wildlife interactions...

[BlackRock]

Have you personally witnessed any very cool wildlife interactions?

Mine involved Accipiters (woodland hawks). I was watching a robin fly across a field when out of nowhere, a Sharp-shinned Hawk snatched it out of mid air. I could here the bones crunch. It flew up to a cottonwood and ate it there in front of me.

Another time I was watching a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek. Suddenly they all spooked as if they had seen the devil himself. Across the sagebrush came a large Coopers Hawk. She got on the tail of a grouse and damn near had it several times until it got away after several hundred yards. It was very cool. I was rooting for the hawk.

 

[polarbear]

Last spring I watched as a hawk snatched one of my chickens out of the pasture and fly off with it. Boy was I pissed! She had just started to set on her clutch of eggs. She came out to feed for a few minutes when wham! It was amazing how fast that hawk swooped down and snatched up that hen.
About 10 years ago my cousin Mark and I sat on a bluff during late archery whitetail and watched a cougar take down a young mulie doe. They were about 650-700 yards away and we watched through our binocs. We were wishing that we had our rifles.
I have seen quite a few buck and bull fights. I once watched 3 whitetail bucks fight each other for close to 20 minutes. By the time they were done, all 3 could hardly move. I dont think that there was a clear winner in that one. They all got to the point where they seemed like they had enough and took off.
Eric

 

[py_archer]

I was wading a river hoping to jump some ducks when 3 wood ducks flushed from an eddy. I fired and missed. I just stood there hanging my head for about 15 seconds when one of them came flying back. I could not believe my good fortune. Then I seen there was a hawk chasing it. The hawk tried to grab it in mid-air but come up short with a few feathers flying. At this the wood duck veered into the trees along the bank losing the hawk who didn't seem to want to follow. I shot the wood duck in the tree's and it fell. Now the hawk must have thought he somehow got it because he landed in a tree and seemed to be looking for a way to retrieve it. I couldn't believe the shot didn't bother him. It wasn't until I started to climb up the bank that he flew away.

Once again while duck hunting the same small river a huge whitetail buck (and I mean huge) was tagging a doe when his course took him right in the middle of my decoy spread. When the ducks failed to move I could actually see his eyebrow curl as he seem puzzled. He then looked up to see my buddy and I with our jaws down around our chest not 15yds away on the bank. His next emotion was one of fear but since we wasn't moving he kind of just slinked off making like we didn't even see him LOL. My buddy went back (his spot) and hunted for him but never seen him again.

 

[RACKMASTER]

About every time I go duck hunting I see the HAWKS,KITES work the coots on pond I hunt in. Its like they herd them into the corner then they hit the 1st one that walked on the land!
Saw bull Elk fight when scouted Utah once!
Seen a Black bear attack and kill a doe then eat her.
Saw an MOUNTIAN LION(big tom vary big) that way just shot face (ha,ha) wasn't me that would be wrong,its agianst the the law to shoot LIONS here in the Golden State(Yes I reported it with the officer just shrug his shoulders).

 

[BCbucks]

I've been fortunate to witness quite a few over the years -

Some highlights -

I've seen bull elk, bull moose, muley bucks, whitetail bucks, mountain goats (billies), bighorn rams, california bighorn rams, stone's sheep rams, all fighting during the rut.....

I've got charged by a grizzly once and very lucky to to have gotten away unscathed.....myself and another guy have been charged by a angry cow moose over a cliff.....another cow moose charged our horses and caused the pack horses to take off .... many black bear encounters over the years too many to remember them all.

I've seen a golden eagle knock a 1 week old mountain goat kid off the cliffs and proceed to dine on it afterwards.

I witnessed the slaughter of 8 Stone's sheep ewes and lambs by 3 grizzlies (sow with two 3 year old cubs) in mere seconds. Never seen predatory behavior of the like before and has been documented.

I watched a black bear stalk Stone's sheep up a mountain side but not successful. Kept trying to get above the sheep before attempting a run at them ....trying to get them to run down hill.....the sheep were smart ... always staying higher.

Man - the memories those have !!! alot of them are from not just when hunting but when I'm on the job in the bush.

Lots of eagles and ospreys catching fish, grizzlies digging up ground squirrels in the alpine, foxes and coyotes catching mice and voles etc ......

 

[RLH]

saw a doe bite and tree a bobcat, "a" real bobcat, not "the" real bobcat. bit it and picked it up and shook it several. treed it several times. last time i saw em the bocat was haulin' ass over a ridge with the doe still nippin' at it.
had an "interaction" with a bear on black river, while fishin' for smallmouth once. ended gettin' in a fist and rock fight with him and kicked his ass. bears can't chunk rocks fer $h!t.

 

[Blueoak]

I was hunting ground squirrels a few years ago and saw a rattler strike and kill a squirrel I HAD JUST MISSED.

 

[Wapiti]

On two different occasions I've witness a Mule Deer doe chasing a coyote. The does had fawns with them that the coyote was stalking. The does turned and chases the coyotes down the ridge. The first time I witnessed this behavior, the doe was chasing the coyote in circles around a large brush pile. It was pretty amusing.

When I was young, I was chased by a cow elk defending her calf in Yellowstone.

About 5 years ago I was archery elk hunting and located a herd of elk across the canyon from me. The herd bull was bugling like crazy and his cows were making a tremendous racket. With all there calling and whining the whole canyon was echoing with the sound of elk. It was the first time I ever heard a cow in estrus call. Standing on the opposite ridge from the elk I gave out a few cow calls and immediately had a group of 20 cows come running right to me. They were going nuts running around, rearing up on their hind legs and kicking at each other. Needless to say it was quite the skeptical of rutting behavior. In the area I was hunting I was limited to either a spike bull or cow only. After about 5 minutes of running around, the elk began to file back down the canyon to the herd. I was presented with a good opportunity on one of the cows and took the shot. I watch her run about 50 yards and drop.
All during this time the herd bull was going bonkers, screaming about every ten seconds. The cows disappeared about 200 yards below me. Curious to see what would happen, I let out a few more cow calls and here they came again. This time they came running up within 20 yards of me. I just sat and watched them as they ran around like a bunch of kids at recess during school. It was truly one of the most remarkable experiences I've ever witnessed in nature. Wished I had a video recorder.

 

[threelemonbob]

if you want to see something put a glass ball on top of a barn that usually has pigons on it hawks will dive down and hit the glass ball its pretty funny. I saw 2 330 class 6-points fight for almost 5 minutes one day one finally got the better of the other and hooked hi with his bottom tines and rolled him down the hill.

 

[wallhanger]

One day my brother and my dad were fishing off the coast of San Diego. My brother finally hooked a legal barricuda. as he's reeling it up to the side of the boat, a seal jumps out of the water and takes the barricuda off his line and eats it. He said it scared the hell out of him, but it was really cool to see.

One of the most impressive things I personally have ever seen was a whitetail buck "rubbing" on a mesquite tree. I had no idea how aggressive they could be while doing this. He absolutely tore an eight foot high mesquite bush/tree (whatever they are) to shreds. It took him about 20 minutes. Then he just walked off like a champion prize fighter.

(I know it's not animal to animal interaction, but it's cool to see how animals act when they think no-one is watching)

WH