Fun time! Not the expensive far and away adventures. What happened to you close to home?
Heres my most pant soiling...I went in an hour before pink light to get in my stand and let things quiet down. It was overcast, so PITCH BLACK. Me being king of idiots himself brought no flashlight. But I knew the stand well and thought I'd be okay. Was in about 100 yards on the small cut trail I made and all hell broke loose. I heard a CLOSE twig snap and the brush around me went crazy. I couldnt see anything. RIGHT in front of me, about 5-10 feet, a dog went ballistik. Barking like I was killing it. I fell backwards from the sheer panic in me. The dog semi attacked and my bow hit it in the face? Body? I dont know, but it backed off, and I was up in nano seconds. I had the bow horizontally in front of me to block the unseen dogs possible attack. The barking was insane and non stop...almost screaming. I started yelling, and the dog eased a bit. But I couldnt move. One small move and the dog would lose it all over again. I finally said enough and backed out with the dog following my every step. A grueling 45 minutes later, I was to the road and pink light lit my adversary. A damn pit bull! Seriously?
I made it to my truck and waited for full light. The dog waited about 50 yards away. When I got out it lost it.
The owner finally showed with a leash and furiously asked what I did to her dog. Now with light, I saw the teethmarks in my riser. I was NOT happy. Ziricote damn it!
But I am a calm thinking man and kept my wits. There is a leash law, why was the dog free? It is hunting season, why is the dog free in the woods?
She eventually apologized. I met the dog again in daylight with her present and all was well. He did not want to kill me and knew I wasnt going to kill him.
I was more scared than when I walked between a huge cinnamon bear and her cubs in Alberta. I jumped off a cliff then to escape, this time I had no where to go.
I now appreciate flashlights.
Whatta you all have to tell??????? :eek: :eek: :scared: :campfire:
A flashlight probably wouldn't have made any difference to the stinking dog! How close were you to the owners home?
Packing for a local trip. . . stuff piled up by the door. I came out in the living room as my 3 year old son had opened my arrow box and was jumping on the sofa with a hunting arrow- broadhead and all. Terrified, yet not to startle him I slowly reached out and put my hand on the arrow shaft just as he jumped off the sofa!
Be careful out there.
QuoteOriginally posted by iohkus:
A flashlight probably wouldn't have made any difference to the stinking dog! How close were you to the owners home?
Houses end about 50 yards from where I park. Then all woods. She lived about 300 yards up the road, maybe ten houses away from the last house.
Setting up a tree stand on September 15th, 2001 I was 1/2 mile from my truck long before I ever thought of owning a cell phone. At 11' (height of my feet), I decided to save 20 seconds by not using a screw in step and use a branch instead. Put one foot on and it was fine. Put both feet on and branch broke, sending me plummeting to the earth below. The right side of my right boot caught a root that was sticking out of the ground, and stopped my foot from moving. To bad there was 200 pounds coming behind it. I snapped my ankle into a 90* angle. Instantly cold and immediately sweating. I was in shock, and I knew it. Only thing to do since I was there by myself was to crawl my dumb arse the 1/2 mile to the truck.
Long story short, here it is 11 years later and I have just had surgery on both of my legs/feet and I've had limited to zero mobility over the last 3 months. I finally go back to work in 2 more weeks. I think I'm ready now, but my work says I must follow my doctor's orders.
I now am a ground pounder to my dying days. Tree stands are deadly on deer, but they can be even worse on the hunter. "It just isn't worth saving a couple seconds". I have said that saying to myself many times over the years since, and always opt to do it right, not quick.
If anybody is wanting a Loggy Boyou treestand, I can give you directions on where I left it. I never went back there, and don't see making plans for it anytime soon.
Ouuuuuccchhhhhh! I'd leave it there too Mike!
One time clearing a trail to the stand (by myself in the rain) the Machate glances off a limb and right into my shin, luckily my shin bone stopped it. I wrap it up with a piece of my shirt I tore off to keep a little pressure on it. So I'm heading out to get stitched up and run into the landowner, well he starts BSing and I don't want to be rude so I don't say anything, about 15 minutes later he asks what happened to my shirt, you should have seen the look on his face when I told him what happened, needless to say he wrapped up the conversation so I could get over to the ER.
A couple year ago I had killed a nice black bear spot and stalk way up on a very steep hillside, sheep & goat country. As I was taking pics of him etc I noticed something wading out in the lake below me, it was a huge brown bear (not at the dangerous part yet). Here he is from where I was, zoomed way in.
(http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh271/chinook907/rszdbrnlakebest.jpg)
.
Anyway, it was late, didn't have much daylight left and I was a few hours and 4,000 feet in elevation from the road... so I just gutted him and headed out, hardly ever do that. I was mostly concerned about taking a tumble in the dark in the rocks with a heavy pack on. I moved the gut pile aways off and broke some alder branches to cover him with to help keep the ravens, eagles, and magpies off the carcass until I got back to him in the morning.
Next morning I could hear the birds an hour or so before I got to him, so I knew they had found the carcass, and was wondering what else had...
I normally don't carry a firearm when I'm bowhunting, but since I was returning to a carcass I had brought a decent-for-the-job revolver just in case, but had it in my pack. Anyway, I was maybe 1/2 mile from the carcass, quite aways below him, moving thru the last stunted hemlock before it was completely open when I heard some large branches breaking, and a bear so large and so close that I could hear him sniffing, trying to get my wind... I got the pack off quick and fished the revolver out but it didn't come to that, never saw him just heard him breaking branches going the other way. More than likely the same big brownie I had seen within a couple hundred yards of there the night before. The birds had cleaned up the gutpile already, but the carcass was untouched thankfully, the brownie must have been bedded down after a salmon dinner, likely would have made his way up the hill later and eaten my black bear.
I forgot my TP in my van. Had to walk back clinching the ole' back side so as not to mess myself. Couldn't get the roll out quick enough and find a place to sit. That's scary right there!
-Jeremy :coffee:
QuoteOriginally posted by fdlz58:
I forgot my TP in my van. Had to walk back clinching the ole' back side so as not to mess myself. Couldn't get the roll out quick enough and find a place to sit. That's scary right there!
:biglaugh: :laughing:
I laugh because I've been there, my friend, and I'm ashamed to say on more than one occasion.
Hunting elk in the Washakie Wilderness of Wyoming (that's pretty close to home), I was sneaking through some black timber on a well used elk trail. A big "woof!" got my immediate attention and raised the hair on the back of my neck. I looked toward the sound to see a big grizzly giving me the eye, and he was really close. Thankfully, he decided to leave, and as he ran up a hill at full speed, I realized just how much he could have me for lunch if he had decided to do so. After I was sure he was gone, I paced off where he had been, and 35 paces uphill didn't seem very far. I decided that maybe it was time to return to camp via another route.
I hunt out of a homemade tower stand made from oilfield pipe with steps welded on one leg. Angle iron top, with 2X8's for a floor. A hurricane had blown through and blew a few boards off. I was standing on the top step and moved one of the boards. Had at least a hundred wasps right at my face. Instinct took over and next thing I know, I jumped fifteen feet to the ground. Sunk to my knees in the soft marsh. Took me a few minutes to regain my composure.
About 8 years ago I took a new hunter on a hog hunt about an hour from my house.We were hunting a friends ranch that always had lots of hogs.The guy with me was new at Trad hunting and had a few missed shots before dark.We were seeing a bunch of hogs and it had started to rain as the sun was setting.We went to the truck ate a snack and let the shower pass , the moon was soon up and you could see very well.We walked around looking for hogs and soon I heard some boars fighting down in a thick fence row.I went down one side and the other guy down the other.Now Im not sure if this guy spooked them or they just quit fighting , both hogs came out of the brush not 20yds away and looked like they would pass me at about 5 or so yards.As the one close to me was about to pass I turned for a shot ( Im in the wide open and so is he ) he saw me move and spun on a dime and came right for me.I drew my longbow and shot at point blank range but it was not soon enough when he hit me it broke both bones in my lower left leg. I hit the ground and he ran right over me , I had a hog foot print on the small of my back and one on my right arm.And it also unstrung my longbow somehow and broke 2 arrows in my hip quiver.The guy with me helped me to my truck then said I gota go home and was out of there so fast your head would spin ( last time I ever took him hunting ) I drove my standard truck the hour home and the wife took me to the ER. I was never cut anywhere no bones were sticking out lots of swelling and a walking cast for a while and I was good as new. I had left my waist pack at the site of the hit and run , so I called the land owner told him what had happened and if he would get my pack so the cows would not eat it.He called me an hour later and said he had my pack and a dead hog in his truck.The hog did not make it 100yds into the open field and he saw it on the way to get my pack. My arrow had went in just back of the head and the broadhead was just out the skin on his underside , he was about 175# boar with small cutters. The land owner never let me hunt there again cause he was worried someone might get hurt I told him the only thing hurting me was my pride cause if I would have hit him between the eyes it would have been a better story...
,,,,,Sam,,,,,,,
Fifteen years ago on Oct 28 I was home cutting the grass, I had the truck packed and was ready to leave for an evening hunt with my buddy when the wife came home for lunch. At the time she was eight 1/2 months pregnant. Now this was a Monday and she had just seen her doctor on Friday I finished what I was doing and yelled into the house that I was leaving she didn't answer so I went inside and she was pacing in the hall,she said that she was having cramps and that she had called the doctor and he said it sounds like false labor ,but we could come in if we wanted to .So hear I sit in the office with 10 other women when the Doctor comes out and announces that "there was going to be a delay because he was going to be delivering a baby in the office ".I thought wow that's pretty cool then reality hit when he called me to come with him. boy due they grow up fast. (http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx186/longbow69/DSC01271.jpg)
Ray Hammond's place in SC. Ray always gives a low down on what to do if you shoot a pig. On my way back one evening, I stuck a decent one, found the trail and taped it off before it got completely black. Back at camp Ray asked where my pig was and I told him hopefully not too far from my last flag. Being it was my first time there, I thought it might be smarter to go with someone that knew the place better than myself. We went back, hopped on a good bloodtrail and off we went. At one point the trail went up a four foot embankment where there was litteraly a wall of cane. I still remember Ray saying "Go head, I'll hold the light..". Needless to say, there was a not yet expired pig in there. Ever try to turn around in a cane thicket with an arrow nocked on a 62" longbow? Pucker factor was quite high.
We returned the next morning to find my coated arrow but no pig. My boot prints were almost on top of that last bloody bed. From now on, lighted nocks when pig hunting are manditory for me.
Shot a pig a while back and lost the blood in a thick nasty piece of jungle, marked the last blood and went back to the house to get my machete. Guess what, forgot the bow, went back to last blood and started cutting my way in, no dead pig, very much alive mad as heck boar and nothing to shoot him with. Ever climbed a palm tree and tried to hang on for very long? Not fun. Did not even have room to swing the machete at him,LOL. Left it on the ground when I went up the palm, hugged that palm for 20 minutes until that pig finally gave up. Found him stone dead a couple of days later. Tough animals.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: These are great!
QuoteOriginally posted by YORNOC:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: These are great!
I agree, keep um comin!!!
Nothing like what has been posted. WOW! you guys have had some close ones! I was groundhunting with my ol'Great Plains recurve. Very early,around 6am I got into a little thicket I had wallowed out for huntability a couple days prior. It was way before daybreak,and I figured it was a good plan because things would have been quiet for a long while before first light. I heard something close moving in the brush about 15 minutes after I planted myself. Very close. Right next to me close. I felt like I was being looked at. I peered in he darkness,into the direction of the noise,and heard a loud SNORT!! WEEZE!! right in my face!! I sat frozen,then it stamped the ground. I COULD FEEL IT INTO MY SEAT! I said
"Please don't gore me." it crashed off. I could not wait for daybreak. rat'
QuoteOriginally posted by SAM E. STEPHENS:
About 8 years ago I took a new hunter on a hog hunt about an hour from my house.We were hunting a friends ranch that always had lots of hogs.The guy with me was new at Trad hunting and had a few missed shots before dark.We were seeing a bunch of hogs and it had started to rain as the sun was setting.We went to the truck ate a snack and let the shower pass , the moon was soon up and you could see very well.We walked around looking for hogs and soon I heard some boars fighting down in a thick fence row.I went down one side and the other guy down the other.Now Im not sure if this guy spooked them or they just quit fighting , both hogs came out of the brush not 20yds away and looked like they would pass me at about 5 or so yards.As the one close to me was about to pass I turned for a shot ( Im in the wide open and so is he ) he saw me move and spun on a dime and came right for me.I drew my longbow and shot at point blank range but it was not soon enough when he hit me it broke both bones in my lower left leg. I hit the ground and he ran right over me , I had a hog foot print on the small of my back and one on my right arm.And it also unstrung my longbow somehow and broke 2 arrows in my hip quiver.The guy with me helped me to my truck then said I gota go home and was out of there so fast your head would spin ( last time I ever took him hunting ) I drove my standard truck the hour home and the wife took me to the ER. I was never cut anywhere no bones were sticking out lots of swelling and a walking cast for a while and I was good as new. I had left my waist pack at the site of the hit and run , so I called the land owner told him what had happened and if he would get my pack so the cows would not eat it.He called me an hour later and said he had my pack and a dead hog in his truck.The hog did not make it 100yds into the open field and he saw it on the way to get my pack. My arrow had went in just back of the head and the broadhead was just out the skin on his underside , he was about 175# boar with small cutters. The land owner never let me hunt there again cause he was worried someone might get hurt I told him the only thing hurting me was my pride cause if I would have hit him between the eyes it would have been a better story...
,,,,,Sam,,,,,,,
That is a seriously good story
QuoteOriginally posted by TxAg:
QuoteOriginally posted by SAM E. STEPHENS:
About 8 years ago I took a new hunter on a hog hunt about an hour from my house.We were hunting a friends ranch that always had lots of hogs.The guy with me was new at Trad hunting and had a few missed shots before dark.We were seeing a bunch of hogs and it had started to rain as the sun was setting.We went to the truck ate a snack and let the shower pass , the moon was soon up and you could see very well.We walked around looking for hogs and soon I heard some boars fighting down in a thick fence row.I went down one side and the other guy down the other.Now Im not sure if this guy spooked them or they just quit fighting , both hogs came out of the brush not 20yds away and looked like they would pass me at about 5 or so yards.As the one close to me was about to pass I turned for a shot ( Im in the wide open and so is he ) he saw me move and spun on a dime and came right for me.I drew my longbow and shot at point blank range but it was not soon enough when he hit me it broke both bones in my lower left leg. I hit the ground and he ran right over me , I had a hog foot print on the small of my back and one on my right arm.And it also unstrung my longbow somehow and broke 2 arrows in my hip quiver.The guy with me helped me to my truck then said I gota go home and was out of there so fast your head would spin ( last time I ever took him hunting ) I drove my standard truck the hour home and the wife took me to the ER. I was never cut anywhere no bones were sticking out lots of swelling and a walking cast for a while and I was good as new. I had left my waist pack at the site of the hit and run , so I called the land owner told him what had happened and if he would get my pack so the cows would not eat it.He called me an hour later and said he had my pack and a dead hog in his truck.The hog did not make it 100yds into the open field and he saw it on the way to get my pack. My arrow had went in just back of the head and the broadhead was just out the skin on his underside , he was about 175# boar with small cutters. The land owner never let me hunt there again cause he was worried someone might get hurt I told him the only thing hurting me was my pride cause if I would have hit him between the eyes it would have been a better story...
,,,,,Sam,,,,,,,
That is a seriously good story [/b]
I hope you got that one mounted!
I used to hunt an apple orchard in northern Westchester NY, Great Whitetail spot, the place was full of them. One day after hiking back to my car, the sun long time set, I notice something in the tree line, couldn't believe there was a guy with a loaded compound pointing it in my direction, better yet at ME. Meanwhile I have treestand on my back and a full size maglite in one hand bow in the other. When I yell out to him, he snaps out of his daze and tells me he was driving down the road with hi buddy and a nice buck jumped in the farm. I told him, number one never point a bow at a human being again, and when was the last time he saw a buck carrying a treestand, flashlight and a bow, and two he was on private property. Jerk waved me off. When I got back to my car, I told the farmer about it, he jumped in his truck and shot off after them. He was a big man and I don't want to know what he did to them if he caught up with them.
I have his skull , about 2 years later I was in a new treestand behind the house hunting Whitetails.And I could not get my bow hook started in a limb so I got out my pocket knife and was going to boar out a starter hole with the tip of the knife.Well as I was doing this I hit the lock and it shut on my left index finger cutting it to the bone on the outside joint.The only other time I have ever been to an ER was from the hog.But I could not bend my finger and something was not right so again my wife and I went to the same ER.When we walked in the woman at the desk looked at me for a bit and the first thing she said was , did a hog get you again....
,,,,,Sam,,,,,
I drew my longbow back on a monster 6x7 bull elk broadside at 15 yards. He winded me and spooked as I released. My arrow hit his scapula and bounced all the way back to me, just missing my left thigh. The two blade broadhead tip curled badly and didn't penetrate at all. I almost bagged myself that trip.
I was hunting big horn sheep in Montana just north of Yellowstone Park. My buddy and I spotted a bedded ram up the hill from us. We put the sneak on him and got fairly close when I noticed he looked like he was asleep (head on the ground). I stood up to get a better look at him and noticed his hip was very bloodied. He was very dead so my buddy and I started walking toward him. A large boar grizzly next to the ram stood up on his rear legs, roared and clawed the air while he snapped his jaws at us. Scared the hell out of me so I turned and ran away as fast as I could. My buddy still laughs about it to this day that he was 50' ahead of me and that's all that mattered.
Caught heat stroke pretty good one pig hunt.
Pretty dang scared, directions didn't seem right and I walked in circles for a few hours. after figuring it out and laying down in the trail, I was Happy when Joe came out of the woods and drove me to some water.
you guys are hardcore. I forgot my lunch once...close call...
LongbowArchitect: that first story (since you didn't) is hilarious :laughing:
i was walking to my treestand one morning and about 20 yards into the timber i could hear something walking. no big deal so when i stopped to listen, it stopped. Ok, maybe it was a opposum or a coon, so i started walking again. but once again i heard it walking, so i stopped to listen and again it stopped. by now my imagination is starting to wonder, so i started walking a little faster to my stand and i could hear it again. when i finally got to my stand i stopped at the bottom of my tree and i heard whatever it was take a couple more steps in what sounded like my direction. i dont know if there is a world record for climbing a tree, but if there is i broke it that morning. i sat in my stand and listened as hard as i could until the sun came up, but nothing. i never saw, or heard, anything leave, i still dont know what it was nor do i want to find out!!!!!
Great story Sam! I can see why you are so "tough" on them hogs now!!
I was sitting in a stand one evening and it was getting to be last light so I figured I would hang in a bit longer. I was sitting there just relaxed as can be when I seen something kinda flutter in my periphial vision. when I turnrd my head to look it was an owl swooping in fixin' to take my head off. I waved my bow kinda quick in a reaction to cover my face when He started back peddling.
I could feel the wind off his wings. Guess He thought I was a tree rat or something. Like to scared the crap out of me.
The scariest thing to happen to me on a local hunt in a long time was having a big buck stop in front of me on I- 90 as I was doing 85-90 mph. I missed him but a Toyota Sequoia had all it could take to brake at that speed.
Good stories, keep them coming. Charlie - What? You get lost?? :thumbsup:
Great stories!
Was hunting behind a friends house in northern Minnesota one evening. I watched a small doe and buck walk through earlier in the evening. Saw the doe bed down not 40 yards from me. Just befor dark i caught movement, it was a pack of brush wolves working the thick edge of the trees. They jumped the doe and had her down only 25 yards from the base of my stand. Real un-nearving to see and hear. After 20 min. of this, it is all dark and i needed to get going. I made it down the tree most of the way, grabed my bow and took off running. I could still hear them finishing their meal. Still makes my skin crawl thinking about it.
Great stories!
Was hunting behind a friends house in northern Minnesota one evening. I watched a small doe and buck walk through earlier in the evening. Saw the doe bed down not 40 yards from me. Just befor dark i caught movement, it was a pack of brush wolves working the thick edge of the trees. They jumped the doe and had her down only 25 yards from the base of my stand. Real un-nearving to see and hear. After 20 min. of this, it is all dark and i needed to get going. I made it down the tree most of the way, grabed my bow and took off running. I could still hear them finishing their meal. Still makes my skin crawl thinking about it.
Nothing like some of you folks but I have 2.
1) Using the lone wolf climbing sticks going in for a evening hunt on the climb up my boot hits the under the top arm of the last stick as I am getting into stand unsecuring it causing it to plummet down to the leaves below. Like a dummy I decide to hunt and deal with it at the end. My home is 1:30 from where I hunt and dont think my wife could get a ladder on top of her car so I cant call in the calvery. Ending up having to bear hug my way down the tree from the stand to the 2nd stick in the dark, pretty unnerving.
2) 0 dark thirty heading in for a turkey hunt going in on a trail from the car make a right 15 yards into the woods into my natural blind set up my decoys on the trail then go back and sit down waiting for the sun to rise. I head what sounds like a thunder in the distance then start feeling a slight vibration getting louder and more vibration. I see around 10 buffalo trotting down the trail I just came up running over my decoys! I couldnt believe my eyes b/c I am in Michigan not a lot of Buff normally! I set the dekes back up (no damage) and hunt the morning then come out for lunch and check in at work. The farmer's wife who lets me hunt comes out and says did you see the Buffalo? I was relieved because I was scared I had hallocinated. They escaped from a few miles away where a guy had them penned up! Good thing I wasnt 20 minutes later I would have been on trail with em!
It was many, many years ago.
I had never hunted deer before. Actually, I had never hunted outside my home state of Alaska. I was a stranger to hunting around other people, or "private land," and I had CERTAINLY never climbed a tree to hunt before.
Someone gave me access to their private property, "There's a lot of deer there, and you're the only person with permission to hunt it," they said.
I packed up my bow, a portable tree stand that looked a lot like a super-sized monopoly game piece, and about an hour before first light, found a tree to climb.
Now, I'm not scared of heights... but I am scared of falling. As I grunted, groaned, and sweated putting in my screw-in steps, I hugged that tree for dear life. All the while, I got higher, and higher... and higher. It was probably around 25 feet up that I decided I was high enough. That skinny tree was swaying back and forth and I felt like it was going to break off at the base.
A couple of trips down and back up the tree -- all the while hugging that tree like a koala, absolutely scared to death -- and then I pulled up my bow. I thought, "Man, am I glad there is no one else here to watch this!" I got my safety strap all cinched on, and the sun was coming up. About 2 minutes later I realized I had to take a leak. Bad. So, I thought that I'd better hurry up and get it done before the deer herds started by. Another perilous trip down the tree.
Puff puff puff, I gripped that tree again and climbed down. I determined that it would be best to walk about 50 yards away and relieve myself, so as to remove the scent from the area. I found a good tree, went right up to it and started marking it for all I was worth.
My eyes wandering, I looked up, and jumped like I'd seen a ghost! About 10 feet up in the tree I was relieving myself on... was A GUY sitting in a tree stand! It about scared the heebie-jeebies out of me, so I zipped up, turned around, and walked back from whence I came. A lot of thoughts ran through my head. "What's he doing here? No one else has permission to hunt here!" And then I realized that he had been watching the entire spectacle as I put up that stand.
I walked back to the tree, took down my steps and the stand, and went home. That guy's probably gonna tell that story for the rest of his life.
Archie,
That is FUNNY!
Thanks,
CTT
Was out calling and a sqirrel runs across both shoulders.Another time calling had a raven land next to me they make a lot of nois when landing. The scasryest was when I was back up to some mazanita calling and all at once had presher on my forehead and back of My neck, rolled trying to get lose. Stood up and a bob cat was running off in front of me. His hide is on my wall. Go to pick up an arrow and theres a coiled up diamond back.
QuoteOriginally posted by ronp:
Good stories, keep them coming. Charlie - What? You get lost?? :thumbsup:
Nah I am too macho to admit I can get disoriented.
I was just seriously confused. Funny when your head stops working, you then second guess things that are easy. I am talking about compass readings and noises from the road. I had passed markers i had left out and decided someone else made that pile of sticks leaning against the tree.
It could have been much worse, and I got lucky.
PS Ron, I would never miss my turn in the dark and rain trying to get hunters to their stands ;)
About 6 years ago my cousin and I were elk hunting in Colorado . We had hired a local to,take us to,some elk. We had a late night getting out of the mountain that night. The next morning the three of us had drove to 10,000 feet. The plan was to hunt down.
I wasn't,t feeling well and told the two of the, to take off, I'd wait the 2 hours till light and hunt near the truck.
I still wasn't feeling well and as it was just starting to,turn light got out of the truck and moved about 50 yards and stopped in the middle of the road.
I could see the truck but could not figure out which direction to walk to get to it. By trial and error I would start in a direction and,it would be wrong. It took me more than a hour to,actually get back to the truck. I kept falling,asleep and then would stop.breathing and would wake up . Luckily they came back early and decided I had altitude sickness.
After getting down to 5000 feet I started feeling,better.
This was not a local hunt but was scarier than some falls I've had.
last year i was sitting in a climber looking over a dim road, which had a nice oak just across with a good spread of acorns. about an hour before dark, i hear pounding hooves, and i see a fawn tearing down the road. it splits off the road just past me, and i figure maybe momma is right behind it. so, i stand up and get ready, and wait. a minute or so later, i hear a sound on the road BEHIND me. i look to my left, and here comes the skinniest, mangiest old pit bull ever, sniffing hard and tracking that fawn from the opposite direction. i hesitate, and it heads on down the road. about 5 minutes later, i hear something running from the direction the fawn originally came. it was a huge half-black, half brown coyote. now, i tried to stop him with a whistle, but he was tearing right along the path the fawn took and never slowed down to give me a shot. i texted my buddy, who was hunting on another side of the property, and said, "what's next? a freaking giraffe? it's like Noah's ark over here!"
about 10 minutes before dark, that ole pit bull came sniffing back down the road. i had the green light, so i put a Magnus I right in the base of her neck. she went down without a sound, but after that crazy hunt, i was too scared to get down until my buddy got there with the good flashlight.
Great stuff.
Since its my thread (heh heh) I HAVE to share for the first time a "non" local issue I had. Elk hunting out west with a guide. I will disclose NOTHING so dont ask. I was told to stay away from a particular area I was hunting. Back in the early 90's. I was chasing a herd of cow elk, compass only, and eventually became disoriented. I lost my place. I could see down to what I thought was the road 3000 feet below, but I was on the wrong side of the mountain. I came across a building, like a giant greenhouse. It looked old but.....green plants hanging on racks to dry. I heard voices, so I ducked down and slowly crawled back. Saw two guys with shotguns patrolling. No thanks. I backed right the heck out of there and never said a word. Compass doesnt lie, you are where you are not supposed to be stupid. Now I know why.
Never went back to the area or outfitter again.
I have two local ones and one hairy one in Maine.
I had gone bear hunting in Maine a few times and saw many bears. I shot a bear one year up there. The guide we were with had tree stands for us but they were better for gun hunters than bow hunters. I swear the one I was in was close to 30 feet up. A bear came in about 30 minutes before dark. I saw the shot and it looked great. The bear crashed off and I thought I heard it crash for keeps up on the top of a hill about 50 yards up from the bait.
I followed the blood trail and it was weak. When I got to the top of the hill there was no bear so I marked last blood and backed out.
The guide and my hunting partner arrived after dark. We took up the blood trail, but in Maine we couldn't carry a weapon at night. We went in with just our knives and flashlights.
Because of the high angle of the stand I shot the top of the off lung and the exit wound was high. The majority of the blood was caught up in the hair. The blood trail was poor and we followed on our hands and knees through thick stuff checking the bottoms of leaves and grass for tiny drops of blood.
After about an hour the guide said he thought he heard the bear ahead and said lets turn off our lights and listen.
My friend and I were sitting next to each other in this thick underbrush where we stopped. We were all listening intently for the bear and it was dead silent. The next thing we know we hear this scream - yeeeeeeooooooowwwww. My hunting partner and I pulled our knives because at this point we thought it was the bears death charge and war cry! After this long drawn out yeeeeeeeooooooooowwwww, we heard who who, who who. It was a screach owl that nearlry made us soil our draws.
At this point we thought we would let the bear be and come back in the morning with fresh underwear. We came back and found the bear about 50 yards from where we left the trail.
None of us ever forgot that scream in the dark going after a wounded bear.
The next year in NJ hunting deer, I hunted in a spot where I had to go through a old cemetery in the woods and past an overgrown apple orchard. I hated that walk and it creeped me out.
I was hunting the end of October and would get to my stand before light and leave well after dark. This day I saw a monster black bear walk up this draw I was hunting.
I saw a few deer but no shots. I headed out on that miserable walk past the apple orchard just before the cemetery. Just as I got to the other side of the orchard I heard the bear woofing and popping his jaws. I couldn't see him in the orchard and he sounded very close. I knocked an arrow and kept my light in my bow hand and bow pointed to where the bear was popping his jaws. I didn't want to move until I had a good idea where the bear was. After a while I started to back out the trail. After about 10 steps I heard the bear crashing through the woods, I couldn't tell at first if he was coming at me or going away. He was heading away so I turned and continued to walk out but kept watching my back trail.
Another time deer hunting an area in north Jersey we had a problem with wild dogs. We had many running the area I hunted. They ran deer but I never thought of them going after a human.
This area was mountainous with nice ridges that ran along the sides of the mountain. I would come up the back side of the mountain and still hunt down the mountain on the ridges.
As I was still hunting I heard something behind me and saw a big mut looking down at me from the ridge above. I looked to my left and there was another dog there watching and when I looked right there was another dog watching me. I tried to make some noise to scare them off and they just continued to watch me. I continued down the next ridge and the same thing happened only the dogs changed positions. this happened two more times, each time they got closer to me and I thought they were really hunting me. I love dogs and would hate to have to shoot one but I thought this was a bad situation. The big mut seemed like the leader and appeared to not have any fear of me. At this point he was to my left at about 25 yards. I knocked and arrow and started to walk straight to him looking him dead in the eyes. I was mad as could be and he must have seen it in my eyes. I thought if he didn't move by 15 yards I was going to drop him. Just as I was getting to 15 yards he must have read my mind and took off, with the others right behind him.
I made it out without incident but that is the first time I actually felt as though I was the hunted.
It is all good and fun!
:thumbsup: :campfire:
Man I forgot this one. This was a scary one.
It was a Friday evening in October 2005. I think it was Oct 5, 2005. I went to my tree stand on my farm after work. Soon after I got up in the stand a nice young 8 point came by. I hit him perfect at 15 yards. He stumbled and took off at a full speed. About 70 yards out I thought I saw him stumble again.
I waited about 15 minutes and went to look for my arrow. No arrow. I looked for hair and blood at the place I hit him - nothing. I made a few semi circles near where I hit him and there was not a drop of blood, hair or the arrow.
I decided to back out and call my hunting partner to give me a hand tracking the deer. He said he would be right over.
By now 45 minutes past so I headed back looking for first blood. I kept making semi circles for about 40 yards in the direction of the deer. Nothing. I decided to go to where I thought the deer fell. When I got there I found half the arrow and a lot of blood. I followed the blood and in another 25 yards found the deer.
The deer had run onto my neighbors property by about 20 yards so I wanted to drag it back on my property to gut it. I started to drag the deer back towards my property and after 10 yards I couldn't breath. I sat down and was sweating like crazy. I was dizzy and thought I would take a break and head back to the house to call off my friend. I called him and he said he was coming anyway and wanted to see the deer. I walked back to the deer and something wasn't right. I tried to drag the deer but couldn't. My wife drove up in my truck because I called her and told her I needed the truck to check the deer.
I told her I had no energy and as the good wife that she is she grabbed one antler and I grabbed the other. We dragged the deer another 10 yards back onto my property to my truck.
I didn't tell her what was going on. She headed back to the house. I couldn't catch my breathe or get any air into my system past the base of my throat. I felt like somebody was standing on my chest.
I had to lay with my head on the hood of my truck. I could feel I was going out so I held onto the truck and made my way into the cab. Once in the cab I was sweating like crazy and felt nauseous. I opened the door in case I was going to be sick just as my friend pulled up.
He is a retired police officer and said, "I am calling 911, you are having a heart attack and you are going to the hospital'. I told him I wasn't and not to call, because I had to work that night and over the weekend on a special project for work. He stripped me out of my one piece suit.
This next part is good. He wouldn't let me gut the deer. Now it was early October and hot. The deer had been sitting in the heat for a while now. When he spread the legs and cut into the diaphragm a glob of deer goo shot out and hit him in right in the mouth. It doesn't get much better than that. We loaded the deer and checked it. He got me back because I had to gut his deer in Ohio that year and he let it sit a while too.
He nagged me all the way to the checking station and back. Then he got me back and told my wife. She nagged me all weekend to go to the hospital.
I worked Friday night on this project but I felt like I had only came back about 60%. I couldn't walk 10 feet without being out of breathe. I stayed up all night, because I was afraid if I went to bed I wouldn't wake up. I eventually did sleep a little Saturday and Sunday, but continued to work on the special project.
By Monday morning I felt like I had only came back to 65% from where I was before this started. The project was done so I called out and went to my DR. He took me into the office and sent me straight to the ER.
They admitted me into the hospital, did some tests and released me on Tuesday late morning. While I was in the hospital I was in the room with an older man that was suffering terribly. I decided that this wasn't going to slow me down.
On Tuesday I was discharged at 11 am. At 2:30 pm I was back in my stand. I shot a nice fat doe. Since this happened my wife was making me carry my cell phone when I went hunting. I called my friend right from the stand and said guess what I did. He said what. I said I shot a nice fat doe. He got all upset and said he was coming over. I told him I was better and I can see the doe. I will have it dressed and tagged by the time he got there. He came anyway and I was just about to leave to get it tagged. That will teach him and my wife to nag me.
The next year my hunting partner had a similar health issue that landed him the same hospital room I was in. He also had a very old man suffering in his room. We both made a pact right there and then, that when these health issues are done we are going elk hunting and will continue every year after that. We did and we do.
I had some other scary stuff that wasn't local, such as encounters with Grizzlies with cubs and a near plane crash in a beaver float plane. I was shot at and attacked with a machette and butcher knife, but this health issue was scary because you don't know how to fight it.
Had a buddy that had a ratchet strap break and the sudden extra force caused the ladder to buckle. Thank God for safety harnesses and cell phones. He called me to come help him out of the tree....was perched on a knot on the side of the tree with his harness stretched out. Be careful out there.
Good news is he wasn't hurt, and I ended up killing a pig that night.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TaV7EB7kn7U/TptKdnt_JwI/AAAAAAAAC68/aTL4gOoARJI/s800/IMG_0269.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T06Euf8HJcU/TptKeZ5dg4I/AAAAAAAAC7A/zefnZA_hjd8/s800/IMG_0273.jpg)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HKOx0LOI8C8/TptKfC3Ma8I/AAAAAAAAC7I/OVSpG63GY3A/s800/IMG_0276.JPG)
I got two. One is funny, the other is a little different but the most frightened I have been.
The funny one:
I was in college and we were in summer camp. Part of the class was to do a forest inventory on Coopers Rock State Forest. The part we were doing it on was supposed to be closed to hunting. We were working in groups of five. SO early one Morning in the middle of May we all met up there at daylight as we had a long hike to even get into the prescribd area.
Our group consited of 5 males. We ran in to another group of Forestery students about 7 am that had 2 females. As we were standing there talking the call of nature hit, so as to be polite I walked about forty yards to the edge of a food plot to take a leak.
I get over there and I am looking more across the food plot than I am paying attention to my feet. I stop beside this big tree an unzipped. I began doing my business but was still lookng across the opening for game.
I had goten about halfway done when I looked down at my business at hand and noticed a boot about 2 feet to the side of my left foot. It was like the cartoons, I followed the leg all the way up to meet his eys just looking at me from behind his face net no more than 3 -4 feet from me. I screamed like a wildman and jumped about three foot in the air and backwards.
I screamed at him, What the #$%$ are you doing man! And hurridely zipped up my pants. My friends came running as they didn't know what was going on. I apologized to him, and needless to say I quess the fact he wasn't supposed to be there was the reason he was intent to watch a man take a leak almost on him without making him aware of his prescence. Scared the heck out of me though.
The sober one:
September 17, 2010, WV had an early bow season. I went to a farm that is owned by a logger that cut timber for me. I hunted all day and saw a lot of deer. About 6:30 pm a doe came along and I 12 ringed her at about 10 yards. After she had run out of sight I give my customary thanks to the Good Lord for gracing me with such a blessing. And as plain as the nose on my face a voice in my head said "That will be the last one this year".
It frightened me. It did so because I knew there was something wrong with me. I had spent 4 years in many a doctors office trying to determine what it was. They all said the same, you are fine. Too bad so many doctors think because you are realitively young and look healthy that you are. Well, I was dieing and I knew it. Slowly but surely I went from being a extremely strong and resilient person to this guy who got licked just mowing the grass.
I knew somethind bad was wrong and just days before this I got in the floor on my knees and prayed to Jesus to please fix this before it was too late. I asked him to do what had to be done for me to get to feeling better. Right there in that treestand my testcile started to swell and get tender before I shot the deer but I paid it no mind thinking it was due to setting so long.
By the time I got home, I could hardly walk, much less set. The following friday I was diagnosed with Stage II Testicular cancer, underwent Chemo through the end of 2010 and the first part of 2011, and am in full recovery from the cancer and as good I am going to get from the chemo. Praise the Lord!
Not your typical story but, the minute I heard that voice, I knew what I had, knew the long hard road I faced, and knew that I was going to make it. But it still scared the you know what out of me.
God Bless to all
Got some good eastern NC bear scares - but one in particualr gets me.
I was in PUNGO NWR- folks who know, know where I am talking about and the numbers of bears in there. They are protected so no hunting them. You see your average 2-250pounders, but some real brutes as well, 4, 5s, and 600s. These bears are not afraid of humans, they love to hear a boaw shot, and they WILL steal you deer.
If going in in the dark they will follow you to your stand! and that is my first one, some buddies and I were hunting a swamp and went in one morning, I and a friend broke away from each other to go to our respective sets. I was not 30 yards from him, when the hair stood up on the back of my neck! -- now I pay attention to my instincts - I was not using a light so I dug in my pocket and broke out my flashlight and scanned around me. 10 yards to my left side I saw eyes lookin at me, ears perked up about 200 lbs!
I turned my light off and kept easing towards my set - went about 20 yards and shined my light - I aint heard a sound! and he was there again holding about ten yards off bobbing his head around looking at me. Well he dd this all the way tot he set and when I hit the base of that tree I made every squirrel in the world PROUD!
This little bear hung around for awhile - I could shine my light down and see him wondering where his "funny" toy went up the tree and did not want to play anymore.
Chief
I was stalking up a logging road in Little Coon Valley on Skyline management area in NE Alabama, recurve in hand, looking for deer. This was in the early 70s before tree stands.
The sides of the mountain had flat benches like stair steps that the deer traveled. Often the benches would have thick patches of 6' to 8' tall river cane on them.
As the logging road I was on neared one of these cane covered benches in heard a screaming roar in the thicket. This roar was unlike anything I had ever heard, loud and guttural.
The roar got louder, the creature in the thicket started throwing large rocks, sticks, clumps of leaves, even dead logs almost as big as my leg. The missiles were coming out of thicket in a frenzy of activity, nonstop, in all directions as the angry roar continued unabated, steadily increasing in it's ferocity.
I looked down at my little 45# Kodiak Magnum and Razorhead tipped 2016 arrow. I said to myself "NO WAY" and ran away from the commotion on the mountainside at a rate that would have made an Olympic sprinter very proud.
The cane was so thick and tall I never caught sight of what was causing the disturbance, I wonder to this day what it might have been.
About 7 years ago I was hunting in early November in one of my favorite rut stands, nice natural funnel where two creeks diverge... Around 930 I have a black and white sow come through with 7 or 8 piglets not bigger than a grasshopper, normally we shoot all pigs on sight but with it so close to the rut and such a great location I let them pass right on by at 15 yards. I sit the rest of the morning and get down around 11 to go check a camera on a scrape some 500 yards away in a nice acorn thicket... I had my martin recurve in one hand and for some reason something told me to grab my pistol "just in case".... Well I get a phone call from dad as I approach the camera to remind me to check his camera, as I'm letting him know I have it under control I hear a grunt...I look up and no more than 10 yards away is that same black and white sow with those piglets hugging around her legs. I tell dad pig, "got to go", and before I could react to pull an arrow from my quiver or put my phone back in my pocket she is charging full force right at me. I honestly don't remember drawing my pistol or coming up to full stance all I remember is seeing the crimson dot from my laser grips touching her head as the 40cal bullet hole took its place and She slid to a stop touching the top limb of my bow and I fell to my butt thanking God I was alive...
Gil,
Post you not so local stories as well. :campfire:
Hey Charlie, I would follow you blind folded!
Got lost on a foggy/misty night once trailing a hog. Ended up finally finding a house and knocked on the door at 3:00 in the morning covered in muddy camo(homeowners were a little stunned by my appearance)found out I was 8 miles from camp as the crow flies. They took pity on me and drove me back to our gate after a long Q & A about how I got there.
Bought a GPS and compass the next day.
I was walking down the road to my stand to my right was a hedge row that was thick,I heard the most terrifying scream and rustle from there,tuned out it was a bobcat scared the hell out me never heard it before.
The other time was walking back to the truck after a dissapointing day,I saw an armadillo drew an put a broadhead into it's back well he flipped and dissappeared down into a hole.I went to check on the hole bent down a was staring at a 6 ft rattler,it was low 40's so he was lethargic I backed away and stuck him in the head.Ilearned to look at my surroundings that day.
Great reading folks!!
This spring I was fortunate enough to be invited by some buddies to go on a pig hunt, it would be my first hunt in Texas and for pigs. What a hunt it turned out to be for me, I got two pigs with my long bow, found a real cool whole arrow point and just had a blast.
On the second to last day of our hunt I was sitting at ground level in my chair near a feeder where I had nailed my first pig. I was reading a book (CJ Box is great) occasionally checking emails on the e-device (work is sometimes too close) and keeping an eye on the happenings around me. I knew it was getting to that point in the evening where the feeder was going to go off and things might pick up. I put my book down, had a drink of water and checked the time, yep, about 10 minutes to feeder time. My bow was in my lap with an arrow knocked and my awareness level was on the upswing. I shifted in my chair to be a little more upright and comfortable and moved my feet from out in front to more under me. I'm hearing this noise, sounds like the feeder but I'm looking right at it and that's not it. What is that NOISE..... there is movement low and on my left...A RATTLE SNAKE in full warning mode moved out from under my chair and is now about 12" from my left foot. That is the noise
Well, dad did a good job of teaching outdoor skills and awareness of nature. I kept cool and slowly took my arrow off the string and moved my bow with the fletching from the quivered arrows down and between my self and the diamondback (long bows are the best for this maneuver). My thought was that if it was going to strike, strike at this. Once the bow was in place I just kinda used the tip to push the snake away, (s)he was ok with that and started to slink off. I was pretty happy with it departing and going to leave it at that when it occurred to me that in an hour or so it was going to be dark and I would be wandering around getting out of here. I stood which re-antagonized the serpent, now at a much safer distance, reloaded the bow and pinned the snake. I hit it about 5" behind the head and it is very angry. So, once again the long bow shows its versatility and I use it to pin the head of the snake, whip out my trusty Deperschmidt knife and proceed to cut the head of the thing. I am about ½ through when low and behold....the feeder goes off. I nearly jumped out of my skin!!! I regrouped, finished my original task, sat down and let out a GIANT breath. What I wouldn't have given for a beer or two just then.
The funny part: my chance for pig #3 came along a ½ hr or so later, a smart boar that took his time (too much time) working around into the wind and up to the feeder. I still had a pretty good level of adrenaline when I spotted him and by the time he moved to a shot spot I was sooooo amped I couldn't even get my bow half drawn. Oh well, 2 outa 3 ain't bad and the pigs as well as the snake found new homes in my freezer.