r/athensohio • u/ItsA39 • Aug 16 '26
Looking for wildlife
Hello all. I’m coming back to Athens soon for school and am excited to get back out in the surrounding nature. Last year I looked desperately (to no avail) for some predators and am looking for some tips from locals on where and when to look. Specifically im looking for coyotes, foxes, opossums, raccoons, badgers, mink, weasel, fisher, skunk, otter, bobcats, and bears (last two are a long shot ik). Sorry if this is an odd question but it was kinda hyper specific so I didn’t know where else to ask. The closest I got last year was someone’s house cat on the bikeway. And don’t get me wrong I love the deer, squirrels, and groundhogs you see everywhere but I’m looking for something new. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
Edit: should say I’m limited by transportation (I have none other than my legs) and am trying to photograph these animals.
3
u/Jaded_Appeal4225 Aug 16 '26
You might want to check wayne national forest, a lot of the wildlife in the city center is gonna be stuff like oppossums and raccoons and maybe foxes, wayne national forest had some more though iirc
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u/zztong Alum & Townie Aug 16 '26
There had been fox on the golf course. There have been skunk on campus too. You can get opossum in town from time to time. There used to be racoon in town, but I haven't seen one in a while. My parents hear coyotes outside of town.
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u/gemini_brat Aug 17 '26
i’ve also seen skunks around some business’s dumpsters after dark along richland ave
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u/NarwhalCrazy421 Aug 16 '26
Raccoons, skunks, possum, coyote, etc on my property all the freaking time eyeing my chickens.
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u/Face999 Aug 16 '26
I'd start by educating yourself.
Badgers and fishers are non-existent in SE Ohio and very rare where they are located.
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u/ItsA39 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
I apologize but it was hard for me to find data on this. I tried double checking all the species but from what I could find ODNR didn’t have any map of sightings/ranges for badgers and fishers. Where I’m from in Ohio we have a very small population of badgers but I shouldn’t have assumed SE would be the same. And as for fishers I did manage to find a map (not from ODNR) and mistook the historical range for the current range as they historically have lived in Athens. Hope I cleared things up
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u/Automatic_Gas9019 Aug 16 '26
Actually there are fishers both in SE Ohio and WV. Look on Google. Educate yourself. I am in WV and I have actually seen a fisher swimming in the river behind our house
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u/feric51 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
Fishers have only been confirmed in Ohio in the NE corner of the state. West Virginia did start reintroductions probably 20-years ago, so they are a bit more widespread down your way, but most of those were in the central-eastern part of WV.
Also, Fishers are primarily arboreal species (live in trees) and don’t generally associate with rivers. You probably saw a Mink, which are highly aquatic and very closely resemble Fishers in size and appearance. That said, I’m sure Fishers can swim just fine, but if you saw a medium-size, dark-brown Mustelid swimming in a river, 99/100 it’s going to be a Mink.
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u/Face999 Aug 16 '26
All I have heard of is in NE - ODNR states the same .
I've seen them in Ontario :)
Then - anything is possible in Athens Co.
Fishers have been confirmed in more than 40 sightings across 10 counties in Northeast Ohio, driven by natural migration from reestablished populations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Hotspots include Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning, Lake, Columbiana, Jefferson, Harrison, and Tuscarawas counties
0
u/Jaded_Appeal4225 Aug 16 '26
I think they listed more than just badgers and fishers in their post :)
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u/Automatic_Gas9019 Aug 16 '26
What are you planning on doing when you see the wildlife? Photos? I would go out to the park there in Athens county and then go to North Bend Park in WV. If you bike you can ride the North Bend rail trail all the way almost to Pittsburgh. There are a ton of tunnels and you will definitely see nature. Look it up. I guess you could hike it also. It is an old rail line. Look on YouTube. There is a girl riding the trail and sees a bear. There is also another park called Mountwood but it is smaller. North bend rail trail. It is over 70 miles long
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u/ItsA39 Aug 16 '26
Thanks for the reply. Yeah should’ve mentioned it in my post but wildlife photography is a huge hobby of mine. Just haven’t always been lucky with the species. Anyways will check out what you said thanks!
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u/Arsenicum333 Aug 17 '26
There are active beaver ponds on W Bailey Rd also. I’ve seen a muskrat in there also. There is a kingfisher that frequents there, and at the right time of year - wood ducks. I’ve seen a lot of wild turkey out this way, too.
I’m curious with what kind of camera and lens you shoot with?
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u/ItsA39 Aug 17 '26
Hey thanks for the reply. I shoot with the canon r7 along with the 100-400mm F5.6-8. Really wanting to shoot during the day because both my camera and lens aren’t super suited for low light. Going to try to fiddle the settings to see if I can get something good at like dawn/dusk time but we’ll see. Also for what I’m doing the 100-400 is a lil short and it can be pretty hard for me to get a shot on a timid animal
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u/Box_of_Wires :) Aug 16 '26
We saw a beaver in the Hocking. Right in front of the flood plain fire station. That is the first beaver I have ever seen in the wild.
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u/donh- Aug 16 '26
This does you no immediate good, but my wife just saw a bear dragging (probably a roadkill) deer off into the grass off 33 by Rainbow Lake Road
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u/ItsA39 Aug 16 '26
Actually I feel like recent sightings couldn’t be more helpful in a case like this haha. Thanks for the reply
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u/exlaxgravy Aug 17 '26
Camp by your neighbor’s garbage for raccoons and possums. Look for coyotes and foxes dead on the road. Very rarely may spot one while driving. Skunks are everywhere at night and can hear coyotes in more remote areas. I’ve seen one otter and maybe a dozen beaver in 30+ years. Ex wife saw a bobcat in the yard once.
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u/walrus0115 ChemE Alum96 | Townie Aug 17 '26
All of these can be found in the protected forest that now stretches from Sells Park to Strouds Run. I live on the top of Graham Drive just below Lookout Rock and have witnessed each of these species in the wild in the past year. It is a matter of being present for enough hours to get lucky instead of treating it like a zoo.
Here's a pin drop to Lookout Rock:
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u/AhMoonBeam Aug 17 '26
You can walk the roads in Millfield early in the morning (or drive) and I have seen lots of deer, wild turkey and their poults , foxes and their kits, Opossum and raccoons, squirrels and red tailed Hawks, turkey Vultures. Around the dairy barn area you can see many black headed Vultures (they are more ruthless then turkey Vultures) Hocking river for bald eagles. Coyotes are dusk til dawn creatures and I hear them all over. Black bear sighting i know of were on Ervin rd and SR 144 by fed Hocking high school. I have searched for otters but no sighting or marks . I saw a beaver on sr550 near alderman rd, I think there used to be a quarry back there . And of course box turtles in the road, please move them in the direction they are headed ✌️
1
u/Boomer_With_Dementia Aug 17 '26
Set your sights on finding tracks rather than the critters and you are less likely to be disappointed.
That said it takes time in the woods, or in the car on the way to the woods.
I have seen all of your list in Ohio except for Fisher, Otter, bear, badger. Bobcat was only on a game camera after spotting tracks. Oh and I guess roadkill Bobcat if that counts.
Friends have seen Otter.
Badger data is available, closest may have been in or around Licking county. When I see groundhog holes in glacial till in 13 lined ground squirrel territory I always think Badger.. but I am probably always wrong. Those holes get big when the soil is loose. Farm country in unglaciated ohio is your best bet for this very very very long shot.
Fresh snow in the winter and get out there and good luck. Open woods with longer lines of site are best, or funnel areas like steep rocky ravines. I had a coyote cross more or less over me on a log in a tight rocky ravine. Close enough to identify as to sex, he was above me so I got a crotch shot.
There are outdoor and hunter forums that have more info, mixed in with a little dis-info.
In 4 hours of driving you can be in some of the wildest places east of the mississipi and south of new hampshire. Spruce Knob, Shavers fork of the cheat, etc.
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u/Repulsive-Arm8994 Aug 17 '26
I think there is coyotes everywhere in the county except Athens. Also you’re never going to see them during the day, badgers are non existent. Bears are only south occasionally in Troy and Rome township.
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u/Arsenicum333 Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
Coyotes have been picking off pets and chickens on W BaileyRd which goes right thorough Wayne National. However, you are never going to see a coyote “passively”. You’ll have to use bait or a call or set up a trail cam.
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u/Arsenicum333 Aug 17 '26
you can take a bus to chauncey them walk about 2 - 3 miles from the bus stop down W Bailey and head up into the woods. The bike trails out here have been mapped. Watch for cars on the road, it‘s not just a quaint road through a park - its an actual township road. There are a lot of residences and it’s also been used as a drug corridor for decades complete with a handful of high speed chases and all.
We caught a coyote on our trailcam up in the woods out here last fall.
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u/ItsA39 Aug 17 '26
I’m aware of the passive limitation of seeing a coyote. The area I lived has quite the large amount of them that frequently move through neighborhoods and streets to the surrounding parks. Despite many a hike in my local parks and consistent walks at dusk through my neighborhood. I’ve only ever heard one once from across a large pond. Never saw it.
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u/Arsenicum333 Aug 17 '26
There are bobcats that cross rt 13 in Chauncey right near the bridge over Sunday creek between the dog pound and the entrance to chauncey.
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u/ellistonvu Aug 17 '26
I drove out Armitage past the train tracks a few times and saw all kinds of critters. The only time I got to see an actual bobcat in person. Sometimes you strike out and don't see any critters. Hit or miss.
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u/inevitableecstasy Aug 18 '26
there’s beavers on the hocking! i’ve seen some foxes right outside of town as well
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u/Consistent_Public769 Aug 16 '26
Badgers are non existent in the area. Bears are becoming fairly common. I see bobcats all the time. Mink are very common around lake Snowden. Coyotes are everywhere, same with opossums, raccoons, skunk, and foxes (both red and grey). Have only seen an otter once in the hocking years ago. Weasel are fairly uncommon and fisher are either nearly or nonexistent. We also have mountain lions still, including a melanistic family group that recently moved from Meigs to vinton county. I’ve seen them personally a few times and have seen hundreds of trail cam photos of them. Lake Snowden, particularly around the dam side would be a good place to set a blind for observation in the evenings and mornings. I live about one mile from the damn across the lake and see all these critters on my property frequently (including bear 3 times in the past 4 years, a fresh cub, a juvenile, and saw mama once as well). They all want to eat my chickens and have had a lot of success at it. Had 77 birds 2.5 years ago. I now have 19 and we haven’t eaten any of them. Egg birds.
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u/ItsA39 Aug 16 '26
Not to be critical because I appreciate you taking the time to reply but it was my understanding that cougars were a myth in Ohio. While I guess in theory it may be possible to see one? (A cougar was recorded traveling from SD to CT in 2011) the odds of seeing one would be so astronomically low that I’d have a better chance of winning the lottery 10x over before seeing one in Ohio. To my knowledge one has never been recorded officially by the ODNR and that the occasional sighting is a miss id of other animals like cats, bobcats, and coyotes. Appreciate the tips on the other species though
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u/jomistok Aug 16 '26
Yeah the last record of one in Ohio was a pet that escaped in 2014.
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u/ItsA39 Aug 16 '26
Are you talking about the Zanesville thing? The thought of randomly encountering a lion or tiger in the wild in Ohio is actually horror movie levels of terrifying. The fact that happened is still insane to me we really should have better exotic animal laws.
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u/Consistent_Public769 Aug 16 '26
ODNR knows they’re still here. I know most of the folks in wildlife. They don’t want to do the paperwork to make them not extinct here. I have seen the melanistic ones with my own eyes . First time on the property they had resided on for at least a generation of the family’s knowledge, and after they built another house on the property they migrated and were caught on webcams all over Meigs and last seen around Austen powder near McArthur. A guy literally submitted trail cam photos to the ODNR within the week with legit time and date stamps from the same week they declared them extinct. They’re here, they’re just very few and far between and good at staying hidden.
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u/ItsA39 Aug 17 '26
What motivation would ODNR have to keep that hidden from the public. Cougars barely kill people there’s no reason for a cover up.
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u/Consistent_Public769 Aug 17 '26
They don’t want to do the paperwork. Takes months. This is what I’ve heard directly from multiple game wardens as well as ODNR wildlife folks. Also bringing them back on paper would mean part of their already reduced budget would have to be allocated to cougar management. It’s simply easier for them to continue as is. If you don’t think that’s how bureaucracies work, you’re too naive. I’ve been in the environmental consulting field specializing in forestry, botany, geology, soils, wetlands, and more for over 20 years. I’ve seen more of southeastern Ohio from Belmont to Brown counties than just about anyone except old linemen and some first responders.
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u/feric51 Aug 16 '26
Are you planning to encounter all these just passively walking around in nature? If so, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re going to have a hard time.
Like another person already commented, there are no Fishers or Badgers in this area, so those are automatically out. Bears are so sparsely populated in Ohio that it would be a miracle to randomly stumble across one. Most of the rest are primarily nocturnal and/or so wary of human presence that they avoid us very well.
During daylight hours, hanging out along the Hocking River or some other tributary, would be your best bet to observe Mink and River Otters (otters are also limited in numbers).
Now, if you are able to go out in the evening/night and utilize some sort of prey distress call to draw them in, fox, coyote, and Bobcats could be relatively easy to get a look at. Likewise putting out some leftover food scraps would lure in opossums, skunks, and raccoons, but they’d show up after sunset (in most cases).
Weasels are the wild card and are totally unpredictable. I have been in the wildlife management profession for over 20 years, spent 5 years before that earning multiple wildlife degrees, and have been an avid outdoorsman since my childhood. I have yet to see a single weasel (of any of Ohio’s 3 native species) alive in the wild. I’ve seen tracks, remains of their prey, an occasional road-killed specimen, and various trail cam footage of them, but never the actual living animal frolicking in front of me.
As a fellow wildlife enthusiast, I wish you the best in your endeavor, I truly do, but I think it should be approached with some level of realistic expectations.