Run ins with wildlife?

[zukiguy]

Stupid armadillos sound the size of a grizzly as they trundle through the underbrush at 2am!!!

[olddog]

My worst encounters have been with raccoons. I had one push a fully loaded cooler off a picnic table to get into it. Then it attacked my tent. The next morning my car was covered in muddy raccoon paw prints.
But my best story was camping in Florida as a kid. The raccoon wouldn't leave our campsite, so my dad threw a hammer at it. The hammer barely missed the raccoon. It retreated a few steps, then turned around, came back, picked up the hammer, and ran into the bushes with it. We never found the hammer.

Reminds me of a trip to Ft. Desoto Park over on the Gulf coast back in the tent camping days. On a previous trip the racoons had raided most of the plastic Coleman/Igloo coolers. On this trip I had borrowed my fathers metal Coleman with the turn latch thinking this would keep them out. Wrong! We were sitting there around the fire when he walked up to the cooler flipped the latch, lifted the lid with one hand, rummaged around and grabbed his swag with the other and hit the mangroves. All in just a couple of minutes, we all sat there in amazement until the brother-in-law said " That's not his first Coleman"

[kayak karl]

skunk at Hiker Welcome hostel in NH. was hanging in backyard when i saw it i under my hammock tugging on the zipper pull of my pack. when it moved i grabbed my pack and ran in the hostel as all the motion lights came on. 6'3" in my underwear bounding across the yard, turned out to be the neighbors trained skunk, but Fat Chap got a big laugh out of it.

[ShadowAlpha]

I know the small eastern screech owl can make quite a horrific sound. Much like something from the dinosaur age. The movie my cousin Vinny is a good example lol.

I look forward to the owls on my property during cooler months. enjoy listening to the while I sit by the firepit. They do make a ruckus!

I have a nephew vinny in NJ....

[Sidewinder]

Yesterday my son (13) and I were wrapping up a bike packing trip in the Tahoe national forest. We had just packed up our hammocks to began a 5 mile decent to our destination. He went ahead of me (likes to ride fast). I was lagging behind packing up the last of my things and getting the dog ready to run. After about 10 minutes on the decent trail he spots a brown bear cub in the middle of the trail. He dismounts and takes a few steps back. The bear advances a few feet towards him. my son takes a few more steps back and realizes that the bear is intent on coming closer. My son decide to play dead and lays down on his side. The bear comes over him to sniff him. After about a minute, the bear heads into the woods. I come down the trail to find my son spooked and shaking. I told him he was lucky the momma bear did not make an appearance. Not sure if he did the right thing or not but he's still here to tell the story. He now wants to carry bear spray.

S

[Jayson]

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.

[Tighe]

Years ago tent camping in the mountains of western NC, we were woken in the middle of the night by a lot of leaf rustling and noise. Opened the door of the tent just in time to see a deer running full-speed directly at us and no more than 20 ft from the tent. The deer made a sharp turn and went on down the ridge. Whatever was chasing it followed, which I was thankful for.

Tighe

[L.D. Cakes]

Years ago we thought it would be cool to spread a blanket out in the middle of a meadow & have an old fashioned picnic. About the time I opened the ham a bear cub came tumbling down the bank behind me followed by a couple more...then came Mamma bear! We froze and let them pass, she kept her eye on us the whole time as she followed her cubs up & over the next bank. Then we got the H out of there! That was my first lesson about how many bears there are in the Smokies.

My most recent one was back in the dead of winter when I was testing gear for near 0 degrees. I kept hearing an animal screaming...it was the sound of a Bobcat not too far away.

[G.L.P.]

once i was out with Dutch and i seen a Deer sniff his rear while he was sleeping ..... it was pretty funny
my uncle woke up to a deer eating his lunch while hunting.... for deer LOL

[webhanger]

Desert ground camping I woke up one morning to put my bag away (I typically sleep under the stars) lifted my bag only to realize I had a bull snake come snuggle with me. Luckily he didn't try to join me on the inside of the bag.

Hanging is better what can I say.