I’ve had beavers come close to the boat and make there attention getting noise…I’ve had bat hitting the Power Pro and bats flying between two people in the boat that were three feet away from each other… (that always makes the Favorite Wife happy… 
)
Anyone have some none targeted animal in the boat with them?
None in the boat but…6 of us were up in the BWCA a few years back. Best place for good fire wood is a beaver house right? Well, I told me cousin that, he agreed so we pulled up to this house, needing reassurance there were NO beavers around, “NAH, there’s no beaver around, hurry up” he gingerly got out of the canoe and stepped up on the house. After a moment he was standing up there like he was king of the world and I floated a few feet away. As the words, “must be an old house” come out of his mouth, ONE PIZZED off beaver comes launching out of the water and half way up the house, FREAKING out in the direction of my cousin. Should have seen the look on his face, priceless, I think I even heard a screech!! So he’s standing there on a “island” crapping his pants, I’m 20′ away and the beaver jumped back in the water and is now circling like a shark, now hissing, slapping and aiming it’s anger right towards me cousin, I’m still laughing me rear off, he’s yelling for help, I’m still laughing. After a few tense, gut busting minutes the beaver took off long enough for me to retrieve my cousin. The fear in his eyes was priceless! I don’t think the, “look out they bite”, “they have rabies”, “he’s coming for you” and “if he gets a hold of your in trouble” helped the situation, but it was funny. In his eyes that little beaver was a grizzly! 
BIRDDOG
My closest beaver
awww forget it…….
Nice story Birddog- I have not had them in the boat but my story also comes from the BWCA. We were on Alice lake and the wind blew all day like a mother. This made fishing very difficult. I ventured out and managed to land a 20 inch walleye and stringered her up for dinner. Wow what a treat, right! I fished for another half or so. I got back to the campsite where the rest of the boys were drinking their whiskey and bitching about the wind. I landed the canoe and went to grab my prize catch to show off my fishing skills. I look down and “Holy S**t” there is about a 50lb snapping turtle on the end of my stringer. The 20 inch walleye was completely down the hatch, you couldn’t even see his tail. I will never ever forget that one.
John
Early this season we were fishing for crappies at night out on tonka and had an owl come within 2ft of my buddies face. Owl thought his bobber was food and tried relentless to snatch it whether b4 he was trying to cast or as he pulled it in. We finally gave up because we didn’t want to have our eyes snatched out. I swear this owl was stealth cause after each attempt he’d blend away in the tree’s and before you know it he swooped back down to try again. It was not small owl either, probably bout 3 foot wing span, had us all duckin for cover when he came within the boat attempt. Stupid orange bobbers 
Just last night my buddy and I got to within a few feet of a beaver on the shore of an island before he slipped into the water and smacked his tail. I see beavers almost every time out if I hit a certain area on the river.
We get thousands of bats down here in the DBQ area. 2 summers ago I had one whop me right on the bridge of the nose when we were running back up river to the boat ramp. It bent my glasses and brought tears to my eyes. My boat only does about 35 mph but this bat must have been a little slow because he couldn’t get out of the way of my big fat head. I looked for the bat in the boat but he must have landed in the drink. There was no way that he survived the collision. Ever since that night I won’t run fast when the bats are out thick. Bats don’t bother me but I don’t care for htem hitting me in the face.
Eyehunter
last season, we had beached the boat and we’re taking a break on land, cooking up some dogs and burgers. There were sounds coming from the boat, like paper being torn and scratching noises. I went to investigate and a darn otter came flying out of the boat back into the water. He must have climbed aboard on the ladder and was digging around, ripping open packages of scented bait. I’m just glad he decided to leave right away rather than have him pop up from under the console while under full power! I probably would have jumped overboard!
Two close ones, while fishing a tournament at Lake Livingston TX, we where fishing along the bank and a snake dropped out of a tree into the boat, had a heck of a time getting him out. Next one was at Kissamee, hooked into a nice bass and was about ready to pull him into the boat and a gator cameup and grabbed him, scared the s…t out of me and the guy I was fishing with.
Quote:
My closest beaver
awww forget it…….
Oh geez…I knew someone would go there 
My Uncle and I were ice fishing over New Years in his new sleeper fish house. We had fallen asleep about midnight and left our lines in. My bunk was set up so my head was right next to my fishing hole and I had my spinning reel under my bunk. I woke up because I heard some scratching somewhere and then my Uncles rattle reel goes off. He turns on the light and tends to his reel…no fish. I asked him if he heard some weird noises before the reel alarm went off and he said nope. He turned the light off and crawled back into bed. As I was lying there in the dark, I heard the scratching noise again. “Did you hear that??” I asked him. “Yeah, its just the wind” he said. 
I figured there had to be a mouse or something under the shack digging around but it was getting louder. I had had enough and decided to pull my line in and put the cover on the hole. As I turned my light on, I found I was head to head with a big ole muskrat!!!! 
My head was not even two feet from the hole and he was standing on top of the ice under the shack!!!! I said OH F#!@ !!! And layed there frozen for a few seconds. I waited for him to make the first move and as soon as he turned I slammed the cover on the hole and then covered all the others so he couldnt get in. Even though he couldnt get inside, he let us know of his presence as he swam up and down the holes. For at least an hour all we heard was water splashing in the holes and scratching under the shack!!!!! After a while, he finally he gave up and left us alone.
The weird thing was that the fish house was at least three hunded yards from the shore. I guess muskrats can hold their breath for awhile!
I ave had bats as close as everyone else.. they dont bother me too much.
What bothered me the most was fishing lighted floats on Fall Lake just outside of Ely about 10 years ago. I was anchored about 20′ from shore casting along the shore with my partner. It was a bit windy, but we were in a sheltered area(why we were so close to shore). We both thought we heard a twig snap here and there, but unsure with all the wind. I shined flashlight a couple times and seen nothing. Not long after, we heard the sound of a rock sliding off another rock and slipping into the water.. we knew something was there now…
Our trusty Mag Light with half dead batteries illuminated the cow Moose at waters edge, 20′ away from the boat. It was much to our surprise to identify the legs 1st with the flashlight, and folllow them up to the body and head… thak god it wasnt a bull, we may have been done for anchored in a few feet of water.
It was a dark night I wont forget. I think my knees shook for an hour after the ordeal. I knew it should have been pretty harmless with no calf involved.. but its still scary.
I had one of those fishhouse experiences too. I was face to face with him. Who was more scared, I will never know. I also had a goose hunting experience with a beaver. I had been bowhunting in the area and heard many geese get off the lake every morning just after sunrise. So me and a buddy decieded to lay out on the back side of this berm next to the lake. There was a very small pond on the back side of the berm. There was Sumac growing on the beam so I searched for a open area to set up in. It was a hour before sunrise and still pitch dark. I found a area that looked good and open. I layed on my back and rested from the walk in. I was looking up at the stars and thinking this is so peaceful, I could do this for hours. After a couple of minutes I hear some rustling on top of the berm. I thought it might be my buddy, but he would not stand up in there and give our postion away. It was getting closer and closer. I turned to see a beaver running at full speed down the beaver run that I WAS LYING IN! I managed to roll off the run just before he passed. It was so close that we grazed each other. That had me at full attention. I must have screamed out when he passed because my buddy came running. We both sat there and laughed about it. The good thing is we did not scare the geese and we shoot a couple and got out of there. I still hear about this from my buddy.
I forgot one that did make it into the boat. I was fishing a walleye tournament about 4 years ago down on pool 14. I spotted a snake in the water and pointed it out to my partner. About 15 minutes later I happened to glance back at my partner and noticed that there was a snake coiled up in the splash well on the back of the boat. My partner has a dark green fiberglas Javelin which was nice and warm in the sun so I guess the snake figured that was a really good place to warm up. Anyway my partner that day is not a small man probably running around 250 lbs but boy did he move like greased lightning when I pointed that snake out to him. I laughed for a long time over that one but my partner didn’t find it quite so funny.
Eyehunter
Is it just me? Back when I use to live in the cheese head state, I used to hear of awesome stink (SKUNK) encounters every few seasons when someone doesn’t pay attention to where they’re going. I yet to hear of any encounters with the stinkys in Minnesota.
Was out rooster hunting along a small creek, we came up to a beaver dam and a drake mallard jumped up. Even though we were in blaze orange, I told everyone to get down, cause I knew he would have to eventually come back, we could see the duck cruising along the tops of the corn, heading right for the beaver pond, and he would have to pass over our heads to make his landing. I wanted to give him a few seconds after passing over my head, then I heard something like a lightening bolt shoot right over my head, had the gun to my shoulder with the bead on the duck, wait, there were two ducks! No, one was a red-tailed hawk digging his talons into my duck dinner. The hawk did drop the duck and the dog jumped in the pond to retrieve it. The guy on the other side of the pond said the hawk almost took off my head. It’s a good thing I had my back to him.
I’ve had no dramatic experiences. The closest was parking the boat in a narrow creek one hot afternoon. I heard something moving towards the shore through the tall grass and figured it was a squirrel or something. About 8′ from me pops the head of a little skunk who had come down for a drink during the day.
I’ve seen river otters and watched them play along the shore, which is cool.
Yesterday I moved a snapper from the road winding around Calhoun. Grabbed it by the tail and escorted it across the street. As usual, as soon as I let her down she decided to do a 180 and stare me down. I didn’t bother taking that route this am for fear I’d find she had unsuccessfully tried crossing the road again. By the way, the carp were spawning something fierce in those little ponds on the SW side.
Early fall for a sunrise duck shoot.
Walk into a pond with the dog.
Command dog to sit in the blind.
Grab dekes and start setting them…standing crotch deep in water.
Dark as #$%%….cloudy, no moon.
The SLAP about 5 feet away.
I am wet…and some of it was from the tail slap.
Way too many encounters here! Back in 88″ we(myself and 2 other guys) were camping near Hibbing. I had just brought in our catch of Crappie to fillet while they were cleaning out the canoe. I hear some rustling in the brush and think nothing of it-until I look over and see my friends looking just past my right side, with jaws dropped, like they’ve seen a ghost. “What’s up” I ask. They just point…and point… I turn and see a bear cub about 12 feet away. “What’s the big deal-it’s only a cub” I tell them, as I slowly reach for a frying pan to bang, Then I hear some serious brush being thrashed, I turn again and here comes the MAMA bear. OH S*IT. Tim opened the van door we were in there as fast as lightning-and that where we slept that night…..
Last year I was up at the cabin fishing from the dock around mid-night. It’s black out, cant see anything but the lighted bobber and a few stars between the clouds. I keep hearing noises comming from under the dock. I grab my spot light to look around- and find a muskrat comming towards me ON THE DOCK. I threw my minnow trap at him and he dove in(luckily)….
Last summer on our first day into Quetico, my 11 year old son was in the front of the canoe when we pulled in to a small island for lunch. We must have come straight up to a loon’s nest because Mama loon started to “dance” about 2 feet in front of my son while I backpaddled as fast as I could. It scared the “you know what” out of him. Each time we saw or heard a loon on the trip (quite often) I told Sam that was his “loon friend” calling to him. He didn’t think it was that funny, but at least he can smile about it now! 
Great Post! 
This Coon got close enough to try and open my cut bait cooler. Not exactly what you want to wake up to at 2am on the river bank.
Quote:
We were on Alice lake and the wind blew all day like a mother.
That’s CRAZY, we were also on Alice, the house was right before entering the big lake on the river after Insula. Infact, that house has always been there, at least it was 10 years ago and the 10 prior.
We’ve also had the snappers steal our catch on more than one ocassion, the campsite was always the “sand beach in the bay” just accross from where the river goes through.
Probably the same snapper, if not I’d bet at least relation! 
BIRDDOG
I remember when my brother and I were about 13 and 14 years old we where fishing from a canoe up north for sunnies by some reeds on a spring fed lake. We had worms and or minnow bucket was tied on too with some minnows from fishing northern pike earlier in the day. Anyway long story short we saw some otters about 4 to 5 feet away from the boat. So little brother thought it would be a good idea to take his pocket knife and cut some of the sucker minnows to they where dead and throw them to the otters who where trying to catch a meal. Needless to say those otters decided to try and get in the canoe to get the fish too. I’ll tell you those little buggers swim fast and aren’t as friendly as they look 
They are big varmints too! Cute as a button from a good distance, but I would not have liked to have been in your shoes that day!
Saw an owl SWIMMING downstream at Blackdog last year. Then we watched it dry itself off on shore. Whether it just fell into the water of couldn’t fly properly I don’t know.
I’m wondering why the Rednecks haven’t chimed in on this one????? I know they had a squirrel in their boat during the LPO………………………. 
I had a Lyon in my boat once…. 
….I’ll never be the same.
Quote:
Saw an owl SWIMMING downstream at Blackdog last year. Then we watched it dry itself off on shore. Whether it just fell into the water of couldn’t fly properly I don’t know.
Do they nest in the same place every year because earlier this year I caught something flying up onto a pillar there. From the quick glimpse I got, I swore it was an owl.
I’ve seen a couple other owls besides this one, a few turkeys and other assorted animals I usually don’t see often. Seems the wildlife encounters are getting more frequent these days. I bet there will be a few more good ones from this year.
Pug, it was right under 35W. I think I told this story last year.
Yep, I think it got brought up earlier or I saw your post someone recently. They must return to the same nest and I must have seen an owl.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
