Take Pics of Beavers at your own Risk!

[Harpo]

Makes me pause for a second thinking about how I sometimes push it trying to get closer to the animal or the ledge… I know, none of you do that! Beaver Attacks Photographer

That leads me to wonder… what was your closest call "out there"? Mine was being charged by an elk while hiding behind a tree, before I got into photography and when I was younger and dumber.

[Shadowman]

Not a one, animals seem to like me.

[Manfred M]

Got chased by a macho elephant while in Namibia about 18 months ago. Scary... Had to make a dive to get back in the truck Got damn close 3m / 10ft from a leopard (same truck, not as scary; my wife was closest to it and insisted I roll up her window).

Got very close to some grizzly bears, including a mother and two cubs swimming beside us (we were in an inflatable boat on the water) so no danger to us there. We had a moose and her calf walk just in front of us. We had a deer in the back yard about a month ago. We often see them driving to work in the morning and they are a real hazard at night; we live in an area where there are a lot of collisions between a deer and a car. Usually the deer does not do well during these encounters. but there was a woman killed by one a few years ago when it came through the windshield of her car.

Beavers; we see them often enough. It's hard to see how anyone can get attacked by one.

With the exception of the deer I had my camera along during the other "incidents".

[jeeperman]

I have heard a report that this guy was trying to get a picture with...not of....when he got bit. If that is the case...sorry he died but....what did he think the beaver would do.....snuggle up?

As far as a close call, only one....as a kid growing up in Alaska and camera in hand. I was in the 7th grade at the time and was out in the back woods around Anchorage. I was shooting a cow Moose when I noticed her ears fold back and she gave me a snort. It was not until I turned to leave that I noticed her two young coming out of the woods behind me.
She charged...I jumped. As I jumped my foot slipped in the snow. It was a close call. When She left with her babies I retured to the scene and found that foot print where I slipped. Her front hoof landed dead center and slid about 2ft.

[CP140]

Closest call? When living a couple hundred miles north of Whitehorse I went out on a spring time hike... carrying a .303... y'know..spring... bears...

I entered a clearing at the same time a small grizzly entered from the other side. I stopped... it stopped. It rose up on its hind legs, I dropped to one knee and chambered a round while yelling and making noise. It moved toward me and I put a round into the air. It started moving towards me a bit faster so I put a round into the ground in front of it... it stopped, turned around and ran.... so did I... in the other direction.

[Inkanyezi]

Never had a close call when out with my camera, but once i had one for a stupid thing I did.

I was working as a dog-trainer at the time and was training a dog, a golden retriever. It was not on a leash at the occasion, and I was on a bicycle. All of a sudden he got the idea to run away to a few elk he saw in a field and I thought that he'd learn by himself, so I didn't call him back. I was half right, but it wasn't very smart. Few seconds after he comes running back for protection by me, with a large male elk close behind. I must have been pretty fast the few hundred meters the elk followed us...

[Mike Buckley]

A few days ago, I had strayed from a descriptive nature trail to photograph some cactus blossoms when I heard a sound. Though the sound was a little unusual, it seemed to be in the distance and lasted only a few seconds. So, I ignored it.

My wife, who was a bit away from me and presumably on the nature trail, began the conversation with me:

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"A snake."

I immediately realized that the sound I had heard had to have been the rattles of a rattlesnake. I had grown up in a rural area of Florida where everyone knew about them. So, I immediately froze and responded to my wife:

"Is it near me?"

"No, it's on the trail."

"It's a rattlesnake. Are you safe?"

"Yes. I backed up as soon as I heard it hissing."

"It didn't hiss. You heard the rattles."

When I returned to the trail, I saw that it was a young (small) Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, which is a venomous snake that can kill a human if antivenom isn't provided in time. The species is well documented in the area that we were visiting. Because my wife is unfamiliar with rattlesnakes, I had even made a point of showing her a live one the day before in a glass-enclosed case at a nature center.

I completely understand why my wife got close enough to the snake without seeing it before hearing the rattles. (Rattlesnakes rattle their rattlers to warn potential predators and hopefully scare them away.) Even though the snake was in the open area of the trail where people walk, it blended in with the trail exceptionally well. Even I had a difficult time making it out despite that I was looking for it. That bit of nature is its defence against predator birds that would be more than happy to suddenly swoop down and kill it.

Fortunately, the snake stayed in its defensive, somewhat coiled position. (I knew from my training as a child that we were close enough to make it wary of us though far enough way to be safely well beyond its striking distance.) That gave my wife time to help me switch to a longer lens. I look forward to eventually posting a photo or two of it with its tongue out and its rattles in the upright, very nervous position.

EDIT: The photo of the snake can be seen here.

[Letrow]

My closest call was a black bear in Canada last year. As a tourist I started taking photos of the bear on the other side of the road and only retreated when he began to wander over to our side. Then I saw him go up a tree in seconds and realised that the bear, although he looked slow, was way faster than me.

[Donald]

Fortunately, the snake stayed in its defensive, somewhat coiled position. (I knew from my training as a child that we were close enough to make it wary of us though far enough way to be safely well beyond its striking distance.) That gave my wife time to help me switch to a longer lens. I look forward to eventually posting a photo or two of it with its toungue out and its rattles in the upright, very nervous position.

Not sure my hands would have been steady enough in that situation to be able to capture a photograph!

[Mike Buckley]

Peter's story of the bear being surprisingly fast explains the conventional wisdom that you don't have to be faster than the bear. You only need to be faster than the other person running away from the bear.

[Harpo]

I have heard a report that this guy was trying to get a picture with...not of....when he got bit. If that is the case...sorry he died but....what did he think the beaver would do.....snuggle up?

If thats true, I don't know what to say!