Some friends and I backpacked to Shoshone geyser basin in Yellowstone one time. We had to hike around Shoshone lake to get there.
Part of the lake was shallow and there was a tiny island with a couple small trees. There were two moose grazing on the island. They didn't have horns, so I assume they were a female and her adolescent calf.
I had a 110 camera and wanted to get close. So I slowly walked into the shallow lake, trying to look as non threatening as possible and not creeping up or trying to hide.
I actually got very close and took a few photos.
The thing is, moose can be very dangerous. They could have easily felt threatened and decided to stomp me into the mud.
Looking back, it was a stupidly dangerous thing for me to do. And, ironically, a girl we were with lost the camera, so I don't even have the photos.
Another time, two friends and I were backpacking in Yosemite. We camped for the night and hung our backpacks from tree limbs high up in the air. My pack was hanging almost directly above my tent.
When I woke up in the morning, my pack was on the ground, completely torn up, and everything in it was scattered. A bear had gotten it. I don't know how it got if down from the tree limb, except I've heard of mama bears sending their cubs up to climb out on limbs for just that purpose. Whoever did it was a seasoned pro.
The thing is, this took place right next to my tent, so the bear or bears were practically on top of me.
for some reason they put air bases in the middle of back end of beyond.
we use canopy covers on air craft to protect from elements and prying eyes over night etc..
We then store them in a pile, lost count the number of times we pull out a cover and a snake is sleeping inside it.
Also the oil store etc always is some old 1900 wooden hut which attracts rodents, which attracts snakes..
In South Africa we would be at Makhado and Bloemspruit, the latter up in Bloemfontein which has a big snake thing lol. Also had a few encounters doing jungle stuff as well…
I was scootering my large dogs through a local industrial center at 10-11pm at night. Thought I was smart and had free streets as most of the businesses were closed and had super light traffic. I lapped the large block first with my Doberman with no issues. Didn’t see another soul either. Half-lapped again with my Candian line (half the size of American) Golden Retriever, passing a dry riverbed that ran along side the street for a bit. As we turned the bend I saw a car and a very large person in the street who start flapping their arms and yelling. The large person broke into two. Thought they might be drunk or something and went to far side of the street to pass, quickly. Then I heard what they were yelling “Look behind you!!” By this time what was chasing us, at killing pace, was a pack of 8 coyotes. When I came to a stop right next to the security guards two cars, ready to grab my dog and jump in one, the pack surrounded us. They kept back realizing we were then three large people, with their target. We out-waited the 2-4 min it took for them to back down and leave. I think back… if I had taken my Golden first that would have been incredibly awful. Still makes me sweat thinking how close that was. Bless those two guards and the universe putting them there just in time.
I’ve had bears sniffing outside my tent while backpacking. Fortunately all the food was in a bear can. Also had a buck (good 4 or 5 points) stare me down while I was out on a day hike. And of course rattle snakes are not that uncommon. But other than hearing their distinctive rattle I have never had one strike at me.
I saw 2 tigers in the national park in India and they were wild they can go anywhere they hunt their own food etc. But they were not dangerous to us, we were in a indian safari truck with 6 seats in the back and 2 in front, and they just ignored us. I was like 8 meters away from the male that was just lying there chilling. If I got lost there alone at night maybe they'd wanna kill me but I think mostly they just ignore humans. There's even some people who live inside the national park they have a little house. Other than that I saw some black bears (a mom with 3 cubs) some porcupines munching on some leaves, a young moose standing in a pond and some orcas in Canada but we weren't in danger either. The porcupines would have turned us into pin cushions, but we left them alone before it got that far.
I was on an Airboat in the swamps of Louisiana. We saw a lot of alligators and we went to a long little thin strip of land to examine an alligator nest. Mama went in the water and we went on the two foot wide strip of land and opened up the nest to see the eggs. Mama was lurking 10 feet away and coming in closer. We covered it back up and I jumped on the airboat followed by the other guy. When we later told our story an older guy said that we would never be fast enough to get on the boat had mama attacked noting that she likely would have. I literally said I wasn’t trying to beat her, just him. There were some astonished looks 😂
I've been 6 feet from a black bear in Yosemite, but this was in the 1970s, when they still had an open landfill and the bears would come and pick through it. They were too focused on food to pay any attention to people.
I've literally been attacked by a dog, but that was a domestic animal, so I'm not sure that counts.
A couple of times I've been a few feet from a rattlesnake in the wild, so maybe that's the closest to the spirit of the question.
Oh, and while this one won't count either, because I wasn't close at all, I did encounter a group of 5-6 moose making their way across a clearing in Montana. Those things are ungodly HUGE, with antlers 6 feet wide, and they stand 8-9 feet tall. But we were probably 100-150 yards away, so not close or in any danger. I would NOT want to be up-close to an angry one, though! They can be quite aggressive, and it wouldn't take much for them to do some serious damage.
bears in the mountains of Mexico, they're not aggressive exactly... it would be the younger ones that get too close to our concrete jungles looking for food... and I had food indeed, spotted that thing from 200 years away or so... so I was like NOPE, I went back to where I came from
My mom lived in the woods when I was young and I'd casually stroll down the roads to the lake that was a few minutes away. Usually there were just coyotes, but one night a big black bear decided it would walk alongside me and cross the road. Completely ignored me otherwise, but it was within a few feet just outside touching range. I was too young to be as scared as I should have been.
Either an Aligator or a black bear. I think it was probably the aligator, since the bear was just a cub at the time. The bear was at Yellowstone national park and just on the side of the road. If we weren't in our RV, then it would be almost close enough to touch. The aligator was on this sodden path in a nature preserve. Just standing on it.
Buffalo, 25 yards. Was taking a picture of a couple of buffalo up the road at Yellowstone and then I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye wandering out of the woods.
Barely a meter between us, a shark, 2 meters or something. Looked at me, just checking me out and swam away. I froze, it's scary. The fact they are so fast in the water, and despite their size can sneak up on you like that. It was a bit overwhelming
I work in prison i was outside the fence so i was looking at hotspots where people leave just about anything to come into the prison. I was at the very end of the property to a little wooded area. I meet a bobcat he snared at me. His eyes got big my eyes got big we both walk the opposite way
i guess wolves and wisents (a sort of european bison). but they are both incredibly rare. the one thing that is "most dangerous" that you'll easily find is wild boars. those can actually fuck you up pretty bad, when they have babies around.
One bright sunny day in the high desert in California, I was riding my trails motorcycle when a rattler jumped at me. He got my riding boot and I had to use my.45 to get him off me.
About 100 to 200m (300 to 700ft) from a Wildebeest. The 1000kg (2200lb) animal jumped the fence and was in my side of the nature reserve. I was on a solo hike. The animal went its own way.
A few feet from a bear, 10 feet from a moose, right next to a skunk a few times and was able to pet it once and about 20 feet from a lynx. 30 to 50 feet from elk and buffalo. Had deer eating out of my hand on one camping trip.
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