your weirdest encounter while in the stand?

[BearsHunt]

I decided to have my coffee outside one morning this winter. Carried a lawn chair, thermos, and handgun out to our most active field and sat down in the middle of a mesquite Grove (call it a brush blind). Just after sunrise, I hear this huge crash directly behind me. I turned just in time to see a female bobcat run past me, within kicking distance. Or at least I could've kicked it if is wasn't so busy trying not to fall out of the lawn chair...

I got my feet under me and walked around the bush to see where she went. Couldn't find a trace so I turned to go back to my chair and said out loud "did that SERIOUSLY just happen??". We'll, it did. And when I got to where I could see my chair, I saw the big male bobcat that was apparently chasing her. He was sitting about 5 foot away from my chair, just staring at me. Unfortunately, he walked away and disappeared as soon as I moved to pull my gun.

Best "hunting" morning I've ever had, and I wasn't even hunting.

[KLWoodall]

While bowhunting in Panola Co. a few years back, I was fortunate enough to watch a Bobcat come in to the small creek I was on. He stalked and pounced on a huge rat and played with it for about 15 minutes then ate it. Caught another and did the same and quietly walked back where he came from. Never got within 50 yards of me even though i was squeaking and imitating the best rat I could muster.

My wife last year (gun hunting) texted me and said she left the keys to the blind in the truck and decided she would just sit on the berm in the brush that morning. I told her I would run back and bring as it was still dark. She declined and I waited for light. At dawn I start glassing and see her walking briskly up the fence line back to the truck...I know something is wrong because it is "prime time" so I call her. She has sat on the berm and got comfortable with her gear bag on her left and gun across her lap. At dawn she noticed something move and saw the copperhead under her bag moving towards her leg. She froze. After a few seconds evaluation she decided to act and she butt stroked the snakes head, which really shocked it as it was just out for a morning stretch, and she jumped and screamed get away! The snake was, of course ESL (English Second Language) and didn't understand. He took the rifle butt as a threat and began coiling around and striking it. After several seconds of Stroke, Strike, Stroke, Strike she headed west and he headed east. I met a crying wife at the truck who will not under any circumstance hunt on the ground for anything, including vegetables. She hasn't left any key to anything since. It was not funny at the time and to her still isn't. All's well that ends in a good story.

[2B4Him]

I was hunting near Cisco 20 years ago. I was very unfamiliar with the area having hunted in primarily in East Texas.
It was a very cold and still November morning and I was in a blind in a field lined by cedar trees/bushes. (Yes, I realize that most of what we call 'cedars' are 'junipers'. I don't know which this truly was.)
About an hour after sunrise, randomly around the field, those 'cedars' began to 'puff' (explode) with a yellowish pollen cloud. It was amazing to watch. The wind was so slight the cloud would just gently dissipate and drift with the breeze.
I've never seen anything else like it.

[CRT]

Dezgirl and Texastornado would be fun to hunt with. They have a sense of humor, but still know enough to call out the "manly men" they are hunting with haha. They probably have more experience than most of the guys taking them it sounds like. Some of you single guys on TBH should take notice

Awwww...thanks!! I like to think I'm fun to hunt with!! Lol

[El Viejo]

I wasn't hunting, but was at La Joya Lake, a private lake in Hidalgo County. I needed to get rid of the previous day's meal and went over to the bathrooms. The men's was so nasty I just held my nose, jacked the TP and headed for the brush. I was standing there with my pants around my ankles and looked up to see a skunk walking right towards me. What to do? I definitely didn't want to startle him and he wasn't changing course. Finally I made a slight grunting sound and he stopped about 3 feet away. I waved my hand just enough to get him to change direction. I finished up what I was doing and headed back to the party.

[gemini2759]

post rut, jim hogg county a few years back, had a coyote and doe eating corn together down a sendero i was watching. They were about 5 yards apart and knew each other were there.

[Mjjust]

I had 2 moments that both involved quail while in a tripod on public land in San Angelo. Had about 9 days off so hunted the same tripod almost everyday Hand fed corn every morning and had the same covey of quail come in to eat their fill. At first it bothered me they were eating my corn but came to enjoy their visit each morning right at sunrise so just put out extra. One morning was enjoying their company again and listening to all their happy babbling when off to my right another covey flies in and lands about 20 yds away. The happy babble turned to a much more serious tone. I thought "Oh My! They are getting ready to rumble". The 2 coveys started to walk toward each other through the tall grass and broomweed and both started to vocalize louder. They met and it was on. They were chasing, bobbing, wrestling, flapping and making all kinds of commotion. I looked back to the corn and there were 2 fat quail still eating corn while their brethren were at war. I could picture them saying "We got your back guys!" About that time a hawk flew way overhead and let out a short screech and those quail instantly froze. Like Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. The hawk kept going but those birds didn't even twitch for several minutes. Mortal enemies millimeters away from each other but scared stiff by an even greater mutual enemy. It was dead silent. Finally they began to come back to life and started barking at each other but it seemed both had lost interest in the battle and the invading covey began to wonder off after a few avian cuss words were exchanged. My covey then went back to eating corn for a few minutes with what seemed to be an even more cheerful babble.

Couple weeks later on a early saturday morning before sunup at same stand I heard a quail calling over a ridge back behind my left. He was calling every 30 seconds or so. Then I could hear a faint response from the field to my right. The call and responses kept getting closer. Then the lone quail appeared on the top of the ridge and made another call. The covey responded and they all started in a full sprint toward each other making all kinds of glorious excited noises. They met right in front of me and they had what seemed like a party celebrating the return of the prodigal son. Of course the fact that they met right over my corn might have helped.

[Flint knapper]

I once had a dove land on my right leg while I was up a tree!
He stayed for about 25 min. and then flew off.
I would of tried to catch him, but I had a young 8pt right below me sucking up all the corn on the ground.

[Fashinghunts]

Once, I was bowhunting way up a mesquite tree is South Texas. I was probably 15 foot high and had corn almost straight down below me. I was chewin tobacco at the time and had a half cut plastic water bottle with a good amount of spit in it. Well, here comes this young 3 point buck down the trail and he feeds for a while and its getting late in the morning and nothing else is going to come out. So this little buck wanders over and stands directly over me. So I get my spit bottle and pour it right on top of him all over his back. He runs off a ways, then his nose is in the air and he starts snorting. I get down and walk back to my truck and I can still hear this deer snorting 30 minutes later about 1/4 mile from me!

[ferrellv]

Couple years ago I fell asleep in the pop up while hunting for a doe. Woke up peaked out the window and still nothing but thought I heard something in the blind with me. I looked around and apparently about a 6' blue indigo decided to come in the blind with me and was laying across my feet. Lifted my feet alittle bit and he slithered out of the polo up and I went back to sleep lol. It was one of those 1pm-dark hunts so had plenty of napping time

I would have died right there.

[tradtiger]

Bowhunting about four years ago near Yegua Creek on the Sommerville WMA; found a less dense area of the woods and set up on a fallen tree, sitting on the trunk near the rootball. Since it's required to wear orange out there, I'd painted up a section of camo netting and made a head-dress kind of thing, with weaved-in moss and sticks.

Didn't see any deer, but several squirrels were cavorting in the surrounding trees -- mostly in the branches above, but sometimes coming down to the ground before scampering up another trunk. I considered changing quarry from deer to squirrel, knowing I could only safely take a ground shot. Finally, a squirrel hops up at the other end of the log where I'm sitting -- he's maybe 30 feet to my left. He was kind of looking around the area as I carefully shifted to get into position for a shot; catching my movement, he sees this big orange mass and does a double-take. I'm sitting sort of twisted his direction, with my recurve across my lap and an arrow nocked so that the broadhead is inches above the log top and pointing toward the squirrel. He slowly makes his way along the trunk toward me. I'm motionless, and he comes all the way to the arrow and SNIFFS the point of the broadhead! He looks up at my face and back at the broadhead. Then, he turns and ambles away down the log, as I raise my bow and wait for him to stop (no let-off on this gear). He's almost to the end of the tree when he stops and turns almost broadside. I come to full draw. Then he cocks his head and looks right at me. Couldn't shoot him. When I let down, he scurried off, content in the knowledge that he was the king of that log.

[fishingsetx]

I've got 2 stories that come to mind:

One morning, I grabbed my pump 410, hopped on my trusty huffy and headed for a buddy's house that lived a few miles away. this was back when a kid could ride down a residential street with a shotgun on the handlebars and didn't have to worry about an ATF swat team showing up. My friends parents owned 18 acres and the back 3 or 4 acres were wooded and backed up to a pretty large chunk of woods. Never knew who owned the land behind them, but we sure killed a bunch of squirrels out of their trees! We split up and killed a few each. I had taken a shot at one squirrel and it ran off so I just assumed I had missed. About an hour later, we met back up along a creek about 150-200 yds from where I missed the squirrel. As we are talking we hear a racket above us. My buddy takes a step back right before a squirrel falls dead almost landing on his foot! It had to have been the one I shot at earlier as it was the only one we "missed" all morning!

Second story happened October before last. I had just bought a squirrel call (never used one before) and did a little research. Turns out, the distress call is supposed to be one of the best. After sitting still a while, I blew the distress call, slapped a leafy branch against the ground and then waited (following the instructions on the package). Within a min or two, a young doe walks out and walks within 10 yards of me before she figures out something is wrong and trots off. After that, I got up and moved about 1/4 mile deeper in the woods, set up again, and repeated the call/branch sequence. I'm looking off to my right when I hear something coming in to my front left. I slowly turn my head to see a yote coming in at a trot. he gets to within kicking distance before I give him a not so gentle nudge with my boot toe! He about did a flip and takes off full bore. I tried to get a shot off but in my shock, forgot to take the safety off!

It amazed me that either of those animals would come in that close considering I just had on a camo short sleeved shirt, camo hat and blue jeans and reeked of OFF due to the skeeters!

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[fishingsetx]

Didn't happen to me, but my wife was sitting in a box blind on the ground guarding her barrel one morning when a Bob cat walks out into her lane about half way to the feeder. she watches as it stalks closer and closer to her feeder. When the cat got about q5 yards from the feeder, she hears a bunch of snorting and stomping and then a group of does come barreling out right on the cats tail! they chase it back up the lane and passed within 5 feet of her stand. she said they ran it to the end of her other lane and then came trotting back to her feeder right past her stand again. She made the comment that they sure looked proud of themselves!

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[JustinJ]

your weirdest encounter while in the stand?

IN 2013 I was hunting down in Lometa. The rancher had cleared a bunch of cedar and their were brush piles all around a pretty open field. I had a creek running from my right to left about 200 yds in front of me. This property was loaded with rabbits, and I got to watch a fox on 2 separate hunts sneak from brush pile to brush pile hunting rabbits. Never saw him make a kill but did see some pretty awesome chases. I probably wouldn't kill a fox anyways, but I surely wasn't gonna shoot this guy because it was so much fun watching him hunt all day.

Later in the day my biggest buck to that date comes out and I shoot him Near the creek bed. He runs through the creek bed and out of sight. When I get out to find the deer, I cross through the creek and see the fox standing there looking at me. He turns nonchalantly and starts walking away. I follow him for maybe 50 ids and he sits down right next to my deer. Like my own wild blood tracking fox! He sat for a while and I got some picture of him. I needed to go get the rhino to get the deer and he was still sitting there. I verbally told him "I don't want to shoot you, but if I come back and your gnawing on my deer you're dead" . When I came back with the rhino he was gone not having touched anything.

[SabreKiller]

The porcupine that climbed...

in the tree with me was pretty exciting. I threw everything i had at him but he kept coming. Finally he went out on the limb in front of me and stayed for about 20 minutes before leaving.

Sitting on a stool in a makeshift ground blind. It was dark and saw something walk in front of me. Flashlight showed a skunk. I turned off the light only to have that skunk turn and walk straight at me. He went BETWEEN my legs, UNDER my seat and out the blind. I was done for the day.

Numerous incidents with coyotes and bobcats as well.