Over the course of our lives, we all come across our fair share of misfortune. Life being the way it is, they aren't necessarily spread out evenly - instead often bunching up into one bad month, week or day that can be a struggle to make it through. But however frustrating these times can be, it's rare to be able to say you survived three vicious animal attacks in the space of three years.

Dylan McWilliams is a fan of the outdoors, but it hasn't always treated him too well. In fact, Dylan was bitten by a shark, a snake, and a bear in less than four years. Speaking to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, he said: "I'm either really lucky or really unlucky".

The first incident was with a rattlesnake, which he encountered in Utah three years ago. The pygmy faded rattlesnake jumped out of him during a hike, in a canyon near Moab. Luckily, it turned out to be a "dry bite," meaning he didn't get any venom to make him ill for longer than a day or two.

Next up was the time he was attacked by a black bear during his stay at a summer camp less than a year ago in Colorado. The 280-pound beast "mauled and dragged him" in a near-fatal incident, leaving him with nine staples in his scalp at the end of the day. The bear "bit into the back of his head" before dragging him for "some 12 feet".

Worst of all, he awoke to the sound of the "crunching of his skull".

He apparently punched the bear, trying to get away, before poking it in the eye. "He dropped me as soon as I did that," McWilliams recounted, explaining that the bear stomped on him one more time before slinking away as other campers approached. There are still scars from the bear's teeth on his head, but the claw marks on his forehead have now faded. "If I push on the back of my head, it still hurts a little bit," he added.

The latest bite was from a shark, which he received on April 19. While on a two-weekend backpacking tour around the island of Kauai, he ended up travelling south to find clear water to enjoy the surf with a handful of others. He was out with his boogie board, attempting to catch a wave, when he was knocked into the water around 30 yards from the shore - which is when he felt an excruciating pain in his right calf.

"At first I panicked," he recalled. "I didn’t know if I lost half my leg or what." He spotted a tiger shark lurking beneath him, which he described as being between six and eight feet long. He gave it a "swift kick" and desperately swam to shore.

"That was the scariest part," he added. "I didn’t know where the shark was, and I didn’t know if he would come after me again." This bite ended up requiring seven stitches.

When asked why these things keep happening to him, Dylan explained that it was down to him being in the "wrong place at the wrong time".

The 20-year-old is thankfully still around to tell his story, but you've got to think he would be a little unnerved by his outdoor expeditions by this point - as it seems like mother nature has a vendetta.

Over the course of our lives, we all come across our fair share of misfortune. Life being the way it is, they aren't necessarily spread out evenly - instead often bunching up into one bad month, week or day that can be a struggle to make it through. But however frustrating these times can be, it's rare to be able to say you survived three vicious animal attacks in the space of three years.

Dylan McWilliams is a fan of the outdoors, but it hasn't always treated him too well. In fact, Dylan was bitten by a shark, a snake, and a bear in less than four years. Speaking to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, he said: "I'm either really lucky or really unlucky".

The first incident was with a rattlesnake, which he encountered in Utah three years ago. The pygmy faded rattlesnake jumped out of him during a hike, in a canyon near Moab. Luckily, it turned out to be a "dry bite," meaning he didn't get any venom to make him ill for longer than a day or two.

Next up was the time he was attacked by a black bear during his stay at a summer camp less than a year ago in Colorado. The 280-pound beast "mauled and dragged him" in a near-fatal incident, leaving him with nine staples in his scalp at the end of the day. The bear "bit into the back of his head" before dragging him for "some 12 feet".

Worst of all, he awoke to the sound of the "crunching of his skull".

He apparently punched the bear, trying to get away, before poking it in the eye. "He dropped me as soon as I did that," McWilliams recounted, explaining that the bear stomped on him one more time before slinking away as other campers approached. There are still scars from the bear's teeth on his head, but the claw marks on his forehead have now faded. "If I push on the back of my head, it still hurts a little bit," he added.

The latest bite was from a shark, which he received on April 19. While on a two-weekend backpacking tour around the island of Kauai, he ended up travelling south to find clear water to enjoy the surf with a handful of others. He was out with his boogie board, attempting to catch a wave, when he was knocked into the water around 30 yards from the shore - which is when he felt an excruciating pain in his right calf.

"At first I panicked," he recalled. "I didn’t know if I lost half my leg or what." He spotted a tiger shark lurking beneath him, which he described as being between six and eight feet long. He gave it a "swift kick" and desperately swam to shore.

"That was the scariest part," he added. "I didn’t know where the shark was, and I didn’t know if he would come after me again." This bite ended up requiring seven stitches.

When asked why these things keep happening to him, Dylan explained that it was down to him being in the "wrong place at the wrong time".

The 20-year-old is thankfully still around to tell his story, but you've got to think he would be a little unnerved by his outdoor expeditions by this point - as it seems like mother nature has a vendetta.