Run ins with wildlife?

[Inphenity]

I was out on a day hike with my dog a few miles back into the Congaree swamp here in SC and had a run in with a wild pig. There were a bunch of palm fronds piled up in the middle of the trail so I stopped to look for an easy way around them and heard a bunch of rustling in the brush about 50 yards off. I let out a couple of loud "HEY"s and was greeted by a bunch of very angry sounding grunting. I'm sure I turned about 5 shades of white when I had the realization that I had no idea how to handle a wild pig. I could see the (pretty thick) brush shaking and it was coming in my direction. I didn't want to run and give an open invitation for this thing to chase me so we turned around and "power walked" out of the area.

[Loki]

...
This weekend, the donkeys learned that they could 'plink' the suspension of my hammock like a guitar string. I think they took great joy plinking it and watching me sit bolt-upright. ....

Cannibal, can you get that on video? Motion-activated wildlife video-cam anyone?

[Loki]

ZOMBIES!!! You just see one, but there is never just one out there.

Ahhh, a scout for the apocalypse?

[MDSH]

Bears are everywhere and a nuisance in the Great Smoky Mountains NP. One destroyed my son's soccer ball and a tent down the way. One came to dinner on the trail in Shenandoah NP.

Deer snorted and stamped at me one night in Clifty Wilderness in KY.

Apparently, skunks don't care how they smell and walk around wherever they want. I've had several wander into camp over the decades.

I've seen Elk in Oregon and heard them bugling in New Mexico.

On a deer stand in Arkansas a wren lit upon the barrel of my gun. It flitted one way and then the other trying to figure me out, motion-less in camo. That was so cool.

Deer will study you, too. They figure something is wrong but apparently need to smell you before suspicions are confirmed!

The moose on Cape Breton Island are awesome. I saw a bull with antlers at least 6' across. It was a huge animal. I got within 25 yards of him. The cows spooked but he just kept eating, not a care in the world.

I always enjoy seeing hawks, kites, owls, and eagles.

[burtonator]

In Yellowstone about a month ago we had a red squirrel jump on my niece's ridge line.

I'm not sure if you have heard them before but they are VERY vocal. More like loud birds.

Anyway. This freaked the squirrel out WAY more than my niece as he wasn't use to a stick feeling like a ridgeline.

[burtonator]

I just got back from Yellowstone and EVERYTHING was a game trail.

There were signs of animals EVERYWHERE.

At one point TREE after TREE was literally covered in hair and scratches.

I'm pretty sure it was elk and NOT a grizzly but I was stilly really nervous that night.

I hanged out over a game trail at Buffalo Point earlier this year. I didn't really think about it. But I will now! At night, it turned out to be the coon and possum highway. I heard something in the middle of night, swung my feet out as I grabbed my headlamp and turned it on. There were at least 3 possums about 2 feet from me. I screamed and they were as frightened as I was.

[burtonator]

Back in my Boy Scout days on a weeklong paddle in Algonquin we had a medium sized black bear wander into camp. Bugger got within 4 - 5' of our fire before we chased it off...the first time.
He returned numerous times until we let our beagle loose, what a sight watching a 30lb dog tree a 200lb bear.
We woke in the morning to find our food ate or scattered, he had chewed the branch that our bear bag rope was over until it dropped enough to reach the bag.
Long 2 days with nothing but oatmeal and what fish we caught. Turns out he was a relocated dump bear, got a group of girl guides a couple nights before is and a pair of rangers a couple nights after us.

In Yosemite (from my understanding) the rangers will chase after them and hunt them down and shoot them with bean bags and rubber pellets.

Here's a video of them doing it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbVPIp5HE2g

[burtonator]

Skunks...multiple occasions. None have resulted in a smelly mess thankfully.

You really have to provoke them. They don't WANT to spray because they don't have an infinite supply.

I actually had them coming into my back yard and was feeding one for a while. I would go in the backyard and toss it cat food and it was about five feet from me.

Little guy was SO confident he really didn't care I was there as long as I didn't make any sudden moves.

He kind of thought the whole thing was a fun game.

[cwciwatch]

Had a bear scratching at the door of the tent one evening, ( I nearly filled my pants). Also was surrounded by a pack of coyotes one night that found it amusing to keep me up for a couple hours. I wasn't all that worried about the coyotes, they are pretty harmless to humans for the most part but the bear incident was scary and I often reflect on it when camping now.

[burtonator]

Black bear? What did you do? Was it curious or was up to no good?

One of the problems of a tent and a hammock is that getting out in an EMERGENCY is not exactly easy.

I had an incident recently which makes me think I should sleep with my shoes IN the hammock.

A deer LITERALLY ran into my camp... scaring the hell out of me.

I screamed HEY BEAR and it ran away but at the time I just heard MORE noise.

It took me what seemed like FOREVER to get out of the hammock, get my shoes on, etc.

By the time I jumped out, the deer had ran away and was like 100 yards from my camp. I scared him WAY more than he scared me I think.

However, if I were to scream HEY BEAR that loud and it were a grizzly that would probably not be good news and might provoke an attack.

The best situation I think would be to slip on my shoes, get my bear spray in silence. Then try to get out slowly and assess the situation.

I should only announce myself once I can get the heck out of my hammock easily enough in case it were to charge me.

Had a bear scratching at the door of the tent one evening, ( I nearly filled my pants). Also was surrounded by a pack of coyotes one night that found it amusing to keep me up for a couple hours. I wasn't all that worried about the coyotes, they are pretty harmless to humans for the most part but the bear incident was scary and I often reflect on it when camping now.