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Closest you have ever had a big game animal to you while hunting.

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Closest you have ever had a big game animal to you while hunting.

Old 10-04-2020, 04:23 PM
  #1  
Fork Horn
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Default Closest you have ever had a big game animal to you while hunting.

I spoke to a friend today who is hunting the same ranch as me, he related that he had a little 6x6 bull come in to 6 feet this weekend, it got me thinking, what is the closest you have been to big game while hunting....no birds.....I have been within 6 foot of whitetail a few times I would say. I have been within 20 yards of elk. How about you?
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Old 10-04-2020, 05:45 PM
  #2  
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well off the top of my head, I have had, deer, elk, bears and caribou walk up and smell me and touch me with there noses!
I have had foxes and even a coyote do the same, along with several other small like sized animals, and countless squirrels and such walk on me while in a stand!
I have also been able to stalk close enough to touch countless large game animals, and have crawled into a few bear dens with bears too?
so, for me, I know I have actually touched many many live wild animals over the decades or them touch me as well!
and LOTS of birds too from small to large hawks and owls?
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Old 10-04-2020, 06:25 PM
  #3  
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Well to be honest, I've had several animals including black bear, deer and fox get very close to me. And likely would have got closer had I not done something the alert them to my presence. Let's face it. They are wild animals and you really don't know how they will react to you. I've waved my hand so deer wouldn't get any closer and spoke softly to a couple bear that got too close for comfort. To get within touching distance is IMO not very wise.
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Old 10-04-2020, 11:21 PM
  #4  
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Before they had a moose season here a couple of us walked up and fed a couple of moose some old cabbage and they appeared to have loved it. I have walked up within 15 feet unknowingly of a sow with two cubs. She didn’t like me there and I didn’t like being that close either. She held her ground by snapping her jaws at me and getting up and down on her hind legs. I wasn’t very equipped with only a fishing rod in my hand as I was walking into a stream to trout fish. The only thing that I could think about is bears don’t like hounds and tried to bark like a hound and she moved back away from me about another 15 feet. So I backed to a big opening and let her and the cubs move on. It was a scary situation to be in. Lesson learned is to make noise when walking in there for trout fishing.. Last year hunting moose I had one get up roughly 10 feet from me but he was wounded and dropped his head for a charge and he was shot in the nose and he then run away from me. Yes I got him in the end..
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Old 10-05-2020, 12:33 AM
  #5  
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I was sitting next to a cornfield in my jeep at dawn. I was just glassing a popular crossing point for Deer from a feeding area to a bedding area doing a little scouting. My dog was asleep in the back seat. A Buck busts out of the Corn maybe 15 feet away. He looked left, then right, and then decided the shortest way to where he wanted to go was right through the open doors of my Jeep. He had his nose in the passengers door when my dog woke up and started barking like a maniac. The Buck switched ends and took off, I just managed to grab my dogs collar. I've had other close calls, but this time I had a vivid mental picture of being trampled by those hooves.
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Old 10-05-2020, 07:43 AM
  #6  
Fork Horn
 
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I could have reached out and touched 3 whitetail does when I had a buck tag, but I didn't want to spook them and any bucks that might be nearby
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Old 10-05-2020, 08:32 AM
  #7  
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while wearing a similar ghillie suit, to the picture below,
I had a couple does stand about 3-4 feet away and sneeze and stamp hoves trying to get me to move.
I had a racoon walk up to me while wearing that ghillie suit and circle me several times,
he knew something was not right but could not figure it out.
on a different occasion,while I was sitting against a stump wearing the ghillie suit,
I had a doe bed down about 20 ft away
she stayed there for at least 30 minutes, then got up and wandered away.
making me a firm believer in use of a ghillie suit where its allowed


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Old 10-05-2020, 09:54 AM
  #8  
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20 yards but you have to remain very still, not make noise and have the wind in your favor. It's fun to watch the critters that close. They'll stare at you and try to bait you into moving. But if you remain still, don't make noise and they can't wind you, they'll move away slower instead of an absolute run when they suspect you're actually some kind of animal or person. It helps if your outline is broken up some but the wind will still bust you. Still a lot of fun though.
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Old 10-05-2020, 11:44 AM
  #9  
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I was hunting doves one September standing just inside a corn row on the edge of an alpha field and a big doe came along the edge of the alpha and the corn and stopped in front of me and started to eat the alpha. I could have touched her without stretching my arm.
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Old 10-05-2020, 01:12 PM
  #10  
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i had a fawn come within reaching out & touching it. it was lost & crying for it's momma. who with in seconds was on her tail
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