Coolest thing you've seen while bowhunting?

[Brian Krebs]

so many hunts - so many memories...

 I remember still hunting for bears- on a logging road covered with thick brush in places. I would wait at the thick spots for a real strong breeze; and then push through the noisy stuff; stopping if the wind stopped.

 It was - I believe - the only way to go on that trail without being heard.

 I noticed the wind was knocking berries off bushes and that the birds were in a feeding frenzy. Problem was; some of the berries were fermenting; and contained alcohol. So some birds just looked at me like I was an illusion.

 I got to a spot that was open for 5 yards or so; and out from under a bush walked a bird.
 It stumbled left and then right; and was obviously very drunk.

 
  THUMP !!

... a bear stepped on it.

  I had no idea the bear was there until it jumped on the bird. It carefully put its foot on the birds feet; and put its mouth over the bird and pulled up.
  In one quick motion it stripped the meat right off that bird.

 Then it looked at me.

 That bear was gone so fast; and although it jumped into thick brush; it didn't make one sound.

 The birds feet; and its breastbone and some feathers were all that remained.

  I don't know if that bear had a badge; but I know the bird failed the sobriety test !

[joevan125]

After dark driving my 4 wheeler beside a bean field deer started crossing in front of me. One of the deer was a med. size buck jumped and landed on the front of my 4 wheeler and i hit him hard. Scared the crap out of me.

[Michael Pfander]

I don't do much tree stand hunting here in AZ.  But while I was living in Houston I used to hunt pigs in the Whooping crane wildlife refuge in OCT.  I don't know if any of you have done that but it is an interesting place.  It has more mosquitoes than Canada or Alaska.  You don't need camo because you can't tell what color of clothing your wearing because they cover you so thickly.  I had chosen a tree overlooking a big open crossing point in the tallll grass.  As previously stated I fell asleep, when I woke up there were two other hunters sharing my tree.  I think they were just getting up to be free of the bugs.  I can't beleive they didn't see me.  But I can say they acted surprized when the tree spoke to them.

MAP

[Missouri CK]

LV2HUNT,

That is my dream hunt.  All of these sound pretty cool.

[nkw880]

last year somebody stole a car and when i was sitting in my treestand there were two choppers flying around and trucks and everything you could imagine only like a 1/4 mile from me i got interviewed and questioned it was weird but cool at the same time they ended up cathcing the guys they stole my dads hunting pack out from under his tree while he was in it in the dark

[rainman]

7 years ago I was ground hunting and called 2 foxes within 10 feet by sucking on the back of my hand.  They were very surprised when I said boo.  I watched them come in for 80 yards.

Dan

[DaleinOhio]

This season I watched a small red fox stalk and kill a squirrel.  She then ate half, buried the other half next to a tree.  After her meal she found a sunny spot on a log and took a nap for 30 minutes.  All this while only about 30 yards from my tree.  It was better than TV!

[jcar315]

My then 9 year old son's smiling face!!! I felt like the luckiest man alive to have him there with me for the 1st time.

[JDinPA]

I had lousy archery hunting during the rut this year; due to poorly placed shots on two different whitetails (within a week).
I also had some health issues (nothing serious) that I've been dealing with.

But since I read this thread, I'm reflecting just how blessed I have been.

So, I've got quite a few I'd like to share. I'll try to classify by state.

PA
My son's first deer.

My wife's first deer.

Watched 2 bucks battle and lock horns for 10 minutes this year.

I watched a doe eating honey out of beehive on her hind legs. She kept getting stung but didn't care.

Had an 2' owl land 4 feet from my face while on stand this year.

Ground hunting in a swamp - had a small 8 pt buck basically walk into my nocked arrow. I booed him.

The first time I went archery hunting when I was a kid I had a P&Y deer at 20 yards. I was standing on a branch of an old oak tree and missed that deer three times with an old untuned recurve. Uh, hooked for life.

Missouri
Seeing what a whitetail's size potential really is as opposed to years of PA mountain whitetail.
Body of cow, rack like a mule deer.

Watched a B&C deer breed a doe at 50 yards during Missouri rut.

Iowa
2 different B&C deer at 3 yards with no shot in 1 day.

Next day different B&C deer at 5 yards with no shot. I was at full draw for over a minute. I heard one the valves in my heart "click" a few times. I had to calm myself down before I had a heart attack.

5 bucks running a doe like a pack of wolves.

Ohio
Did a solo DIY hunt a few years ago. Researched an area, talked to game commission, etc.  Had a successful hunt that ended in a nice whitetail buck.

Colorado

Did a solo DIY wilderness elk hunt on the continental divide. No shot or harvest, but ate dinner with spike elk when he came into my camp the night before the season opened. Took my recurve for a nice vacation...

[Looper]

One hunt I was on in the lowcountry of SC, I was hunting a little food plot next to a creek. I got on the stand around 3 pm and spooked a couple of does off when I walked in. After things settled down I noticed a great blue heron stalking along up the creek.  Every now and then he'd grab a little fish, through his head back and gulp it down.

A couple of white egrets landed near the heron and he chased them off, squalking loudly.  Around 6 pm, deer started showing up.  And they kept coming in.  I had never seen so many in one little spot.  There were over a dozen all feeding in this one little patch of grass.

One little buck strolled over to the creek for a drink.  He didn't get it, though.  That heron went hissyfit crazy on him.  I had never heard such a racket.  The little buck spun around like a rabbit one a waxed floor, with that old bird squawking and pecking and beating his wings.  

The other deer freaked out as well.  They started running every which a way, jumping over each other, etc.  Two yearlings knocked each other off their feet.  The triplet fawns ran back and forth across the clearing multiple times and finally all curled up in tight balls beneath a bunch of Palmetto plants.

Another time I was still-hunting up in the mountains.  I almost stepped on a baby groundhog.  He had flattened himself out like a pancake.  I picked him up and he proceeded to let out this blood curdling scream.  I set him back down and he went about 3 feet and flattened out again.

[Old York]

A chickadee sitting on my
arrowshaft amidst the snowflakes
near evening. I ain't a religious
man but that sure gave me pause.

[far rider]

Wow, that's a tuff one. A bobcat with no particular place to go, a pair of grey fox following my trail, (I had FOXX Pee on my shoes), and I once was sitting in an old cut over thicket when a  huge Holstein Bull came strolling through.....it wasn't in a pasture:) A doe with three fawns! But the coolest thing I ever witnessed was a pair of humming birds chasing one another during mating season. They literally looked like two tiny fighter jets darting around on each other's tails.

[Sixby]

I read this thread and it is so great. I have seen so many things over 50 years of bowhunting that I can't even begin to come up with the greatest one but some really neat things and most of them with birds.
I was on a tree stand one morning and this little owl came up and set on a branch about 2 feet from me. He stayed there and just stared at me for about a half hour. He would turn his head clear around backwards. Really neat.

I saw a little blacktail doe walk down a spur road and a hen turkey came from the other direction. They walked right up to each other and touched each other. Then they started feeding and walking around. Definately friends.

I arrowed a big cow elk on the last day of elk season one year and took one lung. I laid down on the ground so I could watch her through the vine maple and she grabbed hold of a tree limb to hold herself up. She didn't want to lay down. I finally sneaked in and got another arrow in her and killed her. However I can never forget her will to live.

I was calling a bear one day that my grandson had just seen and a black wolf came in to the call. But we don't have wolves. or didn't at that time. Again an unforgettable experience.

I saw a lion walk up to an elk herd and set down like a dog on his rear end and watch the elk. A young cow walked within 15 feet of him and never knew he was there. The cat never moved. Finally he stood up and walked off. Just keeping track of dinner.
 

This one stands out though. My son and I were hunting blacktails up on mount Ashland and I hear a scream. I look up and there are three bucks headed right at me. I am down below them and they are coming down the hill. Open meadow. I hear another scream and I see a huge golden eagle coming down the mountain like a jet fighter plane. Wings set and gliding really fast about 10 feet off the ground. There is a nice three point buck in the back of the group and this eagle hits him full blast in the center of his back and just knocks the buck for a flip rolling down the hill. The eagle hurt that deer really bad and he just barely made it up and out of there,. The eagle set his wings and went out over the valley and didn't come back. He certainly put the hurt on that buck though. I have since wondered if he would come back later when the buck was stove up and eat him. Or maybe he meant to get into the spinal cord and didn't because the buck went down. Anyway that was probably the experience of a lifetime unless bigfoot is real.

[coaster500]

I was not bow hunting but maybe 25 years or so ago. I was spring turkey hunting. I had a bird working pretty good and I set up with my back to a rock with some small trees around me. I was doing some really sexy turkey stuff on my home made turkey call and right in the middle of a good Purrrrrrrr a Bob Cat jumped from a tree limb behind me and landed about six inches from my left toe. This was just a Bob Cat but I almost had a heart attack. When I jumped being startled that cat jumped at least 3 or 4 feet straight up!! He hit the ground and ran off. I went home and changed my...............

This year bow hunting in New Mexico I had my first bear with cubs encounter, that was interesting. The cubs went up a tree and the sow stood her ground not happy at all. I just waited her out and the cubs came down and they left.

[Jim Jackson]

Three years ago I was in a tree stand and heard a deer snort off in the distance.  It was upwind of me, so I didn't figure it was due to being winded.  About 5 minutes later another snort, then 5 more minutes and another snort and it kept continuing.  The deer was getting closer with each snort.  I then noticed movement and glassed that area of the old logging road.  A bobcat was slinking in my direction.  Then running over the hill came an old bottle-nosed doe that ran up to the bobcat, snorted and stamped her foot.  The bobcat slunk away from the doe, and she then repeated her run.  This continued all the way across the valley and over the next hill.  Watched the whole thing for probably 10 minutes.  Fascinating behavior.  The bobcat looked like an old housecat trying to get out of getting a bath..

[overbo]

While elk hunting,I watched a group of satellite bulls(5 to 6 of them) pen down and kick a herd bulls butt.

[Doc Nock]

One that I have never forgotten: "Sensed" a motion behind me and turned slowly to see a big redtail hawk lang on some blow downs. All day, chipmunks were running that log and making a racket in the dry leaves. This big redtail walked up and down the top log looking under the rest...finally, this is the best part, it jumped down on the ground and took one big wing and stretched it over the logs and beat the ground on the opposite side as it peered under the log, presumably trying to "flush" out a chipmunk to it's hungry beak.

I watched fascinated for at least 5 minutes or more and then it froze and slowly turned it's head, looking right at me. I'd not moved, but it "sensed" my presence and flew off when it made eye contact.

Totally amazing. Who'd ever expect such interpretive behavior from a hawk?

[always89s boy]

just a few weeks ago i was hunting in a place where i killed a nice 6 pointer that morning. Well four o'clock rolled around and I had yet to see a deer when i start to feel the ground rumbling. As Im wondering what this is I start to see something BIG come crashing through the corn, then another, then another, until there was a stampeed of thirty cows heading right twards me through the corn field. I almost wet my pants form fear when they ended up passing me at 5 yards and almost wet them again when I saw the thing chasing them was a small calf ramming the last few grown cattles hind ends.

It ends up they escaped the farmers pasture across the road and about 700 yards to my right.

[Bonebuster]

The coolest thing I have ever seen bowhunting occured this past September, during our "youth hunt".

I have two sons, who both love to bowhunt.

To condense a long story and make it short, I watched my 14 yr old son pass an opportunity at a big doe, in the hopes that his little brother would get a chance. I watched him get ready for the shot, and watched with a pounding heart, as the deer passed within easy range of his Predator recurve.

I watched him switch his bow for his binoculars to watch the action.

To this day, I have never told him how I watched the whole thing, from the rifle "shooting shack" I was sitting in. He still does not realize that I could watch them both at the same time. I asked him at dark, as I stood under his stand "did you see anything?" "One big, lone doe" was his response. "No shot?" I asked.
"Too far" he said. I was standing on the trail she used, and it was nine yards from the base of his tree.

Little brother moved at the wrong time, and a bouncing tail waved goodbye, but he did get his close encounter.

As for me, I don`t think a more satisfying hunting experience has ever happened to me. By far, the "coolest thing I have seen while bowhunting".

Proud is a word that falls short.  :D

[TxAg]

Bonebuster, that's awesome. What it's all about!