Closest you've ever been to an animal?

[Ulysseys]

I know theres a certain pride in making long shots with a bow but I find it more interesting to see how close you can get to an animal.  So how close have you been?  Once I had a doe eating the branches I was using for cover, I could've touched her face and another time I had a buck sneak up on the opposite side of a fallen tree I was using for cover, he was within 3 feet of me.   Neither detected me and interestingly enough I drew back on both but opted not to shoot either.

[BOHO]

mine was a doe that was bumped when we were rabbit hunting. she passed on a trail I was 2 ft off of. Another time I had a old buck the dogs were running. Passed at about 5 ft. Missed him with a pistol. lol  I was too shook up

[woodslinger]

I was once sitting in a natural ground blind and had a small doe walk by so close her back rubbed up against my arrow. She was about 15"away.

Another time I had another small button buck come running down the trail I was on and he got within 2' before he figured out I was there.

My dad on two different occasions touched deer he stalked with the end of his HH longbow. Those deer just about jumped out of their hides when he did that.

Just like Ulysseys above none of these deer were harmed in the above instances.

[buckeye_hunter]

Nice big 8 pointer was standing on the other side of the tree I was behind. It was cold enough that his breath was rising right in front of my face. 1 1/2 yards or basically the width of the tree.

Ground hunting is awesome! He only ever offered me one VERY severe quartering shot so I let down on the string.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I've had quite a few real close encounters with black tail deer. The closest ones were the one i stepped on, and the other one was the one that side swiped me running down a trail in the dark.... Both times i ended up on me arse....

The scary one was the black bear... 2 feet looking me right in the eyes. I could smell the fish on his breath..... I needed clean shorts after that one.

[Phrogdrvr]

I fell asleep laying on the ground one frosty morning in the pre dawn waiting for legal shooting light.  I woke up to a doe standing inside the "D" profile of my Fedora longbow.  I could have reached up and grabbed her leg, even thought about doing that for a second, then opted not to.  

This experience makes me question all of my efforts to hunt the wind and other scent managing tactics.  I was just my normal stinky self, laying there in the brush.

Tom

[tree dancer]

Riding on the hood of  a old 64  Dodge cop car I jumped on the back of a big doe when I was in high school.
We had no  video games back then.
George

[sswv]

on a hog hunt a few years ago I jumped a sow off her nest/bed. she ran off long enough for me to grab one of the little ones by the back of the neck and hold it up for a buddy to snap a pic.  

  http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n175/sswv/dad_with_his_pig.jpg?t=1393720140  


I put it back exactly where it was and left the area. I've had my hands on several wild turkey flopping to their death, 3 different whitetail fawns, coons, possums, groundhogs, rabbits and squirrels but I can honestly say the fastest I ever turned loose of something was a chipmunk. don't let'em fool you....they are MEAN.

oh yeah' bout forgot the bear. he is also in the pic on the left.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n175/sswv/bearlookingup.jpg

[dhermon85]

Had a buck sneak in on me last season, told the story that I could hear him breathing. But looking back it could've been me! Probably 6ft on other side of a little pine.

[Sixby]

Killed an elk close enough to touch with the bow. I came into this spot over a deep river canyon and bugled very lightly., real low and heard a bunch of animals running. I backed into some baby cedars and suddenly had elk all over me. I had this one run up and stop right in front of me./ Last day of season so shot it. It turned out to be a really big cow and made a great winters eating.
That was the only day of the season that I did not have any other hunters with me. They had decided it was all over. Buttttttttt the fat lady had not sang yet. LOL

God bless, Steve

[Charlie Lamb]

Shot a whitetail buck at about 4 ft. one day and on another occasion took a pronghorn at about 6 ft.

Another time I shot a buck mule deer at 15 yds. while his two companions stood within 3 ft. of me (one on either side of me). I was in a ditch and they were on the rim looking toward the one I shot.
Things got a little blurry for a moment or two.

[Mike Bolin]

Swatted a cow caribou on the arse in Quebec. I'd huddled back into the willows to wait out a rain squall when about 30 or 40 caribou came pushing through the willows. I was a bit un-nerved as they started popping out of the willows all around me.......will never forget it!

[kagross]

I've touched a few deer on the rump in South NJ, near Fort Dix.  It was in the pine barrens.  The deer were feeding heavily on blueberries. I was preoccupied with the sundew plants I found growing there and noticed the deer feeding nearby.  I stalked them low and slow, and reached through the the blueberry bushes and touched them  (different occasions).  They took off like they were shot.

[centaur]

Touched a feeding fawn with its mother. Things got exciting for a moment, and then very quiet. Had a little black bear try to climb in a tree with me, until he figured out that I wasn't another bear. He then left in a big hurry like the deer. Had an antelope stick her nose in a sagebrush blind, about a foot from my face. I had a whitetail fawn run into a fence and get stuck. Had to pull the little fella out of the fence. Had a bull elk at about 3 feet, bugling. Never got a shot at him, as he finally saw the boogie man and left in a huge hurry.

[Terry Lightle]

Had a buck take a bite off the opposite side of the bush I was hiding behind.Shot a doe @ 3 yards while hunting on the ground.Shot a bull moose 6 yards from me.

[VictoryHunter]

I was hunting from a blind once and had a doe pass in front of me so close that I couldn't shoot her because the blind was between us, two feet tops! Also had a couple walk to the base of my tree, spittin' distance!

[Paul_R]

I came almost literally nose to nose with a moose in Utah years ago. I was focused on following his tracks in fairly steep rolling terrain. Got to the top of a rise at the same time he got to the top of the other side (he obviously had doubled back). He took a long sniff at me and went back to munching on a willow branch. I backed away. Lucky for me it wasn't rut and lucky for him I was hunting deer. One of my favorite hunting memories there...

[Stumpkiller]

I was sitting on a stump and I saw a doe approaching and decided to wait to see what else might amble by.  She and a small button passed within two yards or me.  Even looked me over carefully and passed right on by.  

Did not react to my scent once past and they had to have scented me.

I've had squirrels walk across me.  Chickadees land on my upper limb and nocked arrow.  

Shot a running deer from about 10 feet as it ran past once (again as I was stump sitting).

Touched a rabbit with an arrow I was holding two weeks ago.  Took coup on him.  5 seconds later Curt (I think it was Curt) dropped him after he bolted.


Dozens of does and small bucks have passed under my feet as I sat in my treestand.

[Hot Hap]

Shot a small buck at 18". I was kneeling in a hedgerow and had to lean backwards to draw my bow. Had a doe walk by at 5' once and couldn't get a shot off.
Hap

[screamin]

The closest had to be the cow elk that stuck her face in mine and looked me in the eye at about a foot.

I have had birds land on my shoulders quite a few times.