What's your most memorable backcountry wildlife experience ?

[Malto]

This is kinda like having to chose your favorite child. So here are a few.

1) early morning just as the sky was lightening, I was hiking alone in Wa. All the sudden the ground started to rumble. It was a large herd of elk. I could catch glimpses of them through the trees but the power was extraordinary.
2) Oregon, middle of the afternoon. A huge owl (later confirmed as a great gray owl) glided right over our head and landed in a nearby tree. It would let out a tweet and then a short distance away two babies would answer. Definitely one of my favorites.
3) near Reds Meadow (Sierra) in the middle of a huge burn area we were walking in intermittent snow. Sudden Wrongturn stopped at pointed at the ground ahead of us. There were three newborn fawns that were perfectly still. They had their eyes closed as if saying "I can't see you, so you can't see me!"

[SouthMark]

A skunk getting into my sleeping bag WITH me in the Smokies Mollies Ridge Shelter.

[ChuckT]

Hmm, the mouse that chewed into my pack east of Clingmans Dome (brazen little devil!), the bear paw print (LARGE economy size) on the back trail in Canada, and the absolute absence of wildlife in the volcano ash north of Crater Lake. Any one of the three makes it.
Cvt

[Shutterbug]

Whether it be getting a rare glimpse of a cougar in the wild, or having a bull moose practically run you over on the trail , share what encounter was the most memorable for you.

I'll get things rolling first ; last year while hiking with 4 friends we were stopped dead in our tracks by a large Timber Rattlesnake, (in my gallery) already coiled ,then further provoked( thanks Hikerhead ).
Less than an hour after hiking around the rattler we encountered a hornets nest that apparantly was squashed as it rested under a fallen sapling which my hiking bud stepped on, suddening finding ourselves being attacked by dozens of angry hornets. Poor Andy got the worst of it , stung 4 times.

It is hard to pick one encounter as the "most memorable" so I will share several stories: 1)I was hiking in the 100 Mile Wilderness and passed through an area of tall grass. A full grown moose was sleeping in the grass and we didn't see each other until I was about five feet from it. As I jumped up, I saw that it's back was higher than the top of my head. I have never been that close to that large of an animal. 2)I was hiking on the Wonderland Trail a couple of years ago. It was just before dark. As I looked ahead, I saw a very large black bear walking toward me. The bear did not see or smell me until it was about 20 yards away. I was able to get some good pictures. One is posted in my photo gallery. 3)Another time I was hiking a trail in Mt. Rainier National Park. I was on a narrow section of the trail, that dropped off sharply. As I approached a curve in the trail, I heard a mountain goat running as fast as it could in my direction. It rounded the curve at a full gallop. I did my best to flatten myself against the rock wall on the uphill side of the trail, but there was not enough room for the goat to pass on the trail and I knew there wasn't enough room for it to stop. Just before it reached me, it went over the cliff side of the trail. How it found the footing to make it safely to be bottom, I will never know. 4)I have a number of rattlesnake stories too, but since others have shared those stories, I will skip them. 5) My wife and I were hiking in Roxborough State Park near Denver when I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. It was something moving on the top of a rock beside the trail. When I stopped to determine what it was, I discovered a mature mountain lion. For half of an hour the mountain lion followed us on our hike. It never threatened us, but it went where we went. We decided that the best place to go was the parking lot where we could get in our car. 6)I also have a number of alligator stories. Once, I was bass fishing in the swamp near Sulphur, LA. We saw a large alligator in the area where we wanted to fish, but assumed he would leave if we went there. He didn't. He went below the surface, but every few minutes he would come up below the boat and slam the boat with his tail. The alligator was almost as long as the boat. We decided that we should fish elsewhere. 7)In Peru, a Wooly Monkey came out of the jungle to steal bananas from our boat. That was a fun experience. 8)One time I was hiking in the Grand Canyon and a Mountain Sheep Ram blocked the trail. He stood there for a long time daring me to try to pass. I guess that is enough for one reply.

[Shutterbug]

Whether it be getting a rare glimpse of a cougar in the wild, or having a bull moose practically run you over on the trail , share what encounter was the most memorable for you.

I'll get things rolling first ; last year while hiking with 4 friends we were stopped dead in our tracks by a large Timber Rattlesnake, (in my gallery) already coiled ,then further provoked( thanks Hikerhead ).
Less than an hour after hiking around the rattler we encountered a hornets nest that apparantly was squashed as it rested under a fallen sapling which my hiking bud stepped on, suddening finding ourselves being attacked by dozens of angry hornets. Poor Andy got the worst of it , stung 4 times.

I thought of one more wildlife encounter to share. When I was in the USAF, I flew helicopter. We often flew training missions in the desert near Tucson, AZ. One day we scared up a coyote and a jack rabbit at the same time. They were in dry creek beds that came together. As both animals ran from the helicopter, they reached a point where they were running side by side. I could see the jack rabbit as it looked up at the helicopter, then looked at the coyote. It rolled up in a ball flipping end over end.

[Drybones]

Reading thru these posts reminds me of many fond moments, not on the trail but outdoors, hard to pick a favorite, some are:
1. within 2' of a large mountain lion, could have touched him.
2. White tail deer standing on their hind legs boxing under my tree stand.
3. A very, very large beaver walked up to me within reach and started eating branches from a bush.
4. A rabbit came up, sniffed my boot toe as I stood still in a thicket and hopped off, sad ending, my beagle then came by and sniffed the same toe, continued to trail the rabbit and ran it out into the field and I shot and ate it.
5. Mule deer walked into camp.
6. Squirrel hunting in VA, Clinch Mt., stepped into a field, glance up and saw a bear about the same time he saw me. He stood up, looked at me for a moment and ran off. If I told myself how big that bear was I'd call myself a liar....beautiful animal!
7. Sitting 20' up on the side of a tree bow hunting, saw a hawk flying in the distance over a cut over area, started diving and I thought great, I'll get to witness a kill, bird picks up speed and is heading my direction, gets closer and closer, finally realize it's headed for me, made a move with the bird a few feet away and it veared off, I had a camo head net with holes for the eyes, I believe it thought my eyes blinking was a flying squirrel on the side of the tree.
8. Sitting on the ground against a tree in camo bow hunting, deer sees me but can't smell me (imagine that) walks within a few feet stomping its feet and snorting at me...it was tough to keep from laughing.

[Drybones]

A skunk getting into my sleeping bag WITH me in the Smokies Mollies Ridge Shelter.

Bet you didn't have many friends after that.

[Drybones]

Whether it be getting a rare glimpse of a cougar in the wild, or having a bull moose practically run you over on the trail , share what encounter was the most memorable for you.

I'll get things rolling first ; last year while hiking with 4 friends we were stopped dead in our tracks by a large Timber Rattlesnake, (in my gallery) already coiled ,then further provoked( thanks Hikerhead ).
Less than an hour after hiking around the rattler we encountered a hornets nest that apparantly was squashed as it rested under a fallen sapling which my hiking bud stepped on, suddening finding ourselves being attacked by dozens of angry hornets. Poor Andy got the worst of it , stung 4 times.

Now that sounds like a hike my wife and had on the Pinhoti. The wife was withing 6"of putting her foot down on a large rattler (12 rattles & a button) before she one leg hopped over it. One of the dogs got into a hornets nest and ran to me and I got stung trying to get them off her, the wife sat down on a stump to realize she'd sat in a tick pod, had 100's of those wonderful little critted on her, said if that was her first hike it would have been her last...now as I think about it, I believe that was her last.

[SouthMark]

Bet you didn't have many friends after that.

Fortunately he left without spraying. May have thought that my hiker funk was worse.

[tiptoe]

I have a skunk story, too, but not quite so dramatic as SouthMark's. I was cooking dinner at Denny's Campground in NY, a big open field with a tree in the middle. I had my hammock and gear set up at the edge of the woods and was cooking under the tree, with my food bag on the ground, when I realized my spoon was still in my backpack. I stupidly left everything as it was and went back to fetch it. When I returned, the fattest, sleekest skunk I've ever seen was trying to open up the food bag. So I talked to it. I explained calmly, from about 10 feet away, that I really needed that food to continue my hike. The skunk looked at me, equally calmly, and sauntered off. Whew! And I put that food back up in the tree in record time.

Other memorable animal encounters include watching a bear cub play balance beam on a log across the trail (Maryland), and having a deer watch me set up my hammock (Shenandoah Park) from maybe 20 feet away.

[illabelle]

i love these stories! they're so wonderfully wild and real and rare!

[fiddlehead]

My memory is so short anymore.
So, it would have to be the 5" scorpion I saw yesterday while hiking in the jungle.
Of course, next week, I'll probably forget it ever happened.
I'll never forget that sleeping bear that I jumped on when hurdling a blowdown in CO though.

[jimmyjam]

I was stealth camped a few miles south of Black Rock in the SNP this past June. As soon as the sun set the woods came alive as they always do. I heard a large animal over near my food hang. Shining my light over there I saw a pair of eyes right under my hang. Thinking it was a bear, I threw a rock over and yelled at it. The animal moved on. Five minutes later it was back. This time I got a good look at it, it was a good sized buck and he had company. The buck and two does kept coming closer. I could not scare them off. The buck got about 20 feet behind my tent and started pawing the ground, grunting and snorting at me. The does were in front of my tent grazing. I got within 3 feet of the does and they would not go away. The buck kept snorting and would not leave even though I threw some sticks at him.
Then I realized I must be camped in his night time grazing spot as the ground was covered with blueberry bushes (no berries yet). I told the buck that if he would quit snorting at me I would quit yelling and throwing things. I went back in my tent and the deer browsed all around my tent. Sometimes they were so close I could hear them chewing. Then at least one of them came so close that I could hear him/her sniffing at my tent like a dog. I put in my ear plugs and finally fell asleep. No telling how long those deer grazed around my tent. What started out as a scary animal encounter turned out to be a pretty cool one.

[Lone Wolf]

back in 2000 came upon a fisher cat killin' a rabbit near rangeley. rabbit was screamin' like a child. back in the mid-90s watched a bear terrorize hikers at cosby knob shelter, it was caged then, from my tent 30 yards in front of the shelter. back in 91 i was comin' off katahdin about 11pm after supporting Maineak on his 56 day speed hike, about 2.5 miles down the hunt trail i came upon a cow moose in the trail. had to smack her on the butt to get her to move off the trail

[HikerMom58]

i love these stories! they're so wonderfully wild and real and rare!

I love them too!!

[Sarcasm the elf]

Not the most memorable, but I was impressed when I learned that the Beavers along the A.T. in New Jersey use modern building materials.

6004166522_44aa18d64d_b.jpg

Yes the pipe went straight through their dam.

[HikerMom58]

Elf- ur post reminded me of this beaver story from Rash. aka Josh Calhoun

Whoops this..
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=427591

He said the beaver video is there too...

http://www.trailjournals.com/videos.cfm?trailname=13696

[hikerboy57]

http://www.trailjournals.com/Rash

Elf- ur post reminded me of this beaver story from Rash. aka Josh Calhoun

i laughed so hard when i first read it.

[HikerMom58]

i laughed so hard when i first read it.

Me too...Ha ha!!

[garlic08]

One of my most unusual was on backcountry skis, after a 5' snowfall, my buddy was following me carving S's in steep and deep powder, and a deer jumped out of my track. I skied right over it as it hunkered down under the snow. I never knew deer did that. I don't know if I had lain down to die, or to stay warm like a husky.

Similarly, I love it when I'm skiing over tundra in fresh powder and I kick up a ptarmigan--a silent flash of white against white--it can stop your heart.

On another ski trip we scared a puma away from its fresh elk kill.

1993 at Merced Lake, Yosemite National Park ... meeting a Marmot for the first time and not having a clue what a Marmot is. Thought it was a giant squirrel.

This is my favorite so far!