Lotta cool stuff, and I'm sure there are things I've forgotten. Bear at the base of my tree on his hind legs looking up at me. I was 17 & this was the 1st bear I'd ever seen. Hawks flying UNDER my treestand (twice). Another hawk almost landing on a nearby branch, startling the both of us. We both had the "Oh %^#" looks on our faces. Got to watch 4 red foxes bark, screech, howl & chase each other all over a field one evening. Saw a small hawk pick a bird out of mid air. Got to watch one of the coolest buck-buck-doe interactions for 30 minutes before finally getting a shot at the big guy. I think that's about all for now. Several turkey fights were pretty cool too.
The coolest thing for me was watching a squirrel one morning when like a flash a bobcat was on him. I watched the bobcat grab it and start taking off. By the time the awe wore off and I realized I wanted to shoot the bobcat it was way too late. This all took place about 15 yds in front of me.
The most memorable for me were probably 2x seperate encounters I've had with female bobcats that had litters with them. Watching the litters of kittens play and interact with each other was pretty amazing to see.
watching two mature bull elk fight was pretty cool, watching a mountain lion lay on top of a big rock bluff as 5 bull elk walked under him and just looked up at him and moved on..watching a group of 12-13 big horn sheep, 4 big rams battle it out over the shelas for a couple hours, watching 2 big male black bears, half a dozen elk, a moose and 3 or 4 whitetails feed at the same time in the same glade one spring.. accidentally walking up on a bedded mountain lion sunning himself and giving himself a cat bath.. 50 yards away.. I was shed hunting for elk sheds in the salmon river country, got to sit and watch him for several minutes until the wind switched in his favor, he slinked off like ghost. Had a big hawk land right next to me while on stand, bout 6 feet away, made me nervous.. fell asleep once in my tree lounge to be awaken by 3 cow elk directly under my stand.. theres more, just cant remember it all right now
To any non hunter you just sounded extremely gay. I agree with you though, that would be a very cool thing to experience in person.
Man we don't have all the awesome animals like all you non-midwestern folk! I am truly jealous! Last year I did see a raccoon that is bigger than any should ever be. I seriously thought it was a HUGE dog at first, and I was pretty pissed. Then I put a glass on it from the stand and realized it was a giant waddling raccoon. It carried itself like a Panda Bear. If I had a shot he would have been on the way to the fur trader thats for sure! Other than that not much of a tale, except glassing my father TWICE while he was sleeping on field edges with deer less that 10 yards away.
I have had several encounters with bears - cool and makes you nervous at the same time, the closest was a cub about 4ft away that climb the tree next to mine - while mama popped her jaws circling to bottom of my tree
Best experiance I've had was when I was 14, Caribou hunting in Northern Quebec Cananda on a father/son hunt. My dad and I were sitting in some cover, 12 yards off the main trail. We had +300 caribou walk 12 yards from us, and one calf come up within literally two steps and stood there for the longest time. I thought it was going to eat my broadhead. I eneded up shooting my bull about 10 minnutes later. By far the best trip, and my favorite hunt ever.
Awsome stories! How about having big trees falling next to you while your in your treestand? Well, it happened to me. It crashed down about 60 yards away from me. It made the biggest "THUD" that i've ever heard! Awsome, but scary!
Oh I have a good one, but I wasn't hunting at the time. Probably doesnt count but its still cool! Back in high school I worked summers for our local park district. While mowing the baseball diamonds (which are surrounded by pines) a few doe came running all out. One headed right for me, noticed the mower about 50 yards away, took a hard turn, jumped, and went straight into a back stop! No lie! She got up, stumbled a second, cleared two outfield fences and was gone!
Two instances come to mind for me, both occurred while hunting game lands in Columbia County. first one, I was hunting near a big pine thicket and i could hear deer slowly but surely making their way towards me. As it was getting dark rather quickly a fawn finally stepped out from the pines and stopped underneath my stand. while watching the fawn i heard something running towards me and looked up to see a ringneck randomly running straight towards me. The fawn begins to stomp and and the pheasant continued as if i was reeling it in. When the pheasant got about 5yds from the base of my tree the fawn freaked out and split, which scared the pheasant causing it to fly helicopter style right up in my face nicking my arrow with its wing. The dumb thing landed in a tree about 10 yds from me and it was all i could do not to let one fly at it, thinking that it ruined my chances at getting a shot. But soon after i starting to hear the deer again coming towards me. A big doe was nice enough to offer me a 10yd shot which i made count. The second instance occurred the day after i hit a decent buck. I had let the deer go over night and returned the following day to follow up. I got within 100yds of where i was the day before and i heard something walking. Turned out to be a small 8 that i watched make several rubs (which was neat in itself). But as it dissapeared i continued on my way and only made it another 20-30yds when i heard something running. It turned out being a hot doe that had at least 5-6 bucks chasing her. It was like something off of tv. I just stood there dumbfounded. They all stopped and stared at me for about 30 seconds, then followed the doe in a single file line up the mountain. haha, i had my dad come up to hunt the last two days of the season in that area. He saw one little spike.
I took a dump once next to a fallen white oak....and it looked like the Washington Monument. >>>Ka-Tow<<<
Lets see.. One morning I had the pleasure to hear my best friend screech like a school girl when a screech owl sounded off a few feet behind him. One evening I watched two fox chase each other around a pond in a golden rod field and then noticed a coyote come in, a few minutes later the coyote went past with a fox in his mouth. This past season I had a red hawk land on a branch several feet from me. This past season I also was able to see a black bear, a bobcat, and two coyotes on the same day. I have watched a beaver and several ducks swim around in a pond the entire afternoon I was on stand. I have seen numerous bucks fighting from stand and have witnessed a buck mount a doe from stand. So many others, everyday in stand there is something new and cool happening.
That reminded me of one of the first times I went duck hunting. Nothing really to tell. Just a bunch of muskrats chillin around the area. They turned into decoy movement creators. Swiming about through the spread.
A guy walked directly under my stand while i was bow hunting DURING BOW ONLY SEASON. he was toting a rifle, hatchet, and two bags of (morton water softner salt pellets) the yellow bag :d He had no clue i was there and dropped to his knees five yards behind my stand tree, dug a hole with the hatchet, and burried the salt in the hole, and continued on into the woods with the other bag. I called Mr. warden, he came out, waited for the guy, fined the heck out of him for laying salt during the season, made him dig it up, and got him for littering. he had dumped the empty bags in the woods. I moved stand sights, killed a nice 9 point several days later. He just happend to die 15 yards from a ground blind the guy had constructed,,,,SO I gutted my buck, and laid said bucks package on the guys camp stool in the blind :evil:
Thank ya Bols, us old guys aint all that bad,,,and LMAO at Tuco :d I know some inside jokes on that one :d
Last october I was coming up from my stand at around 11:00 am, and I crested the top of a hill at the same time as 4 gobblers. I was no more than 10 feet from them as they flew straight at, and over my head, while simultaneously crapping. I literally scared the crap out of them. Thankfully I was able to control myself in that respect
Lets see Colorado Elk Hunting: Watched three bull moose and a cow for about 10 minutes. Two of the bulls rammed heads quite a few times. Another year, same place elk hunting. I got to the top of a large sage covered hill to be met with a moose staring at me for about 10 minutes. I decided to try to get to the top but take a little different route. As I finally got to the top, the moose was waiting for me again. I decided on that hunt not to take my camera! Regretted that dearly. I've seen bucks spar quite a few times. I've seen a red tail hawk dive in on a bunch of quail but missed all of them. Oh and I've had a raccoon drop a mother load on my head as I got to the top of my stand. He scurried up the tree and hung on to the tip of the Hickory until I got down at dark. Lil Bastard!
