Outdoor Encounters

Submitted by Nathan Bolls

Because our typical lifestyle gradually has become more urban and more—and—more indoors, people have increasingly lost that sense of what to fear “in the wild.”

For our purposes, two or three easy rules will most always suffice. I know that my chances of being molested by deer, coyote, raccoon, skunk, opossum or leprechaun; by soaring bald eagle, gliding turkey vulture, or flapping heron; or of having a bat fly down and get tangled up in my hair (no snickers, please) are somewhere down there with winning the lottery.

It is almost certain that any snake I see is harmless, unless its harassed while trying to make its escape. If cornered, I also would punch, kick—or bite. Although both the timber rattlesnake, prairie rattlesnake and massasauga rattlesnake typically are shown on range maps that include NE Kansas, my chances of encountering one are exceedingly slight. I grew up in the woods and on the prairies of Pottawatomie County and never saw any of these three. Did see a prairie rattler once during a hike up the side of Mt. Antonio in NW New Mexico. The copperhead snake is somewhat common here, but they den under rocks and logs and are secretive and slow moving.

I never reach along or under a log or rock with my fingers—or toes. That is the Golden Rule of the outdoors anywhere in the wild. If you must do so, use a stick or shovel and be certain to stand back a bit.

But resist the urge if at all possible. All sorts of animals, mostly small (but ecologically important) invertebrate types, live under these rock, logs and neglected bits of boards. Surely, no more than we do they enjoy having the roofs of their homes picked up for no reason, save curiosity and then just dropped haphazardly back into place? Just a thought in honor of those millions of other forms with which we share Earth’s crust.