Share your cool wildlife sightings.

I'll start.

Last week I was checking traps on Diamond Mountain (big sage brush plateau). I saw a bald eagle flying low and fast across the road in a draw in front of me. It momentarily went out of sight under the brow of a hill. When It came back into view there was a golden eagle about 50 yards in front of it. The golden was closing fast on a sage grouse. Then - BANG - the golden slammed the grouse and spiraled to the ground with it locked in it's talons. The bald eagle circled them a couple times then landed on a telephone pole back by the road. We both watched the golden feed on the grouse for a few minutes before I left. That was thrilling to watch!

I witnessed almost the same thing . But the other eagle was a young bald eagle . Their heads aren’t white until they get a certain age. It seemed like a mature bird was almost mentoring the younger one.

I saw a wolverine run across a logging road near Powell, ID in 92 or 93. I bailed out of the truck and howled like a dog and it treed. There were 4 of us that got to see it sitting on a tree limb looking down at us.

Saw 2 weasels having intimate relations in the middle of a paved road. Straddled the and never slowed down and missed them. My girlfriend now wife was with me.

many years ago, I saw a one-legged wild turkey fly under a rock.

I was checking traps on a high meadow along the Octoraro Creek, during a cloudy, cold December day, when a herring fell from the sky and landed within 30 ft of me. I looked up and a mature bald Eagle was probably 150ft above me.fish was alive and flopping. At the time,17 years ago, eagles were not as common and I was in a bad place in my life; grown step-son on drugs, battling through a divorce & custody battle for my kids, money was tight. I took it as a sign to keep my head up and realize things would get better. I even cooked the 12” herring for supper.

One of the coolest experiences was while vacationing in Belize found a set of Jaguar tracks running down a dirt road in the jungle. Was also tracks of a smaller cat (probable Ocelot).

I had a in the Park tag for turkey a few years ago I scouted the evening before, on my way out of the park I see something ahead of me but did not recognize the walk. So a large Mt. lion crossed the road maybe 30 yds ahead I’m thinking it will take off into the trees but it just stood on the shoulder and watched me drive by.

To be honest the lack of fear was concerning and intimidating even but I was in his backyard.

Drove up on another lion before sunrise a few years ago he was on a fresh elk kill another good size lion.



Seen a cub lion working on a roadkill deer just on the edge of a ski resort town it ducked into a cabin rental area but it was the off season then.

Had a bald eagle fly right over head with a squirming squirrel in it's talons. First thing that came to my mind was "This just wasn't your day."
Fishing at a trout state park. Mink came down to the stream edge across from us, took a guys stringer of trout and headed for the woods.
Saw two 150 class bucks really fighting for all they were worth for 5 min. Dust flying and an all out battle.
Tom turkey flogged/spurred the tar out of a coyote that was messing with him.
Unfortunately I have forgotten several but instances like that is what really make the outdoors interesting.

Well one instance was on this last hunt with the young lady, in Montana. Looking for a spike elk one morning we jumped out a group of 5 bulls. We saw them flash over a timbered ridge top about 250 yards out then drop out of site. Way too much antler in the group.

They went straight away from us up a timbered draw and at the top of the draw they checked up on a hillside clearing 700 yards out and milled around. They were all trophy elk but one was beyond belief. Our ranch host had seen this bull a few weeks earlier up close and figured him at over 400 inches and above 1k in weight. This Rancher is the Elk Whisperer and I would never doubt him. Compared to the other bulls which were terrific this one was a monster, a class above and then some.

We watched them for nearly half an hour, they bedded there. Stunning to watch, we slipped back and left them there.

Osky

Was sitting on ground at field edge one evening deer hunting and a rabbit hopped out about 10 yds from me. A great-horned owl was sitting on a tall dead snag about 200yds away. He had hooted a few times and that's how I located him. The owl took flight, beating his wings about 6 or 8 times, and then glided silently all the way to the rabbit that was now about 5yds from me. When the owl was about 10 feet from the rabbit, he inverted and turned his feet/talons forward. He hit the rabbit hard and tufts of fur flew. They rolled completely once with the owl ending up on top of the rabbit. The rabbit squealed once. The owl flew with the rabbit back to the dead snag and commenced to pulling the rabbit apart.

Seeing that was better than killing a deer that evening.

Long before trapping, when hunting a lease in Stewart Co, we had a box stand no more than 5ft high. My wife and I would sit in it some evenings hunting deer. Every time we hunted that stand right about dark a bobcat would walk down the road like he owned the place and get to the bottom of the stand and look up. I’d stick my hand out and wave him off and he’d walk back the way he came and disappear around the curve of the road. The first time it happened I thought that’s a once in a lifetime experience. But it happened every time we hunted that stand. All I could imagine was he used it as a resting spot or an ambush spot and would make sure it was empty before climbing or jumping in.

I had an Owl do that to my head one evening years ago when calling fox about 9:30 pm on a cool December night. Perfect for night for calling, very calm and still evening. The leaves were crispy so you could hear any movement coming from some distance. A very bright moon lit night to boot. You could see well without a light in some areas that were more open. I was using a mouth call. At that time, I was using a hard hat with an old Wheat lite fastened to a clip on the front of the hat. Some of you older fellas should remember those lighting systems.

I typically made a series of calls, then panned the area ahead of me for eyes. After the second series of distress rabbit calls, I started to slowly pan the area for eyes when I felt a swish of air and a scratching/screeching sound on my hard hat. The impact knocked my hat off.

It didn't take me long to realize what just happened. Needless to say, that was the end of my evening of calling. I had a buddy with me that night on that stand and not far off from me. He heard the noise and saw my light drop and came over to see what the fuss was about.

What’s scary is you don’t hear them, You feel them!!!

I drove by a small bean field where there was a groundhog on the left, red-tailed hawk sitting on the ground in the center, and a turkey vulture on the right. They were all just sitting there.
I am absolutely certain they the vulture was fixin to ask the hawk, "You gonna pull those pistols, or whistle Dixie?"
I wished that I could have pulled over to see what happened next.

Yes, they are quite silent until the last moment before impact. At least that is how it played out in my case. I was very fortunate it hit near the back of my head and not my face. It could have been a visit to the ER with lacerations or an eye injury. Those are memorable times in the field.

Good stuff all.

I totally camo when archery hunting and don’t know what an owl thought when all it could see was my eyes, but I do believe had I not raised my bow when I did I’d be wearing a patch over one eye or totally blind. To this day when I see a bird of prey I drop my face mask to make sure they see me, lol.