Scary hunting stories

[Stringwacker]

I remember it like it was yesterday, labor day weekend September 1992....

I was hunting in New Mexico in the Gila part of the state and was already concerned about the possibility of drug smuggling in the area. Whether it truly was a real concern or something that was just stuck between my ears didn't matter. All I knew was this wasn't central Mississippi anymore.

It was the days before cell phones and though GPS may or may not not have been invested by Al Gore yet; I didn't have one. I put my faith in the directional compass and struck out for the deep parts of the unexplored and untamed wilderness of the Gila; where the thoughts of 300 Class bulls danced in my head.

It was quite a pack that I had planned and maybe three miles in I strained to hear a women crying for help. I immediately charted a course toward the expressed agony. I was a younger man then and fairly bulletproof in both physical and mental attributes. As I got closer, that bravado that had served me well in the past (even when hunting with the big bears in Alaska) started to melt like snow on a 50 degree morning. I thought it had to have drug implications and I questioned just what was I going to do when I got there?

Regardless, I pushed on until I topped a ridge and looked down to see an old cabin where is wasn't suppose to be. (This was in national forest) The noise was very loud now, it would stop for a brief moment, then start a moaning wail that had a lot of variation in the pitch. The cabin was still, no movement that I could determine which sort of heightened my anxiety. I didn't have any life experiences to pull from to help me reason through what was happening.

I slowly worked down the ridge toward the small opening where the cabin was. I started to slowly work around the cabin on the opening perimeter. I eventually caught movement! Geesh!

In then and there I saw what it was; I just couldn't understand what I was seeing. A 5 gallon metal can dancing like Elvis in his prime...almost like it was possessed on top of a short metal pipe. Up and down, rotating to the left, then rotating to the right it moved. At this point the idea of a woman in distress or drug smugglers left my concerns and I carefully approached the possessed bucket. I could now feel very cold air in the 90 degree heat....hmmm. Until that moment I thought maybe bees were in the bucket? But with the added development of the cold air, I discarded that notion and willed myself to lift the bucket. What did I see? It was a pipe most likely connected to a cavern or perhaps a mining shaft that had a powerful gush of air coming out of it. I just placed the bucket back where I found it and chalked up the 1.5 hours I had lost of elk hunting.... as a good trade for a new experience

[blacktailbob]

Uh oh Mark, I think you might start some spooky along with scary. They can go hand in hand.

[mnbwhtr]

 OK since I've been bowhunting for 60 years I have had several scary occasions. The one I'll write about happened in 2001 on my only trip to Africa. 4 of us (my buddy and wife and my wife) went to Zimbabwe for plains game. We vacationed in Victoria Falls for week and my wife has a large Elephant collection at home so we took a 4 hr Elephant ride.
 When we got to our hunting camp we could hear Elephants trumpeting nearby and my wife got all excited and told the Professional hunter that's what she wanted to hear. The PH explained that trumpeting was when they were upset and mad and hopefully we wouldn't get close to any like that.   
 The first time on stand we had Elephants all around us trumpeting but nothing really close. About 3 days later we were in a double tree stand overlooking a little water in a creekbed when I got an elbow to the ribs and my wife said "Elephant" I looked over my shoulder and about 30 yards behind us was a beautiful bull coming into the water. If he went to the other side of the water he'd be about 20 yards, if he came on our side he'd be about 6 feet from the stands legs. Yes, he came to the tree we were in and starting ripping leaves off right next to my leg! A Definite heartstopper, he looked right at me for a few seconds and then walked away. 

[Kirkll]

This story has its scary moments, but almost comical in some respect too.

I think the most embarrassing deer in the water story I have was archery hunting behind Ranch Hills golf course years ago. I did a lot of carpentry work on different buildings at ranch hills over the years and got to know the owners well. Dewey told me he didn’t have a problem with me hunting behind the golf course, but asked me to keep my exposure to a minimum and be discrete around the golf course edges. His wife liked the deer, but would give him a hard time I’d she knew I was hunting up there.  But…they did a lot of damage.

So one evening we were hunting up behind the 8th hole which the green was located right next to a bend Milk Creek that wrapped clear around the green. Right before dark the golf course was typical pretty vacant of golfers, and the deer would come down from the timber to feed and water. My daughter and I were dressed in full camouflage including face paint waiting patiently for there arrival about a 100 yards up the hill from the 8th hole when a nice little buck came down the trail. So I took the shot and hit it perfectly behind the shoulder, and we watched as it only went about 30 yards and laid down. But… he still had his head up, and hadn’t expired after waiting 15 minutes. It was going to get dark fairly soon, so I decided to finish the job. We approached the downed animal, I knocked another arrow and shot it right in the back of the head.

Well that buck jumped up and took off like a rocket…I was shocked. This was an 84# bow and should have made a quick demise of the situation… but Noooooo…. It was running right towards the golf course full steam with an arrow sticking out of the back of its head. As we took up the pursuit we could hear that deer crashing though the brush one moment, then it was dead quite for a moment, then we heard the splash…..
That deer had went right off the 12’ embankment falling right into the big pool by the green… Then my blood ran cold as we hear the two golfers that were on the green….”Wow man! It’s a deer! “ ……Ann the other guys says, “ Ya man, and it’s got an arrow sticking out of his head!”……..,  Oh good…..So much for being discrete eh?

So I had to defuse this situation quickly, and we trotted down the hill and crossed the creek and waved at the wide eyed guys on the green. I explained the situation and told them I had permission to hunt here behind the golf course, but Dewey’s wife would have a fit if she heard about this. Fortunately the guys agreed to keep a lid on it and not mention it…. About that time this damn deer starts flopping around, and then stands up in the creek…. We are standing right on the green at this time. So I said excuse me, and knocked another arrow and dropped him in his tracks…., This is going from bad to worse here. My daughter is trying not to laugh as these two guys are standing there with their mouths open….i don’t believe they were hunters…. It was well after dark before we got that deer out of the creek, cleaned up, and loaded into my truck

Believe it or not, those guys didn’t say a word to the boss, but did talk to Dewy about it later. I lost a good hunting spot that day over that deer that refused to stay down.    Kirk