wild animal stories, got one??

[mamabear]

Several yrs ago I was camping at the top of Stehieken(?) Lake in WA. Was a gorgeous cold autumn night, so my mummy bag was tied tight round my face. after watchin the stars and drifting to sleep, I felt something at my feet. I open my eyes to see a bear pawing at my bag!!! I can't get out of my bag so I jump up & scream for all I'm worth. She rears up & I see a cub with her. I'm thinkin ok they're gonna find me in bear scat, but she makes a wierd scream herself & runs off into the dark. My campin buddy has been watchin all this happen & is about as white as a ghost. We knew there was supposed to be a camp hut up the path so without sayin a thing we pack up & shakily make our way to it. the sleeping shelves are about 6 ft off the ground so up we go. Believe it or not I was actually able to go back to sleep after about 4 hours of shaking. Once again I wake to something pawing at my bag!!!!! My hiking buddy is pawing & cracking up!! That was the last time I ever hiked with him! & no he lived to tell about it. I didn't kill him. but sure as hoot thought about it!!

 

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[Bridge End Farm]

Several yrs ago I was camping at the top of Stehieken(?) Lake in WA. Was a gorgeous cold autumn night, so my mummy bag was tied tight round my face. after watchin the stars and drifting to sleep, I felt something at my feet. I open my eyes to see a bear pawing at my bag!!! I can't get out of my bag so I jump up & scream for all I'm worth. She rears up & I see a cub with her. I'm thinkin ok they're gonna find me in bear scat, but she makes a wierd scream herself & runs off into the dark. My campin buddy has been watchin all this happen & is about as white as a ghost. We knew there was supposed to be a camp hut up the path so without sayin a thing we pack up & shakily make our way to it. the sleeping shelves are about 6 ft off the ground so up we go. Believe it or not I was actually able to go back to sleep after about 4 hours of shaking. Once again I wake to something pawing at my bag!!!!! My hiking buddy is pawing & cracking up!! That was the last time I ever hiked with him! & no he lived to tell about it. I didn't kill him. but sure as hoot thought about it!!

I would not need any more sleep after that for I would be wide awake kicking his behind.....

 

[mamabear]

ya he was lucky he was so big & I was so little!!

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I would have needed to change underwear and sleeping bag before I could have gotten back to sleep.





B

 

[mamabear]

animals never cease to amaze me!

back in I think it was "73 I hitched across Canada. Met some of the nicest people up there. One ride, a family, took me to the park I was gonna camp in. They asked me not to, cuz a bear had mauled a couple people, & they hadn't caught it yet. but being young & stupid I said I would be fine. Really wanted to chk the park out. I took all the precautions, hauling my backpack up a tree, making sure no food was out, burned all packages etc. that smelled like food. In the middle of the night I hear somethin outside my tent. then I hear somethin rip open my pack up in the tree. I am scared to death!! come dawn, when I can see whats happenin, I peek out the tent & see a racoon enjoying a feast of what was my wks supply of food. My pack was shredded, clothes were everywhere, if I remember correctly, he made off with my can opener, & my map was worthless. but I was ALIVE. it wasn't the rogue bear!! never forget the feeling of foolishness cleaning up after that little critter

 

[Old Dog]

Back some years ago, when my older brother Norm was alive He invited me to come out and spend a few nights with him at an outfit he was guiding for.
I went and as fortune would have it they had an unused cabin, and let me have it. There had been reports of a bear coming through and everyone was on alert, especially those who had licences.
The next night we heard from Norm's cabin several loud Booms. I looked around and didn't see anything, some of the hunters were saying I should go see if he was OK, I told them I knew that Norm kept a 45 long colt handy and I wasn't going anywhere near that cabin till morning. After hearing that they agreed.

The next morning I saw a sleepy eyed Norm come out the door and asked if he got that bear.
He told us no, but he did get the packrat that was trying to steal his watch!

I miss Norm,
Thanks Mamabear for letting me share this memory.

Thom

 

[mamabear]

Thom, sometimes waxing nostalgic is fun, a little sad too. Where are all the Norms?

 

[Old Dog]

Mamabear,

Anytime I can relate a story of my brother Norm is a sweet and wonderful time. He was my best friend and biggest supporter.
Here is what I mean by best friend.

We were walking into the Golden Triangle to a lake we knew of to do some flyfishing. this lake rarely sees people because not only is it remote but the forest around it is like jackstraws. The trees are so cluttered and unkept that sometimes when traversing through it you are going down tree trunks that are 7 or 8 feet off the ground. when we finally made the 24 mile trek into the lake I noticed Norm sitting with his feet in the water just resting. His shoes had come almost apart, and his feet were pretty sad looking.
I asked him why he didn't say something so he could change his shoes.

Norm's only comment was "It didn't seem important at the time."

I don't know how many people can say they had a friend walk the soles off their shoes for them, but Norm did that for me. That isn't just a brother, that is a rare friend.
Not a wildlife story but to me a special one.

Thom

 

[fossis]

While driving home from work, the truck in front of me startled a hawk that was flying over, the hawk dropped a 'Copperhead snake' squarely in the bed of the truck., (the guy probably thought someone was out to get him).
A friend told of a story while out hunting, he heard a noise in a barrel, in an old barn, it was a 'possum & a racoon', he turned the barrel over, & they resumed their fight.
Another guy, while seeking shelter from a rainstorm, went into an old brick powder shack at some local coal mines, while his eyes were getting used to the dark room, he heard the 'buzz of a rattler', it was 7' long.
Some local guys were 'hogging catfish', (catching them with their hands), this one guy had a hayhook, the fish twisted out from the hook in it's gills, & the hook caused severe damage to his own arm.
Another friend was using a 'predator call', when a large mountain lion almost got him, I called one up once, my son heard it scream, we never saw it.
A friends son was going out the door to go to work at 5:00 in the AM, when he came face to face with a large 'Black cat', it ran off the porch, & when he came out again with a rifle, it was as tall as the bumper on his half ton truck, (he didn't shoot), several have been seen around here, I saw a half-grown one that was dark grey.
Okie Hillbilly saw one while Raccoon hunting in the 1950's, he was getting a drink out of a creek, when he felt (something looking at him), it was a Black cat, sitting across the creek staring at him, he still get's spooked when he talks about that incident, (he was wearing a carbide light) on his cap.

I could go on & on & on..................... Fossis....................

 

[mamabear]

Wow Fossis, lots of stories. I hope we all pass these along to the kids cuz they don't get much of these kind of experiences. noodeling cats seems to me a crazy thing to do. I've seen too many snappin turtles & snakes hiding in holes.. they are crazy fo sho! My daughter use to run everyday on our road, til she saw a panther cuttin into the woods in front of her. She won't run anymore.

 

[watercolor]

Last summer I was driving along a back road in southern Wisconsin at 45-mph and was approaching a recent "road kill" carcass that was lying in the middle of the road maybe 100 yards ahead of me. When I was maybe 20-yards from it, a Hawk that was in "full-dive" mode flew directly over the hood of my car (scared the cr@p out of me) and snatched up the carcass. . . I was shaking and had goose-bumps at the same time. . . it was one of the coolest things I had every seen.

 

[truckinbutch]

Winter of 1964 while feeding hay to our cow herd I watched a bobcat run in a small hole in a crawlspace foundation of a shack on our farm.
I ran down and entered the hole armed with a 3 prong pitchfork with the intent of gettin' myself a bobcat.
His snarls when I plugged his only escape hole with my body caused me to wonder about my judgement.3prong one stab fork opposed to 4 sets of ambidexterous guthooks and a meat shredder with snarls coming from it and I was only going to get one chance.
Judgement overcame testosterone and I retired the field with both of us unscathed.

 

[Old Dog]

Wen I was about 7 years old my Grandpop expressed in passing his concern about a pair of spotted skunks that had taken up residence under a corner of the house we lived in.
After much consulting with several neighbors and a local exterminator ...(which amounted to a hen session in the yard producing nothing) ... Pop decided to cure the problem himself.
He did what he thought was the meanest thing in his book possible. He set a radio just in the crawl space tuned to a rock and roll station, and left it to play constantly.

The next morning just as the sun came up I watched as two adult skunks and eight babies made their way into the woods in a most hurried procession.
Everytime I hear a kid ask what's wrong with this music I listen to?
I remember those poor skunks hightailing it for a new home.

LOL

Thom

 

[mamabear]

Now, that is a good one Thom!! wonder why more people don't use this method.
Maxine I like the unknown species theory. Think I'll go with that one. although "panther" tends to send more chills down the old backbone than "unknown species" hmm maybe not. say it again

 

[mamabear]

memories to cherish. foxes are so cute. & to see the kits playing would have been wonderful.

 

[corklabus]

It's probably been 25 years ago, the one and only time I ever got suckered into going coon hunting. Now I have nothing against the hunting of coon or any other species. I was just a city boy back then and wasn't too sure about being in the woods at night chasing a bunch of noisy dogs and not having the foggiest idea where I was.
There was 6 of us on the hunt. One of these men was nearly in his seventies and in advanced stages breathing disorders from working in coal mines, smoking etc.;
We trudged throught the dark woods for quite a while and doing our best to avoid the bear droppings all along the path. The dogs picked up on a scent an took off through the brush and whatever.
The older fella told the rest of us that he was going to stop and take a break to catch his breath and have a smoke. The rest were anxious to follow the dogs and since I didn't know diddly about coon hunting I said I'd stay and keep him company.
We sat there a while and smoked, chatted and rested. Shortly we decided to see where the rest had ended up because there was all sorts of racket comming from the dogs indicating they had cornered something.
The old fella and I had just barely gained our balance from getting to our feet when we heard something coming fast through the leaves and we no sooner had looked to see what was coming and were run slap over and knocked down by a black panther. I don't have any idea what spooked that cat, but he was hell bent to get somewhere fast and didn't care what got in his way. He didn't so much as batt an eye and kept right on going. Needless to say I never developed any great liking for coon hunting.

 

[mamabear]

what? that didn't make you wanna get right back out there? After you cleaned your pants? good one!

 

[Hemisteve]

Great stories above.
I live in bear country and had three cubs last week. Hopefully I can get some pics next time they show up. Here is a bear story that happened about 10 years ago to a good friend of ours. I was at her house the day after to estimate the damage for her insurance company.

Our friend had a bear that broke into her garage. He had broke a panel in the garage door, looked around and left. A couple of days later he came back and went in the same hole he had made previously. This time he did'nt just sniff around. He pushed open the door to the house, went inside and "click".
The door closed behind him. Yep, stuck in the house. So he meanders upstairs to the, what else, kitchen.
Now our friend was home at the time with her 3 mo. old baby. She starts hearing noises coming from the kitchen and knowing that there was'nt anyone else in the house, she peers down the hallway and that bear was sitting in front of the fridge snacking like theres no tomorrow.
Obviously scared to death, she closes the bedroom door and calls 911.
So the local sheriffs dept. and fire dept. show up and rescue her and the baby from the second story window.
Now, what do they do? Well, they need to get the bear out of the house so they prop open the garage door and start making lots of noise trying to get that bear to run outside. The bear freaked out and started destroying everything in her kitchen and living room. That bear finally ended up breaking out a window and slid down the outside of the house and ran away. They caught that bear a few days later and had to put it down. It had been a major problem in our area for quite a few weeks and had visited our house also.
That bear had torn off about half the cabinet doors in the kitchen and knocked over a display cabinet which held a large collection of antique asian dolls her mother had given her. Drywall damage, some huge claw marks down the outside of her house, food and misc. strewn everywhere.
What a mess!
She felt really bad that they had to kill that bear.

Here is another quick one. This happened last Oct.
My wife leaves for work at 4 am. So she's on the net about 3 in the morning having a cop of joe and starts hearing nails being pulled. She turns on the porch light and does'nt see anything, opens the front door and peers over the deck. There was a bear sitting there pulling battens off my house trying to get underneath in the storage area! Living up in bear country, we learned many years ago to not leave any garbage outside. That bear smelled the garbage and was hungry. She yelled at him and he ran off. Luckily he did'nt come back.

Hope you enjoyed
Steve

 

[spelunker2]

'nother animal story.

A buddy and I went to Tillamook Bay to go fishing.
He had a friend that was staying in campgroundin his motor home,
but also had a boat we were going to take in the ocean.
We pulled up in the Oregon rain and Gary knocks on the door to MH.
Invited in, he goes first and as I was stepping in a 35lb. bobcat lands on my head
and shoulders and knocks me outside. The owner yelled at bobcat and explained
his pet had been de-clawed in front so not to worry. We left soonest.

 

[bean man]

When I was in the Marines, I put a kangaroo rat in my buddies hooch, while he was sleeping. You could hear, boink, boink, as the rat jumped against the inside of the tent. All of a sudden, the hooch exploded, and then ran off, with ropes and tent stakes flying wildly in the air behind it. Funny thing was, my buddy was still in his sleeping bag. He was a tough kid from the inner city, who was not afraid of any man, but didn't like critters. Let me tell you, it ain't easy running away from somebody, when your laughing that hard.