Scary hunting stories

[Kirkll]

 Everyone has at least one really scary hunting story to share. Close encounters with various animals are some of my best ones...

I'm going to let someone else start out with their favorite hunting tale. This could be a fun thread.

Give it up guys!    Kirk

[Terry Green]

I will definitely chim in when I get a chance.

[highcountry]

Oh my!  I could fill a few pages    I think Dave Windauer should pipe up?  Come on Dave 

[PrimitivePete]

Not sure how scary this is to anyone but it certainly woke me up. I was hunting on farm in northeaster Westchester county on a very cold November morning. Perched up in the treestand, bundled up and enjoying the crispness of the day. A few hours into the hunt I'm hearing dogs barking, non stop and when I mean dogs I mean a large pack of dogs which I had never heard before in the area. After a while the sound of the barking seemed to be getting closer to me and the barking wasn't as constant but it was still annoying. Now I'm actively scanning the woods looking for the dogs when I start to hear what sounds like the largest deer in the woods galloping my way. Finally I catch movement, it's the dogs, all hounds moving together through the woods, the galloping getting louder. Damn is a buck chasing the dogs. As the dogs passed my tree I stood up, got ready to draw and what do I see a man on a horse, red jacket, Fox Hunting. I let them pass and sat there for awhile, I couldn't think about climbing down because I was too busy laughing and needed to calm my nerves. When I got home, my mom who was my biggest hunting supporter asked me how was my hunt, all I could say is I came real close to shooting a horse.

[Michpatriot]

Slug falling in the leaves after hitting the tree I'm sitting.

[LookMomNoSights]

Slug falling in the leaves after hitting the tree I'm sitting.

[MnFn]

First time bear hunting in Northern Canada. A certain guide who will remain nameless and I walked into very active bait site.  As we got things ready for a long sit (ground level) the guide said “Oh, shoot. I forgot your stool.  Then he set a heavy paper bag full of bait on the ground, patted the top to form a seat and said,  this will be the perfect height for you to sit on. It ended ok,  I only had wave my arms at one bear to get it to leave me alone.

Maybe another later.

[EHK]

A few years back, I was scouting a new WMA around this time of year.  Just as I crested a hill, I heard a ruckus and 2 black bear cubs scrambled up a tree.  Momma bear was standing at the base of the tree about 30 yards away, stood up, and started popping her jaws at me.  I raised my bow over my head and slowly backed away while talking calmly to her.  It turned out to be a non-event, but that ended my scouting for the day. 

[Kirkll]

OK... i'll start out with one on the mild side here....

It was quite a few years back in the early 90's when i really started getting into hunting elk on the Oregon coast. These are Roosevelt elk, and quite large in body size compared to Rocky Mountain elk. It's not uncommon to see cows hitting 700-800 pounds and i've seen bulls in the 1200-1400# range.

Anyway... We were just getting into chasing elk and trying to figure out how to call these bulls in. We typically used the diaphragm reeds you just put in your mouth. While learning how to get the different tones from these reeds, it was almost comical at times the weird noises you can produce with these damn things...

Well one morning i had hiked down into a steep canyon about a 1/2 mile on an old established elk trail, when i came to a nice fork in the trail that had fresh sign. Nice crisp tracks that couldn't be a day old, as well as droppings. So i hunkered down right on the trail and decided to try some calling. I had a couple new reeds i wanted to try too.  I must admit that i'm really glad nobody else was around to hear my feeble attempts at trying to imitate a bull bugling... I sounded more like a dying rabbit than an elk....

Well I wasn't the only one that thought that very same thing as it turns out. I'm setting there chuckling to myself about these weird noises i was making, when all of a sudden this rather large coyote comes in at a full run down the trail i was setting and comes sliding to a halt not 4' from me. It happened so fast were were both shocked... The coyote dropped down to his belly and laid his ears back and was snarling at me with his flanges bared.  TOO CLOSE!!!!

The next few seconds seemed to last a life time there....I just raised my bow in front of me with my left hand, and grabbed the hilt of my bowie knife with my right. I'm thinking this is going to get ugly if he comes at me..... But..... Quicker than lightning itself, after i moved, that yodel dog jumped and spun 180 degrees and lit out like he was shot out of a canyon, leaving me shaking like a leaf from adrenaline overload.....

Had to head back to camp and change my shorts after that....

Kirk

[STICKBENDER98]

Well, here is one, not sure how scary it is, but it sure had me nervous.  I believe it was 1998, or 1999, I was hunting with my Dad and Brother in the Upper Peninsula, my brother had shot a small buck down in a river bottom, it drops off a good 100 foot or better on a very steep angle that you can't walk down. It was early in the afternoon when he shot it, by the time we found it and he got it dressed out, and we started looking at the uphill drag, I reminded him I wasn't dragging a spike up out of this hole. (but I did) We started up a cut that ran down to the bottom, this wasn't a huge deer, but it was close to 1/4 mile drag to get it to a two track, and by the time we got there it was dark, and when I say dark, there was no moon, so it was DARK.  I gave him the keys to my truck, which was 1/2 mile away, (we had done some exploring) and my only flashlight. I took off a couple layers of cloths and laid on the ground trying to cool off, my Dad was sitting against a tree a couple yards away, when we start to hear leaves rustling in the direction we had come from, this got our attention very quick, and I sat straight up, the rustling kept getting closer, and all of the sudden, I'm guessing 20-30 yards, a bobcat cuts loose with the most blood curtailing screech!!! I quickly suggested with a few expletives that it should go somewhere else!!! Thankfully it obliged and after a bit we could see headlights coming through the trees.


Jason

[Walt Francis]

An old from way back:

Reading the thread on four blade broadheads reminded me of the first time I used one and it appears the hunting stories are getting fewer so I figured the account of this hunt in 1994 might make give everybody some mid week entertainment.

Steve,
Here is the story; it takes a good ten minutes to tell when I have a few beers in me.  It's funnier in person too.
 
I was elk hunting and working a five point bull with a cow call when I spotted movement though the brush to my left.  My first thought was it was an elk, and then figured the color was more that of a mule deer, then that the movement was that of a predator like a coyote so I raised my bow and drew it ¾ in preparation for the shot.  About five seconds later the critter, a mountain lion, cleared the brush fifteen yards down hill and looked directly up hill at me.  Unfortunately, even though I had a mountain lion tag, I couldn’t shoot because the season did not open until the first of December.  So I remained still while it stared in my direction for about thirty seconds before heading directly towards me.  During this time my thoughts are damn, a cat broadside at fifteen yards, I can’t shoot, and now he is coming at me.  Next, I raise all the way up on my knees to make myself look bigger and yell “you better get out of here”, which stops the cat at about eight yards with a quizzical look on his face.  After a couple of seconds it continued forward in what I call the full stalking mode.  I am now thinking screw the regulations this cat wants dinner and is looking to make me the main course, so I start drawing the arrow and picked a spot on the center of his chest.  As I released the arrow the cat crouched, starting its final pounce causing the arrow to hit between the eyes.  The cat dropped immediately.  Thinking it was dead I went over and nudged it with my foot with no reaction. 

I was shooting one of the old Beman 2300 carbons, tipped with a Magnus I and  bleeder blade, out of a 68# Marriah Thermal and the over-sert was completely buried in the skull.  Anyway, as the adrenaline rush subsided I walked off about tens yards to collect my thoughts and was replaying everything in my mind when I heard a rustling behind me.  Turning around I see the cat walking down the hillside for about fifteen yards then he turned following the elk trail it had come in on.  Walking away the cat looked like a drunk, weaving side to side and its paws crossing over one another: the right paws being placed on the left side of its body the left paws placed where the right ones would normally be placed.  Needless to say, my jaw was almost touching the ground as I watched the cat walking away with an arrow sticking out of its head, looking like a unicorn’s horn.

After about ten minutes (and checking the tracks to verify I hadn’t imagined incident) I  started cow calling to see if I could get the five point that had been coming in before the cat arrived to respond.  After about two or three minutes of calling I hear something rustling in the brush behind me about thirty yards up the hill.  Turing around slowly, hoping its an elk coming in, I saw the kitty sneaking through the brush in my direction with the arrow, still stuck between his eyes, hitting the brush.  Thinking this has gone far enough and hoping to scare it away, but not wanting to explain a bullet in the side of the chest to game wardens, I removed my pistol from its holster and put a bullet in the ground directly underneath the cats’ chest.  Instead of running away as expected, it crouched down and starts snarling at me, so I let off another round, this one intended to kill.  The cat turned and disappeared, running into the brush.

My state of mind at this point, to put it nicely, is a little unsettled and I move down hill into an opening where I sat for a half hour “rubbernecking my surroundings”… hum, I mean collecting my thoughts.  After the wait getting my head screwed on right, I finished the remaining two hours of the evening hunt, though I spent more time looking over my shoulder then for elk.  After the hunt I met up with my brother Bob and we drove down to Big Sky and spent an hour reporting the encounter to the authorities over the phone.  (We probably wouldn’t have bothered, but I wasn’t sure if the cat had been hit with the last bullet and didn’t want the wardens knocking on my door sometime in the future asking why I hadn’t reported the incident.)  It was determined that we would meet Harry, one of the Fish & Game biologists who had hounds, in the morning and track the cat.  The next morning we returned site with two really skeptical houndsmen and went over the details of the encounter.  When the hounds started going crazy they changed their attitude and we started on the scent trail.  After around two hundred yards we found my arrow, broken off ¾” above the over-sert.  Now Harry and his friend really believed their was a cat the incident happened as I described.  They released the hounds and the chase was on.  Unfortunately, the hounds lost the trail after about half a mile and we never recovered the cat.

Harry checked in all the mountain lions for this region until his retirement two years ago and no lions were taken with a broadhead between the eyes during the following eleven years.  Harry ways jokes that he believes I gave the kitty a frontal lobotomy and it wondered off and died somewhere.  I think if would have had a 600 grain arrow the encounter would have ended with the first shot.   

Buy me a beer the next time we meet me and I will tell you about the time I told the Grizzly “You had better get out of here”.

[Trenton G.]

I guess I've got a couple of fun ones.

I was bear hunting in the U.P. and had a very active bait site that several bears hitting it multiple times throughout the day. This included a sow with three small cubs. Opening day she had come in with her cubs, although she been very wary the entire time, circling and popping her jaws. They eventually came in and ate for a bit before leaving. The second evening, she returned again with her cubs around 4 in the afternoon. They ate and left, and right at dark she came back in by herself. I waited and waited for her to leave, but she just sat there in the dark. I could just barely make out her shape, but could hear here slurping and crunching away. I had a homework assignment that was due at midnight that I really needed to get going on, so I decided to stand up and start getting my things together and hope that was enough to get her to leave. As I stood and began packing, she stood up on her hind legs and huffed at me. I was 15 yards away, and had only put in one section of my freestanding ladder, so I was about 8 feet off the ground. I pulled my face mask off, and she turned on a dime and made a beeline for my tree. She hit the base of my ladder and put her paws on the 2nd step, looking up at me and popping jaws and growling. I had my bow in one hand and my flashlight in the other, not thinking either would be all that effective. I was loudly whispering to her to get lost as I didn't want to yell and risk spooking the big boar that was in the area. She backed off about 20 yards, and I decided to try my luck getting down again. She turned and came right back, and I had to scramble back up to my platform. I really regret never having the presence of mind to get some video on my phone, but I was a bit preoccupied at the time. After about 5 more minutes, she backed off again, this time disappearing into the brush and out of sight. I took this as a sign to go, and quickly got down out of the tree. As I backed out, a pair of eyes appeared behind me about 40 yards away, never getting any closer and never getting any further away. She followed me all the way back to the truck before turning and leaving. It was strange, but up to this point I had been fairly calm and collected, but after she finally left, I developed a bit of a tremor in my knees. I made sure to bring my bear spray the next night, but never saw her or got a daylight trail camera picture again.

Another one would be my very first hunt in the U.P. It was mid October, and wehad just gotten the first snow of the year. I skipped my last class of the day and headed out to a pinch point where I had several decent bucks on camera. I deer hunt almost strictly from the ground, and I found a nice tree to settle in next to about 15 yards off of the trail. Around 5, I saw a shape drift through the cedars to my left, and I immediately thought deer. Even as I thought it, there was a little red flag going off in the back of my mind that whatever I had seen wasn't moving like a deer. A 2nd shape passed through, confirming what I thought, and a few seconds later two wolves trotted into view, one black and one the classic gray wolf color. I had always heard wolves wouldn't bother me, and was hoping that was true. This didn't seem to be the case however, as they eventually circled and hit my track in the snow. Immediately the bigger of the two dropped it's nose and turned without hesitation to follow my tracks. At this point they were about 15 yards away, and I decided I'd better stand up and let them know I was there. As I stood, they both froze for a second, then split, with one going to my left and one coming around my right. I didn't like that at all, and started talking and trying to get them to leave. It felt like forever, but it was probably only 30 seconds that they stood there. Then the bigger of the two half raised his lips in a small snarl, then turned and walked away, in no hurry at all. The smaller one followed suit. I packed up shortly after and called it an evening.

Another U.P. wolf encounter took place during my 2nd year at school during early November. I rarely use a flashlight while walking out at night during bow season to try and get out without spooking anything, and that was the case this evening. We had about a foot of snow and an almost full moon, so it was almost daylight as I made my way through the timber back to the truck. For some reason I felt the need to turn around, and as I did I noticed a dark shape float between a couple of trees behind me about 40 yards out. I pulled my flashlight from my pocket and focused the beam behind me, where I saw two sets of eyes glowing behind me. I did a quick sweep, and saw 4 other pairs fanned out behind me. This was pretty unnerving, and not really knowing what the best approach was, I continued just walking, trying not to rush too much. Similar to the bear, they followed me all the way back to the truck, only leaving when I unlocked it and the lights came on.

Yet another wolf story took place in the same area on opening day of rifle season. Around 5:30 I had shot a nice 8 point, and had called a buddy to help with the drag. Fortunately the deer had died about 150 yard from a two track, and we were able to get the deer drug up the hill and loaded fairly easily. It was dark at this point, and I walked back in to get my rifle and the rest of my gear which I had left near the gut pile. When I arrived, there was no gut pile left, and wolf tracks everywhere. We had been within 150 yards and making plenty of noise, yet in the half hour that we had spent getting the deer put, they had already come in and cleaned everything up. It was a bit of an eerie feeling knowing that they had probably been sitting there in the darkness watching me gut the deer from some nearby ridge.

I've got a few more involving coyotes and domestic bulls, but there's only so much typing I can do in a night!

[Maclean]

I still haven't decided if this one was scary or awesome. Jury's still out.

'97 or '98, Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Central Idaho. Late season mule deer hunt, backcountry fly-in hunt with friends, nice base camp on the river.
Steep river canyon country with lots of mulies. Every morning the 4 of us would go separate ways for our hunts and wouldn't see another human until we got back to camp. One morning I'm sitting on this broken talus slope glassing a timbered draw at first light. I'd been there for about 30 minutes before I had enough light to glass and hadn't moved since I sat down.
I don't know what it was that made me turn around because I heard nothing, smelled nothing  and don't think I saw anything before I turned around. But sitting above me upslope maybe 40 or 50 yards was a big male cougar, looking relaxed but staring a hole through me. We looked at each other for about 5 minutes that felt like an hour before he just stood up and walked away over the ridge. It took easily 30 minutes for my body to process that amount of adrenaline. I looked over my shoulder for the rest of the week. It occurred to me that had that cougar wanted to kill me I probably would never have known before he hit me. I also thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

P.S. all 4 of us harvested a mulie that week. It was epic.

[Richard Korte]

Turkey hunting along the Columbia River in NE Washington State. Sneaking along an abandoned logging road, I had to take a poop. While enjoying the go, I heard some scraping sounds around a close bend in the road. Duty done, I started to pull up my pants just as a cub, a yearling, and a big momma bear rounded the bend. I knew I was going to die, and was worried they would find my body with my pants around my ankles, so instead of reaching for my bow, I tried to get my pants up, but I was shaking so bad, I couldn’t get the metal button through the top buttonhole. Out of frustration, I loudly exclaimed, “ Oh, S__t! To my amazement, all 3 bears turned on a dime and high-tailed it back down the road in the direction they came! I grabbed my bow with one hand and held my pants up with the other while trying to run in the opposite direction, praising God with every step.

[MnFn]

One year I was bear hunting in Manitoba. My first time actually.  I got mixed up about the time to get picked up and made my way out to the pick spot. It wasn’t very far, maybe a  hundred yards or so.

One of the guides came by and stopped when he saw me. He said I had probably 45 minutes left and it if wasn’t too far I should go back and sit for awhile.

On the way back to the bait site I realized it was getting chilly and my back was getting a little stiff. So I stopped on the trail and got an arrow out and was drawing my bow a few times. All of a sudden, I heard very loud huffing back in the brush and could hear what sounded like claws digging into trees. I thought I was going to get charged.

After a few seconds I realized it was a good sized bear and I had actually scared it up a huge pine tree. I could actually see it sitting on a tree limb quite a few feet up in the tree.

Another time I was in a very remote site and had seen a bunch of different bear that evening. About an hour before quitting time, a bear was on the bait. I wasn’t interested in shooting him so was just enjoying the show. Bears would come and go.

Suddenly the bear’s head jerked up and he looked back in the brush for a second or so and then took off. Shortly later a sow with two cubs came into view. She got the cubs to go up into a tree and proceeded to eat at the bait.

Anytime another bear approached she went into full attack mode and chased them away. At one point a boar snuck in behind her and was obviously trying to find the cubs up in the tree. When the sow finally saw him she chased him all over the clearing, and at one point chased him within feet of my ladder stand. Eventually she went back to where the cubs where and laid down.

Now it was time for me to leave. Actually I was about an hour late. It was getting dark and I kept waiting for the bear to leave. She obviously wasn’t going anywhere and I knew if I climbed out of the stand I would get attacked.

I thought maybe if I made a metallic sound it might scare them  away so I kicked the side of the ladder stand. Nope, it had the opposite result and the sow started sneaking towards me.

About that time I heard the guide driving back to see why I had not come out yet. The sound of the atv on the trail spooked her and she called the cubs down out of the tree and left. Quite the night!

Not the same site, but the cubs will climb up a long ways.

[Kirkll]

Our elk hunting area was so steep and full of shear cliffs in areas, most guys thought we were fools to hunt this area. Had one guy we invited to our camp tell us, "Hell, i get a crook in my neck just looking up those mountains. There ain't no way i'm going to scale those things from the top down." He left the next day.... But this steep terrain was where these big bulls loved to hang out. We would run ATV's up to the ridge roads and glass the mountains on the other side of the canyon to find herds tucked in on an old grown over skid road. Keep in mind, you don't drive those old roads as they were completely grown over, But they provide flat spots where the elk will be down right on a steep mountainside.

So our routine was to load up our day pack and drop off a ridge, and hunt your way down to the bottom. Some of these hikes were 2-3 miles till ya hit the bottom main road. We harvested a lot of elk out of that area over a 15 year period, and there were some monster sized bulls down there.

One of the biggest roosevelt elk ive ever seen down there had  a massive 7X7 rack and had to be close to 1500 pounds on the hoof. Our whole hunting party had seen him at one time or another over a 3 year period. He hung out in a crazy steep area that was very hard to get to most of the time. And if you tried, he was long gone before you could get close to him.

Well one evening i spotted him up higher on the mountain than id seen him in the past, and he had a decent sized herd of cows in a tiny clearing keeping him occupied. These bulls were in full rut at the time too. I watched them as they came out to feed until dark, then headed back to camp to make a plan. I kept my mouth shut in camp about locating "Old Growler" . We called him that because he really didn't bugle much at all when calling him. He just made a growling sound that would stand the hair up on the back of your neck every time...

There was an old skid road that wound up into that drainage about a half mile from that clearing i saw the elk in, but it was unpassable for an ATV and a very long hike up to that area from the bottom, but much closer from the top. So i tried going down in from the top the next morning on an elk trail and tried cutting side hill over to the clearing. That brush was so thick i had a miserable time getting there, and ended up above the clearing 100 yards and it took all morning to get there. So i ate some lunch and hunkered down to wait for the evening and watched that clearing. Sure enough the elk came in right before dark and old Growler was with them again, but the wind wasn't right and there was no moving in on them.  But... i saw where they came from and knew how to get in there, and where to set up the next day... It took me till 10 pm to get back to camp that night, but i was excited now...

I slept in the next morning and didn't even hunt first light. I decided to hike in from the bottom, take my time, and keep that wind in my face. Needless to say i was hunting solo.  i knew i was going to be sleeping in the woods that night, so i packed a few extra supplies. The route i took was a steep hike about 1.5 miles, but a lot less brush staying on the elk trails. I arrived at the lower part of that clearing at about 3 pm. Sundown was still 3.5 hours ahead of me. So i found a great spot to set up a ground blind, and took a nap. Weather was nice at the time without too much rain, but moist enough to be pretty quiet while hunting.

As the sun went over the hill, the woods came alive with all the nocturnal beasts. I didn't realize it before setting up that there was a spring at the top of that clearing attracting critters to water. i watched several black tail deer,  a couple black bears, and even a coyote come in to drink in the hour before dusk. but they didn't hang around long... Then the elk arrived.... although i could see them yet i could smell them BIG time, and listened as the cows called back and forth. i decided to keep quiet and just watch what happened. The whole clearing wasn't over 30 yards in diameter, but it was all full of elk beds from the last few days. So i knocked an arrow and watched as the first few cows came into the clearing well within range, and broadside to me. I knew from experience that bull was bringing up the rear, so i waited patiently for him to appear. After 12 cows had scattered out on the clearing, i could hear more coming in from a different direction. This was not good... If they circled below me and caught my scent it was game over. About that time a small bull rips off with a squeally bugle to the right of the clearing, and all the cows heads came up. Then old Growler starts in and starts raking a tree just out of sight. Next thing i know i've got cow elk running in and out of the clearing all around me and a couple passing me really close on one side. Then the big bull comes busting out of the brush about the same time the smaller bull comes in on the other side, and i thought for a moment i might see a fight... But that smaller bull took one look at old Growler and turned tail and ran off. By this time the herd is scattered all over the place and the bull starts running around poking cows in the but trying to round them up. He was in and out of the clearing several times, but moving to fast for a shot. So as he disappeared again i started cow calling myself hoping to bring him back in... I'm on my knees with an arrow knocked when i hear that ungodly growl again and what sounded like a truck moving at high speed through the brush right behind me.  As i turned my head i saw the antler tips first at about 10' away and he was on a full out run straight at me. I didn't have time to do anything but dive out of the way, and watched as he jumped right over me never loosing stride. With my heart in my throat i sat up as that bull spun around and lowered his antlers not 10 yards away growling at me... I was in shock, and thought i was toast for sure. i had lost the grip on my bow diving out of the way and unarmed. Not that it would have done any good anyway. There is no shot at an elk facing you... Period...  This whole thing transpired in about 10-15 seconds, but during that time it seemed much longer.  The only thing i could think to do was stand up and yell at him, which probably sounded more like screaming like a girl.... 

Well that did the trick and the bull spun around and took off....

I had planned on spending the night in the woods after that hunt, and i did... but i moved down the mountain to a better xamp spot, and i don't think i slept at all.....   Scary!

[STICKBENDER98]

I have another one that involves hunting in the U.P. but this one is with wolves.  I was hunting with my brother during rifle season 2015, our Dad had passed on November 3rd that year, and we made the annual trip with some of his ashes to put at one of his favorite spots.  Deer numbers were down that year, we didn't see many, but wolf numbers were up, lots of track in all of our old spots.  One of the spots we went to that year, we had heard wolves howling in the past, but never seen any, I always joked about hearing the train whistle blowing, as there was a set of track a couple miles away.  This time as we  walked in on a two track to where it Y'd and we always split up, I went to the left on it towards a big burn off that looked like a big open field the first time I saw it, as I was walking towards it on a faint trail I noticed quite a few wolf tracks, and a couple spots where one had marked stumps on the edge of the trail. As I came into the burn, I was amazed at how much it had grown up, and started filling back in.  Not seeing any deer sign I turned and headed back to meet up with my brother, as I crossed a small drainage I caught movement to my right and thought  deer, but as I looked I said to myself nope, wolf.  It was about 60 yards away on the edge of the trail when it saw me and stopped, it looked at me then spun and went back the direction it came, and stopped after going about 10-15 yards and looked at me and locked eyes with me.  We both stood there a few seconds then it kept going, and I started walking again, as I got to the spot it was going to cross the trail I heard a howl, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another.  I think there was 6 or 8 of them but they were all the way around me, I kept walking as they howled.  When I made it back to where my brother and I had split up, he had made a boot track arrow in the snow so I knew he had been there and what direction he had gone.  It took me another 10 minutes or so to catch up to him, he had found a spot to sit and watch a small ravine.  He asked if I'd seen anything, I said not much, but the train was getting really close!!!!  He laughed and said that he had heard it.  I tell everyone that gets nervous about coyotes howling and making the hair on their neck stand up, you have heard anything until you're surrounded by wolves!!!


Jason

[Kirkll]

I've got a couple 3 bear stories that were hair raising.... I'm not actually a bear hunter myself, but we had several bear hunters in our elk hunting camp that would set out bait and wait for em. WE had an old timer in his late 70's that was a died in the wool bear hunter who needed help getting his tree stand hung up, but still climbed like a monkey up those screw in steps. We used to take turns running Fred up to his bear stand on our ATV's. He had a radio to get in touch with us if needed. This old boy didn't use bait either. He had a little sterno stove he'd cook bacon grease in a tuna fish can in to bring the bears in, and he poured bacon grease on a log every time he went up there too.

One night we all came straggling into camp just after dark and went about getting a fire going and thinking about food... When one of the guys said, "Hey, Did someone run Fred up to the bear stand this afternoon?" John piped up and said he did, and he has his radio... So we didn't worry about him until about an hour after it was pitch black. No moon, with cloudy skies in that area you cant see your hand in front of your face...

So we tried the radio a few times and wasn't getting a peep out of Fred, so we figured someone should run up and pick him up. So i grabbed my pack and jumped on my old 3 wheeler and headed up there... I parked at the landing and headed down the well used elk trail with a flashlight that was marked real well with reflective tape. The stand was about 1/4 mile down in there , and not too steep either.

Well i get about half way there and hear old Fred screaming like a banshee. First thought was OH chit! he fell out of the damn tree and was hurt. So i picked up my pace to a jog and hustled down there pretty darn quick.  But When i came running around the corner just above his stand I hear that bear growling and popping her jaws, but mostly i hear Fred swearing like a pirate. The sight would have been comical if not for the cubs. Here is old Fred screaming and yelling beating on this bears head  with his long bow 15' off the ground. and 3 cubs were coming up the tree after mama bear... 

So there i stand with no bow, no pistol, and just a knife on my belt thinking what the hell am i gonna do here. The only thing i could come up with is the road flair i keep in my pack. So i dumped out my pack and got that flair lit first, and then went running in there above the stand waving it around and screaming at the bear. She was about a 400 pound black bear that stood close to 6' tall on her hind legs.

The first thing that happened was all hell broke loose. The cubs jumped off that tree like they were scalded with boiling water and started bawling, next thing was mama bear come sliding down the tree shredding bark, then turns and charges me... That's when Fred got the show. I took off like a rabbit up that trail waving that flair with that bear chasing me... I thought i was lunch meat... You know how fast a bear can run?  Well it's a hell of a lot faster than i can run. i'll tell you that. She caught up to me in less than 30 yards and i could damn near feel her breath on my neck as i spun around with that flair in my hand and stuffed it right in her face. Well that did the trick and she spun around with a roar , and headed into the brush instead of tearing my head off... i thought that was a good thing....

It still amazes me how protective these mama bears are of their cubs...

By the time i got back to Fred's tree he was laughing his arse off. Said he never saw anyone run that fast before in his life... When i asked him how come he didnt call on the radio, he said that when that bear started climbing the tree the first time he kicked is pack off the stand. From what he told us later back at camp, that the cubs came up the tree first all curious and wanted to play, and he made the mistake of knocking one out of the tree about the time mama showed up...That bear had him treed for over an hour before i got there.  Fred said that if anyone shot a bear with knots all over his gourd, that was his bear! I beat on her head for an hour or so...

Before that season was out we had to come chase bears away from Fred's stand several times after dark, but didn't go up there without a 357 Mag again... That bacon grease worked well, but old Fred never did shoot one of them...


Kirk

 

[blacktailbob]

My story isn't quite as exciting but still deadly scary.
Dec. 1974 about a week before I was to head off into the Army I decided to go rabbit and squirrel hunting along the orange grove edges in central Florida.
After a little while I saw a couple squirrels into the woods a little ways. I decided I go in a sit down and try to get one. The brush is usually a little thicker on the edge before you get inside and as I was bending over lifting up a tree limb to go under it I looked down and here's a diamondback rattler right in front of me coiled and ready.

One shot from my 22 got him. When he stopped moving w/o moving a step I was able to poke him with my rifle to make sure he was dead. I was that close, one more step I might be dead.  He was a fat five footer. Kind of "rattled" my nerves. I was done hunting. He did taste pretty good though.

[Roger Norris]

October 23, 2021. I remember the date because my granddaughter was born that day.

I was hunting some public land that was very swampy. I had killed a few deer on the edges of the swamp, but had seen a few really big bucks that just didn't come out in the daylight. So I strapped my Beast Stand on my bck, put on hip boots and headed in about noon one day.

I got pretty deep in using the runs that beavers had made through the swamp from the river. The bottom of these runs seemed pretty firm. Some of the water was deep, but my hip boots were fine.

I remember looking at my watch, it was a few minutes before 1:00. I wanted to get my stand hung and set before too long. I saw a few great trees with a runway and a cluster of rubs, so I decided to set up there. All I had to do was cross this flat spot that looked wet but manageable.

I took a few steps and I went straight down in soft black muck...up over my belt. I was stuck, stuck, stuck. I didn't seem to be sinking deeper, but there no pulling out. I struggled so much and probably panicked a little. My heart rate sky rocketed.....I was pretty sure a heart attack was next.

I calmed myself down and just did nothing. Once I caught my breath, I laid back on the muck and took off my treestand. I laid it on top of the muck, and was able to wiggle out enough to get my butt onto the stand, kinda keeping me from sinking deeper. I slowly worked my legs out, one at a time.

But now I am sitting on the treestand, I can't go backward....and the shortest path to dry land is to keep going towards my target tree.  I kinda belly crawled across the muck, but it was getting worse. I finally reached the edge and was able to hook my long bow onto a scrubby bush and pull myself up onto dry land. I looked at my watch and it was 3:00 exactly. Almost 2 hours of this nonsense.

Because I am often an idiot, I hung my treestand and climbed up instead of finding a dry land route out. I wasn't in the tree 15 minutes when a decent little 6 point came through, easy long bow shot. My exhaustion saved his life

I spent the time until dark studying my ON X app, figuring a dry route to the road. It was long and winding, and a solid 90 minutes after dark before I came out. Another 20 minutes down the road to my truck.


No bear charges, no rattlesnakes.....but I was 100% certain that I was going to have a heart attack and die in that swamp.