Whats your animal encounter?

When I lived in Kodiak, Alaska I would run and run on all types of trails. This one day I went on a familiar close to a neighborhood 3 mile loop run around Beaver Pond. I was running with my dog Doc Holiday which is 90lb Hungairian Viszla. Towards the end of the run I noticed a boulder that was never there before. Before I knew it that boulder started moving onto the trail and walking towards me. It turned out to be a Kodiak Grizzly bear about 8+ feet tall.
The bear got up on its hind legs and started to walk towards me. It was an amazing sight and scary too, since we were about 200 yards away from him. I was very lucky my dog didn't notice or smell the bear (bears are stinky animals). So I didn't panic, I just stopped made my presience known and started to walk backwards very slowly. You don't want to make fast movements, you don't want to trigger a charge. I only had to walk a few yards to get out of sight of the bear. When I was out of sight I made a 3 mile jog into a 6 mile jog.
On the returen trip I came up to an oldman and his 3 grandchildren. I told them about the bear, and they told me about the mama bear and her two cubs they just came across 1/2mile up the trail. The little boy asked me "why don't you have a gun out here" I just laughed and told him that his pea shooter would do nothing and that I was running and not hunting. Man was I in a pradicament. Should I chance the lone male or the Mama and the cubs. Mama and the cubs are more dangerous if you get caught in the middle. Since I never saw them I choose to change the mama and the cubs. I was lucky enough to not have seen them, but I did see all their tracks in the mud.
So the morale of the story is this. If you come across any wildlife big or small dangerous or not, stay calm and know your surroundings. Then everyone animals and humans a like will be safe and sound.

That's a great story! Around here some runners get concerned about cougars, and I've heard a few scary stories of people being stalked. That always crosses my mind when I'm out running, though the chances of an encounter are pretty slim.

I recently had a cow "encounter", though. I scared a couple of cows near the trail, and rather than run to the side, they ran down the trail ahead of me. I literally scared the crap out of them and I had to constantly do some fancy footwork and hopping to avoid splatters of fresh cow manure on the trail and low-hanging vegetation (I didn't entirely succeed) ... for 2 miles! I periodically caught up to them (surprisingly fast runners), scaring them down the trail, until they wised up and left the trail. The most annoying run I've ever had. Gotta love Utah grazing rights.

I know cougars (mountain lions) can be scary. Mountain biking my buddy and I scared one sleeping in Whiting Ranch, Southern California. It was the size of great dane. I have never peddled so fast, and I don't think the mountain lion ran so fast before the other direction. It was kind of comical.

Story about cows is good. I never have ran up to cows before, but I had to wait for almost 45min for a heard of buffalo to move. I was on a 4 wheeler trail, which is usually buisy, but this time no one came to chase them away. Oh well, it was awsome to sit there and watch them. Alaska is an awsome place to run and see wild life.

Very cool to have seen a mountain lion in the wild! That'd be amazing to see one while hiking or biking --- but running is cause for some concern because running is prey behavior :-)

Yeah, I can image Alaska would be a fantastic place for wildlife. Sounds like you've had some great encounters.

Late afternoon towards evening, I was coming in from a long run on the Silver City Trail, here in the Black Hills. The trail meanders along a creek on one side and a shale cliff on the other. The cliff is almost vertical and ascends for a couple of hundred feet before cresting. As we (my dog and I) came around a bend, I discovered a Mountain Goat standing alone calmly eating the grass between the trail and creek. My dog immediately launched into predator mode and went screaming after this newfound prey. In a bound, the goat was up and onto the shale cliff. I was able to call my dog back. It was a good thing to, because the avalanche of shale coming down the cliff behind the goat would have quickly put an end to my dog.
As I watched, the goat would leap across the air finding unseen ledges and rocks to cling to. At times, its hoof would find purchase above its shoulders and it would effortlessly pull itself up onto a new perch. Its athleticism was beyond anything I had even witnessed. A magnificent animal to behold!

That story sounds very similar to one told by Galen Rowell in his book Mountain Light, where he photographs a mountain goat climbing a 5.8 wall, performing all kinds of perfect climbing moves. The wall was at the bottom of a long route they had failed to climb a day earlier. I've seen a lot of mountain goats around Mount Timpanogos here in Utah but unfortunately haven't seen them do a lot of climbing

They are incredible animals. I just stood and watched in awe.

I have only seen one Mt. Lion. Flashes of it actually as it was streaking through the think trees. They say you might not have seen one, but you have been seen by one.

That would be an awsome sight to see. In Kodiak I have seen hundreds of the white mountain goats, but only from a distance and not doing much climbing. Maybe one day when I return to Alaska will I get to see something like that. Here in Hawaii you might be lucky and see a wild pig crossing the trail or sucluded road.

One day this past early spring(the snow was about 1/2 melted) I was about 2 miles into a 16 miler and the trail rises steadily up for the first 2 miles before cresting & opening into a nice meadow. As I started across the opening, I noticed a small herd of elk bedded just off to my right a short distance off the trail. I slowed to watch them & they all stood and began to trot away. What I had not noticed was the bull elk just off the trail to my left. As I'm watching the herd, I begin to hear the loud thunder of hooves & loud gutteral snorts, within seconds this large beast crosses about 6 ft in front of me, obviously trying to deflect my path, as he rushed to catch his harem of cows.
I stopped to catch myself, as my life flashed before my eyes, certain that that was the coolest thing I had ever seen & hope it never happens to me again. Jeff

The cats are a runner's true dilemma, that is, outside of cub season for bears. Last winter, I was running a ridgeline during the course of a 15-miler that would encompass post-darkness, so I had a headlamp; it was dusk and my terrier froze in position of rapt attention, which really isn't that odd as she points on anything from squirrels to coons.

However, this time, even though I ran past her, she didn't budge. So, jogged back to her position and found her concentration imperturbable; at which point, I began scanning the area on which her laser-gaze was affixed. After what must have been at least 30 seconds, I saw a shadow-within-a-shadow move along the base of a bluff about 100 yards away. What emerged against a field of snow was a form that moved like black mercury...it didn't pace or stride, it simply poured like liquid from one advantageous point of shadow to another.

To understate our reaction, let me just say that I took the unheard of measure of leashing the dog and then fleeing. The next day, I reported the incident to the national park and, a couple days later, received a call from a ranger who explained that I likely saw the black panther that officials had witnessed on security video numerous times over the past year....BLACK PANTHER?! What? This is the SE sector of the Appy Mtn. chain!

Sadly, this had profoundly affected my nighttime running habits, especially during warm weather, when on Friday and Saturday nights around 10pm I used to love taking off for hours at a time.

The truth about cats is simply this: you likely won't know they're there until you're down, at which point it's probably too late. Thus, run daylight and/or strap on bells, let off an occasional airhorn blast, shout before entering blind turns, and run with a dog if you can.

Ain't our sport grand?/Kate

Okay, it late T-giving night...earlier this afternoon the terrier & I went on a scheduled 10 miler before my appearance at a friend's family's holiday meal...absolutely no one in the national park and around mile 4, for the first time since late last winter (about 9 months ago) I saw a black bear up on a hill crest above the trail. No biggie; however, even at a distance, he appeared to be at least 100-150 lbs heavier than the average 200-250 pounders I've previously seen here in the SE Appys. About a mile around the looping trail, he shows up again - apparently having taken a short cut over the high ground down to the single track's meandering sway; this is obviously not a coincidence and, at this point, even my intrepid dog is shaken and, uncharacteristically, sticking to me like Velcro - moreover, I've got no protection...so the scheduled 10 miler is cut 2 miles short and I immediately turn for the 4 mile trek back to the parking lot. Yet, the bear follows, this time directly on the trail - I've never had this happen. After about a few hundred yards it becomes apparent that we're being stalked and I stop and turn. I break a long, downed limb into an (about) 8 foot section and then bear slows his approach and begins a zig-zag pattern across the trail, turning every 10-20 feet while seemingly looking at everything in the vicinity but me, even though it, myself, and doggie are the only living things around. I begin screaming at it - which renders puppy useless in her confusion - while prying disappointingly small rocks from the frozen ground (why do they ALL seem so large when I'm tired and stumbling over them on long runs?)...after about 3 tosses - the last of which strikes a tree within inches of the bear - he turns and retreats. Back to the jeep without incident. Needless to say, I just completed an Amazon order for bear mace, an airhorn, a 120 dcb whistle, and 2 bear bells (one for my water belt and one for puppy's collar)...It's weird, but instead of weak and afraid, I now feel angry with a bit of steel in my spine (as my grandfather would say). Winter trail running in the empty national park will continue as scheduled. But, from now on, with an arsenal! /K

Edit: I should add that I own a Glock 9mm for household protection; however, it's relatively heavy and, in the event of rapid attack, would be unwieldy versus mace or an airhorn....additionally, even with a situation like today, where I had plenty of time and distance to discharge an accurate shot (or even a full clip had I wanted), I'm just not prepared to go there yet - one of trail running's benefits, to me, has been a closeness with nature and carrying a gun seems like some sort of betrayal. Obviously, this is absurd if it's truly a matter of life and death. At the remotest end of the spectrum of considerations for not carrying a gun is a federal ban against possession in the park...but, this doesn't carry a whole lot of weight for obvious reasons :)) /K