Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Any Stories With Close Calls With Unhappy wildlife?

Anybody have any stories, withe close calls with wildlife out hunting, fishing, hiking, etc.?

I've had a few close calls with moose getting into my hay shed when I go to feed horses.

About March in a tough year, moose are in real bad moods, especially when they think they have found groceries. Less-than-lethal shot loads convince them of my superiority!

Had a run in with a sow and 2 cubs back in '95 in the Brooks Range while sheep hunting, didn't end well for the sow.

I had a squirrel run up my leg

title is about "unhappy" wildlife.

Squill are happy to get a nut!

Here and there, starting with that pair of muskrats that came over the gun'als to rescue the baby we had dip netted, causing 4 of us to abandon ship, anchored in the middle of the river. That was in high school. A couple years later I came eyeball to bore-sight with a skunk on an extremely dark night. Shortly after that I moved to Alaska where it was safe.

Except for that one shoulder shot moose, I think everything up here that's expressed a difference of opinion with me was grinning at the time....

Please tell me you screamed like a teenage girl, because that would make my day!

I had a seagull fly into my head once.

Mine is kind of comical.

While hunting elk in Idaho took one morning to hike up to a lake and fish for cutthroat. Guide was supposed to meet us up there around 11am with the horses to eat lunch and then hunt in the afternoon.

While fishing I set my Model 7 camo stock next to tree and fished the shore line. 11am came and went with no sign of the guide or horses. Around 1130 I heard hooves on the rocky ground behind me and turned away from the lake to greet the guide. Except it wasnt the guide it was a moose calf about 25 feet away.

I kind of wanted to get a picture of it, so moved towards my daypack where the camera was, but which was also in the direction of the calf. I got the camera just after the calf made some sort of "help Mama!" kind of call and ran off.

I heard more rustling in the brush and saw mama Moose coming at me. At that point I realized that I really should be holding my rifle rather than the camera, but the camo stock worked just well enough that I wasnt sure which tree it was next to.

At this point me and mama moose stared at each other for a few seconds across the 25 feet that separated us as I contemplated how quick I could get into the lake in the event she charged.

I still had the camera in hand, but as she had a "We Are Not Amused!, give me a reason to stomp you into the ground!" look going on, I decided that raising the camera was not advisable.

It seemed like we stared at each other both frozen for a long time, but was probably less than 15 seconds. Then the calf who had created some distance made it's little sound again, and mama moose moved off towards it.

After she turned I decided to take the picture, and she turned to give me one last "dont fugg with my calf" look.

In looking back, that was one of those near death experiences that you get yourself into unknowingly.

Did not get an elk that trip, but I do have a picture of the ass end of mama moose, which I will have to dig out of the box, scan, and add to this edited post.

a few, one or two momma moose

couple of close encounters with bears

but the most serious happened to my best pard

nothing as frightening as 458 Win though, I'da had to drop trou and make sure both nuts were still there!

There was this one gal..... better not go there!

I had a ptarmigan land on my head while I was picking his high bush blueberry bush. Boy was he pissed! Cussed me for a half-hour!! At least it was from the next tree over than from my head...

One of us screamed like a teenage girl...... You would have to check the octaves.

Shot a young squirrel out of the tree. He was hit pretty hard but was crawling away so I put my foot on him. He started squealing real loud. I had to shoot mama squirrel in self defense.

That's about it. Well there was the time I was standing on a Copperheads tail.

There was this Sasquatch I encountered in a northern Idaho bar just before moving to Alaska. The sighting was not consum- I mean confirmed, as I was closer to the exit when she became momentarily distracted.....

How about this one. Tripper Lab (and I ) has had similar encounters many times with moose, including this cow, who grew up in and around the yard. She and the Lab are both aver 10 years old, and she just doesn't give a chit. The calf, after wanting to sniff noses with the furiously barking dog, finally got pissed and charged him shortly after this pic, taken with an iphone.

Trip has had similar encounters with a wolf, and a sow brown bear with year-old cubs in the yard. The sow pointedly did not make eye contact with me, 30 feet behind the dog. If she did, we both knew she would have to do something about it, and I'd have to beat her up with my garden trowel. What you call a good bear!

Most of my encounters revolved around predator calling. Was up to the mountains just under treeline. Made my set against a pile of blown over spruce. I had covered my legs with snow to hide and keep warm. After finishing my second string, I caught movement to my left. In seconds, a Martin appeared on the scene...and on my knees. It looked up at my head and seemed very curious. That is until I laughed at it. It started running around in tight circles for a moment then leaped up onto the top of my head and bounded up over my deadfall backstop...

Was sitting under a small spruce one time and had an owl land in the branch a foot above me. Didn't fancy a perforated hat that evening. Twas very close that one was...

Went out with a pard and had a Lynx jump between us and attack our decoy. we were sitting 2 feet apart. Never knew he was there until he "flew" by us...

Had found a dead yearling wolf that a moose had kicked. Was no sign of a dead moose so imagined he or she had sucessfully avoided the dinner invitation. Thought I'd set up 25 yards cross wind from said wolf and just wait for what might come in for a Scooby snack. 10 minutes into the set, I saw a moose approaching. Thought it might be interesting to see the cow's reaction when it winded the wolf. I felt somewhat "naked" when it dawned on my pea brain that the "cow" was really a griz. I was armed to the teeth with a 10/22 Ruger. Thankfully, the bear picked the wolf up in it's maw and did an "about face" as smooth as any seasoned veteran might. That was the turning poin in my career as a predator caller when I decided to carry something a tad bit larger those first few days in March. Did have to do a little more sewing up of hides, but felt it worthwhile somehow...

I came around the corner of the incubation building one day and about 100ft away was a brown bear sow with her cub. As soon as she saw me she charged. I was pretty sure I was toast but she wheeled around and took off with cub in tow. I got lucky.

My old manager told me a story of him going to check out one of our trap net locations when he noticed a dead moose calf in the river. He went to go investigate it when mom came running out of the willows attempting to turn him into strawberry jam. The only place he could go was into the water, and she wouldn't let him back out. This was in early March if I remember right and it was COLD. He said by the time he got the attention of some people driving by who chased the moose off, he was severely hypothermic. He had to scream the whole 5 minute drive back to the trailers just to keep from passing out. Turned the shower on and layed there until he stopped shaking. Scary.

Had a momma moose that made it clear I'd have to give her a wide birth and detour through a swamp vs. returning on the path I'd taken out on a hike.

Conversely have had a momma with youngins chillin in our back yard for hours and didn't mind a bit the many pictures I snapped of them.



My daughter was even licked once by a calf as momma looked on.

Neighbor had a fresh-planted crabapple tree and objected to a cow moose nibbling on it. To chase it off he got creative and ran his RC Car at it to chase it off. It almost worked until an over-sized tuft of grass high-centered it. Cow suddenly changed from unhappy to very happy as she proceeded to stomp it into plastic chips.

Had a martin on Afognak Island decide my deer was his. He had pulled ALL the hair off a big piece of neck and was spitting mouthfuls of hair in the air. He really resented me for taking the deer and followed for quite a way down the trail.

An ermine decided a Dolly Varden I had just caught was his and was doing his best to drag it away from the instant it nosed into the beach. I used the long rod to keep the fish just deep enough to keep him from getting it, but he would not leave the beach and came after my boots every time I tried to get close and chase him off.

If Ermin or Martin weighed 100 pounds, we would all be in trouble!!!

I've gotten between cow moose and calf a few times. Some cows don't even like you in the same zip code as a calf. Been chased by a couple young bulls too in Kincaid park, which I never quite figured out. At least I'm not alone: http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/hunting-moose-in-kincaid-park-this-is-one-mans-proposal/30594824

We had a grizzly walk right to us after shooting a black bear a few years back, and then cut the black bear up in the alders not terribly sure where mr grizz had gone. Walking out with one headlamp between the two of us wasn't terribly comforting.

Had an incident in the brooks with a grizz, where I was the only one with a gun, which resulted in my buddy buying an airweight 44. But everyone survived.

As far as potential for disaster, this seems in hindsight to be pretty high on the list:


90lb lab for size comparison:


But nothing happened....