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Closest you've been to a wild animal

Black bear mama AND cub strolled through our camp in the Sierra. A friend had left a packet of dry oatmeal in his pack. they dragged off his pack and pretty much ripped it to shreds while we watched! He learned to make sure and hang EVERYTHING!

Mountain lion, we saw this across a narrow valley. He watched us too, makes your neck hairs stand up, but he strolled off.

Tons of deer. Came within two feet of a baby, he sort of stared at me a minute then crashed through tthe brush.

Coyotes, one was very close, and sort of following us as we hiked. Ended up throwing rocks and sticks to scare him off.

Lots of rattlers. Killed and ate a few, but mostly leave them be. Always scary to hear that rattle too close!
 
Wife reminded me of a couple more incidents when I told her about this thread.

Carried a baby horned owl that had been attacked by hawks (he survived, was rehabilitated, and released).

Got about 3 feet from a badger having stopped the car and run to see it. Only later after taking it's picture looking up from its hole at me did I remember their rather nasty reputation. I was just so stoked about seeing one in the wild!
 
Black Bear: 30 ft running up our driveway

Bucks: a lot, the closest probably about 10ft away

Does: about 8ft away.

Boar: Grabbed it and stabbed it.

Snakes: stood on top of a rock while fishing and saw a rattler slither completely under. Also blew one away with a shotgun.

Cougar: Was hiking up in the mountains and saw one, I'm really not sure how far away it was.

Rockfish: Almost stepped on one in Hawaii.

Sea Turtles: Touched two of them in Hawaii even though they get mad if you do.

Bald Eagle: probably about 12ft overhead.

Hawaiin dolphin: saw a couple while snorkling.

There are many more, I just can't remember them
 
I've seen several references to this "radio noise" and this is the way it was explained to me.

Our brains have become unaccustomed to quiet so that when there is a combination of noises (wind in the trees, stream water etc...) our brain tries to make some sense of it and identifies it as something that we know. The human brain despises randomness and tries to put the noise into a context it can deal with. I was alone for several days near a small stream and I swear that I kept hearing Led Zeppelin's Kashmir as though it were being played very quietly a distance away.

It's the auditory equivalent of an optical illusion. A similar thing happens in sensory deprivation chambers...the brain makes up noises and images that aren't there just to keep itself busy. Has anybody ever tried pressing lightly on their eyelids with their eyes closed and colorful images start to sort of float past? A lot of people swear that they see faces. Here's another one: people who hear voices coming out of the white noise from a TV or radio on static.

The brain is a pretty cool thing. It's a shame that we don't have the brains to fully understand it, yet. LOL

My weirdest experience was drawing down on a curious deer. I woke up to find a pair of glowing eyes about a foot from my face. I was startled and drew a .357 from under my "pillow". We just sort of stared at eachother...could have been five seconds, could have been five minutes. Then he wandered away.

Boy, that whole "drew my .357" bit sounded rather like something you might hear from some of the Wanna-be Warriors you find on other forums. Let me rewrite it in that style: With the swiftness born of years of combat, I woke swiftly, silently and finding myself centimeters away from a steely-eyed killing machine, then with the catlike reflexes instilled in me by my six weeks of ninja correspondence courses, I drew my Delta Force issued .666 MAGNUM and prepared to unleash hell.

Sorry, couldn't resist poking fun at myself. I hope nobody was offended


Posted the above over on "weirdest thing..." forum. Thought it applied here as well.
 
Only modest stuff in Europe, but interesting enough. Red fox cub chewing on a bone less than 1m (3 ft) away. You could see the eye colour and iris,seemed unfazed. Black rat rattus novegicus running over my foot, not good. Chopped up a viper with a mower not good either...picked up a pygmy bat that had fallen down the chimney (gloves on due to bite potential) Badger at just over a metre running fast. A hare stopped right next to me when I was walking around town the other night at 2am could've touched him. White tailed eagle up a larch tree 10m high, owl on clothes line seen through window 3 m away. Naked women on nude beach, big thing here but is it wild???
 
All the usual standard North American critters, deer, elk, small game animals etc. The only things that really made my butt tight was being too close to a few skunks. I was also chased by a huge, very miserable bull in a neigbours field at night, coming home drunk as a teenager. I was running like the devil was behind me and I could hear his hooves coming closer pounding the earth, and I was slipping n sliding in the cow flops while in pitch black darkness. This bull was bellowing and he sounded severely pissed off. I bounced off the wire fence, got up, and dove over to get out. I looked like I was thrown out of a car when I got in the house.

Oh ya, just remembered. I was stoned on acid and weed in Banf National Park in British Columbia about 25 years ago. I followed some elk into the mountains at twilight and got quite close, although a bull would stop and repeatedly stare me down while the others moved deeper into the woods. I remember that I wanted to pet the elk!, lol.
 
Okay, the seals playing tag with the kayak, all the time:yawn:
Once a yearling harbor seal mistook the yak for mom and attempted to suckle the hull: clasped its flippers around the hull & I could hear it take a couple of sucks then go "pah", headed straight back to mom, who was watching about 50 yards away:D .
Leopard sharks from inches away, Bat Rays, Cow nose rays, stingrays, all real close:thumbup: .
Blue shark next to me in a yak off of catalina. Look down, say hello:eek: .
Same for white sided porpoise off San Simeon
Same for Spinners off Lanai. Humpback whales within some dozens of yards. You can FEEL them in the hull:thumbup: :thumbup: .
Pretty close to orca in small Radon motor launch.
Coyotes outside my front door most every night:grumpy: .
Jaguar dozimg on a limb in a mangrove estuary in Sinaloa when I was 18. We motored by in a 20 ft. Panga, maybe 25 yards away. I still remember those HUGE paws flexing:eek: :cool: .
Blacktail deer eat my roses from under my window:o .
I'm happy to have wild animals as part of my life & these are just a few encounters off the top of my pointed head...
 
Big Ass Snapping Turtle! whoa, just remembered this one.

At my last house, it was very wet year, lots and lots of rain.
My property sloped downhill toward a creek. I found a Big huge snapping turtle under our magnolia tree. Heard leaves rustling (laying eggs??) figured it was a mouse, chipmunk, bird, hunting grubs or something.
But kept hearing it and went to look.

Holy crap! The head on this thing was as big as a Pitbull.
Turned my rake handle around held rake by the tines, and tapped at his beak, he/she snapped the hardwood end of the rake handle off like it was a toothpick!!
Now I'm thinking, this is way too cool! Maybe I can get it to crush a beer can or some other stuff? :)
I know it can't run after me, but none-the-less you know this thing can bite your whole foot off if you get too close.

I tried to pick it up with a snowshovel but it was too heavy. 80#? I don't know? It made some nasty hissing sounds, you knew it would just EFF you up if you let it.

If anyone ever questrioned the existance of dinosaurs, I can tell ya, this thing is as close to a dinosaur as you need to see to believe.

I knew there was no way to contain it, and I knew where it had come from,
So I left it alone until near dusk, came back it was leaving the tree area, I got it onto a sheet of plywood, and dragged it down my backyard hill, toward the creek, and got into the woods, let it go from there. Didn't want my dog , or others to get in it's way.

It's probably still there today. There is no predator that can EFF with that thing. It was a monster.
 
HAHA, skunk we had some huge snappers back in nova scotia. I came out one morning before school, and found one under the van. Big sucker too. There were too lakes, with the road between them down the road from the house. Every year, we'd go down and watch them lay their eggs on the side of the road, kinda neat stuff. They also layed eggs on the beach aswell.
 
last summer i was on a 7 day backpacking trip and it was 11:00 or so at night and i was up a riverbed by myself with my camera and tripod doing some night exposures and i heard a rock turn over behind me, turned on my head lamp to see a black bear about 8 meters behind me!! he turned and ran after i blinded him. but i pulled out my cs trailmaster and threw camera and tripod over shoulder and double timed it back to camp
 
I used to drive up in the mountains when I had a lot on mind and park and lean on my front bumper and look at the city and think.

A skunk would often come out of the weeds and poke around near me and, twice, walked right up to me and sniffed my foot and walked off. Waddling in that funny way skunks do. I just stood there, unafraid. S/He was just curious.

Skunks get a bad rap.

.
 
I was sleeping in an open area up in the Sierra Nevada Mts. when I was awaken by a cople of Black Bears rumaging through our backpacks...one of em was watching us and the other was going through our stuff......they were about 15 yards away.

Same trip...came back from a day hike and momma was in our camp while the two cubs were up the tree knawing on the branch that had our food hung to it.....That was the sacriest....we had to throw rocks at the cubs, while momma was huffing on the perimeter of our camp......

Another trip, I was taking inventory of my food, I had put my beef jerky on the log next to me, and a bear came up behind and snatched it.


I have had alot of encounters with Black Bears in the Sierra......

One thing about thier sense of smell......we had put a can of beans in the fire to heat up...well, we ate the beans, then let the can sit in the fire all night. It was clean. We burried the can, went for a hike and a bear found and dug up the can after being cleansed in a fire for hours..........
 
had a chickadee sitting on my baseball cap's bill and looking over the edge to my eyes

Had a weasel climb up my treestand'


woke up one morning in idaho and found out a HUGE bear had walked thru camp never saw it, but its foot prints were as big as both my feet in boots.

riding a dirt bike in montana and had three antelope prancing along right next to me for about a mile ....If i went straight they would get with in 10 feet of me if I waggled the bike they would jump 20 feet away and then come back in....
 
Years ago in Southern Alberta along the South Saskatchewan river, summertime, evening , a pleasing time to be alive I walked a little ways up a wide coulee and sat down on the hillside just being a part of it all, after a while a rabbit comes out feeding not far off, then somehow 3 whitetail bucks in velvet materialized all of a sudden quietly feeding on their way to the river. They pass me by 20 yards away without noticing me or without caring as summertime bucks will do. The wild places on the prairies have a special beauty about them when the sun is low and the shadows are long.

Another time late May, South central BC , mountainside , a turkey vulture swings by checking me out , a bit later a redtail hawk makes a pass , I find a spot to sit beside a bush and watch the semi-open mountainsides. After a while I notice movement below me , three bull elk are slowly feeding uphill towards me. Already their antlers are over two feet high, they are not in a hurry , one bull is headed my way .... hmmm he is large.... I let him get about 10 feet away and speak to him , he freezes looking right at me for 5 seconds until I wave my hand and he is off to the side and away. Elk are amazing they just ooze strength and power when you see how much rough ground they cover in a few seconds.

Kayaks are great for having wildlife encounters. Once I was not far offshore in Georgia Strait BC , the time is March , the herring are spawning so the sea lions are about, dozing in a group with one fin each up in the air. I keep my distance but one bull sees me and slips under hmmm all of a sudden he shoots up 6' vertically beside me about 20 ft away and let me tell you , he is big enough to crush me. What to do but keep ones cool and maintain a smooth paddle stroke . No good , he feels the point has not been made so he submerges and in seconds is on the other side of me and gives me the evil eye before shooting off close by my stern . When I reach shore some lady who was watching me said " was that a whale ? "

The wild places on the earth have many strange beautiful things we can experience if one is quiet and still.
 
My son and I came face to face with a black bear at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was raining to beat the band, we rounded a curve in the trail and there was the bear.We backed up slowly and the bear continued to move forward occasionally looking over its shoulder at us.

Have been followed by a moose at Isle Royale National Park.

Had a racoon climb down the chimney and come out our basement fireplace. A cornered racoon is pound for pound one of the toughest animals. Ending up having to shoot it with my bow.

-Yooperman
 
If you get down to my local Pub at closing time you can get close to a whole herd of wild animals.
Very unpredictable and dangerous beasts by all accounts.
 
As a child, I loved to sneak up on animals. I would make small blinds ans lay in waiting. I've touched many deer and had black bear pass within just a couple feet. There's a lot to be said about free rein in the woods as a kid.
Later in life, I handled troubled animals for a group called "Fur, Fin and Feathers" and the local Humane Society. I had run ins with Cougar, Wolves and quite a few Owls, that people would find injured and actually manage to get in a vehicle to bring in. I also worked with a group in Mississippi called WRANPS rehabilitating raptors and relocating Alligators, Cottonmouth and Racoons. I also raised many reptiles, and although not truly wild, my Reticulated Python was about the meanest 10' 'o' snake I have ever met. I would leave him the bathtub to soak, and he would get out and wait in the middle of the floor to attack me when I came in. I also had a 12' male Burmese Python attack me in front of a Fifth grade class, while doing herptile classes.
I could go on and on, but, yes, I have been close on many counts.

Sorry, just re-read this. Looks like I'm making a resume, but really just an effort to share.:foot: ;)
 
Had a very large racoon and a havelina get into a fight in the middle of our campsite on a cloudy, starless and moonless night. Hope I never hear that kind of noise again in my life, just glad they didn't make it to the sleeping bag section since we weren't in a tent. Oh, yeah...the flashlight batteries had died also so it happened in total pitch black about 10 feet from us.

The same campsite the next night we were studied by a bobcat from about 15 feet away, we heard it and found its tracks the next day...great campsite.
 
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