How close have you been to a wild animal that could eat your lunch (marmots don't count)?

On a very windy November morning on our way up Lone Peak, my friend and I had a headlamp stare down with a cougar and her cub. She kept moving her head to try and look at us- I assume, but the cub could have cared less. It kept cat-rubbing on the mom and only looked at us once before the mom casually blinked her eyes and succinctly pinned the cub to the ground with her paw. Until the cub's cat-rubbing exchange with the mom I dealt with the situation in my brain by denying it was a cougar and must surely have been an old muley with nice, white cheeks...

We laid down a lot of trail in a short time afterwards (adrenaline charged) in almost total silence, and it was not until over an hour later when we sat down to take cover from the wind and to eat breakfast that I finally was able to let out a nervous laugh and say "Niiiice kitty..."
 
Mom Moose and baby outside of Denali. At the time I did not know of their reputations so I wasn't scared. I think what saved me that day was a ditch in between us and she was probably very acclimatized to people given the area. When I think about that experience I just shake my head at how lucky/stupid I was :)

On the AT in NJ I walked under a tree with a bear in it, I assume it was gathering nuts. About a minute later I run into a southbound thru-hiker and I stop to chat. After a moment, we looked up and realized there were two cubs in the tree above us. We both took pics and got the hell out of there. I warned him about mom in the tree up ahead, I assume he walked quickly through the area.

In Big South Fork (KY/TN border) I was hiking in a drizzle with my head down when I heard a growl/huff that almost scared the shit out of me. I looked up and there were two black bears about 25 feet away, one immediately headed down the hill and the other one stood up to figure out what I was. That freaked me out even more. I yelled and waved my hands and he decided to follow his brother down the hill. My heart finally slowed down about a half hour later.

I've seen lots of bears in the smokies, but they always run, mostly just see their rears as they shoot down the hill.

Lots of alligators growing up in SW FL, the golf courses are full of them. Closest I ever got was about 3 feet, but that was from a boardwalk above him :)
 
I kicked a Mt. Lion in the Belly in Huerfano County once.

In Southern Abaroka large Boar Grizzly cahrged me and I sprayed him. He ground his head into the ground, rolled up just under 6' in front of me, turned and ran away.
 
Lion was on a friend's dog. I was actually trying to kick it in the head. I think it was a year or year and half old at best. Definitely my friend's fault for not training the dog properly. Both survived although the dog was never quite the same in a good way.
 
Wow, very gutsy of you and amazing the dog even survived! We had a lion grab a kid in his back yard here in the Roaring Fork Valley last summer. His mom did the same thing until the lion dropped him, but I don't think he was seriously hurt. They later killed the lion as it lounged about nearby.
 
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