Took the kids hunting this week. Backpacked in for a few days.

Got back to camp one afternoon and opened the vestibule and find a little friend scampering around on one of our packs.

I am not certain that I knew we had scorpions in this country (northern Montana). I do now though.

Those little basturds will light you up -been had more than once by them.
Rolling over and getting popped while sleeping will really make you mad .

I wonder if MT's scorpions are like those here in ID. We have several species but none are poisonous. They can give you a lively sting, though.

Sucker had a good sized stinger and it sure looked as though the end of the tail where the stinger came out had venom as it was enlarged.

Go out in the desert after dark w/ a black light. The 1st time someone did this w/ me I almost [bleep] my pants. Scorpions fluoresce[sp] and I almost schidt my pants. They were everywhere.


mike r

Yup, that would be the Northern scorpion, the only species in the state.

They are in fact poisonous.

Where did you find him? I thought they were only in the SE corner of the state...

Just curious-how dangerous are these. We don't have em here in Minnesota.

Take your 12 gauge at night in case they charge you!

I've never noticed one in NE MT.
(or anywhere else in the state)

I have caught them around Makoshika park near Sidney MT.

General distribution map

We have plenty with few inside and many outside the house. My youngest son has been bit twice. A sting like hell and little after. This year has been rich in tarantulas though.

venomous, all scorpions are, just some are a lot more deadly, most are just like a bad bee sting.

I'll be damned, I had no idea we had scorpions here. Lived and recreated all over the state and never seen one. Don't mind if I never do either!

If you were up north I would bet he hitched a ride in some of your gear.





Travis

Sam, stop drinking and you will.

I was in the breaks along Ft. Peck. A couple drainages away from Devils Creek.

I lived up there for a few years and thinking back, it seems like some folks had mentioned to me they were there but I had forgotten.

Glad I had the tent fly secured so the buggers couldn't get in. A couple of our packs are still sitting out for me to go through and make sure we don't have any hitchhikers.

My son absolutely despises bees and wasps so this pissed him off a little. Only found the one though, thankfully. Would hate to have stepped on him and then have to pack out of there with a sore swollen foot.

We have some pretty impressive horny toads too. Found some of those in eastern Garfield County in a set of sand dunes. Another critter you don't associate with eastern Montana.

I did see some horny toads, surprised me as before then I hadn't realized they were here too.

There is a set of sand dunes on a friend's ranch that we used to go messing around in. That place was loaded with horny toads.

Fair number of snakes in the surrounding area as well, but that's no surprise

This is a picture of the country we were in.

you have another pic of that rascal, with a side view of the tail ?

I don't believe so. My son took a couple quick pictures and then I got him off our gear so he didn't disappear into it only to sting us later when digging in the packs.


I ended his young life and the stinger was doing its best to inject my knife during the process.

The only horned toad we have here is the pygmy. They're only about 3" long and hard to see. We have a lot of them, though.

I've seen Scorpions here too

More people die from scorpion stings than do from rattle snake bites but the only scorpion considered to be potentially fatal is the bark scorpion usually found in Arizona. They don't bark before they sting you though, they just look like tree bark.

Encountered lots of them regularly over the years in AZ, including the smaller/lighter colored "bark" type noted above. The larger they were, the less we seemed to worry. Ran into them from the very low desert near Yuma up through the mile-high plus areas around Prescott. But, 200 miles east and still in the SW, but at nearly 8,000 ft. elevation, have not seen a single one in 16 years. Maybe need to look more closely in likely places.

You mean Glendive right? I've seen all kinds of critters in Makoshika but never a scorpion. Mostly little lizards and blue snakes that can haul ass. I believe they are called blue racers?

I saw them as a kid in Glendive playing/riding dirt bikes in Makoshika. We found all kinds of cool shiit out there. Very cool place.

I get nailed in bed about 6-10 times a year. Yes we spray too... it would be well worse if we did not spray.

They are not fun. On the face. While sleeping...or anywhere else, I think I've been nailed in about any place you can think of....

Does it swell up?

Makoshika is awesome! I was once engaged to a girl from Glendive and we spent a lot of time in that park.

Nope, but it damn sure hurt like hell...

Altought in honesty, the times I"ve been hit in my boots has hurt more and longer... but i suspect I'm getting nailed over and over before I can get my boot back off again...

That's what she said?

as a matter of fact I did mean glendive, what the hell was I thinking? I grew up in Glendive.

Lol! Don't sweat it. Age does funny things to all of us! haha