Strangest Animal Encounters

[hammy1983]

I ran into a fisher a few years ago. I didnt know what it was so I got pretty close. He was not happy and let me know before I got too close. One look at his claws and I quickly backed off and let me retreat before I duffed my shot.

[wingedfoot97]

Once, while playing Seaside down at Sea Island Golf Club I had a raccoon follow me for several holes. Each time I would stop he would get in the cart and check each of the cup holders and the basket (I suppose looking for food). When I would walk back up he would calmly get out and follow me until my next shot. Helped my game too.

[mallrat]

When I moved from CA to the ATL I was playing my first round out there and hit a ball in a creek. I was going to reach in and grab it and one of the guys I was playing with said "what the hell are you doing" He poked the rocked next to my ball with a stick and SNAP. I'd never seen a snapping turtle before.

Also had 3 bear delays. 2 times on the same course Chateau Fairmont in Whistler B.C., both times wife was on the tee box and they just came running out of the trees. Didn't even look at us though

[Lamo70]

great thread !

[doodle_cakes]

Right now we are dealing with a family of 3 little foxes that LOVE to take golf balls. Have to hurry down the hole after each shot before they go for the ball.

[tjumper78]

playing with 2 friends at great gorge golf course in nj 2 years ago,

there was a deer and a turkey on one of the greens.

turkey was just walking around and the deer was following it, and turkey didnt seem to mind.

as we got on the green, they noticed us and slowly walked away together.

 

[chichi72]

Not quite an animal sighting but still a story that is told basically whenever my family gets together. Here goes: My family of my mom, dad, two older sisters (15-16 at the time) and me (about 5) went up to Dafuskie Island. Now at this point no one in my family played golf but apparently Arnold Palmer was on the island at the same time as us. My sister, dad, and I took a golf cart, that all the houses had, and rode around the golf course. Earlier someone had mentioned something about like "I wonder if we will see Tiger Woods out her" jokingly. After we drove the course I expressed, with apparently a tremendous about of relief "Boy I'm glad we didn't see any Wood Tigers out here." Now 13 years later both my father and I are avid golfers and everyone still gets a good laugh out of that one.

[zargaro]

Florida golfer here.........Wild pigs, bobcat, red foxes, deer, turkey, eagles, ospreys, & tons of alligators.

[ThunderBuzzworth]

Northern Michigan at Elk Ridge golf club there were 2 massive bull elk fighting on the 14th green. The green was unputtable

[bcflyguy1]

Came face to face with what looked like (best as I could tell) a monitor lizard while playing in Guam. We both ran away from that encounter as fast as we could. Also had many run-ins with feral hogs there.

[2putttom]

My wife and I were on an Alaska cruise. We took a ferry to Haines and played Valley of the Eagles. The club pro warned us there's a salmon run was in progress and veiwing local wild life would be perfect while playing...Haaa. First thing I saw was bear scat! Big ole steaming pile. Next hole there were eagles atleast twenty of them over head. Many of these eagles had salmon which they would occasionally drop on the fairways. Flopping salmon on the fairways was a free meal for "local" wild life. Alaskan brown bears,foxes.racoons were all over the place. We nervously walked around them. That was the quickest eighteen I ever played.

[Roddy1]

Florida Panther with a big orange radio colar, Indian Lake Estates course. I heard it was run over on the highway a few weeks later.

[middie8]

Playing in conference tournament in Stowe Country Club in Vermont. Moose ran across the fairway. Biggest animal I ever saw outside of a cage. Me and the other two guys just stared in disbelief.

[subrosa]

Angry geese hissing while putting at Pacific Grove's 16th hole. I have run into a ton of deer, but nothing else...yet.

[MinnesotaGolfer]

Pretty picture, Lakeview National in Two Harbors Minnesota. Deer on the women's tees. But in Becker Mn, a more populated area, I was very surprised to see a baby fox sleeping in the bunker.

[SurfDuffer]

While practicing on the course a couple weeks back, I was putting and when I picked my ball out of the cup there was a fox on the green with me crouched down like a puppy wanting to play. I walked towards him and he trotted off when I got inside 10 feet. I was told by another member that that fox wants you to toss him a ball that he will chase.

[inthefairway]

The other day while golfing, I ran into a Hairy Chested Nut Scratcher!!! I never ran so hard in my life!!!

[Yanger]

Played in a mini tour event where one of the par 3 holes was surrounded by a bunker and had a creek that ran in front of the hole up to the bunker. We get the whole and there is an official there that said the bunker is deemed "mandatory ground under repair" and that free relief would be given at the drop area...

Look up there are 3 alligators in the bunker sunning....and a couple more you could see in the water. Craziest s*** I've ever seen.

Pace of play on that green was very fast lol.

[slicktry]

[quote name='MinnesotaGolfer' timestamp='1342741495' post='5311854']
Pretty picture, Lakeview National in Two Harbors Minnesota. Deer on the women's tees. But in Becker Mn, a more populated area, I was very surprised to see a baby fox sleeping in the bunker.
[/quote]

[quote name='MinnesotaGolfer' timestamp='1342741495' post='5311854']
Pretty picture, Lakeview National in Two Harbors Minnesota. Deer on the women's tees. But in Becker Mn, a more populated area, I was very surprised to see a baby fox sleeping in the bunker.
[/quote]

Forget the name of the course on the east side of Duluth, but last fall when playing there ran into a grey wolf 25 yds in front of me. I had a cart and a bunch of clubs, so I wasnt scared, just watched the animal. BEAUTIFUL creature.

God Bless
Jer[attachment=1269188:IMG-20110904-00050.jpg]

[Talart]

My home course in South Australia has no shortage of wildlife occupying the fairways during rounds. The rabbits, crows and duck get no attention at all. The flocks of Ibis come in during winter to feed in the wet land and during summer it is flocks of Galahs eating the fairway grass roots. Then we get the more unusual animals, kangaroos and [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29148243@N07/3597051095/"] echidnas[/url]. The tiger snakes are a problem as the breeding and skin shedding season these beasties are very anti social to people. It is very hard to concentrate on a putt with an irritable snake coiled up on the edge of the green no matter how far away. You can't hear them moving and once that thought pops in your head, you try and concentrate on making a putt!

[mmack067]

I was playing at a course in my home town at the start of the year when my buddy starts to tell me a story about the same hole a week ago. One of the guys makes birdie and yells "Peacock! No really, there's a peacock over there." Sure enough, there's a peacock walking between the back of the green and the next tee. You're probably thinking, interesting don't see that too often.

Well, even more so when it's in Canada about an hour from Toronto. Apparently someone had it as a pet and it had escaped and was running a muck all over the neighbourhood. I'll probably think about that every time I'm on that green now.

[Jim Clark]

[quote name='GatorNate11' timestamp='1320538605' post='3764149']
Actually, my strangest encounter was with a squirrel in Myrtle Beach. Not really sure what type of squirrel it was, odd looking thing. The thing that was odd was how tame it was. Walked right up to me and just stood there like "any food?" then just slowly walked away. Nothing like the squirrel's here, things are crazy.
[/quote]

Likely a racoon squirrel. They will come right up to you begging for food because many people think they're cute (they are) and feed them. They'll take the food right out of your hand. They are partial to granola bars.

[BigOgolfer]

playing with 2 friends at great gorge golf course in nj 2 years ago,

there was a deer and a turkey on one of the greens.

turkey was just walking around and the deer was following it, and turkey didnt seem to mind.

as we got on the green, they noticed us and slowly walked away together.

 

 

Great shot!

[BigOgolfer]

[quote name='slicktry' timestamp='1342990313' post='5329420']
[quote name='MinnesotaGolfer' timestamp='1342741495' post='5311854']
Pretty picture, Lakeview National in Two Harbors Minnesota. Deer on the women's tees. But in Becker Mn, a more populated area, I was very surprised to see a baby fox sleeping in the bunker.
[/quote]

[quote name='MinnesotaGolfer' timestamp='1342741495' post='5311854']
Pretty picture, Lakeview National in Two Harbors Minnesota. Deer on the women's tees. But in Becker Mn, a more populated area, I was very surprised to see a baby fox sleeping in the bunker.
[/quote]

Forget the name of the course on the east side of Duluth, but last fall when playing there ran into a grey wolf 25 yds in front of me. I had a cart and a bunch of clubs, so I wasnt scared, just watched the animal. BEAUTIFUL creature.

God Bless
Jer[attachment=1269188:IMG-20110904-00050.jpg]
[/quote]

Too good. Keep these coming!

[peterk430]

Playing Bear's Best a few weeks ago and waiting to tee off and a hawk comes flying in like it was going to take someone's head. Landed on a branch just above us. Looked scary when it was coming right at us. Glad it turned out to be nothing.

[Medic]

As I re-read this thread (which has really become amazing with the stories and pics - thanks for sharing!) it occurred to me, some of the photos are calendar worthy.

Perhaps someone at the Wrx might consider compiling them sans the background logo into a Calendar and selling them?

I LOVE the image of the wolf on the fairway. Amazing to say the least.

Think about it - there are all sorts of Golf related calendars out there. I have never seen one that was a compilation of wildlife with beautiful courses in the background.

The proceeds could be donated to the SPCA or some other worthy animal charity.

[gators52]

I work at a course in Vermont and I have seen deer, turkey, and bears. Last year we had a mother and her cub in the woods near the 17th tee and down farther in the woods off the fairway. This year we have seen a bear on a few of our holes. Deer are common, you will occasionally seem them on hole 12 because we have a nice apple tree they seem to love. They will occasionally run through our driving range. I was mowing the 4th green one day and I notice a fawn and doe about 100 yards away and I stopped mowing just to take in the moment. Early in the morning, no one on the course yet, fairways still covered in dew and these two deer were just wandering. They actually started walking and then jogging towards me but were scared off as a big truck came barreling down the road close by. It was pretty cool.

[Munchies418]

a raccoon and mountain lion was strangest for me.

[Darklinq]

not a strange animal, but had a turtle kick my buddys ball one afternoon.
everyone was pretty stunned lol

[6thFairway]

[quote name='KYMAR' timestamp='1320453682' post='3760893']
Ok so Im 10-11 years old on vacation with the fam to Disney. Playing golf with my dad and brother and I'm walking over to yet another horrible tee shot next to a small stream that ran the length of the hole. There was a slight knoll and then down to the waters edge which was shrouded in high grass at this particular part of the hole. Well at the time, my favorite part of golf was finding balls in water hazards, woods whatever so i thought I'd keep walking over and see how many orange jerry pate specials were rinsed and waiting for me when the high grass starting [i]moving. [/i]before I could move this 26 foot alligator ran down the bank and into the water making a huge splash. OK, it was probably more like 7 feet but it was a freaking alligator and it was no more than 10 feet away from me and im from Ohio! I ran over to my dad who heard the splash, leaving my clubs behind, and told him what happened. He said "bullsh*&" and would NOT believe me despite the fact that i REFUSED to go back and get my clubs, was shaking uncontrollably and was whiter than the socks i sported that likely rose to 3/4 the way to my knees. After we were done we were sitting outside having lunch and my dad sees the guy from the pro shop and asks about it with total disbelief. The guys like "Oh sure, they are all over out there along the water. They won;t bother you if you dont bother them" and i just wondered "well wasnt i technically bothering that bastxxx? i mean he was sunning it up out there and here i come, knee high socks, a bad golf swing and a hankering for some free spaldings and he had to move for me" i was convinced, maybe I am STILL convinced, that i was just [i]this close [/i]to a horrible death that day. If you dont believe me, just ask my therapist. So, all you fellas with cute little deer stories, take that ya pansies!
[/quote]

They will bother you. There are multiple stories of gators taking the arms off golfers reaching for golf balls... one of them happened in Fripp Island, SC. Be very careful around gators, and remember they are a lot faster and more agile than they look.