I have a couple of them.  The first year that I ever bow hunted I was sitting on the side of a trail around noon and not thinking about too much.  Then I spotted a cow elk on her way up that same trail.  When she got next to where I was sitting I thought that it would be neat to touch a wild animal so I reached out and touched her.  That is a  major mistake on my part and will go down in the books to never do it again.  She jumped straight up and came down running in place.  I thought that I was going to die right there but she headed out of sight.  The other one I was hunting with my brother in law and were headed off the hill on my 4 wheeler.  We spotted a deer and got off and to a place to where we could get a shot off and shot the deer then went back to the wheeler.  At that time a heard of 50-60 elk came through between us and where the deer was.  They were only around 30 feet from us.  We just sat there a watched them wondering where they had been at during the elk hunt. 

My first elk encounter was when i was 8, I was with my dad hunting. it just got dark so we were driving odd the mountain. when a herd of elk ran across the road infront of us. me not knowing what they were said" Dad? Why are there horese out here, are they lost?" My dad got a kick out of that.

Last year, my second year with a bow, last weekend of archery season and we hadn't seen anything.

I was walking up the Pacific Crest Trail around 7am, looking for signs and seeing nothing.  I had an arrow nocked, just good practice... and was making the occasional cow/calf call.

Out of nowhere four huge cows and what was probably a bull (but stayed out of sight) came thundering down the hill.  I heard the hoofbeats, grabbed my rangefinder and checked a couple trees.  One at 19 yards, another at 45 yards... I had my ranges.  I was set, ready to draw blood... but first I had to draw my bow.

I could hear them just on the other side of the trees, so I tried to sink into the trees just off the trail and hook my release on the D-loop (of my bowstring).

Once, twice, three times I missed!

So I glance down, make sure to get it hooked...

As I looked up there was a cow standing right next to the tree at 45 yards, broadside... staring right at me.  I froze, still as a statue, not even breathing.  Arrow still pointed at the ground in front of me, bow not drawn.

No use, I was made... they thundered off as fast as they came and I was left with my first story of how a simple mistake let her get away.

Several years ago I was backpacking with a buddy in northern Colorado. We had pitched camp just inside the trees near a good sized meadow. In the morning, I awoke to a lot of odd sounds and an odor I just could not place. I carefully unzipped the door to the tent and found that a herd of about 35 elk had bedded down all around us. Scanning the woods around me I kept seeing more and more tan bodies laying amongst the trees, chewing their cud. After about an hour my buddies alarm clock went off (one of those old fashioned wind up travel alarms with the loud bell) and the frenzy of hooves began. Steve nearly tore down the tent as he was jolted from a sound sleep. I will never forget the look on his face.

Another encounter I had with a member of the deer family happened while flyfishing. I was working the edge of a beaver pond, sidestepping to my right and back as I rounded a large bush at the edge of the pond. My attention was focused on the large brown trout who was lazily ignoring my flies. I took another step to the right and heard a loud huff behind me. Whirling about I came face to face with a bull moose, with a cow a few feet behind him. The distance between us was about 5 feet and we were both standing knee deep in the pond. I thought for sure I was about to get raked or trampled. Fortunately, he was more intent on eating the grass and I was able to back out and find a different trout to ignore me.