Close encounters!

Had a cougar stalk up behind me once while calling coyotes. He was 20 feet behind me in some trees in the abandoned farm yard I was set up in, he took off like a bolt when I stood up. I’m lucky I stood up when I did.

I once had two coyotes come in from behind me, unseen and downwind. I only saw them when they circled to my right side. One I hit with the 12 guage at 15 yards, got the other with my rifle at about 200 yards. It was only after I stood up and started gathering up my gear that I noticed their tracks in the fresh snow. They followed my footsteps down the fence line and walked up about 4 feet from where I was sitting against a small boulder, then circled around to my right side. That was an Erie situation.
 
Why didn't the guy shoot? it looked like a nice buck.
Years ago I was walking to my stand,I was deer hunting during the rut, I had to cross a field about 500 yards wide. About half way I seen a large buck standing in the corner of the field watching me, at least 300 yards away. He started running towards me and stopped,he did this a couple of times again.
Then when he was perhaps about a 100 yards he started coming for me at a full run with his head down. I was about fifty yards from the tree line at this point and started running like mad. When I was almost able to get to the trees I looked over, and he was about ten yards behind me,still coming. I just pointed my crossbow and shot, the bolt went low, just under his head and chest but it was enough to make him slam on the brakes. He did a head over tail flip in the dirt, then took off. That was enough excitement to get my heart pumping good that day.
About four years ago while moose hunting I heard some crashing in the bush coming my way, It was a large bull moose. I managed to get my camera out of my pocket and snap some pics as he was running towards me full bore. I was just about to drop the camera and grab the rifle when he stopped about fifteen yards away, and we just looked at each other for probably two minutes. I got a few more pics, and then he turned and sauntered off. That was a year that we only had a calf tag.
 
I got charged by a moose once. I brought up the rifle to only see hair in the scope. I was about to pull the trigger at 25 feet and i saw his front feet come out and he put the brakes on. We looked at eachother for like 15 seconds . i raised the barrel up and to the right and pulled the trigger. He was on the reciving end of the concusion of a 7mm rem mag. Him and his girlfriend figured there were better places to be. Fyi moose are limited entry round here and i never win that lottery. 15 years and counting. I now dont want to win as it would break my loosing streak.
 
Had a muley doe wander up to about 5 feet of me. She was just curious about what the heck I was. I also wandered through the middle of a group of whitetail does while tracking a muley buck. The closest was about ten feet away and they all seemed pretty unconcerned about me.

edit to add: I almost forgot about the time I almost kicked a coyote in the head! He was coming at me through tall grass and just ducked my boot while he was turning around to get the hell out of dodge!
 
coyoteking said:
Had a cougar stalk up behind me once while calling coyotes. He was 20 feet behind me in some trees in the abandoned farm yard I was set up in, he took off like a bolt when I stood up. I’m lucky I stood up when I did.

I once had two coyotes come in from behind me, unseen and downwind. I only saw them when they circled to my right side. One I hit with the 12 guage at 15 yards, got the other with my rifle at about 200 yards. It was only after I stood up and started gathering up my gear that I noticed their tracks in the fresh snow. They followed my footsteps down the fence line and walked up about 4 feet from where I was sitting against a small boulder, then circled around to my right side. That was an Erie situation.
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That's how you earned your handle. You are the king!
 
Last fall I was sitting on a mock scrape I had made hunting a whitey buck that I had seen on the trail cam when this bunch of muley does came in and lay down all around me. As you can see from the pic they are my buddies.
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Its seems funny
But while turkey hunting in the spring deer will get very very close to hunters. I had a big doe step on my foot well I was sitting against a big tree. Also have had a few turkeys with in reach. Funny things happen well sitting in the dark against a big old tree I have had coons skunks and other little critters crawl over my legs well turkey hunting.
 
My neighbour has a group of deer foraging around his area all winter long ..they are new to the area and he told me they were gardeners, I did not have the heart to say anything..
 
Me, my father in law, and my brother in law were hunting moose and we were scanning with binos from my boat in a large lake, when he said I see a moose moving! So we went ashore downwind to where we saw it last. We walked about 50 meters in and a bull moose stood up around 75 meters off. We took our time and shot, and it goes behind a stand of trees and falls down. When we walked up to it, it was drawing its last breath. It was now around 11 am, and we were getting hungry. My brother in law had left his food in the boat, so he said he would walk down there and get his food, and get our father in law, who was staying with the boat, to come up. I opened my pack and took out a bottle of water and had a drink. I heard the underbrush rustling to my left, and when I looked up there was a bear not 20 feet from me. I said to him "what do you want" figuring it would run off. It looked at me for a few seconds, and then made a few steps closer. When he did that I grabbed up my rifle, slammed in the mag, and worked the bolt to chamber a round. I said to him, louder this time, "that's my moose, get the f##k outta here!" By that time the bear could see the other two who had walked from the boat and took off. My brother in law asked why did I have my rifle up, and I told him about the bear. We determined that it was the bear he saw from the boat, and the moose must have been bedded down and got up when he heard us. The bear was lucky I did not have a tag, because he would have been lying next to the moose in the boat.
 
I had 5 adult bears over the years climb up my ladder stand and sniff my boots. Had bear cubs do the same over the years as well.
Once I was walking thru an Alder bed on an game trail looking for Elk when a cow moose decide to run down the same trail. When she ran pass me her rib cage rubbed against my arm. I didn't have time to do anything except push myself in the Alders or get run over by a moose. I took the Alders.
I also had a mule deer doe come up to our picnic table while camping and lick me on the face. That is about as close as you can get. She must have liked my aftershave.
But as far as hunting and shot an animal really close. Lots of Whitetail and moose well with in the 10 yard mark.
 
300Spartans said:
That's how you earned your handle. You are the king!
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Hahaha! When I hung that handle on myself I thought I was pretty hot #### on a distress call. After A few months here I realized I still had a lot to learn from the real pros.


My favourite hunting/wildlife stories are the close encounter kinds, keep them coming!
 
Several close encounters with muleys over the years. Had them so close I could
have poked them easily with my gun barrel.
2 very close encounters with Black bears, both which ended peacefully, for which
I am grateful, lol. Once I was face to face with a medium size black bear at about 4 feet.
Almost stepped on a cow moose laying down under the trunk of a large tree.
That one had my heart beating when she stood up, hackles up and eyes looking wild.
Again, it ended peacefully, but could have been otherwise. Dave.
 
I had a pack of coyotes stalk me once. Walking through the woods late at night after a fresh snowfall. I was maybe 2 km into the woods when I stopped in a clearing and lit a smoke. Stood still for about 5 minutes and decided to pack it in for the night.
When I turned around it only took 4 or 5 steps before I saw the tracks. One coyote followed me the entire trail and must have jumped into the brush when I stopped. It was maybe 15 feet behind me and I had no idea.
So I shrugged my shoulders and started hiking back. Maybe 200 yards in and I heard a howl in front of me then the whole pack answered back from behind me. No hesitation, I ran like a Olympic sprinter back to the road. Nearly puked I was that winded when I stopped.
 
A black bear stalked me . Walking in the Smoky river banks , I stopped for a rest on a small well covered treed knole . I smelled something ,as soon as turn to look the bear bolted. I always wondered if i didn't turn what would of happened.
 
I had a young moose adopt my Ford Ranger last spring. Rubbed herself all over the truck and licked my window. She stuck her head in the passenger side and sniffed. When she finally let me go by i had to gum suck it to get away from her. Later that night she stood in the middle of the salmon river on the Fundy Foot Path watching me drink whiskey by the fire. She left at some point after I went to bed.
 
I was very young and bear hunting with a few guys. After dark we went into one bait that a fellow was on and he had shot one that ran off. The guy in change asked me to stay at the bait while they tracked so they didn't get lost. Their voices disappeared into the darkness and after about an hour I hear them shout "Hey! Where are you?". I shout back "over here!" and instantly there is a loud crashing through the bush moving away from me. After they left a bear had been feeding on the bait 12 yards behind me as I sat with my back against a tree.
 
I have more than "touching close" stories... I have "touching" stories... many...

My first bear was taken at "touching close" range... the arrow struck him in the side before the fletching cleared the riser. I shot one "called in" bull moose that was so close I leaned back as I was drawing. I once slapped a fawn in the face as I was still hunting through the woods and it chose the trail I was kneeling on. I have half a dozen "fur to flesh" stories on black bear, and one "teeth to boot leather" story...
 
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