your weirdest encounter while in the stand?

[ByronB]

When I was a teenager I was hunting the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. I climbed up in a tree and found a great limb to sit on overlooking a few trails. One afternoon we went in early. I climbed up in to the tree and set up. About an hour later another Bowhunter walks up to the base of the tree. I tried a low voice indicating I was up there. It finally took, "Hey, I am hunting up here". The guy kind of jumped back and then realized where the voice was coming from.

[Leef]

I was sitting in a lock on treestand in a large elm tree in the Hill Country. It was a very quiet morning, no breeze, no sound. I heard a sound, similar to maybe a large bird gliding over me, kind of a swoosh. Just seconds after that a sound like a cork popping...Then every single leaf on the tree fell off at the same time...thousands of them. Most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed.

[Thirstyswimmer]

The one that stands out most in my mind occurred a few years ago during gun season.
I was hunting the farm in one of our ladder stands at the edge of a well traveled draw at the edge of a field. It was an unproductive morning hunt thus far, but around 9 I can hear something crashing through the brush to my right. Whatever it is has to be huge with the racket it was making, and it's coming fast. I readied my rifle and waited for it to make an apperance. A few seconds later a young fork horn bolted out of the cover and passed behind the base of my tree by less than a yard. He never stopped running until he was out of sight to my left. I was confused, and wondering what the heck he was running from when I glanced back to my right to see the biggest bobcat I'd ever seen sitting at the edge of the treeline 5 yards from me. He had chased the deer out of the woods, then sat down to watch it scurry across the field. The bobcat then slowly walked past me following the treeline until he eventually slipped back into cover.
I would have shot him, but my .270 would have destroyed his beautiful pelt.

Another that comes to mind happened a decade ago near Rock Springs. I had fallen asleep in the box blind waiting for sunrise, like I often do, when I was shaken awake by something. Not sure if it was a dream, or what, I sat there waiting to get my bearings. A second later the whole blind shook again, and I knew it wasn't a dream this time. This continued for several minutes until the bull had finaly gotten that itch scratched out. At one point, the bull had the blind tipped up at a decent (but relatively shallow) angle with me in it!
I felt like a rodeo clown in a barrel for a bit.

[jerp]

Was turkey hunting in a pop-up with my son. We had a hen decoy set up and were working the call.
Out came a hen that seemed inquisitive. She strode up to the decoy and slowly seemed to be 'sizing up' the competition. Then, out of nowhere, she threw a left hook and knocked my decoy silly. Then she slowly walked around the decoy with a 'you talkin to me' look about her. Then, quick as a wink, she threw another left hook. Then she stood there a minute and suddenly started pummeling the decoy with lefts and rights until the decoy fell over and lay there 'bleeding' the air that had inflated her.
My son and I were laughing so hard we never got the phones out to film it.

That reminded me of a turkey story. After calling all morning and into the afternoon my young son and I had not so much as heard a gobble so we decided to go fish a tank on the place. We topped a hill in the jeep and saw a group of turkeys about 150 yards away. The only weapon I had in the vehicle was a .22 mag so we decided to try and sneak up for a shot. We circled around and came out of the brush about 50 yards away to see two big gobblers squaring off with all the rest of the flock standing around them like kids watching a schoolyard fight. As I set up to shoot, the gobblers went at it - all pounding wings and spurs flying. I squeezed off a shot and hit one of them right in the neck and he dropped like a rock. At first they were startled by the shot but suddenly the other gobbler jumped on the dead one and started tearing him to pieces. He then started an "I'm a badazz!" strut around him - I guess he thought he'd killed his rival!

[jb5001]

Last year I was walking into my stand and it was dark as could be; no moon out. I would occasionally flash my light to see where I was going and when I did there was a skunk within 3 feet of me. I quickly closed my eyes and turned around walking as fast as I could. Luckily I kept my shorts clean.

I also had a bobcat come and start to scratch its back on my ladder stand. It was very cool to have her up close.

[Chew]

I was about 10 and coon hunting with my dad in a big creek bottom in the SHNF. We had went to the dogs about 1/2 mile off the road. It was some pretty thick stuff. We shot the coon out, got the dogs to leave it alone, and started walking back to the truck. Dogs struck another coon so we stopped, turned off the flashlights, and listened to the music. Dogs were quickly moving out of hearing when we heard some crazy spooky grunts and whooshing sound with brush breaking. We kinda froze and my dad pulled out his .22 mag pistol. Noise kept getting closer and louder. Dad flips on his headlamp and there is a huge white bull at about 30 yards stomping and snorting. We are nowhere near a ranch or any private property. This thing was straight up wild. He looked like he was about to charge. My dad grabbed me by the back of my overalls and practically lifted me straight up into a tree and told me to climb up a little ways. He got behind the tree with his gun (not enough gun) and they had a stare down. Dad was yelling at it (probably not the smartest thing to do). Seemed like forever before the big bull walked off. Scared the dookie out of me.

[seminole1990]

Story from my older brother---rifle hunting from a climber in the South Georgia swamp. Group of hogs runs by, he shoots one. He turns to shoot another, and can hear the shot hog squealing and in the throws of death, thrashing and rolling about. No shot on hog#2 so he turns back to see hog#1 roll into one of the sloughs in the swamp. Brother's thoughts go from pork chops tonight to WTH?! Hog squealing turns into a watered garble then ceases, Hog's hind legs shoot straight into the air. The head and front legs are straight under water, think: fishing bobber. "Hog bobber" hind legs start moving toward the water's edge. Big bull gator climbs out of the water with the hog head in its mouth.
Brother asks himself--that's abnormal, why did the gator get out of the water with it's kill? Bigger gator emerges shortly thereafter. freaky...

[Jtrisler]

Several years ago my buddy and I were discing food plots here in Central Louisiana about this time of year. We were hunting big timber that was covered in tall palmetto. We sheared a pin on the disc and headed back to camp to get the tools to fix it with. As we rounded a corner we saw a large bobcat that had a small fawn pinned down by the throat in the middle of the road. The bobcat spooked and ran off while we stood watch over the fawn allowing it to try and recover from the attack. There was blood and bobcat slobber on its neck and throat and he was trying to catch its breath. After a few minutes the fawn got on its feet and we chased it through the woods in hopes of putting some distance between it and the bobcat. Not sure where its Mom was!

[HC Sniper]

Was sitting on a ladder stand on a lease near Bronte when a hawk landing in a tree about 40 yards away. Wasn't anything else around at the time so I kept my eye on him. He started looking at me, turning his head every which way. I just got a feeling that something was fixing to happen. That hawk took off and was coming right for me. At the last second it dawned on me that he wasn't going to stop. I jerked my bow up in front of me and he tried to slam on the brakes. His wings actually hit my bow limbs. Needed a new pair of underwear after that.

[cylomedia]

OK, this is a little off topic but it's what I have. Buddy of mine has a game cam at his stand. His stand seems to have a good variety of cool stuff show up. Aoudad sheep, lots of pigs, porcupine, long horns, etc. Sooooo . . . buddy number 2 and I got to talking about it and decided to swipe his game card. buddy #2 had his laptop and had Photoshop on it and took the files from the game card and pasted in various versions of Roger (a cartoon character alien from American Dad that like to dress up in costumes) int some of the pix on his game card. He also found a Sasquach from a Jack Links Jerk ad and doctored another one of his pix.

We had to wait 3 weeks to get our pay off, but it was worth it.

[wdeisher]

Hunting with my dad one day and look out the window to see a black object moving down the road about 300 yards out. Thinking it was a pig I got my gun ready.... turned out to be a black lab... don't know whos dog that was and never saw it again but easily the weirdest thing we had ever seen.

[Flint knapper]

I was sitting on a stand one morning looking down a fire lane road with thick oak brush on both sides, and start seeing does crossing!
I noticed something strange on one of their necks and after looking through my Bino's I see not one, but seven does come marching through, each one having a different color dog color on their necks!
Never saw them again, and don't know where they came from, but that was a little different!!!

[Dakota7493]

Rifle hunting a few years back. I have a blind that is on a 8ft platform that I have anchored to a tree that it's next too. I shoot an 8 pointer out the side window and as soon as I pulled the trigger a bobcat jumped off the tree branch that is right above the window. I'm pretty sure I was way more scared then the bobcat. Don't know if he was in the tree when I got in or if he came in when I was there or what.

[UncleBubba]

I was 15 hunting a new spot on Type 2 in Palestine. It was the deepest I had ever walked in alone and I was already nervous. My dad would normally setup a couple hundred yards away when we hunted public land but this time he dropped me off and drove down a good ways. I get to my tree, using my climbing stand, I climb about 30' up. Hunted that evening and didn't see anything, we always hunt until we can't see. As I was getting my stuff together I here what sounded like a cougar scream. My hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I decided I wasn't getting down until my dad walks in with a gun. I radioed him and he said he faintly heard it as well. I about ****** myself waiting for my dad. He had heard them scream down there before so he wasn't as nervous. Until it all went private, when we hunted there I was always looking over my shoulder!

[Ten Ring]

I was bow hunting out of one of my stands the over looks a feeder and our tank. The tanks was almost dried up that year. I had a good buck showing up every other evening, so I felt good about my sit. Its getting to be that time maybe 30 minutes before dark. I was watching all the birds and rabbits clean up the corn from the feeder, when all of a sudden they take off. I start getting excited, something must have spooked them because even the fat rabbit that wont ever run, took off running. I get my bow ready and start scanning the area looking for movement. Finally I see it, its about halfway across the dried up part of the tank. At first I'm thinking its a small bobcat or a fox or maybe even a coon. As its getting closer I can hear a little ringing noise. Finally I figured out what it was....a dang tabby house cat with a bell on its pink collar, needless to say didn't see any deer that hunt. I'm not sure where it came from, the closest house is a couple miles away. My dad didn't believe me but a couple of weeks later I pulled cards and in 2 pictures there is this tabby cat staring down a coon and in one picture it is starring down a little four point buck.