The Amazing Animal Encounters Thread

reply to post by randyvs

Ooh Rotties.. that sounds rather terrifying!Thank you for sharing,and the tip-it would definitely be worth a try,if you can't escape them.They're a breed i tend to be wary around-but only because every Rottie ive ever seen seemed hellbent on eating me! Still,ive heard people who own them say they're very good family dogs,and not a risk around their own children.Idk,they Are very handsome dogs,and great as watchdogs-they just seem a bit Too aggressive? Anyway :-)im glad you came out of that encounter un-bleeding and uneaten!

When I was a child we had traveled to the tip of Baha for some deep sea fishing. I had watched Sea Hunt and the actors beautiful 40 ft cruise liner. Well the big day arrived and I was standing on an old wooden 16 ft row boat trying to see across the water in great anticipation of my first glimpse of our Sea Hunt ride of the day. About 10 minutes later a small Spanish man named Arnesto arrived carrying an outboard motor which he affixed to the row boat. Then Dad arrived carrying a gas can and some fishing gear....Not what I had imagined in my simple 7 year old brain.....dear old Dad was always cheap but this was pushing it IMO.

The sea was rough and you had to watch the seals and pelicans so they would not steal your bait or get accidentally hooked when casting. I was just about two waves from being totally sea sick when there was a huge explosion about 20 ft from our boat. The spray from the water actually hit me in the face.

Now, this was about the time when "Moby Dick" the movie was popular and way before "pet the whales" was considered a past time!

Arnesto awakened from his afternoon siesta raised his floppy hat and sad,"Whale" then appeared to go back to sleep.....A couple of things happened...I learned all whales will not eat or attack you like Moby in the movie; well this particular one anyway...and my sea sickness disappeared. I can still remember the water upon my young face.

I was hiking in the Smoky Mountains, off-trail. It was a beautiful Autumn day and I wasn't going anywhere in particular, just exploring.

I came over a hill and below was a small meadow with about four does and two bucks. The does we're grazing, but the bucks were circling each other and making small lunges.

I sat down, about 200 yards away, and watched for the next half hour.

The two bucks skirmished off and on. It was quite comical, watching the males butt heads and then look at the does to see if they were impressed.

Apparently, they weren't. After awhile, the does left, leaving the bucks behind and quite confused.

About five minutes after the departure of the does, a lone doe came back. Immediately the bucks were back at it.

They were so absorbed they never noticed the third buck, who walked majestically out of the tree line. He went straight to the doe, and they got their groove on. Right as they finished, the two fighting seemed to notice what was going on. They just stood there and watched as the pair wandered off into the forest.

I ended up laughing so hard I cried.

My animal encounter happened about 7 or 8 years ago. I lived in a forested mountain area with lots of logging going on. Early one morning, I pulled left out of my driveway onto the paved two lane road. I hadn't even had a chance to accelerate when from the right side of the road, a huge buck stepped onto the road, walking slowly and VERY regal....and then stopped, right in the middle of the road and just stared at me, hard. I slowed to a stop about twenty feet from the buck, not knowing what he was going to do. He just stood there, staring at me. After about 5 seconds, a doe and a young fawn walked onto the road from the same area the buck had come, crossed the road and went down the bank. All the while the buck stood motionless, continuing to stare at me, not looking away for a second. After his family safely passed, the buck turned his head and calmly proceeded to finish crossing the road and followed his family.

As much as I wanted to sit there and ponder what I had just seen, I had to move it fast because a log truck coming off a blind curve was sure to plow into me at any moment. I did have a 40 minute drive though to just revel in the awesomeness of what I had just seen. It was so 'Bambi-ish'. However, even Disney couldn't do it justice. It was so beautiful and powerful and gentle.....there just aren't words to describe the encounter. I feel so blessed to have witnessed it.

This also made me realize why so many awesome moments are not captured on film. I was so mesmerized; a camera never even crossed my mind.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Great story, I just cracked up reading it.

I have had several awesome encounters but the most recent was with a Hummingbird. I came into my garage to find a Hummingbird dashing itself against the window trying to get out. I started talking to her in my best Steve Irwin voice." Yer alright, no worries". I calmly opened the window and she flew to the top edge and sat there. I moved my right hand and placed it slowly about a foot away from her all the while speaking in a calm voice. To my surprise she flew over and landed on my finger and stayed there for about 30 seconds before flying off. What a great feeling to know she trusted me.
Many years ago while working for a delivery service in the city I stepped out of my van to find a small squirrel standing on the sidewalk. No trees around anywhere, only tall buildings and fast moving cars. I squatted down and said, "what are you doing here little guy"? To my amazement it started walking over too me. As it got closer I started thinking maybe it had rabies or something. It stopped right before me and I put my hand, palm up, in front of it onthe sidewalk. She/he stepped into my hand and settled there. I brought "Chipper" home and took care of him in the house for about a month and then let him go in a local nature preserve. On the day we released him he ran halfway up the tree, turned around and ran back down, jumped on my sons head, and then ran back up the tree. We saw Chipper several times in the woods after that and he would always run over to see us.
When my son was young a Monarch butterfly landed on his arm and proceeded to walk all around on his shirt and head. He stayed long enough for me to run inside and get the camera. I still have the picture.
When I was in my mid teens my best friend and I had a leanto that we built out in the woods. We spent a lot of time there camping out both winter and summer. One day a small Whitetail deer came strolling into our campsite and just hung around us like a dog for about an hour. She wasn't afaid of us at all. We were able to pet it! After awhile she just walked away.
Now there is a beutiful Red Fox that I see occasionally on my property. She will come within about 20-30 yrds. of me and just sit and watch me if I'm working outside. Never really comes any closer and does'nt seem to mind at all when I stand there and talk to her. I hope someday she'll bring her pups around.

I don't know where to start. Birds in general seem to play a huge part of my life, but the hunters have always fascinated me. I have several fat chickadees and 2 mated pairs of grey jays that live in my yard that I interact with daily. My resident great grey owl is my favorite though. I see him or her regularly, but I was sitting here reading ATS when he landed in the tree right out my window in front of me, he half hopped half flew to the tree out the window next to me, so I stood up to watch him. He sat there for a moment and suddenly jumps from the branch and face plants in the snow, half his body ( a good foot and a half) was completely buried in the snow. He lay there motionless for a few minutes and I was ready to walk out to check on him, thinking he was hurt, when up he pops out of the snow with a mouse in his beak. He tossed it up crunched it a couple of times and flew off. He left a perfect headhole and cockeyed wingprints in the snow that lasted until spring! I posted a picture of him on another thread somewhere.

I also seem to be divebombed on occasion, a couple of friends watched my literally hit the deck when swooped by a small songbird one day, I still get teased because they never saw the bird they were too busy laughing at me ! I was also standing watering my raspberries one day when I heard a whoosh and felt a wind on my face as a huge hawk flew right next to me. I could do without the close encounters but I am glad they like me too I guess.

My closest bear encounter was berry picking with a friend. We stopped at a popular spot along the highway on our way back to work one day during blueberry season. As soon as we started down the embankment a 10 ft tall grizzly stood up about 15 ft away from us! Luckily the car was only about 5 feet away at the time, we turned around and got back in, that was his patch! He was curious about us at that point and followed us right to the car, he walked around us a couple of times and went back to his berries. I see black bears nearly every season, some even stalking into a patch I am in, but nothing has ever intimidated me like that griz, I was only happy that the car was still closer than he was.

My cutest ever animal encounter was when I was in high school still. My sister and I went for a drive and stopped next to a meadow. As we sat there enjoying the day, a fox came slowly out into the middle of the meadow (probably a couple acres) she sat down and yipped and 8 little fox kits came rolling (literally) out into the meadow with mama. We say and watched them play for the better part of an hour before they walked sedately back into the woods. They were little red furballs bouncing and rolling all over the place just like a lively litter of puppies knocking each other around and rolling in the sunshine. All the while mama sat off to the side and never put her ears down once, I am only glad we had been sitting there quietly for a few minutes before they joined us.

I am blessed, I have a lot of non human companions around me, most I really don't want too close!! Try and tell the grey jays that during a barbeque though!! They like to join the party every time! I have chased them off the table too many times to count, and that is while I am standing there. I could go for hours but I am cooking dinner. Thanks for the thread!

reply to post by Raxoxane


we had an owl encounter at home when i was about 10ish

mum and i was in the back garden talking to mums sister(she lived next door)auntie edna.

well we here this hoot and on the roof right near the gutters was this massive owl

that just stayed there in all its glory it was getting darkish so we went in.

the next day we couldnt find our cat


mum and dad still live there now and dad has an aviary ,and has a regular

visitor a sparrow hawk very nice indeed, mum has been within 2 feet of her

reply to post by smyleegrl


thats a cool thing to witness
made me laugh out load that

this time i thank you for the smiles

starred

reply to post by Raxoxane






thats my dad and me holding lotty our own fox 30ish years ago

ill try and make it bigger

Originally posted by Raxoxane
reply to post by Bronagh

 

Thank you,yeah im always uplifted by animal stories,it makes me happy:-) I dont know how folks can doubt that animals have consciousness and individual personalities.And they DO know when you won't hurt them,as you experienced.I believe they can sense our intentions,and "read us" in a way.Im glad for you,what a charming experience.I checked out that pic-impressive bird.Looks like they are part of the albatross family,but different coloring? Such an awesome moment in one's life,that moment when you realise that an animal,specially a wild one,trusts you to help it.

Yes, this happened years ago and is still fresh in my mind. From what I've been able to find out, they are related to gulls, waders, auks and skimmers.

Source

reply to post by 727Sky

Thanks for your story.Ive never been near a whale myself,but i think i would feel a bit intimidated :-) How nice that you remember that so vividly.i sometimes think,from such accounts,that they more often than not,go out of their way to not endanger people-almost like they realise with their size,they could easily capsize a boat?

reply to post by 727Sky

Btw,seeing this Is a thread about animals,i dont think this is off-topic-i must say,I JUST ADORE YOUR AVATAR!!! its so excellent :-DDD!!

reply to post by smyleegrl


Thanks for sharing,this makes me think of the Afrikaans language proverb in my country:"Twee honde veg om n been,en die derde gaan daarmee heen" It means:2 dogs are fighting about a bone,while the 3rd comes up and walks off with it while they're distracted.
Wonderful and fun experience you had there

reply to post by Gridrebel

Aaww how beautiful,thanks for sharing.I love seeing how family-orientated some species of animals are.Those bucks are really such majestic creatures.I was meditating once,regarding my Totem animals,and not expecting any animal in particular,when in front of me,like a movie,i was watching this lovely little deer walking in front of me-reddish pelt,i could actually see the muscles moving under the skin as it walked.It brought such a rush of love and gratefulness.Deer Totem teaches the power of gentleness and kindness.

reply to post by miketwosix

Thank you,that was so nice to read.Its a Blessing,a special grace,i feel when a wild animal puts its trust in you to help it.The squirrel story is delightful! I do hope the fox keeps visiting-they are gorgeous.Ive always wished they were native to Africa too,though we do get jackals.

Hmm. When I was a kid on the farm, I had a number of semi-tame wild critters as pets. One squirrel, maybe a half-dozen raccoons, some rabbits we tamed just by sitting quietly by the edge of the field near the house and tossing gerbil food their way, and a red fox that lived in a dog house I put behind the barn. She'd let me sit near and be *just* out of reach. I was never able to pat her, but she'd come up and greet me at a distance. Also a family of skunks we were neighbors with that lived on the hillside. We'd put out cat food for them in the winter.

My 'coons were very friendly for a year or two, and then would invariably start to become semi-feral. They'd come around and say 'hi' from time to time, at least to me, and I could still handle them although they wouldn't allow it from the family at that point, where they did before. Of course, I never caged them and they lived semi-wild, free to come and go as they liked.

Oddly, my Mom seemed to have solved it, she had a cat that adopted some baby 'coons. They thought they were cats, as far as I can tell. Two sows are still hanging around, eating tuna and cuddling up to you like they were cats, about four years later. Cat adoption seems to be the only long-term 'coon taming solution.

What surprised me was that the rabbits were so easy to tame. At first, they'd be eating clover and whatnot in the yard, and watch you as you walked by, if you didn't look at them or walk toward them, they'd ignore you warily. So I started putting out apple chips closer and closer to the house, then little piles of gerbil food, then I'd sit near the pile, then started tossing it to them. After a couple of months, they'd come up to me and let me touch them.

I've also been able to walk up on wild deer, to touching distance. I'm not sure what that's about. I could do it more as a kid, two or three times I'd just sit in the woods and deer would walk up to me and sniff, literally nose-bumping me to get a good snort. Then they'd run off.

As an adult, maybe a half-dozen times I've had deer either run up to me within a foot or two, or let me walk up to them. I've considered whupping out a knife and gaining the admiration of my peers (I stobbed it with a knife-hand to hoof!) but I just couldn't do it. It seemed like cheating. Plus I'm not really sure what's going on with that. It's sort of creepy.

edit to add: plus all the normal farm animals - the rooster was a pet, and the milk goats. Dad raised a number of calves on bottle feed and then couldn't butcher them, there's one old cow from the cow days that still roams around and wants to be petted. Mom had guinea hens that thought she was their mother at one time, and would follow her around like ducks. I had a couple of horses that were outstanding but are now buried up the hill from my parent's house.

second edit: it's a cinch to tame a bobcat; if you get them as little kitties and bottle feed them any time at all, you have a house bobby. My parents refused this one, I gave the kitten to my neighbor who raised it as a housecat, it was a lot of fun. Bobbies are VERY good pets, you don't have half the issues you do with a squirrel or 'coon. Except the pooping thing. Bobbies won't use a sandbox.

reply to post by woodsmom

Thank you so much,i loved your story! Ohhh i envy you for the grey owl,im doolally over owls,they are the most fantastic,mystical,magickal of all birds,except crow or raven maybe.When we still lived in the town,about 9 years ago,we had this big old tree in our yard,and it was frequented by a horned owl.
One of the best memories of my life is when in winter,my youngest daughter would come snuggling in bed with mommy a bit before getting ready for school,and we were warm and cosy,listening to that owl hooting in the tree-it just made it even more cosy and toasty,the winters can be quite freezing,even down in South Africa.
Now we live out in the Bush,and there are some big barn owls around here,also other types.

Here's a strange thing that happened to me about a month ago:I was in bed,it was late,i was reading something on my cell,when i heard 2 birds i have'nt heard before,their calls were unfamiliar,but the first thing i thought was: This means there's an owl outside!
I opened the curtains,and lo and behold,on the roof of our garage a few meters off,there Was an owl,sitting with its back to me.A biggish brown one.I watched it for a few minutes,till it swooped into the gully next to our yard for a midnight snack

I still wonder-when i heard those two unfamiliar bird calls-how did i know it meant there was an owl outside? I was really absolutely convinced of this,and when i looked out and actually saw that owl,it was a major Huh?!?!

reply to post by maryhinge

How cool to have your own fox! Yes if you can,i would love to see a bigger pic.

reply to post by Bedlam

Thanks for sharing,it seems to me that deer may be your own totem animal? I love the cats adopting the racoon babies! I did'nt know they would do that,well,a natural solution at its best there.

I think zebra likes me.I used to go visit with a friend who lived in a game reserve near the provincial capital,and the reserve was bordered by the wilderness,no fences needed because they had nothing dangerous like lions.So the 1st time i visit,this zebra comes trotting past-actually "crossing our path" like black cats have the reputation of doing Later that night we're sitting around the bbq,a briclbuilt l'il structure that borders the wilderness-when we hear a loud rustle-and out pops the Z

Every time i went to visit,there would be this zebra walking around,but the very last time i went there (my friend was being relocated) this zebra came up really close to where i was sitting.i called my friends,one of them took pics from just 3 meters away.The zebra kept looking at me all this time,it must have stayed for 10 minutes.Almost like it knew its the last time i'd see it? That was a pretty awesome thing.If i was'nt so inept around pc's i could find the pics and post here,such a handsome animal-zebras always make me smile,they're just so funky looking