Up close and personal with wildlife

[Sourdough]

I have a low swampy area between the house and the road.  This morning as I walked out the drive to get the paper, I spotted a cow Moose and last years calf lying down in the tall grass next to the water.  She just looked at me as I passed, about 20 yards away.  At least no bears in the yard yet this spring.  Just Moose, Foxes, and Cayotes.

[LCSNM]

About 3 years ago, my son wanted to hike Wheelers Peak, highest point in NM.13 thousand plus.  I agreed to go along. The trail is 7 miles long and ALWAYS UP. I made it the first 3 miles, at 66, I was in worse shape than I thought and God forgot to put some oxygen up there.
The Trail starts at the Taos Ski Area to the Peak. At the 3 mi point is IIRC Moose Meadow. I stopped to eat some trail mix while sitting on a log. A blue bird flew between my fingers and my mouth and stole my trail mix that I was about to eat. Hey, I don't mind giving you some, but stealing that's not fair.

Soon that Blue Bird had called all his relatives and I had Bluebirds sitting on my shoulders, head arms, l begging for some trail mix. I won't forget that moment until I die.

[jamesrus]

I watched a bobcat sniff around in the underbrush about 10 yards from my ground blind for almost 30 minutes before he smelled me , looked dead in my eyes, and bolted away.

Also had a doe who was being run by a pack of deer dogs run around the bend in the trail looking behind her, run slam into the side of my ground box stand. She nearly turned it over with me in it. I thought it killed her, but it only knocked her out for a few seconds. She got up and ran off with 4 deer dogs hot on her trail.

Jamesrus

[mardrobe]

I think that if we spend enough time in the woods, we will all have these experiences.  Over the years I have been stepped on by a bear when camping out, had a doe lay down beside me while standing next to  a bush, Turned around to find a young Bull elk staring at me from ten feet when trying to call elk for the first time and had to stare down a Cow Moose from two feet.

[weasel]

While this didn't happen to me it is a great story; one of the guides I work with was leading some hunters on horses thru an aspen thicket when they jumped a bunch of bedded deer. A fawn came charging out and T-boned one of the hunters' horses. After getting the horses and hunters calmed down the guide told "Boys, I can't get you any closer than that!"

2 yrs ago we were packing in for a goat hunt, I was leading 2 packhorses below some cliffs when a 3pt buck jumped up. Having nowhere else to go, he ran downhill and jumped the trail right in front of the hunters' horse, I could see the horses' nose under the deers' belly.

[Victor3]

 What, no pictures in this thread?

 In 1992, some friends and I were out hunting chukars in the high desert of Southern CA. Here's one that surrendered without firing a shot; I walked up, took a pic and grabbed it. We let it loose and it hung around for a few hours. We figured it must have been sick but it looked fine, pecking around and running fast when we chased it.



 One of my buddies reminded me that we had shot three of his buddies the previous weekend, and I'd best check him for a hidden grenade!

[Ponydog]

At the University of Mississippi Library ........back entrance.....lower level, in 1980...or 81, I cant remember exactly.....I was in between class , and a late lab I had to attend...I did not feel like walking all the way back to the dorm......so I read the paper while I waited............after about 20 minutes, there was an enormous crashing of glass.....and people running from the noise, not to it....screaming and shocked at what had just happened...........it seems a 6 point buck had wandered on to campus.....saw his reflection in the lower level large plate glass windows...(.that went from the floor to the ceiling , wrapped in aluminum trim.)........and decided he was gonna lock horns with what he saw..( himself)  !!!!!.....the deer came THROUGH the glass and scrambled and staggered to his feet inside the Library ...he had severely cut his shoulder and neck area.....and it did not take him long to collapse right there inside the bldg......amazing the power of an animal that weighed probably 180 pounds....maybe 170.........he came through that glass like it was not even there.......the rut is a powerful thing...and this poor guy paid the price for it........and so did the Library window.........

[guzzijohn]

Some years ago I was flying a sailplane and circling in a thermal to gain altitude. My speed was between 35-40 MPH. A red tail hawk came up and flew formation with me for at least a minute staying between 5-10 ft. from my canopy with ongoing eye contact. The size of the plane did not seem to intimidate the hawk at all.
GuzziJohn

[mountainview]

There were a pair of Mallards that used to come out and fly parallel to my windshield when I was driving in the truck (seems like they wanted to race and they usually won).

Was sighting in the rifle at the 100 yard range a week before the season, stopped to reload and when I looked up a doe was standing broadside in front of the target. Told her to come back in a week and it figures that she would stand me up and be a no-show.

[SharonAnne]

After 30 minutes of shooting my Mini 14, a doe and fawn stood up from a swale about 150yd away and 50 yd to the side. I guess they got tired of the noise.

While deer hunting from a stand I have had chickadees land on my head and rifle muzzle. I once had a mouse climb up my leg and sit on my thigh until he looked up and saw my face. He immediately dove off into the brush.

Had a fawn walk within 10' of me and stop. It looked right at me and did nothing until I said "BOO". It looked like it jumped about 4' straight up and bolted off into the trees.

[ttank0789]

The pat 3 years my family has gone on a fishing trip to Ontario for a summer vacation.  The lodge is on an island and on one end of the island there are two chipmunks that will eat peanuts, M&Ms or whatever out of your hands. I even had one climb on my head. It's really funny watching them try to stuff 2 peanuts that are still in the shell in their mouth.
 
I was sitting in a ground blind I made out of branches, sticks, etc. on opening day of 2007 bow season.  A woodchuck walked right up to my blind, I'm talkin' like a foot away, sniffed a little bit and just stood there (on all fours). I couldn't see him really well because of the wall of the blind so I had to stand up to shoot him.

That same season my friend was hunting out of a blind he had made himself and had a doe walk up and stick here head in his blind. He stayed motionless and she eventually left. I told him I would have smacked her upside the head just to see how she reacted ...maybe I'm an a$$hole lol

This one didn't happen in the wild but it's pretty funny.  I was charged by a goose. I work as a meter reader for a city north of the town I live in. Yea I know walking around and reading electric meters on houses sounds pretty crappy, which it is, but I only work one week a month and I make a good amount of money for what little work I do.  And it's a good job for a 19 year old college student. Anyways back to the story. In June or July I was reading in a housing development that has a couple small ponds. I was walking down the street when about 10 goslings and 3 adult geese, One of which was one of the biggest geese I've seen in my life, crossed the street. Well the big goose made a B-line right for me with his wings outstretched and hissing violently.  When he was about 10 feet away he started flapping his wings, and having witnessed a goose kill a cat with its wings, I knew I may be in a little trouble. So i swung the book I write the meters down in at him. He moved and I barely missed hitting him in the head. I've been at this job for almost a year and I've had just as many bad encounters with geese as i have dogs. I find that somewhat amusing.

[SharonAnne]

 again,not in the wild.

My Father-in-law worked for the Cooperative Extension Service. He was employed by Michigan State University to work with farmers; advising on crop rotation, what to plant in different soils, livestock management, you name it.

He has had his share of dog run ins. This dog charged from under the porch; a large border collie. He did what he always did, stuck out his right leg. The dog chomped down on him, flinched, and ran away howling with its tail tucked. You see, my F-i-L has a fiberglass artificial leg. Whenever he visited after the incident that dog would hide under the porch.

[Swampman]

I had a doe come up and stick her nose to my foot.  I've spent many hours within a fw feet of deer.  Had several owls land really close to me and sit with me a while.  We had a squirrel in the back yard for a while that would sit on your shoulder.

[bulletstuffer]

Two chickadee encounters.  First encounter, I had a chickadee land on my pinky while looking through my binoculars for deer.  Stayed about 1.5 seconds and flew off.  Second chickadee landed on my short rimmed wool cap, swung upside down, looked into my eye.  I blinked and it flew off.  The thought of a peck in the eye was more than I could take .  Love to watch the critters while deer hunting.

Bulletstuffer

[okielectrician]

Was deer hunting on the ground early one morning,sitting at the base of a tree when a covey of quail came  by a few of them had to hop over my legs that were stretched out foward.
That was neat enough but about two minutes later a bob cat was right on there trail,it only got about within three feet of my feet and even thou I was heavy camoed he still could see my eyes and staired right at me.
But he must really be hungry cause he did not linger long with me,and stayed on trail,but about five minutes later I heard the covey take flight.A quail breakfast would have been nice(except I prefer mine fried).

[Flatlander.54]

 I told this story once before in another forum but its worth tellin again here. One muzzleloader season I was hunting with a .54 Renegade my Uncle had given me. He had loaned it out the year before to a friend and the guy had shot it and reloaded it, but didnt shoot the second charge out or clean it either. My Uncle being the trusting soul he is, asked the guy if he cleaned it and was told yes...he never bothered to check it. You can imagine the mess the barrel was in a year later when it was given to me. I got enough of the rough rust cleaned out to make it shootable, but the accuracy was gone from the barrel so I knew I had to be CLOSE.
 I set up about 20 yards if I remember right from a trail that paralleled a small creek and waited. Well, not long afterwards, mother nature called. Thats when I discovered I had left my pee bottle at home. I went as long as I could but the creek kept calling me. I crept over to the bank which dropped off to about hip high to me, leaned the Renegadeagainst a sapling, and proceeded to let fly. Sure enough I caught movement on the trail to me left, here come what I thought was a doe but turned out to be a button buck. I reached for the Renegade slowly as the deer kept coming and got it to my shoulder just as it passed next to me. I was one step off the trail when I pulled the trigger, the muzzle almost touching the deers side. It went about 25 yards and piled up. Thats when I realized that I was still unzipped and hanging out for all of Gods creation to see. 

[jamesrus]

This one happened this season.

I was sitting in my ground blind for about two hours one evening. I had been watching some erratic movement about 200 yards away in some medium height brush. I couldnt tell what it was but kept watching. Just at dusk i heard something behind me and eased around to look. Boy did i get a surprise. I had a 5 foot tall Emu looking dead in my eyes.  I was so startled and so was he that we both let out a squawk. You just dont expect to see an Emu 2 miles from any road and 10 miles from a farm area in the middle of a game reserve in the middle of December.

Chicken anyone?

Jamesrus

[Oldshooter]

I was hunting in Junction a couple of years ago in a ground blind. There were plenty of doe and small bucks around but I was waiting for a monster. The evening was getting on and I got hungry, so I pulled an apple out of my pack. With the first bite the deer all looked right at the window, and I froze. Then they would go back to grazing. I did it again and they all looked again. So I chewed to see if they would spook, none did. so I kept up the bite and chew routine and they would look up when I bit and go back to grazing when I chewed. It was amusing. This went on for several minutes. Then a young doe's curiosity got the better of her and she started walking my way, I sat the half eaten apple in the window carefully and moved back in the dark corner. She walked up looked in the window and took my apple! I guess she smelled it and between that and the crunching she could not resist!

[SharonAnne]

oldshooter, that is cool.

[Sourdough]

My buddy and I were fishing on a fly in only river in Alaska.  I was building a fire to heat something to eat.  A cow moose suddenly came running out of the woods and stopped looking at me.  I froze, she walked up to within 15 yards and laid down on the other side of the fire.  A baby soon followed her and also laid down.  Both were breathing hard like they had been running.  I was scared half to death, a cow moose with a new born baby is nothing to mess with.  Mama moose kept looking over her shoulder at the location where she had came out of the woods.  After about 10 minutes a Grizzly came out of the woods, followed by a smaller grizzly.  Both bears sat down at the edge of the woods and looked at the moose peacefully laying near the fire.  They also looked at my partner and me, sitting at the fire.  After a short time both bears got up and went back into the woods.  We could tell where the bears were by the direction the Mama moose turned her head.  The bears eventually came out on the river bank and crossed the stream.  The bears sat down for quite a long time watching the moose and us.  After about an hour the bears finally got up and left.  At that point Mama moose got up and quietly led her baby off into the woods.  The entire time my partner and I were afraid to do much, afraid Mama would feel threatened and dance on us.  We were immensely relieved when they left.

Mama moose used us to get the bears off her trail to save her baby.  We were used by a smart mama.

[Oldshooter]

Sourdough, you live on the wild side(La vida Loca(crazy life)) fer sure!   Great Story! Thanks for the post!

[SharonAnne]

Sourdough, that is an amazing experience. Now if you had a video camera and recorded the encounter you would be a rich man.  I do hope you were adequately armed.

[petemi]

In 1988 I was banding hawks and owls for Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, 11 miles north of Paradise, MI on the Upper Peninsula.  The Edmund Fitzgerald went down just off there.

We trapped, banded, and released 163 Boreal Owls, a sub arctic, circumpolar species. between April 1st and May 31.  There were another 600 or so other owls and hawks banded and released.  The amazing thing is we shined 5 Boreals with head lamps, effectively temporarily blinded them, reached under and behind and secured a hold on their legs.  Capturing them completely by hand.  Now for the kicker.....we took two off the same branch of the same tree in the forest two nights apart.

Pete

[Travis Morgan]

About 3 years ago, my son wanted to hike Wheelers Peak, highest point in NM.13 thousand plus.  I agreed to go along. The trail is 7 miles long and ALWAYS UP. I made it the first 3 miles, at 66, I was in worse shape than I thought and God forgot to put some oxygen up there.
The Trail starts at the Taos Ski Area to the Peak. At the 3 mi point is IIRC Moose Meadow. I stopped to eat some trail mix while sitting on a log. A blue bird flew between my fingers and my mouth and stole my trail mix that I was about to eat. Hey, I don't mind giving you some, but stealing that's not fair.

Soon that Blue Bird had called all his relatives and I had Bluebirds sitting on my shoulders, head arms, l begging for some trail mix. I won't forget that moment until I die.

At times like that, you can't possibly doubt God exists; I've NEVER met a rancher that was an atheist.

[Travis Morgan]

again,not in the wild.

My Father-in-law worked for the Cooperative Extension Service. He was employed by Michigan State University to work with farmers; advising on crop rotation, what to plant in different soils, livestock management, you name it.

He has had his share of dog run ins. This dog charged from under the porch; a large border collie. He did what he always did, stuck out his right leg. The dog chomped down on him, flinched, and ran away howling with its tail tucked. You see, my F-i-L has a fiberglass artificial leg. Whenever he visited after the incident that dog would hide under the porch.

Border collies are smart! I bet he's still wondering how that leg "bit" his teeth!

[Travis Morgan]

Andy's Owl

Pete,

    I too, have caught an owl thataway. My neighbor across the street, Andy, is into birdhouses and stuff, and has some little eastern screech owls living in the tree in his front yard. A few of 'em live in the big tree in my next door neighbor's yard. Well, one night, he's telling me all about how close these owls get at about 10 p.m. or so, and we ended up watching them catching bugs and landing within 30 ft. of us. After a while, I asked, "You ever pet one?" "An owl?" he says. "Yep", I replied, then went and got my LED maglight. I shined it in the owl's face, then slowly worked my way up to it, then slowly reached out and petted it. It didn't seem to mind at all. Then I asked Andy if he's game to pet it. He got all excited and tried to sneak over, but the owl flew away. He tried like HELL to pet an owl for a while.

    To this day, I can aggravate him by asking if he's petted an owl yet!

My Skunk story

    One morning about 8 or 10 years ago, I got up early and decided to walk to the grocery store for fresh doughnuts, when I saw a little old skunk trotting happily down the street towards me, seemingly unawares of me. I looked around for a good chunkin' sized rock, but couldn't find one, so I started to pick up a railroad tie to smash it with. Well, the tie got stuck, and I bent down low to give it a good tug, then noticed the little skunk coming straight towards me! I, being familiar with skunks, froze....... The little bugger sniffed my hand, looked at me, then trotted off, right between my legs. It was so neat, and he was so cute, I just set the tie down and watched him go. I guess we both had a nice morning!

Craig's buzzard

My uncle was living in a ranch house on the Walnut River when he met "his" buzzard; he walked into the barn one day to find a buzzard gnawing on some kinda critter. Well, apparently, when buzzards are spooked, they puke. .........and it smells awful (offal?) He didn't use that barn for a good two months or so, he said it just smelled too bad, even after he put on a mask and forked it out!

Bob's Badger

Bob was a big ol dumb fat kid I got saddled with, while working on a ranch in Nevada. His Dad and the ranch owner were pals, and Bob was sent out to "grow him up" some. He was about 5'10" and around 300 lbs.. Ol Bob was always doing stupid stuff, and I was always "testing" him, just to see how dumb you can be and live.
    Like one time, when we were riding in the truck with the foreman on a rather long trip, Bob was riding shotgun and I was in the middle. It was a cloudy day, and we'd exhausted our stories and jokes, and were just bored as hell; I nudged Bob and said, ......."Say,  Bob, hand me that door handle, would ya?" (We were doin' about 75 with three of us in a single cab pickup) Ol Bob, he reaches over, gives the door handle a yank......... then gives us the dumbest look.... you could tell the lightbulb just came on. Thank GOD he didn't fall out, because me and Lloyd were laughing so damn hard, we couldn't have helped him before he bled to death!

    Well, anyways, I was gonna tell you about his badger (really, there were TWO badger stories, but I'm goin' with the funnier one) Bob always liked to carry every gun he owned in his little S-10 with him. Well, him being so rotund, it made for very little room in the cab of the truck between the two of us, for him to bring a rifle, shotgun, and two pistols. Well, I didn't think we needed all of that just to go into Winnemucca and buy groceries. Well, you know how it is, ya leave the shotgun home, ya see birds; leave the rifle home, ya see coyotes! Just as we turned off the ranch road, we see a badger in the road, scurrying off to the ditch. Well, we get out just to watch him for a while, but he comes running back at us. I, knowing a thing or two about badgers, just got into the truck, and said, "Well, he'd be gone before we could find anything to kill him with, and we ain't even got a shovel in the truck".
    Bob, on the other hand, was not so easily deterred. HE said, I'm gonna stomp him to death! I kinda tried to deter him, but not very hard. I wanted to see what happened. (cowboys are always willing to watch you do something stupid, as long as you're the only one that's gonna get hurt!) Well, I, being kinda mean, reached over and locked Bob's door. He, being stupid, ran towards the badger, intent on his purpose....... then, with even more sense of purpose, swapped ends and charged the truck! Finding his door locked (lol) he jumped flat footed into the bed of the truck, then pounded on the top of the truck, screaming at me to drive!
    It's not so much that I wouldn't drive him to safety, so much as I couldn't. He was screaming, "He's attacking me!" from the bed of the truck while I, between fits of mirth, explained that the badger couldn't scale the side of the truck. The badger attacked the tire for a little bit then left, growling curses about Bob's parentage, or somesuch  while Bob  got in the truck. Then, he spied as broke off shovel handle with which I'd planned to use if Bob really needed saving. He grabbed it and said, "I'm gonna use this on him!" Fortunately, he thought better of it when I asked him, "You don't learn real fast, do ya"?

Boobs squirrel

When I first started in earnest to start my horseshoeing business, a friend took me along on a few appointments with him to kinda help me get started. (I think he was really trying to dump unwanted clinets on me, to help me get started.) Anyways, we got to older ladie's house, and trimmed a few horses, and I noticed that her bust looked a little lumpy, but thought better than to mention it. Well, as we finished and were settling up, she reaches into her bra and digs around like Captain Caveman digging for his carkeys, in search of her money. While she's doing this, I hear a squeaking noise."Did I just hear that?" Then another. "I know I heard that!" Then, she sighs, pulls somethin' out, and hands me this furry thing! Dumbfounded, I flinch, then looked. It was a baby squirrel she was raising! Between feedings, she kept it in her bra, and it slept there, just like a nest!