We live in a downtown area and we have rabbits, chipmunks, tons of squirrels and a groundhog.

I too cannot understand the need of "civilized men" to "hunt".

We live in the "country", one mile from town. A few years ago a mama deer had her baby right next to our front porch. It was still wet when we noticed it. We watched for awhile and when it finally stood up, she took him away and hid him. We never saw them again. My daughter had a coyote in her back yard (she lives down the street from us). My car started to sound like an airplane taking off and one of the filters was chewed up. Cost several hundred dollars and when I got home from the repair shop, there was a squirrel laying on my drive-way with all four feet pointing to the sky. I guess she was not done with her nest when I drove off. We have had skunks, turkeys, and many deer over the years, but I think they have moved on and now all we have is lots of bunnies.
Sue

We have lived in our house for 29 years on 5 acres surrounded by woods. We have never cleared our property and in the years we have lived here we've seen deer (love my roses), possums, squirrels (love to talk to my dogs), porcupines (trip to vet for dog), coyotes, raccoons, bobcat, owls (big owls), and a bear. The dogs treed the bear but weren't barking and my husband went to see what they had been chasing, thinking it was a raccoon and he was going to rescue it. He started talking to it and then the face peered around the trunk and there he was with a rake in his hands. We brought the dogs inside and called our neighbor who is a US Forest Service Ranger who said it was more afraid of us and would leave soon. Husband took the shotgun out and fired a round in the air and there was the sound of branches breaking and then brush and it was gone. It's always an adventure. At our house in Ocean Shores the deer know they are protected and they roam around freely and aren't even scared of you. Some people feed them (against the city laws) so they have become pretty tame and stroll down the streets and through yards without a care.

About twenty years ago something hit my front door. When I went to check what it was, an elk tried to come in! Thank heavens his antlers prevented his entry. I bopped him several times with the door until he backed off, then slammed and locked it.
Last year all the niehborhood dogs were barking, and mine wanted out, so I opened the door just in time to see a cougar on the far side of my deer fence around my yard. When it growled, the dogs and I decided they did not want out after all. That is a sound that will raise the hair on the back of your neck.

madamekelly, Just the idea of seeing a cougar on my property totally freaks me out. Thank goodness your dogs were not outside. You must live in the wilderness if you had an elk at your front door. Are those animals dangerous? I know if a moose charges you, you're in trouble.

Oh my! Thank goodness all I have to deal with are Mourning Doves, big Crows (who scare off the doves) and squirrels. Squirrels make a mess on my walkways and cars from July to September because they are chewing the green hulls off of the walnuts and dropping them and shells all over the place. If you have a white car, you have to deal with brown stains that from the walnut hulls that are dropped on the car. Fortunately, the stains bleach themselves out after awhile.

I am not sure that I can deal with anything bigger than a squirrel, I am to much of a scaredy cat.

Just the other week, DH went out to get the morning paper and a coyote was walking down the street. At the same time a gal was on her morning walk and behind her about 50 feet behind her was another one. He invited her in for a cup of coffee. We took her home after her nerves calmed a bit. She decided she would walk the mall after that. We have coyote, javelin (wild hog), rattle snakes and other non-venomous. One time a couple coral snakes got into the dogs house. squirrel, humming birds and woodpeckers and other birds of prey, hawks, turkey vultures. Opossum, geckos and let'snot forget the lovely tarantulas. My sister is moving to Tennessee at the beginning of the year. Her "sose" is originally from Tennessee and never saw a bear until the day they headed back to Texas. It was about 50 yards from their house. A mama with 3 cubs! His brother has a honey business and multiple hives. Not good. I see non-venomous snakes in our yard and welcome them because we have had a mouse situation. Ugh!!

A lot of people don't take coyotes seriously, but they do attack people. They killed a woman in Nova Scotia in 2009. They also fatally attacked a 3 year old girl in California in 1981, and there have been numerous attacks that haven't resulted in death. The ones we have in New England are coy-wolves, not a true coyote, but a hybrid between a coyote and a wolf. They usually go for smaller game, but if they are hungry, or if they are teaching their young to hunt, they will take down a large animal. They travel in packs. If you see one, there are probably more near-by.

I live in town, but at Dad's Gulf Island house we see the following every day:
Bald Eagles
Seals, with babies right now
King Fishers
Great Blue Herons
Crows
Humming Birds
Turkey Vultures
River otters
Garter Snakes
Deer and fawns
Various Gulls
Various water birds
Geese
crabs
starfish
Oysters, they tend to stick around - Bad pun, I could not help it
Clams

Less frequently:
Stellar and California Sea Lions - Seasonal
Mink
Orcas
Raccoons are around at night
Bats flying at night


Even less often:
Humpback whales
Dolphins
Porpoises
Owls

None of the animals are a threat to people, but people are a threat to most of them.

Near the town I live in there are cougars, elk, and bears, as well as deer, raccoons. We do not have coyotes, skunks or possums on Vancouver Island. There are a few wolves. I have seen bears, but not near home. I do know one was about 3 blocks from my house about 10 years ago and a friend who lives about 2 miles away gets them in her fruit trees every year. Her property is near the river and the bears are there to get salmon.