Freaky encounters with wild critters story thread

[Forth]

I used to have recurring nightmares about spiders. It doesn't bother much anymore, but this fella made me squeel. Very beautiful specimen.

I woke up to this monstrous thing wandering about on the bivy I was covering my pack with. It makes me think about how much Ive changed since living outside. There was a time in college where I had a panic attack during a philosophy class because a tinsy little spider crawled across the table. Now I think spiders are amazing and I feel blessed that I got to see this wild thing but I am never, EVER going to sleep in this spot again. I have slept there probably collectively for a month but I suddenly feel compelled to start using my tent again



Interested to hear anyone else's experience with bites, close encounters, or unwelcome roommates whilst napping.

 

[The Toecutter]

It's an adorable, soft, furry, 8-legged cuddleball. What's not to like?

 

[Opossum]

Ended up some feet away from a pack of yotes once in Arizona. We just kinda stared at each other for a lil bit before they carried on their way. They were much smaller than I expected, and were so quiet once we saw each other.

 

[Beegod Santana]

Woke up to a black bear walking over my face once just outside Glacier NP. It was the middle of the night and I'm pretty sure I woke up cause he had just been sniffing my face. Dude just went about his business. That was the last time I ever slept outside without a tent in Montana.

 

[bootz]

Owee your spider story gives me the shakes.

I was sleeping out in my s-bag in an big park in Edinburgh once and while i was dozing off felt someone touch me through my bag. Just a curious fox but man that made me shit myself.

 

[Coywolf]

Owee your spider story gives me the shakes.

I was sleeping out in my s-bag in an big park in Edinburgh once and while i was dozing off felt someone touch me through my bag. Just a curious fox but man that made me shit myself.

I also have a fox story:

I was sitting in Wishram, WA waiting for a train to Bend, and just sitting and overlooking the train yard. I felt this little brush on my hair from behind me. I swatted my hair, and heard some leaves crunching behind me. When I turned around, I was face to face with a large red fox! I just stared at it, and was like "hey, you're getting a little close, doncha think?"

It just walked right up to me, flopped on its back, and pawed at the air with its paws. I was like "Aw, it wants to play..." and thien I was like, "Wait, this is a fucking wild animal, why is it doing this?" and the I saw its eyes....they were bloodshot, and I noticed the fox was emaciated. Bad. That is almost always a sign of the onset of rabies, which red foxes are extremely prone to.

I tried to shoo it away, and it just kept trying to come up next to me. I threw a rock at it, hit it, and it got kinda pissed and kept trying to come after me. I screamed at it, and started trying to get into the yard to get away from it. It followed me at a quick pace and tried to nip at my heels. I got to the yard and climbed up into a gondola, just as an EBD came in and cut the fox off on the other side of the tracks.

That shit was freaky. Normally something like a fox wouldn't scare me, but the thought of rabies exposure certainly did.
The saddest part of the story, is that the next day, I saw the same fox, running under the railcar that I was next to on the ballast with a fresh rabbit kill in its mouth. Then I heard the tiny barking of its kits in the distance. The whole family was probably exposed to rabies, and wouldn't survive the summer.

We both looked at each other, it recognized me, and just slowly turned around and ran under the next string of cars. Nature, man...

 

[Forth]

Owee your spider story gives me the shakes.

I was sleeping out in my s-bag in an big park in Edinburgh once and while i was dozing off felt someone touch me through my bag. Just a curious fox but man that made me shit myself.

Yeah even a normal fox would make me jump up. that's kind of funny in retrospect, little scavengers.

I also have a fox story:

I was sitting in Wishram, WA waiting for a train to Bend, and just sitting and overlooking the train yard. I felt this little brush on my hair from behind me. I swatted my hair, and heard some leaves crunching behind me. When I turned around, I was face to face with a large red fox! I just stared at it, and was like "hey, you're getting a little close, doncha think?"

It just walked right up to me, flopped on its back, and pawed at the air with its paws. I was like "Aw, it wants to play..." and thien I was like, "Wait, this is a fucking wild animal, why is it doing this?" and the I saw its eyes....they were bloodshot, and I noticed the fox was emaciated. Bad. That is almost always a sign of the onset of rabies, which red foxes are extremely prone to.

I tried to shoo it away, and it just kept trying to come up next to me. I threw a rock at it, hit it, and it got kinda pissed and kept trying to come after me. I screamed at it, and started trying to get into the yard to get away from it. It followed me at a quick pace and tried to nip at my heels. I got to the yard and climbed up into a gondola, just as an EBD came in and cut the fox off on the other side of the tracks.

That shit was freaky. Normally something like a fox wouldn't scare me, but the thought of rabies exposure certainly did.
The saddest part of the story, is that the next day, I saw the same fox, running under the railcar that I was next to on the ballast with a fresh rabbit kill in its mouth. Then I heard the tiny barking of its kits in the distance. The whole family was probably exposed to rabies, and wouldn't survive the summer.

Yeah rabies is pretty terrifying. I may not have even known in that situation and thought it was just a friendly fox. Glad you got out of that unscathed. It is really sad about the whole family.

Ive seen a rabid raccoon once in a neighbor's yard, he looked like he was nodding out in the daylight just sitting there. Another time in Maine there were some baby raccoons alone on a remote bike trail, idk if they were rabid or if their parent got killed but they would have let me pick them up. They kind of followed me and without internet or knowing the area I didn't know how to help them. Wish I still had the vid they were so cute.

 

[bootz]

Yeah even a normal fox would make me jump up. that's kind of funny in retrospect, little scavengers.




Yeah rabies is pretty terrifying. I may not have even known in that situation and thought it was just a friendly fox. Glad you got out of that unscathed. It is really sad about the whole family.

Ive seen a rabid raccoon once in a neighbor's yard, he looked like he was nodding out in the daylight just sitting there. Another time in Maine there were some baby raccoons alone on a remote bike trail, idk if they were rabid or if their parent got killed but they would have let me pick them up. They kind of followed me and without internet or knowing the area I didn't know how to help them. Wish I still had the vid they were so cute.

I know its probably a typo but "They followed me without internet" had me imagining little baby raccoons on tiny computers, typing away with their little hands, sending each other emails

 

[Crazy Hobo Johnny]

Cleaning my tent one afternoon at Pike National Forest in Colorado, I heard this noise, I turned around and there was a mountain lion about 30 feet from me. I got up and made noises and yelling at it to get out of my turf. It was sitting there and its eyes looked real scared and it ran off!

I assume it came to my area because I was near a creek and maybe it came by to get a drink of water. I also had my crossbow nearby just in case I would get attacked whatever came by me.

 

[Down and Out]

Was sleeping in Elko Nevada out side the yard and woke up to dogs barking got sprayed like squirt gun style in the eyes and mouth from about six inches to a foot away by a skunk. Was not good. Another time in New Mexico a deranged lone coyote sat about a hundred yards away laughing hysterically like a hyena all night that wasn't cool either.

 

[Forth]

Was sleeping in Elko Nevada out side the yard and woke up to dogs barking got sprayed like squirt gun style in the eyes and mouth from about six inches to a foot away by a skunk. Was not good. Another time in New Mexico a deranged lone coyote sat about a hundred yards away laughing hysterically like a hyena all night that wasn't cool either.

Ew that's pretty brutal. At the same time it's amazing how they can project their junk. How long did it take to recover from that? I remember getting sprayed as a kid but not very well I just remember some kind of special bath

That's creepy about the coyote. I didn't know they could laugh like that. I had an experience with one I was walking down the tracks in Hagerstown by the Dunkin and I saw eyes coming toward me. Headlights passed above on the road and the eyes vanished just as they got close. I'm guessing it was a coyote?

 

[Down and Out]

Yeah we where so tired we just washed our eyes and face out with water and went back to sleep it burned pretty good for a bit like physically burned. Really unique flavor to that skunk juice liquid.