Interactions with Wild Animals

[Delfin]

hello All
I had just read a post by runzbarrel who had an AWESOME interaction with a wild Macaw. I would like to read some more stories on Awesome interactions with a wild animal, not a family pet. Any story long or short..

 

[Kiwibird]

When I was about 7/8 my family went on "vacation" to this area where there were lots of wild elk all over. I decided, while my parents weren't looking, to go pet one (a big male one, with the big horns). It was certainly NOT amused and chased me away (I thought, being a kid, it was going to kill me). The horns on those things are frightening!

That's about the only time I've ever messed with a wild animal. I like to leave them to their business and observe from afar

 

[Christinenc2000]

We were out on the Jet Skies one Saturday. A Mom Dad and about 8 baby Canadian Geese were swimming. I guess we looked more colorful than the parents because the babies started following us. We were going slow. Had to speed up fast to loose them LOL
We have also had Dolphins swim along side of us.

 

[Birdman666]

When I lived in California, I had three wild blue jays that would come into the house...

I had been feeding their parents for years. They nested in a tree in my back yard. Every morning, when the lights came on in my kitchen they would line up on my fence. I'd open the door, and toss a hand full of peanuts out for them. They brought their babies around and showed them the ropes.

"Every morning when that light comes on, we stand here on this fence, and peanuts magically appear for breakfast..."

Well, one year they had a "runt." He was smaller than the others, and he wasn't getting fed. He was starving. His siblings would beat him up and steal his peanuts. So, one morning I left the door open, and I left a pile of peanuts, just inside the door. The "runt" made a B-line for inside. DAD flew down, and tackled him... actually sat there reading him the riot act. WE DON'T GO IN THERE...

But the runt was starving. He was gonna die if he didn't get food, and he disobeyed Dad, and came in. After that, I started making him a plate in the morning. The good stuff. When I opened the door in the morning to throw the peanuts out, I left it open, and the little bird came in and out on his own.
Soon, he wasn't a runt anymore...

The other birds lined up on the fence. The runt flew down and waited at the doorstep to my sliding glass door. "He was special." When his siblings discovered he was getting extra food, they started following him inside. So, I started leaving more on the plate.

One day, it was hot so I left the door open, and took a nap on the couch...
At the time I had 11 parrots. Nine slept on top of me. Two were on the back of the couch. When I woke up, there were three wild blue jays lined up sleeping on the back of the couch. They had noticed the door was opened and joined us for a nap... EXTENDED FLOCK MATES!

I had a hiking trail through the woods, and used to take my birds out for evening walks. The RUNT used to follow us from tree to tree chirping, and calling to us.

Sadly, come Hawk nesting season, the two siblings got taken.

I was out front raking leaves, with my front door open when I heard the runt calling to me, and saw him making a B-line towards my front door, just as fast as his little wings would carry him... THEN I SAW WHY!

A red tailed hawk dove down and plucked him out of the sky about 100 yards from the safety of my house. I wondered if I caused that... if he wouldn't have taken the smarter approach and hidden if I hadn't conditioned him to come inside. But then, if I hadn't he would have died of starvation. Mother Nature is a cruel B!tch sometimes...

Both parents, for some reason, were good at evading hawks. None of their babies that year made it past hawk nesting season. We lost them all...

Losing the runt hurt, though... I had become quite fond of that little bird.

I don't get attached to the wild birds anymore.

Their life expectancy isn't the same as our captive birds.

Remember that the next time someone talks about how wrong and cruel it is to keep a bird as a pet...

MY BIRDS HAVE IT GOOD. WELL FED! LOVED! DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PREDATORS! GOT LOTS OF TOYS....

 

[Weezerj]

Great stories!

I don't have a wild animal story with birds in it, but I do have an interesting story.

I grew up in Montana....a great wild place with open spaces and not a lot of people. I used to ride snowmobiles a lot (you have to find something to do during Winter there or you go crazy)....

One time, while riding down the trail leading a group of friends to a ride area, we came across a male moose. He was using the snowmobile trail because with all the heavy snow that year, the trail was nice a packed down, easier to run on than the 12+ feet of snow off to the sides.

Well, he wasn't too happy that we disturbed him and full on came charging me. The hair on his back was sticking straight up like a pissed off dog, and he was slobbering and blowing snot out of his nose he was so pissed.

I dove of my machine and into the drift area around the base of a big tree (if any of you have ever seen areas that get a lot of snow, you know what I am talking about). I was safe there, but my snowmobile wasn't.

He ran up to my sled and stopped just short, gave it a sniff, and then decided he hated it. He reared up like a horse and came down on the hook with both hooves like a double fisted death punch. His legs slid off both sides from the plastic hood and he landed with his chest on top of the hood. He then proceeded to give my sled the horn treatment before he got off and retreated about 20 yards away on the trail.

But he wasn't done, oh no. He was still pissed so he stood there and glared at our sleds. We needed to get around him to escape, so one by one we started to shovel a path off the trail to be able to break out.

He didn't care too much for this activity, and would charge us, stopping just short of the sleds (we would all dive back into the trees).

We tried to howl like a wolf, etc, but nothing would deter him. It tool about 45 minutes or so, but we did manage to get all 6 sleds around him without anyone getting hurt. The last sled was the most difficult (mine) because there was nothing between me and him as I shoveled, and I had to turn my back on him to shovel.

We rode about 60 miles that day but had to go out the same way we came in. With about 100 yards to go on the trail out from reaching the trailers.....there was the same moose. He was in a clearing about 50 yards off the trail when he saw us....and rather than run away, he again charged. Luckily, he had too much ground to cover and we were able to streak by him.

That was one pissed off moose. He would have killed anyone he could have that day.

I don't recommend anyone trying to pet a moose.

 

[Terry57]

What a great thread! When my daughter and I went to Yellowstone, there was a high school next to one of the entrances to the park, and the entire football field was filled with buffaloes. Some were lying right under the goal posts. They never even noticed when the kids were walking around them so we got close enough for pics. It was like they didn't even see us and was amazing to be that close to them

 

[Weezerj]

What a great thread! When my daughter and I went to Yellowstone, there was a high school next to one of the entrances to the park, and the entire football field was filled with buffaloes. Some were lying right under the goal posts. They never even noticed when the kids were walking around them so we got close enough for pics. It was like they didn't even see us and was amazing to be that close to them

This sounds like Gardner, MT....buffalo and elk are commonly on the football field.

 

[Terry57]

What a great thread! When my daughter and I went to Yellowstone, there was a high school next to one of the entrances to the park, and the entire football field was filled with buffaloes. Some were lying right under the goal posts. They never even noticed when the kids were walking around them so we got close enough for pics. It was like they didn't even see us and was amazing to be that close to them

This sounds like Gardner, MT....buffalo and elk are commonly on the football field.

That sounds familiar, I'm sure you're right

 

[Dinosrawr]

That's about the only time I've ever messed with a wild animal. I like to leave them to their business and observe from afar

I'm very much the same, mainly because I see it all the time as I'm driving through town or back home to BC. I don't know how many close calls I've had with black bears, Grizzlies (my friends and I use to play around in their abandoned dirt dens as children... stupid move), moose (they were always in my hometown growing up on people's lawns), cougars (hometown is known for hikers being killed by them), and everything in between.

At my uncle's cabin we have to be careful when we go fishing, because the eagles that nest there like to swoop down and try and steal them if you seem defenceless enough. They also have a squirrel that likes to try and steal your food if you aren't paying attention, he's a quick little bugger

As a young child, before I had glasses, my brother and I had to try and avoid a mother black bear while we were quadding... I couldn't see and just thought it was a garbage bag! Boy was I wrong!

My father experienced far worse because he was a forester, and often had to scare away bears from the campsite. He knew a man who had his face swiped off from a grizzly bear. He also had to fire a girl who thought it'd be a great idea to play with two grizzly bear cubs near their site while mom was away, because they ended up having to shoot the mother bear when it came rampaging into their camp later on.

When I worked at a vet clinic during the summer in high school, I helped care for a horse that had all the skin on his shoulder clawed off by a grizzly. You could see the muscle and actually see into parts of the skin as he would shift... it was nasty.

I prefer not to interact with wild animals if I can help it... my parrots are wild enough for me, haha!

 

[Allee]

My last interaction with a wild animal wasn't too pleasant. A squirrel attempted to build a nest under the hood of my car. She chewed through a cluster of wires near the wiring harness, all the wires, she didn't miss a single one. She was probably watching and laughing when I started my car and my dashboard lit up with red warning lights.

 

[RavensGryf]

I'm loving these stories! I feel relatively safe from wild animals where I live in the suburbs far enough away from the foothills and mountains... But people's "wild" dogs dashing out of the garage unleashed to attack as you walk by? ! Had a few close calls before as I ran down the street! My pet peeve of dog owners......

I guess my wild animal encounter is this... I've seen a HUGE flock of Mitered Conures locally last year, feeding in a tree. Also commonly hear Amazons flying overhead at dusk, usually two at a time (pairs) and an odd single guy or two.

 

[Scott]

I had an interesting interaction with a pair of coyotes a few years ago. Arrived home around 1am and parked in the driveway. As I was removing my suitcase from the trunk, a strange feeling of surveillance nagged me. Turned around and noticed the coyotes at a distance of roughly 75 feet in the center of the street. They were obviously trolling for pets and clearly sized me as a potential threat. We made eye contact but I did not stare, preferring to glance in the vicinity. The non-verbal interaction was clearly one of mutual curiosity, though they pragmatically broke off the encounter by casually walking away.

 

[Delfin]

Love the stories about Bears, Moose, Elks, Cougars, Buffalo, blue jays, coyotes and squirrels.
Each story is different some are scary while another is sad and others are happy. I have had a few interactions with wild animals, apart from birds it was mainly snakes. One such encounter was when I was around 11 years old.
Once a week if it was sunny, our teacher would take us for a long bush walk. While walking along the track I was lagging behind the group, I was picking up small rocks and throwing them into the bush. Well I threw one rock into a clump of ferns. The clump of ferns proceed to shake violently and out shot a huge Mulga snake and it rear up at me, this snake was now almost has tall as me and staring me in the eyes. At that time I thought this snake had eyes and a head that was carved out evil mean and nasty. Believe me I focus on this snake’s head with outstanding clarity. Of course I know differently now.

I froze, thankfully I was outside it strike zone. But this snake launched a strike at me and fell short. But now I was within the strike zone and this snake was getting ready to strike again. Now I was scared, we were miles from any help and I wouldn’t have been able to out run this snake. But a few of my school mates looked back and saw what was happening, so they ran back screaming and yelling. The snake heard them and tactfully retreat back into the bush. Needless to say I never lagged behind the group and I didn’t throw anymore rocks into the bush.

 

[Weezerj]

Scary....then I searched Mulga snake, now really scary

 

[Delfin]

Look up the taipan and fierce snake.

 

[Birdman666]

Haven't had that many negative encounters with wild animals.

I did encounter a 9 foot diamond back rattlesnake when I was 7 years old in Venezuela. But I had a snake stick with me. (Where we were you didn't go out without a snake stick. It was jungle, and there were more poisonous ones, than not poisonous ones. That turned out to be a negative encounter for the snake cuz I strangled him with my snake stick! (Always circle the opposite direction the snake is coiling... do not let him get coiled up and parallel to you. And generally, they're just warning you to back off. Back away and they generally don't chase you.)

Aside from that, I have a dented helmet from a sharp shinned hawk who had a nest somewhere in our alternate landing field at Skydance... but he was really just warning me to stay away from his nest.

 

[Terry57]

Scary....then I searched Mulga snake, now really scary

I agree, I even like snakes but the Mulga gave me chills after reading that story[URL=http://www.sherv.net/][/URL]

 

[Birdman666]

Look up the taipan and fierce snake.

Those don't look that ugly to me, though they do seem to have cobra like faces...

It's the vipers that are just plain nasty looking to me. Triangular heads... nasty dispositions. Love the name of that one "Common Death Adder."

Out here we get lots of rattlesnakes and copperheads. Haven't really seen much else.

Don't think I'd want to be out in the bush without a snake stick! (Or a rifle. Or both!)