Were there any times in your life that you came close to dying?

[HighlanderNorth]

*1.. My Dad always worked for a large company, but he hated the idea of living in the city, so he always made sure we lived either in the suburbs, or more often in rural areas. We always had a forest behind of beside or near our properties(we got transferred a lot), and I used to go out and catch animals, reptiles, amphibians, etc all the time. When we lived in NC, we lived at one house while I was in pre-school and kindergarten that was right beside the border of a golf course/country club that my parents were members of, and there was a deep forest and a low lying swampy area too, so there were all kinds of different animals living nearby,. and I'd come home with all sorts of animals like possum babies, turtles, frogs, and even poisonous snakes! Up in the area I live now, its rare to see any poisonous snakes, and the only ones around are Copperheads, but in NC, it was a different story! I probably shouldve died from bites from poisonous snakes before I was out of kindergarten!

*2.. When I was 20 in 1987, I was hanging out with friends, and I'd ridden my 5 month old Honda 450 Rebel to my friend Rob's parent's house about 20 minutes drive from my house, and then we all got into Rob's car and drove around for something to do and ended up back at my house. We drank, etc, and I told Rob and Mike they could stay at my place, and the next day Rob could drive me back so I could get my bike, but Rob insisted on leaving.

Now for some unknown, unclear, crazy reason, I decided to give my motorcycle keys to Rob, and I told him to ride my bike back to my house the next day with Mike following him. Thing is, Rob was the WORST driver of all time, and the WORST motorcycle rider as well, and I would NEVER let Rob drive my bike, but for some ungodly reason, I gave him the keys and let him leave with them.

The next day I waited for the 2 of them to show up with my bike, but they didnt. Every time I called I got no answer at either of their parent's houses. It wasnt til about 9pm the next day that someone finally answered the phone at Mike's house. I was completely flipping out by that time!

Well, it turns out the reason they didnt return my bike that day, was because on the drive back to Rob's house, they got in a MAJOR car accident as a result of Rob taking stupid risks! He ran a stop sign after turning his head lights off to see if anyone was coming perpendicular at the 4 way intersection by looking for headlights, and if not, he would just run the stop sign. Problem was, there WAS another car coming and they DID see headlights, but Rob decided to run the stop sign anyway!

Rob's little VW Rabbit was broadsided by an early 80's full sized Buick doing about 45mph, which slammed their car down into a ditch and up against a telephone pole. Rob walked away with fairly minor injuries, but Mike was nearly killed and almost died a few times in intensive care at the hospital. He had 2 partially or fully collapsed lungs, a ruptured spleen that was removed, major concussions, internal bleeding, his leg was broken so bad he had a steel rod placed in it permanently, bruised organs, etc.

Thing is, I never left my cars or my bike anywhere and let someone else, especially someone like Rob drive it later, but for some reason I did just that here! Its good I did, because the police said that had anyone been in the back seat of the VW Rabbit during that accident, they'd be dead! That wouldve been me.

*3. I was also in a crash where a buddy of mine rolled his beautiful '68 Mercury Cougar after hitting a small dirt bank on a rural road, and we rolled end over end and sideways across a field, over a petroleum pipeline sign, through a split rail fence and over a small rock pile. The car was crushed, but all 3 of us walked away! No injuries aside from a few bruises, and we werent even wearing seat belts because it was the mid 80's.... ^Thats one of the reasons I love old cars!

 

[gadget_lover]

Near misses? A few. Almost dead? Only one time.

First was driving my old 650cc BSA thunderbolt through some coastal foothills. I had no speedo because my sleeping bag was strapped to the handlebars. I was following a lady on a Harley who was towing a trailer, so I had no worries about speed. The scenery was beautiful, looking off the road to the valley a thousand feet below. I was really loving the ride. Then I hit a corner too fast and too wide. The front tire started to slip and I had to straighten out.

This left me heading at 30, maybe 40 miles an hour straight towards the guard rail. I was lucky in that there was a wide shoulder there and a 6 foot tall pile of gravel. I came to a stop with my front tire on the down side of that pile. The view was fantastic, for there was nothing between me and the valley below.

I've had a few incidents like that, where another second or 10 feet to the left would have meant a bad end.

The only time I was near death was the 45 minutes or so when they stopped my heart for surgery. It's hard to do a valve job on a car engine while it's running, so imagine doing that on a heart. That's why they stop it. I work up later glad to be alive.


Daniel

 

[Flying Turtle]

No near death experiences yet, but I believe I seriously tempted fate when I left the road in my parents' 1967 LTD and somehow managed to not hit a tree head-on. My head knocked off the rearview mirror, and a buddy broke his ankle. I'd had my driver's license all of ten days.

Geoff

 

[PhotonBoy]

One Christmas in the 80s, I was driving from Burlington, Ont. (west end of Lake Ontario) to Halifax, NS to visit my mother. It usually took me 24 hours to drive it.

In New Brunswick, driving in total darkness, I started to drowse off and ran right off the highway into an empty flat field, fortunately covered with a blanket of deep snow. Luckily the car stopped after about 150 feet with no damage other than scratched paint on the left door.

If it had happened 10 seconds earlier, I would have hit a bunch of trees; 10 seconds later, I would have landed in an ice covered stream near a bridge. I should have stayed at home and bought a lottery ticket. After that, I always stopped at a motel for some shut eye when I got drowsy.

 

[Roger Sully]

When I was about 14 and still living In Jamaica, I decided it would be good idea to take my parents car for a spin. We lived on a hill and the road down was a winding steep road.
Why I thought it was a good idea to make 1967 Singer Vogue a downhill racer is still beyond me:thinking:.
There was this one particular S curve that I failed to navigate and ended up with a large tree dead center of the hood:thumbsdow. My first thought was obviously how much trouble I was going to get into, but when I realized that behind the tree there was about a 50ft sheer dropoff down the side on the hill. If I had missed it or even hit it at an angle that didn't bring me to a dead stop it would have been lights out!

 

[Julian Holtz]

When we were kids, my brother and I had a bunk bed, with 2 kind of large drawers under it to store sheets, blankets and stuff. The side panels were about 30cm (1ft) high. One of them was empty and fully pulled out, when I fell out of the top bed while we were goofing around. I landed flat on my chest in the middle of that drawer, and to my amazement, it did not even hurt. I jerked my head backwards by a reflex, so the chin did not hit the floor.
But if my "landing point" had been only a little different, I would have slammed with my throat on the upper edge of the side panels. That could have easily broken my windpipe or my neck.

 

[AnotherADDiction]

Interesting thread...I have had quite a few times on the road that a few seconds would have left me in a severe wreck, but my closest would not be on the road.
On September 11, 2001, I was at work, which was on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center (Tower 2). When my building was hit (second plane), I was in the stairwell, around the 50-60th floor. I later came to find out that the stairwell I had been on, was the only one that would have worked. The other ones received damage, and I would not have been able to use them (or survive using them).
This would be the closest that I had come, and like most experiences like this (meaning near death), it didn't seem as 'near' at the time. I also had my attention focused outward on my wife (this was a new job I has started in Jan, and I could not contact her for 2+ hours) and people around me.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

One Christmas in the 80s, I was driving from Burlington, Ont. (west end of Lake Ontario) to Halifax, NS to visit my mother. It usually took me 24 hours to drive it.

In New Brunswick, driving in total darkness, I started to drowse off and ran right off the highway into an empty flat field, fortunately covered with a blanket of deep snow. Luckily the car stopped after about 150 feet with no damage other than scratched paint on the left door.

If it had happened 10 seconds earlier, I would have hit a bunch of trees; 10 seconds later, I would have landed in an ice covered stream near a bridge. I should have stayed at home and bought a lottery ticket. After that, I always stopped at a motel for some shut eye when I got drowsy.

I am not at all proud of this one, and this is an example of what NOT TO DO.....

This reminds me of another possible near death situation in 1985 from my teens. I temporarily owned a 1978 Toyota that I had driven to meet friends at Cecil county Dragway on a Friday night, and lets say I was young and irresponsible(17 years old), and we were drinking. Well, as usual, while there we met other people that we didnt know and hung out with them. There was this one guy who had a beautiful 1969 Chevelle(I was a Ford guy) but he had suffered an accident about 6-8 months earlier that left him paralyzed from the waist down, so he couldnt even drive the car he built! His friend drove him and his car up to the track, but his friend didnt want more beer, and didnt want to drive, so he asked me to drive him, in his car up to a bar/liquor store to buy more beer, so I did. The bar was about 15 minutes away. IT was already getting late, and on the way, I mentioned I had a headache, and it was dark, and he handed me 2 alleged "Tylenols" and we drove on. Once we got back I started feeling drowsy, and just messed up.

So he wheels over to me and asks how I'm feeling, and I said I feel all woozy, and he laughed and told me he had given me 2 valiums! By this time my friends had left, and I was stuck there with no ride, with my car, and I was worried about the authorities there finding out I was drinking if I stayed there, and there were no cell phones in 1985, so made the stupid decision to drive home down the rural roads I had to travel to get home.

On the way, I passed out at the wheel in Oxford Pa, ironically right beside where I worked, and I drove off the road, through a split rail fence and into a lawn. I didnt get hurt, but the car was trashed, but still running, but only had 3rd gear left, so i limped it about 1/10th of a mile up the road to this biker bar, and walked inside and asked for a ride!

A guy and his girlfriend actually gave me a ride, and we got to the other side of Oxford, but by that time I was really messed up, and I couldnt even remember how to get home, which was about 8 more miles through back roads, which I had driven many, many times, so they drove me back to the center of town, and I called a friend who had been at the track earlier, woke him and his parents up, and asked for a ride(after his parents had gotten off the phone line), and he drove the 25 minutes from his house to pick me up, then I just left the 1978 Toyota at the bar back there, where it apparently got towed later to a junkyard....

So in the attempt to prevent getting in trouble, after being given a prescription drug I didnt want, I tried to remedy the problem by trying to cover it up by driving home, which was very stupid, and although I was never an alcoholic or anything, I quit drinking in the late 90's because I got tired of it.

Take that story as a lesson on what to avoid and what NOT to do!

 

[Samy]

My wife had one a few months ago. Following a flat bed tow truck which went under a low interstate rail bridge. The shipping container never left the truck, it was the tray itself which sheared from the truck's chassis:

My wife was lucky. She's not a tailgater thankgoodness otherwise it may have landed on the roof. Damage to my wife's Lancer - $11,000 almost a write off. It needed new engine mounts and the lot. Worst part was that because it was made in Japan and the parts required are only made in Japan there was a queue due to the tidal wave/earthquake in japan so we had to wait 2 months for the parts.

Damage & costs to the state's ONLY interstate rail bridge which was closed for 4 days... last i heard it was $950,000... i bet the truck driver wish he took that detour in the pic.

cheers

 

[TEEJ]

Hmmm,

Lets see...stabbed twice, surviced both times (Years apart)

Shot twice (Survived both times, years apart)

Had a front tire come off a bike at ~ 60 mph on a turn, threw me many yards after fork hit the road...survived.

Dragline cable snapped and I leaped off a 20' crane position to avoid the whipping wire rope whizzing through the air.

Had a gallstone block a bile duct so it got infected, taking out the duct, the gall bladder and part of my liver and a bunch of interstitial tissue (They told me if I had not gotten to the emergency room, that it would have been fatal by the next day or so)

Had a hang glider torn by freak bird strike, landed by tying enough of the rip to keep air under the wing.

Had a cave flash flood and had to hold my breath for ~ 2 minutes to swim/crawl out (level went up about 1' flooding a ~ 2' passage already 1' deep, etc.)

Had an aluminum pole thrust into my skull, but not deep enough to reach gray matter (Lots of red).

Fell off cliff free climbing, managed to hit a deep sand pocket and avoid large rocks among the sand.

When ~4 yrs old, got sucked into undertow at jersey shore, and ended up about a mile from where my rather inattentive parental units were on blankets, etc...and survived by timing jumps off the bottom/grabbing quick breaths and trying to drop down to push off again instead of trying to stay on the surface.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

TEEJ.......are you Batman? You are, aren't you!?

~ Chance

 

[moozooh]

At 13: a local delinquent tried to jokingly drown me while I was on vacation in a rural town at grandma's. The feeling was quite... unpleasant. (Those familiar with waterboarding should know.) I should have sent the idiot to jail, but was afraid and unsure he'd stay there. I did nothing, and it probably wasn't such a stupid decision since there was no adverse consequences to my health or habits, while that could have been a case had some of his friends tried to avenge him while I was still in town.

At 18: some dudes who looked younger than myself had caught up to me and pointed what was advertised as a loaded gun at my back while I was walking towards my institute. The alley was nearly empty at that time of the day so they just went along, one to my side with the presumed gun and another nearby. It was exactly on my route to the institute which was located at the end of said alley, so I though I would be able to just open its glass door as we pass it, or maybe call the security officer sitting right next to it. It was even easier as I found a group of my friends about to pass us walking in the opposite direction after their classes, so I greeted them and joined them. Needless to say, they were quite surprised to hear my story. When we parted our ways I ran around the block and told my story to a nearby police patrol. The guys with the gun (if there even was an actual gun) evidently just didn't have the brain to use it for their purpose, nor desperate enough, nor trained, nor crazy.

I thought about this incident a couple times, and there was definitely a useful lesson to learn: if somebody threatening you wants you to leave with them, it means the current place/circumstances are too uncomfortable for them to take actions that could be easily identified as a criminal offense. They intimidate you because that is the only way for them to actually control you on a neutral territory. Thus, by being afraid and letting yourself be escorted where you're less likely to get help or at least be seen, you're putting yourself at a much greater risk than if you stay; and you don't know what they're going to do when they feel safe. In my case it was even better because the guys assumed that had we kept walking this way it would be to their advantage, while I knew I would have better chances shaking them off, compared to them mugging me right where they met me. I likely wouldn't be able to resist even if it was a simple fist fight, they should have just gone with that I guess.

At 20: slammed into the side of a speeding van while on foot (funny, I know). I was running over a crossing from where the road view was heavily obstructed by other large parked cars; I was absorbed in some thoughts and didn't keep track of my situation until I realized I had no time to stop and something was coming at me. Thankfully I was too late so I hit the side of the van rather than its front. The van didn't stop and proceeded speeding over a red traffic light. I remembered never to do what I did there.

A few years later I saw a girl several meters from myself attempting to run across the street from where her view was similarly obstructed—essentially the same as I did back then. I only had the time to recall what was going to happen next before she ended up with a brain hemorrhage, several major fractures and a huge psychological trauma. (I know that because I was the one who called the ambulance; local police contacted me later for details, so I asked a few questions of my own.)

 

[TedTheLed]

Batman or Elmer Fudd?!

last time: car. freeway. tailgated by semi at 70mph..entire car vibrating due to mud on inner wheels, it turned out..

 

[jtr1962]

I'm not sure how close I came to death in any of these, but I like to think if things had not gone the way they did any of the following incidents might have killed me:

1) In the mid-1980s I was stopped at an intersection for a red light while riding my bike. The cross traffic was too heavy to do an "Idaho stop", so I was just waiting for the light to change. I heard a lot of banging and commotion behind me, and saw a car coming at speed knocking other cars out of the way. I moved into the intersection and slightly to the right. It turns out the out of control car went to the far right, right where I had been. If I hadn't moved, it surely would have hit me.

2) Also in the mid 1980s, and also while riding my bike, I hit a large pothole while descending a hill one night at 37 mph. No headlights plus poor streetlights plus a pothole which looked smaller than it was until I was on top of it put me on the ground. I slid for a good 100 feet before finally coming to a stop, even though I pressed my sneakers into the road to try and slow down. When I got up, I wiped moisture off my head. I was at first afraid to look but it was only sweat. In the end all I did was ruin a pair of pants and get a pretty bad case of road rash. Had there been glass on the road it could have been much worse. Had I slid into a traffic lane and been run over I could have been dead. I could have hit the ground head first had I not went loose once I felt myself going down. I even could have slid head first into the back of a parked car. I came out of it thinking I was really lucky. Needless to say, from then on I avoided high speeds unless I was absolutely certain the road was in good shape.

3) In the early 1990s I foolishly attempted to "rejunvenate" a 1/2 AA lithium primary cell the same way one rejuvenates shorted NiCads-by zapping it with brief, high current pulses. I saw a red glow where the positive terminal is welded to the can, and only had time to point the cell towards the ceiling. It exploded in my hands, filling the room with acrid white smoke. Until I washed my eyes, I didn't know if I was blind. I was actually afraid to open them for fear I would see nothing. Later when the smoke cleared I found the battery can in the room, completely empty. Apparently that battery didn't explode in the strict sense, but just vented its contents out the top. I don't know if I cheated death or just serious injury, but that was the last time I tried recharging lithium primaries.

4) Two years ago I was riding at night along a major arterial when a woman suddenly decides to dart out from behind a parked truck and jaywalk. I barely had time to yank the handlebars. Fortunately, I went right and she went forwards, so I ended up passing behind her with maybe an inch to spare. If I went left instead of right, and if she didn't dart forward, the end result would have been ugly. I was on a slight downgrade and had a lot of motor traffic breaking my wind, so I was going about 33 mph when I saw her. We easily both could have been killed.

Those are the ones I remember most. If any others come to mind, I'll edit this post. I've had lots of premonitions when riding where I'll be pulled to the left, and a block later a car door swings open or some other obstacle pops up. Not sure if these would count as near death experiences though.

 

[Virginian]

I had a few close calls when I was in my twenties. I managed to total 3 cars, including flipping one off a cliff 4 times at 70 mph with three other passengers in the vehicle and no seat belts (this was in the 1960's). I was on the interstate and as I was passing a car, he did not see me and pulled over to pass the car in front of him, running me off the road and over the cliff. Everyone survived although one girl had a broken back.

Another time I was stopped at a stop light and a tractor trailer loaded with huge rolls of newsprint came around the corner and tipped over, landing on my car and smashing through the roof. I saw it tipping and had a split second to dive into the passenger seat to avoid being crushed.

I got cancer in the 1970's and the doctors in Virginia decided not to treat it, saying there was no use because it was terminal. Fortunately my parents knew a specialist in New York who decided it would be worth a shot to treat it with radiation, and after six months of that I lived to tell the tale.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

I had an embarrasing motorcycle spill the very first night after I had just bought my new Honda 450 rebel in late spring 1987. I had never even owned a motorcycle, and had very little experience at 19 years old with 2 wheeled motorcycles at least, but they sold it to me at the local Honda dealer, and gave me a temporary driver's permit, and off I went!

So I ride it all over the place all day visiting friends, then about 11pm, I'm heading back home from my friend Jamie's house in De, and I'm cruising up main street Newark De which had been a HUGE weekend cruise spot since like the 50's or 60's, and it was packed with cars and people. But it had rained earlier, and the road was damp and greasy, when a car parked on the side pulls out in front of me, and I swerved, and immediately laid the bike over on its side, because there were cars in the left lane(both lanes one way traffic), and one of those cars couldve run me over if I went over into that lane, so I ended up sliding down the road on the bike's side, luckily my legs were on the pegs so my left leg didnt get crushed, but I slid for a while and came to a stop with like everyone for a block running over to check on me, and I was unhurt but embarrassed and worried about damage to my new bike. But I was lucky I did slide, because if I wouldve drifted into the other lane I wouldve been hit by another car. So I picked myself and the bike up, and bolted from the crowd of people now surrounding me!


I had a guy pull a fake gun on me in 1998, when I had moved to the city for the 1st time, and this guy asked for a ride when I stopped at this gas station/convenience store, so I said yes and we took off, he asked me to take him back to this area that lets say, wasnt the best area of the city, and when we get near this projects, he puts his arm into his jacket and tells me he's got a gun, and that I should give him all my money. Now I knew that since we were away from civilization on a road without anyone nearby, he shouldnt have any fear of actually showing me the gun, if in fact he did have one, so I asked to see it!! He got nervous but kept insisting he had one, and I kept telling him to show it to me, especially since it was now obvious he was just sticking his finger into the side of the jacket!

So I deny him, and I start to drive back to civilization and I tell him I'm going to the police station, and he he says if I stop he'l get out, but I refused to stop, because I didnt know what he might do if I did, so I just slowed up to 5 mph and told him to get the hell out! He hopped out and I took off. I wouldnt call that a near death instance, but it was kinda funny!

I got jumped and robbed by 2 guys about a year later while living in the same city, but they didnt have guns, there was one small-ish guy I wasnt worried about, and one HUGE guy I WAS worried about, and I tried to run away, but the big grabbed my shirt, dragged me back, picked me up, and literally body slammed me onto the ground(I weighed 150), and then he calmly said "if you dont want to get hurt any more, give us your money", so I pulled out my wallet while he and the smaller guy still had me on the ground, and he took it, but I asked for the wallet back with my license and everything, and he threw it back to me after taking the $45 inside. That was a no-win situation so I had to give it up!

 

[kaichu dento]

Scary Moose Encounters


1) I was coming home at 3am on Christmas Eve on my snowmachine and got to a stretch where I'd had a lot of trouble with a moose recently, but decided that with no customers behind me, I'd go ahead and nail it and be out of there. After all, I only saw that moose 1 time out of 5 or so.
Just as I hit the throttle she jumped out from the left side of the trail and I just barely avoided ending up underneath by hitting the right side of the trail - I'm so glad she didn't freak out and start kicking and stomping me!
Needless to say, once I was right next to her, close enough that I couldn't have extended my arm, I pulled away as fast as I could go.

2) Running my EXT back from the pipeline on the access road I decided to open it up and let my friend catch up at the highway crossing when all of a sudden a big bull moose comes into view crossing to the left, only to change his mind and veer towards the right. Having just got a set of USI skis with a deep square keel, I wasn't used to the instant steering response yet, and having only a second or so to react before impact, I turned to sharply to try get on the shoulder of the road where I could hopefully overtake him.
Unfortunately the skis grabbed the hard-pack -35 below snow on the road and jackknifed the machine, sending me flying towards the moose in the air, which I actually had time to think about waiting for the impact and fearing what he was going to do when it happened.
Don't know where the moose went, but after rolling for quite a ways I came up on my knees and swung around looking for him, and to my relief, he was nowhere to be seen.
Now it was time to see how bad my machine was and if I could even ride it the rest of the way back. Quickly spinning around to see where it was, there it came, doing sideflips through the air, with the headlight wildly shining out into the birch trees!
Fearing what would happen if I was still there when it arrived, I scurried (or side-rolled - really can't remember!) out of the way it time to see it go past where I'd been by another 15-20 feet and landing sideways, still running!
No windshield and broken face shield on my helmet at -35 below, with 11 miles back to the lodge made for a miserable glad-to-be-alive celebration ride, but I guess the one thing that still sends chills down my spine to this day, is the thought of going off the right side of the road into the birch trees, which may as well have been steel pipes, especially at those temps.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

Yeah, we have big problems with elk, moose, and grizzlies here in the 15,000 foot peaks of northern Delaware as well!

Seriously though, we do have issues with deer just across the Pa border, but not so much in De. Are moose very likely to attack you?

 

[kaichu dento]

Yeah, we have big problems with elk, moose, and grizzlies here in the 15,000 foot peaks of northern Delaware as well!

Seriously though, we do have issues with deer just across the Pa border, but not so much in De. Are moose very likely to attack you?

The likelihood of being attacked in either one of the situations I posted on would have been defensive, as they were probably at least as scared as I was. If I'd hit the second one he could have stomped me to death to keep me from killing him! Bears seldom hurt people, although we did have one guy try getting too close to one which eventually ate him this summer. I threw a stick at a grizzly a couple months ago because it was getting into someone cooler which was in the back of their truck, near the signs saying not to have any food where the bears could get at it. The bear ignored me and I didn't want to get any closer than I was at the time, so just went down to the river and asked if the owner of the white truck with the cooler in back was around.

Another moose incident I had a few years back where the moose actually did try twice to get me was very nerve wracking. Walking in the snow at night with a friend's dog, we came upon a cow and calf, which the dog proceeded to bark at. The moose couldn't see the little mostly white dog, but hearing the barking and seeing me put her on full defense mode and when I looked at the tracks the next day, she'd run past where I was by about 15 feet. I ended up in a dry creek bed when I fell off the tiny bridge I ran across in the dark.
After she went away I snuck around the pond and was about 50 feet from the little trail I could disappear and make my escape down. To this day I marvel that I didn't just go the longer route, which would have added a quarter mile of walking, but would have kept me out of the moose's vicinity, not to mention the only offensive attack I've ever experienced from a wild animal.
Just as I thought everything was probably clear for me to sneak past, the dog came out of nowhere and made a valiant attack on the moose again. Now the cow was already on guard, and instead of making a defensive charge like the first one, she came after me with the intent of eliminating the danger once and for all. I ran behind a tree at the edge of the pond, and while she followed I jumped down, figuring that wet feet were better than what I had coming at me.
Well, I didn't have to worry about wet feet because the pond was frozen solid, but as I moved around the tree away from her, she reversed directions and met me on the other side, which made me reverse, which made her reverse, which made... we did at least four or five full reversals before she got sick of it and made a mad dash out of there with the calf, before I could catch and eat them both.
Anyone that's ever been in the vicinity of an angry/or scared horse can understand why you don't want to end up under the feet of one of these things. A guy got stomped up on Old Murphy Dome some years back by a moose and it broke both his helmet (thankfully he was wearing one) and his leg. A professor at UAF was not so lucky, as that moose killed him after kids had been throwing snowballs at it.
Moose generally don't want to attack, but they will if they feel threatened, or are angered, and I do my best not to make them feel that way.

 

[HotWire]

Years ago I took a job in a tube bending factory. We built parts like roll bars and bumpers for racing cars and trucks. The machine I operated had a very large swing arm that came around and stopped just short of me. One time the micro switch that stopped the hydraulic ram malfunctioned. The sound of the machine alerted me that something was wrong and I jumped out of the way! Had I not jumped the machine would have cut me into 2 equal parts!