Trad Gang

What are some funny stories you had while hunting?

Mine was my first year bowhunting. The little 5 pt comes walking out late evening and I draw he comes to 15 yds and I release and..CRACK!! He runs about 40 yds stops and turns around. I turned to my dad and asked "Did I get him?" He looks for a second, laughs and says no look up. I ended up really pulling the string when I released and shot a branch of the tree we were in. But, I did end up getting that buck about 1 month later.  :)

Kinda funny now but sure wasn't at the time. A few years ago I was settling in my stand and just put my bow in the bow holder that clamps onto the stand. Well it was pretty windy and when I turned around from fooling with something I see my bow tumbling to the ground. It hit on the tip of the top limb at about a 45 degree angle and the string went backwards unstringing the top limb. It bounced up in the air like a kid on a trampoline. I got down string it back up and climbed back aboard. Shot a practice shot into the ground and proceeded with my hunt.

i did something similar k.m. last oct. i was in a tree stand, about 5p.m. 3 does stepped out to my left. feeding on acorns ,obscured from veiw by a tree branch a little lower than my stand. i leaned over to manufacture a shot with the bow canted, came to full draw, and released. when i did the bottom limb hit me right behind my left knee. the arrow went wide by 5 yrds and short by 5 yrds. i had to laugh. what an amateur mistake. i still laugh aboutit. about 3 weeks later i did shoot that doe from the same stand. rv

Last year, got in the stand around 4:00pm and promptly dropped my arrow to the ground. Looked at it and the other 3 in my quiver. Who needs 4 arrows I thought?

2 hours and three shots later I would have given anything for that arrow. I missed the same 6 pt three times.

My buddy pulls up in his truck, sees my arrows and says " see lots of arrows but no blood" as we where leaving that same deer is standing there at the edge of the field looking at us 10 yds away.

OBXarcher, your story reminds me of a similar situation of needing one more broadhead arrow.  I decided to take 3 broadhead arrows to the stand one evening and one judo point arrow.  I missed a doe three times.  It was the day I learned to pick a LOW spot when sitting in a treestand.  I had to fight the urge to shoot the deer in the ham with the judo point to prove to myself that I had figured out the problem.  My father-in-law still gigs me about needing a bow quiver and a back quiver.  I have considered a cat quiver to go with my bow quiver just to have enough broadhead tipped arrows!!!!

Dear friend of mine and his wife struggled with having children... the last en vitro resulted in triplet boys!

When they got to about 10, he would take one at a time along to sit on the seat of his ladder stand and he'd sit on the platform with the flat top step for his feet. Kids were strapped in.

I loved teasing those 3 boys! I told them if they turned their cap sideways, the deer would think they were looking the other way and try to sneak by.

On one hunt, my bud turns to check on his church-mouse quiet son and he has his hat turned brim to the side...asking "what are you doing?" Yup! The boy repeated what I told him... they're 19 now and we still chuckle over what kids will listen to when you least expect it!

I was irritated when it happened but...

It was in the mid-70's in Brown County, Indiana.

I took my little brother bowhunting. I was in college he was in HS. He was sitting on a WWII wooden ammo box in his treestand. I was in a tree about 60 yards from him.

About 30 minutes after sun up I heard an alarm clock going off. My brother had put his alarm clock in the ammo box and didn't know it was set.  

When I went to gather him a couple hours later he was standing in his tree stand watering the leaves from 20' up. I know,I know lots of folks are fine with human urine in the deer woods.  In those days most hunters thought such a thing was as taboo as it gets.

Some years ago when I would still go up into a tree I was hunting with my Jim Johnson "Legend" longbow.

I had been still hunting in my ghuillie suit and came up on my ladder stand and decided to climb up and sit for awhile.

A small basket racked buck came walking down the deer trail and I was ready for him. I told myself to remember to bend at the waist since I was up in the tree.

I did and the second I released my arrow both the deer and I were shocked. My arrow was sticking in the ground right at his left front foot.

It seems I had forgot that the bottom of my ghuillie would follow gravity and swing out when I bent over. Away my lower limb snatched the ghuillie material causing my arrow to go way low.

All I could do was laugh..the young buck sure didn't like that sound..lol

God bless,Mudd

Once sitting around the campfire in deer camp, just after dark, one for the guys gets up and walks off into the brushy darkness, roll of toilet paper in hand.  Nobody really though much of it.  He came back and it wasn't very long we all started to smell what we thought was human solid waste, "number two" that is.  Anyhow  thinks he may have step in it he started looking at things with his flashlight, but no, he didn't step in it.  Then another guy with a flashlight starts laughing and said "I found it, it's in your hood". He had one of them one piece hunting coveralls with the hood, you see, and when he dropped trousers he apparently went in his hood.  One log did anyway.  It was good for a laugh.

QuoteOriginally posted by Mike Mecredy:
Once sitting around the campfire in deer camp, just after dark, one for the guys gets up and walks off into the brushy darkness, roll of toilet paper in hand.  Nobody really though much of it.  He came back and it wasn't very long we all started to smell what we thought was human solid waste, "number two" that is.  Anyhow  thinks he may have step in it he started looking at things with his flashlight, but no, he didn't step in it.  Then another guy with a flashlight starts laughing and said "I found it, it's in your hood". He had one of them one piece hunting coveralls with the hood, you see, and when he dropped trousers he apparently went in his hood.  One log did anyway.  It was good for a laugh.

Now that's priceless!

:laughing:     :laughing:    :laughing:

While glassing a small field from my stand I caught movement to my left. Moved bino's over to take a look and saw the biggest black panther in the world. After peeing my pants I put the bino's down and figured out it was the neighbors house cat on the ridge behind me.

Pack it in, pack it out!  That was funny!!!!!

I'm not spooky of the natural world but don't care for horror movies and such. My dad knows this because he is the same. A few years ago he hung a Halloween mask from a bush on the trail to my stand the night before opening morning.  When my flashlight hit it I left one of those logs previously mentioned in my pants. I got him with it the next day.  The best part is I heard him scream like a little girl!

Last year my brother thought it would be hilarious to put on a gorilla suit, and run by my trail camera. Well he arrives at my spot puts on the suit and begins the walk to the stand. Well the neighbor was sitting on his porch and when he saw my brother he ran inside, Dylan thought this was hilarious till he ran back out with a .270!

I had a bad afternoon once that wasn't funny at the time, but to look back on it I have to laugh now. Got home from work about 4:30, ran in the house put my hunting clothes on, grabbed my bow and tore off up the ridge in front of my house for an evening hunt. Got to my stand, dang, forgot my safety harness. Back down the ridge, back up and leaned my bow up against the tree and it fell over landing on a rock and knocked a small chip out of it right on the side of the shelf. Man, what else can go wrong. I was pi$$ed about the bow. Anyway aint been there 20 minutes and here comes this big bobcat down the ridge right to me. Stops broadside about 15 yards and the arrow sticks in the ground right over his back. He runs about 30 yards and stops looking back, well here he comes again, walks right up to the the arrow in the ground and starts to smell it. I let fly again with the exact same result, over his back. He didn't hang around this time. I couldn't believe it, 2 shots in 15 seconds and both in the same spot. I was pi$$ed again. Sat till dark saw nothing else, got down and went to get my arrows. They were stuck right beside each other under and old bull pine. I bent over pulled them and stood up and turned around and jabbed a stob about the size of my thumb sticking out of the pine right in the side of my face. Dang, I was mad as hell again. Got to the house had blood all down my face and neck and the top of my shirt. I was like man, if I ever forget my safety belt again I'm going home and staying.

QuoteOriginally posted by huskyarcher:
 Dylan thought this was hilarious till he ran back out with a .270!

I bet he set some record for a man stripping half nekid in the woods screaming out his name and waving on that one! Must've turned out ok, so now it's pretty funny to read about!

I woke up from a nap in the hardwoods and found myself surrounded by deer.  They were all still & quite as can be.  It was a Twilight Zone moment.  

I snore loud and it was years later when the first grunt calls were marketed when I made the connection.

"A few years ago he hung a Halloween mask from a bush on the trail to my stand the night before opening morning. When my flashlight hit it I left one of those logs previously mentioned in my pants. I got him with it the next day. The best part is I heard him scream like a little girl!"

Uh, you saved and got him with which, the log or the mask? Consider carefully your answer.   :rolleyes:

Killdeer  

My ex wife was "caught short" while we were hunting; she was wearing a canvas field coat with a rubberized game pocket on the inside. When she squatted, the game pocket flipped out unnoticed. Her "log" plopped right into it.

She wouldn't let me tell this story while we were married...

well, last month had three other people out on Hel-Gar bowfishing.  Two of them using my extra tackle and bows.  Well everyone having fun shooting throughout night, looked over to my right as my buddy shot at a longnose gar.  AS I turned to see him my other pal pulled up with one of my recurves to shoot a buffalo.  Giving my gar missing pal some encouragement, wink.  I heard a CRACK.  I looked back to my left and there was my other new buddy holding the recurve with the upper limb set back about a foot further (delaminated), His eyes was huge as saucers, and I said, well looks like your done for the night.  Everyone else started laughing, was funny.

I was hunting in the 80s with a hot shot bowhunting guide in northwest Oregon. I was a young outdoor writer. He didn't have a lot of respect for outdoor writers and wasn't shy about saying so. I decided to play a trick on him.

I put a small sandwhich bag of prunes in my pocket and we were moving through a wallow when I spotted a pile of elk scat. I squatted down and said, "Looks fresh." He rolls his eyes. I bend over and sniff it. "Smells fresh." He looks sick. "I palm a prune and hold it up for him to see, then bite into it. "Tastes fresh." I thought he was going to die.

We've been good friends ever since.

Don't know if it's a shenanigan or not, but for a bit last year my good friend Nick I hunt with on the farm decided to move all my trail cams on me - I know the area pretty well (he knows it REALLY well as he grew up there), so I usually walk to my stand in the dark without a flashlight and avoid my trail cams if possible.

The only thing is, he knew what trails I was taking around all the cams, so he went and re-mounted them all right at face height.  I kid you not, I think I set off every one of the dang things in a row - pitch black, eyes looking for stray branches and BAM!  Blind..  stumbling for a bit, get my eyes back and BAM!  Blind AGAIN!  Twice in a row?  NOPE!  Third one was on the tree I was set to go up!  BAM!

I felt like a drunk bull in a china shop.  The pictures were even funnier (well after the fact, though.  I didn't think it was especially funny at the time...)  I have no idea where they all ran off to - I think they're on one of the memory cards in the tote bin somewhere.

I was enjoying a nice fall afternoon sit in the tree stand, just taking in the beauty around me. I went to adjust my leg and accidentally knocked one of my arrows out of the quiver. When it clattered to the ground I heard leaves shuffle to my left and turned to find four fat does looking in my direction about 35 yards away. Their original path would have taken them past me at 10 yards and in a shooting lane. They didn't like the noise the arrow made however and stayed out of range. Live and learn I guess...

Peachey, I know exactly how that goes... I've had some pretty frustrating days afield and unfortunately I sometimes let it get the best of me.

After all the #2 stories, I have to share one of my own.  I left at midnight on a 4 hour drive to make it to my hunting area...got off work a little late.  I was coffeed-up pretty good and the numerous logging roads pushed things south on me...about 15 minutes from my spot, I just couldn't hold it any longer.  I stopped the truck, turned off the lights, jumped-out into pitch black darkness with no flashlight and sub-zero weather....the "pressure" was getting to me so I dropped the tailgate on my truck and hiked one cheek up on the diamond plate...truck's kinda high so my my one foot was tippy toeing it to keep balance.  When I was done, the relief was overwhelming until I went to stand-up and realized something had froze to my aluminum diamond plated tailgate....and no, it wasn't my tongue!

The happy ending to all this was two hours later, I arrowed a nice 3 x 2 mulie.  Didn't even set-up camp, dressed it out, loaded it up, and was back home 12:00 noon nursing my wounds.  

Good night. Brian

My first deer hunt I was 14,the director of our local indoor range took me,now I had been hunting with a shotgun for a long time and felt comfortable in the woods but I had never had to walk in before in the dark.I follwed his directions to my stand and walk into one of those massive spider webs we've all have seen,I freaked and promptly started beating myself about the head and shoulders trying to get it off,needless to say I was shaken for the rest of the hunt,didn't see any deer but played cat and mouse with a squirel that just wouldn't go away.

PaddyMac, it works for whitetails, too, if you use chocolate-covered raisins.