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A Close Encounter

I go camping most weekends during warm weather, and this past weekend was no different.  Over the years we’ve had our share of wildlife encounters, but often those encounters are…

a fawn wanders into camp

a fawn wanders into camp

a Reticulating python

someone's pet python found their way to our woodpile back in 2018, it was rescued and is still doing well.

an owl

An ill owl that was rescued from camp in 2018

I go camping most weekends during warm weather, and this past weekend was no different.  Over the years we've had our share of wildlife encounters, but often those encounters are brief.  2018 was a busy year for wildlife and abandoned pets; early in the season that year we discovered that someone had abandoned a juvenile reticulating python at camp, and it found its way under the tarp in our wood pile at; we didn't realize it until the tarp was lifted and realized that one of the logs...was moving.  It got rescued, and is doing well.  Later in the season a sick owl found its way to our woodpile, and it too, was rescued.  After that we opted to not have a woodpile at camp, and simply get just enough wood for the weekend, each weekend, for our campfire!

Over the years we have had other encounters with wildlife that didn't get caught because we couldn't pull our cell phones out far enough; for example we recently had a blue heron buzz by our camp like a miniature blue Pterodactyl, and all we could do is relay the fun moment without a photo.

a fawn wanders into camp

a fawn wanders into camp

This weekend, however, was different--this weekend we had a fawn visit us for an extended period, allowing us to record and photograph it.  its mother must have left this baby safe in the woods while she sought food, and the baby felt safe enough to wander.  It was a great experience that I wanted to share, and yet another reminder that camping and wildlife provides an assortment of learning experiences...some complete surprises, as with the python encounter.  But all are memorable!

Ginny Otte is a lifelong resident of New Jersey, having grown up in Lincoln Park, and lived in Wayne. She began her career in radio as the result of a prank phone call where the on-air personality she called said “please call again tomorrow,” and the station hired her to produce the show two months later; by 2006, Ginny began working middays at WMTR, and considers spending middays with listeners for so many years to be one of the highlights of her life. Ginny’s hobbies include genetic genealogy, family trees, knitting, crocheting, camping and hiking. She is a mother to three adult children and a grandmother to one.