Closest you've been to a wild animal

[CULLEN3]

I had a mule deer eat out of my hand in New Mexico.

I confronted a bear face to face in Adirondachs in upstate NY.

I basically ran into a moose in New Hampshire.

I stabbed a boar with a spear in Florida.

I had 10 foot alligator come right up to my kayak here in Florida as well.

I have hunted and camped all across the country but those are closest that I remember.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Wow, good thread.

Shark about 20 feet (away), while surfing at Cape Hattaras.

BlackBear 20 to 30 ft. in Great Smokey Mtn Nat park.
Came back from taking a pee, there he was, raiding a cooler at the next campsite up. he looked at me like "Got any kethcup?" , I did the slowly move away toward the Jeep thing. Unfortunately they had gotten to browsing camper's food because people weren't careful. Hope that's been fixed, I think people are a lot more aware nowadays.

Rattlesnakes at Devils Tower WY. Climbing rocks at the base, and hiking around, you step on a rock and hear a sound like faucet water running...shhhhh, it's a rattler under the rock. Saw a few there too. 10feet away. Verified with park ranger, he said they are all over that place.

Buffalo at Yellowstone. 25 feet? Too dammed close. We knew they were there, they knew we were there. they were grazing alongside the road by the lake. We got tired of watching them, started talking, shooting the breeze, next thing you know instead of being 100 feet away, or more, they had grazed on down toward us. Went for the car fast!
Year prior my buddy was camping there, and witnessed a lady get gored to death, she just walked right up to one like it was a petting zoo, and it laid her out. My buddy admits he's not positvie she died, but he said it was pretty bad, lots of blood. If they get rattled they'll come for ya.

Here is my paintball story. We picked a new place to play back around Y2K, Fall. about 10 acre area, thick brush, trees, etc. One of the guys we play with is sneaky, and he will crawl thru brush and be found in the dammdest places. I was guarding a trail and moving toward their base when i heard a little rustling to my right, in the thick brush. I crouched, aimed in that directionand kept peering through trying to pick up more sound or maybe a glint of metal or see some fabric. Nothing. Just then, an acre or so away, a gun battle broke out, the sound of several piantball guns ratatatatat.
The rustling in my area became loud and I figured a player was coming right at me, I was ready to cut loose on him when a dammed full grown whitetail deer appeared bounding out of the brush...I'm falling backwards, firing wildly while this deer is freaking out and damm near bounded directly overtop of me.
(It actually went over my left shoulder area). Talk about an adreneline rush!!
So, deer, a couple feet away at most, thank god he didn't trample me.
I looked for the orange painted deer the next couple of days, but never spotted him. I am positive I got him on his left flank.

GroundHog. Summer, I walk into my shed to grab something and there is groundhog scrambling across the wooden floor!!! 5 feet away? less? easily.
I scared him, he scared me, we danced around each other but I let him have a wide clearance. I went more toward the back to give him a clear shot to get out the door. He scrambled out, I went to get a beer to calm my nerves, he scared the crap outta me!

 

[chimeragrande]

Over at my inlaws place. Brother in law has a pet tarantula. Wild enough for me.

 

[misanthropist]

Boy, I would hardly know where to start.

I've been within ten feet of black bears, grizzly bears, a cougar, rattlesnakes...

My dad has some good bear stories. He's been treed by bears a few times. He once came back to camp to find a five or six hundred pound black bear eating his blueberry pie and charged it with an axe, no joke. Actual quote: "It wasn't too interested in that."

This is a guy who was caught in a landslide a few years ago (he is retired and in his sixties, mind you) and got one of his legs a bit crushed. He was about five miles from his car, out in the bush in BC, and started crawling back to it. Along the way, he stopped to rest, leaning against a stump, when a woman rode by on a horse. They got to talking and it turned out she had lived in the same mining camp my dad was born in. The talked for a bit, and he said goodbye, and off she rode.

"Dad," I later asked, "didn't you think you ought to mention your mangled leg, and get a ride back to the car?"

"Oh," he said, "it was still only about noon, and I'd already gone most of the way."

So he crawled the rest of the way back, got in the car, and drove home. He didn't drive to the hospital, he drove home - about a nine hour drive - to see my mom, because he didn't want her to worry.

"So, dad," I said, "what was your ultimate conclusion from all this?"

"I like automatic transmissions," he said.

Same car, this fall, he got stuck in nearly the same spot and had to hike out about twenty miles for help rescuing the car.

"Maybe you ought to think about buying a truck, there, dad," I said.

"The first guy who came to rescue me had a four wheel truck," he said. "He didn't even make it in."

Now THERE is a guy who can tell you bear stories! I grew up hearing them - occasionally, the guy is not much of a talker - by the woodstove (only heat source, of course) under the grizzly skin hung on the wall, which he of course shot back when there were no "draws" with an old remington 721 in - of course - 30-06.

 

[Kyp Degal]

Almost forgot. Just last month a little house wren got into our house. It ensconced itself in my parents' bedroom, and I managed to keep it there by putting my shirt across the bottom of the door. The plan was to open the window and let it out. Only problem being, the little bird didn't want out. It kept going under their bed and wouldn't come out. I managed to clear out everything stored under the bed so that I could at least see it, then, using a broomstick, I herded it out from under the bed while my mom held up a blanket to direct it out the window.

Finally, it worked, but before my mom could close the window, it flew back in. It turns out that my cat, Sadie, was sitting right outside the window waiting for the bird. After several tries, we eventually managed to get the window shut before the wren could get back inside, and he got away safely.

Misanthropist, your dad sounds like a guy I'd like to meet someday. :thumbup:

 

[El_Toro]

I almost stepped on a rattle snake last summer, sucker didn't make a sound. If it hadn't of been for my buddy spotting it, that would have made for an unpleasant evening. It was a small one, a little over a foot long with 3 buttons. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that means it was 3 years old right?

 

[raylaconico]

I picked up a small rattlesnake with a stick to get it off the trail. When camping the in the Sierra, I always see black bears but they run away when you bang pots and pans together. The only thing I fear are sharks so I stay away from the water.

 

[robertmegar]

Manatee at hand reach distance while surfing. Sharks (two times), one swimming under me, other thrashing the water like 25ft away. Dolphins 40+ swimming just out of the impact zone, I was surfing and there was a really big swell hitting the area, getting bigger by the minute, dolphins were gray with many small dark spots.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

......................

 

[Kyp Degal]

Ha, my dad was charged by a rabid raccoon while working on our outside electrical box's ground, once. It came running right at him from under our trailer. He slapped it away, thinking it was one of our dogs, then saw what it was. A neighbor found it drowned to death in the creek the next week.

 

[Abaniko]

How about seals playing tag with my kayak? Happens all the time

 

[LikeHike]

* I was in a kayak fairly far out from shore. Had a Humpback whale head towards me - came within about 30' before it submerged and went under me. At first I thought it was great - then I started to worry - REALLY BIG!!!

* Large bear cub on my deck about a foot away.

* Tame, neighborhood deer went on hind legs and put front ones on my shoulders.

* A few feet from Eagle Rays, eels, barracuda, etc.

* When my son was pretty young he woke me up late one night. Said there was a skunk in his room. I kept telling him to go back to sleep - he was dreaming. Finally I went to his room. There was a small skunk under his dresser that came in through the window left open for the cat. I had to trap it and was pretty much right next to it.

* Got stupidly too close to a bull elk with a harem - about 10'. He did not like it.

* A few feet from rattlers.

* Swimming within 5' of dolphins.

* Captured a few injured Red Tailed Hawks over the years. Held them wrapped in towels. One drew blood on the back of my hand with it's claws.

* Several feet from racoons.

* Several feet from sea otters & sea lions kayaking.

* Touching distance from sea turtles.

I am always grateful when I have an experience with wild animals.

 

[Danno4017]

I have been close to plenty of snakes.
They are pretty common here, especially when there is a drought.
Brown Snakes and Red Belly Black Snakes have all been a couple of feet away.
Plenty of creatures that are fairly harmless like Roos and possums.
Other then the Snakes I have had a Funnelweb in the sink turned over rocks looking for bait and nearly grabbed a Blue Ringed Octopuss until I saw the angry blue rings appear.

 

[mr_wilson]

At the age of 7 I had my right eye (my good one) slashed and it had to be sewn up - spent several days off and on at the Med Center here in Houston. Mom used to pick me up at the zoo where we'd meet after my appointments, (she'd shop because the doc got tired of her passing out in his office while he worked on my eye).

1. I caught an alligator that had escaped the enclosure for the Houston zoo wardens. (weren't nothing but a small 3-4 footer).

2. In Anahuac swamp east of Houston, while surveying pipelines, I fell into a momma gators nest (big bog hole under a willow) and spent a few intimate moments with her (over 10') and about 20+ of her young ones, (and they said only god can walk on water). As my dad had one when I was young I brought him another younster which we kept in the pond for several years till he decided to move to the creek behind the house.

3. While hiking w/ my boys in extended Texas (mnts. of northern NM) they managed (getting too far ahead of dad) to disturb a bear cub and provided me an introduction to it's PO'd mom, which I calm'd down at a distance of around 10 foot, by shooting infront of her as she charged down the trail toward me. She went around 300# and was very impressive when she stood, decided she made her point and returned back to her wayward offspring. We took a detour and the boys learned an important lesson - listen to dad.

4. Last April while turkey hunting I had face to face contact with a 30-40# bobcat which mistakenly thought I was breakfast (I was camo'd and it apparently thought I was something other than a human) and it tried to bite me in the back of my neck while I was resting against a tree hunting. Range of this encounter was zero - and yes I had the scratches and the bite marks to prove it. He left minus some hair on his ass from my G30 and I had to clean my shorts.

That's about all I can recall at the moment.

 

[22-rimfire]

Mr. Wilson, that is really interesting about the Bobcat. A big bobcat could hurt you easily. This thread is excellent too by the way.

I have been too close to many animals. Poisonous snakes; I can't tell you how many times I have been within striking distance before moving away. Had one timber rattler that thought I was too close and struck where I was rather than where I was currently. At the last moment, I noticed it and moved back and circled around on its back side. It struck right where I was standing. Bothered me a bit. I've almost stepped on a few... usually one of those deals where had I set my foot down, I would have tramped on it and most likely bitten. Copperheads, been way to close (inches) hiking or on photographic forays in the woods looking for wild plants. Still have not been bitten, but I have never stepped on one yet either. Hope my luck holds.

Closest I have been to a black bear is maybe 10 feet except in National Parks. Those critters make me nervous when they walk up on you and they have cubs.

Have had a rabid (or ones I think were rabid) skunks and raccoons way too close to me. Usually don't have a firearm with me those times and I really didn't want to club them with a big stick. Raccoons will bite you and especially a rabid one. Trapping, I have had raccoons bite my boots.

Whitetail Deer, been close a number of times archery hunting (arrow distance) and have walked up on new born fawns a few times while fishing in the mountains. The really young fawns don't run. I just enjoy the sight and move on. Moma gets real nervous.

Been with 20 feet of a barracuda while snorkling and that made me nervous. Small sharks yep, but have not done enough snorkling to have many experiences. That whale experience would make me feel the same way regardless of whether or not they are known to hurt people intentionally.

I have been around a lot of cattle and they get a bit too friendly at times. They are so strong that they can hurt you real easy and they think they're playing, I guess. Bulls, you better keep your distance unless they know you.

People like snakes. I do not even want to touch one (even non-poisonous). But I have gotten really close many times. I hope that I have to figure how to handle a 9 ft python in a house I am may cleanup. It has not been fed in weeks and is loose. I will deal with it if I get the job. It may have froze by now since the power is off and it has been pretty cold.

 

[Fiddleback]

Boar hog, within a dozen feet. Cayote mebbe same. The hog treed me and laid down for a while waiting. I had shot it with my pelet gun, big mistake.

Once, before dawn I scared a deer from its bed. I didn't see it, but it snorted at me and scared the fire out of me.

Several encounters with water moccasins. Once, while trying to cross a bayou on a fallen tree, I killed a baby water moccasin with my walking stick. Not a step farther, and crack, the tree gave way. It was mid chest deep. I started to scramble toward the shore where my friends stood, but the slimy mud wouldn't allow any climbing out. Then ~20' away a big momma water moccasin pops up and starts to come at me. My buddy on the shore shot it when it was a few feet away. That was a miracle in itself, because that particular buddy wasn't known as a great shot. The headless, and tailless skin was 6' when dried and nailed to a plywood board.

 

[akennedy73]

I was once sitting in a canoe pulled up on shore at a portage site. A bear came along (they tend to hang out at portage sites waiting for unattended backpacks to raid). The bear came up to investigate and I just let it as I was curious how close it would come. When the bear was at the other end of the canoe and about to climb in I finally stood up - which of course startled the bear and it left.

I've come to the conclusion that bears have poor eyesight.

 

[Bufford]

Black bears:
Two summers ago I woke up in the middle of the night to a banging sound on the main deck. There was a bear destroying my BBQ licking off the grates. Went outside and yelled at it and the 450lb plus beast was not afraid and just stared at me from about 15 feet away ( I didn't stray too far from the door incase I had to get inside fast). Only after alot of yelling and throwing BBQ rocks at it did it finally leave. Only afterwards did I think of the camera.

Those bear eyes sure glow back on the reflection of the flashlight.

Out at the camp last summer a different bear followed my canoe along the shore of the lake. When I determined that he was stalking me, I then paddled directly at him and then started yelling and waved my paddle around. It finally ambled off. During that moment I really felt that I was on the dinner menu, and that big blade on my side felt like only a tiny pocket knife.

Seen a couple of wolves, one black one and a lighter gray one. Beautiful animals, and I never at all felt threatened. They just kept on moving, unlike the bears that study me- like a dinner menu.

 

[kr1]

Single large 4 feet, larger? Baracudda off the shore in Bermuda probably 10 feet away from me, scared the crap out of me while snorkling.

Porcupine I snuck up on him, heard him rustling in the high grass, he saw me and turned and raised every quill he had. He was a big boy also.

Moose about 20 feet. Stood there, we watched him watch us for a couple of minutes. We finally moved he blasted the hell out of there.

Had a large turkey jump up over a rock as I was running down a trail. We scared the hell out of each other.

A single male deer came up over a ridge as I froze. Eventuall a whole herd got to within a few feet. The male kept staring at me and we both kept an eye on each other. As the male kept staring at me the does slowly kept paying me no mind until they were quite close. I made a motion and they all scattered in different directions.

Been within 50 feet of red fox.

I have heard the mornful cry of coyotes at night though I don't think they were that close.

Been within arms reach of rattlers both babies and adults and Black widows.

Thats all I can remember of the top of my head.

KR

 

[Guyon]

- played with and fed porpoises

- have had sand sharks come within 10 or 15 feet (the ones that I could see ) while wading and fishing

- turkeys within a few feet (while both hunting and golfing, of all things)

- got within 8 feet of a giant 10-point buck while hiking last month. very cool.

- bald eagle flew and landed within about 30 yards while fishing a couple months ago.

- had a bobcat within about 25 feet this fall (I was hunting deer).

- been too close to skunks for good measure.

- been within about 25-30 feet from a coyote.

- 30 feet from a fox that lives in our neighborhood.

- I've been within 100 yards of mink (aka polecat) while hunting deer. Those freaked me out because I didn't know what they were.

- no telling how many copperheads and water mocassins I've been (too) close to. I used to live in the river during the summer when I was a child.

- never seen a bear or boar in the wild. one of these days, I guess.