really kool things witnessed

[slamdunk]

I was thinking about all the really kool things i have witness while out in the field and thought this would be a fun post where we could "share around the campfire".
Anyone want a cold one before i start?

I had a few neat things happen on the same trip while guiding a deer client.
We were watching a huge golden eagle circling overhead and out a ways, when all of the sudden he folded in his wings and made a dive to the ground like a patriot missle!!
When the dust cleared and to our total disbelief, he had a fawn mule deer, it was insane to watch!!

And on another day, same trip, we were glassing some muleys on a hill side. I was lucky enough to have my scope on the right deer at the right time.
Just as the big doe was to crest the top of the ridge, a big mountain lion sprang out of nowhere, totally airbourne and pounced on that deer!!
They rolled around both screaming their guts out, kicking, biting you name it, but she got away, i couldn't beleive it!!
The big lion just sat there like he was surprised himself that she'd escaped, tongue hanging out and breathing like he was having an athsma attack!!

On an elk huinting trip one day, we were watching two bulls totally getting after it in the fiersest fight we had ever seen!
Well, after about 10 minutes of this, we saw an antler go flying through the air and the bull running arond in circles like his ass was on fire!
When looking at the bull through the glasses, you could totally see his brains exposed!
My buddy walked over and picked up the antler, it had about a 6-8" chunk of skull plate still attatched clear down to the eye socket!!

Ok....who's next??

 

[Slide]

I don't have any stories as good as Slamdunks but I will share what experiences I do have.

When I was about seventeen a buddy and I were hunting turkeys which had just been transplanted a few years before in our area. We were up on a hill taking a break when we heard a faint gobble. We started glassing and we could see two tom tukeys on a little bencg backed up under some Scrub Oak trees. There was 3-4 Crows on the ground cawing and going after the turkeys, the turks would back up then chase the Crows and back and forth they went for about ten minutes before the Crows flew off.

I have never told this story to anyone except my family because I didn't want people calling me a liar, but I will share it and take the ridicule that will follow. I was turkey hunting a few years back by myself. I took off from work early and ran up to my favorite spot. Well I got there and there were no turkeys, I stayed until about 1/2 hour before shooting time ended in case I saw something on the way out. I was on my quad driving out when I came around a corner and there were some turkeys in the road they all ran up the hill except for a tom. He stood in the road and started strutting and gobbling, now I'm on my quad about 10ft from this bird and my bike is running. The turkey comes up to my bike and i'm standing on my foot peg looking at this tom who is about two ft from me. The tom starts jumping in the air trying to spur me then he pecks at my leg. The whole time I'm thinking this is going to really hurt. Finally the bird walks off and I'm thinking I can't believe this just happened but it did.

Go ahead and say what you have to I don't care, I know what happened that day I was there and I will NEVER forget that.

One more quick one. My dad and I drew a E. Oregon deer tag, the country is all High Desert, sage brush and sand with water tanks here and there. We were scouting in July and came upon a water tank, we walked over to the tank and it was empty. On the way back to the bike a Drake Mallard jumped out of the Sage brush in front of me scaring me have to death. My dad and I still can't figure out waht a duck was doing out in the middle of the desert in July miles from water.

Slide

 

[slamdunk]

LAST EDITED ON May-14-08 AT 11:53AM (MST)[p]Slide-
That desert duck must have been on quack!! LMAO!!!

I totally beleive your turkey story, birds are crazy when bredding season comes around.

My Good buddy John's wife Camille kept hearing someone knockin on the door almost every morning.
She's one of those "peekers" who look out a window first to see who's knocking.
Well she never saw anyone there and was getting mad that the neighbor kids were "nigger knocking" on her door.
Well she waited till they did it again, flew the door open to catch them......it was a damn rooster pheasant pecking at the brass door plate on the bottom of their door trying to kick his own ass in the reflection!!
LMAO!!!

 

[legacy]

On a limited entry archery elk hunt here in Utah in 2001, I was watching a few elk. I decided to follow them, hoping they would take me to more elk. I kept about 75 yards behind them. After a bit, the elk stopped. I noticed a couple of the animals mere sparring with each other. When I put my bino's up, I discovered that one of the rag horn bulls was sparring with a black beef cow! This went on for 20 minutes or so. They acted like they were good buddies just messin' around. I sure wish I would have had a video camera.

Same unit, different year. I was making a stalk on a bull, when all of a sudden I could here a dog barking like MAD! I couldn't figure out who in the heck would have a dang dog in the area! Well, I finally found the dog, and of course it was a coyote. The coyote was barking at about 7 crows that were perched in a burn out cedar. He'd bark and yap and then run around the tree a couple of times. Then he'd stop and jump at the crows. He'd bark some more and run around the tree again. I swear those crows were sticking out their tonges! It was quite entertaining.

Same general area, hunting deer. My dad walked down below a wash and was going to try to push some deer that we had seen up my way. I waited a while and then I finally spotted my dad way down at the end of the wash where he said he was going to be. I could see my dad, and I could also see another deer close to where my dad was at. I watched my dad sneak a little closer to the deer. The deer would look up and my dad would freeze. As soon as the deer would put his head down, my dad would sneak towards it again. Well, this went on for a while and before I knew it, I watch my dad through my bino's, stick out his hand and touch the deer! The deer turns it's head and sniffs my dad and then jumps about 10 feet in the air! I couldn't believe how sneaky my dad was! Well, come to find out, this little fawn was as blind as a bat! Probably couldn't smell too well either. I felt bad for the little thing. The fawns mother did end up coming back and they were re-united. Another instance I wish I had a video camera!

 

[gb22]

I thought the elk, deer fights I had seen were pretty cool....but none of them tore out the other's skull. DANG!!

I've seen several osprey's catching fish and one (two days at a high lake) that may have starved by now, because I saw him dive 40+ times without ever catching a fish....started funny but got sad. (I killed one and left it wiggling, he took it.)

One morning while float tubing, I watched a coyote methodically raiding the nests of canadian geese. He was going from nest to nest along the lake shore, eating the chicks. 27 geese were following and making a horrible fuss, but none got closer than about 10 feet....they followed him, as he raided the nests, for several hundred yards.

That same morning, an osprey caught a big fish. It took that poor bird a LONG time to get airborne.

I called a young deer (I mimiced the sound I heard it make) from about 80 yards to within less than 10 feet.

The most unusual was a young calf elk that came out of the brush. It walked up to me. (Early October and I'm guessing someone/something had killed mom and I was the next living thing it saw.) It was so tame, I fed it grass from my hand. It followed me (within about 15 feet) back to my truck. It hung around until my partner came back. He said, "hey, there's an elk". I responded, "yeah, it's mine". After I told him the story and he fed it, too, he asked what I was going to do with it. Good question. It actually chased the truck down the two-track road for a LONG way.

 

[Pappabull]

Went out one morning to feed cattle and here was a drake mallard standing on top of a fence post. I have seen a lot of birds on a fence post but never a duck.

 

[d13r]

hmmm, let's see. One time I was glassing a coyote as he walked down towards a pond. When he got to the waters edge he hunted around and picked up a fair sized stick in his mouth. He then, ever so slowly, started backing down into the water till just the stick and the black of his nose were above water level. He stayed that way for several minutes, then climbed out, dropped the stick, shook, and trotted off. I hurried down and found that stick and to my amazement it was covered with fleas.....those dogs are sure smart.

JB

 

[Roy]

Great thread Slam - this should get cool.

One of the coolest things I have ever witnessed was at Brooks Falls, AK in Katmai Natl. Park. We were at the falls watching the bears fish and this momma bear had two cubs and brought them right up to the observatory platform. These two little cubs were natural born performers and were hamming it up for the crowd. Momma went in the river to fish and was about 35 - 40 yards out. The sockeye were barely starting to run so the fishing was still a little slow and it was taking her a while. We were watching the cubs ham it up when all of a sudden I detected movement through the planks of the platform and right underneath me I saw a huge bruin head poke his head out making a bee line for the cubs. I thought "Oh no, this is not going to be pretty at all. Some of these tourists are going to cry!" He was a huge boar, at least 9 ft tall and an easy 800-1000 lbs and he just walked with what seemed like bad intentions. Well, about that time momma bear caught wind of him and on the run she came, splashing and roaring - not growling - ROARING - with the fury of hell unleashed. Water was spraying all over us and she hit that boar full on at about 35 mph, knocking him back under the platform. He fought back and though we could only catch glimpses of fur between the platform planks we could smell the adrenaline and they hit the platform pilings a few times, shaking the whole structure. They roars were deafening beneath us and then the sow barked at her cubs, who had now retreated to safety in the tall grass and she retreated out, the big boar still bellowing at her, but from far back beneath the platform. She hurriedly rounded up her cubs and moved out downstream, watching carefully behind her and all around. Still growling, the big boar finally ambled out from underneath the platform and proceeded to go the the best spot at the falls to fish and intimidated the other biggest bear there to move to a different spot. He quickly caught a fish but the scowl never left his face. I was SOO glad we were 12 feet off the ground, though I am sure that if that bear had wanted us, 12 feet wouldn't really have deterred him.

The only other time I have witnessed that kind of raw agression in the wild was on my Southern Utah Desert Devil Terrapin LE hunt in the Virgin River Gorge last fall, but that is a story for another day, and it will be coming, this spring for sure. I still have to get clearance but I promise it is coming!


Another cool thing I saw was in Miami as I was serving as a missionary. One of the members of the small Miami Beach Branch was working as the head housekeeper for a very very very very wealthy family who owned a mansion on Biscayne Bay on one of the Sunset Islands (neighbors included Madonna, Don Johnson, Jose Canseco, a few Kings from the middle east, also it was rumored that Pablo Escobar owned one of the houses there too). Well the family had sailed to Europe for the summer on their yacht so the housekeeper had the place all to herself and her family was actually living there with her in the servant's quarters. Anyway they had a pool that overlooked the Bay and downtown Miami and we had a baptismal service there. Just as we were taking the person being baptized down into the water, we hear the sound of bottles being opened coming from the bay and looked out to see a pod of porpoises sounding not 20 yards out. They swam back and forth and back and forth and then swam away as soon as the service was over.
UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

 

[sageadvice]

Mine is small time compared to the good ones above but...

One early winter day up on at my Grandparents ranch, during lunch break we heard a big thump from outside, like something crashed into the old house. My uncle and i went outside to find a dead Greenhead Mallard dead on our roof. I searched it for bullet holes, looked normal, no apparent cause of death. Ducks did occationally land in our cattle watering ponds but i kept them thinned down pretty good. Only thing we could figure was this duck had died while flying south for the winter. Flocks did fly over, about a mile up, our place was the only one for two miles up or down the road. This duck hit the needle in a haystack!

joey

 

[tageater]

One summer as i worked as a lifeguard on the beach,( Ft Walton Beach, Fl.) I saw a bottle nose dophin working its way towards my section of the beach. I decided to take my rescue board and fins and mask out to see how close i could get to this critter.

I reach the right distance off the beach that this thing is swimming( i'd planned on letting it swim to me as opposed to me paddling towards it, possible scaring it off). I put my mask and fins on and get into the water, and HOLY CRAP...this thing is doing 100 mph right towards me,and its huge 9 foot long easy!

well,thank god, it slowed up and just eased by me at 2 foot, so thinking this was pretty cool, i reached out and just touched its side as it swam by....awesome. Well i get out of the water and back onto my board and this critter is still just circling around me, so i start to paddle back to my beach as the current as pulled me down the beach a couple hundred yards. Well as i'm paddling the dolphin comes up and bumps the board and almost knocks me off. then it swims away slowly. Figuring this thing wasn't done playing i paddled after it and caught it and "tagged" it on the fin, and I started to paddle off. I got about 10 yards from it and bam it bumps the board again, and again i give chase and tag it. We must have done that 8 or 9 times and I lost track of where i was as this was the coolest thing EVER.....well finally it just takes off, and i look around and i'm a quarter mile from where it started and instead of being a hundred yards off the beach like when we started i was only about 40 yards and the beach was covered with people who had watched the whole thing happen.

 

[slamdunk]

LAST EDITED ON May-14-08 AT 03:21PM (MST)[p]Great stories keep 'em coming!!

I can't beleive the crazy duck stories.
Ducks out in the sage bruch no water even around, ducks sittin on fence posts, ducks dying in the air for no apparent reason....

Which reminds ME of a little duck fun i did as a kid.

During the winter when the ponds were frozen over, we'd dump clorox on the ice, it makes it clear as natural water.
What a hoot watching them ducks come in hard expecting a splash....instead that got a "splat"!!! Lol

Oh no, didn't Jeffery Dahmer start out torturing innocent animals!! lol

 

[BigWooley]

I imagine ive got quite a few if i really thought about it but two in particular stick out. They arent as good as some that have been posted but none the less very cool experiences.

The first one happened driving around in the desert north of phoenix. I was chasing somthing, i dont remember what think it was an archery javelina hunt. Anyway i decided to check out a pond/water hole late at night just to see what was comin in or catch some frogs. Soon as i walked up i saw two pair of eyes about 40 yards out. Turns out it was two very large bobcats, just lookin at me while drinking. i walked closer and they just continued to take turns drinking and looking. i decided to give em the kiss of death, if your not familiar with it its kind of a kissing sound that works to bring predators just that bit closer, or to call your pet cat. Well the first cat started coming over to me and at about ten yards it ran up about a foot infront of me looked up and pounced back and ran to the other. I thought was thats cool, so i did it again. this time the other did the same thing, The cats and i continued this for about 20 minutes until I, not them, got bored and let em drink. They didnt have any fear they would just keep coming almost to my toes. This was also quite aways from any town or anything just a strange cool experience.

The second was scouting for Coues deer and chasing archery bears east a Phoenix in a wilderness area. I had just finished Photographing three buck, one really nice 100+ inch deer and was continueing on after they busted. a ways back i noticed a lone doe feeding, i decided id stalk her and see what i could get. But even at a hundred yards she would bust me and just look...there was very little cover between us... so i said to hell with it and just walked towards her. every step suprised me, it went from 50 yards to 30 to 20 to ten feet and all she would do was feed and look up at me. once i was five feet away she started walking toward thicker brush but still un alert and feeding. It got to the point were i was walking next to her like i would walk my dog, basically at my heal with two feet between us. She started feeding in a bush and i hid on the other side 3 ft away. then curiously she walked to one side and stuck her head around looking at me, i mean a foot away looking at me! so i moved to the opposite side. she did the same on her side and again curiously poked her head around looking at me again. We continued our little walk until it was time for me to head back. That one so far definately takes the number one spot for me.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -- Abraham Lincoln

 

[FamilyMan]

Roy, that bear story in Post #7 is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard!!

Mark

 

[eelgrass]

Great stories! I've really enjoyed them all!

One that comes to mind was on a blacktail hunt. I was walking down through a prarie with lots of oak trees and I noticed movement under a small White Oak tree. I glassed under it and it was a mother raccoon and 5 babies. They were digging through the oak leaves looking for acorns I presume. I took a few steps closer and the mom noticed my movement. I was about 50 yards from them. She stood up on her hind legs trying to figure out what I was. The babies were oblivious to my presence. She let out a short grunt sound and all 5 of those young ones immediatly started climbing the little oak tree. They had no clue as to what the danger was but mom had spoken and they were blindly following orders! When all 5 were up the tree, the mom followed. I walked closer and the closer I got the higher they climbed. The little oak tree was only about 12' tall and it sure was comical to see those little raccoons way at the top trying to balance on the thin little branches. It still makes me laugh thinking about it.

Eel

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

2 years ago on my LE Archery elk hunt I worked my way into a couple of bugling bulls. As I got closer, the bugling became more intense and I could tell that they were circling each other ready to lock horns any minute. I snuck into the edge of the small clearing just as they locked horns. These 2 bulls were really getting after it. The clearing was only about 50 yards across and they were throwing dirt and sagebrush everywhere. At one point I got pelted with dirt clods. After about 10 minutes of this they suddenly started fighting in my direction. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to move. The biggest bull put a move the other bull that came straight out of the wrestling manual. He flipped that bull completely over and that sucker landed 4 yards from where I was crouched. It literally scared the &*#$ out of me. To this day, that has to rank right up there with one of the coolest experiences of my hunting life!

It's always an adventure!!!
www.awholelottabull.com

 

[IAhunter]

There's some good stuff on this post.

I've seen some pretty neat stuff over the years. Saw one of those big black Mexican eagles (the one on their flag) swooping on a Coues whitetail forkhorn. I think he was playing around more than anything else.

While hunting turkeys in Kansas, I had a quail land on my thigh while set up calling and then another time a hen turkey in New Mexico stepped on my foot while I was trying to call in her boyfriend.

Over the years, I've seen both mule deer does and javelina chasing coyotes that were trying to get their young. Those muley does can get pretty fired up and stay clear of those front hooves.

 

[moonlight]

This has nothing to do with seeing something cool while hunting, so I apologize up front. When I was 17, living in klamath falls oregon, I raised show steers for my ffa project. The calves were kept at my grandparents house, which was right at the end of the runway of Kingsley Field Air Base. One morning, while headin over to take care of my calves, I noticed two jets heading for the base. One was significantly lower than the other, and was rather eratic in its movement. I stopped in the road, and suddenly the shell on the ##### pit comes flying off, the pilot ejects, and the plane goes cartwheeling through a grain field, missing a house by about 100 feet. The pilot's seat comes flying down and caves in the pavement 10 feet infront of the pickup. I backed up, drove down the ditch bank, to check on the pilot. He had two broken ankles from the "landing". Turns out that it was an F-18 from the Canadian Air Force that was down for maneuvers. The Canadian officials that came to investigate had me come out for an interview as I was the only person that saw the wreck happen. I was also interviewed by several local media sources, and the best quote I could come up with was "It was the biggest explosion I have ever seen." That got me a lot of razzin at school when we got back that fall. Anyway, I ended up getting a letter from the Canadian government thanking me for my help in the investigation. They also told me that if I had been ten feet forward of where I was when the seat hit the road, they would have bought me a new pickup. I don't think I would have had to worry about ever driving again, except perhaps into the "happy hunting grounds" of heaven.
"success Is Reason Enough!"

 

[just_a_hunter]

There was this one time when a Bigfoot......Just kidding....

Really, these stories are awesome. Thanks everyone for sharing.

Back in 01 while guiding for Redd Ranches was probably my most memorable encounter. My hunter filled out on the first day and consequently, we had 4 days of playing remaining. I think it was on the 3rd day, we woke early with the rest of the hunters and decided we were just going to go call in some elk so he could get some pictures.

Anyhow, we left camp and went to this area nobody else was hunting. We spotted a heard of elk, parked the truck and moved closer to the heard. We got within a couple hundred yards of them and I began calling. Not fifty yards away, an imature bugle and a hurried set of hoofs let us know we were fixin to get some pictures. We quickly sat down. My hunter was just behind me camra in hand. I gave a few more calls and this bull apeared not 15 yards away. He was just a raghorn, and he was licking his nose like they do.

He just kept coming without any reservation. I had one knee up with my hand resting on my knee. When he was litterally 2 or three yards away, I chirped just to stop him so he wouldn't step on me.

He froze in his tracks and tensed up like they do. He stared me down for a second, then took a step closer. I didn't know what to think. I just held still and he took another step closer. He was close enough he literally bent his head down and was sniffing my hand.

Out of reaction, I flicked his nose with my fingers and let me tell you. Elk can litterally do a back hand spring. Thats the best way I can describe his gymnastic skills. I'm lucky I didn't get trampled or gored or both.

I asked my hunter if he got any pictures of that and he said he did, but later realized he left the lenz cover on. (Old 35mm camera).

Anyhow, we were all smiles and laughs as we walked back to the truck. We were headed down the road having a jolly good time and I decided to change the cd in my player. The radio station was set to 97.9fm. Our happyness quickly turned to shock as we got the breaking news of the twin towers being hit.

It was the mornign of 9/11/2001. I'll never forget it.

To the Top for more stories.

Todd

 

[Longun]

after 9/11 happened the next 2 days no jets were in the skies and the wife and I hunted antlers a horseback. We never saw anybody else for those 2 days neither. I told her this is the way it was in Wyoming 200 years ago and we are experiencing right now.

 

[sremim]

I called a bull moose up to the truck with an elk bugle. He just walked right up to the truck staring for a few minutes then walked on by.























It's Bush's fault!!!

 

[crazeymaez]

We were bowhunting in the gila close to 20 years ago with my dad.We were walking down this drainage and the grass was real high.We see two little black things ahead. My dad says look at those javalina.
He hands me an arrow and says "Here just in case I heard they're agressive"So he decides to sneak up on them cuz hes never seen one before.We get to about 5 yrds from this things. And to my left about 5 yrds stands momma bear on her two hind feet and lets out a roar in my face.Dad took off one way ,cubs the other me one way.momma the other.My defense arrow flying in the air.Geez!! thanks for traumatizing me again.

 

[blind_squirel]

Great stories
Once while going in to scout in august, I was walking at a fast pace in heavy timber & fairly thick understory something jumped up in front of me. A lion had been laying directly in my path. My first reaction was a flinch, bringing my arm up to protect my face. We where seperated by nothing but ten feet of high mountion air. By the time I could determine what had startled me the large tom had moved off to about twenty five feet. He turned around & crouched with his tail twitching slowly, while he lay facing me. My only defense was the sandvick I was carying in my hands to trim trail, after a few minutes I raised my hands above my head yelled & charged towards him. This seemd like a better plan than reatreating until I got within fifteen feet & the cat had shown no sign of fleeing. I stopped backed up to the twenty five feet very slowly arms still in the air try to appear larger & more confident than I realy was. I slowly picked up a stick & threw it at him hitting him in the back as it crossed over his head. He slowly took to his feet, turned & walked over to the stick sniffing it. After checking the stick he walked off in the direction I intended to go, & dissapered into a draw. As I aproached the draw I could see him forty feet bellow, I grabbed a rock the size of a bowling ball & rolled it at him, he watched it roll four feet in front of him turning his head to watch it roll by as if it happened every day. He walked off & I went on my way.
Coming back through there an hour after dark that night by flashlight was not one of my most comfortable walks in the woods.

 

[NVBighorn]

Now this is a fun campfire thread.

One day a few years ago my son and I were bowhunting in area 17 in Nevada. We had hiked a while and were glassing a big peak. Pretty quick a small band of 30 or 40 domestic sheep came out of the limber pines on the peak and started doing whatever it is sheep do. No doubt they were part of a larger bunch of sheep that always summers in there and these must have gotten separated from the main band. We watched them for a little while and then kind of ignored them. Pretty quick we could hear sheep baaing and carrying on. Now, I really don't like domestic sheep, so I was getting annoyed by their presence, especially since they were kind of messing up the hunt. We looked across the canyon to see what the commotion was all about and noticed the sheep were running. Pretty quick we spotted about three or four coyotes chasing them.

It was actually pretty amazing. I've never really thought of coyotes as as being all that smart but they knew what they were doing in this case. Two of the coyotes were working the sheep like professional sheep dogs. They parted out a couple of young sheep and headed them downhill. A couple of the coyotes seemed to be holding back, maybe to reserve their energy for the chase. Sheep can run pretty fast, especially downhill but so can coyotes. These two sheep were holding their own while the first two coyotes were chasing them but when the second string of the coyote team came in, the sheep started to tire out. Pretty quick one of the coyotes got hold of one of the sheep. They were running full tilt down a slope that would be hard to stand on let alone run on. You talk about a wreck! That coyote had a mouthful of mutton and he wasn?t turning loose. It looked like a sheep/coyote avalanche. They rolled together several times. About that time the coyote team asked for a substitution and the first string got back in the act. It was one of the most brutal things I have ever witnessed. They tore that little sheep apart while he was still alive. He was lamb stew in a matter of a few minutes. I actually felt sorry for him and that's a reach for me. The only good thing about this is that the second sheep used this little diversion to get the hell out of Dodge! He ran all the way down the mountain and crossed the bottom to our side. I thought he was running to us for help. One of the coyotes was chasing him for a while and almost had him but figured he was missing out on dinner with his friends so he went with the sure thing and joined the feast already in progress. We hiked over a couple hours later and there wasn?t much left of the sheep. A little wool and hide and the rest was gone.

 

[just_a_hunter]

Another time.....

I was scouting a CWMU in central Utah the night before our hunters arived.

I was glassing this huge canyon from an awesome vantage point. I was sitting in a chair and was in the shade. I had my elbows on my knees and making a grid of the canyon. I was a good 2 hours into glassing.

I kinda' hear this rustle in an oakbush right next to me and just chalked it up to a chipmunk. A second later I get a whif of a skunk, but being so intent on glassing I still didn't pay no nevermind to the developing situation. I didn't bother to look until I felt something brush against my left leg.

I was too startled to move much, I just looked down and low and behold there is a damn skunk sniffing the ground right between my feet! I still had the binos up to my face and didn't even dare move my eyes. I held my breath, but not cause the skunk stank but once again, I was afraid to move.

That skunk kind of sticks his nose in the air then looks up right at me. He then proceeds to stand up and rest his front feet on my knee and sniffs real hard. I guess he didn't figure I was too much of a threat cause he went back to his task of food hunting. He wasn't making very good time leaving the area. He just kept scrathing the ground and scavaging.

He then looked back into the oakbush where I first heard the rustle and made a wierd noise and I'll be darned if two baby skunks didn't emerge from the brush. He turned out to be a she and they all just meandered off of the ridge top.

I awkwordly thought, "It's like being in a damn 'Snow White' movie." then just continued glassing until dark.

So I head back to the cabin to meet the land owners for the first time. I beat them there. The other guide I was with allready had dinner fixin' and had allready met the land owners. and I just went to the living area and was watching T.V.

I hear the land owners pull up but just continued watching T.V. I hear the door open and the ruckus of people, bags and kids trying to get situated in the other room.

Sub-conciously I hear "Chaddy, come back here!", but didn't think too much of it as there was a pretty good show on the outdoor channel and they were about to kill whatever they were hunting. Once again being too intent on what I was concentrating on, I wasn't paying attention to events that were unfolding.

Out of the corner of my eye I see this grey "dog" make it's way up on the couch, then jumps on the head of the couch. About the time the shot range true as it usually does on the tube, this cold nose starts sniffing my ear. I'm an animal lover and just reach up and start petting this "dog". I finaly move on to more impressing buisness and decide to finally meat my new friend.

I turn and look at this "dog" and I'll be darned once again if I wasn't staring face to face with a RACOON! I instantly stop petting this coon and to take a few moments to evaluate the situation. I was in the position much like a person would be in if a cop tells you to put your hands in the air.

About the time I think "OK. This is weird" That racoon must of realized it had never met me before either and hissed at me in an utmost, I dare say 'evil' manner.

This combined with the skunk was too much for one day. Needless to say big guys, are fully capable of throwing a blood curdling scream. "YEEEEOOOWWWW!!!!!!!" I yell.

I jump of the couch ready to give my best go with this racoon that was dead set on showing fangs and puffing up into a fighting posture.

About the time I double up my fist and ready to take a swing, Snow White (A very pretty land owners wife.) herself enters the room and says "Chaddy!!!!! I told you to get back here!" She quickly defused the situation and introduced her self and informed me that 'Chaddy' loves to play, and opologized for allowing Chaddy to scare me.

I think I still had my fist doubled as she gathered Chaddy and went back into the other room to gather kids and such, leaving me with my jaw still dropped.

As she left the room I thought "This is like being in a Snow White movie!"

Todd

 

[arch3614elk]

Great stories everyone..

One of my best memories was when we were hunting deer back 1990, I was with my brother in law and most of our hunting party. We were getting ready to head back to camp when we could hear a faint rumbling noise and it was getting louder very quickly. All of a sudden we saw a freight train of elk all in single file on a dead run. They crossed the dirt road and dropped in to the canyon we were just in. We counted one hundred and sixty elk.

 

[nickman]

Fishing up on the Campbell, we were trolling past this rocky cove and a bull moose and cow were standing by the shore bellering like crazy.

We got out the binos and finally saw about a forty pound moose calf wedged upside down in the rocks right above the water. We put in on a sandy spot about 50 yards away and my cousin and I walked up and lifted that calf out, turned loose of it and it ran to the cow......the bull immediately charged down the shoreline and even chased me into the water......ungrateful bum!

Now, I am buying every story on here except Slamdunk's eagle and fawn thing.

It never ceases to amaze me how these eagle stories spread around. Do some research.....ten pounds is about max for an eagle to carry and even one study on a captive trained bird, only got up to 14 pounds.

 

[Jbozahunter]

Great stories, nice to have a thread we can all enjoy.

Not hunting, but fishing/camping stories...
More years ago than I like to admit, we were camping in the Wyoming range and me, not liking to sleep inside, I was on the ground in my mummy (read can't move quickly)bag. So anyway, after a late night around the fire, I woke to the "earlybirds" singing their songs, and poked my head out to look around, and lo and behold there's a young bull moose standing right over top of me staring intently.

Being pretty much raised in the outdoors, and schooled accordingly, I knew not to move quickly, or at all, so I slowly covered my head back up, and waited for him to leave. After what seemed like forever, I summoned the nerve to take another look, he was still there, only now closer, his nose was within a foot of my head. I thought for sure he would stomp me, but there was nothing I could do but cover up again.

Again, I waited for what seemed like an eternity, and this time, he was gone. I twisted around, and saw him walking into the trees behind camp.

From that point on, I slept in at least a tent.

One more, also a moose story....
About six years after the previous encounter, my dad and I are up fishing a small creek in the Wind Rivers. Being that I am fully aware that my dad can outfish me anytime he wants, I try to get as far ahead of him, as quickly as I can, so maybe I'll have a chance for some fish.

So I'm what I figure is a comfortable distance ahead of him, and doing fairly well in the fish department, when I spy a stellar hole just ahead. (Keep in mind this is about 8:00 in the morning) So I am looking at this hole intently, trying to figure out the best way to fish it, and from which direction.

This is a very small creek, completely encased by willows, and access areas to the holes can be challenging to say the very least, so I'm pushing my way through, dreaming of the fish that lays in wait for my bait to float by, when I walk face first into the rump of a very large moose.

Needless to say, we were both EXTREMELY surprised!! I went one way, dropping my tackle, and rod right there, and the moose turned on the afterburners, across the creek, and directly through some people's camp, taking down three tents in the process. I never slowed down, until I was about 1/4 mile away behind some large boulders.

I could hear the screaming and yelling from the camp, and figured out he wasn't chasing me (they told me it was a bull).
Nobody got hurt but it wasn't the nicest way to wake up!!!

From that point on, I have always been WAY careful when walking through willows I couldn't see through.

 

[slamdunk]

Wow, more participation on this thread than i expected, thanks to everyone and i have enjoyed each and every story!!

Especially the coyote and flea stick.
D13er......you kill me man!!

Keep 'em coming people, pretty fun thread!!

 

[huntin100]

While hunting elk about 10 years ago on San Juan, we were heading back to camp. We saw a bobcat run across the road. A few miles down the road we ran into Jason and Garth Carter. A young mountain lion around 70 lbs, crossed the road in front of them. It was about 35-40 yards away. Jason started videoing and Garth did a mouse squeek call. The young lion staired at the truck, more squeeks, the lion starts walking towards their truck. Acouple more mouse squeeks and the lion runs right for the truck and hits Jasons window, as the window is being frantically rolled up. They got it on film. I would not have believed it if, I had'nt seen the video. That lion was planning on diving into their truck. The video would be a good post.