What are some of the strangest things to happen to you while bow hunting?

[Riptide]

Now that were only days away from sitting in our stands again lets hear some stories. My buddy had a bear start coming up the same tree he was sitting in once.

[bigbucks]

Having an owl sit 10-15' above me a few trees over from me trying to decide if I was something to eat. I finally moved more, just to make sure he didn't try to grab my head when I looked the other direction. I could see his mind working.

Having a buck messing with the licking branch on the tree my stand was in, while I'm trying to get my bow dislodged from a poor choice of places to hang it, it was stuck. He was about 15' from me, 12' down, 3' over. I did actually wind up shooting him at 25 yards. Don't climb into your stand real close to deer time if you need a nap... Or then again should you? I got a deer.

[sheepheadslayer]

I had a sparrow land on my leg one time that was pretty neat. I also had a tree rat come and brush my shoulder while he was coming down the tree. Scared the **** out of me.

[Ole1855]

I've had Chickadee's land on my shoulder, gun, bill of my hat. On my rifle stand, I have dark brown, indoor/outdoor carpeting for walls. I have had a number of squirrel's climb my tree and sneak a peek over the edge of the shooting rail so they could get a look at what that orange blob was. A couple of times they've spooked and climbed over the edge and held onto the carpet.... I slap the carpet real hard and then look over the edge quick to see the squirrel flying through the air to the ground. They get real upset sit in the next tree over and they chew me out.

Ole

[This message has been edited by Ole1855 (edited 09-15-2004).]

[jblabsnduck]

had a tree rat jump onto my arrow. He must have thought it was a branch. Scared the you know what out of me.

[B. Amish]

I've had hawks try to land on my head, i think they thought my head was a good place to perch until i seen them coming and flinched scaring them away

otherwise, the hole squirrel in my tree checking me out happens a few times every fall

[Mark Christianson]

Walking to my bow stand one evening for a hunt I had a hell of a surprise.
I was walking the alfalfa field edge, and all of a sudden there was a huge commotion in the weeds within feet of me. I darn near filled my shorts. I thought the grim reaper was coming out at me. Something came out that I would bet nobody has ever kicked up while going out bow hunting.

A flippin goose. I hunted near a lake where people waterfowl hunt. It was wounded, and skimmed along the field and landed again.
If I would have been ready, I could have shot the poor thing.

[thore]

a guy tresspassing who was hunting wild ginsing. I guess the stuff goes for $100 an ounce. The funny thing was is that I was at full draw when I realized it was a person stepping into the clearing and not a deer i heard moving.

[bigbucks]

B. Amish, had the same thing happen with a hawk once or twice. The squirrels have went over my boot once or twice I think, been on the stand with me a couple times every year.

I had 3 guys trespassing to hunt grouse once, they were walking directly at the fence from their side & I was hidden in a tree about 20 yards from the fence. When they got to the fence I just casually asked them where they were going. They said grouse hunting, I said, on your side of the fence & they walked away.

I kicked the same group of guys off another piece of my Uncle's property a year or two later during gun season, they were about to make a drive. They were saying the whole **** about unposted, nonagricultural land, which is fine, but I said you know who's land this is & that we're hunting & that you're not welcome. I said consider yourself notified. He hated to post it, because if somebody he knew wanted to walk through it for pheasants or 2nd weekend of deer season, he wanted them to feel like they could ask.

[Riptide]

I have a family of flying squirrels in the tree two feet from my head. They have it hollowed out with a hole at eye level that they keep staring at me with those huge eyes they have. I plugged that thing last week. Call me a chicken but i still get freaked hearing all the comotion going on as your walking out in the pitch black. We have had plenty pictures of bear last year and this year a wolf. I have had a Hawk fly right at my head once from 15 feet away good thing for safety belts i about jumped right out of my stand.

[EXTREME]

This did'nt happen while bow hunting, but it was wild. I was walking through the edge of a swamp before light to get to a stand (during rifle season). I forgot my flashlight, so I was winging it. I was going through a small stand of 10 ft balsams, when a grouse flushed mo more than 3 feet in front of my face. Talk about needing toitet paper! I thought I was going to die of a heart attack, and I was only 15 at the time. Kind of funny now

[jparrucci]

I've never bow hunted, but I have a couple of weird ones. Like many of you, I've had the squirrels crawl around my stand. Once while grouse hunting, my friend and I flushed a couple of grouse. I was about to shoot at one of them, when another one actually flew INTO my gun. Thats right, the grouse actually HIT my gun. Never did get a shot off. Opening day, thick forest, never saw the second one. Another friend put his deer stand in a tree a pine marten was using, scared him to death, and out of that stand.

[Fish- N- Hunt]

I don't know what hawks like so much about us hunters, but I too had the same thing happen and never even seen it coming. It's amazing how much that wakes you up after starting to doze off!! The squirrels sure do like my tree as well, they run up and down the tree right by my back. It's actually kind of cool when you think about all the neat things that happen in the tree.

Fish- N- Hunt

[Dave]

Walking in before sunlight during rifle season, I have my light clicked to my hat bill. About 20 yards from my stand I start putting out my scent wicks. I turned to my left just to see a white tail raise up, walking away from me, about 15 feet away. Never heard the deer.

[bowhunter6125]

Other that the usual bird or rat trying to join me in the tree, I once had a bull moose come to check me out. I had been using a grunt call walking into the stand and had just climbed up when I heard him coming. I tried to motion him to leave but he just stood there. I finally scared him off by rattling hard. The worst thing was I had a nice 10 pointer come in about 45 minutes later and hold up 30 yards out in some brush. I suspect he didn't like the scent the moose left.

However, the strangest thing that happened to me was on an a.m. bow hunt. I was walking across an old sand pit on my way to my stand when I heard something running up behind me. I turned my flashlight on and spun around to see what it was. Standing 10 yards away were two wolves, one adult black wolf and a younger gray wolf. They both then started to circle me in opposite directions probably trying to pinch me. The older black one was smart by laying down and turning its head away so I couldn't see his eyes. The younger was easier to see since his/her coat reflected the light. The younger was also skiddish and would run out 50 Yards and then back in several times. I decided to walk towards the younger one since it was between my truck and me. I was also hoping to scare it off. It did scare it off. They ran back into the woods and said good bye with a howl. I returned to my truck so I could go home and empty my pants.

[norm]

i was hunting out at my uncles place 2 yrs. ago and forgot to chain up his dog before i walked out to my stand one morning. so the dog was walking out there with me and when we got about 40 yards from my stand he started growling at something. so i flipped on my flashlight and there stood the biggest skunk i had ever seen, tail straight up in the air, and jumpin up and down like he was on a pogo stick. luckily he was more concentrated on the dog than me so i could run the rest of the way to my stand

[Deitz Dittrich]

I got permission a few years back to hunt the edge of a farm. This farm had quite a few head of cattle on it, but also had some decent deer population. So I chose a tree just in the edge of a tree line and threw my stand up about 16 feet in the air. about an hour and a half before sun down I can see these deer off in the distance.. But the cows are also comming my way.

One very large cow decided that it had an itch.. and chose the tree I was in to scratch its self... I had to turn around in the tree and hug it, that cow almost shook me out...

there you have it.. strangest thing ever happend to me!

[bigbucks]

The wolf story wasn't funny, just scary. The cow rubbing the tree was hilarious.

[Stratosman]

One time I had a stand set up in a tree that apparantly had a squirrels nest in it above me, well one day this squirrel awoke to find a human half way up his tree, now this critter didn't take kindly to me and would start to chatter and raise all sorts of ruckus before going about his biz. Well I thought I could put up with him for ten minutes or so each time and I tought it was rather amusing. Well apparantly the squirrel didn't and one day started dropping acorns on me, he would run out on a branch and grap an acorn and run back to the branch above me about 15 feet and bombs away. This got annoying real fast and I let him win by moving my stand. Stupid squirrels.

[camo_marc]

wow, wolves would make me probably think twice about walking in in the morning. would definately need some diapers after that. nothing i could tell even compares to most of these stories.

[bigbucks]

Statosman, I think I'd have brought the pellet gun with on my next outing & let him "lose".

[Stratosman]

Bigbucks,

I didn't have much luck there anyway. I am very familiar with that cow story. Where I hunt there is woods that is used for pasture about 400 yards deep, then there is a fence and the rest of the woods is natural, anyway, I have to cross the pasture to get to the woods to one of my stands, well last year the farmer had gotton a new bull and he was a mean S.O.B. and did not like me crossing his area and actually came after me a couple times, luckily I was always close to the fence. The worst part is, the pasture is pretty much all cedar trees and gets hard to see where the bull is, so I would have to literally sneak through the area and try to see him before he saw me and skirt way around him. Let me tell you, what a pain in the you know what! Especially in the mornings when it was dark out. But I was seeing lots of deer and wasn't gonna let a stupid bull keep me away. Although by the end of the first couple weeks I knew where every tree was big enough to support me.

I talked to the farmer yesterday and he said they got rid of that one and got a different one this year, thank God, I really like that stand!

[kpj5br]

One word: Turkeys

3 years ago, deer hunting outside of Rushford in the 3B season, I decide to setup a ground blind. Just a couple old logs and some camo mesh under a big old oak, I set it up the day prior, and hunkered down in there about 4am.

Just as first light is about to break, all h*ll broke loose with these very loud "thumps" around me, and very large bird-objects hitting the ground. Sounded like the artillary was coming in.

Turns out I setup directly under a roost of turkeys, and they either didn't know or didn't care that I was there.

After my heart began beating again, it was very cool watching them strut around, a couple within 10 feet of me.

[walleye_jigger]

Cow's have got after me also. I was out at my uncle's hunting the edge of a thicket and in order to get there I have to go through the pasture. Well it got to be 15 min after sunset and it had been a pretty boring evening, so I decided to pack it up. I was making my way across the pasture and all of a sudden heard this rumbling. It was a stampeed I had to high tail it and do the drop and roll under the fence. Darn cow's!!

[bigbucks]

walleye_jigger if that happens to you again, turn around & walk towards them, unless there's a bull in there. They'll stop & shy away. They won't run you over anyway, unless they misjudge where you are & don't stop quick enough. They're just so stinking curious they can't hardly contain it.

I've had that happen plenty of times, although it can freak you out.

[Neiko]

I was bowhunting in my portable once and watched a grouse fly up to me and I thought it would eventually turn but it didn't and I had to put my bow up sideways between us and he hit the arrow when he finally turned in the air. The problem was it was one of the early portables which were only big enough for 2 feet and not much room to move. The other part of the equation was I didn't have a safety harness on either.

Lesson learned.

[mudman]

Happened this weekend!!!
about 10 min. after I could see a squirel was in the tree across from me, he was doing one of those real fast noises that I can only immitate in person.
I was watching him and all the sudden an owl from out of no where grabbed him and flew off!

[bigg edd]

I was bow hunting in the metro area about 10 years ago one afternoon and I was watching a small buck working it's way towards me when it bolted out of the blue. A few minuts later from the same direction I could see movement and thought it was another deer. Boy was I wrong. It was a girl about 15 years old and she was coming right at me! She stopped 20 yards away and sat down on a fallen tree and pulled out a pack of smokes!! 10 minutes and 2 smokes later she left. I thought I was busted but she never looked up! I guess my camo was working that night.

[Dave]

Forgot about this one. Years ago my brother was bow hunting near home and was perched up in his portable. He watched as this guy wanders down the trail, stops underneath his tree stand, never detecting he was up there. The guy looks around for a few seconds and proceeds to drop his pants…..LOL

My brother had to do all he could to hold his laughter in. When back home, he said he should’ve yelled “EVERYTHING COME OUT OK?" to see what the guy would’ve done then.

I guess his camo worked perfectly too.

[CornPirateKiller]

Great stories! It's amazing what you see when you're all camo and not moving. I'm a disabled hunter and I hunt with a crossbow out of a ground stand. One year I heard a really loud buzzing and I thought I was being attacked by a swarm of bees. Turned out to be a humming bird. I was all in camo except for the eye holes in my dermoflage head net and that little guy thought the white of my eye was a flower. Tried several times to "feed" out of my eye. Then he lit on my bow and tilted his head looking at me, trying to figure out why the "flower" wouldn't hold still. I watched him for a minute before he flew off.

Another time, I was bear hunting in Canada and a huge fisher ran right over my feet. Nearly had to change my pants after that one.

I had a couple of teenage girls walk by me too. I was on a fencerow between two fields and the field behind me had a field road along the fence. These two girls about 16 years old went for an evening walk on the road, discussing the intimate details of their dates from the night before. Pretty Graphic! They walked by me within 15 feet and never saw me. I thought about speaking up and giving them a scare, but I let them walk on unaware.

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati (When all else fails, play dead)