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....

Damn Chris, you sure put a lot more trust in that woof than I ever would. Was that anywhere near Artillery Road by chance?

...this time!

It was in south anchorage, lower hillside. Wandered in with a boxer-looking dog one day and hung around for about a week. I suspect it was someone's pet that got too big and got dumped.

I carried a gun around the house for about a week.

Yeah, if it came in with another dog it was a pet at one point. Doesn't change the danger fact totally, but it does some for sure.

Those woofs sure are nice looking. Always thought they were cool looking critters.

Would scare me into shooting next to my lab except under your circumstances.

Not myself but, my hunting buddy had a wild bore charge him during a turkey hunt in OK. You can't imagine how many turkey rounds out of a 20 gauge shotgun that it takes to stop a pissed off hog. It sounded like a small war. Needless to say, our turkey hunting that morning was finished.

Once walked around the corner of a building at a plant and surprised a woodchuck. Unfortunately, it was cornered and there was no way out except past me. Reared up on it hind legs, and started to make a chittering noise, then charged me, grabbed my leg in its front paws and bit my leg. Made a nice laceration right through my pants. Ran off a little ways and stopped, rear up and chittered again, like it was telling me off, then took off.

Try explaining that injury in an accident report

Not as scary as hiking up on bear cubs though. Did that in Penfield, PA area, cute things ran off scalling and then I noticed Mama. She started toward me, but fortunately for me the cubs were running past and away from her, so she stopped and went after them. That raised the heartbeat a bit.

I knew all other stories would pale in comparison to whatever Phil had to tell!

I've been charged by pigs before. Even had a wounded javelina bounce off my rubber boots because I was in the only path out.

None of them bothered me that much.

But I don't know what I'd do with a pissed off Moose or bear. Those would have me screaming I suspect

I ran into a pack of wolves twice back in 08 on Ft Rich (south side of the Glenn) while bow hunting for moose. One time they were feeding on a bow killed moose shot the day before and the other time I was sitting on a spot where a friend of mine had killed a bull a few weeks prior near upper Campbell Creek.

Both times the wolves were less than 25 yards from me, kinda gave me the creeps, especially when I caught one of them trying to circle me from behind. I was carrying my 44 so I wasn't too worried but it still made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The time I was hunting off my buddies stand (there was snow on the ground) my buddy and I were coming back out after having those wolves come into my bull grunts, there were fresh brown bear tracks over ours and you could see where he walked into the woods about 50 yards from our stand. He must have heard us coming and got off the trail to let us pass.

I still believe to this day that he was coming to calls and I'm glad we stopped when we did.

I was working in the Swanson River oilfield one March and came around the corner of a building with my head down and almost bumped into a young bull moose that was coming the other way. Luckily he was just as rattled as I was and hauled ass.

Been chased a few times down here by moose, one time I was fishing a small stream and a cow was in the willows on the bank so I detoured around her and kept fishing. Next thing I knew she was trotting out of the brush toward me making a strange bellowing sound. Then I heard another sound behind me, turned and looked and there was her calf. Took another nanosecond to realize I was directly between them, and for my legs to start working, hauled ass and she broke off the chase.

Another time a bull with two cows saw me from about a hundred yards, lowered his head, and started coming. When he saw how fast I was, he gave up.

And it is a good thing martens are small. Once a bud and I stashed some elk quarters on top of a big rock while we hauled some other stuff out. Came back and a pine marten had claimed 'em. He wouldn't back down, kept hopping from one to the other and showing his teeth.

I thought we were gonna have to shoot him but some rocks convinced him to give up.

Had a momma moose back me up into the brush so far I couldn't back up any farther. Two more aggressive steps on her part and my Redhawk would have left powder burns on her snout.

Had a grizzly circling us one time in heavy brush. Huffed at us a couple times. Backed out and got out of there.

Had to shoot a big sow on Kodiak while goat and deer hunting. She had two 2-year old cubs with her. Was definitely not a false charge. We were on a small hill and as they got close (about 50 yards), and it was obvious our paths were going to collide, I raised my arms and yelled. She stood up, looked at up, dropped down and came at a dead run. Because of the tall grass and the rise of the hill I couldn't really see her once she dropped down, I could only the grass parting as she came. I shot her at about 5 yards. Luckily it rolled her downhill. My second shot killed her. By this time she was about 40 yards away and she rolled down into the alders.

Waited about 30 minutes and went to find her and then ran into the cubs down in the alders. Fired a couple shots and ran them off. Left for the evening and came back the next morning. Had to run the cubs off again, but finally found the sow. Skinned her out and turned the hide and skull over to F&G.

Had a few black bear run-ins as well, but they were not nearly as exciting.

In spite of the AK myth, most close calls seem to involve moose, cows especially!

I was told that early on. And since we've been visiting since 86 appx, I tend to totally believe it.

I"m more nervous close to moose than to bears generally... Especially when calling in the fall and a big cow sticks her head in the bush with you and then gets that wild eyed WTF are you look...

Or walk out the door and mom has her young ones with her in the yard...

I was out grouse hunting with a buddy near Pocatello, Idaho one fine late September day, just outside the city limits. There were a lot of moose around. We came upon a cow and a small bull. He apparently thought we had designs on his lady friend...

We had a stare-down for about a minute, then he started walking towards us. He was maybe 30-40 yards away when he started. So we backed up. He kept coming, but would stop when we stopped.

I put two 20 gauge rounds into the ground at his feet, and he didn't even blink or flinch.

So we kept backing up over small finger ridges that separated drainages into the main creek. He kept following. Additional rounds didn't seem to impress him. We finally got some distance on him and he stopped and went back to his girlfriend.

I don't imagine he kept her for long, as maybe 30 minutes later we saw a huge bull at about 250-300 yards heading his way from a atop a larger ridge above the creek.

For our next trick, same day, we were hiking down a two track, and jumped a couple of grouse. We followed them towards some heavy brush near another creek.

A loud grunting noise warned us away from the brush. At that point, we decided to call it quits on grouse hunting in that area, at least until the rut was done !

In my 44 years in Alaska I have been charged by moose maybe a half dozen times, never by a bear, tho there have been some pucker times , and once I was mistaken for a potential meal of sheep or caribou. But then again I don't go around poking holes in big bears....

There was this "yard" yearling bull moose we called Ornery, because he was. At one time or another he charged everyone in the neighborhood during the winter, which we wrote off to winter stress, mildly injuring one person as she went to the car in dark.

One spring morning I went to tighten rivets in my flat bottom boat. Ornery was bedded down about 40 yards away on the property line. I put the film camera up head-high on the deck stairs after taking his picture and proceeded to pound rivets.

For some reason I looked up to find Ornery in full charge at 20 yards! I beat him to the door and slammed it in his face. Literally. I turned around to find his face pressed against the glass. Later I found he had hit the stairs hard enough in rounding the corner that he had knocked the Pentax SLR off the stairs, destroying it.

One day my neighbor found Ornery between his door and the truck when Rip was trying to go to town. Ornery wasn't moving showing aggression. So Rip got his bow and a flu-flu and thumped the moose in the ribs. Ornery jumped then picked up the arrow and started chewing it.

Rip decided tomorrow would be a better day to go to town

You know what they say,... "A myth is as good as a mile!"

Heh!

only God and that wolf knows why. we lose dogs here all the time to Wolves

I knew it would be tough to top Phil...but I got to try....I was attacked-and bitten- by a mama bluegill in shallow water once....


Does a fish count?

I have apple trees here on the place and the moose come in during the coldest part of late winter and "prune " them for me. because we had 3 grizz in the yard some years back I fenced the immediate yard with chain link to protect the dogs.gives them about an acre to call theirs. only 4 ft high but the deer and bear respect it. not so with the moose. one was pruning a tree just outside the fence and the dogs were having a ball barking at it from inside. Mr moose got tired of hearing then and whipped around, chest slammed the fence and came right through it. I was standing on the porch and slid the door open for the dogs to grease through and slid it closed in the moose's face.
he blew snot all over the glass and stood there grinding his teeth for a while then went back to pruning apple trees after making another hole in the fence. I swear he did it just out of spite. after a half hour I went out the other side of the house and he was bedded down under the firs next to the driveway. as soon as he saw me he was on his legs and in full charge with his teeth dared. I got back in the house and got my 9410. with 7 1/2 shot. went out and he had his rump to me about 20 or so yards. he was in high gear headed for Washington when the last hull hit the ground. my wife has declared a 3 strikes rule. after 3 aggressive moves they go in the freezer.

Was it a wild fish?

Yes. Female on a bed in shallow water..I reached down to touch her, and she glommed on to my thumb like a little pitbull fish!

pirhana complex! lol

Nice pix!

No nunchuks?

I guess I'm lucky that I've never had any real close calls. A couple of moose with attitudes but nothing I would call real close. One time while fishing the Kenai my buddy was taking a piss break and went into the woods. When he got back in there I started firing rocks into the brush. He came peeling out of there pissin all over himself screaming about a big bear he just saw crashing though the trees. I just about pissed in MY waders as I was laughing so hard. He still likes to tell the story about it and I have never told him the difference. It might not have been a nice thing to do, but it was the RIGHT thing to do at the time!

Note to self.... don't fish with Ptarmigan. Although I'd have liked to watched!

Haha, you know that guy who always forgets his wallet when you go on a trip? Ya, don't be that guy!!

we have apple orchards scattered through the woods here from the 1920 and of course the bears, deer and moose use them for a banquet in the fall.
I was bow hunting one fall and had just built myself a nice blind under a cedar tree when I noticed 3 little black balls moving under a apple tree about 40 yards away. I settled down and started watching them through my binos. every once in a while I would see apples fall from high up in the tree. I started looking and would see this black arm reach out and knock off apples for the chillins below.
just about the time I got a good view of her the wind shifted around behind me and as soon as I felt the breeze on my neck the little ones disappeared like baby quail and momma came headfirst down the tree. She charged all bristled up and on her tiptoes up to about 10 yards from me. I heard this high pitched noise and realized it was coming from me. I was at full draw and told her she might get me but I would make orphans of her cubs.
she stopped at 10 yards and bounced up and down some and I started backing out through the wild rose and apples for the road. I kept at full draw until I got to the road and she kept the distance the same until I was about 100 yards from the cubs.
she went back to her babies and I went back to the house for a stiff one. had to go back the next day for my bino's and backpack. she probably weighed 140 but looked huge that day.
have seen her many times since and she always has 3 cubs.

a moose and a couple griz... one young griz was on his moose calf kill ..me in a raft, 43 miles off the haul road by myself, the brach of the river was no more than 16' wide I was floating the 8' raft and 8 drums of fuel floating with me all daisy chained together ie: a stash of fuel.... buddy with a plane to pick me up the next day (it was 45 days before m-season) I was in the rock free, deep part (20") of the crick, a foot of so off the/a 3 foot cut bank to my back, seen a cow hurry across the river down stream 150/200yds ..hummm, cow no calf here in the end of july =that not good ..then I hear a noise behind me ...I was sitting on a tube and stood up to turn around and > SUPRISE !! face to face with the bear at spiting distance ...we scared the chit out of each other is was knee deep in moose calf eating ..hair all out.... then the jaw popping started getting his spit on my arm...me!!! ..I'm sure I was white and speechless, still floating tho, I looked at my all closed up tite-water proof bag with my .44 all safe and dry inside the next thing I did was grab my canoe paddle/s and held it over my head like a 100" moose AND I scream like a little girl !! he ran off into the brush I paddled/pushed >like the dickens to the other bank!! then i got my .44 out and lobed "2" in just over the brush ..loud in that canyon! needless to say I was about a 1/2 mile from where I was to camp ...no... no ...I went 2 more miles down/till I could locate water enough for the float plane landing zone/ lucky I had a boat to plane radio ..so I could tell him the new spot that I ended up! the other bear deal I had ...while calling moose ..the grass was rolling to me as I called ...wft???..i stood up to see a big azz "flat" bear crawling/ sneaking up on me !!! again screaming BEAR !!! To this day I will not forget what it feels like to be hunted, I was on the only bump/high spot for a few hundred yards, I looked down on/at him..it could have been bad...very bad the look on his face for being caught was as priceless as I'm sure mine was..my moose story is long but I've posted it here or over on ak outdoor forms years ago ..I fought with a twice shot moose and went into a pond after him> to chase his dying azz out so we didn't have to clean in water/ mud ....whatever u do in life DO NOT touch a 50+ moose's rack while both of you are standing belly deep in a icy pond ...at least not while he is alive !!!!#$%^&*(

Get Member bearhuntr to post his little story (again).

It's a contender for the prize.

Does encounters with horny wildlife count?

I had just graduated from college and had a week free before summer job, with a new 12 week Lab pup. Hiked 10 or so miles up the Little Chena out of Fbks with inflatable canoe in pack. No trail/bush whacking all the way. Pup pooped out after about 4 miles, was added to pack. Did a John Wayne (camp here!) when I pooped out. Good thing I was going off-river straight(more or less) line miles rather than snakey river miles.

Spent 2 days camping, fishing (grayling), watching campfire smoke rise, etc. then inflated the canoe and started the float out. This was late May IIRC. Turned out I wasn't even on the main river, but a side channel that goes dry later in the season Iearned on a subsequent trip several years later. frequent beaver dams which I dared not shoot in a rubber ducky. Even if I did have a patch kit. I portraged them all.

Several dams down I came around a bend in the 20 foot wide stream to find rather large grizzlies on the banks maybe 50 feet ahead, one on each side. A breeding pair, second only to sow with cubs for pucker power. I'm packing a Ruger Single Six with the magnum cylinder installed, sporting solids. Not exactly good bear medicine.

Two rounds in the air got the right hand bear to notice me and bolt. I back paddled to that side, then the left hand bear splashed across (one splash!) in following. I reloaded. Pup, asleep on top of my pack, never woke up.

Little did he know I was going to throw him at the charging bear.

Not really, but he was on his own! If the bear(s) came I was going to roll out of the canoe and swim as far underwater downstream as I could

The shakes lasted longer than the whole maybe 30 second incident. Amazing how time slows down to allow one to consider options....

45 years later and some experience gained with bears I'd likely forego the shakes for a big grin. Or maybe not.

Mike,

I'm still waiting for Don's pics.

I mean, we all know brown bears can't climb trees!

I will stipulate a 14 foot jump is pretty impressive, however....

Las,

Time certainly does slow down, doesn't it. I view wildlife encounters something like child hood in that when looking back, you wonder how the hell the good lord has kept you alive!

One year we decided to do a walk in sheep hunt in the Alaskan Range, starting near Healy. The plan was to run the wheelers as far up a local river as possible and walk in from there.

We were getting pretty close to where we were going to have to ditch the wheelers, the river rocks were just getting to big to hop around. As we come around a corner, there stands a grizz in the middle of the stream, which by now is not all that large - he was blocking our way so we stopped the machines and threw a few rocks at him to get him to vacate the area which he does without incident.

But he apparently was a vindictive bastid since this is what my machine looked like when we returned after a week. Grizz = 1, Bob = 0!

What is it with all the moose?? Ornery suckers I guess.

I was pheasant hunting in South Dakota in uncut corn field. Dogs were running back and forth and a couple of them about knocked me over. As I was working my way along a corn row and not able to see more than a few feet I heard a dog running towards me. I held my ground and the DOE saw me at the last second and tried to jump over me. Her front hooves hit me square in the chest. I went flying backwards and she landed upside down next to me. Knocked the wind out of me and took me 2 minutes to find my shotgun- two rows away!

Not to meantion observational powers. I swear I can still see every hair on those two bears!

The nice thing about Alaska is we have moose, bears (brown and black), wolves as yard critters. Well, at least in the civilized areas. All of which I have as visitors in my Sterling yard. All I get here in the bush village of Kotzebue is hares and fox. On the other hand I can kill caribou and moose within 15 miles out no prob...when it is time.
,
Hard to get exicited about a hare or fox. Unless you are a Lab on a walk around the block....

These guys that guide brown bear hunts have stories. I know it!!

Bashful, they are!

Are you referring to Beerhunter?

The bear was charging
I waited for an opportunity to shoot him under the chin
signed
bearshit

Between the toes... the burning question is -- was that rest really necessary?

no doubt about it, I'd be willing to venture that 458Win, SitkaDeer and others have some hair raisers.

I've had a few encounters ( a few too many ) of the close kind with bears and one dead huge beaver that for just a sec as I almost stepped on it was convinced it was a bear cub! lol

it's funny they just don't seem like that big a deal any more


but you never forget the feeling that you've described las, when the world goes in slow motion, colors seem brighter and every sense you possess is magnified to a very high degree


I think it's part of the human condition, it does us good to be occasionally faced with our own mortality. No other time do you feel quite so alive as when doing so ime.

[/quote]

Never happened to me but I have heard lots of stories about guys getting there ATV seats chewed up by bears. They must like a$$ cracked sweat!?

A little bit off track but seeing that quadrunner seat reminded me of the crew of a helicopter I was using in Borneo. The 407 had inflatable skids and they would spray them at the end of every day with insect surface spray to stop the local dogs chewing on them.

Wonder if that works for bears?

Love the close up and personal stories. My encounters with rampaging wombats seem mild by comparison!

I have many of encounters to lament but the one that sounds like it fits runs out like this.

Opening day of muzzle-loader season for elk in the Blue Mountains of Oregon we all split up before first light and set out to work this drainage that had several finger ridges and creeks in it.

The plan was to send some around the back side with quads and we would start up from the road system in. It was a good sized area of roadless wilderness and in no time we had the legs a burning.

Sun came up on cue and I did a little calling to see what could be roused into responding. Not much so I kept climbing. About two thirds of the way to the top ridge line I ran into a couple of our party at about nine o'clock. It was decided that one would go all of the way up and over the top and the two left would start working the different stands of timber keeping the same elevation and headed north into the darker canyons.

Two stands of timber later I spot a good sized Black Bear hot footing off of the ridge our friend headed to. He was crossing barren ground and stood out like a pimple on a prom queen.

He came right to us and the timber we were in. My partner rolled him up at about 75 yards with a running shot. I was darned impressed at the shot and the back slapping begone. As we were celebrating and letting the bruin expire we were taking off backpacks and setting GPS's when this black blur came out of the willows of the little seep the bear landed in 70 yards up the hill.

He was now at 25 yards and headed our way. I stepped past my buddy with my .50 cal muzzle-loader and put a round right behind this diaperloading threat. I hit him hard but all it did was veer around me and head into the willow down the hill.

We could here him thrashing around trying to get his feet under him and come through the willows right at us. I looked at my buddy and in a soft voice reminded him that we were both standing there 15 yards from a bear that wants to chew on the top of our heads with two sticks in our hands. I can still remember the look on his face when we both figured out that both guns were unloaded and the Bear was coming.

You should have seen the reloading process. I think I only got about 3/4's of the powder in my gun and my partner not much better but we did get them loaded and by then that darn Bear decided he would rather not fight it any more. We then saw him next out of the willow on the other side of the creek dragging his front right paw and bleeding like a stuck pig.

We both tried to get a shot into him but the timber was just too thick and soon he was out of range. At this point we have a wounded Bear and he is headed into some real tight timber.

All I can remember is thinking not good- really not good. The part that really sent me was I just bought a new .44 S&W and it was in camp because I thought it to heavy for the climb. That never happened again.

We finally heard the death growl and closed the distance then both put another round in that poor bear for extra measure. I will never forget packing him out and the whole darn "wilderness" experience as part of the foodchain.

Never happened to me but I have heard lots of stories about guys getting there ATV seats chewed up by bears. They must like a$$ cracked sweat!? [/quote]

Seats and tires. I always heard it was the glue used in seats, but who knows. I was lucky and we laughed our asses off over the paw-shaped pieces of foam. Probably served us right for pelting rocks at him. I reassembled the seat as best I could and held all the pieces together with a trash bag.

You get your worm back?

Came upon a cow moose and her calf hiking one day when I come around a group of trees. I froze, calf seen me, the cow didn't. Calf wanted to leave but eventually the cow fed past me, calf stayed where I initially seen it. Which put me basically only about 15 feet from being directly between cow and calf. Finally calf walked over to mom and at that time I made my self known by talking to them. Once they seen me I continued on my way past them. Calf freaked out and ran past me to where it was originally. Then the cow freaked out, lowered her head pinned her ears and had her neck/back hair standing up. I had no place to go, rock wall behind me and only brush around me. I simply froze, had this great plan of ducking and dodging my way to the closest big tree but when the cow whirled around and bluff charged me I stayed and she ran past to her calf, then swirled around and stomped her hooves at me a couple times before departing. I nearly needed to clean out my shorts!

Had a nuthatch attack me in the tree stand one day pecking at my hat/head, thought the dam thing was going to get one of my few remaining brain cells was scared ****less!!

My friend Butch Blalock and I had a Brown Bear charge while trying to sneak up on some geese at Power Creek in Cordova. I had spotted the Geese earlier in the day and waited for Butch to get of duty to and try to get some. We went back out about 3 with both of us carrying shotguns and .44 mags. Butch carried A over and under and a 4 inch Smith with 180 gr.Super Vel. That I had hand loaded on his right hip and I carried a 870 Rem. And a Ruger with 240 gr.Speer with 21gr.of 2400 on my left hip butt forward.

We made our approach up along a small creek with scattered Alders to a large stand of alders,we got to about 20 feet of the stand and started to skirt them,there was a small gully I just stepped across when the Sow commenced her charge, she came at me and turned toward butch ,I hollered Bear,Butch hollered Brown,boom,boom,he shot first and I shot second,his shot went went the top of the nose and came out the side of her mouth and my broke her neck.The sow dropped dead at his feet,I took 3 steps and poked her with my Shotgun.

I'll never forget the look and sound durning her charge,her hackles were up,her ears were flat and she was huffing like a Boar Hog.Her 2 cubs came out of the Alders briefly but didn't press a charge and went back into the alders.

We went back to town and reported it to Fish and Game to see if they wanted to investigate,they told us to go back and skin her out,at which time we switched from shotguns to .338. It was getting dusk by this time and dark went we completed the skinning ,the cubs stayed in Alders but were thrusting around,this was the most stressful,we wondered all through the skinning process if we could stop both Cubs if they charged as they were both about the sows size.

We went back to town,took some pictures and turned the hide in.I often wondered if they auctioned off the hide and if the person who purchased it wondered about the hole in the nose.

As a side note my bullet took out half the neck bone and lodged in hide on the off side.

Handguns stayed in the holsters? I always wondered, can you clear leather fast enough if needed? I guess if not, at least you might can grab it while being chewed on.

Both shots were with .44 mags, I have no doubt that had the sow press her charge at me instead of turning at the little gully,she would have been on me. Butch and I have talked about this many times,if I was a fraction slower she would have been on him,we also talked about why we didn't use our shotguns as close as she was,the thought never entered our minds.

I've discussed this attack with various people trying to understand the reason,we were not between her and her cubs,there didn't appear a kill of any kind as we never observed any Magpies or other birds in the area other than the Geese although there are Red and Silver Salmon in the Lake, the area is not noted for Moose and Deer. I came to the conclusion that some times Bears don't need a reason.

A couple of summers ago we had made a day trip home from camp for re-supply. Everything was left as was for our return in the evening, but we unloaded the guns in case someone stopped by.

In the evening we returned. The first order of business, after unloading supplies, was to check the net so we could get the fish cut and hung before it got too late.

I took my 11-year-old, and my 5 year old along with a big metal washtub to put fish in. The net yielded up a well-filled tub which we motored over to the rocky embankment just below the fish rack. The older boy tossed the anchor into the rocks, and we proceeded to lift the washtub and it's contents out of the boat and stair-step our way up the rocky jumble, one of us on each side.

Looking up I saw a set of eyes and small ears atop a brown head sticking up from the relatively short grass by the fish rack. "The brown dog....uh, we didn't bring any of the dogs....we don't have a brown dog. BEAR!"

The little dude was so small he was zero threat, but this was July, or late June anyway, and he wasn't much bigger than a fur ball. Something we didn't see was scary indeed! Where was his mother?

My wife and 9 year-old son were yet at the cabin some 200 yards away. I yelled, "Bring a gun". And remembering that we had unloaded them earlier in the day, I added, "And ammo."

As we stood there waiting and watching, I realized that the two boys were huddled right next to me. The 9 year-old was carefully carrying the 45-70 levergun at a quick pace as we watched he and his mother close distance. It was a relief to have that gun within reach and as I took it in one hand, I reached with my other for the ammo he dug from his pocket.....



......for the 480 Ruger revolver.

60n -

That is some good shooting from both you guys. I'd hope I'd do close to as well... but I'm not sure.

I'd just as soon avoid that chit.

Bender

Myself too,a couple of weeks after that event we were after a Black Bear out a Hartney Bay and while walking up the Creek and observed some movement about 50yards on the Grass Bank,we could not make out what it was,just as we were getting ready to climb up on the other Side a yellow Bear with Black legs stood up.We had the wind so it never smelt us,we backed out very gingerly,after we were couple hundred yards away it went into woods.

I went to the Fish and Game and asked them about Tolkat Grizzly in unit 6,they told me only Browns but one could have come the Copper River. I never heard of anybody taking one.

Posted several places before on this forum there was the time Tripper
Lab and I were surrounded and shadowed along a brushy trail by a pack of wolves.

Got a real nice wolf pelt out of that deal.

Interesting. Got to wonder if it was a long distance traveler or a color phase mutant.

I believe it was a traveler,it was on ocean front property and give or take 27 miles from the Copper River by road and 330,000 acres of Copper River Delta. I always suspected it was a smaller Boar and was dispatched during mating season. I've observed some light colored Bears but nothing the color of dried Beach Grass.

My cousin once wounded a Racoon with a .22. The coon started chasing us. He broke the butt of the gun when he hit the coon like a golf ball. Actually felt more sorry for the coon than my cousin when he got his rear tore up for breaking the gun & not properly respecting the game.