Closest encounters with wildlife?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

No, we didn’t…

The day before the safari we had a good discussion about what to expect and the general rules. #1. Don’t get out of the vehicle.

Day 1 of the safari we arrive at Lake Manyara and are greeted by baboons on the way in. We were warned that we may not see anything as we were on the shoulder of the rainy season so many animals had already migrated away. 200 meters into the park we see a mother elephant and her six week old calf. She trumpetted at us for being too close. For the rest of the morning we were amazed at the sights and I kept my eyes on the trees on the lookout the tree lions and leopards.

As we drive around the trails and I keep my eyes to the trees the driver stops and says “Lunchtime!” We pile out of the truck and make our way over to the picnic tables on the edge of a hill to eat the box lunches that were prepared at the lodge. There were no fences, moats or barriers of any sort. I did not sit down for lunch at all…I was just too excited and amazed at what I was looking at.

We visited Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Tarangirie parks and Zanzibar. What a vacation! We were thrilled to be able to take our 7yo twins along with us.

62

I’d once gone birdwatching by the Rio Grande. I sat to eat a picnic lunch I’d brought with me and I heard a rustling in the brush. When I looked up I saw ears coming close and then a face materialized.

“Coyote!”

He stared at me like he wondered what I was doing in his hunting territory and then trotted on, though not before I got three shots with my camera. Nailed him on the second shot.

63

When I was 15, we didn’t know that not all pavements in Florida are suitable for walking on in high summer. Some of them are, in fact, ditches with no walkable pavement. Steeply-inclined ditches with alligators in. Small alligators, true, but they were there, and they have sharp teeth. On the other side were speeding cars. Devil and the deep blue sea indeed. For an English girl from Essex it was really weird to be hitching along a ditch with alligators smiling up at me.

64

I was tent camping a few years back somewhere west of Walden, CO and east of Steamboat Springs. It was in a high meadow not far from a great trout stream. I woke up early in the morning and unzipped my tent intending to take a piss, only to startle a bull moose crossing the meadow with two cows, no more than fifteen feet away. He regained composure, expelled two nostril shots of steam into the cold morning air, and moved on. The cows both checked me out as well as they walked by.

I think it was two hours before I could take that piss.

65

Let’s see . . .

Day before Christmas last year, I found a chilled hummingbird on the sidewalk outside my home. I held it in the palm of my hand in direct sunlight and dribbled it watered-down honey until it recovered and flew off in a huff. I think his warrior dignity was ruffled.

Less than 50 yards away from the public dog park I like to take Lil Miss Rowdy to, there’s a breeding pair of ospreys, now trying to convince their fledgling that flying is really cool. When they’re out circling on the thermals, I cut the visit short, as Rowdy is the perfect size for a snack.

Saw my very first wild turkeys the day after watching Jurassic Park III. They were running across a large pasture below the state highway I was on. For a couple of seconds, I was convinced they were miniature velociraptors.

Saw a bobcat and her kitten cross the two-lane country highway in front of my mom and I on a drive. They got to the side and started climbing a ten foot rock wall. Mom pulled over, and I took a picture. I know I had the mama cat in my frame, but we can only find the kitten in the picture. Their coloring blends into the rocks really, really well.

My parents had a steak stolen off their grill by a fox when they were RVing.

When I was a teenager, I went out into the backyard after dark one night and started to shoo off what I thought was a raccoon. When it stomped its feet at me, I realized it was a skunk. Got back inside toot sweet.

As a child, walking through some backwoods with a friend, we saw an entire herd of white tailed deer leap across the path. Most have been thirty or forty of them. :slight_smile:

66

On Thursday I fed the wild doves in the backyard and wondered why the cat was hiding behind the shed. I went to get it- it ran to me like I was a life saver and ran inside. A few minutes later I looked at the doves feeding and thought “That is a big dove”. Put on my proper glasses and it was an eagle having a dove for dinner in the back yard- almost exactly where I had walked with the cat.

Picture here.
Apart from that afew sharks and crocs in North Qld but none really close. One time many years ago I was shooting rabbits in NSW and we shot a kangaroo. My friend picked it up to carry it as he thought it was dead. It wasn’t and kicked him in the head. We laughed quite a bit.

67

Let’s see, I’ve had a wild raccoon take a triscuit out of my hand, and I’ve handled a rattlesnake when it was not yet dead, but the most impressive was reaching out of a boat and touching an adult Grey Whale. As a krill eater she wasn’t considering me a meal, but she could’ve ended me without a fuss if she’d had the mind.

68

Had two moose in the yard again night before last. Grazing. Not 25 feet from the house. Think they may be brothers. They are both about pony size now and there antlers are more than just nubs. I thing they are the same guys I saw about a month ago.

69

We were on a tour bus in Yosemite one morning in late fall/early winter. There was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. The bus stopped to take a break for photos, when a coyote trotted out into the middle of the field, plopped his ass in the snow, turned his nose skyward and began to howl. It was a classic coyote pose, and I got a great photo of it.

70

A few years ago my dog was in a fight with a Raccoon dog. My dog had its neck and the raccoon dog had my dogs leg. They were almost the same size.

I grabbed their necks to separate them. I was very strong that day, I held one in each hand ;). After the raccoon dog was gone I took care of my dog. He was slightly injured.

71

I’m sure you did the smart thing and did not approach the elk. Every year, though, there are local news stories of tourists who don’t, and who are attacked as a result.

Banff is a fascinating place. I’ve certainly seen elk (at a safe distance) there, and I once had to walk around a few mountain goats standing in the middle of a parking lot when I was making my way back to my car. And while it is not quite as exciting as seeing elk and goats, I’ve also seen the Banff Springs Snail–an extremely rare snail only found in Banff’s hot springs.

Locally, deer are quite common, and I’ve often encountered them while walking in local parks. Heck, I once met one in my own driveway.

I’ve met up with bears in Waterton Lakes National Park a few times. Probably the closest I ever was to a bear was when one went across the road directly in front of my car. Thankfully, I was not moving at the time–I was pulled over and stopped, but still safely in my car. But there he was, only a few feet away.

And once, when in Australia and visiting a national park there, I came within a few feet of a kangaroo. It seemed curious about me, and I certainly was curious about it, and so we just looked at each other from a distance of about five feet. Then it left.

72

My son took my beagle for a walk. The dog thought he had a cat cornered. It was a skunk and he got it right in his face. Quincy squealed and started rolling and trying to wipe his face and body off. It took a long time to get that odor off him.

73

Back in 1992 or so, when I was much younger and far more fit, I went on the Moose River Bow Trip with several friends and a couple of their dads.

During part of the trip, we all went our separate ways and explored in our canoes. My friend and I were sharing a canoe, and came around a bend to find a pool of calm water, with an enormous moose standing in the water, taking a drink. We stopped paddling and watched in fascination, the moose about 50 feet from us. The moose noticed us, and looked up, staring at us. We were quietly staring back. My friend went to move his paddle to the other side of the canoe, and like an idiot, he waved it in a huge arc over the canoe as he did so.

The moose considered this a threat and started to charge us. I think it got about 10 feet from us before we finally (and frantically) paddled into water deep enough for it to decide to break off the chase. Definitely a scary moment.

The river is aptly named, as we saw a good 6 or 7 moose on our trip. That was the only live one we saw that up close and personal, though. We did see a dead one in the water. We could smell it a good 15 minutes before we actually saw it. Ugh.

74

Backpacking the high country above Yosemite in the mid-1970s, we found the cutest little bear cub sitting on the path, cooing and welcoming us. “How CUTE” we all thought as we crowded around him and fawned.

Then we simultaneously realized, “oh SHIT we better get the #@#& out of HERE NOW”. And we did. Never did see mama. -whew-

75

In contact:

Ran into and bounced off of a black bear while trail-running across a beaver dam.

Fed fox by hand at a friend’s camp – my cat lived with the fox family when a kitten before I took him in.

Took in a wounded red tail hawk for a few days until it recovered.

Hand fed chipmunk, squirrel, racoon, and a goth that bit me.

Relocated field mice, moles and garter snakes.

Been stung by entire nests of wasp on two occasions.

Snared and ate a porcupine on a back-country ski trip (we forgot the food and were skiing for over a week).

While driving was run into by the matriarch of the neighbourhood deer herd, who did not survive, much to the sorrow of my neighbour’s children who previously fed her by hand.

Had to deal with raccoon infestations in a couple of houses. One of my roommates woke up in the middle of the night thinking that his cat was curled up with him, so he went back to sleep, only to wake in the morning to a racoon snuggled up to him.

Within ten feet:

Woke up to black bear, moose, deer, elk, and bison immediately outside my tent, and had my tent vestibule raided by a racoon which led me on a merry nekkid night time chase.

Came across black bear, beaver, bunnies, ground-hog, and rattlesnake while canoeing or hiking, and my girlfriend was attacked by a Canada goose while we were canoeing

While driving, stopped to get out and look at a lynx and a fox on the roadway.

Canada goose while walking in parks.

Within thirty feet:

Back-country skied with a wolf along side of me.

Came across black bear, moose, deer, caribou, elk, marten, bobcat, wolf, coyote, fox, beaver, various geese, various ducks, loons, and a snowy owl while canoeing or hiking.

Had bear, deer, wolf, coyote, porcupine, and bunnies in my yard.

While driving, stopped to look at bobcat, lynx, fox, black bear and cubs, moose, deer, elk, and turkey at the side of the road.

Flying above or about:

Bald eagle, various hawks, various woodpeckers, and any number of small bird species in above my yard or while canoeing or hiking.

In the distance:

Grizzly bear, and big horn sheep.

76

Er, feel free to expand on that one if you want. :smiley:

77

I live in Arizona and routinely see and hear coyotes. One morning I had let my dog out into my small, walled in yard. There is a small wash below the yard, visible through the gate. A group of coyotes was walking through the wash, apparently on the way back to their den after an evening out hunting, not more than 15 feet away from where the dog is. My dog went ballistic. The coyotes, however, continued blithely on their way, confident in their ability to kick my dog’s ass and not considering him important enough to take notice of.

78

Hell, I’d like to hear about the goth that bit you.

79

Within 2 metres of Weddell seals, Adelie penguins and Emperor penguins in Antarctica. You’re no longer allowed to be that close under new protocols for interacting with wildlife.

In Australia, I’ve been that close to kangaroos at a camp ground at Undara National Park. They lie around between the tents and near the path to the showers. I also saw a Taipan there about 3-4 metres away, slithering off in the opposite direction as fast as it could go, thank goodness. (Taipan is one of the world’s most venomous snakes.)

Estuarine crocodiles seen from a boat travelling up the Daintree River in Northern Queensland. Only 15 feet long or so, so not too big.

One night, I was in a tent at Punsand Bay, northern Queensland and woke to hear snuffling around the door. It was a bandicoot seeing if there was any food around.

80

I quite often see Red Kites flying low over the local park.

When I was doing my A-Levels, our maths classroom was right next to woodland and had a huge window. We had a whole spring of watching a family of red squirrels play in the trees immediately outside.

I’ve had plenty of deer encounters while out on my bike, but have yet to better turning a corner in the woods, seeing a herd scattered from about 5 metres away, them seeing me about a second later and fleeing en masse into the sunbeam-laden morning mist. All over in less than 15 seconds and still etched on my mind 20 years later.

And I saw a sea otter floating along on its back doing the break into shells using a rock routine not 30 metres away when on holiday on Arran a few years back.