Strangest hunting moment?

It happens at the times you least expect. This year I was not supposed to participate in the Muzzleloading deer hunt in SW Ontario due to doc's orders and the wife was also pretty insistent. I can say this hunt with a bunch of family and long time friends is a highlight of the year. As I was trying to make the wife happy I told her i was going out opening morning to a spot I could drive the truck and have a short 100yd walk and even took her out and showed her and got a reluctant approval.

Opening morning finds me less than prepared and traveling much lighter than I usually do and carrying a new to me 54 cal Knight when i usually shoot a T/C Encore. I prepare a drag rag at the truck as I had to walk a lane between two corn fields. Doing this I spilled deer piss on my hands and the bottle so I did not want to put the bottle back in my pocket so I left it in the box of the truck. Off to the stand I go and see nothing. Our hunt this year was bad as the weather was in the mid to high 70's all week and the deer were not moving during shooting light.

Morning sit done I proceed back to the truck. I am putting my gear in the back of the truck and I am standing on the passenger side and the drivers side is up against a railway right of way that is 10 ft wide to the track. Just as I uncap the gun I hear brush breaking in the right of way right by the corner of my truck. First thought is the landowners dog has come for a visit. I look over the back corner of the box to see a 120ish, 8 pointer standing up in the goldenrod not 6ft off the back corner of the truck. He of course, busts through the brush onto the railway and takes a couple hops down the tracks.

I am grunting at his trying to stop him, trying to put a #11 on the gun, and trying to keep track of him at the same time, without much success. After his initial two hops he decides it is better to come back to the corn behind the truck. He leaps from the track down into the right of way, takes another leap and tangles a front leg in the top strand of fence and goes arse over apple cart onto his back in the middle of the laneway I am parked on, all with me still trying to cap the gun and look everywhere at once.

The bugger stands up shakes himself off and looks right at me, as if to say "how did you like that" before leaping into the corn never to be seen again. Never saw another deer until Sunday morning LOL
 
My first year or two of hunting I was always sitting on the ground with my back against a tree.. One morning just before sunrise it was very windy.. All of a sudden I could hear stomping.. It was getting louder and louder I look to my right and see a deer coming right at me. Before I could even think of doing anything it jumped over me. Well my legs LOL. I watched it bounce into the darkness again. I will never forget that moment.

This year I had a bat fly into my face twice!! Same stand and same cheek, probably the same bat LOL! Both times I turn my head before sunrise to my left only to be what felt like a slap. LOL.

I love hunting
 
I was on a late season deer hunt tracking a blood trail in the snow of a deer my friend (Pat) had hit. There wasn't much blood and if it hadn't been for the snow we would have lost the blood trail. We had walked for maybe half a kilometre or so with just the odd drip of blood here and there when we came up to a four way trail crossing with a white pail someone was obviously using to sit on. It was a nice spot and you could tell that it was another camps stand that was used in rifle season. At this point I had to take a leak, so I slung my crossbow on my shoulder and proceeded to pee. Pat being polite turned his back to me and was looking away. Now Pat was in his seventies at the time, and while having two hearing aids refused to wear them. Something catches my eye while I'm watching the snow melt from my pee and I look up to see a doe and a yearling walking straight at me as if I'm invisible. I'm frozen with my pecker out trying to get Pat's attention but he can't hear my loud whispers "PAT DOE ". Needless to say we finally get busted and as the does bolt off I scream at Pat who spins around only to see two white flags bounding off.
 
A dozen or so years back I was deer hunting during the gun season. We had got permission to hunt on a farm that was mostly abandoned and had a good stand of cedars along the field edge.

I snugged in to a grouping of three trees that formed a triangle just wide enough apart to get my shoulders in nicely and sat down on a heat seat. After hearing a couple of "white tailed squirrels" that got me looking in all directions I finally heard something "heavier" approaching from behind where I was set up.

It got close enough that I figured it was right behind me so I poked my head around the tree by my right shoulder to get a look.

Well I came face to face with a Turkey - he was no more than a foot away and I must have really startled him because he let out a gobble maybe 8" from my ear.

I went from hunting on the ground to jumping high enough that I could have been in a tree stand - scared the crap right out of me.

Did get a nice 8 point buck a couple hours later - almost didn't look figuring it was another Turkey trying to scare the crap out of me :)
 
I'm driving a four wheeler down a logging road really far from anything a few hours after dark, my light pics up something in the distance and I come up on what looks like a 100 year old man walking in hip waders. I stop the wheeler and ask the guy if he needs help, he dosnt even acknowledge me and walks past. I take my eyes off him for just a second as I wheel the bike around and he's totally gone. The creepiest thing I've ever experienced I have goose bumps right now typing it.

Another time I'm canoeing a back country river in the fall, all the trees have changed colour. We come around a big bend and instantly the air feels warm, between that bend and the next all the trees were still green and there wasn't a single bird or any other form of wildlife at all, down stream you could see the line of colour where the foliage went back to being seasonally correct, passing back into the colour felt like stepping into a fridge. Incredibly wired and unforgettable .
 
Quite a number of years ago I headed out for some rabbit hunting during some flurries... it was after a storm and the snow was powder and a bit deep for my hunting Sheltie to come along (yup, not your typical hunting dog but a cannon going off wouldn't startle him and he'd stay as still as i did when hunting) so I left him home and snow shoed across the fields and into the woods. There was a lot of snow even in the woods. I was just settling into my spot to get ready to shoot a few rabbits on a spot they frequently were in and was out of the bitter breeze so I reached up to flip up my ear covers of my fur hat and at that exact moment I felt warm breath in my right ear and was immediately licked.... I can be honest as sin that to this day and before that I had never felt fear so quickly and with such urgency in my whole life. I whipped around with the full intent of smashing whatever it was with the butt of my BL-22 as I was pulling the hammer back when I saw my Sheltie looking at me quite smugly... After a few seconds when my fight reaction started to dissipate and my brain caught up with what my eyes were taking in I uttered a few choice words to my surprise companion and decided to head home (to close the sliding door that he would open when he wanted out) and have a good stiff drink and a cigar to end my day....

Thought this would bring a few laughs to the hunters on here....


EDIT: forgot to mention that to add insult to injury guess who got carried all the way home? LOL :)
 
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Couple years ago me n the kids had a great October hunt, no moose but a tasty 2pt muley at a spot on out way home. We're walking back to the truck after and talking excitedly when I catch myself and say "shhh there's always deer Crossing between this pond and where we park we could still get another one" Well our voices must've echoed funny because a doe runs straight down the hill toward the dirt road we're walking then turns and charges straight at us only to hit the brakes 10 yards away. My daughter had her doe tag but buck fever was full on and that waggling barrel was a sight...I said take your time and there was an immediate shot, the doe took off up the hill faster than it came down. After a long search to make sure it was a clean miss I still couldn't believe she ran straight to us.

Same spot in November after 2 days of cat and mouse with the deer around there trying to get my kids and my nephew onto game we had several blown opportunities. The kids all looked a bit dejected so while we had a noisy snack break I tried to lighten the mood with a joke...I said "who wants me to try my sure fire deer call?" They all nodded while crumbling wrappers and crinkling their water bottles so I broke out with a loud rendition of Bert and Ernie " Here Deer! Deer Deer Deer! Here Deer! " I looked over expecting grins or laughter but only saw 3 sets of saucer eyes looking back and behind me where a big buck had just stepped out to answer my call. As I turned he quickly skirted around us while I desperately tried to grab up my rifle and count points. He was gone.... Then we laughed! I'm starting to wonder about the deer round there

Willy
 
I've got 2 that I really can't separate; they happened the same year. Like maybe 1995...

I was solo hunting, tent camped in a remote area of the Swan Hills.

First event, was sitting and watching a cutline for moose late in the afternoon, and a big grizzly came walking down the trail right toward me.

I wanted to get pictures of the bear, eh? So I let the bear approach as close as possible, which turned out to be about 75 yards, and then I could tell it was aware of me.

So at 75 yards I took 3 pictures. The light was just such that the flash popped on the little 35mm camera. Scared the crap out that big grizzly! It just about turned inside out, trying to get out of there! Dug huge clawed footprints into the muskeg!

After the bear took off, I stayed there until dark. No moose came.

The feeling I had, walking the couple of miles back to my tent, in the dark, with the awareness of that big grizzly in the same area was special. I'll never forget that.


The 'Twilight Grizzly'...



Event No.2:

About a week later, my buddy had come in and joined up with me. I was calling bull moose, in a post card perfect type setting. Immediately, I had a big bull answer, and I knew as soon as I heard him, that he was coming.
I had a glimpse of him at about 400 yards and damn near took the shot, but waited. A 50" bull moose (give or take an inch).
Well I didn't know it, but I had 2 other 50" bulls coming. I was working my way to a better vantage point to deal with the first bull, when I see the other two, and they were close!

I said to heck with the first guy and go after the other two bulls.
Well they lead me up over a thick tag alder hill, and then I hear a hell of a racket. I thought I had blown it. I thought it was the sound of the moose running away.

But I pop up over the hill, and these two 50" bulls are fighting right in front of me!

I got to watch and marvel at the power, the fury, and noise of their battle for 5 minutes I guess, and then they came hurtling right towards me! They would have run right over me, if they had kept coming.
But they stopped, broadside to me at like 25'. 'Eeny meenie Miny Mo'... shoot the bull on the left.

I hit it in the neck and dropped it in it's tracks.

Well then the other bull started beating the crap out of the dead bull. He was oblivious to anything, including me yelling at him!

I decided to fire my rifle to warn him off, and decided to 'mark him'. So I drilled a 225gr Nosler P, right through the center of his right palm. Didn't fizz on him!

He just kept beating the crap out of that dead bull... and I was down to 1 round in the chamber. I was getting pissed at this bull moose. I yelled at him, "The next one's for you!!"

Finally after 5 minutes of me holding on the bull, and yelling at him, and him 'mopping up the floor', with my dead bull, he came to his senses, looked at me... shook his head as if to say, "Wtf?"

Then he wheeled and ran off.

Funny thing about this story: Just as I was shooting my bull moose, my buddy was drawing a bead on the original bull that I had called. He was some annoyed with me for shooting that bull and blowing his chance on bull No.1 that I had called in.


Steam still coming off him...




'The Fighter'...
 
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I was thinking about a really strange thing that happened to me and my hunting partner, one time, when we were calling moose.

We were up in Swan Hills, setup on a little knoll, right in the middle of the bush.

After a bit of calling, we see a small bull coming in. Too small to shoot, so we just watched him.

Well that small bull walked right up the hill and came out beside us, at 10 yards. Which is no big deal, when calling moose. But he comes up and stops and stands there looking at us.

We look at each other and are talking back and forth, "Called in a 'dink', any chances of a bigger bull coming?", etc...

Meanwhile, 'Bullwinkle' is still standing regarding us...

I picked up a small stone and tossed it, hit him in the flank. 'Plunk'. Bull barley reacted. Just standing there.

After a bit, we decided to head down into the bush, in the same direction the bull had come from. As soon as we started walking, 'Bullwinkle' proceeds to follow us.

"What the heck!? Look at this bull moose! He's following us like a dog"

If we stopped, he did. Always standing the same distance, about 10 yards off.

It was comical as hell! We made a point of each of us posing for pics with him. I wonder where the heck those pics are!?

Anyway, this went on for a distance of about 250-300 yards, as we went down through the bush. He followed us, at the same polite distance, all the way.

We eventually came to a nice log, and decided to take a seat and have a drink and get a snack. 'Bullwinkle' pulled up beside and waited!

Eventually the bull got bored I guess, and just wandered away, and I'm saying he stood there a full 10 minutes! From beginning to end, of this crazy thing, he stayed with us for 20 minutes.

I swear, if we had wanted a 'meat bull', which he surely was, we could've walked out to the trucks, and shot him there. He was that obliging.
 
Not my story but my Grandfathers. Took place when he was 15 so about 1935 or 36 in Bathurst,NB. He was walking back to the family farm one evening after being out deer hunting and checking some traps for the afternoon. He is coming down an old grown in trail and there in the fading light about 25 yards ahead is a Bull Moose in the middle of the trail facing him. He unslings his Model 94 30-30 and levels the rifle and takes a shot straight on at where he figures the neck and chest meet though it's too dark to make out details and can barely see his sights. The Moose drops right in it's tracks. He approaches it to start cleaning it and it was not facing him but away from him. He says my first Moose never had a hole in the hide. He had shot right up the rectum. He said the bullet travelled along inside, glanced off the spine and into the lungs. Then he had to butcher it on the spot and start dropping meat off at relatives places as he couldn't take it home. His Dad was the game warden and NB did not have a Moose season at that time. Said it took him two days going back and forth to town to deliver all the meat. He carried everything off the trail including the entrails rolled in the hide so his father wouldn't discover it. Fast forward to mid-winter and his father comes home one evening and says to my Grandfather in a tone that says only one person would know the area well enough up that trail to dispose of a Moose hide and guts after poaching it, "some son of a ##### poached a Moose on the Big River trail and rolled the guts up in the hide and carried them about 1 mile off the trail."
 
Wen I was young about 13 back then I hunted everything with a single shoot 22 LR I loved that old 22
Anyways I was out hunting deer with the 22
I was having no luck all day I walk around but nothing.
So I went into a Little honey hole but it is ugly spot to hunt in but there's always a deer hiding in the grass my last resort spot
Tired and frustrated and starting to get dark a buck jumps up out of the grass
With out hesitation I shot the buck dropped right in its track a perfect neck shot dead Center of the Juggler
I was amaze at how hard the deer dropped to the ground wen suddenly the deer started to stand back up that's when I realize I shot it way too far a way 80 yard is to far for a 22lr
So I ran as fast and hard as I can to Close the gap between the in the dear
I made a Quick second shot the buck fell hard a second time
This time I was les then 25 yards away much more practical distance
I immediately cut the throat to bleed my buck then proceeded to look for the first shot but I couldn't find one
Ther was no way I mist the first shot other then distance it was perfect
It wasn't till I was skinning the deer I found a small bruise I hit him alright but there wasn't enough energy left in the 22 To puncture the skin all I did was knock the wind out of the deer but it did give me time to run closer and get that second shot
 
While scouting for turkeys one fine Sunday evening I required to take a dump.Pulling in a lane way about 400 yards off the road I proceeded to take a dump beside a small tree, clean up and carried on. I was out turkey hunting on Monday afternoon about 4:00 (rain in morning) when I hear turkey coming my way.

A rain storm blew in about that time and shut the turkeys down.It was out of hand and turned out to be some tornadoes had touched down blowing down some barns in the area. Pretty wild in the bush with no where to go and no were to hide. The storm cleared and I hear the turkey walking away heading west. I followed them at a safe distance in the hilly country and finally caught up to them. They were just over a rise and I could only see the toms tail as he strutted.

I waited and called to see if I could get any interest and after about twenty minutes the flock crossed the double tree line were I had laid down in the grass beside a small tree. The turkeys came out.The third one if I recall correctly was the tom and at approx twenty yards he went down. The jakes all took a turn stomping him and after a few minutes the herd had moved on.

As I got up to get my bird I was aware of a #### smell and toilet paper hanging on the front of my coat.

From were I started to were I made the shot was about 1400 to 1500 yards. Great spot for a dump better spot to lay in your own #### to shoot a turkey.(this is the gospel truth)
 
Crowca2 said:
While scouting for turkeys one fine Sunday evening I required to take a dump.Pulling in a lane way about 400 yards off the road I proceeded to take a dump beside a small tree, clean up and carried on. I was out turkey hunting on Monday afternoon about 4:00 (rain in morning) when I hear turkey coming my way.

A rain storm blew in about that time and shut the turkeys down.It was out of hand and turned out to be some tornadoes had touched down blowing down some barns in the area. Pretty wild in the bush with no where to go and no were to hide. The storm cleared and I hear the turkey walking away heading west. I followed them at a safe distance in the hilly country and finally caught up to them. They were just over a rise and I could only see the toms tail as he strutted.

I waited and called to see if I could get any interest and after about twenty minutes the flock crossed the double tree line were I had laid down in the grass beside a small tree. The turkeys came out.The third one if I recall correctly was the tom and at approx twenty yards he went down. The jakes all took a turn stomping him and after a few minutes the herd had moved on.

As I got up to get my bird I was aware of a #### smell and toilet paper hanging on the front of my coat.

From were I started to were I made the shot was about 1400 to 1500 yards. Great spot for a dump better spot to lay in your own #### to shoot a turkey.(this is the gospel truth)
Click to expand...

Haha sorry to laugh but I am. Kinda reminds me of the time when my brother shat in his snowsuit hood.
 
About 35 years ago I was hunting spring black bears over bait near my Dad's deer camp west of Huntsville, ON. I was high in a portable treestand completely dressed in camo except for a small oval around my eyes, the bugs were terrible. It was getting near dusk, prime time for bears when there was a big "Whoosh" right past my face? I had no clue what it was when "Shoosh" it goes past me again almost touching me! This time it lands on a branch about 10 m away, it is a mid-sized hawk. The bird takes off again for another run at my eyes and I swung the rifle trying to block it or hopefully get a bead on it. All of a sudden the hawk realizes that I am much larger animal than the hole in my face mask, swings off to the left and disappears into the surrounding forest canopy.
 
In the late 1990s hunting coyotes in the flat lands of South Saskatchewan, after the fall deer season was well over with.
Friend was adeptly calling them in with his hand held Quaker call. Me 'on point' with my 788 in .222 Remington partnered with a Leupold M8 6x42 on top.

Dog held up at 350 yards and then sat down. Partner switched to a squeaker and he came in at a trot.
Felt the wind direction change on my cheek, when the dog was at about 100 yards distance.

He then turned tail and fled & I was in no rush, as I lead him and knew the top of the next ridge was exactly 200 yards, what my rifle was sighted in for exactly.

Held to the back of his head, as the sear broke he just happened to look back over his right shoulder while he continued to run. I should have struck him in the very center of the back of his head.
But the 50 grain SPSX struck him through the right eye ball socket instead.

The end of him.
 
Sheep hunting a few years ago……woke up early in the morning to relieve myself……20 feet in front of me is a big grizzly……we both s##t our pants…..he went one way and I the other…….camp was moved shortly thereafter….glad things worked out the way they did...
 
One year we had calf licenses only in camp. (Yeah, sucky)
Anyway, in the pre dawn light, I thought I could make out a moose, but, could not see. It faded out.
Twenty minutes later, a cow moose and her calf scented the guy on the next stand, and came running back down her trail. I heard them coming, but wasn't expecting the next part. They cleared the tag alders, and calf passed left, momma right, neither was ten feet from me. I shot the calf, with the 30-30. And spun to see the cow staring me down from ten yards. Uh oh..
So, I jumped up on a log and started yelling and screaming and waving my arms. (been in this situation before) Slowly she turned and walked off.
Then the radio lights up "WTF are you doing?" ...
:d
 
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