I mean what odd things have walked by or you've seen. For ex decades ago I was way back in the ridges of Vt and heard a crazy squeal. We didn't have the "wtf" acronym back then but I thought it. Of all things it was a Peacock miles from wherever it came from. Same situation in a tree stand once, a long way back and here comes somebody's Holstein cow. More ordinary in those days too, black bear wandering by...
Odd Sightings While Deer Hunting
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Bearblade
61 - 79 of 79 Posts
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While this may not qualify as an odd sighting, I thought it would be worth sharing as it's pretty hilarious. One of my friends headed out one morning for a turkey hunt. He quietly made his way back into the hardwoods and found a nice big tree trunk to sit next to and patiently waited for morning light to come. After sitting for a few minutes he starts to feel what felt like a light rain starting to come down, although there was no rain in the forecast for that day. After a minute or so of what felt like rain pelting the top of his hat, he noticed he couldn't hear the rain like he normally does as it sounds in the woods. At this point he shines his flashlight straight up the tree he's sitting next to and realizes there is a turkey roosted directly above him that has been emptying it's bowels down on the superior predator of the woods! I believe the turkey fled the roost just at this moment as the light shined on him.
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Was hunting 7/8 miles north of Bruces Crossing around 1980 ish we were 2miles East of HWGY 45 deep in the bush...got to my spot and heard what sounded like an Elk... but longer and more high pitched... don't no what it was but made sure I had extra ammo.....
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Not the deer hunting woods, but hunting elk in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. It finally stopped snowing after snowing hard for a couple of days (in October). I had a big Cougar jump across the trail not 15-20 yards from me. Really startled me but it was a pretty cool experience. I remember thinking that the tail was almost as long as the body.
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Yes, I remember that thread. It was entertaining. I'm just glad I've never had an encounter I couldn't explain.
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I completely forgot about 3 encounters I've had with 6 month old fawns while walking out of my tree stands in the dark. The fawns ran right up to me in the dark bleating like crazy. It's nuts, and a little unnerving. I guess they thought I was another deer, and they would not leave. Deer can do weird things.
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The more I read these great stories, the more I remember some good ones.
In 2007 I shot an nice buck at daylight with my bow. We had snow, so tracking was pretty easy. I get down into the cedar swamp next to me, and tracking is going well. I thought it was an 8 point, not huge. I'm color blind, so tracking can be hard, blood looks like dirt in the snow.
So I'm going along in the swamp, and I look up and see my buck dead about 20 yards from me. His head is right down on the ground, chin flat. Just laying there, he did a 180 degree turn. I'm looking up ahead and trying to figure out how he made that turn. I look a little closer and can only see 4 points. I'm thinking dang, how did I screw that up so bad, I swear I counted 4 on a side. Oh well, this is an easy tracking job, I'll go tag it. I take 3 steps toward the deer, and it jumps up and runs away. Now I'm really wondering what the heck.
I go back to the blood trail and figured I should stay on it. I'm getting good blood still, and after another 50 yards here's my buck. That was a completely different deer just playing possum and trying to let me pass. How often does that happen?
Another good one back in 1988. I was in Wyoming, 3rd season hunting, we were in the Black Hills deer hunting. I picked a hillside to hunt opening morning, very rocky. I climb up at daylight, and get in position. As the sun is peaking out there's deer everywhere and something below my feet in the rocks. I'm like "what the heck is going on." As light gets better I see a grayish, kind of hairy form. It's kind of big. I'm thinking coyote den, starting to get nervous. Full sunlight comes, and it turns out to be a huge western porcupine. He's safely below me, so there no danger of getting tangled up with him.
In 2007 I shot an nice buck at daylight with my bow. We had snow, so tracking was pretty easy. I get down into the cedar swamp next to me, and tracking is going well. I thought it was an 8 point, not huge. I'm color blind, so tracking can be hard, blood looks like dirt in the snow.
So I'm going along in the swamp, and I look up and see my buck dead about 20 yards from me. His head is right down on the ground, chin flat. Just laying there, he did a 180 degree turn. I'm looking up ahead and trying to figure out how he made that turn. I look a little closer and can only see 4 points. I'm thinking dang, how did I screw that up so bad, I swear I counted 4 on a side. Oh well, this is an easy tracking job, I'll go tag it. I take 3 steps toward the deer, and it jumps up and runs away. Now I'm really wondering what the heck.
I go back to the blood trail and figured I should stay on it. I'm getting good blood still, and after another 50 yards here's my buck. That was a completely different deer just playing possum and trying to let me pass. How often does that happen?
Another good one back in 1988. I was in Wyoming, 3rd season hunting, we were in the Black Hills deer hunting. I picked a hillside to hunt opening morning, very rocky. I climb up at daylight, and get in position. As the sun is peaking out there's deer everywhere and something below my feet in the rocks. I'm like "what the heck is going on." As light gets better I see a grayish, kind of hairy form. It's kind of big. I'm thinking coyote den, starting to get nervous. Full sunlight comes, and it turns out to be a huge western porcupine. He's safely below me, so there no danger of getting tangled up with him.
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We were hunting Elk by the Mount of the Holycross near Leadville, Colorado. We walked down into the park looking for Elk. Came across some human ( ? ) tracks. The dude was barefoot!!! Tracks were quite large. The human jumped a small creek in a 10 foot ravine... top of the revine was about 20 feet across!!! There was a foot of snow on the ground. Again we ( Wayne & I ) made sure we had extra ammo for our rifles. This was about 1982 or so...What the hell was it??? WE didn't want to find out & did't sleep well after that...
My first year hunting near Hillman, right at daylight I hear footsteps directly behind me getting closer. Sounded heavy like a buck sometimes does and I can't tell which side of the tree he's gonna pass by on. He's so close my heart is about to explode and then silence. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I slowly turned around and came face to face with a bull elk. He had no fear of me. I stood up and turned around and he just stood there. After several minutes, he ambled off. Very cool.
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In my younger days I got pretty good at still hunting. I was moving along, very slowly, scanning and looking ahead. This was with my bow back in the 70's...ahead of me was a little high ground surrounded by short hemlocks. I said hmm..nice little spot to step into and stay hidden. I very slowly stepped up and there at my feet was a large, sleeping coyote. I was inches from his hind end and they are sizeable in that area of the northeast. I didn't know what to do. I just stayed frozen for a minute or so, then in one low crouch it took off. I have had just a few times when I still hunted with a result like that. Likely never again.
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It was a hippie. There were a few left in 1982. Gone now I'm afraid.
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I was walking to my stand during bow season across some crp and onto a small food plot. Was walking very quiet and slow and as a I got within 30 yds. of where the plot started I noticed a turkey standing in it but it looked odd. Looked kind of like a hunchback buzzard. I kept sneaking up and realized it was a sleeping turkey. It was just standing in the plot with its back towards me and its head tucked down into its chest so I couldn't even see it. Decided to see how close I could get to it before it spooked. Laid down my bow and decided I would grab it if I got close enough. Well I slowly sneaked within about 5 feet and chickened out about grabbing it as it probably would have tore me up pretty good. About this time his head shot up and he took off running about 100 miles per hour. Crazy.
Once had a male pheasant and 4 females walk right under my bow stand in this same spot, man what a beautiful bird.
Once had a male pheasant and 4 females walk right under my bow stand in this same spot, man what a beautiful bird.
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Was hunting in the U.P. Sitting on some pine stumps with my back resting on a cedar tree. A Grouse flew toward me ( like a Bat in a scary movie ) it landed on a branch right above my head... leaned over and looked at me upside down...I blew someair at it...and it thundered away!!! What a hoot!!!
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It was a beautiful calm day a couple seasons ago, I watched a mink walk right under my stand and go out of sight down a ridge. About 20 minutes later I hear leaves crunching like someone dragging their feet through them. I keep looking in the direction of the sound of the crunching leaves and, finally, see what’s marking it, here comes that mink dragging a gray squirrel by the nape of his neck. He drags it right under my stand. Very cool sight.
Another time had an owl nearly crash into my head in the predawn darkness. Luckily I moved at the last second. He was so close I felt the air move across my face from his wing.
Watched a red fox stalk a squirrel. It took the fox nearly a half an hour to cover 10 feet or so. The fox leaped at the squirrel and missed it by an inch or so.
Had a bald eagle land right above me in my tree stand this year.
Saw three bobcat kits walk under my tree stand last season.
Got sh** on by a bald eagle in the Boundary Waters. Lol.
I love these stories and this is what makes our outdoor experiences so memorable.
Another time had an owl nearly crash into my head in the predawn darkness. Luckily I moved at the last second. He was so close I felt the air move across my face from his wing.
Watched a red fox stalk a squirrel. It took the fox nearly a half an hour to cover 10 feet or so. The fox leaped at the squirrel and missed it by an inch or so.
Had a bald eagle land right above me in my tree stand this year.
Saw three bobcat kits walk under my tree stand last season.
Got sh** on by a bald eagle in the Boundary Waters. Lol.
I love these stories and this is what makes our outdoor experiences so memorable.
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Years ago, a fellow worker at the Truck Plant invited me to come up and hunt his 80 acres just west of Mecosta, Mich. This land was his father's place originally which later on after the old man died, became the son's. The old house was still in livable condition and the property was mostly woods, a lot of which had been timbered off several years before. My buddy from work said he would be in the house by the time I got there on a Sunday morning. This was during the October bow season and I was only going to hunt that one day.
It would prove to be quite the interesting day. The first weird thing I saw was while I was on M-57 heading west during the early morning fog. I was keeping a close eye on the tail lights on a truck quite a ways ahead of me when suddenly, his brake lights came on and he swerved sharply to the right over on the shoulder of the road. I immediately slowed right down thinking a deer must have crossed in front of him. As I slowly approached the truck in the fog, sure enough, I could now see the driver waving his arms excitedly as he stood over a small buck that he had apparently just hit with his truck. I carefully went slowly around him and the deer and continued to go on my way west. A few seconds later, I glanced in my rear view mirror and could see a second set of headlights coming what seemed to be way too fast towards the guy and the fallen deer. Sure as hell, I watched those headlights bob up and down as the guy apparently didn't slow down in time and ran right over the deer carcass like it was a speed bump. As I slowed down to a crawl, I saw him do a sudden U-turn headed back to the scene of the accident. I'm sure the first guy who hit the deer managed to move out of the way in time. I can only imagine what sort of shouting and other ruckus took place after the second guy got back there. For the next few days I looked closely, but never did see anything mentioned in the newspapers about it. Other than the deer getting whacked twice, I thought it safe to assume that no other serious incidents took place.
The second weird thing that happened that day took place once I was in the woods, sitting on the ground with my bow on my lap. This place had been logged off about 8 years prior to me being there, and most of the area I was in was quite dense. I finally found a little clearing in the middle of the thicket and there was a beaten down game trail going through it, complete with fresh deer droppings. I picked a hiding spot to sit on the ground about 20 yards away, bow and arrow on my lap, and waited for whatever might show up. After a short while, I noticed this black creature coming towards me and at first, thought it might be a big, fat skunk. But just before it reached that game trail I was watching, it suddenly climbed a tree and started nibbling and fooling around with the surrounding leaves. Once I got a good look at it, I could see that it was a black bear cub! Seeing that suddenly made me as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! I couldn't help but wonder where "mom" was and what she might do to me for being too close to her cub.
That bow and arrow in my hand suddenly didn't seem nearly adequate enough for the situation I would be facing if she showed up. So I packed up my stuff in a hurry and headed for the house as fast as I could walk. When I finally reached the house and saw my work buddy out in the yard, I asked him if he knew that there were bears in his woods. And he said, "Oh yeah, I think there's at least two of them hanging around here this year." If he had only mentioned that to me earlier, I wouldn't have bothered to make the trip. I've never had a desire to hunt bears or possess anything associated with bears. That can be somebody else's fun. Needless to say, I never went back there to bow hunt or anything else. And I've never forgotten it.
It would prove to be quite the interesting day. The first weird thing I saw was while I was on M-57 heading west during the early morning fog. I was keeping a close eye on the tail lights on a truck quite a ways ahead of me when suddenly, his brake lights came on and he swerved sharply to the right over on the shoulder of the road. I immediately slowed right down thinking a deer must have crossed in front of him. As I slowly approached the truck in the fog, sure enough, I could now see the driver waving his arms excitedly as he stood over a small buck that he had apparently just hit with his truck. I carefully went slowly around him and the deer and continued to go on my way west. A few seconds later, I glanced in my rear view mirror and could see a second set of headlights coming what seemed to be way too fast towards the guy and the fallen deer. Sure as hell, I watched those headlights bob up and down as the guy apparently didn't slow down in time and ran right over the deer carcass like it was a speed bump. As I slowed down to a crawl, I saw him do a sudden U-turn headed back to the scene of the accident. I'm sure the first guy who hit the deer managed to move out of the way in time. I can only imagine what sort of shouting and other ruckus took place after the second guy got back there. For the next few days I looked closely, but never did see anything mentioned in the newspapers about it. Other than the deer getting whacked twice, I thought it safe to assume that no other serious incidents took place.
The second weird thing that happened that day took place once I was in the woods, sitting on the ground with my bow on my lap. This place had been logged off about 8 years prior to me being there, and most of the area I was in was quite dense. I finally found a little clearing in the middle of the thicket and there was a beaten down game trail going through it, complete with fresh deer droppings. I picked a hiding spot to sit on the ground about 20 yards away, bow and arrow on my lap, and waited for whatever might show up. After a short while, I noticed this black creature coming towards me and at first, thought it might be a big, fat skunk. But just before it reached that game trail I was watching, it suddenly climbed a tree and started nibbling and fooling around with the surrounding leaves. Once I got a good look at it, I could see that it was a black bear cub! Seeing that suddenly made me as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! I couldn't help but wonder where "mom" was and what she might do to me for being too close to her cub.
That bow and arrow in my hand suddenly didn't seem nearly adequate enough for the situation I would be facing if she showed up. So I packed up my stuff in a hurry and headed for the house as fast as I could walk. When I finally reached the house and saw my work buddy out in the yard, I asked him if he knew that there were bears in his woods. And he said, "Oh yeah, I think there's at least two of them hanging around here this year." If he had only mentioned that to me earlier, I wouldn't have bothered to make the trip. I've never had a desire to hunt bears or possess anything associated with bears. That can be somebody else's fun. Needless to say, I never went back there to bow hunt or anything else. And I've never forgotten it.
I was hunting Delta county with my brothers one year and my younger brother watched a weasel tracking a red squirrel around his pop up blind. He lost sight of him and suddenly that weasel slid under his blind and hopped on up on the toe of his boot. He sat there, both of them staring at each other for several seconds before the weasel left the same way he entered.
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Weasels and mink are both fun to watch when you are hunting. I have a blind right on the crick bank and I see lots of animals go thru.
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That’s the winning story.
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It seems like Owls are known for dive bombing us, especially in the dark when you're walking in or out. I have had that happened to me with Hawks as well, especially in the spring when you are turkey hunting. I wonder what they are thinking when they are dive bombing us.... Seems to be pretty common across Michigan!
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Hawks in the spring time are protecting their turf/nesting site. Owls in the fall attacking us 20+ft. above ground, I believe they think we're some kind of prey species (small ****, opossum, squirrel, etc..).
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