aonther odd critter

M

MeekAndMild

New member
Spending a lot of time in the woods and going back and forth from my hunting sites I've seen another odd critter crossing the road twice this year. Mrs. Meek saw the second one so I'm not totally hallucinating.

It is about 14 inches high and maybe 20 inches long, sandy or light brown in color. Its hair is short and ears are rounded like a cat or possum. It has a long face like a possum, but it's head is smaller in proportion to its body, more like a weiner dog without the long ears. The back is sraight and the nose points downward at a right angle to the neck like that of a goat or deer and not forward like a pig's. It trots like a small deer, indeed it could be a deer if it weren't so small.

Fox? Nope, no bushy tail, no prominent ears and no long hair.
Coyote? Nope, too small, no long hair, no prominent ears.
Deer? Nope, too small and head too small in proportion to the body?
Bobcat? Nope, more straight back, gait is like a trot and not a bounce.
Coon? Nope, color wrong, gait wrong, straignt and shoulders as high as butt.
Mink? Nope, trots instead of scurrying, head is wrong shape and back is more straight.
 
If you were in south east China I would say it sounds like a Muntjac. Not too likely here though.
Muntjac.jpg

Where did you see this? Are you in the North? South?:confused:
 
Without more detail and without knowing your location. My SWAG is possibly a cotamundi.

Either that or somebodys pet Dik Dik got lose.
 
The critters were sighted deep in the heart of Dixie a few miles off the Nachez trace.

Not quite as heavy bodied as a Muntjac and back legs are less prominent than a dik dik, but close to either. Really weird.
 
That sounds kind of like a fox squirrle. We have many of them around here, you just have to know where to look. All the ones I know of live in clumps of oak trees in small groups or families. If that's what they are don't kill them because it's illegal but more importantly they mate for life
 
Ya know, it almost sounds like a ring tailed cat, or miner's cat. They're all over the desert SW, but I've never heard of them being that far east. Their real name is a cacomistle. They got the name "miner's cat" because they're really bold and friendly, and miners kept them as mascots and to get rid of mice and rats in the mines. Here's a pic of one, but the one's I've seen didn't have that boldly striped of a tail; more like a raccoon.

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Next time I see one I'm going to look closer at its tail. This looks like what I saw except for the back legs and hair didn't look quite so long. They say it is masked and the tail is striped but except for the color pattern this was the critter. That pointed nose is the same!


http://www.whozoo.org/AnlifeSS2001/bettsass/BS_Coati.htm

I never thought I'd see a coati mundi east of the Mississippi, but then 30 years ago armadillos weren't here either.
 
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I wonder if it was a young one that hadn't reached maturity yet. Would have been cool to see one in the wild though.:cool:
 
It sounds too small for a chupacabra to me... maybe a young one though. But arn't chupacabras nocturnal? And in any case, it shouldn't be that lightly colored.
 
No, a nute has yellow teeth and waddles when it walks on land.
nutria.jpg


Chupacabra is bigger and has porcelain teeth and makes people crazy when they get too close.
hillary1.jpg
 
Chupacabra is bigger and has porcelain teeth and makes people crazy when they get too close.
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Of Course, you know, M&M, that's not a chupacabra! NO self-respecting Chupacabra would look or act like, or get anywhere near anything that vicious or ugly! ;) :D :D
 
M&M, you should bring a flashless camera with you in the woods in case you run across it again. It may be something exotic that someone had as a pet and turned loose, or got away. A long time ago I had a nile moniter lizard that got away . By the time it turned up in the woods near where I used to live it was over 6 feet in length and had scared the crap out of kids who would ride thier 4-wheelers in the woods.
 
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