Close encounters while on stand....

[waknstak IL]

Coonbait, they swim good too. I hit a dead tree with the front of my boat once and they came flying out and a couple didn't make the bank in the air. But swam to it.

[Coonbait]

I can't believe how hard they hit a tree when they glide from one to another. Would kill anything else!
GLENN

[Pat B]

I had a brown thrasher(ground bird) chase me out of my tree stand, 2 nights in a row, before I realized it was after the copperhead skinned bow across my lap. Opening weekend this year I had a small hawk(Kestrel?)fly close by and land and began checking me out(Full camo with face mask[not the bird, me!])then he came straight at my face with wings swept back. I anticipated his move and waved my arms and stood up just before he got to me.
 Years ago while on stand it began raining feathers. I never saw any critters but guessed it was a hawk making a meal of a bird in the tree above me.
  These are the things that keep me coming back year after year. Never a dull moment in Mother Natures yard!     Pat

[J-KID]

I was going to my stand one morning and as I entered the woods I saw a large raccoon and 4 smaller ones in the beam of my flashlight.  I stopped and let the cute little things cut across my trail before walking the 1/4 mile to my stand.  Around 10:00 a.m. I see the same line of raccoons walking directly toward me.  They were still cute. They made a beeline to my tree and started to climb up it.  I quickly tried to talk them down, but they would have noting to do with it.  I grabbed my bow by the tip and tried to push them off the tree.  One fell but the others pressed upward.  I finally threw my bow to the ground and jumped to a nearby tree.  I had never been in a stand where I could do that before.  I climbed down and retrieved my bow.  When I left, three of the raccoons were sitting on my stand platform.  They weren't so cute after all.

On another occasion I had left my stand and was walking back to my truck.  As I entered an alfalfa field I saw a big grey fox about 300 yards away.  I lay down quickly and did my best imitation of a wounded rabbit.  The fox began to run directly toward me and before I knew it I was standing up and telling him to go away.  I had an arrow in my hand but no time to string.  The fox was certain I had a wounded rabbit in my pocket and he wanted it.  It was a standoff at 8 feet and he began to circle around me.  As soon as he got downwind and smelled me he bolted into the woods.  That was exciting.

[Danny Rowan]

Been buzzed by hawks, and owls. Had squirls run across my lap and had a cardinal land on my shoulder. One morning a few years back I was climbing up to my box blind on my old lease in Texas and there was a ruckus in the blind. Peeked in and there was a Kestrel in there. Near as I could figure he was chasing a bird and they flew into the blind. the windows were down but one was not latched. I pulled the door open a bit and let him fly out, there was a dead sparrow in the blind. Do not know how long he had been in the blind.

Danny

[ronp]

I was sitting beneath a nice, cozy hemlock tree this year and it was cold, snowing hard and blowing so I had my bomber hat on.  Difficult to hear anything but I thought I kept hearing a ticking noise.  I finally looked up and was face-to-face with a porcupine coming down the tree.  I let him have the shelter of the hemlock tree and moved to a nearby maple.

[SoNevada Archer]

I was sitting in my 1st tree stand hunt a few years back. A hawk was chasing a little bird, which flew right past me. The hawk was hot on his tail and as the small bird flew by I flinched my head which caused the hawk to see me and flair and go higher. He was so close, I felt the wind from his wings!   :eek:

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

I was setting in  a favorite oak patch watching squirrels when a red tailed hawk gilded in and grabbed  the squirrel in his talons off a low limb and never touched the ground. As he was flying off the squirrels only movement was wringing of his tail. AWSOME!!!!! Now I know why the old timers called them squirrel hawks  

[BroMark]

One more for me... it wasn't necessarily a "close encounter", but I did watch a fox climb a tree and check a squirrel den in a hollow tree.  I never knew a fox could/would climb like that.  But the thing that really shocked me was when it came down the tree it came head first - just like a squirrel.  It even stopped about halfway down and checked everything out before it came on to the ground.  It went about 30-40 feet up/down that tree.

[Aeronut]

Several encounters for me that I will remember.  

Two different evenings as I was leaving my stand  I have had a skunk come walking down the field row and stop to sniff my boots, one even raised up and sniffed at my leg, and then travel on his way.  Both times I stood stock still while saying a silent prayer that he hold his fire.

I've had one squirrel land in my lap.

Two birds have landed on my arrow at different times.  One Chickadee and one Carolina Wren.

A mouse repeatedly ran across my legs while turkey hunting.

Three times I have had a bobcat come up to my tree, sniff around it, and look straight up at me.  Every time the season wasn't open.

Had a coon climb down the tree past me just before dusk.  That made me hold my breath.

An armadillo stopped to sniff my boot while I was sitting on my tree seat.
On another occasion another dilla had stopped just in front of me and I tapped him on the back with my bow.  He jumped three feet straight up and landed in high gear.  He crashed into my left leg and nearly knocked me down.  Had a baseball sized bruise on my shin for a while.

Wasps and bees.

Most memorable was the doe that walked up right next to me (close enough to touch) and stopped to look around.  It was fun to watch her eyes grow quite large when she realized what she was standing next to.  She then blew snot all over my leg and almost fell down when she ran off.  I love my shaggy suit.

Dennis

[dirtguy]

While hunting from a ground blind, I had a vole and a deer mouse run over my foot.  From the same spot, my son had two fisher cats go by about ten feet away.

[frassettor]

I hope Killdeer sees this thread! She has the most unbelvable picture of a squirrel on her hand....simply awesome    Kathy, you out there??  :confused:

[ishiwannabe]

Ah yes....the squirrel whisperer.  

[scout38]

Squirrel landed on my head while I was leaning against a tree. I never jump so high in my life from sitting position. Also a bird landed on my shouldders and stood there for awhile. It was kind of cool.

-Scout38

[JESSE69]

On a hunt with a buddy of mine I was lying on the ground with a radio and he was in a tree a couple hundred yards away.I wasn't feelin well so I was just lying there while he hunted when I heared the skweral alarm system go off.I didn't think much of it until he keyed the radio.It startled me so I set up quick to see a big bobcat stalkin me,I ran him off and thought he was gone only to have him stalk me again.He must not have known what I was but when I finally got him ran off I was a bit worried.

[Featherbuster]

Elk hunting in Idaho i came around a small knoll and was face to face with a black bear sow about 10 feet.  About the same time she stood up her two cubs ran up a tree right behind her, she started bouncing on her front feet.  All i could do was stand my ground and after what seemed like an eternity she backed down with the two follwing her back to where she came from.  Needless to say i took the long way around to bull i had heard bugling.

[wtpops]

I dont hunt in a tree but have had a few things go on while sitting next to one.

1. Had a button buck walk up and smell the bottom of my boots all the while the doe was 15 yards away snorting a stomping i finely jurked my leg and the buck went stright in the air and almost came down on me.

2. ive had birds land on my bow limb (2x)

3. while watching a cotton tail feed on grass about 5 feet away a hawk came down and snatched it up.

4. Saw a skunk at about 80 yards slowly walk right at me i finely got it to turn with a arrow just in front of him a 5 yards

5. while taking a leak behind a tree i was stalked and attacked by a coyote (grabed my hand jurked a few times then let go and ran off)

6. Had two young bucks sparing/playing almost run me over.

[greenhed]

I had a yearling black bear climb the tree my stand was in, up to about 6" from the bottom of the stand.

I had a Fisher "charge me" wondering what I was.

A herd of elk that i was stalking nearly stampeded over me when a wolf appeared on the other side of the meadow.

Saw a great horned owl swoop down and pick up a snowshoe hare I was about to shoot.

A bald eagle picked a trout out of the water about 10 yards from my float tube.

[A.S.]

I was hunting from a ground blind in S. Africa a few years ago. A bull elephant came in to the waterhole about 30 yards away. I slowly picked up my 35mm camera and snapped a pic of him. He heard the shutter go off and complete anger went through his eyes! He raised his trunk and tried to wind whatever made the noise. After a couple very tense minutes (on my part!) he finally settled down and walked away.

A couple nights later the same elephant charges us while we were returning to camp in a jeep. It was dark, the PH was attempting to back up and turn around, no back up lights (of course!), and 2 scared to death bowhunters trying to shine their mag-lights out the back to light the way! It was quite a scene!

[buckeye_hunter]

I was sitting in a stand and had a small hawk come straight at my face. Waved my arms like some of the others said and it swerved at the last minute. Everything was in camo except a small part of my face and eyes. I guess the hawk thought I was some sort of rodent?

I also had 4 or 5 turkeys land on branches in the same tree as me when a coyote scared them out of a field. They ran from him and flew up  into my tree. I was eyeball to eyeball with 'em. They sure are big. The rest of the turkeys(about 18-20 of them) stayed in the field and squared off on the coyote. They actually ran him off. He looked pathetic!

And of course there have been the voles, mice and squirrels, but no near death encounters with any of those guys!

-Charlie