Holy cow!! I don't know it's technical name, but I'll just call it "the reason why Tracy lives in Oregon".
http://kaston.transy.edu/ this is a link to spider identifier that might help...there were a number of questions about how it walked (crab-like, very fast, sloww and awkward, jumping) and if it had a web, where it was found and what time of year...best fill in the blanks yourself.
Since I'm not a spider person I'd say who cares what type it is. It dies! But I could be overreacting alittle bit on that. Still they do make those electric fly zapper, I imagine that it would work for those critters. Take care Be safe Poacher.
Might be a Huntsman Spider..... IMHO.... not too dangerous... http://www.spiderzrule.com/huntsman1.htm
Actually it is a spider of the geneous: Deadius-around-meious. Things like that tend to get shot around my place.
Dolomedes Tenebrosus aka Fishing Spider http://spiders.entomology.wisc.edu/Pisauridae/Dolomedes/tenebrosus.html Another picture of it here: http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/Nature/fishingspider.htm Given that you live next to a stream, it is only natural this spider would go in your house especially since it is not a web spinner, but an active huter. When the dark fishing spider shows up in Arkansas homes, it can cause much excitement. The large female has a body (cephalothorax and abdomen) that reaches about 1” long. When outstretched legs are included in the measurements, the animal can measure over 3” long. Males are about half this size. The body is a mixture of light brown and light and dark gray. The legs have dark rings and long spines. The abdomen has 3 conspicuous black W-shaped marks, each of which ends in a light brown mark. This species occurs from southern Canada south to Florida and west to Texas and the Dakotas. Adults can be found throughout late spring and summer. The spiders tend to lurk in corners and crevices during the day, and they hunt actively after dark. North American pisaurids are all wandering spiders, stalking their prey rather than snaring it in webs. The members of the genus Dolomedes are the “fishing spiders.”Unlike wolf spiders, which they resemble in their giant size, they typically live near water. They run freely over water in pursuit of prey, including small fish (Barbour 1921) and aquatic insects. When frightened, they may dive beneath the surface. Dark fishing spiders are, however, opportunistic, generalist feeders, and they have even been known to consume slugs despite their sticky mucous (Kissane 2001). Usual habitats for D. tenebrosus are swamp, pond, and lake margins, where it may be found on tree trunks, rocks, logs, and similar situations. Individuals are also found in dark and damp situations beneath bridges or culverts, or in rock piles. Although the dark fishing spider is often found near water, this species is not as well adapted to an aquatic environment as some other Dolomedes species. Individuals sometimes stray quite far from water and may even be found in dry wooded areas. Some individuals enter houses, where they may be found in basements, kitchens, and even bedrooms (Carico 1973). Spiders of the family Pisauridae are often called nursery-web spiders. It is likely that this species spends the mating season in the vicinity of water (Bishop 1924). Mating behavior has been recorded only once, and in that case the female terminated copulation by killing the male (Sierwald and Coddington 1988). The large egg sac of D. tenebrosus, measuring up to 14 mm in diameter, is spherical, and it is held in place under the mother’s body by her chelicerae and pedipalps. Individual sacs have been known to contain nearly 1400 eggs (Kaston 1981). Shortly before the eggs hatch, the mother attaches the sac to vegetation, builds a nursery web around it, and stands guard nearby. The young live in the nursery web for some time after hatching (Emerton 1902). It is likely that the dark fishing spider requires more than one season to mature, at least in the northern parts of its range (Bishop 1924). It has been reported that adult female Dolomedes tenebrosus can have a menacing demeanor, striking viciously without yielding ground when harassed (Fitch 1963). Because of their large size, the fangs are certainly able to penetrate human skin. However, reports of humans being bitten by Dolomedes species are rare. A single known report indicates immediate burning pain at the site of the bite, followed by redness and minor local tissue necrosis (Sams et al. 2001). Dolomedes scriptus Hentz is similar to D. tenebrosus, but it has more pronounced W-shaped white marks associated with the black marks on the abdomen. Technical female and male sexual characteristics are the best way to distinguish the species. Although spiders of the family Pisauridae resemble some wolf spiders in their giant size, they can be distinguished by the arrangement of the eyes. Nursery-web spiders have eight eyes arranged in two rows of four each, whereas wolf spiders have eight eyes arranged in three rows, with the two eyes of the middle row by far the largest.[/b]
I don't think you're overreacting at all. 'Round here we say "The only good spider is a dead spider". The fly zapper sounds like a good idea! I grab the canister vac or the shop vac - no more spider worries!
I shoot deer, rodents, varmints, practice catch and release for Trout/Salmon/Stealhead and spiders. It simply drives the old bag nuts.....she is an arachnaphobe.
We seem to have an abundance of wolf spiders as well as the brown recluse. While I have never had a major problem with the wolf spider the other half can't stand to look at the wolf. The brown recluse's are killed with out mercy. Those lil buggers reek havoc. My dad was bit by one years ago, and he still carries the scar as far as I know. Take care Be safe Poacher.
Don't think it's a fishing spider, the eyes are considerably different even though the coloring and shape is very similar.
My ex brother in law lost a huge part of his calf muscle and skin to a brown recluse bite.. Waited and waited to go to the Dr....ended up in the hospital for 8 days.... Bad mammer jammers......don't like them!
I'll try to get a close up of the eyes on the next one. Camera was about 2 inches from him this time around.
http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/heidi/Fishing spider.html It is a fishing spider. Check out the picture on the bottom of the above page. http://triffophoto3.tripod.com/tpo/id28.html Looks just like these, but the lighting is different. Also, http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/fishing/pisaurid.htm#fishing It is the one on the left side of the above page. There are more than one type of "fishing spider", too.