When Animals Attack

[Mark Patenaude]

After reading the thread on 40 interesting topics and the comments about being attacked by a cow, how about more info on animal encounters while fly fishing....


...chased by a bull and had to do a Dwight Stone high jump move over the fence. This happened in Wisconsin. Should have known what the barbed wire was for.

...chased upstream by two muskrats and had to seek refuge on a mid-stream boulder and fend them off with my fly rod. I would have made Zorro proud. This happened on the Hoosic along Rt. 8 in Adams below the waterfall at the Harbor. You have been warned.

...chased by a Beaver (the animal) on Black Earth Creek in Wisconsin. It came charging down the foot path to the creek and I didn't see it until it was right on me. I side stepped it, it ran into the creek and I ran the other way.

...attached by several dozen swallows nesting under a bridge, also on Black Earth Creek, but I put up with the attack and the resulting bird crap they were dropping and caught the large number of trout that I saw nymphing on the downstream side of the abutments.

...attacked by a dog on the Fox River in Illinois while fishing for Smallmouth. The owner didn't call him back so I stepped back in water deep enough so that if he made his move he would have to swim, giving me enough time to get away.

...attacked by a number of bats at around 10 p.m. while fishing the Hex hatch on Black Earth Creek. Nothing I could do about this one, their too fast and it was too dark.

Your turn...

Mark

[Uplander]

· One April, about three years ago, I was fly fishing my way up a Berkshire stream, deep in the mountains, when a sow black bear and two cubs came boiling up out of the stream bed about ten yards ahead of me. I believe that because of the direction of the wind, the lay of the land, and the noise of the running water they didn’t smell, see, or hear me approach until I was almost right on top of them. I certainly didn’t know they were there. They ran up the mountain, I gave them wide berth, and continued fishing my way upstream. About ten minutes later I glanced downstream only to see the two cubs working their way upstream, apparently intent on investigating me. Mama was right behind them. I figured running wasn’t too smart, so I just kept on fishing and heading upstream, keeping one eyeball peeled. Well, she let them get about twenty or so yards from me to, I assume, satiate their curiosity. I tried not to show any fear or make any threatening moves, and after thirty seconds or so, she herded them away up the mountain. Definitely not an attack, but surely a close encounter. It remains one of the highlights of my outdoor sporting life.

· Two winters ago I was closing out the partridge season hunting in the Green Mountain National Forest. I came across a cow moose and her calf (not too calf-like at that point) standing in the hemlocks about ten feet away. They meandered away from me, but there was a tense moment when I wondered how she would react having me that close to her baby. I managed to get some pictures of the calf as they moved away….




· When I was about twelve, I was attacked by a pack of dogs with a bunch of friends while sledding in the forest. We alternately beat them off with our sleds while running.

· Jumped by German Shepard’s at least three times in my life. Lots of scars….

· Dive bombed by bats plenty of times while swimming at night.

· Lot of circling beavers with tail slapping over the years in Berkshire beaver dams.

· Few other bear and moose encounters in the Berkshires, but in all those cases the critters ran off quickly.

[JoeOverlock]

-I was fishing a brook on Burnetts Farm once and was dive bombed by a Blue Jay. The d**n thing bounced it's breast off my head.

-You all saw the pictures of JLib and Me on the Deerfield with the Deer. Wasn't an attack, but it was cool.

-I treed a black bear on the Westfield River by accident. I got out of my truck to fish a hole and he ran up the tree.

-The same brook that the Blue Jay dive bombed me on a mother bear and her cubs gave me a scare, a few years before the violent Bird attack, I wasn't fishing though.

-While Deer hunting I saw a pack of Coy-Dogs (coyotes) take down a wounded Doe. The power and perfection of that take down was bone chilling. If they came after me, I wouldn't of standed a chance, even with my gun.

-A few years ago I was hiking into one of my favorite spots on the Hoosic, drinking a beer while I walked and smoking a cigarette (stereotypical Redneck enjoying the environment). I ran across a Doe eating clovers behind a large tree. I got close enough to that Doe to poke it in the but with my fly rod (8' 6" away). It took off like a rocket!

-I saw a King Salmon take down a guy at the Salmon River 2 years ago. The King was "leaping" upstream and nailed the guy right in the chest. Very cool.

-And now for my favorite. This didn't happen to me, but I saw the pictures, and know it's true. Back in the mid 1980's, a friend of mines uncle was bow hunting from a tree stand somewhere around Florida Mountain. He placed a salt lick under his tree stand (which is illegal in MA).

To fill the hours of waiting he decided to keep himself occupied by drinking, (Jack Daniells, not water). After about two hours (or what seemed like 2 hours) he was passed out drunk in his tree stand. He awoke just before dusk to find a nice 6-point Buck enjoying the salt lick under his stand. Now this Buck is directly under him and he decides he needed to take his shot soon before it gets to dark.

So he leans over his stand and draws back his bow. Just as he get the bow to full draw he looses his footing and falls right on top of a very startled Buck.

The Buck begins kicking him and mauling him with it's antlers. His only hope is the hunting knife he has strapped to his belt. He grabs the knife in desperation and starts plunging it into the Buck as many times as he can.

He killed that Buck with his Buck Knife. If you can't see the irony here, then just stop reading. I was told the whole story years ago and it was validated by a few Polaroids and a rather large scar on his cheek.

Ever since then, I like to tell every Deer hunter I know that I know I guy that killed a deer with a knife. Also that I snuck up on a Deer while drinking a Beer and smoking a cigarette.

[Uplander]

How many beers does that overloaded vest of your's hold Joe? ;D

[JoeOverlock]

5 in the vest with 1 in the chamber.

[jf5]

Great stories.

Not an attack, but cool story...

I was fishing the upper Deerfield one time and heard these screams that sounded like a infant beign ripped in half. I scan the woods near the sound, but do not see anything. Then suddenly I see two small black blotches moving through the brush. "Bear cubs" I thought to myself, but soon they came into the open followed by a mother coyote. They where two, all black, Yote pups. Right behind the adult yote is one pissed off doe. She has her ears pinned back and charges right at the cubs. They jump in the river, but circle back to shore (and mom) But, the doe wades in right after them forcing them to head across the river. Then the doe turns and chases the mother yote up into the cover. I watch the pups swim across and disappear into the brush.

The sounds I was hearing was apparently a distress call by the does fawn. And man did she scare those yotes. I never did see the mother yote and cubs get back together. I only assume that they did later when they headed back to where she was last seen...

[jlibs]

-Great stories. Thanks for sharing.

Joe, 5 in vest and 1 in the chamber? Do you shotgun those on the stream? Do you wear any extras on your belt, or in a separate clip?

JLIBS