deer. There is a large barbed wire area on the side of a busy road and there they were. Huge antlers, big animals. I googled Elk and that is my guess of what they are. If I can find my digital camera I will HAVE to take a photo. Talk about a shock, isn't it too hot for elk here?

After doing Hellweek (Fredericksburg, TX) several years ago I'm not amazed or surprised you saw elk. We saw all sorts of exotic deer and antelope - all escapees from local "hunt club" or whatever you call the drive in and shot 'em places. The friend I did the ride with, is a zoologist and runs a zoo. She commented there was more exotic critters running around then they had in the zoo. Sortof cool, but weird!

[Deanna]

After doing Hellweek (Fredericksburg, TX) several years ago I'm not amazed or surprised you saw elk. We saw all sorts of exotic deer and antelope - all escapees from local "hunt club" or whatever you call the drive in and shot 'em places. The friend I did the ride with, is a zoologist and runs a zoo. She commented there was more exotic critters running around then they had in the zoo. Sortof cool, but weird!

From an ecological standpoint, this is kind-of scary. You have to wonder what it's going to do to the food chain of the native flora & fauna.

[Aggie_Ama]

After doing Hellweek (Fredericksburg, TX) several years ago I'm not amazed or surprised you saw elk. We saw all sorts of exotic deer and antelope - all escapees from local "hunt club" or whatever you call the drive in and shot 'em places. The friend I did the ride with, is a zoologist and runs a zoo. She commented there was more exotic critters running around then they had in the zoo. Sortof cool, but weird!

Yeah there are a lot of exotic hunting ranches in the Hill Country, South Texas and East of Austin (where I went to college). This isn't really a big enough area for one of those, so I am not sure if they are just visiting or what they are there for. It was bizarre.

[Aggie_Ama]

This time I managed to get DH to look at the field in time, he confirmed they are elk. And there is a lot of the beauties out in the field. They are so gorgeous! I_need_to get a photo.

The next few minutes of our ride was debating why there are Elk along Parmer Lane. DH's theory is they are being bred for meat or to be shipped to an exotic game ranch. I guess they wouldn't be pets, would they? There is one big guy with a huge set of antlers, he is so beautiful. At least it is cooling down a bit for them.

[Aggie_Ama]

This morning's ride had a new sighting- blue heron. Though not rare for Texas, I can't recall seeing any lately. I rolled down a hill over the river and there they were. Luckily I was curious to see how high the river is or I would have missed them. There was four of them, one wading, two flying and one swimming (or maybe wading in deeper water). What beautiful and majestic creatures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

I unfortunately saw four dead armadillos as well and all were pretty fresh (ick). Poor little guys, doesn't seem to have been a good night for them.