Have you ever been attacked?

This isn't a joke thread. The gun thread popped up again. It got me wondering: we have a fairly large outdoor community here. How many people have actually been involved in an animal attack or a criminal attack while in the woods/wilderness?

I am leaving out dogs. This is another topic of discussion. I'm talking about wild animal or criminal attack and not house pet that bites.

If you pick one, please give a description of the attack.

-Dr. Wu

Not a full-on attack, but I was approached repeatedly and aggressively by a rabid racoon while hiking once. Sticks and stones discouraged it.
My niece experienced a full attack, the thing dropped down out of a tree onto her head and neck.

When I say other I mean birds..Artic terns while on THIER island of the coast of Maine.

And a Veery while playing a call during a bird breeding census. He was ready to kick my butt...

I was attacked by a gray squirrel in 2002. I was on a hike through a nature preserve in Portland that runs along and across a tidal marsh. On the return leg of this out-and-back trip, at the last bridged crossing, I encountered a large gray squirrel boar standing at the far end of the bridge. It did not flee as I approached. Instead, it charged. I dodged, and the creature ran back to its end of the bridge, then came back for another round. Fortunately the bridge was covered in gravel, so I reached down and scooped up a handful.

Raising my arms over my head to impress the beast, I growled and bluffcharged. As I got as close to the boar as I felt comfortable, I fired my handful of gravel at it. The spray of chipped rock had no effect on its renewed charge.

I retreated off the bridge, and the creature stood at the close end and scolded me. Knowing discretion to be the less fun part of valor, I bushwhacked offtrail around the bridge and returned to my car, muddied and defeated.

I was stalked by a mountain Lion on the back of Pikes Peak in CO. I was high up in the tundra with no where to go, he followed me and I realized he was getting closer every minute sizing me up. I was alone which did not help as I could have looked like prey to him Im sure. after carefull thought I rationalized that identifying myself as non-prey was the best option. I admitt it wasnt easy but I started to hike TOWARDS him while banging my trekking poles together. It took him a minute but I guess it worked he fiannally left me.
Those lions are much bigger up close then you would expect.

As I pulled into the parking lot one warm day in late May, we were excited for a beautiful day in the woods. Getting my wife out was a rare treat, and meeting some friends for some good exercise before we drank ourselves silly that night made it even better.

My wife, dog, and I were ahead of the other car, so we pulled into the spot and chilled for a bit to wait. With the car running, we noticed a few of the enemy beginning to saunter over to size up their breakfast. This did not go unnoticed. I became apprehensive about leaving the car. Not one who is generally considered a whimp, I nonetheless had some serious doubts if this was a good idea. The more we waiting, the more scary it got. Is this really something I wanted to subject my family to? We were surely not going to make it out unscathed. Would the scars be permanent...either mental or physical?

Eventually, the other car pulled in. They hadn't seen the commotion yet, and the quickly hopped out of their car as soon as it was in park. Oh, the horror! The enemy redirected their forces to my friends, and attacked with abandon. Hitting from all angles, their blood curtling screams must've been heard miles away. There was nothing we could do. However, we decided to make a run for it. We quickly grabbed out stuff from the trunk, laced our boots, and took off down the trail. Even with the distraction, and our cat-like quickness, we were hit, and hit hard. Our friends caught up soon after, and the shocked looks on their faces said it all. It was hell they had been through, hell indeed. We quickly gained elevation and picked up a breeze. The mosquitoes wafted away.

I came upon a small (< 8 inches long) snake on the Stony Brook Trail on Mt Moriah a couple years ago. It was right in the middle of the trail. So I picked up a pebble and threw it near it, thinking it would scare it away. Instead it curled up like a cobra and attempted to strike. Which was rather comical given its size.

I was also surounded by 6 or so madly chirping chipmunks later that day. They followed me for at least a quarter mile. Not sure what that was all about.

on a more serious note, on Webster-Jackson trail about 3 years ago, i got completely lit up by a swarm of angry yellowjackets courtesy of my (now ex-)wife.

Because of dumb luck and because I make quite a few mistakes as well as going into remote areas, I have been almost killed several times by animals. The main event that many have heard was when I bushwacked deep into the Pemigewasset Wilderness alone during rutting season. After seeing a bear setting up camp, I woke to a 1000 pound bull moose running straight at me from the gravel bar.
The moose then stopped a mere few feet away digging its hooves in. After he left..which was enough for me to almost have a heart attack, he came back and did the same thing twice more. This was followed by him stalking me around the gravel bad and showing scary territorial signs like sharping antlers on branches. I knew if I didn't leave he would fight me and kill me. It was that bad. I had to throw my icy stuff in my pack and run for my life from him back to the trail..which was followed by him chasing me through the woods for many minutes...on the way back believe it or not I saw a cow moose..which makes you think.. This was followed by the bear sitiation at Hellgate Brook, when we couldnt hang our food cause of deep snow and had to listen in terror has two bears kept coming into our campsite all night long and were very aggressive... Then on a trip with grouseking we almost had a moose walk over our tent in the pemi he got so close. The last thing that happened was at Flat Mountain Pond when an angry moose and I had a showdown where he was blocking the trail back to camp and I had to wait on a boulder while he grunted and stomped around...I think if hikers get off the trail more often they would be interested in how wild the Whites can be..
-Mattl

I have been dive-bombed by regurgitating seagulls at Isle of Shoals, apparently quite common

My sister was struck by a rattlesnake at Mesa Verde, but it bounced off her boot

I was attacked by a mother spruce (?) grouse once as I was hiking along.

Presumably a bluff attack--its chicks were crossing the trail.

Doug

Swarms of black flies attacked several times with skeeters. Also had a raccoon, don't believe him to be rabid but habituated. Had to poke him with the sharp end of my hiking pole to make him go away. He wanted to stay in the shelter with us and I believe mooch off of us. The only other interesting encounter was the porcupine. Not aggressive but scared the crap out of me until I figured out what it was. Lots of heavy walking and high grass movement. So far, have seen several moose and fortunately none have been aggressive. Lots of fresh bear signs also but never actually have seen one in the woods. Have seen several at the dumpsters. Oh yeah Doug, thanks for the reminder. A grouse came hauling a$$ out of the woods at me once. Scared hell out of me that time also. Also had a pheasant kept following me around one time in the CT woods. Obviously he was newly released.

Keith

I'm been dive bombed while Kayaking near a sandy island in Barnagret Bay by Seagulls, no Contact. Did have a bird peck the top of my head last year jogging on the Boards in Belmar, A Catbird I believe (the black ones with the little bit of orange/red under the wings)

now as a sometimes less than ideal teen I may have shot a songbird & more than my share of pigeons so maybe it's just a bit of revenge.

As far as wilderness Safety goes, I suspect that in many situations meeting people on the trail, I'm the one perceived as the threat. When I lived in a less than ideal neighborhood in Manchester, CT when I would go out for a walk in cold weather, hood up, a fair number of people would cross the street.

(Insert the bathing or stop walking with an axe in your neighborhood jokes here)

killer sheep

I clicked other. We were walking on the road out of Jackson (Carter Notch Rd?) to the Bog Brook Trail and this sheep stalked us up the road for about 1/4 of a mile. And sure enough he was waiting for us when we returned.


ok - I 'm bending the requirement of wild animal; but I am not sure farm animal qualifies as housepet either!

Ahh the Spruce Grouse....and the Ruffed Grouse, for that matter, are some of my closest acquaintances for some reason. When I say acquaintance....I don't mean it. I see grouse on nearly every hike and was attacked by a spruce grouse right next to Shoal Pond in Nov of 03. No chicks were present, so I think this grouse was just a mean territorial bird looking to strike. It probably gets muscled around by all the moose and bear nearby so it saw me as a much easier target....a non-pemi beast .

Yes Matt, how could I forget the moose nearly walking on our tent. I had seen one moose in my life along the Kanc before that day. Then I saw 3 in 5 hours. Two were at a nice distance and the bull moose was too close for comfort.

grouseking

I set off a swarm of hornets, which have ground nests, coming down from Garfield on the Thirteen Falls Trail. They hammered my forehead around the eys. I camped at 13 Falls that night. The next morning I could barely open my eyes and see my way out. If it ever happens again, I walk out that night no matter how far.

I was bluff charged by a bull, who had already dropped his antlers, in February a few years back. He pinned his ears and generally looked grumpy as I slowly approached, taking pictures. Suddenly, he just started running straight at me. I turned tail fast, looking back, as he kept coming. I looked again as he hit a chest-deep drift that stopped his charge. He climbed out and acted like nothing happened as I increased distance, wondering if my pants were soiled. There are actually several ruts for the not-so-lucky, so it can happen well into winter.

Other than that, no attacks!

Sierra, that's an incredible story, thanks.

Happy Trails!

One time, while in cave, a wampa took a swing at me - but I killed him with my ice axe.

seriously tho , nope, never, not even close a close call - othen than the black fly issue. couple of people I have wanted to attack though

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about the angry protective goose. Thing wouldn't let up and she was pecking right me' tewksberries. That was scary!

I've been bluff-charged a few times by marmots in the Rockies. They're pretty impressive, and make you back up a step or two - until you realize they're vegetarians. I've bluff-charged them back as well. Sometimes they back up, sometimes they don't.

I was attacked by "Other"

I was swarmed on my head by yellow jackets/hornets.

I was backpacking the Long Path NY in a dry fall -- I musta stuck my hiking stick in thier nest.

I remembered running, dropping my pack, and getting stings. I took my fleece that was tied to my waist and put it on my head to try to remove them, and I felt under the fleece that my whole head was a squirming mass of bee bodies. Eeeee gads!

My friend that I was hiking with (OK lets just call him MrX) poured all our water bottles over my head, and they finally let go.

I took about three benedryl and continued to backpack. My head really hurt for days.

Does this count??