Some of my more memorable moments involve close encounters with animals. One from 16-17yrs ago...
We were a group of 4 guys on a fall turkey hunt. We roosted 2 small flocks the first evening. The first morning, one guy remarked that he usually carried a slug or 000 buck shell in case he ran into big hog. But, he'd forgotten to pack any on this trip. I walked in with 2 guys, Mike & Mike Jr. to set them up in the first spot. Almost there, we heard a huge crash in the grass and bushes in front of us. Then in the pre-dawn dark a big, black blob moved across the road and started blowing and snorting at us. We were <10yds downwind of the pig. We froze for a second and the pig retreated into the brush, blowing all the while. We knew he was big from the sound of the rocks he was moving as he went through the brush..
Later that morning, Mike Jr. got a picture of a huge board with 2+ inches of tusk sticking out of his mouth ambling across a field, right next to where we had jumped him that morning. He looked every bit of 220-250#. If he decided to charge us in the dark, it would have been bad.