Freaks of Nature

[Gun]

Anyone seen a critter too big to be true?

 I always remember watching a movie a friend of mine made of Elk in Colarado after he had killed a big Bull. He stayed out there for a while as they were in full Rut. He had some footage of a Bull that was just a freak in body size! He said the rack was 350" class but you wouldn't believe it compared to his body. He was easily half again in size to any cow in his harem.

Saw a 60-70# Coon once someone shot with a rifle.

Two Whitetails I still dream about. I'll tell about those later.

Any stories?

[ArkansasHunter]

I had a good buddy who used to always brag about a monster beaver that lived near his house. He claims to have shot it a dozen times or more with various calibers and rounds. Well last year he killed it and it was over 105lbs and its tail and was full of buckshot holes.

Ive got a few more let me think.

[adkmountainken]

a long time ago i was bullhead fishing with my family and i remeber a sunfish my grandfather caught that was HUGE, the size of a large mouth bass like around 6-7 [pounds. i have never saw anything like it again!

[cajuntec]

I was hunting in Florida with my back to a swampy area that comes from the main river about 1/4 mile away.  Some bubbles started near the shore, which made me turn and look, then the bubbles got bigger, and bigger, and finally the water bulged up and this "creature" emerged onto land.  Spooked me pretty good for a couple of minutes, until I saw it was just the biggest beaver I had ever seen.  The thing was huge!  I don't know what he weighed, but I know he was MUCH bigger in body girth than my 80 pound dog.  Made me nervous to be in a tree... and my tree was pretty thick.  Ha!

All the best,
Glenn

[Izzy]

I killed a doe about 200lbs with velvet spikes about 3".She was bigger than all of the bucks killed on that farm in a long time.I also killed a hen turkey with 3 inch beard one fall about 1/2 mile from where I got the doe."Freak Mountain"s what its now known as,as I saw a hen this past fall with about a 7-8 inch pencil beard.I wonder how common hens like this are.

[Shakes.602]

Just Me....Thats Why My Momma Stopped at One Child.      

[Tom Leemans]

Somewhere, my buddy has a picture of our coon skins hanging from the garage rafter before we took them to market one year. There was one that was literally twice as long as the next largest one of the bunch. If I remember correctly, that coon was 70+ pounds. Freak? not really. Very well fed though!

[fireman_3311]

One big Iowa 10 point buck....haven't slept since!!!

[S. Brant Osborn]

When I was a boy,  I caught a catfish that weighed about forty pounds.  That is not such a big feat you say?  Well, you should have seen the 4 pound cricket that I used for bait!

Heh, Heh!
Brant

[vermonster13]

A six legged buck was pretty freaky.

[bayoulongbowman]

...then there was this nuclear plant...near my favorite hunting spot, it was the biggest!!!..          

[woodchucker]

Back in 1999 I shot an 85# coyote while I was bowhunting for deer. He was 6 1/2 feet long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.

[knife river]

I don't know if this qualifies, but "way back when" I had a laying hen that started slowing down on egg production.  Then I saw something in Popular Mechanics about repairing damaged muscles with electro-stimulation.  Thought it might just help that old girl.  Stripped the end off an old extension cord and wrapped the bare wires around her legs.  Stuck the other end to some D cells -- nothing happened.  No results with a 6 volt battery, either (turned out it wasn't charged).  So we plugged it into a wall socket -- instant success -- sorta.  She squirted out a long skinny "egg" that looped and swirled like a hot spaghetti noodle.  Once we got a bowl full, we unplugged her.  She went back to laying every day.  Walked a little funny, but a real dependable bird.    

[bowfiend]

When I was a kid - on my 8th birthday infact - my dad caught a racoon getting into the trash. He ran out with the ol' nylon 66 and pumped a box (50 rounds) into the thing after it treed. After the last of the .22 lead hit him he was still moving around from branch to branch. My Dad was out of .22 so he shot it with his .38-40. It finally fell from the tree and I clearly remember it being bigger than our dog.

[Arwin]

The first buck I had ever seen while hunting. It was my first year of bowhunting. I just got out of work and walked out to my stand in my stinky landscape clothes. I had a nailed together stand that was about 10ft off the ground over looking a mosquito infested cattail marsh. I hadn't been sitting there for more than 1/2 hour when this GIANT buck stepped out with a group of doe. He was grunting and thrashing bushes with his antlers. He had a fat swollen neck and body. I'm positive he went well over 225 lbs. His antler bases were as thick as my forearms and  long tines sticking out all over, more than 12 points. Being VERY inexperienced all I could do was watch. I had no grunt tube or calls of any sort. No doe pee or scents...nothing. My maximum range was 12 yds, with a compound, and he was probably 30 yds out. A makeable shot to me now with a longbow or recurve. I watched him for a good 15 minutes and he walked off with the doe. I stood there stunned and slack jawed.  I would have to say it was that deer, that hooked me on bowhunting forever. I seriously doubt I'll ever see a bigger one, or one like it in the wild. It definitly taught me to hunt in the nastiest, muckiest, brush tangled stuff you can find!

[Old Ways]

My first year hunting on opening day of rifle a guy from Chicago got lucky and shot a huge 8 point just a little ways from me. He gave my brother and I a beer (we were 15 and 17) to help him drag it. It was giant with a massive set of horns. Later when he got it weighed it tipped the scales at 244#.

That afternoon, in the same area, I shot one even bigger with my 30-30. It knocked it off it's feet and into a tree. It was a giant 10 point. As I ran towards it it suddenly came to it's feet, shook it off and ran away. I missed with a running shot. I followed it in the snow 'till it stopped bleeding. Must have hit it's shoulder and not made it through. That was the biggest buck I ever shot. Later that year the DNR clear cut that area and it has never been the same. I still dream of bucks that big. Maybe someday.

[Over&Under]

Here are a couple - not some I have seen but others have been kind enough to share them    

[Gun]

I've seen two Whitetails that just "freaked" me out. The first was in SE Minnesota as I was driving out from an evening hunt. I noticed 3 deer standing in a cut portion of a corn field. (snow on the ground and full moon) It was two mature does and the biggest Non-Typical I've ever seen on the hoof. He was one of those 300# Bucks you hear about. The rack was huge as well. The beams looked as big around as my forearms and there were points all over the place. He looked like a pony standing with those does.
The other was in the Calgary Bow zone the first week of the season. I was in some tall grass behind a dugout waiting for a real good Buck to come across an Alfalfa field with 3 others. The first one past was quite a bit ahead of the others. He was about 150" class and didn't have a clue I was there. I drew and shot as he walked by and it looked good. He tore off jumping a fence and into the brush. Then two small 100" class 4x4s came trotting up  and stood looking to see where the other Buck had gone. They were both inside of 20 yds. Soon after the monster came trotting up and stood in between me and the other two at about 15 yds. looking in the same direction. He again dwarfed the other two Bucks in body size. Also a Non-Typical he looked to be about a 190" class typical 5x5 with a bunch of sticker points coming out from the bases and a few off the points. Real heavy beams. I only had one tag and thought I had made a good hit on the first Buck. The big one looked my way after a few seconds and ran off along with the other two the same direction the first buck had. I then got up and walked over to look for my arrow. I soon found it clean as a whistle! I guess I shot low. Was sure a thrill seeing a monster that close though!!

[Wudstix]

Years sgo there was a 95# javelina killed just outside San Antonio.

[Matty]

This past season last week of the season Peak rut I saw an 8X7 Bull elk...thats right I said it....8x7  Lucky for me I had someone along to prove it.  <30yds away facing me...It was unbelievable I bet in the high 300 maybe 400.  I was given away by one of them Barking Cows.... It is still my most exciting hunting day to date....Who's looking to "Trade a hunt"?  I want me a trophy white tail...