What are your FEAR'S when hunting

[Bowwild]

Wow, a lot of interesting fears, encounters and hilarious posts!

Clowns?!  I'm still laughing!

I don't fear these things now but they were scarey at the time:

Kansas (Newton) - 1991-I was in a large osage tree. Heard shooting on the river behind me. Heard little ticks and pings among the branches in the tree I was in. I realized the bozos (uh oh --Clowns)were target shooting with what sounded like .30 caliber rifles on the surface of water. Bullets were ricocheting through my tree! I was amazed at how harmless the bullets sounded as they whizzed through.

Indiana (Elkhart) -- ~1984 -- In a tree bowhunting on openind day of Mzzl season.  A wad of does were pushed out of a cornfield by a buck. They stopped under my tree. A tresspassing MZZL hunter stepped out of the fog about 80 yards away on a ditchbank. He saw the does but not me in the stand. Before I could holler or hide he pulled up and shot at the deer. He missed all of us. I provided him some suggestions for future aliases and he left. I killed a different Doe a few minutes later.

[3arrows]

Crossbows in the dark.

[centaur]

Hunting alone back in the 90's, I was sneaking through some black timber, along a well used elk trail, attempting to be as stealthy as possible. Suddenly, a loud "woof", and I was eye to eye with a big boar grizzly. As we bored holes in each other for several seconds, I am happy to say that Mr. Griz turned around and left in a big hurry. I paced off where I had first seen him, and it was 30 steps. I decided that this would be a nice time to return to camp and change my shorts.

[Pat B.]

A lot of us are showing our age with the fears that we have !

Like many others, the idea of having a heart attack while in the woods is a big concern. Most of the time nobody knows where I am..  I'm out every afternoon and always in a different place. I do keep my phone with me now..

I love the walks out in the dark but here in the south we have snakes..

I've fallen from treestands twice, actually limbs broke that I was hanging onto or standing on both times.. Those falls were over 30 years ago and I try to be much more careful now.. The way I feel now I'd break in a thousand pieces from a fall from 15' or so, maybe even 5 feet !

But, I feel more at home in the woods than anywhere and won't let these concerns keep me from these wonderful outtings that God has allowed me..

[stykbow67]

I would have to say my biggest fear while hunting is getting caught in the high country when a lightning storm rolls in and you have nowhere to go. I'm a powerlineman by trade and have seen first hand how destructive it is! As for all of Gods little creatures go, lets just say some of them get a WHOLE lot more respect than others  :D

[arky714]

Amen on the lighting,I was caught in a storm at 10700 ft and the hail started falling ,started looking for a rock to get under,I walked wood for 20years and seen a lot of lighting damage...

[eminart]

I used to have a Loggy Bayou tree stand that scared the crap out of me on a regular basis. It would slip while climbing sometimes, and not just a little. I'm a little nervous about heights anyway, and slipping a couple of feet down the tree didn't help.

Other than that, not much.

I did once get pretty creeped out in the woods by an old abandoned church and graveyard in the predawn hours.

If I lived where there were Grizzlies, I'd probably be nervous about that.

[Jaypo]

If I lived in Georgia where "The Walking Dead" is filmed, I'd fear zombies.  Hell, I already fear zombies.  Vampires, not so much.  But zombies scare the hell out of me.

[fnshtr]

Big kitties when I'm alone and bivy hunting the wilderness... mostly while in my tent at night. I watch the house cat torment a mouse and figure it wouldn't be pretty if one decided to mess with me.

It didn't help when my grand-daughter said that me in my bivy tent looked like a "human burrito"!

Neat thread!

[PaddyMac]

Originally posted by centaur:
Hunting alone back in the 90's, I was sneaking through some black timber, along a well used elk trail, attempting to be as stealthy as possible. Suddenly, a loud "woof", and I was eye to eye with a big boar grizzly. As we bored holes in each other for several seconds, I am happy to say that Mr. Griz turned around and left in a big hurry. I paced off where I had first seen him, and it was 30 steps. I decided that this would be a nice time to return to camp and change my shorts.

Yeah. I don't like brown bears. Black bears are OK, with exceptions. Two years ago I was hunting near my house and scared a black sow and her cub. They skedaddled. I was on the side of a steer face slope in black timber and all of a sudden I heard this clamoring in a pine growing up right next to me and then I was face to face with cub #2. We just looked at each other. I was thinking "Aren't you a little cutey." And then its face wrinkled up just like a little baby's and he started bawling. I heard crashing in the woods down below and man I was a 17 year old high hurdler in the state track meet all over again.

And ticks. I hate ticks. I'm not afraid of them but I hate 'em. There is only one thing in the whole world worse and that is the 3 a.m. ear skeet.

[Orion]

I don't fear anything cause I'm the meanest SOB in the woods.       Actually, we don't have any dangerous critters in this state -- black bear and wolves, but no grizzlies or big cats, and no poisonous snakes to speak of.

I also hunt in western states and Alaska, and grizzlies and cats would definitely get my healthy respect, and I expect fear, If I came face to face with one that wanted to do me harm.

Around here, I'm more worried about the Bozos who shoot first,  at movement, sound, before or after shooting hours, in the dark, etc., and determine what they shot at later, as well as vandals/thieves who damage vehicles and other property.  

Don't really worry about getting hurt while hunting.  Suppose I should.  Have always managed to get myself out of tough situations none the worse for wear. If I "buy the farm" while hunting, I figure there's nothing else I would rather have been doing when the lights go out.

[mongoose]

meth-heads/simply desperate individuals, since I usually hunt alone I have taken to packing heat! Not far from where I hunt a guy was attacked at the lake where he was fishing..robbed and left for dead.    

[huntsmanlance]

A few years back....There was a member on here who got shot in the leg by a teenager who fired his rifle at a noise in the bush....sorry cant remember who.... Ever sence then it is always on my mind!

And a couple years back.....here in Oklahoma several wardens were injured by traps set up by pot growers!!!

   

[Sixby]

Walking out in the dark bothers me because I hunt in an area full of lion and bear. My last hunt I walked out on a trail with fresh cat tracks, (big ones) all the way to my truck. I had my knife in my hand all the way and was shining the light in every direction.
I now carry a .40 Springfield XDM for the other hand. I will put my bow over my back for added protection . LOL

God bless you all , Steve

[buckster]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet.  But, my biggest fear is forgetting my s_ _ _  paper!              

[jcar315]

Originally posted by MOFISH:
I wasn't afraid of anything until I read this thread, now I'm nervous wreck.  

X2

I will say that on the day my son shot the rabbit shown in my avatar we had an encounter with a "big cat" while hunting javelinas. My boy was just little but he had an arrow on the string and wanted to creep up and check out the "scream" we had just heard from the other side of a mesquite bush.

Not sure if "scared" is the right word but having a young son that near to something that wanted the javelina on the end of the blood trail we were on was a sobering experience to say the least.

Great memory that I wll cherish until the day I die!

Any fear was what his Mom would do if I didn't bring him back in one piece.

[Shane C]

Running into a Grizzly. If I stay in Montana next year I want to go way back in, ~5-10 miles, and I'm worried that I might break something and not be able to get out. Probably going to buy one of those emergency SOS location devices just in case. Also, I'm a Type 1 Diabetic and worried I'll run out of food for when my blood sugar goes low or insulin for other times. That especially is another element that I have to deal with for hunting that most people don't have to worry about.

[Roninrus1]

Missing or even more - wounding!

[Grey Taylor]

Originally posted by buckster:
I don't know if anyone has said this yet.  But, my biggest fear is forgetting my s_ _ _  paper!                    

Buckster, so long as you're wearing a long sleeved shirt you're good for the weekend   :eek:  

Guy

[Muskoxman]

I've had several scary situations while hunting but I guess what scares me now is my lousy back. Once in awhile a nerve will get pinched (knock on wood its been about 4 years since the last time) and I'm just a cripple. I mean I can't even hardly crawl, Its takes a couple of days until i can get to my feet even with pain pills.
It would defiantly suck !