Has Anyone Survived A Close Encounter With An Animal?

Just wondering if anyone has had any close calls with animals? My son was back packing in South Africa and spent a couple of nights in a small hut in the outback. A local farmer gave him permission to stay there but told him to build a huge bonfire at night to keep the leopards away. The first night he did as he was told and built a huge bonfire, which the farmer neglected to tell him attracts monkeys. He fixed a cup of tea and sat down on the step of the hut to enjoy the fire. Instead, he was greeted with a blood curdling scream from the other side of the fire. He jumped up to see a leopard taking a monkey just on the other side of the fire. He spent that night and the next locked inside the hut.

My closest encounter was with a squirrel that thought he was Rambo. Not nearly as exciting as my son's adventure. I chuckle every time I see Exploding Earth's avatar 'cause it makes me think of that blasted squirrel. As far as I know, that squirrel still owns that part of the woods.

Was approached by a small dog that was "ghost dancing" while I was in the bush, I gave him the way and it still veered towards me so, SSS to much rabies that summer to neglect it to its suffering.

There was this one time with my ex-wife......:D:D

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Originally Posted by Sarge47

There was this one time with my ex-wife......:D:D

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I KNEW someone was gonna say that LMAO!!!!!:D

I have had many close encounters...way too close with raccoons, rattle snakes, sea cow, shark, monkey, lions, elephant, bears, and a nine foot gator.

haha, those sea cows are nasty:P

sea cow (manatee)... not allowed to touch them... I had one bump my foot when fishing on a dock one day. Had my feet hanging over the dock. A marine patrol officer was ten feet away from me when it scared the crap out of me... he laughed. They are so gentle, to bad they are getting killed by boats. Damn thing almost gave me a heart attack.

Here is a short story about an experience I had with "Mr. Bull." Wrote this up for an archery mag. awhile back.


I’ve always been sort of a trader. I would rather trade than sell any day. It was the mid 70’s and the compound bow was making a mark in the archery community. It was the “future” of bow hunting and everyone had to have one.

Not me. Matter of fact, I kind of profited a little by the influx of compound bows in the local stores. One store was K-Mart. They stocked their new bows for the upcoming archery season and they were all compounds. Last year’s recurve bows sat in the corner in a bin with a price tag of $20.00 each.

Well, I had a job and, upon seeing this bin, I quickly purchased their last three bows which consisted of a Bear Panther, a Ben Pearson, and a Bear Kodiak. I instantly started shooting the Kodiak and the other two adorned my bedroom wall.

Ken, a good friend and hunting buddy, came over and immediately wanted to own the Ben Pearson. Now, knowing that Ken had an uncle who owned a farm in North Jersey, it was time to trade. We settled the deal for $20.00 and a guaranteed North Jersey farm deer hunt in the fall.

Fall soon came and we loaded up his truck and headed north. It was a pleasant trip as we drove on the Pennsy side up to Washington’s crossing then to Frenchtown. I’ll be darned; it was a real farm with corn, wheat, silos, and a bull, a big, black mean bull with long horns.

Saturday morning found us splitting up, Ken went into the hardwoods and I ventured in the opposite direction, bow in hand hoping to sneak up on a deer. It was a beautiful fall morning, a slight chill and a breeze in my face. I slowly worked my way up and around the hedgerows hoping to find an unsuspecting young buck. That did not happen, but I was amused for close to an hour watching this doe with her three fawns. The spots were almost completely gone but even a greenhorn like me could tell they were fawns. Maybe it was the way they were chasing each other around the corner of the field or maybe it was the way they jumped straight up in the air for no reason, it sure was a great morning.

Ken and I met at the farm for lunch and talked of our morning adventures. We soon finished and decided on how to set up for the evening hunt. We decided to cross the pasture and head down to the stream that came down from the mountains.

We headed toward the pasture and I noticed a mess of cows at the far end. Those critters must have been two, maybe three hundred yards away. “Ken, what happens if the bull comes charging us?” Ken replied “Ah, don’t worry about it. This is what you do. Stand your ground; wait till the bull gets about five feet away, and then jump to the side. He’ll run right by you and you go the other way.” I responded “Oh, okay.”

We jumped the fence, bows in hand and started our little trek across the pasture that the cows called home; the cows and one big, black, mean Bull. About the middle of the pasture, I mention to Ken that the bull is coming our way. He reminded me what he had told me, if the bull charges. “Oh, okay.”

I just happen to turn and about 50 yards away Mr. Bull (capitalized for a reason) starts pawing the ground and snorting. Bulls snort? I thought that was only in the movies. I stand there, Ken behind me, standing my ground.

Mr. Bull starts off at a slow sort of trot; he then speeds up, much like my adrenalin level. “Ken, Ken, the bull is charging.” No response. “Ken, the (can’t say these words) bull is charging.” No response. I turn around and my good buddy Ken is hoofing it half way to the other side of the fence, bow in hand.

It did not take me long to figure out that it was time to get out of Dodge, quickly. So I start running. Ken is yelling, “Don’t turn around,” just like in the movie Jaws. I ran harder than I have ever run in my life, bow in hand. It was a short flight. Neither one of us knows if I managed to jump over the barbed wire fence on my own or not, but I did clear it, very nicely. I don’t really know if Ken saw the whole thing because all I saw of him was how he was doubled over laughing so hard that he could hardly talk.

Moral of the story: I don’t know. But I’m never hunting dangerous game with him. He can outrun me.

I woke up one morning and there was a possum on top of my washing machine. It had gotten under the house, then came up by the dryer vent.

Just poked it with a stick til it went back out.

They arent the brightest creatures. I've had them walk across my feet while I've been hunting.

I was soloing one time and after I ate I took all the precautions towards food that anyone with a lick of sense would but I didn't account for the bag of gorp I had in my tent. I woke up around 2am to a large animal outside my tent sniffing around, poking its nose against the side of my tarptent. Apparently peanuts, cashews, raisens, almonds, and M&Ms give off more smell than I thought. I'm not saying it was a bear or a dog (bigger than a coyote or fox to be sure), but I keep it at bay by gently grunting and humming for a couple minutes, then I'd pass out for a dozen or so minutes before I'd repeat it until a few hours before dawn. Just my luck too because I had a nice comfy grass mattress I took time to make before I settled in for the night. Didn't get much use out of it :(

One time I band camp... lol...

This didn't happen to me, but to my life-long friend I wrote about awhile ago that wanted to go to Alaska looking for gold about 39 years back, married my cousin, and died of bone Cancer last June. A few years after the Alaska fiasco he'd bought some land in the backwoods of Missouri. At the end of his property there was a bluff about 20' or so straight down that led to a running stream. We were exploring everything and down we went. As he tried to stop his descent, he placed his hand on the side of the bluff, only to feel something move under it. He looked down as he jerked back his hand and saw a Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin...and, to top, all that off, he had a deathly fear of snakes. Apparently the snake had a deathly fear of us because he left us alone, but for a moment I thought my friend was going to have to go home and change his shorts!:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by mitch.chesney

I woke up around 2am to a large animal outside my tent sniffing around, poking its nose against the side of my tarptent. Apparently peanuts, cashews, raisens, almonds, and M&Ms give off more smell than I thought. I'm not saying it was a bear or a dog (bigger than a coyote or fox to be sure),(

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Um...that was me Mitch, those mushrooms I tried really gave me a case of the munchies...

While living in Md., I set my treestand about 6' off the ground, right over a holy bush. I was hunting deer with a bow during the rut.

I proceeded to rattle and grunt.

5 minutes later, a freight train of an 8 point buck proceeded to attack the holy bush under me. It looked up, snorting, steam coming out of it's mouth and nose. I dropped my arrow, nocked another, shaking, did not get off a shot.

Once he left, I just had the shakes for an hour. Waited till noon, and slowly got out of the tree, AND RAN OUT OF THE WOODS!

Went back a week later for the treestand.

We had problems with packs of dogs a few years back. Seems everyone thought they could drop of unwanted animals at any wide spot in the road and of course the strong survived. They killed a few dogs and weren't afraid of people. I was forced to shoot 3 out of a pack of 6 that wanted to chow down on me. The scary part was until I must have shot the pack leader they didn't seem to fear me or the gunshots. This was on the hill behind the house under 300yds. Now we have coyotes of all things, but they don't last long.

I've had packs of stray dogs come across my property before. None of them ever seemed threatening to me directly. They usually leave the area after shooting a few of them. Just the other day I saw a group of six dogs running down the road about a half mile from my house. Havent seen them since.

One evening the coyotes were going crazy probably 100 yards from my house out in the trees. I went out in the yard and shot a rifle off. Just a few seconds after that, one came out of the trees about 50ft from me and just was looking at me. Before I could swing my rifle up and get a good aim (scoped rifle) my dog hit it at full speed and it took off back into the woods.

That was the only time I had ever seen one come and investigate a gunshot. Was kinda eerie.

Had a couple hair-raising episodes with a mama bear and cubs that I told about in my blog.
Had a few with young juvenile males(bears)who had big egos thinking they was gonna take over my back step. They were "educated" ! (no harm to the bears however other than thier oversized egos)

I was squirrel hunting a few years back in good stand of pin oaks Cat squirrels were evrey where and I had already taken a few with my 12 g. 1100. I had just shot another from a tree and watched it fall ( it flopped a bit as it hit the ground ). Instead of picking it up right away I watched the tree top for another when I caught movemnet from the corner of my eye. I turned to watch a coyote run and grab my squirrel up and just as quick run off with it. I don't know if he had been stalking me and waiting for an oppertunity like that or if it was just coincidance. I would never have believed a coyote to be so bold but I let him have the squirrel and chalked it up as a great experiance.

squirrel hunting with a 12 gauge? i dont know much about guns but how wouldnt the squirrel disappear after that?:-P

the animal run-ins ive had was getting abducted by sasquatch.

yeah, believe it or not you can buy different loads for a 12 g. for dove hunting, duck, squirrel, deer, just about any animal you wanted to hunt. just my opinion but the shotgun ( 12 gauge for my taste ) is the best all around tool for getting meat for the table or for protection.

This is not my tail but I will be the one tailing it . 30 years ago Mike ,Bob and Jim then in there 20s went out to kill a bear ,Bob had bees and a bear was into the them sooo , dead bear . They parked the truck so that they could see the bees with the tailgate drown . It was cold that night so the sleeping bags soon came out and so did the Yukon Jack . AS the night wore on , sleep over took all three . When Mike felt a tongue lick he's face he push it away it came back , still half a sleep he pushed it again and this time he new this was not right* and opened his eyes ...BEAR ...noise to noise with a bear, it seams they love Yukon Jack too. Now Mike had his back against the cab and his feet to the tailgate with the bear trying to get in the bed of the truck with him . Like a big old dog and thank God ,not doing to good at it . Mike by now moved drown and started kicking the bear . Him out on a bear hunt with no gun ,but he had he's boots . Jim had the gun but the gun was in the sleeping bag with him and it was now hung up in the bag and he could not get it out . In all the excitement he yelled at Mike to get out of the way ,he spared he's legs to shoot through the sleeping bag killing the bear .. But shooting a gun in a sleeping bag is a good way to sat it on fire. "HAY that is a good tip". I have never gone on a bear hunt with Mike ...would you ??? I would love to go :rolleyes: But I'm not all there

Stealth - I've used both 12 guage and 22 rifle for squirrel as I'm sure many on the forum have. The pattern disperses enough so you don't "vaporize" them. You just want to look the meat over for any pellets that stay inside when you use the 12 gauge. Generally pretty easy to spot. As for Sasquatch, I think that was me that one night at the bar. :D

Lady Trapper - I'm going to pick on your expertise or anyone else that wants to chime in. Your story about bears is a good one. For some reason, I have stuck in my head this innate concern that my first encounter with a bear might be my last. I've seen plenty from a distance on their turf but never up close. I've read all the play dead, make yourself look big, make lots of noise, sometimes conflicting advice. How do YOU handle them when you're out?

makes sense, it would be easier to carry one gun with a bunch of bullets than a bunch of guns and a bunch of bullets. Just hope you can identify the bullets when you need to or you may anger something instead of kill it... or destroy it completely.

I am kinda happy with the 12 myself. I use mainly #5 shot for about everything. If you want to blow something(one) away and don't want to carry different # shot you can "ring the shell" and everything goes out the end except the brass. We kinda picked up plenty of hams & turkeys in Prince William Co., VA at turkey shoots until they discovered I was using shells with a tad of grease in the shot to kinda hold a tighter pattern in my old Winchester Mod. 37 single shot. I might add turkey shoots there and just about everywhere furnish the shell and take the empty back now. As for the 22, it says range one mile and shooting up in a tree is kinda dangerous IMHO. Those hams & turkeys were good, much better than possum and only used one shell. The other men could be classified as "dangerous animals" I reckon.

Well, I don't know about dangerous but I'll accept the animal part. I'm only dangerous if you get in the way when I'm running for the door. :D I do use the .22 where I know I have plenty of empty space otherwise I opt for the 12 gauge for that very reason. Like you, I do prefer the tamer game but coon cooked up as a Bar-B-Q is pretty good, too.

I've met up with several wild animals in the bush and never considered myself at risk. I used to work on exploration drills and bears would come around and eat the grease that we used on the drill rods, it's about like axle grease. Crazy bears ate the stuff like it was honey and then...ewww what a mess they'd leave in the neighborhood.

I've had a wolf walk along beside my trail, maybe 20 yards away from me in the bush. He was just curious. I've walked right past bears on drill sites and they were more interested in eating the rod grease than they were in me. They punch their claws right through the tin lid on the grease pail.

I've been camped in parks where it was illegal to have guns and had raccoons raid my camp. Man I wanted to shoot those ******s.

I was in a mining camp where the guys had tamed three red foxes. Offer a critter food often enough and eventually you'll make a friend.

I've seen coyotes pull some incredibly bold s**t, had one sneak in the back of my camp and steal a slab of bacon off of my grub box. The box was right behind my back and I was facing my campfire. I turned around to cut the bacon up just in time to see him disappear into some thick underbrush.

Mountain lions make me kind of nervous, though. I don't think I'd want one on my trail.

I got attacked by a Canadian goose once lol.
Got to close to the nest and the male came at me, he was pist

anyone thinking that's a funny story... a Canada goose can beat a fox to death with his wings and they bite friggin' hard! I got bit by one when I was about 7 years old, bruised every finger on my hand. I could barely bend my fingers for about four days after.

Yea. Those blasted things are all over the place around here in the spring. Protective as heck when those little snacks, er, a, fuzz balls start waddlin'. They're pretty ingenious as well. They litter the place with land mines any Engineering Battalion would have trouble clearing.

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Originally Posted by Rick

Lady Trapper - I'm going to pick on your expertise or anyone else that wants to chime in. Your story about bears is a good one. For some reason, I have stuck in my head this innate concern that my first encounter with a bear might be my last. I've seen plenty from a distance on their turf but never up close. I've read all the play dead, make yourself look big, make lots of noise, sometimes conflicting advice. How do YOU handle them when you're out?

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Not much expert in what I am about to tell ya, but I'll share what I know and have observed over the years.
Bears are powerful and have no natural predators in their world, but even with that knowledge most likely will avoid humans whenever possible. However the bears around our home have gotten used to the smells, the noises of kids playing in the yard and the dog barking. "Most" were quite polite and kept their visits in the cover of darkness.
The advice for black bear confrontation is mostly definitely to fight back if in a physical attack. Never play dead with a black bear...that advice is for the much larger and more aggressive cousin the grizzly. Most often "talking" to the bear will be enough to make him turn tail, when they can put a human sound to what they are seeing front of them. They are curious animals,
amazing dwellers of the forest.. See here one investigating a trail cam LOL I dont think I already posted this one.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...loseupbear.jpg

The ones that make me a little nervous are the young males just driven off from their mama(2 to 3 yr olds)...they are caulky and nosey...but you know they all seem to have personalities. Some are like rebellious teenagers, testing th waters and getting into everything they aint supposed too....although here is one young male that lives around here...he seemed to have the personality of a gentleman...very calm and well behaved. Didnt get in garbage or come too close to the house. Stayed away when the dog barked too.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...pper/chevy.jpg


We watched this one grow from a little cub from year to year. Have video of him playing with his sister and mama. We recognized him from year to year by the white chevron marking on his chest. As in the picture, he has grown into a good sized boar bear. He disappeared this fall after the berry crop ripened. We dont hunt or have our clients hunt around our home or the bears here, but he may have been harvested by the local hunting community...only spring will tell. I know sometimes I talk of these bears like they are mine, I know they are not and I am the first one to "preach" wildlife management but their is a tinge of sadness when I think of him not returning to eat on my lawn early May:rolleyes:

So Rick...I think there is little chance that your first encounter with a black bear will be harmful to you. Most will wait til you leave the area to pass by. Talk loudly, back out if you can. Wave your arms if you need to. It is hard to stand off a bluffing charging bear, but most will stop short before ever reaching you. In the off chance it does become physical...go for their nose if you can. Most sensitive part on those brutes. Kinda the equivalent to gettin kicked in the "cahoonies" I hear LOL:cool:

Wow! Great write up. Thanks for taking the time and posting the pics. I looked at that first picture before I read your post and thought, "No, way!" Like I said, I've seen quite a few from a distance and a few grizzlies from a distance. I was even within a 100 yards of a Grizzly in AK but it was early August and everything was ripe and the salmon were running so he was fat and happy. Beyond that, never close enough to be concerned. I've walked up on many critters and had them walk up on me but my "close encounter" with a bear hasn't happened. I'd sooner the Grand Man keep it that way. Thanks again.

awesome pictures LT, thanks for posting that.

Love the pictures,LadyT,hope the bear comes back in the spring.

Hi,
I've had several close encounters with animals, and one that sticks in my mind is when a small herd of elephants took exception to our presence in a national park in southern SL. The herd consisted of 13 elephants of which 5 were mature adults (over 40) the rest were of varying ages from about 25 down to a baby of about 18months. the matriach charged out on to the track and blocked it, ( we were in a van) while the rest of the herd approched from behind and started milling around. then the assult began. first trunks then attempts at head butting the van. one of the yournger ones got on his knees and tried to shove his head under the van. They alternated between threat displays and actual attacks for the next 35-40 minutes. none of these attacks were serious. they were just anoyed with us and wanted to teach us a lesson. If the attack had been serious I wouldnt be around now. the damages to the van amounted to some 38,000SLR. I have some pics somewhere, I'll post them if I can find them.
By far the most dangerous animals in our jungles are the sloth bear, elephant & wild buffalo.
JK

What a terrifying experience that must have been. I hope you packed a clean pair of pants!!!! I read somewhere that the large soft pads of an elephant's foot enable them to be very quiet when they walk. The article said it was even possible for an elephant to sneak up on a man in the jungle because they were capable of being so quiet when they walk. Not stalking a man but just happen upon them because they walked so quietly. Any truth to that in your experience? I have no experience with elephants other than the occasional zoo trip.

Greeting Rick,
Yes they can move like ghosts. Very silent and very inteligent. one thing they cannot control is the rumbling of their tummies. It can be heard for 100meters if the wind is right. Most of my work is with elephants or in jungle where there are plenty of them. We have a very serious problem with them. Over here its commonly called the human-elephant conflict. As their habitat is encroched upon for cultivation these animals are forced into contact with humans. the end result is often tragic for both parties.
As for that encounter I very nearly had to change my pants. our driver swallowed a wad of beetle leaf that he was chewing and nearly choked to death. the guy in the back seat hit me on the head with a camera, 400mm lense and all. the whole situation was diffused because we kept absolutely silent and as still as possible.
This particular park is called Udawalawe, and is a place where problem elephants such as crop raider and man-killers are captured and translocated to. so these animals are quite used to humans and have lost all fear of them. Generally truly wild elephants will take of fast at the first whiff of a human. (however there are exceptions to the rule!...but thats another story.
jay

I am really glad you joined our group. What a different perspective you offer on survival. None of us know where we will be when a survival situation happens. We could be on holiday or on business in any part of the world. Your insight and experience help us to think out of the box, avoid our own (sometimes tightly woven) paradigms and see survival from a larger perspective. Great information!

Thanks Rick
I was worried that I would not be able to contribute anything worthwhile to this forum as my experiences are limited to this tiny patch of earth miles away from you all. maybe some of it will help if you ever visit Sri Lanka or any place in Asia.
jk

All of our experiences are limited to a tiny patch of earth. Each with its own unique challenges. For me, that is what makes this forum interesting and invaluable.

OMG!!!
I just came face to face with a mountian lion in my woods!:eek:
It ran from me. it wasnt fully grown but i didnt want to take the chance of seeing mommy or daddy which i doubt so... i left my woods for today and have a great encounter:)