Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
02-28-2003, 12:42 PM
#32
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern, VA
Posts: 163
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
One afternoon while I was walking back to the truck and I came across something that I' ve never seen before. The trail I was on ran along the side a draw, there were sloping ridge' s that ran parallel to the bottom of the draw, so it was about a 15-20ft. drop between these ridge' s.
Anyway, I was just coming to the top of one of these ridges and I look across to the next ridge and just on the back slope of this ridge I see this head and two big ears looking directly back at me. Since this animal had to be about 10ft. tall for his head to be at that level, I wasn' t real sure what I was lookin at. So, I creep a bit closer to top of the ridge I was on, and it turns out this animal was a doe that was standing straight up on her hind legs doin the same thing I was, peepin over the next ridge to see who was coming.
Anyway, I was just coming to the top of one of these ridges and I look across to the next ridge and just on the back slope of this ridge I see this head and two big ears looking directly back at me. Since this animal had to be about 10ft. tall for his head to be at that level, I wasn' t real sure what I was lookin at. So, I creep a bit closer to top of the ridge I was on, and it turns out this animal was a doe that was standing straight up on her hind legs doin the same thing I was, peepin over the next ridge to see who was coming.
02-28-2003, 07:33 PM
#33
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: WV USA
Posts: 383
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
I was squirrel hunting this past year with a friend and we were sneaking down a logging road and heard something we stopped and five chipmunks came flying down the trail towards us and up a tree and there was a ermine right behind them snappin his teeth he jumped up the tree but gave up chase when he saw us, we couldnt get a shot at it.
Where i bowhunt there is a three-legged squirrel that i see almost everyday, there is a adundance of red foxes there and i think that one of them got ahold of him but he got away, he isnt a real good climber and is VERY fat, he almost seems like a pet because i see him so much and he never runs from me.
Where i bowhunt there is a three-legged squirrel that i see almost everyday, there is a adundance of red foxes there and i think that one of them got ahold of him but he got away, he isnt a real good climber and is VERY fat, he almost seems like a pet because i see him so much and he never runs from me.
03-01-2003, 09:33 PM
#34
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Darien, IL
Posts: 6,744
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
Had to be atleast ten years ago.................
I was sitting up in a treestand I had propped up against about a 25 foot spruce. Although when we made camp a few days earlier it wasn' t all together cold, some very frigid weather had moved in and the temps dropped like a spine-shot buck!
I had carefully cut and embedded my stand into this spruce and used all the trimmings to " close me in" up in my stand. All with the intention of protecting myself from the wind and cold.
I was sitting on a small pond behind one of the apple and pear orchards. Where I could see down over a very small valley and creekline, and in front of me was the pond.
Right after first light set in I made out some motion in the transition grasses between the orchards and the pond. It was a pair of does, coming in for a drink. It was a very nice view, almost touching the heart, as I watched their reflections in the pond, these two were obliviously enjoying a drink and each others companionship. When they finished drinking, each licked the others mouth as if a napkin. I continued to watch their reflections in the pond as the sunlight added a beautiful golden hue to the picture before me. They both started walking down the fencerow adjacent to the orchard they had emerged from.
As I continued to watch their images fade I realized that their images hadn' t faded so much because of them slowly walking away, but that the entire pond had just started to freeze over and had turned to a surface of a giant slurpee.
I felt really close to nature that morning. I expressed my heartfelt thanks to the Lord late that same day, as my Dad and I prayed over the buck I had shot as it too came to the pond.
Over the years the orchards treated us and many fellow guest hunters wonderfully. Producing excellent examples of great southern Illinois whitetails.
The orchards are no longer owned by my Grandfather who passed away many years ago, or our family. We no longer hunt there. But I do go by every year just to keep my memories of those years fresh. I will stop and talk to the farmer who now owns the place, and his son and others who now hunt there. The deer still come to the pond. And the hunters are still in the stand on the spruce, taking offspring of animals we harvested years ago. They never knew who put that stand there until we were talking about it one day. The son told me to take that stand if I wanted it, it was mine he said. That wasn' t why I spoke of it though. I think that particular stand BELONGS right there. For all to hunt, for all to look out over that little pond, unknowingly awaiting another magic moment' s arrival.
I like being there, among the spirits of both my own Father and Grandfather who will always be hunting the orchards.
P.S.-I think I' m going to ask if I can hunt that stand one more time. I just have to! If I should get the opportunity, I will leave my slug gun in the truck. I' d be hunting with the old Higgins pump my father left me, the one he had harvested so many deer with.........anything else just wouldn' t do!
I was sitting up in a treestand I had propped up against about a 25 foot spruce. Although when we made camp a few days earlier it wasn' t all together cold, some very frigid weather had moved in and the temps dropped like a spine-shot buck!
I had carefully cut and embedded my stand into this spruce and used all the trimmings to " close me in" up in my stand. All with the intention of protecting myself from the wind and cold.
I was sitting on a small pond behind one of the apple and pear orchards. Where I could see down over a very small valley and creekline, and in front of me was the pond.
Right after first light set in I made out some motion in the transition grasses between the orchards and the pond. It was a pair of does, coming in for a drink. It was a very nice view, almost touching the heart, as I watched their reflections in the pond, these two were obliviously enjoying a drink and each others companionship. When they finished drinking, each licked the others mouth as if a napkin. I continued to watch their reflections in the pond as the sunlight added a beautiful golden hue to the picture before me. They both started walking down the fencerow adjacent to the orchard they had emerged from.
As I continued to watch their images fade I realized that their images hadn' t faded so much because of them slowly walking away, but that the entire pond had just started to freeze over and had turned to a surface of a giant slurpee.
I felt really close to nature that morning. I expressed my heartfelt thanks to the Lord late that same day, as my Dad and I prayed over the buck I had shot as it too came to the pond.
Over the years the orchards treated us and many fellow guest hunters wonderfully. Producing excellent examples of great southern Illinois whitetails.
The orchards are no longer owned by my Grandfather who passed away many years ago, or our family. We no longer hunt there. But I do go by every year just to keep my memories of those years fresh. I will stop and talk to the farmer who now owns the place, and his son and others who now hunt there. The deer still come to the pond. And the hunters are still in the stand on the spruce, taking offspring of animals we harvested years ago. They never knew who put that stand there until we were talking about it one day. The son told me to take that stand if I wanted it, it was mine he said. That wasn' t why I spoke of it though. I think that particular stand BELONGS right there. For all to hunt, for all to look out over that little pond, unknowingly awaiting another magic moment' s arrival.
I like being there, among the spirits of both my own Father and Grandfather who will always be hunting the orchards.
P.S.-I think I' m going to ask if I can hunt that stand one more time. I just have to! If I should get the opportunity, I will leave my slug gun in the truck. I' d be hunting with the old Higgins pump my father left me, the one he had harvested so many deer with.........anything else just wouldn' t do!
03-03-2003, 09:57 PM
#35
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Minneola, Central Florida, USA
Posts: 246
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
A small hawk had mistaken my semi-long hair for an animal of pray.
One stood up on top of a rock after chasing the other off, feeling full of it' s self. Next thing I know the little bugger is just gone and a kestrel was winging off between the trees. He had come right over my head, grabbed that little guy and was gone as silently as he had come. It was neat to see.
03-06-2003, 05:39 PM
#36
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 26
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
When I was 13 yrs old hunting with my Dad and his buddies in PA, they had a bear scare around the camper 2 years early. It involved someone running back thru the mountain laurel with his pants around his legs screaming, " Bear! Bear!" in the middle of the night. So my 2nd year there as the greenhorn, the story is told as an initiation of fear which the old timers thought was funny. I shot my first whitetail buck next opening morning, 6 am, 2 hrs back in the forest. It took 5 hrs to drag out. Walking thru a sea of mountain laurel can be intimidating to a kid, especially when he starts to see, Bear crap, Bear prints, was that a Bear sound? then all of a sudden the brush 5 feet in front of you erupts! With huge killer!....
Ringneck Pheasants... True story. To this day the oldtimers still give a great ribbing!
Ringneck Pheasants... True story. To this day the oldtimers still give a great ribbing!
03-07-2003, 08:38 PM
#37
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Bath Maine USA
Posts: 20
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
Bow hunting in Pa.a couple of years ago I saw a nice ten point buck at about 50 yards browsing thru the brush. He bedded down and three does came into the same area and browsed and bedded nearby. It was like a wildlife movie. After about an hour of this routine a buck with a rack as big or bigger came into the area and browsed right up to the does. He went to one doe to smell her and the bedded down buck exploded into action and with head down and ten long tines forward charged like a runaway freight train and ran right over the other buck, who rebounded and took off with Mr. Big on his butt through the brush and over blowdowns out of sight and hearing. The does just sort of milled around and I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of the stand.
03-08-2003, 11:34 AM
#40
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: riverview n.b canada
Posts: 6
RE: Wierd things you' ve seen while hunting!!!
Three years ago during deer season, i had just left my cabin to walk to my stand , when i felt something hit my shoulder . looking at my shoulder i noticed a large amount of white liquid running down my coat sleeve. Wondering what in the world it was , i heard a sound above me , as i looked up a great horned owl was sitting on a limb about ten feet above. Just as i realised what had happened another great load landed square in my face. Now i know that owl knew what he was doing cause he just stared down at me with what im sure was a smile on his face. Went back to camp to get my buddy to show him the mess . Of course he got a laugh out of it. When we walked over to see if the owl was still there, my friend looked up just in time for the great beast to let go another mess. Missed him by inches. This seemed to annoy the owl so he took off. good thing to , because i dont think i could of took any more.