Closest encounters with wildlife?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Inspired by this thread, in which hummingbirds apparently get all up in peoples’ faces, what’s the closest (in physical distance, that is) you have ever gotten to various kinds of non-domesticated wildlife? Extra credit if it was something that would consider you a nice meal.

I’ve had a lot of encounters with wild birds in which they’ve approached within arm’s reach, most recently on vacation in the Outer Banks, where gulls would occasionally settle on the veranda railing a couple feet away from me while I’d sip my gin & tonic.

Others of note:

Johnstown, PA: a few years ago I was sitting in a lawn chair on my parent’s patio around dusk, watching the stars come out, when I heard a snuffling noise below me. I looked down to see a skunk sniffing around, between my feet. I just sat there quietly and after a few minutes it moved on.

Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe: My then-gf, another friend and I hired a boat to go around the lake a bit, mainly to look at elephants and hippos, but at one point the driver spotted a croc sunning itself on a grassy hummock. He managed to cut the engine and let the boat run up almost to the croc’s tail without any reaction. It was at least 12 feet long and apparently was asleep as it didn’t move an inch during our approach. In addition, there were two Egyptian geese pecking around on the same hummock, that it completely ignored. After we looked it over for a few minutes, the driver started the engine, and the croc hit the water in what seemed like less than a second. Minimum distance: <10 feet.

Mana Pools, Zimbabwe: We stayed there three days, again with gf and several members of her family, and probably got enough stories out of that one trip for about ten threads. Anyway, closest encounter #1 was the first night, with most of us huddled in a tent while a hippo tramped around just outside. Minimum distance: again <10 feet and the thickness of a layer of canvas.

Closest encounter #2 ocurred the second night, when my GF and her friend got it into their heads that they wanted to see a hyena up close, as they were known to come into the campsites after dark. So after night fell, they lay down in the back of her uncle’s pickup with the tailgate down while I sat up near the cab with a large flashlight. After about 20 minutes, we saw a dim shape approaching the back of the truck. When it looked to be just about at the tailgate, I hit it with the flashlight beam, and sure enough, hyena, which then, fortunately for us all, ran off. Looking back, that was probably not the most sensible thing we ever did. Anyway, minimum distance: <5 feet (from my girlfriend’s face) :eek:.

I could come up with more, I guess, but I want to hear your stories.

2

I was walking along the railtrail in Algonquin Park one time at dusk and was surprised by a moose crossing the trail a few metres away. And I’ve been up close to a beaver; it was building a dam in a ditch alongside Highway 60.

I think there’s one poster here who got bitten by a lion.

3

One summer when I was in college I was staying in an apartment that was on the un-air-conditioned third floor of a house. We had a kitchen window that opened out onto a fire escape. We often left the kitchen window open in the evenings to allow the breeze to blow through. One night I was laying in bed reading and saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and there was a big ol’ raccoon standing in my bedroom doorway. I shooed him down the hallway and he ran back into the kitchen and out the window. I had no idea a raccoon could climb three floors up a fire escape!

4

Definitely not as cool as the above encounters, but I had a close call with two deer while on a bike ride once.
I was going in the lower 20mph range, they came out of some brush and onto the asphalt, were panicking at this point, could hear their hooves scrape to gain purchase, and “clickety clack, clickety clack”. It was very intense. They were less than 10 feet away at the closest point. It made my hair stand on end. was awesome in the true sense of the word, fascinating beyond and scarier than shit at the same time.

5

Last week I had a bee in my bonnet…and by bee, I mean wasp, and by bonnet I mean Motorcycle Helmet, while doin 45 down the road with my wife on the bike.

It was all kinds of motionless, managed, unfun. And yes, I got stung.

6

When I was visiting family in Colorado Springs, we were up at Garden of the Gods and a mama mule deer and her baby walked thru the brush about 3 feet away from us. I also had one of the red-tailed hawks that live up in our woods land on the top of our little carport, about 4 feet from me. WONDERFUL.

7

I’ve been an arm’s length from a grizzly bear in the wild more than once. They’re great big cowards, but catch them at the wrong time and they will eat your face.

8

Does through glass count?

When I was a little girl, I had a hummingbird try to drink out of my red glass ponytail holder. My mother came home one time to find a deer eating the wreath off our front door.

9

I literally walked into a deer when I was coming home very early Saturday morning in Missoula, Montana. It was still dark, so I didn’t see it until I was right on top of it.

In that same month, I was walking on a sidewalk near the outside of the city when a passing vehicle struck a deer that was trying to cross the road to get to a nearby stream. The deer somersaulted through the air and landed at my feet. It lay there for a few seconds before springing up and prancing deer-like toward the stream as if nothing had happened.

Coyotes and cougars have come close enough to my pick-up truck that I’ve had to shoot at them – and in one case, with a coyote, actually shoot it – to get them to veer away from the cattle I was feeding.

10

I’ve been within arm’s reach of deer a couple of times. I was actually surprised when I was able to sneak up on one by approaching with a cedar bush between us. If I’d reached through the bush, I could have tagged him. Actually, come to think of it, I’ve had some eat out of my hand at a state park. They were not penned or anything, but living around the campsites tamed them somewhat, so I wouldn’t consider them “wild.”

I’ve called wild turkey up to within a few feet.

Unzipped my tent one morning to see a black bear about 20 feet away.

I’ve been within grabbing distance of plenty of varmints: rabbit, possum, raccoon, skunk, and more snakes than I care to recall.

11

We often have mule deer and pronghorns (antelope) grazing on our church lawn. They seem unafraid of us unless we get too close to them, then they move on.

Our mountain south of town is home to black bear and mountain lions who occasionally wander into our town thereby causing consternation to the neighborhood. Of course the worthies from the Game and Fish Dept. deal with the problem by tranquilizing the animal and removing it to a more suitable location well away from civilization.

We often see coyotes, foxes, skunks and the like on the outskirts of our town, Casper, Wyoming.

12

One day while visiting Banff, I was standing on a streetcorner waiting for my friends, and reading a sign saying something along the lines of, “It’s spring, and mating season! Do not approach the elk within fifty metres because they are touchy and easily provoked to attack! Stay away!” I turned around. There, twenty metres away, was an elk, looking at me.

13

I’m sure I’ve told this one before, but:

Years ago I lived near the corner of 45th and Lincoln in San Francisco, which if you know the area is basically across the street from Golden Gate Park. It was my first apartment, a little in-law set below grade and opening to a backyard patio. As it only had one window and I liked to sleep with my head near an open breeze, I slept on a futon in the living room with this big patio window cracked open, my head more or less level with the window sill and the back patio. I also had two indoor-outdoor cats then and they were in the habit of wandering in and out during the evening, occasionally stepping on me in the process.

One night I awoke after midnight to something treading on my face, much to my annoyance. I didn’t move at first, but then I noticed the smell of mud and was more irritated. Then I noticed the feet felt strange. It backed off my face and I sat up and switched on the light…

…only to see a baby racoon staring back at me from maybe a foot away. Behind it on the window sill were two ( three? ) more baby racoons in a row. Behind them, just outside the open window on the patio, was one hellaciously big MOTHER racoon, looking baleful.

All parties involved very carefully edged backwards :D. They disappeared into the night and I a) checked on the cats to make sure they were inside and intact, b) closed the window and c) got very little sleep the rest of the night ;).

14

Glacier National Park, whatever year Skylab fell. Morning, Day 2 of a 3-day backpacking trip, an adult female grizzly and her cub wandered through our campsite.

Yellowstone National Park, same year–petted buffalo, hand-fed moose, elk, and deer.

My backyard/neighbors yard, last week–saw a fox, routinely see deer, rabbits, owls, etc. Have heard coyotes, but haven’t seen one yet.

15

Last October we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park during rutting season. A big moose herd basically covered one of the side roads, and we pulled over and parked. The biggest bull moose walked over to our car and bugled into my open window.

Distance = approximately 2 feet from my face to his.

We used to have a family of foxes living in the neighborhood, and would frequently see them while walking at dusk. I think the closest we ever got was about 10 feet. I miss them.

I’ve been very close to deer and bighorn sheep during hikes, probably about 15 feet.

16

Moose in our yard in Alaska, of course. A hippo came up next to our boat on the Nile River. I have a nice set of photos of a large, gaping mouth and huge teeth. Charged by an elephant in Botswana.

17

Driving from Nederland down into Boulder, Colorado. About 11:30 at night, autumn. I’m just ripping down the roadway, I can see headlights around the tight mountain turns. One lane each direction, then a bit of hardscrabble, then the creek. Little room for mistakes.

Suddenly, a huge white flash coming from the left. I force myself not to swerve right ( into the damned creek ) and as I work the curved lane, I look to the left…to see a large white mountain lion that has pulled up short, ears down, haunches bunched up as it stopped.

No more than 10 feet from my driver’s door. I looked into it’s eyes and it sure saw me for that split second. I kept driving, it turned and hustled off into the darkness.

The adrenaline was oozing off of me an hour later when I hit my hotel in Denver.

Holy CRAP was it huge and beautiful and frightening.

:eek:

ETA: ChefGuy? Dude, you gotta get out more. Fuckin’ hermit. I mean really- SEE the world !!! :smiley:

18

I woke up once to the flock of local wild turkeys invading our house and yard. About 25 of them. Ten or so were on the roof - they must be able to fly a little bit. A couple of them were inches away, though outside the window screen next to my bed. And this wasn’t Hicksville - this was suburban Trenton, NJ.

Joe

19

Just today on the bike trail on my way home from work I almost ran over what I think was about a 4 foot long eastern rat snake (not my picture). He was stretched almost completely across the trail so I stopped and tried to remove him with a stick so he wouldn’t get run over. He moved off the trail but took on an aggressive posture, posing as if to strike and shaking his tail like a rattlesnake. I left him in the grass looking agitated.

20

When I was about 12, I found a dead (roadkill dead) raccoon near my home, and heard her kits crying for help. Being stupid, I went into the ditch, found them and picked them up and cuddled them for a good hour, while a friend got her mom and she called Animal Control to come take them away. They were so very sweet. And, apparently, rabies free.

When I was 15, I had a yellow jacket in my ear. Not cool. Not cool at all. Holy cats, that tickled and it was so loud! I’m just thankful she didn’t get her wings stuck and crawled back out again on her own.

In adulthood, I was tent camping once, not in the middle of the wilderness, but on a friend’s undeveloped 80 wooded acres in the middle of Indiana farm land. Woke to a rustling and footsteps - lots and lots of footsteps. Suddenly something brushed the tent from the outside…it was a coyote’s tail. There were about half a dozen of them, running on either side of my little Coleman two person dome tent and beyond, back into the woods. That was cool.

ETA: Oh, I forgot! On my honeymoon in Bali, a monkey jumped on my head during some tour or another. Big one, too. She grabbed on to my braids and pulled out a chunk of hair with her grabby little fingers before I could get her off me. I never realized how heavy those suckers are!