What was your "close call"

[Jon Stewart]

Seeing Roger's hand and reading Mike Bolin's story are about as bad as it gets although a friend of mine was climbing down from his tree stand and started to slip, he grabbed his stand, slipped anyway and left his ring finger and ring on his stand.

All these stories kinda wants me to start hunting on the ground again!!

I did have a black bear climb my ladder stand one night.  He got within 4' of me before he dropped back down and ran.

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by Roger Norris:
 

Originally posted by Mike Vines:
 

Originally posted by Roger Norris:
Tell the boys we can go anytime!We both know I can't shoot anyway!!Just bring more muffins        

I heard the last one calling me about 2:30 this morning.  Man, they were good, weren't they? [/b]

Possibly the best muffin ever. Here to for known as Wyoming breakfast muffins....    [/b]

I'm sure Laura could be persuaded to send us with a batch for the road.

[rraming]

Man some of you guys have lived - little stuff for me, had a step give way half way up, slid down, tore me and my jacket up and wrecked opening day once. I have had clumsy days, cutting myself with broadheads etc. Now when I have clumsy days, I just pack up and leave, some days out hunting things go wrong one after another, I am not sticking around to see how bad they can get - I get out, even if it's a few hours from home.

[WhitetailHtr]

This occurred back in 2000.  I was climbing up to a stand in a large cedar tree, located on the side of a pretty steep hill.  I had hung a chain-on stand sometime before, and had actually hunted out of it a couple of times.  I had left my bow and backpack on the ground, and had attached a tow line to bring them up once I was belted in on the platform.

Just as I was about to step on the platform, I noticed that my gear had slid downhill a little, and was under a scrub bush.  I knew that it would get hung up in the bush if I tried to pull it up once I was on the platform.  I had been climbing with both hands, and my feet
were now solidly sitting on two limbs.  So i grabbed my tow rope with my right hand to give it a yank to pull the gear back up hill, and grabbed a branch with my left.  Well, the branch was hanging on that tree by a thread.  As soon as I grabbed it, it snapped off, and I went backwards off the tree. from about 20ft. up.

It happens fast, but I remember thinking that bad things were going to be happening.  As I fell, I sheared off a couple branches about 1.5" thick off the trunk, and ran my face along one of those thick vines that sometimes grow up a tree.  Somehow, my body actually rotated before I hit the ground, and I landed on my side, with my arm tucked under my chest in a natural position.

My head hit between two large rocks that were sitting on the ground, and my feet smashed down on my bow, trashing the quiver and arrows and putting a gouge or two in my recurve.

Fortunately the ground was relatively soft
due to recent rains.  I had the breath knocked out of me, and some cuts on my face, neck and hands.  Other than that, (and probably a little chronic back pain now from time to time), I was OK.  I actually climbed back up and used my only straight arrow to sit that evening.  No deer seen:  I shouldn't have pushed my luck, looking back on it.

The Good Lord and My Guardian Angel were both in the woods with me that evening.  I had been married a year, and my first daughter was 4mos. old.  I easily could have ended up dead or in a wheelchair for life.  I know that God has me here for a purpose.
An event like this really puts things in perspective.

[Rathbuck]

Wow...there are some good stories on here.

First one for me was climbing up in a tree after freezing rain the day before (yes, was very stupid - was young and dumb at the time).  Stepped on the platform of a loc-on only to have it slide off the front of the ice.  Good thing I had a good grip on the step - was able to keep from going right off the front.  Got onto the stand the second time, belted in, scraped off some of the ice and hunted.  Told ya I was young and dumb.

Second was during the peak of the rut in Illinois (Calhoun County on the Pike County border).  Walking in by flashlight, heard a buck grunt to my right.  Thought he might be chasing a doe in the dark, so I turned off my flashlight so as not to spook him.  When he got closer, I turned it back on to see him staring at me from about 10 yards.  Two jumps later he was at about 7-8 feet grunting at me...with the wind blowing from me to him.  Every time I stepped back he stepped forward, and since he was a basket rack 8pt and I only had one tag, I had no interest in shooting him.

After 30 seconds or so of backing off, he cut me off by running around me - just as I heard a second buck on his way grunting (much deeper).  Decided I'd have to shoot my way out, so started to draw on the first buck when he turned and trotted off.  Turned toward the second buck to find him gone as well...no idea where he went, as the grass on both sides of the trail were chest high.  Shaking, made my way to the stand for the morning hunt...nerves shot.

[Jerry Russell]

I’ve been lucky in some pretty tight spots over the years but I guess I would consider my closest call to have occurred during a hunt for caribou in Western Alaska in 1999. We were in the last full hunting day of the trip and I had been watching a big bull for a couple of days in a spot that was nearly impossible to get to. Being the last day, I decided to do something I never do and that was to take an ambush spot along a steep ridge top but in a position that made it impossible for me to see approaching animals from more than a few yards. This was a great tactic for caribou but not a good idea for the grizzlies that were very abundant in the area. I had encounter several bears during this hunt but the open tundra made it easy to avoid them by just steering clear and staying downwind.  Several hours into the hunt I knew it was time to head back down into the valley to prepare for my bush plane flight the next morning.  I thought before I left that I would get my video camera out for a quick cut away shot of a beautiful mountain range just over the top of the ridge. I turned on my video camera and stepped towards the ridge top.   As my head and shoulders cleared the top, I immediately saw a big sow grizzly and a two year old sub-adult cub walking directly at me the same caribou trail I was standing in. They were at a 50 yards and closing VERY fast but had not seen me. I ducked down behind the ridgeline and looked behind me towards the distant camp and lake some two miles away.  The area was barren and held no hiding place for more than a mile. I had seconds to decide if I should try and run or step up on the ridge and hope that they would see me as human and run. Neither were good options. I knew with 5-10 seconds before they cleared the ridge, I did not want to be seen running away at 30-50 yards. I decided to hope for the best and show myself to them and hope that they had encountered humans before and would turn away.
With my Black Widow in one hand and the video camera still in the record mode, I took two steps up on the ridge and was immediately spotted by the sow.  Her body language changed in an instant and she came hard at me.  I knew she saw me as prey and most likely thought I was a caribou. I took several steps towards her shouting “no bear, no bear” in the deepest, manliest voice I could muster but it had no impact on her. I dropped the bow and drew my sidearm while continuing to yell at her.  At about 50 feet, she was forced to drop into a depression that took her out of site for a second or two. I knew that when she cleared that hole that I would be forced to make a terrible choice.  I had only four rounds in my sidearm and a warning shot would put me down to three rounds on two running bears. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
She cleared the depression at around 45 feet from me and had lost her bearing for a moment. She paused, required my location and dropped her head in what I truly believe was a posture for a hard charge.  When she moved towards me, I was forced to fire.  The round hit her hard and she went down but immediately regained her footing. She turned away and I continued to yell to ensure she would not resume her charge.  I have been around bears for most of my life from Kodiak Island to Maine and I had never been in a position where I had felt any serious threats. Other than some bluff charges from black bears at bait sites, I have been able to avoid any close calls.  Even during this incident I don’t remember feeling any fear. I did however, feel disgust for putting myself in a situation where I could not avoid this confrontation by placing myself in a position where I could not watch my back. I don’t believe she had ever encountered a human and she was just doing what bears do. This encounter was my fault entirely.
When she broke off the attack, I watched her run for more than a mile strait up and over a ridge. I followed her at a distance for about 3 miles and watched her cross another valley. I had never felt so angry with myself and wanted to make sure that she stayed on her feet not really knowing what I would have done had she went down. I shadowed her for more than an hour and she continued on until she was out of site more than four miles for the scene of the incident.  I had never before hunted in a region holding grizzlies or browns without bear spray and have never done it since. Had I had a can of spray, I would never have pulled that sidearm and the story would have had a much happier ending.
That encounter was a long time ago and since that day I have had countless close encounters with blacks, grizzlies and some big browns.  The most interesting was a monster brown bear taking a bow killed black tailed deer from me on Kodiak Island.  I have never felt a true threat since that day in 1999 and hope that it stays that way.

Jerry

[Wary Buck]

Here is one I had.  Putting in a stand before daybreak in IA.  In kind of a hurry so didn't screw in the bottom steps all the way but still good enough (I thought).  Climbed down and ready to put up the stand, but did so in kind of a hurry and second step up pulled out as I put my weight on it.  I did NOT have three other solid points of contact and slid down the tree after banging into it first when the step pulled out.  

When I fell into the tree I nearly impaled my chest on an existing step--one of those one-piece screw-in steps that's just a piece of metal with a slight rise at the end.  It did not penetrate my exterior clothing but hurt like heck.  I was in serious pain for a few minutes.  Finally, climbed back up, set the stand, and maybe 8-9 hours later killed the biggest grossing buck I've ever taken (to this day).  

It was a hit that required overnight, so I got a motel room and inside I inspected the damage that evening.  A BIG bruise right over my heart, and deep scratch there, as well as a several-inch L-shaped tear in my Carol Davis union suit right over the spot.  I probably came very close to puncturing my chest on that step.  

In the future I only used those steps as the very first step (closest to ground), or more usually as a hook up in the tree to hang my pack from.