Chester’s Top 5 Wildlife Encounters

“So, Chester what are your favorite wildlife encounters?”

That’s a frequent question when I do lectures around the country on various wildlife and conservation issues.

Of course my number one sighting of all time were great white sharks I encountered in the Pacific in 2002 and then there was the first time I saw bighorn sheep and…

Well, there are lot of them but when it comes to encounters I have had in Texas the list changes a bit and it gets interesting in the fact most of them happened right here in Texas..

Here are my top five sightings.

5. Volkswagen Hog: While night hunting for hogs back in the early 2000s, I saw what at first looked like a compact car coming through the woods. It turned out to be the biggest wild hog I have ever seen in my life.

Weighing at least 500 pounds, the beast came to the bait pile and devoured the corn spread on the ground. Normally I would have pulled the trigger on such a creature but this time I let it pass. I had no desire to drag that thing out of the woods that night.. Still it was an impressive sight.

4. Piebald Doe: Way back in 1993, when I was just 19 years old me, my then girlfriend and now wife Lisa and my father hunted aoudad on the Greenwood Valley Ranch near Kerrville.

We were in awe of the literally thousands of axis deer we saw and although the aoudad were way too far out to shoot at, we saw quite a few of them as well.

The thing that sticks out most about that hunt was seeing a beautiful piebald whitetail doe. Piebalds, also known as calico deer, have what is essentially partial albinism on their bodies producing a cool looking white and brown blotched coat. Super cool to see this, especially with Lisa and Dad along for the hunt.

3. Leatherback Sea Turtle: A few years back my friend Bill Killian and I were fishing at one of the nearshore gas platforms out of Sabine Pass on a super-hot and perfectly calm day. High barometric pressure gave the fish a good case of lockjaw but things did not stay dull for long.

A huge head surfaced out past the rig. At first it looked like images of the Loch Ness Monster or some other sea serpent but then a distinctive tear drop-shaped body rose and revealed a leatherback sea turtle.

This was not just any leatherback but a huge specimen that was at least seven feet long, perhaps larger. These are not common sights on the Texas coast, particularly only three miles from shore. It swam around for a couple of minutes and then dove back under never to be seen again by Killian and I.

Turtles can live for incredibly long periods and I cannot help but wonder what that great creature had seen over the years. How many boat hulls had it swam under? How many brushes with tiger and bull sharks did it have through the years?

2. Red Wolf: Red wolves were supposed to have been extinct in the wild by 1980 but according to my research and personal experience there are animals that perhaps are wolf/coyote hybrids but look super close to the genuine article.

In 1984 there might have still been some of the genuine article, especially in Orange County which is the last place “pure” specimens were caught for their captive breeding program.

I mention that year because my father and I saw one walking along a drainage ditch at Claiborne West Park in Orange County. We were having an end of the season Little League party for our team the “Bucs” and saw this beautiful, long legged, big-eared, deep-red colored canine taking its time walking about 50 yards behind the gazebo.

It was a transformative moment for me as it showed that nature still had plenty of mysteries to solve.

1. Cougar: If the red wolf sighting was transformative, the cougar sighting I had at age 14 pushed me over the edge.

While rabbit hunting in a rice field near my home one evening I had a super close (10-15 yards) cougar sighting When the majestic cat locked eyes with me I was terrified but also fascinated. I loved wild cats already but that sent me on a quest to know as much about them as possible and has led me to some truly remarkable encounters.

Indigo Snake (Honorable Mention): I had to throw this one in too. Me and Lisa were bowhunting in South Texas when a pair of huge Texas indigo snakes crawled beneath our stand and locked up in what we assumed was a mating ritual. One of the snakes was about eight feet long and as big around as a soda and the other was probably in the six to seven-foot class. It was one of the most incredible encounters.

I was thrilled! Lisa not so much.

Chester Moore