Let's talk about our scary encounters that we have had with animals, I”ll start.
On a hike in the forest my wife and I came to a fork in the trail. As we turned the corner we came nose to nose with a bison (my wife could have reached out and touch it). The bison fled down one of the forks but could only go about 50 meters before the bush was too thick for it to continue. The bison then turned to face us and began scraping the ground with its front hooves like it was getting ready to charge. We decided to take the other fork rather quickly.
While hiking by myself I climbed down into a gully and sat on a log to take a rest. After about 15 minutes I climbed back out of the gully. Unknown to me a herd of elk had moved into the area while I was having my break. When I came out of the gully I was in the middle of the herd and I spooked them. The herd trying to flee me but also wanting to stay together as a herd began circling me. (like Indians circling the covered waggons). One of the elk came so close I felt a breeze from him. I can still picture in my mind staring into that big eye as he ran past.
On another hike by myself I had just smoked a big gagger when I came across a cow and bull moose. The cow took off right away but the bull's antlers were nearly developed and he was having none of that, he was standing his ground! Well if today was the day that I would die at least I would die stoned. I proceeded to walk in a big circle around him so I could continue on my journey. That bull never took his eyes off me until I was out of sight. I think if his antlers had of been fully developed he would have charged.
When I was a little boy I came across three black bears way up a tall tree. As I was standing at the base of the tree looking up at the bears I felt something wet on the back of my hand. I looked down to see a baby grizzly pressing his nose against my hand to sniff me. I then looked around for the mother grizzly and not seeing her, I backed off from the baby. The baby followed me and I began to run. Fortunately baby grizzlies run like human toddlers (all wobbly) and I was able to get away.
My wife and I made a survival challenge for ourselves. We went out with no tent or stove and no food for one night. We made a shelter and fire and had ourselves a nice camp. As the coals from the fire were almost out and we were just about to go to bed, a bear woofed us from about 10 meters away. I looked at my wife with blood shot eyes (high as a kite) and asked her if she heard that and she said yes. I grabbed the rifle and flashlight and pointed them at the spot that I heard the bear. I did not see a thing so I fired a shot into the air and still not a sound or movement that I could see from the bear. So I fired a second shot into the air and still nothing. I waited awhile until I was satisfied the bear had moved on (bears are incredibly stealthy) and we went to bed. We had a good nights sleep in our survival shelter.
I've had seven encounters with wolves, none of them were scary but two of those encounters were poopy. Once while my wife and I were sleeping at night the wolves came into our camp and one of them took a big poop where you couldn't miss it. The other time we came back from a hike and found wolf poop right by the door of the tent. Do you think the wolves are trying to tell me something?
My other wolf tales are very very cool and deserve their own thread (another day).