Once in a lifetime thing that you've seen in the outdoors??

[mistyriver1]

Great thread Dan !! We actually were fortunate enough to catch this experience on video. This was up north last year....three bald eagles converging on an osprey and stealing his fish...very cool...enjoy..

 

[Fang]

All of mine seem to be Temagami bound

 

I've had the pleasure of seeing Northern lights more than a few times while up in Temagami. I hope and pray that there will be many dozens more for me. One time in particular was driving back from New Liskeard, in September after wings and a movie. Northern lights were absolutely out of this world and by luck I was driving. I almost put us in the ditch several times on that trip.

 

Second one that stands out is fishing with my son up in the Kokoko Bay arm. He was about 10 and was on the back deck talking about how it has been a long time (maybe a month or so from last trip)since he has seen any wild animals. As if on cue out of the movies we round the next point with me on the trolling motor and come face to face with a big bull moose standing knee deep in the water. I turned to him and said "What, like that one?"

 

We sat and drifted a little closer and watched this moose for over 15 minutes. We got so close that we could see the hundreds of flies buzzing around his head as his antlers were still in velvet. My son was getting a little nervous and we drifted into about 20 yards away but I knew the water dropped off to over 20 ft deep right in front of where the moose was standing. I was feeling a little cocky and gave a small bull grunt. The bull moose took 2 steps and launched himself into the water and swam right at our boat. I circled the moose with my trolling motor and for the next 10 minutes had him swimming within 1 rod length away from us. I reached out several times with a 7ft spinning rod and touch the top of his rack. He stayed with us for a bit and then swam back to shore, up in the cedars and gone. My camera was on the kitchen table back at the cottage so no pictures.

 

What I think I'll always remember is my son trying to climb up on my Merc as the moose swam around the back end of my boat no more than 3 ft off the gunnels.

Edited August 11, 2012 by Fang

[solopaddler]

Tough to beat the sunsets up here Jeremy. They don't call it "Sunset Country" for nothing.

 

One last quick story from me guys. I'd hazzard to guess that not one other person on the planet has seen what I'm about to describe.

 

The Minnesota border is only a half hour drive from Thunder Bay, where I live. We go there often. Near the U.S/ Canada border, on the Canadian side, resides a taxidermist. He has a sign out along the highway advertising his business. A few years ago, Nita and I were on our way to Minnesota to pick up some packages. As we approached the taxidermists sign, we noticed a bear standing upright on it's back legs not two feet away from the sign. Wow. Good advertising I thought. It looks so real. This guy does nice work! I don't know why I did, but I looked in my rear view mirror after we passed the sign and the bear. What I saw next blew my mind. The bear dropped down on all fours and proceeded to run across the highway. It was a real bear. I've seen hundreds and hundreds of bears in the wild, but this is the first and only time that I've seen one standing upright. Just like you'd see a bear mounted by a taxidermist. Absolutely true story.

 

 

Yep I've seen it before. This one was standing on the side of hwy 11 with its arms straight out. I thought it was a hitchhiker 'till we got close. LOL!

 

Your bear had a sense of the ironic though. Funny story.

[Toad Hunter]

---A few years back, I was enjoying a beer and smoke on the front porch after a work week and was daydreaming, watching a hawk float effortlessly in the up drafts over a field in a park a few blocks over, when i lost it behind the tall tree in the front yard. Seconds later I see a bolt in the corner of my eye and hear noises ive never heard before, then noticed it was the hawk, it had swooped down and taken out a morning dove that was sitting on the side of the road about 20 ft in front of me. The noises were from its companion trying to save it - with no luck. the hawk just sat there with the poor bird in its grasp-spreading its wings and puffin its chest at the loan survivor as if to say "what you want some of this?"

--again a couple years ago, I was sitting on my buddies dock on the french river with some rye and gingers and chatting quietly listening to the loons call back and forth. when all of a sudden, we hear a loud splash about 100 ft out in the deep. and a loon just losing it !!, couple seconds later another splash, then silence... musky maybe ??

[otter649]

A few observations I've noticed at my cottage near Dorset :

 

 

Every spring I put up hummingbird feeder and on a couple occasions in the

spring when the feeder has not been put up yet one or maybe two hummingbirds

will hover outside the livingroom window and look inside as if to say "Hurry up & fillup

the feeder and hang it up - We're Hungry". There are two birds that have been coming back for a few

years now & it is interesting on how they feed off the feeder.One hovers beating his/her wings with

the other one using a perch with no wing action.Both use the same feeder hole each time not

going to the other's ones.There are two feeding openings.

 

One summer a couple of years ago with the deer & horse flies out in full force - I had a horse

fly buzzing around my head when walking along a path to the lake when one of those big 4 winged

purple coloured dragon flies came out of no where & grabbed the fly and then landed on my arm

(I stopped walking) and proceeded to eat the horse fly before flying away.

 

Once out on a boat ride I approached an island where there was a short distance to the mainland

but in the distance I saw what looked like some sort of lake monster ? since it had a head and

shoulders with 3 humps behind it.When I got closer it turned out to be a mother racoon with 3

baby raccons swimming behind their mother in single file.

 

 

I once put some old looking cold cuts from the fridge for a raccoon who came by nightly but

I did this in the afternoon so later that day I hear a thump on the roof - So what the heck

made that noise ends up a turkey vulture landed there & then moved down to the deck and hopped

over to the meat but a raven was with the vulture so it could be the raven followed the vulture

since they have a keen sense of smell & they shared the spoils.....

[BillM]

Saw a bear cub about 20ft from shore last week... Swimming around, not a care in the world. Most likely getting a bit of relief from the heat.. He didn't like the boat as we zipped by and scrambled up the shore and back close to momma.. This was off a point that's way out in the lake, really cool site.

[danc]

Saw a bear cub about 20ft from shore last week... Swimming around, not a care in the world. Most likely getting a bit of relief from the heat.. He didn't like the boat as we zipped by and scrambled up the shore and back close to momma.. This was off a point that's way out in the lake, really cool site.

 

 

Geez Bill. I thought that for sure you were gonna post about our brief black fly swarming encounter. Nobody else on the entire plant will ever experience what you and I did that fateful morning. Unless you're names are BillM and DanC.

[BillM]

You couldn't even breath without those things going down your throat, that was awful. Did I tell you we had a rip in one of the screens on the camper? It was a bloodbath until we fixed it! LOL!

[danc]

You couldn't even breath without those things going down your throat, that was awful. Did I tell you we had a rip in one of the screens on the camper? It was a bloodbath until we fixed it! LOL!

 

No you didn't. I was too busy out on the lake catching 22" and 24" Brookies by then. lol

[fisherman7]

I had a wolf cub follow me on the shoreline as I was trolling. Went on for about 1/2 hour. I threw it a pike but that just spooked it and it ran off into the trees. I'm sure Mom and Dad were close by!

[Rich]

The scariest experience i had was fishing a local stream for browns, this is southern ontario keep in mind, when 20ft away on a small island was a pack of timberwolves. Definitely nothing else. Not wild dogs, wayyyyy too big to be just dogs. They were about 5" Taller than me and my buddy with me, we agreed. We creeped across the creek to watch them, and minutes later they saw us and took off. Im sure neither one of us will forget that. My mom has seen lone wolves in the area a few times as well while walking her dog on the trails.

[Bernie]

Several experiences come to mind, but this is one that stands out.

 

A couple years ago while out deer hunting we were doing a chase with our group.

Sitting on my watch looking into the run I heard a noise behind me. It was a bear running full tilt. My first thought was "cool" and reached for my camera in my pocket. But the bear didn't stop and changed direction and headed right for me. I dropped my camera and pulled up my rifle, clicked the safety off and was about to pull the trigger when he stopped so suddenly that he rolled over himself, straightened out and took off as fast as he came in. He was only 20 feet away when he turned around.

Wish I would have stayed with the camera. Would have been a great movie.

 

The next one would be when I was a teenager out hunting partridge.

Walking through a trail near our hunt camp I proceeded up a small hump about 6 feet high in the trail. Steep enough that my head was down.

When I got to the top, my head came up and came face to face with a bull moose, physically touching distance. He stood his ground and I ran the other way. Scared the crap outta me.

[paul_614]

A few years back while canoeing in Algonquin with a bunch of scouts, we were paddling out of a river a found 4 naked ladies tanning on a rock. It was hard ( every pun intended ) to get the paddling again

[Cookslav]

A couple come to mind,

 

My first enounter with an angry bull Moose in Algonquin park that I apparently startled...while minding my own....errrr doing my business on the ol' thunderbox scared the crap outta me....litterally LOL!

I'll leave the imagery for you to conger.

 

Also while hunting a few years back I had found an almost perfect stand....almost perfect as I didn't harvest a deer, but its still an awesome spot. I found a fallen tree in the side of a hill which overlooks a nice open ravine at the waters edge by our camp....the area is littered with sign. Where this tree fell uprooted so the roots created a nice hole in the hill, with the roots acting like a canopy so you can tuck your self in there and be invisible from the sides and above with a PERFECT unobstructed shot into the ravine.

Well...

I stuck myself in there and sat put for a few hours when i just could no longer hold it in....I had to clear my throat.

Just asI did all hell broke lose!!!!

Apparently a Bobcat or Lynx (not quite sure as it happened so fast)

Had crept up to the hole I was in on the out side where I couldn't see her and she couldn't see me so she was RIGHT BESIDE ME....so when I cleared my thoat she freaked and bolted right in front of me...we're talking 2' to 3' LOL!!!!

 

It scared me so badly I Jumped to my feet in fear and Smashed my head on the roots above me "just" about knocking my self out LOL....

Thank god I had my safety on or I think I would have misfired for sure....both comical and cool.

 

On the cool side of thing once while fishing for Muskie in Moon river first week of November, we wereout after dark finishing up when I kept hearing a ton of splashes....and then I notced some of them were comming our way?

I turned on the flash light to navigate our way home, and see what the hell was comming towards us, only to see several fish swimming with their heads out of the water, and the more I looked around with the flash light, the more glowing eyes of fish we noticed swiming at the surface....it was just odd???

The next day the camp ownere told us it was whitefish and its part of the spawing habbit....never heard of that before?

Edited August 12, 2012 by Cookslav

[MCTFisher9120]

Was about 16 years old and was fishing a small pond behind a waterfall off the bank, across the bay there was this huge dead tree..I was there and it fell down, as round as a truck and it fell straight across the little corner of this pond..the wave it made in that shallow water and echo was intense...Not to mention all the bass it scared off

 

Very cool moment you had Dan

[manitoubass2]

As a dood that spends alot of time in the bush, I've had alot of cool/close encounters.

 

I've had bears charge at me (had a post about it here last year).

 

I've had a pack of wolves spoil an ice fishing trip on the river last winter, where they actually attempted to cut us off/ambush us(that was unbelievably scary). We had drove the van to our spot, and parked up about 300 yards up on the hill. We just walked all our fishing gear down to the spot. We fished for a few hours, and as evening approached, I could hear one wolf howling about 200 yards west of us off the point. About 20 minutes later, there was now 2 wolves off the point. We had alot of gear to carry, so I told the kids we better not chance it. So we headed up with one load, I got the kids in the van and locked it up, gave my son the cell phone in case of an emergency and I headed down to grab the last load. It was now dark, and there was 3 wolves moving closure to the gear. The ol heart was racing pretty good at that point. I managed to get back up to the van and loaded the last of the gear. Just as I turned the lights on, about 15ft into the bush was 3 more wolves, and as I turned around, there was one more behind us. What a smart bunch of animals! I'm thoroughly convinced they had ambushed us! But for whatever reason, on that day, they didnt pounce??? I dont know, maybe it was just curiousity???

 

Up near Dryden ON, up on the 502 highway, me and my Dad were on our way portaging into a small lake, when all the sudden about 6-8 rabbits came cruising along in front of us. I though that was kinda odd??? About 5 seconds later a cougar came ripping through our path at what seemed like 200 km/h, haha. Thankfully it kept on its rabbit chase.

 

Another time on the same road (Cedar Narrows), we were camping on a small pristine lake, and got caught in a tornado. Man was it scary to have trees falling all around us in the pitch lack, only getting small glimpses of what was occuring when lightning would flash. I though we were all goners, but thankfully, we all lived to tell the tale, uninjured at that.

 

While doing a lease security a few years back, way up north on the B.C./Alberta border, I had been feeling the ground rumble for about 10 minutes. I was looking around at all the equipment, thinking something wasnt right? The rumbling was getting louder and louder, now the ground was vibrating pretty intensely. Only thing I could think to do was hop in my work truck and get a safe distance. Keep in mind, I'm in nomans land, at night after a fresh snowfall, so I was getting pretty paranoid. When I turned on the trick lights, I could see the glow of hundreds of eyes! I'm thinking what the hell is that??? They were running straight at me, hahahah. As the got close, I could tell they were elk or something of the like. They continued on their path straight at me, and only moved mere inches to avoid the truck as a whole pack ran by full steam, shaking the ground enough to give it earthquake status, hahaha. That really scared the snot outta me.

 

I'm loving this thread! Some really good reads on here!

Edited August 12, 2012 by manitoubass2

[ehg]

This is a great thread with lots of incredible stories. Seems like the close encounters with wolves are the scariest. Like manitoubass' story above.

 

Have had close encounters with moose in Algonquin.

About 20 yrs. ago at Booth Lake went out early in morning for bass.

On way to canoe there was a female moose standing still about 20 feet away trying to hide behind tree.

I am sure it thought it was hiding even though it was huge and quite visible. It didn't move and i just stood there and looked at it. Eventually i decided to just go fishing.

 

Coolest thing i saw the other day in park here in downtown T.O.

A robin was chasing a monarch butterfly. The butterfly would pause go straight up vertically the robin tried the same unsuccessfully. The butterfly dropped straight down the robin followed. Then it turned 180 degrees. etc....

The butterfly got away with its crazy flight pattern and ability. The robin just went back to pulling worms from ground i guess.

[d_paluch]

A few years back while canoeing in Algonquin with a bunch of scouts, we were paddling out of a river a found 4 naked ladies tanning on a rock. It was hard ( every pun intended ) to get the paddling again

 

This wins in my books

 

 

Seriously though some amazing reads here! Keep them coming! Can't wait to have some of my own!

[blaque]

May not be once in a lifetime for some, but i dont get up to bear country as often as some...........and even when i do, Ive only once ran into one of them swimming past the boat LOL

 

[crappieperchhunter]

On a fly in once out of Chapleau. We got up one morning and the four of us where having our breakfast and planning our walleye assault for the day Jamie says "What the hell is that swimming out near the island" We look and figure it is a moose but it's at least a half mile maybe more out, so it's real hard too tell. We grab cameras and jump in the two tinnies and motor out. Sure enough it's a big cow moose and shes a good half mile or more from the closest shore. We where all awestruck by how powerful of a swimmer she was. Her wake was about the same as the 8HP motors on our boats !!! We circle around her within touching distance for about 5-10 minutes and get a ton of pictures then back off as we where concerned about tiring her out as she was a loooonnng way from shore. We didn't have to worry. She didn't even make an attempt to swim to the closest shore. She aimed for a point down our side of the lake and swam straight for it. We kept an eye on her until she got out of the water. Our collective guess was that the point was well over 2 miles away. I had no idea a moose could swim like that.

 

This was back in the 80's. I had at least 20 pictures of the event and had them in an envelope in my locker at work to show whoever might wanna see them. I came into work after a week off for holidays to find my work area had been reorganized. Somehow in the move my envelope of pictures was lost. I'm still a little upset over it

[cynmar]

Two unique experiences one when I was working around Englehart as a junior forest ranger we're out clearing weed trees from a reforested area. All of a sudden we hear crashing and look up, here is this big bull moose running through the bush being chased by a pack of wolves. Ran right through the area we were clearing and didn't even notice us. At the same location, we were coming to the area we were working on an a bull moose is standing in the middle of the road. Bus driver decides to blow the horn and the damn moose charges the bus.

 

Another instance we're staying at a cottage on the French River and notice these two small animals. Turns out their mink and would try and raid minnow buckets or any fish parts left down by the dock. Beautiful little animals. Love the north except for the damn black flies.

 

Bill

Edited August 13, 2012 by oldbassguy

[Paudash]

A few years ago I wanted to go fishing with a buddy at the cottage, but the wife said we we had to spend some times with the kids. So what did we do, grab the kids and the dogs and went out for a boat ride. We ended up dumping the kids on a small island on the lake maybe 200 feet by 50 feet. We spent the next hour fishing all around the island while the 4 kids played on the island with 3 dogs. All was going well as we could always see see or at least hear the kids running around. Then we hear a big splash and figure the boys had had enough a tossed one of the girls in the water. We come flying around the corner and a Doe and a small fawn had jumped in and were swimming back to shore. The kids and the dogs never saw the deer. How could 4 kids be so close to 2 deer for so long and never see them or push them out sooner.

[jigsnreels]

I have three that come to mind:

 

I actually got snotted by a killer whale during a whale watching trip in BC. A blowhole is basically a giant nostril, and I was at the receiving end of a six-ton sneeze as I was looking over the bow of the boat I was in. Think of "Ghostbusters" - it was kind of like that. It was seriously disgusting. Listening to all the wisecracks from my fellow passengers on the ride back wasn't much fun, either.

 

My family and I lived in Alberta for awhile, and we had a snowmobile. My dad used to let me take it out for little trips around the farmers' fields, and one time I was out in the middle of some pasture and I stopped to get my bearings and just enjoy the silence. After a few minutes I noticed a little field mouse emerge from a hole near the trail, and I just sat there quietly and watched him for a bit, as he didn't seem too concerned that I was there. He should have been more concerned about the snowy owl that swooped in without a sound and snatched him up in his talons, not five feet away from where I was sitting. I nearly soiled my snowsuit, I was so freaked out... It was one of the most amazing (and scary!) sights I've ever seen. Those birds are the ultimate stealth fighters.

 

This one doesn't really count as "the wild," but I'll never forget the Christmas morning that my family and I woke up to the sight of a huge bull moose standing right in our front yard. He peered in the living room window at us for what seemed like an eternity, and then he just turned and trotted off down the street. Amazing.

[daysoff]

seen this lynx when fishing up near shining tree it is quite rare to see one in the water

[Cookslav]

Wow that is a rare sight...most will never a Lynx let alone that close....let alone swimming!

Great Pic