An outdoorsman describes two of the most frightening natural animal encounters in his life, one with a panther in Mississippi, and the other with a pod of Manatees in Florida.
I received the following accounts:
"Hello. I was hunting squirrels one day after school in rural southern Mississippi. I was about 14 years old. I heard some calling out to one another and as the sun set, I tracked them to a grove of pines. I was in a hurry so rather than work my way around the treeline, I came straight across a field towards them because the sun was setting.
About midway across the field, a panther cried out from that grove of pines. It was that woman-cry-wild thing that shut down my legs. I literally fell to the ground in fear, clutching my gun like it was useless and important at the same time. I lay there for a while with my heart pounding, trying to make out movement ahead of me. Then behind me. Probably even looked up I was so spooked.
I worked my way down a base row, crossed a fence to the main road, and walked home from there, about 1/2 a mile more down a dirt road. It was the second most frightened I've been in the wild.
In my mid-30s, I was fishing in Titusville, Florida, north of the main bridge. I was in my 17-foot Mohawk Canoe with a trolling motor. I felt like I could face anything, and go anywhere. What I did not reckon is that I'd roll up on a pod of sleeping manatees. I didn't know they were there and had no idea what they would do if spooked. What they do is a beaver-like behavior, slapping their tails on the surface of the water. They ranged from 3-800lbs and there were 20 of them (according to the ranger I spoke to about it).
This tail-slap behavior caused my canoe to launch about 6 feet in the air in the front (no weight) and probably just a few inches off the water in the rear (with 150 lb me and a small trolling motor and 30 lb battery). All my equipment flew into the air, I even saw a good-sized croaker (a bait fish) launched into the air over where I was who almost landed in my boat when he came down.
I sat there in silence as the pod pulsed away, hardly making a ripple. For several minutes I was disoriented and had no idea what had happened. I made my way to shore (on the NASA fuel railway if you know the area) and almost threw up I was so freaked out.
For all I knew, for several minutes, it was Nessie and her children who had launched me into the air!
I thought that you could appreciate my encounters. Thanks for reading." L
NOTE: I have an affinity for manatees and I have experienced tail-slapping when startled. Lon
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