Big Paulie in a loin cloth dashing across the road. Or, maybe, no loincloth! Sasquatch unloosed.
My best animal story is being out in hot, rolling rocks & grassy hills wasteland (mid-summer brown) and coming on what seemed a 5 foot rattlesnake sunning himself in the road. Stopped and threw a rock to get his attention and he slithered off. Otherwise the usual CA managerie. I love it when passing grassy pond areas and a heron will flap along side me as he slowly gets altitude.