Strangest Animal Encounters

[OnTheRocks]

[attachment=1128296:IMG_1077.jpg] Mountain goats wandering the course on a golf trip to North Dakota of all places. There were about 10-15 on running around...unfortunately this is the only picture I got.

[Chilepepper]

Lets see. In Fla what I think was the strangest, at the time, were burrowing owls in the bunkers on a course in S central Fla. Seen a fair amount of gators at some places too. The Fox squirrels are pretty cool also, about 3x the size of a normal grey squirrel. Here in S Cal the occasional rattlesnake is a good reminder to watch how deep you go looking for that lost ball. I do get the willys a bit when I see a coyote in the daytime as they usually are not too active then. Not because coyotes freak me out or anything but I wonder about a rabid one being up and about in the day

[ruascott]

Have seen a lot of gators playing golf in SC. My dad almost stepped on one sunning on the bank next to a green. Didn't even realize it was real, until it started moving towards him. He didn't play the ball.

Craziest thing I saw was a par 4 dog-leg left that wrapped around a lake from about 200 yards out all the way to the green. There must have been easily 100 gators on the bank sunning....they filled the entire bank of the lake all the way to the green. All sizes, from babies to huge beasts. We played the right side of that hole.

[Wordmixer]

A few years ago at the Surf Club in North Myrtle Beach, I was playing with some club pros when the pace of play slowed on a par-3. We stood on the tee waiting, and out of the swamp-like pond to our right came an alligator snapping turtle. I had heard of these beasts but had never seen one. This one wandered up to the ladies tee and stopped in the center of it. It was big, a seventy or eighty-pounder with raised spikes on its shell and a neck like an NFL linebacker. I couldn't help going for a closer look, but when I got within about 30 feet of the thing, it started hissing loudly. Then we saw the reason -- a baby turtle had crossed the tee and was in the adjacent pond. The big one was momma. We decided "don't mess wif momma."

Other than that, the strangest was a red fox that ran out of the sand dunes -- yep, the sand dunes -- late one afternoon on a par-5 down in Bluffton, SC. I was about to hit a wedge from the fairway when this shadow passed behind me. I turned and saw the red fox jogging past, limping a bit like it had a thorn in its front paw. I figured it had been hunting down on the beach. Gorgeous animal...

[Shankley]

Being a Brit the worst I tend to see is wild game. There are resident pheasants at my local course, always making a racket and getting in your way. Walked up to the tee box the other day and a female was walking around on it. She hurried off when we walked up, only for a male to come out of the bushes, clearly looking for some lady pheasant lovin'. As my mate tee'd up he was swaggering across the front of the box in the direction of his friend. Mate drove one straight over his head, I don't think he even noticed.

[wcm115]

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a snake eating a squirrel. I lost a pair of boxers and a good golf towel that day.

[fore]

Other than the deer, eagles, heron, a wounded raven that wandered the course for weeks slowly regaining the ability to fly, fox cubs playing in the bunkers, a copperhead sunning between the tee markers (we opted for the forward tee on that hole) and a rabid raccoon that had to be shot there are a couple more unique wildlife sightings.

While playing the course in Ellsworth, Maine while at address I noticed in my peripheral vision a large brown animal. Just to the other side of the fence was a full grown buffalo. I hadn't realized the course was next to some sort of zoo.

On another occasion I was hitting balls down thru the opening of my woods road. It was a narrow opening but it looked cool when I hit a good one. When one ball glanced off a tree about 100 yards an owl followed it to the ground and pounced on it. The owl picked it up and kept dropping it. I think it thought it was an egg. It spent about ten minutes with it and I was able to creep to about 20 feet of the owl it was so intent on the "egg". It finally gave up, leaving the ball on top of a broken off tree.

[2bGood]

I have seen a Bald Eagle swoop down and grab - Frog (it think), Duck, and a Rabbit. We have loads of Eagles at my course so sooner or later you see them grab something.

At a course called Fox Meadow in PEI, I am told by the pro that out for the Fox on hole XX he'll take your ball. I called BS, but sure enough when we got there, hit our shots to the green, the Fox comes out and takes each of our balls. They even have a local rule for when a fox takes your ball.

Here an article:

.....We call it Fox Meadow because there are a lot of foxes, and we actually had to put a rule on the scorecard that if a fox takes your ball, you're allowed to replace it without penalty," General Manager Harry Simmonds said. "The foxes do take a number of golf balls. They'll actually wait out on the fairway, knowing how far the average person hits it, and probably on the first or second hop, away they go with your ball. Or they'll wait on the green and when you hit the ball onto the green, they'll come and take your ball.



"It happens all the time. A lot of times, they bury them and you go to see where they buried them and you can't find them. They must think they're eggs or something." Hard to believe, but that's not necessarily the worst thing that can happen.

A fox can only carry one golf ball at a time, so they'll sometimes urinate on others to mark them as their property. In other words, if you find an abandoned golf ball in the middle of the fairway, you might want to think twice before scooping it up.

"Sometimes, people will come in and they've lost a Pro-V1 and it looks like they're half upset," Simmonds said with a chuckle. "But I think they're happy that they can talk about the experience."....

[url="http://www.golfcanada.com/course-reviews/fox-meadow-golf-country-club-prince-edward-island-12276.htm"]Full Story[/url]

[Sidetracked]

Last summer when I was playing with my dad he hit a shot just left of the green and there was two coyotes. When we got up to the green one of the coyotes walked to my dads golf ball and picked it up and then went to play with it under a tree. Something I have never seen nor heard of before. I actually got it on my iPhone but that was about two iPhones ago. I have a problem with dropping my iPhone when I get out of the car. Haha

[AdidasGuy18]

I was playing Sugarloaf Golf Resort up in Maine one out annual trip to play up there last July.
We pulled up the par 3 15th when we heard a rustling in the woods just the right of us.
There was this deer just 10 ft from us just out for a walk was this deer.


[attachment=1149290:Sugarloaf Deer.jpg]



Stared right as us and paid us any mind and went on her way and didn't care that we were on the tee box or nothing.
Just seemed odd that a deer was not afraid of humans.

[ej002]

[quote name='dpb5031' timestamp='1330435108' post='4394307']
My buddy struck a beautiful wood pecker in mid flight, killing it instantly, a few weeks ago in the Dominican Republic (Cap Cana).
[/quote]


Its good luck!

In Haiti

[golftejas]

[quote name='B330-S_Guy' timestamp='1336155352' post='4848858']
I was playing Sugarloaf Golf Resort up in Maine one out annual trip to play up there last July.
We pulled up the par 3 15th when we heard a rustling in the woods just the right of us.
There was this deer just 10 ft from us just out for a walk was this deer.


[attachment=1149290:Sugarloaf Deer.jpg]



Stared right as us and paid us any mind and went on her way and didn't care that we were on the tee box or nothing.
Just seemed odd that a deer was not afraid of humans.
[/quote]

Sugarloaf sure is scenic - - saw a moose cross the fairway there one time. Otherwise, craziest was two big hairy tarantulas strolling across a green here in Tx. - - a buddy of mine decided he wanted to try and coax one of them into an empty box from a sleeve of Pro V1 - - not me, baby! Foxes on a course in Illinois, roadrunners on a course in Arizona, and yes snakes too.

[dab36]

[quote name='Medic' timestamp='1320447792' post='3760469']Being a Florida golfer I have had my fair share of encounters with wildlife while hitting the links. Gators a plenty, birds of all kinds, and lots of snakes. But last weekend I had something happen that was a first.

While playing Disney's Osprey Ridge, three small Florida Deer came out of the woods. Ok, so I have seen deer on the course before. No big deal.

But these guys wondered up onto the green. Right in front of us. Not sure what they were nibbling on but they seemed content and without any fear. We actually had to drive the cart towards them in order to sort of herd them off of the green and out of the way. (they scampered into the greenside bunker and there they stood watching our approach shots believe it or not)

This inspired me to post here and ask if anyone else has had any interesting encounters with nature?

It really makes me love the game more to be honest. Afterall being out in nature is a large part of the experience. But deer on the green - well that's a memory. One of my pards thought it would have been funny to proceed with our approach shots while they were up there - I couldn't do it. I cannot remotely imagine accidentally hitting one of them although I do like venison.
[/quote]

For me: In Texas in Johnson County, some course I played had Ostrich running all over the fairways......This aligns also with a road trip I took through TX, an ostrich ran across the highway, weirdest dang animal I have seen while playing golf.....

[596]

Verde Santa Fe, near Sedona, AZ. Yesterday, par 3, looking for 2 balls that were hit into the desert (not mine, mine was down in the ditch on the other side).....This is a lizard actually eating another lizard. Yes, the victim was still alive!!!

 

 

[mahanate]

[quote name='One_Putt_Blunder' timestamp='1320626751' post='3767891']
One other experience to mention is playing Spyglass while sharing the fairways with the numerous deer.
[/quote]

Agree- see profile pic. We had to wait a few mins for a few of them to clear out..

[kygolfer]

As many others I have seen a variety of wildlife playing golf, but the strangest experience was earlier this spring. Our foursome was on the green when we heard a roaring sound which grew in intensity and before you could react a swarm of thousand of bees flew directly over us just a couple of feet over our heads. I went home to read about swarming bees and found that this happens when the queen leaves the hive and usually about 60% of the workers in the hive will follow her. The article said it could be 10 thousand bees or more. There is no way for me to estimate the number that flew over us, but as they passed the swarm literally formed a dark cloud like body and was visible for considerable distance as the swarm continued across the links style course (Nevel Meade) we were playing in Prospect, KY.

[babaloo5]

While playing in the Kootenays (n.e. british columbia) in the fall the mountain goats come down from the hills to graze.Came to a green on the back nine and there waiting for me were about 20 young rams.As I approached the green (in a cart thank goodness) they all rose and stared me down.Needless to say that ball stayed on the green .At a different course, same trip, my ball was teed up as I waited for the group ahead.I went down to the edge of the Columbia river to look at the schools of red spawning kokanee salmon.Climbing back up to the tee box a squirrel had thought he hit the motherlode,he had knocked the ball off the tee and was trying so hard to stuff it in his mouth and then hide it for next spring..A chilly but wonderful time in the Kootenays with my wife

[Toph84]

Desert course in west Texas... The GPS monitors on carts will pop up randomly saying "Snakes may be in your area, please use caution." A buddy of mine had a picture of a much bigger taranchula on the green by the cup on his phone but he lost his phone so I don't have that picture. Just this one taken while walking from the tee box thru the desert area before the fairway.[attachment=1158124:100_1492.JPG]

[Tidiliwomp]

[quote name='Toph84' timestamp='1336685113' post='4891060']
Desert course in west Texas... The GPS monitors on carts will pop up randomly saying "Snakes may be in your area, please use caution." A buddy of mine had a picture of a much bigger taranchula on the green by the cup on his phone but he lost his phone so I don't have that picture. Just this one taken while walking from the tee box thru the desert area before the fairway.[attachment=1158124:100_1492.JPG]
[/quote]


NEVER PLAYING GOLF IN THE WEST TEXAS DESERT!!!!

Scarriest animal i have encountered is a turtle that hissed at me when i moved it off the cart path...

[HighandDry]

 

 

 

 

Par 3 in Whistler, BC. Tee'ed off and as we got to the green, this bear walked on. Gave myself a par even though I was in the rough on the right :D

[batgeek]

that is way cool, but i woulda pooped my pants.

[deathbymuffin]

I've played amongst lots of gators, deer, rabbits, roadrunners, snakes, groundhogs, turtles etc. The one encounter I'll always remember is when my wife and I were playing East Potomac in DC and a fox ran out to the middle of the fairway and stole my wife's tee shot. My wife starts sprinting down the fairway, cussing and waving her iron like a madwoman. The fox runs to a mound to the left of the fairway and drops the ball and runs off. We get over there and we found a hole that the fox had dug that was filled with about 30 golf balls.

[tesuquegolfer]

I didn't witness this myself but it comes from a typical course that I play and a fairly common desert course in NM. Looks pretty big and has quite a few rattles! We ALWAYS take a club when we go into the desert, and we usually play the desert as a lateral as most people don like to go in there rummaging around. If I saw this I would probably s*** myself but at least he is occupied!

 

[dantag]

Saw a mother bobcat and 3-4 of her young hanging on a Green here in central Fl.

[dantag]

We were walking off of 18 when a bird unloaded a deuce right on the cheek of a real obnoxious guy. It was too funny and fitting.

[jahopki]

I had an unpleasant experience with fire ants after raking a bunker on the Weiskopf course at Vista Vallarta Golf Club near Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. It could have been a lot worse, but it certainly wasn't very comfortable. Those little boogers' stings [u]seriously[/u] sting! I only got bit on the palm of my hand by a couple maybe a total of 5 times, but... OUCH!!!

[spaceboy]

[quote name='One_Putt_Blunder' timestamp='1320449896' post='3760633']
I had a Coyote take a dump on my ball once right in the middle of the fairway and in plain sight of us driving from the tee box. That one was memorable, we were not sure of the ruling on that, as I sure as hell wasnt going to clean it up and play it, we agreed to a free drop for me. We now call that tee dropping the duece, which fits because it is a severly elevated tee shot.
[/quote]

I would think you'd be expected to play the ball as is.

[Jimbud]

Here's a couple, Ixtapa Mexico, There would be huge 15 foot crocodiles on the greens sunning them selves. Once you hit a ball on the green they would head for the water.

 

Banff Springs Mountain course. We are on a tee box of a par 3 waiting for the green to clear and we notice something had come out of some brush down near the green. It was a fox moving quickly toward the guys bags down by the green. The fox was smelling the golf bags and all of a sudden he grabbed something from one of the bags and headed back into the brush. We asked the guys a head of us latter in the round what the fox grabbed from their bag and one of the guys said he had a half bag of pretzels that was gone.

 

We're on the Back nine at Golden Eagle in Fifty Lakes Minnesota on a beautiful Fall afternoon, the hole is a par 5 and the fairway is divided in two by a deep draw that's got water running through it at the bottom. We walk up to where our 2nd shots landed just short of the draw and we notice some movement down at the bottom of the draw. It was a timber wolf with two pups that were born the past Spring.

 

 

Below photo is from our room at the Banff Springs over looking the Mountain Course.

 

[tesuquegolfer]

Just saw this on Friday. This is actually a common occurrence in Estes Park, CO but it was especially cool with all of the new Elk calves. My wife counted 9 calves and about 30 Elk total with the calves running around having fun. I would say the golfers got within 20 feet and the Elk didn't seem concerned.

 

[jimmie]

Funniest wildlife encounter was an unfortunate squirrel. A few years ago on the Ole Miss university course I hit a nasty slice that ended in the trees. On its way in it hit one tree pretty solid and went back towards the fairway, knocking a squirrel off a limb in mid run. Squirrel fell 10 or 15 feet into the rough and bounded off, quite confused but appeared to be unhurt.

Another one, not really wildlife, but still animals was an over friendly dog. Playing into the green on a par 4, I hit a nice 8 into the green about 15ft from the hole. A chocolate lab proceded to run from one of the houses bordering the fairway to the green, pick up my ball, run back to me and drop it at my feet. He then sat in front of me and looked at me with that "do it again do it again!" look. Me and my buddies couldn't help but fall out laughing. The dogs owner came running out of the yard apologizing for her dog. Was a great laugh. My buddies let me re hit the shot with no penalty.