After watching a wildlife show the other evening I was thinking of the encounters I have had which aren’t many. Mostly with snakes either in the water or on the way to water. In all cases I give them a WIDE berth.
What encounters have you had when flyfishing? Bears, angry moose, snakes or whatever…just curious.
Bernie
Three moose, a black bear, a skunk, and one very ticked off beaver. Sometimes a wide berth isn’t an option, so luck comes into play. Fleetness used to help, but not any more.
There should be a couple threads of this in the archives, but…
I have been run out of the river by moose, snarled at by otters many times, had bears wander past and meet me on the trail. I once hit a bighorn sheep with a backcast, and several years later met another on a trail on a narrow shelf above some deep water. I have also had a bald eagle nearly land on my head while I was tying on a fly.
bears and moose and wolves, on this one encounter I was sure glad to have Fischer with me, he alerted me to the two wolves watching me!!!.
have saw Cougar tracks over mine, and saw sheep and goats, at elevation…
Living in SWAB Can I am sure that I will see more…
A few bear encounters and two moose encounters. I had to spend a full day on a Snake River island onaccounta a moose was on shore st the shallowest crossing point. The bear encounters were a bit tougher. This griz guarding his buried elk kill made a few nasty noises toward us but thankfully held his ground . The pic was taken through a binocular lens.
Summer of 1963 my partner Wayne Cousins & I were motoring in a boat towards Valdez Alaska after a great outing for salmon. There was an old deserted cannery along the shore with a deck out into the bay. There was a ladder on the deck that allowed a boater to tie onto the deck and go into the cannery door which was maybe 10 or 15 ft away. Being nosey we pulled the boat up to the deck & Wayne held the boat and I started up the ladder. I was about 3 steps upon the ladder and waist high above the deck and I was just getting ready to hoist myself onto the deck when the door to the cannery swung open and a 5000 lb (lol) grizzley stuck its head out and let out a great big woof. I let go of the ladder and fell into the boat and away we went both scared beyond belief.
The most painful was on a small creek out of Evergreen Colorado when I stepped on some debris that was lodged between two rocks in the center of the creek. There was a coloney of bees of some type that didn’t take kindly to be being disturbed and let me know it.
I’ve had a few encounters with Bison when I fished Soda Butte this past summer.
The first case was a bison that came off the ridge and decided to lay down/roll around on a small island, basically blocking my way back to the trailhead.
The second case, I was fishing, with the bison over the ridge. The herd moved off the ridge down to the river to get drinks of water. 5 minutes earlier I was fishing the hole they were drinking out of, so I was very pleased to have left a few minutes earlier.
Same trip was fishing the Madison, and could hear several elk in the pines beyond my view.
Outside of Yellowstone, I’ve mainly had Antelope and deer as I’m driving out to a lake with the boat in tow. In one case, I narrowly missed a large mule buck running in front of my truck.
Paul
Probably the most painful I had was getting covered with red fire ants while bustin brush between holes on the Pit River in N. CA… I hollered, stripped down, and jumped in the cold water with my rod in my hand. Had quite a few dozen welts on my hide from it…My fishin partner Terry just laughed and laughed til he couldn’t see through the tears in his eyes…:shock:
Clorox bleach. My wife is from South GA and there are plenty of fire ant mounds down there. They say that pouring bleach on a bite will burn a few minutes but then take the sting out!?! I hope I don’t have to find out if that works or not.
Mostly I have just encountered snakes, and that is plenty for me. I am 6"4" and weigh way to close to 300 pounds, but I’ll run like a little school girl to get away from them things. 
hNt
Back in high school days–while using a makeshift latrine in our campsite, looked back between my legs and there was this 4 foot timber rattler moving slowly toward me. You cant move very well with your pants down around your ankles.
Then there was the alligator that I had hooked while fishing with my son in a canoe. He thought it was a big drum and grabbed the shock leader to get him up to unhook it. It surfaced with open jaws and “the kid” fell backwards in the canoe and came very close to putting both of us in the water with the gator.
George
ive had birds pick up my fly while fishing a pond in co… seen a few deer some beavers but only one snake.
While fishing, I’ve seen the usual deer, otters, beaver and a few bald eagles - adults and juveniles. Have also seen fresh cougar (confirmed by other people seeing the cougar on the same stretch of river on the same day) and bear tracks.
The only thing that was somewhat “intimidating” was when I took my nephew (then about 3 or 4 years old) to pick strawberries in the woods. We found a great patch of them and quickly filled a container. As I started to stand up, I noticed a really large porcupine with its back to us about 3 feet from us eating strawberries. Either it was deaf, we were up wind, or it simply didn’t care we were there, but I whispered to my nephew to freeze. I didn’t think my little nephew could get out of the log filled strawberry patch very easily or quickly before the quills would hit him, so we crouched there without making a sound until the porcupine had its fill and sauntered away. I am sure it was only a few minutes, but it sure seemed as though it took an hour for that thing to leave!
I frequently see small snakes while at the water. I have had a bear fish the same lake with me, but he was on the far side of the lake. Had a cow moose and her calf march down the road not 30 ft from a group of us and we were not being the least bit quiet. I’ve had rock squirrels tap me on the foot looking for a snack. There have been others, but these stand out.
While fishing a small lake in Oregon from my float tube, I had a fawn mule deer jump into the lake in front of me and attempt to climb aboard my float tube. I was able to back a way and swat it on the nose with my fly rod. Same day I had an otter swim around my float tube a couple of times before swimming off. Should have had a camera handy.
Mike
A drunk guy kept on bugging me one day I was fishing Granada Park in Arizona but that’s about it. 
I did c a hawk pick a trout right out of the water at Chaparral Lake in Scottsdale, AZ back in 2005 I believe.
Other than one incident with a grumpy watersnake and I surprising each other one day, all of my encounters have been fairly pleasant. This past summer, I fished one particular stream several times a week for a few months. More often than not, I’d be fishing at the tail of one particular long pool at dusk, and a raccoon would dig crayfish up at the head of the same pool. I can only assume it was the same one each evening. 2-3 times a week through May, June, and into July, we’d fish that hole together. One day I decided to fish the top of the hole, beside him, but instead, he came to the opposite bank, saw me, and went down and fished my usual spot.
Other than that, I’ve seen deer, squirrel, rabbit (one swimming!), muskrat, eagle, and one semi-disoriented skunk. Met him while fishing a local pond. He didnt want to be near me, but somehow didn’t realize that the pond was a circle. He’d move away from me only to completely circle the pond. Then when he came up on my other side, he’d sniff and paw at the ground, then turn around and go the other way.
You see about everything while fishing! Deer, eagles, osprey, owls, coyotes, fox, beaver, muskrat, skunks, otter, caribou, bear, bluebirds, orioles, hummingbirds, herons…have seen mountain lion tracks. One of the coolest times was when I was standing in the middle of a river fishing for smallies, and 3 wild turkeys flew above my head (I think I could have reached up with my fishing rod and touched them!), and landed on the opposite side of the river to roost in a giant oak tree. 
Well I have a reputation for finding cow moose with calf by getting between them by not looking around while fishing. Have you ever tried running wearing the old rubber hipwaders with steel toes? It AIN’T EASY!!! Or your friends come looking for you when you don’t show up for supper in camp, and find you on a large rock in the middle of the stream with a cow moose walking round and round until they arrive and chase her and her calf off.
I am going to have to start paying more attention now days as I have wolves playing in my fishing areas now days.
More reason to pack the 44 in stead of the 9mm.
One large brown bear standing up watching me, way to close for comfort.
One dive bombing/attacking bat.
A set of wet cougar prints on the rocks, we decided to leave emmediately.
Two drunk hunters, what a treat.
and the usual, deer, elk, beaver.
Lotsa snakes, even had 'em slither over my wading boot. I happen to like to play with snakes, so usually THEY are the ones “fleeing for their lives”. Plenty of turtles with a few caught. Some snappers WILL take a dry fly. I watched a friend hook a bat. Another friend assures me that no matter how stout your reel, drag, and leader that a cow WILL spool you. I’ve seen eagles, buzzards by the dozen, kingfishers, & played tag to a loon at a MIFI. I’ve seen beavers, muskrats, mink, woodchucks, raccoons, 'possums, skunks, & deer as well as feral dog, cats and pigs. Been chased into a very deep pool once by the latter. I have, on rare occasions, even seen a fish or two.
Oh, I’ve seen Jack Hise fairly often, does that count?
(To be fair, poor Jack has seen me, too.)
Ed