Wildest animal you've been confronted with?

cool9

Super Member
I don't really have any. I lived in NM and never ran across a rattlesnake or scorpion (but saw a few Roadrunners and Oryx - large, strong african antelope like animal imported to southern NM). And first time I saw an Elk (on side of road) I was stupified to say the least.

Guess nastiest I've seen were stray cats we had to trap at apartment complex I worked at.

Take that back. Nastiest thing I was confronted with was an old perv who tried to trap me in the sand dunes in NJ when I was 12. Scared the crap out of me.
 
When I was a preteen I had a stepfather who hunted bear and cougar with a pack of hounds (when it was still legal). I've been within 25' of both with nothing separating us but an easy jump out of a tree. It is a surreal experience being that close to an animal that can so easily kill you in the wild. Granted we had guns and dogs, but the primal fear of hearing their growl up close and personal is not alleviated by the fact that it *probably* won't try to attack, or that you'll *probably* be able to shoot it before it lands on your face.
 
Grizzly bear. In the Scapegoat Wilderness, up around Hungry Horse dam, in the Bob Marshall, the Taylor Hilgard wilderness and in the Mission Mts. I have encountered half a dozen within 50 yards. I backpack a lot in the summer months. Quite the imposing figure when you are face to face.
 
Got attacked by a cougar in an elevator. That was an experience.

Other than that, six grizzly bears in Alaska, a barracuda off of Antigua, and a massasauga rattlesnake pit in Michigan.
 
Mountain lion, Gold Camp Road, outside of Colorado Springs on the way to Cripple Creek/Victor. Sitting on a hill above me, staring...
 
I was walking the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass, Texas with a dog and a shotgun. (Oh the stories I won't mention) I stopped walking about 3 feet from a tree just to look around. When I turned left towards the tree I noticed a javelina backed up to the tree, motionless with hair standing up on its back, teeth no more than a foot from my knee. A primitive adrenaline rush must have filled both of us. From the time I noticed the javelina to the time I realized my 12g was pointing directly at his head must have been less than a second. I didn't get bit.
 

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Mountain lion, Gold Camp Road, outside of Colorado Springs on the way to Cripple Creek/Victor. Sitting on a hill above me, staring...

Oh man I have seen a couple but I heard one roar one night so close I could feel it (incredibly loud!). Talk about chills and GTFO!
 
Saw this guy attacking a rabbit in our back yard (photo blurred in my haste to grab the camera). He was the biggest fox I've ever seen.
 

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It depends on the outcome for me. The one that had the most potential well they both could of been very bad.

The first was backpacking in the Smokies on the NC side. A black bear with cubs wanted some fellow hikers gear. First time they showed up we (the wife and I) had just finished eating. A stick thrown by me hitting the mother on the nose stopped that one. But around 0200 they came back and got the other couples backpack off the pole. Once they had the backpack they left.

The second also in the smokies in TN involves a Rattlesnake my two sons, wife and I. Came upon a rattlesnake getting ready to eat a ground squirrel or Chipmunk. The boys wanted to watch, but the snake didn't like us there at all! Letting us know with body language and rather loudly LEAVE NOW! Usually the boys would stay out front when hiking but this time I was out front and noticed the snake first. Well the snake knew I was there, just was quietly let me walk up on him. Didn't rattle until the boys ran up to see.




Barney
 
They say the rattlers around hog country are starting to not rattle as a warning because it actually attracts hogs to eat them.
 
Oh man I have seen a couple but I heard one roar one night so close I could feel it (incredibly loud!). Talk about chills and GTFO!

The roar of a wild animal is something that is difficult to communicate to someone who hasn't experienced it.

One of my grizzly bear encounters happened in pitch black while my buddy and I were in a tent. Bears were fighting and literally crashing into our tent. At times their growls came from maybe a foot away. We could hear their spit gargle and nostrils blow snot.

That was scary sh*t. The only reason my buddy and I remained composed was that we were with a guide. We heard him outside and saw his light and knew that he had decent firepower.
 
Mother Black Bear with cubs.

Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia.
I walked out the backdoor of our cabin with a bag of trash.....as the three of them were already climbing onto the back porch.
Mama bear grabbed the plastic garbage bag....as I QUICKLY ran back inside the cabin!!

Steve

Steve
 
The roar of a wild animal is something that is difficult to communicate to someone who hasn't experienced it.

One of my grizzly bear encounters happened in pitch black while my buddy and I were in a tent. Bears were fighting and literally crashing into our tent. At times their growls came from maybe a foot away. We could hear their spit gargle and nostrils blow snot.

That was scary sh*t. The only reason my buddy and I remained composed was that we were with a guide. We heard him outside and saw his light and knew that he had decent firepower.

Had a rude awakening a few years back, very rude, when 2 possums were fighting/mating in my chimney. Sounded like the end of the world but all I could do was wait. If they were mating, that possum has more stamina than me for sure! The next day I was the only person in the state with the fireplace raging in the summer.
 
I have come across Rattlers and several other snakes. Several Bear, Foxes in our yard...

But, 30 some years ago, I had a friend that got a baby lion as a pet but it was full grown when I met him. We used to take it to the local State park and some other swimming holes and let it go ahead 20 feet on it's chain and scare the crap out of people. I do remember a day when the guy wasn't home but the Lion was chained up outside. I got close to say hello like one would with a dog not knowing the chain was longer. She dove and tackled me like a linebacker and I may have wet my pants. She was actually pretty gentle for her size.
 
One night I was out picking nightcrawlers on a high school football field. The sky was drizzling which made for good picking as it helps mask the sound of foot steps.

I heard some breathing behind me and thought that it was a friend, Bob, who was also picking. I loudly whispered, "You gittininny?"

No response.

I stood up, turned around, and pointed my flashlight at where I expected to find Bob. He wasn't there. A pair of eyes glistened at the bottom of the flashlight beam and I flinched. It was a skunk following me around. Whew. It worried me but also made me laugh. He looked curious.
 
vne2vo.jpg
 
This is the God's honest truth. Years ago while I was still working in the road construction business, we were paving a stretch of road that crossed under Interstate 55 SW of Chicago. We needed a place to dump some road grindings, and as the project manager it was my job to find that place. I took off down a frontage road and a couple of miles from the main road I stumbled across a property where the owner had several full grown tigers caged. I didn't really care how strong the cages were. I knew I didn't belong there and I got the hell out before a wild animal of a different kind detected my presence.
 
big black cat .i think it was a puma .it stayed under my caravan trailer for a couple of nights in bad freezing weather .i was too scared to go out at night because of it .
 
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