Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

I frequent another board called thehighroad.com. There is a great thread over there about the strangest thing you've ever seen in the woods. Credit goes to Johnpl for starting it. It was so interesting that I thought I'd ask the same question over here.

Tell us about the wildest, coolest thing that you've ever seen or had happen to you while in the woods.

Here's one of mine...

Probably the coolest thing I've ever seen while hunting...

Bowhunting in a swamp, I was sitting on a homemade ladder stand, literally. The only trees were old cypresses that were ridiculously wide at the bottom, maybe 4 feet across that would taper up to 12 inches across 5 feet up so I had to come up with something else. I took an old 8 foot aluminum step ladder, painted it camo, and bolted a bass boat seat to the top. Threw it over my shoulder and hiked out in the swamp with it. I could set it up anywhere quickly. Was sitting on it with my bow propped on my knee, nocked arrow about 4 inches from my face, a hummingbird flew right up to my face a tried to suck from the fletchings on my arrow. They were purple and pink. He wasn't 5 inches from my eyeballs. Flew away and then came back to try the fletchings on the arrows in the side mounted quiver. It was incredible.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

Thats pretty cool

I was hunting out of my cousins tree stand a few years ago. I shot a small buck at about 15 yards. The arrow zipped through so fast i didnt see exactly where i hit it. The deer just trotted off, didnt jump or react wildly in any way. He went about 40 yards straight away from me and kept looking back. I thought that i had missed so i knocked another arrow and was waiting for a shot. After a few minutes of looking back, he put his head down and started EATING, he ate acorns for about 15 minutes and then his rear leg starting shaking. After about a half hour after the shot he fell over and died. It blew my mind, after field dressing him i found that i had taken out one of his lungs and passed just behind the other, it was a quartering shot. I couldnt believe it, he had an arrow pass through his lung and out the other side and he stopped to eat like he didnt even feel a thing. It was so wierd, never seen anything like that.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

A black bear sitting in my stand...chewing on the seat!

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

I've had an alligator come walking by my stand, right in the middle of the woods. I guess he was just out for a stroll. Made me think twice about my walk back.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

i didn't see it in the woods per se, but i saw it after it was killed...
a guy i know killed a nine point spike once. one of the weirdest things i have ever seen. it had 9 separate main beams growing from the deer's head. there were no multiple points on any of the beams. there were 4 "sets" of spikes lined up one right after another with a single spike at the back. quite odd...
mother nature can be so strange.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

This past Sept I was bear hunting up in northern Ontario. I was up in the tree and it had started to rain.. so I put up my umbrella that attaches to the tree. Then a little while later I hear this whoosh, whoosh, whoosh noise right above my head. Peek out from under the umbrella.. and it was a bald eagle swooping down on the white fletchings of my arrows that were in my quiver attached to the tree right in front of me. He banked hard when he saw me peek out from under than umbrella. Needless to say that was the closest I've ever been to a bald eagle.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

Probably not all that uncommon, but cool all the same. Had a red squirrel making all kinds of noise about 15 yards from my tree, and saw a hawk swoop down on it, just as the squirrel got between two trunks of a forked tree and the hawk missed. The hawk then perched on a tree about 10 yards from me at just about eye level and was watching this squirrel. Out of nowhere, about 8-10 blue jays appeared and sort of surrounded the hawk. They were squawking up a storm, and basically ran the hawk off, pursuing it all the way. Pretty wild watching these little birds all gang up on a fairly large bird of prey.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

One day last season I was perched high in my treestand watching two rabbits feed approx. 10 yards from my tree. Out of nowhere a hawk swooped out of the sky and grabbed the smallest of the two rabbits. I was amazed at how quickly the whole event happened and also by how quiet everything was. I never heard a sound from the hawk or the rabbit.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

I have two things I have seen that I thought were pretty cool. The first was a couple of years ago bowhunting. I had an owl land on a branch not 5 feet from me. He knew something wasn't right and kept staring, turning his head and stuff. It was really neat.

The other was last year late in November. I had a bobcat wander up to within 20 feet of my stand with a snake in his mouth. It bedded down and proceeded to eat the thing right there. Not as good as the alligator but neat all the same.

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I was walking to my stand and picked up a white skunk with my flashlight. So I stayed back and watched him for 5 minutes before finally getting to my stand. The skunk was all white with a small black stripe on it's back.

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I was sitting in my stand one evening and a small bird (a Chicadee I think) landed on the tip of my arrow just in back of the broadhead. It stood there looking at me and cocking it's little head trying to figure out what I was for about 5 minutes. I was afraid it would step on the broadhead and cut a toe off or something, LOL.

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not really strange or weird but it was kinda cool to watch 3 foxes play around in a field for about an hour last year

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

2 years ago i had to give up one of my stands that i had in a pine tree, got to the stand 1 morning and as i climbed up the tree i noticed something in my stand at first i thought it was a racoon but when i got right under the stand imagine my suprise when i spotted a big old porcupine, needless to say the stand was his lol

last year i climbed up into my stand and as soon as it started getting light out i started hearing very low clucks and cheeps,, well i hadnt hunted the stand for 2 weeks so i had no idea the nite before a flock of turks had roosted all around my stand includeing a tom right in the tree my stand was in was a very interesting if not noisey morning

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Last year while i was walking to my stand i saw some turkey out in the field, i watched them for awhile and started to walk away when i saw a fox pop its head up about 10 yards behind the flock. I watched the turkey move across the field and the fox popping his head up every so often. I watched them til they got to the woods, needless to say the fox wasn't very sly that day cause he left without a meal.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

I was leaning against a fallen tree, turkey hunting in the spring, when the log seemed to jump and then shake pretty hard. I had no idea what it was, until I looked over and saw that a squirrel had jumped down onto the log. He walked up the log until he was within two feet of me and looked me in the face for about a minute.

Another time while I was turkey hunting behind that same log, I turned to see what had made a noise behind me and I saw two bucks walking through the woods. They walked within 10 feet of me and never even looked at me. They finally cought my scent after they were about 70 yards past me and they trotted off.

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I havent seen many weird things in my woods. But last year i was sitting in my stand when i heard something running around the tree. It was to dark to notice it at first but when the sun finally came up i noticed it was a mouse or something that looked like a mouse that was running around the tree were my stand anchored on the tree. It was weird i guess!

I ALSO SAW BIGFOOT!!! :D

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

i think walking up on a black bear at dusk 20 yards w/ the bow was a little "freaky"!!!

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

Shot a big black bear this past spring in Northern Saskatchewan just off the river bank. It only ran about 50 yards after the shot and when we returned from dragging it out of the woods there was 2 bear in the boat eating out of our bags of dog food we used for a bait pile.

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Last fall i took a nice doe with my bow, perfect double lung shot, and she ran around behind my stand and dropped in sight. It was during the rut so i decided to give it a while before climbing down to see if a buck was following her. After a half hour i got down and walked to her, and to my amazement there was only half a deer there. She was over half eaten!! As i was gettin my camera out of my pack to get it on film i looked up to see a large coyote coming over a hump about 20 feet away. When it saw me it stopped and kinda looked at me a little comfused, then showed its teeth and growled a little, turned and trotted off about 40 yards and stopped again, and was joined by two more a little smaller then it.. I guess it was a female and a couple pups,, but they really wanted the rest of the deer, I got it on video, as they all circled me at about 75 or 100 yards away,, they made two circles around me before they left,, kinda spooky,, time to thin them out.

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A couple years ago I'm sitting in my stand I hear something above me. I freeze. Out of the corner of my eye I see a coon coming down the tree. Well it stops at my backpack, digs into it and trys to eat my sandwich. I didn't want to move, I was afraid I would scare it and it would jump on my face. After about 5 min he leaves, with half my sandwich. Not strange, but I think it was neat.

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hey, you jest, but i know a guy that SWEARS he was being watched by a "tall human-like, hairy figure" one time while he was hunting out of his stand. i personally think he's half goofy, but none-the-less he believes to this day he had an encounter with bigfoot...funny stuff...

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

Not sure which category this falls under .... A few years back during gun season I had gone back to NY and I was hunting around Lake Chatauqua and spotted a custom painted van (bright blue, purple and pink) in the woods on one of the snowmobile trails. There was only a light covering of snow, but the mag tires didn't do well on the muddy uphill grade and the guy must have gotten stuck.

I was getting closer when I heard someone shouting at me - "Hey - YOU come over here RIGHT NOW". What the .... ?

OK, well, I couldn't see who it was, so I was a bit hesitent. Again, "GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW". As I got closer I could see two guys in uniform (CO's) and another guy up against the side of the van in handcuffs, just like on "Cops".

So I lower my gun and walk up. The game warden asks me if I'm hunting. Ummm, DUH! - I'm walking through the woods, wearing blaze orange, and carrying a shotgun - what did he think I was doing ?

Anyway, after having me empty my gun, checking my license, etc. the gamey asks if I knew the guy. I told him that I had met him in the area a couple of times over the years, and I asked what was going on.....

It seems the guy had tried driving into the woods, rather than walking (a violation - no motor vehicles allowed in the state forest), he was smoking pot - he had a big bag of weed sitting on the engine cover (another violation), had his LOADED shotgun sitting on the seat, window down, apparently waiting for a deer to walk along close by (a violation for the loaded weapon in the vehicle) - and the guy had gotten so stoned he had fallen asleep in the back.

They psychadelic van in the woods made me wonder what my hunting buddies had put in my coffee, and it was definitely strange, and seeing the jerk get busted was definitely pretty cool.

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A few years back i went hunting one afternoon. And just before dark i had three doe`s walk up and one within 15yrds. I shot it and double lunged her she turn and ran back the way she came. I new i had a good shot and not much daylight so i came down and started trailing here i followed the blood trail just out of sight of my stand when i looked up and saw a deer lying there on the ground and another standing near the one laying there stairing right me the one standing turned and ran off. But as i looked a little closer to the one lying on the ground. There was hair and meat all over the place. Then i thought that could not be my deer as i got closer i noticed that the deer had just died and there was a hole through the its side and the blood trail lead straight to it. I walk over to the deer and looked closer it was my deer alright. I rolled the deer over to see half the shoulder and most of the ribcage missing. Then i had a real weird felling that something was stairing at me. I reached and grabed my nife and gutted it right there and very fast if i remember. I throwed a drag strap around its neck and off i went but i got turned around and now it was almost to dark to see. So i reached in my bag and grabed my small flashlight i keep i turned it on to find out that the batterys were almost dead. I drug the deer a little further when i gave out of breath and yeld for help my nephew awsered back and i realized i was not far off the trail we came in on. We got the deer out no one could believe it! not even the DNR that came buy a little latter could believe how this deer looked and that it happend so fast after i shot it. He sead it was most likely coyotes and the deer must have droped right in front of them. i`ll` never forget it!

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

A couple of years ago...I had a nice grey squirrel rummaging for nuts about 20yards infront of me. I had a hunkering to shoot so I changed out my broadhead for a judo point and let one go at him. Imagine my surprise when I actually him him. He rolled a few times and then struggled beneath some old blowdowns with my arrow still attached to him. I assumed he had died and I would retrieve him later.

After a while, I had resumed deer hunting and had forgotten about the squirrel, when I see something going up the backside of a tree about 30 yards out in front of me. I get my binos on it and it's my arrow!! I can plainly see the blue and gold fletching..boink..boink..boinking up the backside of the tree. Apparently the squirrel was hit in the back quarter, and had dragged himself away while I wasn't looking, and was now trying to escape!

He eventually stopped and died in a tree crotch about 35 feet up. 2 days later I got my arrow after something had made a snack out of him.

RE: Strangest, weirdest, coolest thing seen in the woods?
 

Well one time when I had just started bowhunting i was on my way too the stand for the morning, a little I might add I see this nice buck on the edge of the road crossing over into the section that i was going to be hunting. Well I flew up the road and got out grabbed my stuff and headed for my stand. Well I get too the edge of the road and see my buck crossing over to the next section. I grab my grunt call and start working this buck while on the ground. Well he responds and starts my way and I duck off into the woods. I crawl into my stand and set up and this squirrel comes crawling down the tree and is directly behind me on the backside of the tree and all the sudden he peeks around the tree. He was so close too my face that I could feel him breathing. Well he crawls on down to the base of my stand and decides to sit on my boot. Well here comes Mr. Buck so I start to stand up to get ready and this darn squirrel felt me moving my foot and decided to let everything in the woods know that things were bad in the neighborhood. Needless to say my buck retreated quickly. I did get my revenge on the little bushy tailed tree rat though when he crawled back up the tree and jump in front of my boot I kicked him halfway too Timbuktu.

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My father, Uncle and myself were small game hunting in PA. It was late season and we were rabbit hunting in a old strip mine. I come over a ridge and see a skunk. I yell to my uncle that there is a skunk down the ridge. He comes over as this skunk comes right at us, it is broad daylight and we are talking in normal tones, and the skunk keeps coming. We wave and kick the dirt, but old smelly keeps coming. My uncle says if he gets to that bucket about 10 feet away shoot him, somethings wrong with him. Well he keeps coming gets to the bucket and I shoot my trusty 12 gauge over/under from the hip. Of course I miss low. Shouldered the gun and whammo let him have it with the second barrel. We beat feet it out of there as the smell is coming on strong from the point blank blast of #6 shot.

I still wonder to this day if he was sick or some little girls pet that got out and never returned.