JimKennedy
Well-known member
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- Feb 27, 2016
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That’s clearly a Bigfoot
Death by Fly Fishing (almost) #1
- Thread starter Tabasco-Joe
- Start date
My close encounters with wild creatures that could end my life are typically bears or rattlesnakes. I fished the Missouri since 1995. I had never even seen a rattlesnake for most of those years. However over the course of four years, from 2018 to 2022 (I skipped 2021 due to Covid) I had three too close for comfort experiences with rattlesnakes. The last was the closest I have ever been to being struck. I almost stepped on the snake while walking down the bank. When I finally saw the snake it was coiled and appeared ready to strike. Instinct made me jump to my left. I would up on my back in a foot of water. Only my head was above the river. It seemed to be a very long time but finally the snake uncoiled and slithered up the hill. I haven't been back to the Missouri since that episode. I will never do any wade trips again as there are rattlesnakes all around the river. I've seen them swimming across the river. I've seen them trying to slither up inside rubber rafts. I've seen them crossing the roads. I believe, after three incidents the next one I will probably be struck.
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salmo
Well-known member
salmo
Well-known member
You’re just lucky I guess
Yes, but now I'm morbidly afraid my luck has run out. The only way I will ever fish the Missouri again is if I can get into a drift boat at the ramp and never have to get out around any stream side vegetation.
salmo
Well-known member
Something has to kill ya. If I can’t live forever I rather die with a fly rod in my hand than a bedpan 😎
Tabasco-Joe
Member
I have a bunch of snake stories but it's too cold to tell them. They need to be told when it's warm so if the reader goes out fishing the next day, they have something to think about'
mt_flyfisher
Well-known member
I’ve had lots of encounters with bears and snakes and other assorted wildly critters over the years in PA, MT and other places across the US. None were especially worrisome.
And speaking of fishing on the Missouri, where I’ve been fishing many times over the years, the most dangerous encounters I’ve experienced there were from lightning during a thunder storm (I was smart, or lucky, enough to get off the river one particular day when the storm approached but another guy nearby stayed in his boat and was struck by lightning and was knocked into the river unconscious), and an encounter with a crazy fisherman (a story for another day, except I will say I later designed a fly that I call the Misery - sort of a reminder of that time on the Missouri - which has subsequently caught lots of trout there).
I probably should have posted this picture last Friday, February 14, because here’s a close encounter that I had with a grizzly high up on the Bozeman Pass exactly 9 years before then. I was able to get this closeup picture of that bear, and then safely get away to tell about it.
And speaking of fishing on the Missouri, where I’ve been fishing many times over the years, the most dangerous encounters I’ve experienced there were from lightning during a thunder storm (I was smart, or lucky, enough to get off the river one particular day when the storm approached but another guy nearby stayed in his boat and was struck by lightning and was knocked into the river unconscious), and an encounter with a crazy fisherman (a story for another day, except I will say I later designed a fly that I call the Misery - sort of a reminder of that time on the Missouri - which has subsequently caught lots of trout there).
I probably should have posted this picture last Friday, February 14, because here’s a close encounter that I had with a grizzly high up on the Bozeman Pass exactly 9 years before then. I was able to get this closeup picture of that bear, and then safely get away to tell about it.
Millsertime
Active member
I've fallen twice in the winter and had my waders fill up.
First time...I was a teenager duck hunting South Dakota. I had a great day and was creeping into chest deep water to retrieve my last mallard and then a big wave came overtop my waders and down to my toes. I left the duck, grabbed the other ducks and my gun and headed to my vehicle which was about a mile away. I drove home immediately which took less than 5 minutes. I was already in stage 2 hypothermia. Luckily my mom was home and filled the bathtub after I managed to crawl into the house. 30 minutes or so later, I was normal but that feeling/fear stayed with me forever.
2nd time....FFing Brodhead creek about 10 years ago. Slipped and water poured into my waders. I got very nervous and headed straight to my car with panic. I had to walk 1/2 mile or so and I never got cold and hypothermia never even came close to me. In fact, I stood next to my car and emptied my waders and changed clothes.
Pretty much the only difference between 1st and 2nd time was wearing wool socks 2nd time and outside temps were slightly higher.
First time...I was a teenager duck hunting South Dakota. I had a great day and was creeping into chest deep water to retrieve my last mallard and then a big wave came overtop my waders and down to my toes. I left the duck, grabbed the other ducks and my gun and headed to my vehicle which was about a mile away. I drove home immediately which took less than 5 minutes. I was already in stage 2 hypothermia. Luckily my mom was home and filled the bathtub after I managed to crawl into the house. 30 minutes or so later, I was normal but that feeling/fear stayed with me forever.
2nd time....FFing Brodhead creek about 10 years ago. Slipped and water poured into my waders. I got very nervous and headed straight to my car with panic. I had to walk 1/2 mile or so and I never got cold and hypothermia never even came close to me. In fact, I stood next to my car and emptied my waders and changed clothes.
Pretty much the only difference between 1st and 2nd time was wearing wool socks 2nd time and outside temps were slightly higher.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
I never saw or imagined a fish that was worth risking my life for so I never wade through deep or swift currents and I've been carrying a staff since my twenties as a precaution.
I've also been critter lucky but having lived in NYC, you learn how to be diligent and aware of your surroundings when it comes to "wildlife." Other than one copperhead, I never encountered a venomous snake and despite the abundant evidence of their presence where I fish, I've SEEN very few bears.
However for years I have believed that the cigar that is often clenched between my teeth to help keep the bugs at bay has kept some bears at bay as well.
Regardless, I typically have a firearm on my hip when I'm in bear country and some toilet paper in case I miss. 😉
I've also been critter lucky but having lived in NYC, you learn how to be diligent and aware of your surroundings when it comes to "wildlife." Other than one copperhead, I never encountered a venomous snake and despite the abundant evidence of their presence where I fish, I've SEEN very few bears.
However for years I have believed that the cigar that is often clenched between my teeth to help keep the bugs at bay has kept some bears at bay as well.
Regardless, I typically have a firearm on my hip when I'm in bear country and some toilet paper in case I miss. 😉
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I like your approach.
salmo
Well-known member
So….. where the heck did the rose come from?
mt_flyfisher
Well-known member
Costco, maybe. I dunno. But I imagine it’s probably safer to give a grizzly a rose instead of candy, especially on Valentine’s Day.
You could ask Casey Anderson at the Grizzly Encounter place where that rose came from. He’d know.
wildtrout2
Well-known member
I think it would be even safer to give a grizzly a LOT of room. Just a thought. 😉
Yeah, as mt_flyfisher commented I forgot to mention my numerous encounters with violent lightning storms on the Missouri. Most of the time I was in a pontoon boat and able to row to shore and get out of the boat and hunker down under streamside alders. Violent storms with big lightning bolts crashing down too close for comfort. One particular time a friend & I were wading. The sky was ominous and we stayed too long. When we finally started to high tail it back to the car it was too late. We were in a mowed wheat field about 4 acres. Surrounded by sheer cliffs. A bolt hit one of the crags and we threw our graphite rods as far away from us as we could. We hit the dirt face down and after the next lightning hit the air was do charged with electricity that the hair on my arms was standing straight up. After that at the first indication of an impending storm I would leave and go back to my vehicle.
Tabasco-Joe
Member
While I have had a lot of bear encounters only one was a grizzly.
I was hunting in the Bob Marshal wilderness area in 1995. My brother and I on a guided 8 day hunt on horseback. We had licenses for elk, deer, and black bear.
One day we were on a heavily forested hillside trying to call in elk. My brother was furthest up hill, the guide 30 yards below him. And I another 30 yards down the hill. I could just see the guide to make hand signals but couldn't see downhill for more than about 10 yards. The guide started to make elk calf distress calls. After about 20 minutes I could hear something below me and motioned to the guide that something was below us. He kept calling and about 10 minutes later I no longer heard anything below. We sat still another half hour and then called it quits. I went down to investigate the sounds I heard and found massive grizzly tracks maybe 15 yards down from my spot. We could tell following the tracks that the bear cut downwind of us and then left the area. I really didn't think I smelled that bad but better that than having to rely on, what now seemed punny, my 7MM mag.
I was hunting in the Bob Marshal wilderness area in 1995. My brother and I on a guided 8 day hunt on horseback. We had licenses for elk, deer, and black bear.
One day we were on a heavily forested hillside trying to call in elk. My brother was furthest up hill, the guide 30 yards below him. And I another 30 yards down the hill. I could just see the guide to make hand signals but couldn't see downhill for more than about 10 yards. The guide started to make elk calf distress calls. After about 20 minutes I could hear something below me and motioned to the guide that something was below us. He kept calling and about 10 minutes later I no longer heard anything below. We sat still another half hour and then called it quits. I went down to investigate the sounds I heard and found massive grizzly tracks maybe 15 yards down from my spot. We could tell following the tracks that the bear cut downwind of us and then left the area. I really didn't think I smelled that bad but better that than having to rely on, what now seemed punny, my 7MM mag.
TerrellBFly
Member
Ive been to the Bob and fished the South Fork. That place is absolutely stunning!
Tabasco-Joe
Member
The outfitters camp was on the White River. While I didn't fish on that trip the outfitter said the river held some nice trout and he ran a fishing camp there in the summer. It was over twenty miles in on horseback at altitude. Probably couldn't handle that today. Parts of the trail were etched into the sides of cliffs hundreds of feet up. At one spot if I reached out my arm it was over 800 feet from my hand to the ground.
We went over a pass and could look up and see mountain sheep looking down on us from above.
mt_flyfisher
Well-known member
You were lucky with that grizzly. I can recall a few times where guys were hunting elk in the fall and were attacked by grizzlies (a couple of them were from PA) when they were calling for elk, or when they either had to leave an elk that they’d shot overnight, or there was a gut pile in the area, and the grizzlies attacked them when they came back the following day.
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
my close call story is I was fishing a centre county stream and an unexpected wind gust (not sure if microburst applies) and I had a very large tree limb , maybe 8 in thick, fall about 4 feet away. It floating down stream almost dragged me under. Had I not stopped to re-tie just before, I could have been right under that spot. Just wasn't my time.
