Strangest Thing Observed In The Woods

[goemado]

OK, it's a relatively quiet time of year in the woods for most of us...so let's have some fun and tap the memory banks.

Let's read about those crazy/odd things you've witnessed or been a part of out in the woods. And feel free to start with "this happened to a friend" if required :).

I'll start with a few (and set the bar low for the rest of you):

1. A few years ago I was walking out to an evening sit on the rifle opener. I walked near a large run on my way to my spot when I noticed a hunter in a pit blind that had been dug right in the middle of the run. It was barely 2 feet deep and right out in the open (no branches or anything for cover). The hunter, with a lit cigarette still in his mouth that had burned down almost to his mouth, was passed out in the pit with about 8-10 empty beer cans spread out around him. He was laying about 20 yards off a fairly busy road that the run crosses. Wonder how he did :)

2. This happened to a hunting buddy last gun opener. After some rattling in the fairly crowded public land around Houghton, he heard what sounded like another hunter rattling back at him from fairly close by. He told us he wasn't too happy that someone had chose to sit so close to him (and he hadn't seen/heard the guy walk in that morning). The other rattling went on for quite awhile. My buddy rattled a second time 30 minutes or so later but didn't get an answer. He had only seen one doe sneak by about mid-morning. As he was walking out that evening he noticed a hunter building a ground blind about 100 yards in front of him in on the edge of an open spot that he couldn't quite see from his blind. As he walked near the other hunter, the guy asked why he didn't shoot one of the two bucks that were fighting out in the open about 60 yards from where my buddy had been sitting (apparently the guy didn't have a shot either)...Yep, that wasn't another hunter...it was an actual buck fight!

OK, I'm sure there are better ones out there. Let's hear 'em

[Barry]

1. Many years ago when I was about 14, I was sitting on the edge of a field enjoying the fall colors and the quiet evening. slowly I heard a wooshing shound that kept getting closer and closer and louder and louder. I had no idea what it was but had visions of a dragon monster. Turned out to be hot air balloon flying low just above the trees. I never saw it until it crested the hill and was directly above me. Good thing I had a healthy heart.

2. In 1995 (+-) I found the shed antler of a Michigan moose in Baraga County. It was deer season and the shed must have fallen the previous winter. It rested on a rock surface and is the only explaination I have for it being in perfectly preserved.

:SHOCKED:

[whitmo28]

A couple years back I was hunting the last weekend of archery season, and the rut was in full swing. I had already shot a nice 6 point and I was waiting for a "MONSTER" because I wanted to gun hunt that year and I wasn't gonna just take a scrub buck. I passed up a decent 8 point and a couple six's when right before dark a doe ran with 8 yards of my tree and right on its tail was a wall hanger. I pulled back and placed my 100 grain spit fire a little behind the front shoulder because it was quartering away and let em have it. It ran off and I thought I heard it crash so I waited a while for some buddies of mine to come help track. We found very little blood and it looked as if the buck was stopping at every scrap in the woods! I was very bothered by this because it was the first buck I had shot and not found and decided to hang up the bow for the rest of the weekend. :sad:
Two weeks later I took the ol mosberg 500 out and sat on the edge of the same woods that I was in when I wounded the buck during archery season. At about 10 in the morning a doe walked out of the woods about 125 yards in front of me and right behind her was a shooter. I dropped it at 119 paces and walked up to it and saw another very well placed hole in its side. I figured that this had to be the buck I had shot exactly 2 weeks earlier with my bow, but I couldn't figure out why my shot with the bow didn't do the trick. Well when I boned it out, I found my CLOSED broadhead about 2 inches into the vital cavity. The buck lay about 40 yards from the tree that I shot him out of exactly 2 weeks earlier! :lol: Turned out to be a typical 8pt with a 19inch inside spread. Just glad I got a second chance, hope it never has to happen again.

[yippy]

One day during bow season a guy that camped near us walked up behind my blind at about 8:00 am. He said oops and wandered off. Same spot next morning at the same time I hear the idiot walking up to me again. The jerk was snapping every branch on the way in making as much noise as he could. I set my bow down stood up thinking of what im going to say to him. I just couldnt believe he would come walking through again. There was a small rise that prevented me from seeing until about 30 yards.

When the doe came over the rise I didnt know what to think. I just shook my head and laughed as she ran away. Noisiest deer I ever heard.

[dtg]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as strange, you be the judges.

Both incidents happend from the same stand on the same state land.

1). I was up in my tree when i heard a commotion comming down the trail. I looked over to see a mountain biker hauling butt down the trail. I gave a low whistle and he just looked around and kept going. Then a second guy came and I gave a slightly louder whistle, once again, this guy looked around as he sped by. The third guy came through and I gave a loud "HEY!!!" Well that the attention of the third guy. He stopped dead in his tracks, looked all around as he huffed & puffed nervously. I yelled "LOOK UP" I then went on to inform him that him and his freinds were on State HUNTING Land and the sign at the start of the trail indicated NO BIKES. I then told him to inform his freind's that it was deer hunting season and they were'nt supposed to be on that land to begin with.

2). I was in the same stand that year and I witness another bow hunter walking through the woods with his bow. I was wondering what he was doing because he wasn't on the trail. He then layed his bow along a tree, proceeded to drop his pants and plant a land mine next to the same tree. He was about 150 yards from my stand. I didn't yell anything becuase I was laughing my **** off. I did move my stand after that for obvious reasons.

[nymph]

1) My bro-n-law and I were bow hunting behind my folks place several years ago. Aside from deer, there are lots of squirrels a hawks around the area. Well, it was a fairly cold morning and my bro-n-law decided to try out his new insulated face mask. You know the kind, they cover your entire face, with just a slit for your mouth and eyes. Well, he had been enjoying the company of a squirrel for most of the morning. He would run up and down the very tree that he was resting his back on. As he watched the squirrel come up the tree, he noticed a hawk that had snuck into an adjacent tree. As he watched the hawk, he thought he was going to see him make an attack run on the squirrel, but instead, he made an attack run on him! The hawk came down and smucked my bro right on top of the beaner! He pulled his face mask about half way off his head and made some real nice diggers on top of his melon. If I hadn't seen the marks for myself, I don't think I would have believed it.

2) This is more of a kool story instead of strange. I was bowhunting a swamp stand up near Gaylord several years ago. I would always toss out a coffee can full corn to try and bring the deer in, but usually only ended up feeding the local red squirrel. Well, sure enough, I was sitting there on an evening hunt and my red haired buddy was chowing down on the corn. I watched him run back and forth from the small pile to his den, as usual, until something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. As I slowly turned my head, I saw a cat... a bobcat! This cat had gotten within 25 yards of my stand and I had no idea he was there. He was crouched low to the ground, slowly making his way towards the corn. I was so excited I could hardly hold still. You would have thought a 10pt buck was coming in! Anway, he must have taken 15-20 minutes to make his way the last 20 yards to the corn. During this whole time, the red squirrel was still making his trips from the corn to his lair. The cat got to within 5 feet of the corn before crouching completely down to the ground. I just stood there in amazement wondering what was going to happen next. Sure enough, the squirrel came back for another load and WHAM! The cat snatched him up. Mind you, this all happened within 20 yards of me. The cat carried the squirrel in his mouth about 20-30 yards away and then proceeded to play with the squirrel like a house cat would play with a mouse. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen out hunting. Now the cat was sort of behind my left shoulder, so I could turn too far to watch him, but I could actually hear him brunching on the bones of that squirrel. Then, just as quickly as he had appeared....he was gone. What I would have given to have had a camera or camcorder with me. It was just like something you would have seen on television.


nymph

[CHUCK n BUCK]

I had the exact same experience with the hot air balloon a few years ago when me and my dad was spring turkey hunting. When were tucked down in the brush calling to a "hung up" tom when all of a sudden we heard this noise behind us.....whoooo....then closer......WWHHOOOO...we both looked at each other like we were gonners cause we had no idea what in the world it was. Then here comes the balloon just barly over the trees.

Needless to say I was locked and loaded and ready to fire when we finally saw the balloon. :lol:

[Gobblerman]

Here's a couple of strange stories while turkey hunting in Missouri.

* My brother told me that a turkey hunter was attacked by a bobcat prior to me coming down to hunt. Guess what the first morning I hunted in Missouri I had a bobcat within 15 yards of me stalking my decoys.

* The next morning in the predawn hours, still thinking about that bobcat all of a sudden a coon runs straight at me jumps and lands on the tree right above my head and proceeds to climb the tree. Needless to say my heart rate was racing prior to the first gobble of the morning.

:yikes:

[trailsend]

Walking down a trail in prelight i heard a racket off to my left. Then within seconds two deer ran in front of me with a small dog in hot pursuit not barking, just chasing. I was in full camo and my light in my pocket because it was a trail i walked often. It all happened so fast i looked up and running full bore down the trail right at me was a big ***** black dog. I about crapped my pants:yikes: i swung my bow up like a baseball bat and let out a death scream! That son of gun whirled around and started barking and circled me. Man i was spooked! My buddy heard my scream and came over to see if i fell and got hurt or something. We had a good laugh later and i took a little ribbing.Never saw them dogs again but i couldn't walk that trail without lookin over my shoulder.

[rabbit whacker]

I was sitting one morning during gun season. It was a cold November day. I can remember hearing this whhhhp, whhhp, zzzzzzzppp, zzzzzpppp then a thud at my feet. Not more than 10 feet from me dropped a freashly cooked morning dove from the powerlines I was sitting near. Scared me to death.

[woodsrat]

I was bow hunting in the early 70's from a tree stand with a recurve bow (of course). I was about 12 years old, I think. I was hunting near some cornfields near a large college that had a good share of Hippies. For you young guys, a Hippy was a long haired person who may or may not have smoked marijuana, used LSD and generally disapproved of adults or society in general and really disliked the Vietnam war.

Anyway, I'm in my stand watching some does on the back corner of this corn field when they look up and take off running. I turn around behind me to see what spooked the deer when a couple (male and female) of hippies walk up behind me. He was long haired, full beared, wearing big bell bottom pants and a vest with a large peace symbol on the back. She had a pair of hip hugger pants on (that's right guys, those were around once before) and had a flower in her hair that I watched him pick.

They lay a blanket down on the ground, proceed to smoke a joint and then......well you can imagine the rest. Anyway, when they were done I got down out of my treestand and walked out past them. The dude says, "Hey man, what you doing?" I said, "Hunting deer until you guys came along". He says, "Don't kill the animals man." I said, "Up yours, Hippy!" and took off running toward home. I don't think I will ever forget that. The whole thing sure looked alot different "live" than it did in the books my cousin hid in his fort. :tdo12:

[Splicer]

i was bowhunting my parents land in Whitecloud.when i seen movement off to my right.it looked like the guys dogs from up on the hill got loose and were coming my way.so i stand up to yell at them for messing up my hunt when a "dog" 5times there size walked out behind them.it was a bear with two cubs at about 40yrds away.so i sat back down and got real still. :yikes: i heard the storys about the cubs getting scared and running up the nearest tree.did i tell you all i was hunting a x-mas tree farm so i was in the biggest tree around.but they walked by like i was just part of the tree.that year there was tons of bear seen in the area.it would have been really if i was not so scared.
rick

[umas911]

1. Many years ago when I was about 14, I was sitting on the edge of a field enjoying the fall colors and the quiet evening. slowly I heard a wooshing shound that kept getting closer and closer and louder and louder. I had no idea what it was but had visions of a dragon monster. Turned out to be hot air balloon flying low just above the trees. I never saw it until it crested the hill and was directly above me. Good thing I had a healthy heart.

:SHOCKED:

Been there done that scared the crap out of me:yikes:

[Mickey Finn]

I guess it's not so strange but, while I was deer hunting in the seney nwr a couple years ago. I saw a pine martin take a red squirrel that had been distracting me for a couple of days. I silently cheered him.

[Fordfreak]

While walking to my bow stand a couple seasons ago, I noticed a large Red Tailed Hawk sitting in a tree at the end of the fence row I was walking. A few seconds later a hen pheasant explodes out of the tall grass and scares the hell out of me. :yikes:
As soon as it reached cruising speed, that hawk nailed it in mid air causing both birds to tumble to the ground in a puff of feathers. I never knew they could take their prey out of the air like that!!!!

Fordfreak

[stick bow]

When I first got married money was tight and I wanted a hunting suit that I couldn't afford. The wife and I were out one day and I talked her in to stopping at my favorite gun shop. While we were in the shop I saw the suit that I always wanted for a great price. I ended up buying the suit and put into storage for almost a year until the next gun season. At deer camp the next season, when I finally put the bibs on they fit kind of funny, they were kind if tight in the crotch, they just didn't fit right, I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem. I came to the conclusion that the suit was a second (flawed suit) and that was why it was so cheap, I took it back to the store but they went out of business. I couldn't afford another suit so I was forced to use that one dispite all the chaffing and discomfort, I wore it that way for about 6 years. One day an old friend came to visit us in camp, he had the same suit, I looked at him and said, hey idoit you have your bibs on backward, he said no idoit, you do. :lol: It was the first pair of bibs that I ever owned and was under the impression that bibs were always higher on the chest, well these were higher on the back, that explained the pockets too. Boy did I feel stupid. :gaga:

[Gobblerman]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: , Stickbow that is Hilarious.

[goemado]

Great stories! I'll add another true one that happened to me.

Several years ago during early bow season I was waiting near the pickup point of a two track for my buddy to cruise by. It was after dark and, for no good reason, I had left all my camo on and was sitting near a clump of bushes. A few minutes after I had sat down a set of headlights appeared down the track. The car drove by and pulled in about 30 yards from me. It was a young couple that had obviously been "partying". Well, the girl got out and started walking towards me. She gets almost to me before proceeding to drop her drawers and answer the call of nature - about 10-15 yards away! They had no idea I was there!

[dtg]

I got a couple more that I forgot about. I was out on a 36 acre parcel of private land sitting up in my tree and just as it started to get dark I hear this heavy base thump thump thump, like wings.....BIG wings. A HUGE owl landed about 4' above me and stayed there for about 15 minutes. I was in awe. I could have spit on it. This thing had a wing span of what seemed like 4'. It finally flew off. THAT was the COOLEST thing I've seen. It was also the first time I've seen an owl in Michigan. I didn't know we had such big ones here.

I was on the same parcel of land later that season in a different spot and I was watching a small yearling walk by on the trail and it stopped right as the trail entered the woods. I hear this loud crack and watch as a 30' dead tree decides to fall about 10' behind this poor yearling and scare it half to death, me included. Of course the yearling didn't sit around to see what the Heck happened, it took off on a dead run into the woods.

While turkey hunting a few years back, all in the smae morning, I sat there motionless as birds landed on my feet and a squirrel ran across my legs. LAter that morning I turned my head, very slowly to the right and spotted a doe with a young 'un about 20' away. they stopped, but she didn't give the snort/foot stomp I was expecting. I slowly turned my head back and waiting 15 minutes. I turned as just as quietly as they walked up on me they were gone. That ranks right up there with the COOLEST things that have happened to me while hunting our great Michigan outdoors.

I didn't bag anything on any of those days, but it is those types of days that keeps me coming back year after year. Bagging something is only a bonus of hunting for me.

[Ole Spike]

My brother and I were preseason scouting and we walked up on a small gray squirrel. It was only about ten yards or so away so we froze and figured we would just watch it until it saw us and spooked. Soon it spotted us and instead of hopping away, it starts coming towards us. I thought it didn't recognize us as humans yet and thought it would be cool to see how close it gets. It kept hopping towards me and when it got about 3 feet away I realized it was going to jump up on my leg! I got unnerved and ran back a few steps and the little sucker kept coming! My brother is dying laughing at this squirrel chasing me but I guess it heard him and then turned and went after him. He stepped back a few steps and then ran towards me and we both ran about 50 yards, looked back and he's still coming! At this point we both ran all the way back to the truck and get in as we figure maybe the thing is diseased or has rabies and might bite us. Sure enough he followed us all the way to the truck and just sat there looking around for a few minutes and then hopped off. As we sat there laughing, I realized that I had actually locked the doors of the truck after we got in, as if the squirrel was going to try and come in the truck after us!

I dont' know if it was sick or if we just looked like his mama or something but my brother and I still laugh about two 200 lb. hunters being chased out of the woods by a 1 lb. squirrel!

[NEMichsportsman]

Ole Spike your story is pretty funny, I would have loved to see that one on americas funniest videos!!!


Had a similiar experience with a partridge...except that it would come running everyday when I was outside. Sometimes it took a while to figure out that I was outside, but eventually it would come. It would be kinda puffed up and peck at my leg (if I let it get that close). If I was running a mower or weed whacker it would be fluttering around in front of me the moment that the motor started. I literally had to go out of my way to avoid running it over as it was constantly in front of me. The first time I saw it i thought it was cute, after an entire summer of it hanging around I was pretty sick of it. something about an animal acting so out of character gave me the creeps. Eventually it disappeared, I think it fell victim to a 'yote or fox........

[POLARBEAR]

about 15 yrs ago i was hunting on opening day in the up by norway. i was sitting in my post and could hear a bunch of ruckuss down one of my shooting lanes. as it became light i could see a bobcat tossing a snowshoe around at my bait pile. i watched him play with that rabbit for 20 minutes before he finally made off with it. poor rabbit turns white even if there isnt snow! lol.

one night in the fall we were fishing for salmon on the big manistee river. i was out about knee deep and had a fish splash me. it was right in front of me, next thing i know it is bumping into me and then the fish swims like mad right on shore and starts flopping around. my buddy looked at me and we just started cracking up. i couldnt believe the fish did that. lol

[walleyerick]

A few years ago, I was sitting in a tree stand on top of a ridge near Traverse City. Now picture this!!! It was quiet, the sun was going down, it was getting to be prime time. When all of a sudden, without warning. An F-15 fighter jet skims the tree tops going 400+mph. The jet wash alone just about pulled me out of the tree. I could see the piolts face and I got drenched in jet fuel. That's how close he was.:yikes: Needless to say, I didn't see any deer that night.

[TLWOODS]

Two Great Horned Owl stories.

I was watching a couple of squirrels, not 15 feet from my tree stand, when out of nowhere an owl came crashing, and I mean crashing down through the trees and hit one of the squirrels and went crashing to the ground. He sat there for nearly 1/2 an hour before he recovered enough to fly off with dinner.I always thought they were a graceful hunter. Nothing graceful about this attack.

One day while rabbit hunting with some friends in a very thick crab applepatch we flushed a flock of young owls. There were at least 8-10 owls, allabout 12-14" tall. They were flying all over for an hour or more. they didn'twant to leave. It was really creepy to have them flying so close for so long.

[Brownsdown]

A couple years ago my father, brother and myself where hunting up in Alpena,, we where set to leave that night,,, my brother was burnt out so he stayed at camp to break it down and pack up the truck. My father and i went out for the evening hunt,,,,,, we hunted a area we normaly did not spend much time in but hey what the heck its the last night you never know..........We left our stands back at camp to be packed away so we where grounded.......So anyway i walked on in and my father walked up the 2 track another 200 yds or so and cut in,,,,,,here is where it gets weird..... its mid October nice warm sunny day cutting down to prime time....... the woods got so quiet you would swer you are going to lose your mind..........and i hear all kinds of noise coming from my right rear,,,,,,,, i stood real slow and focused on getting a look before it got any closer.... i seen bits and parts of black coming right to me,,,, my heart is thumpping a 100mph all i could think of was a huge black bear........ wrong it was the biggest dam angus cow i have ever seen in my life,,, so here i am with my Mathews and my Muzzys this thing stops not even 15 feet from me, ya 15 feet,,,,,,, i called my dad on the radio to tell him and he could not beleive it, i have been around cows before and know they are a semi social animal so i thought it would be funny to take my belt of and lead it back to camp to show my bro,,,,,,well what happend next was scarry as hell i get 5 feet from this thing and lowers its head and charges me,,,, it only had one busted up horn but thats was enough for me,,, i kid you not it chased me around the base of a big oak tree about 3 or 4 times and then took of running into the tagalders........ i could not beleive it i called my dad told him what happend and he was laughting his butt off,,,,, my guess is the only farm around that i knew of was about 5 miles away he must have been a runaway.... he had a ear tag.....,,,, i will say this he did not make it through rifle season thats alot of camp meat........ i thought about it but even with a well placed shot i would have tracked that thing 20 miles and then pack it out,,,,,,,,, and not very ethical i guess....... o well weird man weird

[PWood]

Several years ago a very successful hunter friend of mine asked me to photograph one of his hunts. Since I love outdoor photography, I gladly agreed. We headed up to the woods around Mio/Mckinley(sp) where my friend had set up a couple of natural ground blinds about 40' apart, he in one and I in the other. After sitting for more than two hours, I heard some noise coming through the woods to my far right. I turned to find a button buck about 20 feet out slowly working his way towards my buddy. I snapped off a couple of shots and wondered what my friend was going to do. As I looked over I realized he was sound asleep. The small deer kept walking until he was less than 3 feet from my snoozing partner. The buck must have made some sort of noise because just then my friend's eyes popped open and he turned toward the deer. For a split second they stood there, eye to eye. The buck then jumped, did a quick 180 and ran back into the brush. My friend turned towards me with this look of complete bewilderment. I literally fell out of my seat laughing. The only thing I was sorry about was that it happened so fast I never got a picture of the "close encounter." BTW, the following day I did get some great shots of my friend harvesting a beautiful 8-point.

[TLWOODS]

reading some of these jogs my memory a bit, so here's another one.

as a teenager I trapped coon and muskrat down at the little creek that ran across our farm in southern mich. We would sometimes get Pike and Carp in our little creek, but usually in the spring. This particular trapping season we had a large pike hanging around. It was 36-40" long at least. We saw it several times during daylight hours. It chewed up two of my rats over the span of a couple days that were in leghold traps. Left nothing but a mangled carcass with it's leg still in the trap. I checked my traps before school which meant 5:00am every morning I'm knee deep with only a small flashlight and a walking stick. I was slowly making my way down the stream when I stepped into a slightly deeper hole and stepped on or near that fish.:yikes: He came unglued and made a large splash as he vacated the area and I think I wet myself. I was out of that water so fast Jesus would have been proud of me walking on water. I was back down there after school with my rifle. I was going to get that fish if it was the last think I did. Searched for several days ,but never saw that fish again and never lost another rat either. I guess it scared the beegeebies out of him to.:lol:

[Crappie John]

Not really strange but..
This past deer hunt we were up north huntin some land and I was with my friend and we walked down a trail and found a great swamp we put carrots on the other side, so he found a hole and sat down and I said I'd keep walking I pulled out my compass and said Ill be back here at 12:00 noon and this was at 7 am. so I took a bearing and followed the trail I then found some tracks and followed them for a mile around in this hilly land until i found a bunch of tracks like there was a buck fight, so I followed some more tracks over a hill and I saw a swamp. I sat down and thought this was a sweet place to hunt so I sat down and 11:00 came around so I called my friend on the radio and said I found another swamp to hunt and he responded "it's 11 and im heading in" I said ok Ill head into and and just as I stood up my friend radioed me that some guy was right by his bait pile. I look up and I see my friend, The whole time i was hunting the same swamp 3 feet from his bait pile that was behind a tree that blocked our view of eachother. :bash:

[Steven Arend]

One year, years ago while gun hunting for deer on state land just east of Baldwin I was sitting in me ground blind for the evening hunt. Off in the distance I could just make out the sound of a hoofed creature walking through the leave heading in my direction. After several minutes of straining to see what was making this noise I could see nothing. Now the ground still had standing ferns that came up just above the knees so I figured it most be a squirrel playing on the ground. With in 10 minutes the noise was so deafening and it use heading right at me, I got the gun ready and was going to shoot this monster that was coming to eat me. I could feel the earth start to shake, what ever it was it was right in front of me no more then 30 yards away and I could not see it. I was ready to let out my “WAR CRY” and charge out into the woods to try and at least get the first blood drawn before I was eaten alive.

(Typing this is bring back those feelings of horror that I hoped I would never feel again if I could just live to tell my story.)

Back to the tale of horror. So I stood up rifle in one hand and buck knife in the other and I yelled out my war cry at the top of my lungs “DADDY” and off I charged into the woods only to come face to face, about 10 yards into my charge, with a piglet stampede. That’s right there must have been 2 dozen of those little guys, just small enough that they were running under the cover of the ferns.

Well there you have the strangest thing that I have observed in the woods. Now the second strangest thing is a whole other story involving a little know event called the squirrel Olympics.

[DuckMan]

Strange story
About 15 years ago, a buddy and I are bowhunting about 100 yards from each other on my father's property. It's getting late and I happen to catch a doe running from my buddy's area right at me with an arrow sticking out of her head. I am a little shocked at the scene really but then she runs full bore, head first into a birch tree and falls dead at the base of the tree. Downright freaky. Not sure which actually killed her...the arrow or the tree.

Rare occurances
I am 17 years old deer hunting my father's favorite blind. I keep hearing noise which turned out to be a grouse scratching it's way along the path looking for food. Apparently I wasn't the only one that heard it because as I was watching the pat, it took off straight up with a young bobcat leaping up after it into the air. The bobcat missed it and when it landed had the biggest look of disgust on it's face you've ever seen. I think I just about crapped myself I was so shook up. It was moments like that where I vowed I would spend my life in the woods as much as possible to be able to see things like that.

About 5 years ago I am duck hunting in a marsh that has a lot of hawks hunting it as well. I am working some ducks that are circling near some trees and all of a sudden up from below a red-tailed hawk blasts one of the ducks, knocking it cold in mid air. Very cool scene that I will never forget.

Just dang funny
I am about 20 years old and 4 of us just arrived on a private stretch of river we had access to go salmon fishing. It's very dark. Pitch black. After the 3 hour drive, nature is calling so we all pile out to do our thing. We just get started relieving ourselves and a bobcat sqwalls not too far away. My same buddy, who is easily 350 lbs at 6'1" just about leaps up onto my back he was so scared. I am not sure if I have ever laughed that hard in my life.

Around the same age, this same buddy of mine is with me and my Dad shining deer in the summer. Dad is driving, and my buddy is on the passenger side of the truck. Dad shines a field and about 45 yards from the road, right next to a telephone pole, a buck ducks his head fast but we can still see the tips of his antlers. He won't move. My Dad tells my buddy to get out and spook him up so we can get a look at him. Now this buddy has been reading all these stories about deer attacking humans and he is leery as heck to do this. You can see it in his eyes. But he gets out and and takes 3 steps into the field and the buck jumps up and he runs screaming back to the truck. I think my Dad was the setup man that time.

Last story about this same buddy. Sorry Big Jim....you and I had too many good times not to share. Jim is afraid of snakes....BIG TIME. We are pulling up thornapple trees with the tractor to clear area for food plots. A nest of garter snakes is under one of them and I am running like crazy catching them while he is running like crazy the other way. I false chase him a few times with a snake and have him nervous as a cat. My Dad is yelling at us to knock off the crap and get back to work. So Big Jim is about 50 yards from me hooking up another tree, bent over and he knows I still have a snake that he thinks I am going to throw on him. I ease the snake back in the brush and pick up a stick and toss it towards him not thinking it stood a chance of hitting him. It hit him right in the plumbers crack and he must have jumped 6 feet in the air thinking that snake had found a new home. My Dad had to get off the tractor and lay in the grass we were all laughing so hard.

Sounds kind of sadistic when you re-read it, but I took as much as I gave. Ahhh, to be a young idiot again. :D

[nymph]

TLWOODS trapping story reminded me of a good one.

Back as a kid, probably 8-9 years old, I used to go with my dad to check his trap line. After a few trips, I wanted to try and set some traps of my own, so dad said he would let me pick out a couple of spots and help me set them in the small creek that ran through his property. We put out a few sets and I would check them daily. I caught a couple of rats, but nothing to write home about. Well, one evening I went out with my little flash light to check my "line" as usual. The first two sets had nothing, so on to the third I went. As I got closer I shined my light towards the set and saw two shiney marble eyes staring at me. I got a little freaked out because I never got to a set before and had something still alive caught in it. I ran back to the house to get reinforcements (dad). He came back down with me and shined the light on the set. Sure enough, the beast was still there. Turns out it was a medium sized coon. Well, as anyone who has skinned a coon knows, they aren't the easiest critter to skin out. Lots of fat and stuff. Besides, I was only a novice and it still took me 2 hours to skin out a single rat. Also, dad had a rule, "you catch it or shoot it, YOU clean it". Fair enough. Well, after a little more investigation and conversation, we determined that if we could just release the fellas foot, he would be on his way with nothing more than a sore leg. Here's where the trap dying barrel comes in. We brought down our small trap dying barrel to put over the coon, while still leaving the trap exposed, so that we could release his foot. We also brought a baseball bat (just in case!). After a little rustling around and a LOT of hissing, the coon sat still long enough for us to quickly set the barrel over him with his foot & trap sticking out the side. Dad reached down, compressed the spring and out came his foot. Good to go. At this point, dad tells me to step back because he's going to tip the barrel over and who knows what this po'd coon is going to do. So I get out of the way and over the barrel goes. We wait......and we wait.....and we wait....nothing! That coon aint coming out. Now what are we going to do? Dad starts to move towards the barrel to try and pick up on the bottom so as to dump out the coon. Sounds like it out to work. As he gets closer to the barrel, with baseball bat in hand, he trips over a submerged root, falls into the creek, drops the bat which lands on the steel barrel making a pretty loud noise outside (assuming a thunderous noise inside) and out shoots the coon. That coon came flying out of that barrel so fast that you couldn't even see it! The only reason we knew he was out was becuase he literally left a small hole where he had run through a thick patch of cattails. As for dad, he simply gets up out of the creek, grabs the bat, barrel and me, and takes us all up towards the house. From that point on, dad's rule underwent a small revision......"you catch it or shoot it, YOU clean it......or let it go". The things a father does for his son!


nymph

[Trophy Specialist]

I've had many strange, but true encounters in the woods. Here are a few of the more memorable:

Owls
I was once attacked by several barred owls while bowhunting in a tree stand 25’ off the ground. They dive-bombed me until I was forced to abandon my stand. Another time I had a great horned owl land on a branch a few feet above my head and guess what, he crapped on my Jones style hat. One year I encountered a barred owl that was not afraid of humans. I caught mice all fall and would feed it by hand.

Coyote
I once saw a coyote get its ass kicked by a doe. The doe trampled it a dozen times until it was driven away. I assume the doe had fawns nearby as it was during the spring.

Deer
I once shot a doe with my bow back in the 70s from a ground stand and a minute later two bucks came grunting down her trail. The doe had run off fatally wounded. That was back when you only had one bow tag, so I sat back and watched the two dandy bucks fight it out within 10’ of me. One of the bucks pushed the other towards me and he ran past me so close that he knocked the bow out of my hands. The victor walked over towards me, and just two feet in front of me he made a scrape kicking dirt all over me. They never did see of smell me. It was snowing very hard.

Grouse/geese
When I was a teenager, I was grouse hunting and managed to kill four grouse with one shot and then finished my limit when the fifth bird flushed seconds later. A five grouse limit with two shots. Another time, I was hunting a pond in Nevada when a flock of geese took off and headed towards some other hunters. One shot rang out and all seven geese dropped dead into the water. I walked over to them and found out that a 12 year old kid with a 410 had killed an entire flock of seven geese with one shot.

Longest Shot
I was rabbit hunting in some volcanoes in Arizona when I lived there. I was with a friend on the rim when we spotted a rabbit sitting on the opposite side of the dome. Just for grins, I took aim with my pistol aiming about 20’ above him and fired. Hit him square in the noggin killing him dead. The shot was probably over ¼ mile away.

[Barry]

Here's another racoon story.

We had a long skinny box laying in the yard. My ten year old daughter saw a coon enter it but not come out. She told me about it the next day and asked if I thought the coon was still in the box. I said "lets go look."

She strategized that she needed her tennis shoes just in case she need to outrun the coon. Being the adult, I knew the coon was probably long gone so I decided to liven things up. So while she was putting on her tennis shoes, I grabbed my my coon-skin cap and hid it under my coat so she didn't see it. :16suspect

You probably have the story figured out by now but anyway - I approached the box with my wide-eyed daughter bravely following me. :SHOCKED: As I picked up the box to look inside, I threw the coon cap in the air catching it with my chest and danced around appropriatly to get the full effect of a full blown coon attack. My last move was to quickly put put it into my sock and shake my leg around to look like the coon had latched onto my ankle with its teeth. Needless to say, I came close to giving her a heart attach. :yikes:

My daughter is now 18 and has gotton me back several times over. Always, she uses the coon episode to explain her "getback" actions. :evilsmile

[xringer223]

I love these stories. It's amazing how similar things have happened to me.

However, this summer I was camping in Cheboygan state park with the wife and kids. We just watched the sun set over Duncan bay and I asked the kids if they wanted to go for a walk. So we walked to an area where there is a large grassy field. I usually carry a tally-ho predator call in my pocket just in case. I ask my kids if they want to try and call a fox, coyote or anything that will respond and of course they would love to see any animal they don’t normally see. We crouch down beside a rock and I began to call, I mean I have this thing singing like death has just arrived right there on the shores of Lake Huron. All of a sudden we hear allot of commotion coming our way and I start a second series of screaming rabbit. And out of the woods comes
A group of campers that stopped dead in their tracks looking bewildered at me and my kids. They stood there for a couple of minutes staring and then silently turned around and walked back into the woods. My 8 year old son looks at me and say's wow dad you just called in the top predator of all ...Man. I just cracked up not only because of what my son just said but the look on the faces of those people and what they may have been thinking.
I'm sure they thought they were going to see some strange and exciting animal and were just dumbfounded to see me and my kids.

[MI_Bowhunter]

This one time, at band camp I saw a girl stick a flute..................

[yooper357]

This past October i was sitting in my treestand watching a little buck i heard something in the air as soon as i looked up there was the biggest hawk ive ever seen she wasnt 10 feet from landing on my shoulder i mean just coming right in... well i jumped up im my seat and yelled, yeah it scared me. i didnt want her talons in my shoulder. i guess i looked like a pretty good spot to land.

[SmallGameStalker]

Last fall I was hunting squirrel on State Land in Clare County. I was hiking down a two-track back to my pickup point when I heard a very unusual commotion off to my right, twigs breaking and what sounded like squirrels barking (or whatever else you call the noises they make) and crows "caw-ing." I tried to sneak up on them to see what was happening; apparently about a half dozen crows were arguing with 3 or 4 squirrels over who had rights to a certain tree. The squirrels would run out onto the small branches to chase the crows off, while the crows would pick up twigs, etc. from the forest floor to "bomb" the sqirrels with. As I approached, the argument raged on, but both parties made sure to move out of range of my shotgun.

I have no idea what was so special about that tree that both the crows and the squirrels had to have it.:confused:

[fire-tiger]

The middle of bow season 03 in southern Lapeer County I was going up a good sized oak in the am darkness. Around 18ft up at the first limb crotch I smell this rancid odor. It took a minute for my mind to register that it smelled like cat piss. At the same time I realized what the smell was, that bobcat let out a scream about ten feet above me and jumped to the next tree. Talk about being a tree hugger, I grabbed on for dear life until my heart got back below 120. How or why that cat let me get that close I"ll never know!

[DPESTUN]

Rifle season out here several years ago. I was living and hunting on a 16,000 acre ranch. I had still hunted up a big canyon and sat on a washtub sized pile of rocks that was hiden in tall grass halfway to the rim. I had a great view of several draws so I ate lunch and sat there for awhile. When I got up to move I started finding more piles of rocks,they were spread out all along the hillside. Afew days later I asked an old indian friend of mine what they might have meant. The old man who is Comanche grinned and said that I had taken lunch with his ansestors. He explained that in numerous hidden canyons the indians would place thier dead on a platform made of wood up off of the ground. When they'd return to the canyon the following winter to camp the families would climb up and take down the platform and pile the bones buried with rocks to prevent coyotes from carrying the bones off <sheesh!>:tdo12:

[SPH]

I watched a momma doe chase down and stomp a barn cat that was walking through the woods. She was with two young ones and did not like that cat at all.

[D_Hunter]

My wife was up before me this paticular morning. All of a sudden she came screaming in and jumped on the bed to get me. She was breathing so hard she could hardly talk. I knew something was wrong so I jumped out of bed.
She finally told me that there was something just outside the window of the bathroom. Now keep in mind this was a summer morning with all the windows open, including the bathroom.
As I walked towards the bathroom I heard this awfull noise over and over again.
I started to laugh, which made my wife a little upset.
What she heard was a doe "snorting" at a stray cat that was going through the tall grass. My wife, until this point, has never heard a deer snort.
The deer was only about 25 feet from the bathroom window.

Than there was this other time that I was knocked off my bike by a 4pt buck when I was kid..but I think you all have heard enough.

[Lunker]

Walking to my favorite carp hole on Lake Erie and I get to the shore and heres a couple standing in the water butt naked getting it on in the lake. :))
I didnt want to catch anything in that spot after that so I turned around and went home.

[Garret]

20 ft up in a tree stand bow hunting right at dark I had a bat slam into my chest full speed. Scared the baa-Jesus out'a me! :yikes:

Bow hunting in Romeo one year i had a doe pop out in the corner of a bean field i was hunting over. The doe was about 30 yards away when i heard something coming in between me and the doe. Thinking BUCK i was surprised to see a beautiful red fox pop out. The fox looked at the doe, crouched down and started to stalk up to her. The doe put her head down leaned back, butt in the air and was stretched out like a dog waiting for another dog to play. The fox was within 5 feet of the doe and made a faked-you-out lunge at her. The doe jumped up and ran in a little circle and stopped head back down butt in the air and waited for the red fox to creep up again. The two were playing like two puppies. This went on, back and forth for 20 min. First the doe would be the attacker and then the fox would be the attacker. One time the fox jumped i swear 10 feet in the air and ran around before returning to play with the doe. I laughed so hard one time they heard me and split, doe in the lead and fox right behind her down a trail. These two must have been best buddy’s the way they played together. Wish I had a video camera, you would have thought I was Marty Stouffer (sp) :p

Bear hunting the UP I had a mink / weasel like 6” long and as thin as a cigar hop on my foot and hang out with me and my buddy in the natural blind we were hunting from. My friend tried to get the little guy on film but once he went to move the video camera the thing spooked and was gone in a flash. :)

It was a dark morning before sun up walking to my blind with the flash light off down a trail I’ve walked 100 times. Suddenly, I tripped over something alive and fell flat on my face. Almost soiled my self it happened so fast. Flipped on the flash light and what did i see...COUGAR!!!!! :help: ........NOT!
Just a 20 lb possum looking at be with a bloody snout. Bet it scared him as much as it did me. :tdo12:

[DaveW731]

I was in a stand during deer season, just as it was getting dark. I heard a bunch of crows and looked up in time to see a Horned Owl veer off, missing me by less than five feet, closely followed by the four crows that were chasing him. I felt the air go by, as the owl passed, but never heard a sound from him.

[Jacob Huffman]

1)Quite a few years ago I was sitting in my tree stand in late October.It was a morning hunt and very nice outside.About 8:30 I hear something coming down one of the runways.I stand up and get my bow ready,and wait and look and look I just cant see the deer coming towards me.So I figure it had turned off but I can see a decient area and would have sen it walk away.Well all of a sudden I see movement in front of me and to my amazement here comes a bobcat with a squirrel(sp) in his mouth.He was walking the near the runway and walked within 20 feet of my stand.2)I was in about the third year of deer hunting and was sitting in a ground blind in late November.It was cold and on this day pretty windy.Well im just sitting there enjoying the "noise" the wind makes in the tree's-we all know how nice that is-and all of a sudden I hear this loud "CRACK" and this poplar tree in front of me about 50 yards away snaps in half.That made me come about half off the ground :tdo12: .That thing just snapped like a toothpick man was it loud.

[PahtridgeHunter]

This one happened to my Dad quite a few years back during rifle season. He was sitting in his natural ground blind, when he hears something scampering towards him. Out of the stacked brush popped this little vole or fischer, and jumped up on my Dad's boot. He said this little guy sat there for an hour while my Dad fed him half of a salami sandwich and 2 cookies! I'm surprised he didn't ask for some coffee!!!

[AceMcbanon]

Funniest thing i have saw is when me and my bud were hunting a couple years ago, we leave our portable blinds out and we had gotten out there when it was still pretty dark, I watch as he gets into his blind and before you know it he is screaming like a mad man, i get over there his blind is tipped over and there is a pine marten trying to rip its way out of the blind, he is jumping all around trying to get it out. Said he had just started to get set up when he heard something in the blind and that the marten went straight for him. Took us about 10 minutes to get it open enough for it to finally get out, we both had big sticks trying our best, but the blind was pretty shreded up from it probably more from us then the martin.


Most embaressing story I was 17 and me my dad and some buds had hiked into to fish the Yellow dog, well after making a very far hike in, i found i needed to relieve myself so went up over a hill pulled down the pants and proceeded to take a huge dump, only problem is it all fell into my pants, i tryed my best to get it all cleaned out but it was an awful big mess, well not wanting the embaressment i proceeded to wear the pants all day with the occasional did you fart comments and a very akward ride home which saw the windows down the whole time

[Jacob Huffman]

I just thought of a couple more.My bro's and I with our better halfs were drifting down a river doing a little fishing.Up ahead we see an overhanging tree and on a branch there's a black squirrel,we all see it there and make a comment on how funny it would be to see it fall into the river when all of a sudden a hawk swoops in from nowhere and nails it...20 feet in front of us..man was that cool.


I was fishing at a little out of the way place in Owosso.It was an old road that lead to a bridge.They took the bridge out a long time ago but the road was still there.It was a great spot to fish and make a little fire.Well one day I decied to go fish and drive to the spot,as I get there I can see something across the river on the opposite side of the bridge.It was a young couple ummm..enjoying nature and each other.They must have been so ....distracted they never saw my car even after I backed out after seeing them .I came back an hour later and they were gone.I didnt see much and didnt really want to but she was definatly a redhead :tdo12:


This may have happened to others,Im sure Im not the only one.I was sitting in a ground blind during the gun season of 88'.It was only my fourth year hunting and I had many things to learn and on this day I learned one of the very important rules of hunting.I was enjoying the day when I felt the urge to answer the call of nature.I was dressed pretty warm but managed to walk about 15 yards from my stand and get enough clothes off so as not to make a mess out of them if things did not "drop" where they were supposed to.Well here comes the lesson I had set my gun against a tree where I was going to "go" and then moved to a better spot about 6 feet away,and left my gun on the tree.You guessed it when I was wipping I hear noises and look up to see deer coming towards me,well here I am with my whole suit around my knees and my gun out of reach.Well I did the same thing any young hunter would do I make a break for the gun....no luck the deer see me move and take off,luckily they were only does.I have never taken a crap in the woods deer hunting since...

[thunderman]

well, many years back my hunting pal and i were sitting on a ridge watching for deer down in a river bottom. we had just joined up for some bag lunch at noon. a short time later an old white haired hunter is walking down in the draw, not far from us. he obviously never seen us as the folage was quite thick. he props his gun on the tree, and proceeds to take out his jack knife, then lowers his draws and starts cutting the messy spot out of the back side of his undies!:lol:
he then grabbs a hand full of tree and squats to finish the job. just about the time he's getting his grunt going, my buddy yells out "HEEEYY"!!!! wouldn't ya know the fella startled, stands stright up and dumps all in his britches!!!!:lol: we were laughing so hard, we bearly were able to run over the ridge top.


one other time not so many years ago, i had made it through the swamp undectected, to my favorite treestand before light. so i climbed up and sattled in. about 1 1/2 it to day light i was watching a doe and two fawns wolfing down acorns, i slowly looked around me for the infamous behind me buck several times. as i returned my gaze to the doe's i caught feet moving under the trees towards the doe's. SHOW TIME!!! i remember thinking not to let the arrow clank off the riser as i slowly lift it off my lap, "SSCCRREECCHH" a giant horned owl not 4 feet above my head.! i now have full trust in my safty harness. that owl was sitting there the whole time. and we thought only deer don't look up:SHOCKED:

[Joe Archer]

When I was young and engaged I took my then fiance into the northern woodlands to help her "gain appreciation" for nature. For reasons I won't go into, within minutes she was doing her best immitation of a "wounded rabbit". I look up and sure enough, we had an audience.. YOTES! :yikes: <----<<<

[Brownsdown]

A couple years back got to my box blind about 2:30 pm for the eve hunt, there was a nice comfortable chair in there and well ya you guessed it,,,,,, hung my bow up and crashed out...... hours go by, and the way my head was cocked i was looking at the floor when i opened my eyes i could tell it was close to dark i mean really close to dark,,,,,,,,,,, then i hear a loud sniffing sound i slowly lift my head to look out the shoot hole and not even 2 feet from me is a black bear with its head half way in the window:yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :SHOCKED: flipp the chair goes over i land ***** over apple cart the cahir falls on top of me, the bear freaked out got his head stuck in the shoot hole for about 7 or 8 seconds ( which seemed like 10 to 15 min ) all kinds of hell breaking lose noise,yelling,gruntting, banging the bear using his hind legs kicking to push against the box to free his head,,,, he took of and i sat there had a smoke shaking like a leaf...... ........long way back to the cabin in ther dark:gaga: :gaga: :gaga:

[Bob T]

Great stories people. I have one for you. About 25 years ago I was flyfishing a little stream that emptied into the Manistee river. It was a long walk from where I parked my car and I usually did not get to the mouth of the creek but this day I decided to try to fish all the way to the mouth. I had packed a lunch and a couple of adult beverages for my lunch. Where the creek empties in the Manistee there is a real large overlook and I thought that would be a good place for my lunch. I sat down leaning against a large tree and opened a beer when I heard a lot of people laughing and having a good time coming down the river in canoes. A few minutes later around the bend came about 5 canoes loaded with what looked like college aged girls. When they reached the sandbar they too decided to stop. They also had adult pop with them and proceeded to open a few. All of a sudden one of them suggested to the others that they should go skinny dipping. They all proceeded to take off the bathing suits and jump into the river. I was about 75 to 100 feet above them on the overlook and they could not see me. After a few minutes one of them decided to answer nature call and walked up the small creek that I had been fishing on. After she did her business she looked up and saw me just sitting against a tree drinking my beer and enjoying the scenery. She gave me a quick wave and said hi. She joined her buddy's and told them that there was a fisherman up on the cliff. They all looked up at me and just waved and said hi and proceeded to swim. After a few minutes they all got dressed and proceed down the river saying goodbye to me as they left. When I got back to camp my wife asked me how the fishing was and I told her that the fishing could have been better but I had a great lunch on the hill enjoying the scenery.

Bob

[BWV]

Two years ago while scouting for a good place for my tree stand, I climbed a tree to check and see how stable it was. After a couple of minutes in the tree , checking for good shootin lanes and kinda enjoying the view, I hear a noise. I looked off to the left a doe just came into view from the edge of some thick brush. I watched as she made her way in closer. In about five minutes she was within twenty yards. I heard something make a weird noise, then out accross from the doe come a nice buck. The buck came over to the doe and hopped on. I was funny to watch, the doe would make noise and try to walk away, not far. Then the buck would come back and hop on. This went on for about ten minutes. :lol:

[BVW]

Great story Bret,
What month was this Bret? Amazing that the deer never heard you and you were in the tree long enough for things to settle down and have that exibit happen in front of you, facinating!
Maybe next time you will have a gun or bow!
good luck kid.
Oh by the way bret vestin whyhoff is BWV, Not BVW like my username, he used BWV because BVW was taken even though those are not his initials and in a different order. :dizzy: Please don't confuse the 2 of us. :lol: