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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: ChuckC on January 30, 2007, 12:53:00 PM
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We just had a couple threads on "how far" and "how close". Has anyone out there actually "counted coup" or what I believe to mean actually reached out and smacked a wild critter while hunting...or even if not hunting (your dog or cat don't count). I guess using your bow could count if you just touched the critter and didn't shoot it. I have come remarkably close on a couple occasions (remarkable to me at least) but I have never actually touched them.
anyone ?
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Yes i have.
I would advise any other person,attempting to do this to a doe from the ground,to use a stick,or the likes.As soon,as i touched her,from a sitting posistion,she proceeded to kick the livin $%*@ outa me.I couldnt raise up my left arm,for about a week.Lucky for me,they were glancing blows,and missed my face,and head.
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Does beating sticks, yelling, throwing rocks, and otherwise doing whatever you can to run black bears off from your camp count, or is that too close to your cat and dog?
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Smacked a young buck once as he was checking me out in my brush blind. I agree bad thing to do. He knocked the bow out and about ran me over. I touched a coon once walking by me, smacked another one who climbed on my shoulders when in a treestand, again close calls for my hand. I caught a hummingbird, and hit a squirrel as he climbed down the tree in front of me. I had an owl land at my feet once and moved my foot ever so slowly and touched him before he flew. And last year i messed with a small mouse in my blind with a small stick. Lots of memories in 30 some years
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I too have been remarkably close, but haven't actually reached out and touched one yet. After hearing 2traxx tale I might be hesitant if given a chance in the future..... :scared: But it is something I have always wanted to do.
I did have an owl count coupe on me once when he landed on a branch at my shoulder. That was nearly thirty years ago and remains one of my best memories.
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Mr Vic...I think bowhunters have more than our fair share of encounters with hawks and owls. Pretty neat till one gets you. One that stands out in my head...no I didn't touch it...but it landed in my tree, maybe twenty feet away and looked at me, standing back against the truck, hands down by my side. I moved one hand..the one with three fingers cut off for a tab, so my really pasty white fingers just shined out. He locked on and watched as I played like this, wiggling my fingers, till it struck me that he was honing in to kill something, and those somethings were right there by my crotch. That stopped real quick.....
I have had coons and squirrels climb the tree right past me, and right on the stand with me. I actually had a squirrel climb on my knee and shared potato chips with me.
I have had birds land on me and on the nocked arrow. I have not gotten quite close enough to touch a deer, and now, probably won't try after reading these stories.
Lots of neat things happen to those that wait..real still...
ChuckC
Chuck
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I had a set of twin button horn fawns come right up to me a few years ago and touched them both on the nose with my bow. One the funniest things I'd ever seen in my life, they just stood there shocked for a moment unsure of what had just happened. Mama was having a coniption fit blowing at them to get them to follow her.
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I was sitting in my ground blind on day and just at dark a rabbit came hopping along and stopped right in front of me! I was watching it when all of a sudden bang something hit me in the back of the head and knocked my hat off!! I quickly looked to see what the heck happened and saw a Great Horned Owl sitting on the rabbit watching me; clicking his beak like crazy!! I figure he smacked me with his wings as he was going for the rabbit. I never did get my supper that night but the Owl got his!
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had a bird land on my arrow this year
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About four years ago, I called in a calf elk to about a 1/2 yard. The calf happened to look back down from where it came from, I took my recurve and touched the elk's rump, it spun around and stood staring at me for a brief moment before it ran back down into the canyon, awesome experience.
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one of my favorite memories is a chickadee that liked to land on the brim of my hat and turn upside down to look me in the eye. He did this several times one season. I actually got to looking forward to seeing him whenever I hunted that stand.
as for actually counting coupe, I came close to kicking a coon one time that looked like he was going to climb into my lap while turkey hunting. Let's put it this way, I won't ever let one get that close again. :scared:
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I had an encounter with a spike bull elk a few years ago. In my case it was touch or be touched. The spike kept getting closer and closer. He then leaned over to smell me and I stuck my hand on his nose to keep him from getting any closer. His eyes about popped out of his head. He bolted about 15 yds and then walked back up the hill toward me but about 15 yds out trying to figure out what I was. Really cool but it always gets a little scary when critters get too close. You never know how they will react.
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How about a backhanding a squirrel with a chipping iron while in the rough off the green? I think I fried it. One guy couldn’t believe I did it. The other (a hunting partner) told him he just didn’t understand me, and that my family really would eat it.
Mark
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Touched a mouse, kicked a coon, and had a squirrel touch me. Also had a few birds land on me. Came incredibly close to deer, turkey, bear, and a few porky's. All made feel a bit uncomfortable at these distances.
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Deer with my bow and had seven baby skunks walk across my foot. Also a squirrel playing off and on my boots while hunting from a ground blind.
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I was hunting in Ala. and grunted in a small buck and he would not leave so I dropped my open raincoat on me and he left in a BIG hurry.
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hehehe I love stories like this.
when I was 12, my first deer season with my dad and I sat down on a nice sunny morning to have something to eat while I watched the beaver damn and I fell asleep with my PB&J sandwich in my lap.
I know falling asleep on the job while hunting is something none of us EVER do right?
anyways I woke up to a young deer, a little buck I think,sitting in between my outstretched legs eating my lunch. I was able to reach out and tickle him between the eyes but there was no getting my lunch back. Oh well.
when he was done he and I sat there for a bit just watching each other before he got up and wandered off totally nonchalantly.
My Old man whomped me good for not shooting it but he was too small, maybe 50 lbs total and Dad has never let me forget that deer either.
No Matter how many animals I have hunted and killed, to him and his buddies I am the family animal rights activist.
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Experiences like these are a big part in why I like the outdoors and to bowhunt
ChuckC
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A porcupine stood on his hindlegs, leaned a paw against my leg, and looked me in the face. We were humming to each other. Have you heard porkies "sing?"
I put a .270 round through a black bear in Idaho and was following his blood trail down an old logging road. The trail turned and went straight up a cut bank about 7' high. I grabbed a sapling on top of the bank and pulled myself up, only to find myself looking in the big boar's eyes. Luckily, he just woofed and ran sidehill until I got another round in him.
It was pretty habituated so it probably doesn't count, but I had a 190+ mulie in Banff lick my camera lens (long Nikon telephoto on a tripod). I pushed his nose away and then he started bumping me hard with his knees. Before he got more aggressive I took the tripod and backed off.
I'll tell you about the grizzlies sometime, but that's better with chips, salsa, and adult beverages. :D
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While in the tree stand I had a skwerl climb down the tree I was in jump on my shoulder, then my lap and play with my string silencers, had to shoo him away tho cause I thought he was gonna bite my string.
While sitting on the ground against a tree had a young button buck come up and sniff my knee, I had my hand on my knee at the time and was able to rub his chin.
Same thing happened on my first elk hunt, but was a cow elk.
I tripped over a bedded pig once in Guam while I was running thru the jungle trying to catch a monitor lizard.. I ended up getting a shot at him later but missed.
Those are some of my most memorable moments while hunting.. I love the close encounters. Great thread
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This year I made a pretty good stalk in high winds to about 8 yards of a bedded deer. I was on my butt and leaned for a shot. My arrow hit a twg and flew high. The deer jumped up and bolted straight at me. At the last it turned and I stuck my bow out and think I touched it's rump as it passed.
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I had a young spike buck walk up behind and through the brush pile I was in. Stick his nose out and touch my Ghillie suit. He then walked around in front of me and stopped at 10 yards and stood there for a couple of minutes without a care in the world.
I guess he counted coup on me.
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This fall I was spot and stalking and walked up on a bedded button buck. He was asleep and I squated by him a watched for a couple of minutes. He woke and kinda of looke over at me and his eyes got as big as dinner plates and he busted out of there. I had my hand on his rump. That was great.
A few years ago I was hunting in a ground blind and shot a nice seven point and was waiting a while before going to get him when a cold wet nose touched the back of my neck and scared the beejeeby out of me. The doe ran about 10 yds to my right and stood there blowing and stomping for 10 min or so.
Great memories are made in the woods every year.
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Two years ago while caribou hunting, I was set up in some shrubs along a well used trail. After several minutes, I had a cow and calf walk within a few feet of my spot. As the cow passed, I touched her rump with the tip of my recurve. She was so close that you could see her eyelashes and watch her hooves splay open as see took each step in the mud. Very cool.
Woody
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In '85 I was out in one of the heaviest fogs I had ever seen on my Grandpas farm. At the time there were no cattle on the place and I was pretty much walking by brail on an old cow trail towards my stand when I ran into something on the trail. All I heard was a snort and a wheeze and hooves beating off into the distance. Not sure what I bumped into.
A few years ago I had a young doe catch me "not quite ready" settling into a brush blind. she came up and craned her head out to see what the odd lump was and I decided to tap her on the nose with the tip of my longbow. I didn't see another deer close to that blind the rest of the season.
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Had a bird land on my arm a couple of years ago while sitting in a brush pile. It was so close that I couldn't see him well enough to tell what species he was.
Had a chipmunk crawl across my toe one morning on stand. I don't think he ever even knew I was there.
During Basic Training at Paris Island we were out for night infantry trainging. We took turns sleeping in our fox holes. It was my turn to sleep and I felt something moving around my feet. Woke up to a huge coon working his way up my legs looking for something to eat. My partner had fallen asleep with me. I tried my best to give that rascal a good solid butt stroke with the old M-16 but he was just a little too fast for me. Needless to say my partner got a few choice words.
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I had a hawk count coup on me once. I was hunting in NC and it was warm and buggy. I had on one of those light screen type head-nets. Out of no where I hear wing beats and whack I get smacked in the head and away goes my headnet. Put a nice gash in my scalp. The hawk flew into a nearby tree and had a hell of a time getting untangled from it, kinda mad me laugh and scared the hell out of me. Shawn
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My Dad had to smack a Black Tail spike on the butt with his longbow to shoot at a two point in a two point minimum area.
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Do oppossum on- the- half- shell count? I think not...
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Does having my back pressed up to a big rock while hiding in the brush growing around it and the Griz passing so close to me that I couldn't get my rifle down to shoot it count? It's the reason I don't hunt bears anymore. I made a deal with them right then and there. They let me go, so from now on, I'll let them go.
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Called in a hen turkey one spring...she proceeded to peck the toe of my outstretched boot for two or three minutes as I sat on the ground under a cedar. I was laughing so hard that I finally scared her off. A few more hen yelps and she was back at it. One of my best turkey hunting memories...
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Had several kinds of birds land on me. Several squirrels run up my side and one perch on my shoulder.
Once climbed up the inside of the wall of a barn and swatted the tailfeathers of a barn owl whose head was sticking out a window.
Had a screech owl come and sit in a tree about 8 feet away and look me over last season. Twice had to wave my arms to keep deer from running over me. Last one was an 8-point going full tilt.
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I once touched a rifle hunter with an arrow in my hand. I was all cammied out in a ghillie suite sitting under an apple tree and the fool was walking up and down the rows of my orchard carrying a 500 yard capable rifle when he couldn't see beyound 40 yards in the orchard. I actually smelled his after shave before I saw the fool.
Next time I'll let him pass by without touching though...it wasn't a safe thing to do w/ him holding that rifle. The fool tried to say he had actually saw me and was ignoring me. Right!
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Got hit in the head by a barred owl, after I passed under his tree.My cousin had the luck of a pine marten on his boot toe.Many squirrels,voles and mice crawling over me, they like wool I guess.
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I picked up a possum by the tail when it was in my garage (raiding the apple bushels stored there) and carried the possum out of the garage and released it. Probably not the smartest thing that I have ever done.
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Not sure I want to admit this one or not, but Was hunting with a friend on some public land it was the first time id been there and it was after legal shooting light I was sitting there waiting for him and the fletchings in my hip quiver rustled I reached back and felt a wet nose then an explosion scared off a 5 deer including the yearling that was checking me out. Wish I had a tape recorder couldve used it to perfect my snort weeze.. :banghead:
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I had it happen to me in reverse. Followed up on an 8 pointer I had paunch shot (not deliberately of course), the following morning. He charged out of the bed from 10 yards in real thick cover and put me on my a**. Holding on to his horns I bulldogged him down and a buddy who was luckily with finished him off while I held him. ( see I have a witness!). Thank God he was weak and not moving well. Still gave me some good bruises though.
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Does taking a Porkupine's picture in a bush 3' away count? No I didn't touch him. Frank
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Not sure if this counts :saywhat:
Had a wood tic on me! :D
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I had a fisher hunt past me....walked over my boots....very strange animal. Squirrels and birds in my stand with me or land on me.
Never touched a deer...yet.
One time, at oh-dark thirty, I was climbing up into my stand. My foot hit something and I heard the strangest chatter. I ended up face to face with a huge porcupine....who didnt feel the need to let me have any quills.
Another morning, oh dark thirty again, walking to my stand I heard something so I stopped. I could actually hear an animal breathing. Then it was gone....later on my way out there were black bear tracks....it was so dark I have no idea how close I was, or how far for that matter.
Did get within three feet of a hawk trying to kill a rabbit today....never heard arabbitscream like that before.
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had a grouse brush the back of my head while he walked down a blow down i was leaning against. had a doe nearly touch my knee with her nose, but she smelled something she didnt like inches from me. for some reason when animals get that close i want to laugh so hard. great stuff
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Originally posted by dougers:
had a grouse brush the back of my head while he walked down a blow down i was leaning against. had a doe nearly touch my knee with her nose, but she smelled something she didnt like inches from me. for some reason when animals get that close i want to laugh so hard. great stuff
Ay, tis the magic moments we've all had. Be it a chickadee landing upon our arrow shaft, or watching a vanguard of blackbirds heading southwest above our hidden treestand. Counting coup? How blessed we are that they have touched us .
A grouse landing upon a log, two metres from your thigh; you quiver inside and keen for her next cluck, knowing it shall come. A mere chirp she speaks, and inside you grin, counting your luck.
It does not get better than this.
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I was walking by an old barn in a grown up field road and thought I stepped in a pile of dog doo, soft and squishy. I took one more step and looked back. It wasn't dog doo but a very large copperhead I had stepped on. It was coiled up and had let me pass without biting me. I don't know who counted coup on who that day.
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Elk hunting Colorado and came to a small park. Watched a young coyote mouse for a bit and decided not to shoot him. He kept mousing closer and I had the wind. While he was keyed in on the field mouse he just pounced on, I slipped up behind him and tapped him on the rump with my bow. He jumped 10 feet high and yelped. Scared both of us! The best memory ever. He ran off wimpering with his gut low and tail tucked. I'll never forget that!
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I have slapped a doe on the hind end on a deer drive in WI. I was behind a balsam on a trail and I could see her running down the trail and just slapped her as she was running by. I also poked a cow elk in the but when five cow elk walked by the large ponderosa pine I was standing next too.
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one time in western north dakota on an unusually cold november day, the chickedees were extremely active. At one point I had 10 birds land on my head, arms and shoulders. I had my bow laying accross my lap with an arrow on the string. A chickedee landed and sat on my broadhead!
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Wow.....I am in a hotel room in a country foreign to me, just busting to go outside and sit for a while. Except, just not too thrilled about pigeons walking all over me.
Can't wait to go home.
Can't wait till spring.
ChuckC
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While pig hunting I stepped between two trees and heard something trotting my way. Hoping for a pig, a doe came walking in, turned my direction and passed to my right between me the tree I could touch. Like others, I thought about patting her on the rump, but thought I'd get the snot kicked out of me. She got about 5 steps passed me when she winded me and turned inside out!
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Dressed in a ghille suit squatting against a tree along a river, I squeaked this fox in. He showed up within 10 seconds to my surprise. Lens cap was still on as he closed to 10 paces and sat down. I dropped the lens cap and the fox focused on it. Took the photo an instant before the fox got up to close in on the lens cap. Unfortunately, I was also out of film.
Sitting inside a corn field dressed in my ghille, a fox comes out of the woods and heads straight for me. He close to within 2 paces and without blinking he simply walked around me and went casually on his way. Guess his nose was on vacation. (http:// [url=http://img487.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fogfoxsmalldo9.jpg] [img]http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/5996/fogfoxsmalldo9.th.jpg)[/url] [/IMG]
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At 5:00 am when you are quiely walking to your stand, and a skunk is walking next to you, and just sorta stays with you, like "hey, its just us critters headin' along the trail"... and the skunk just naturally crosses your path a couple of times..
do NOT nudge it with your toe to see if it'll freak out.
Just... don't... OK?
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Dressed in total camo rainsuit, searching for a wounded buck, in a thunderstorm, looking toward the direction of my friend to signal we needed to get out of the trees...really bad storm. I see a bobcat at a dead run heading straight for me. He jumped in a shallow ditch about six feet in front of me, then peeped up over the edge of the ditch to check his backtrail. I gave him a pretty good physical as I was afraid at first he was attacking me. When satisfied he wasn't being followed, he shook himself off and in one motion jumped to land at my feet. Nose to ankle distance 6 inches. OK now he's really got my attention, and I'm sighting down beside my 7mm mag. at the top of his head, thinking if he attacks I've got to try to kill him in case he's rabid. I'm also thinking uh oh! this is going to hurt (the concussion). The stand off ended as soon as the cat's puzzled face looked up the lenght of the "tree" which had suddenly jumped into his escape path and saw my face! He hit the same tree three times trying to go around it, screaming like a banshie. He finally richoched off and turned on the afterburners. I'd give a lot to have that on film. pine nut
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Dressed in total camo rainsuit, searching for a wounded buck, in a thunderstorm, looking toward the direction of my friend to signal we needed to get out of the trees...really bad storm. I see a bobcat at a dead run heading straight for me. He jumped in a shallow ditch about six feet in front of me, then peeped up over the edge of the ditch to check his backtrail. I gave him a pretty good physical as I was afraid at first he was attacking me. When satisfied he wasn't being followed, he shook himself off and in one motion jumped to land at my feet. Nose to ankle distance 6 inches. OK now he's really got my attention, and I'm sighting down beside my 7mm mag. at the top of his head, thinking if he attacks I've got to try to kill him in case he's rabid. I'm also thinking uh oh! this is going to hurt (the concussion). The stand off ended as soon as the cat's puzzled face looked up the lenght of the "tree" which had suddenly jumped into his escape path and saw my face! He hit the same tree three times trying to go around it, screaming like a banshie. He finally richoched off and turned on the afterburners. I'd give a lot to have that on film. pine nut
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Had a doe walk into a thicket with me this year, and she didn't know I was htere till I put my right hand on her side. She bolted out to about 20ft away and then looked back with an expression like "What the %$#% was that, then trotted off. Almost gave another hunter a heartattach that same day. He didn't see me and walked right by. Then I spoke to him, and he just hung his head.
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Had an owl attempt to count coupe on me. I was sitting on a dove stool, leaning on a tree, bow hunting, with a rabbit fur hat on. This owl comes from no where and tries to take it off my head. I had to clean my draws!
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Wow! Here's an example of why I love going back in old threads. This one was one I don't remember reading before and it was highly entertaining.
I was reminded of being out turkey hunting with a friend when I had a woodcock hen and two little ones walk across my legs. If you've never watched these cool little birds, you've missed a real treat. I swear they never stop moving even when standing in one spot.
Anyway as the two little ones were crossing over my legs I picked up one of them. Of course the mama went nutzso and pulled all kinds of acts trying to lure me away from her chicks.
I got up and walked over to where my friend was sitting not far away thinking he had his camera and could get a picture of my catch and release hunt of woodcock. He told me it was in his pack that he'd left in the truck so I went back to my spot, sat back down and released the little one. I got to watch as mama herded both of her babies down the hill and to safety.
A couple of minutes later my friend shows up camera in hand ready to take a picture. He says he happened to do a search for his mid-morning snack and found he had left his snack in the pack back in the truck but had the camera with him...lol
Go figure....lol
God bless,Mudd
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How about a doe counting coup on a hunter. One of the guys in our camp fell asleep on his ground stand. a curious doe snuck up behind him and when she realized what he was, she snorted. He came back to camp with deer snot on his back what amazed us more than this happening, is that he told us about it. We still razz him about it, 20 years later.
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I've had alot encounters with animals and birds while being out doors.Deer,shunks,squirrels and coons.
The one that stands out the most.While turkey hunting one evening had a decoy set out.Heard something coming from behind me thought it was just a coon.Few seconds later could see something crawling up beside me like it was stalking my decoy.Looked down very slow to my surprise it was a bobcat.When he went to cross my leg he realized that it was not log.He nearly jumped out his skin.He ran about ten feet stopped and set there and watched me and then look at the decoy for about 5 mins. before leaving.
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I was playing ball with my grandsons and I was the pitcher. Nick the batter got wide eyed and yelled "Ben, look out!" I turned around and a doe was charging across the lawn heading right for Ben in the outfield. I ran to put my body between the doe and him and the doe turned off at the last second and ran into the woods. It never hit us but scared the crap out of me.
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I have gotten close to several different animals. Including turkeys, deer, and I seem to get within less than 5 yards to squirrels all the time. But then you cant move and shoot at them!
Dad has brought back deer fur before. Says he took it from the back leg of a small buck? He told me that he almost got kicked when he pulled it off. And this last season he had a little piney squirrel use his shoulders as a runway. Kinda freaked him out a bit
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I have easily done this with armadillos for some reason. They can't deal with camo at all and are slow to start with, but man are they attracted to me. At least 3 times armadillos have come right across me while hunting in full camo as if I wasn't there. Squirrels have a thing for me while I'm sitting in a treestand in full camo too. This year while in a ground blind I had quail, and mice scampering across my feet practically every morning. That was cool.
The best coup was a "reach out and touch someone situation" as I called it. I was hunting a Central Texas lease belonging to my Dad's buddy. I learned to hunt there pretty much, starting when I was about 12-13 back in the early/mid 80s. I wanted a big buck, after shooting two average ones, the fever had me and I was ready to be selective. Of course I saw nothing on this trip, the weather was too warm, etc. and it's my final morning to hunt, and they put me in some POS ground box blind, so I was a bit po'd. I'm in the stand 3 minutes and a buch of cows show up! I didn't want those cows to spoil my hunt and waited them out. All but 2-3 moved on. I tried everything I could to get them to move without getting out of the blind and spooking the area. Finally I couldn't take it anymore.
I stepped out, picked up a rock, and chunked it in a Hail Mary, very high arc towards the cows and the feeder. It was a good 50 yds away at least. The rock smacked the lead cow DIRECTLY DEAD CENTER BETWEEN THE EYES. They hauled ass 'outta there and I coincidentally shot the biggest whitetail I have seen at that place maybe an hour later.
Coup counted.
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When I used to be a Guard one of my responsibilites was to foot patrol this factory on the edge of town 5 times a night at about 2 hour intervals. Anyway a Red Fox lived on this site and I would see him most nights. But after the first month he began to follow me. I was a little suprised by this but made sure to keep my eye on him incase he was rabid or something similar. Well after a week of this he began to walk along side me! I had never experienced something like this before, and by this point it was obvious to me that he was quite healthy. The next week I decided to try something. Half way through my patrol I decided to sit down for a break and see what he would do. The Fox actually would come up and hunker down beside me! It was great! Before long he actually let me touch him and then I began to pet him. I would see him every night I was on shift by that point, but when I was on days off the other Guards would only see him at a distance because he would never come close to them. Some of those city boys were actually afraid of him lol!
But then comes the sad part. I found him dead in the yard about a month and a half after making friends with him. He had been hit by a vehicle, probably by one of the other Guards and probably intentionally. Anyway I picked him up and took his body to the far side of the yard and buried him deep in the snow so no scavengers would be able to get at him for awhile. I found another job shortly after. That Fox is on my mind alot, and I miss him.
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I was once bowhunting with a friend on property that was new to me, after finding the only tree that i could put a climber in ,it was right along the deer trail..
around dark i was about to climb down when i heard several shotgun blasts about 75 yrds from me, i didnt know what was going on , until i hear 'ive got 3 over here how many did you get? we got 4 over here...they had been shooting turkeys off the roost,in my mind here i am hunting about 10 mi from nowhere,and i really didnt want to hear how many anyone got!
well i slowly got down ...there was no wind ,so still you could here a leaf drop...i just got my stand off the bottom of the tree, when down the path i could here 'this is the way to the truck'...they had split up and a man and his son were coming down my trail, i stood facing the tree from the backside that they were coming ,fully camo'd with my arm up against the tree with my face down on it , within seconds they were there...as i stood with heart beating 200 times a min. as they past by my tree, they brushed my camo...wheeeeeew..good thing they were'nt using flashlights...i let them get 100 yrds or so past and i slowly followed them back towards the pickup...my hunting buddy later told me that he had talked to the 3 guys but couldnt remember their names and to this day i dont know who they were...and thats ok...at least i'm not part of the woodwork the next county from here!
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I stalked in on a Porcupine while it was eating in a patch at some kind of greenery. Touched it on the back. I popped up it's head, looked and sniffed around for about a minute, then went back to eating. I backed out and continued my hunt.
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When I was a kid, my cousin used to deal with all sorts of wildlife on a professional level. He would get calls from all over to come get deer caught in fences, swingsets, living rooms, etc. The times I went with him, I learned real quick not to mess with whitetails. Even small ones can hurt you.
That being said, I caught numerous creatures when I was a teenager. Snakes, snapping turtles, groundhogs, muskrats mostly. Now, I'd rather watch them undisturbed than catch them.
When I lived in Alaska, I've had pine marten jump onto the deer quarters I was packing out, weasels in my boots, and once had a young black bear tug on my boot while I was napping under a big fir tree.
I did count coup on a big bull sealion while diving. Not the smartest thing I ever did. That thing was as big as a volkswagen beetle.
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while bowhunting i walked up on a porcupine and gave him a nudge he just looked at me and slowly walked off. while hiking on some back roads i saw a blond blackbear cub that climbed up a fence post and stared at me not 5 feet away. probably best that i didnt touch him
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Had a squirrel sit on my boot and chew up an acorn this season. Have had little birds and squirrels in the stand with me many times.
Way back when I once shot a hog with my compound. Hog took off running straight at me! Not a charge by any means but just a chance direction. I grabbed that bow by the limb and smacked the hog between the eyes! Turned him around 180 degrees. Solid metal risers do have thier place! LOL
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Back in my college days I was bowhunting in the Blue Mountains for mule deer. A doe and two fawns were walking down a trail ahead of me and I slipped off to the side in some brush. I closed my eyes and just stood there. I could hear them moving closer. I heard the doe step right in front of me and opened one eye and then reached out and touched her rump. She bolted out of there like a rocket while her fawns were just looking at me trying to figure out what I was.
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I,ve walked up to within touching distance of quite a few animals,a lot were in Australia where you should touch "nothing" as I finaly learnt after being stung an bitten once each,then having a big buck Easton Grey kangaroo I was sneaking up on "really take offence",after that last one I stayed well away from every thing else unless I'd just shot it.
Home in New Zealand I've had many birds land on an around me.
NZ Robins follow you around the bush to get the bugs you kick up.
Scrape the leaf litter apart for them an they hop around your feet with no fear at all.
Snuck up an said "GIDDAY" to lots of goats.
Walked up an grabbed a 1 week old wild pigglet once,that created a riot as about 30 of her family I hadn't seen heard her screaming.
To my relief they all ran the other way.
I shut her up by putting a square of chocolate in her mouth an clamping it shut.
She was more or less tame from there on.
So we called her Chocolate an she lived 9 years.
I've fed huge NZ eels by hand in back country rivers with strips of goat meat.Some of these old ones are over 100 years old, 2-3 times the thickness of your forearm an 6-8 feet long,"TikiTuna" of the old people.
All the critters are amazing in many ways.
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I onced touched a doe with my selfbow with a ghillie on awind blown day in a hay field.
Another time crawing across a pasture again with my ghillie on.I heard a cluch and had a hen peck by my face 8,10 inchs.I did'nt touch here but wisH I'd grab her leg.Because once she got to the gobbler it was over anyway.
3different times I had song birds and fitichs land on my rifle twice and my arrow once.Ghillie
I shot 2 bucks in corn fields and yard or so in the next row.Again ghillie and windy.
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counted coup on a yearling black bear in Ontario Canada, he went up the tree I came down, patted his hind paws as i went by. Guide said not many haywires[state side] guys get to do that.
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I was sitting against a tree with a log beside me.A red fox came from behind me and jumped on the log and walked right past me on top of the log.I coulda touched him.He stoped at the end of the log and sat down.And he scratched himself behind his ear.He never new I was there.I guess the wind was in my favor.That was pretty cool.
Had a chipmunk go between my legs while turkey hunting.
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It's a LOOOONG story but once I gained the trust of a wild pelican and ended up giving him a most enjoyable neck scratching. Soon as I left a tourist tried to do the same and got pecked so bad I nearly peed my pants laughing so hard. To this day I'm not sure exactly how I did it!