your weirdest encounter while in the stand?

[rjet]

I've got 2 stories that come to mind:


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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I had the same thing happen to me using a squirrel call. When it was close to time to call it a morning I got to playing around with the call, trying to make the most noise possible. Had it making the squeaky noise which i believe is distress. I heard racket coming my way and it was a big ole doe. Stopped around 10 yards from me panting like crazy. She stood there probably 15 seconds and then took off to where she came from. Was pretty cool.

[Tryton]

I've had the normal squirrel run across me and hawks getting too close. Had a hog determined to run me out of my stand once.

I even had a piglet walk between my legs while I was sitting in some brush trying to catch a buck crossing a high line.

Not sure if it has been posted here before but there is a video of some guys hunting in Oklahoma when a kangaroo hops by. There reaction is hilarious. There is some bad language so I won't post a link but something y'all can google.

[SaltwaterSlick]

What a fun thread to read!
Probably one of my coolest was a few years back before I became a ground lubber, I was sitting in a tripod guarding a barrel hog hunting... kept hearing one coming from in front and right of me... I'm getting ready.... still ready.... stiiiiiilll ready... same noise coming and now it's CLOSE!!! I'm thinking this dang hog must be crawlin' in or I could see it... After what seemed like forever, I look down right at the base of my tripod and a gator about 6 foot long walked out into my trail I use to get to the tripod... He walked right under me and off down the draw and slid into the creek about 50 yards behind me...

At the same stand where the video Chew posted of the squirrel, I once had a platform in one of the pecan trees. Was sittin' there one morning watching some White Winged doves eatin' corn and broken pecan pieces that the squirrels had dropped when a Peregrine Falcon swooped in and flushed the doves... he grabbed one in mid flight and swooped up and landed on a limb 10 feet above my head and proceeded to pull the head off the dove to kill it. He sat there a minute or two until the dove stopped flapping, then he flew off with it. I sat there amazed at what I had just witnessed!

[Toddcaster]

I was hunting from a pop up blind one day at San Angelo State park. Pretty slow afternoon and as usual the longhorns had come thru and helped themselves to my hand corn. After they moved on I see movement to my right. A large bush was moving about 80 yds. from me. I reached for my binocs so I could get a better look but all I could see was an orangeish coat so I just figured it was a longhorn rooting around. This kept up for 5 minutes or so, so I glassed it again and saw the white spots. I had heard there were axis here but had never seen one up close and personal and I had hunted this same spot for four years prior. When he finally raised his head I got that rush that only comes from bow hunting. I kept an eye on him and he finally crossed in front of me at that same distance. Never saw him or another axis since but man what a rush!!

[seminole1990]

Omg

i was in a tree stand in ohio and a woman came jogging down the road and made a quick 90 degree turn right toward me into the woods. She got within about 20 yards of me looked all around but never up and dropped her yoga pants and relieved herself in both ways.

lol!!!!

[CaptainDave]

Myself and buddy were filling a feeder one time on a fairly thick river bottom lease property. He was on the back of the ranger and I was in the drivers seat backing it into position so he could fill the feeder standing in the back of the ranger. I shut off the engine and he proceeded to pour a bag of corn into the feeder. Then all of the sudden 3 piglets, not one over 20 pounds, came out of nowhere and ran right past us; literally within feet of us. Obviously nothing scary, but it was of those moments you look at each other thinking, what the heck just happened.

One morning, I had planned to hunt one of our 15 foot ladder stands. This was one of those 2 man stands. We had draped camo burlap on the front rail for a bit more concealment. Anyway, it was dark, but I was trying to use my flashlight very sparingly not to spook anything on my way in. I get to the stand and start my ascent. I get up to top and am fixing to craw in when a raccoon jumped out right over my head, onto the front rail and then raced up the tree. I'm lucky I didn't fall and break my neck. Scared the crud out of me. Guess the coon had decided to take a nap up there.

[TXBuck74]

Ok, so I don't have any super exciting surprises or interesting guests... however last year was the first time I saw a pair of red tail foxes climb a couple of trees. I swear they climbed and jumped branches near the top of two 20ft trees. Really cool.... and should of got video of it...

[Patton]

One morning I was sitting 15 feet up in post oak tree in Central Texas on a nice late October morning. I'm not sure of the combination of weather conditions, but as the sun rose and started to penetrate the woods, every single leaf in that post oak I was in had a tendril of steam pumping off of it, going up into the air. I looked around and every tree around me had it happening as well. Thousounds of little steam clouds coming off each individual leaf. I then noticed I had steam coming of my entire body as well, it was very cool. I guess the dew had set in and the sun was rapidly evaporating it.

Another time bowfishing down the lower Colorado River on a cool spring night, roughly 2am in the morning. We had been enjoying some adult beverages and were prett done bowfishing, mostly just cruising downriver to our take out spot. We came around the bend where the river widens some and were greeted by hundreds of fog tornadoes dancing across the river. Some of them 3' in diameter and straight up, others were as thin as a few inches and would bend and contort as they moved. All of them coming off the water spinning like a tornado and going higher than our floodlights would shine. We must have seen a few thousand of these as it went on for 10 minutes while we went down the river, hardly able to see 20 feet in front of us.

[hpdrifter]

T'was bow hunting again one damp October morn on some COE land and I was just standing between a cedar tree and an oak tree overlooking a little brushy draw. Had a fair North wind so I wasn't too worried about my scent going down the draw, too much.

Anyway, about 9 ish, I was watching a little squirrel rummage around in the leaves for fallen acorns and he was working my way. I watched as he came closer and closer. Finally he was right at my feet. Next think I know he was sitting on the toe of my left boot. Sat there about 30-40 seconds, so it seemed.

About a month later, on same COE land, I was shot gun hunting for deer just up a little way from the draw where the squirrel happened by. I heard the fence about 40-50 yards to my West do the squeaky thang when it is moved. I thought maybe a deer had jumped the fence, so I got on the ready.

Well, I saw another hunter working his way in my general direction. I was in full camo dress, face paint and all, so I was going to let him slip by without attention.
He veered this way and that, pretty stealthy like, and was sure he was gonna bypass me. His last veer was about 10 foot out, right towards me. I thought he had seen me and was gonna say something. Kept coming, I was afraid to say anything at this point because he was looking me dead in the eyes, so it seemed and if I startled him, I might get blasted. I guarantee I could have tapped him on the shoulders when he came by. He stopped close enough to reach out and touch him, I was standing beside a fair sized Post oak, so I decided to say "Don't shoot". I shouldn't have. He almost came unglued.

[quarterback]

Speaking of bobcats....my hunting buddy and I were bowhunting on a good sized ranch in San Saba one evening. When I went to pick him up after dark he explained that he had shot a good buck right before last light but hit him a little far back. Well we gave him an hour or so and went back to blood trail the deer. After a lengthy search we found where it had crossed a fence. I was shining my flashlight across the fence and caught eyes looking back at me. Called my buddy over and showed him the eyes, then we saw that it was a good sized bobcat. It made a kind of growling sound and scooted off. We went to the spot and found his buck. The cat had found it first and had already started chewing on it a little.

Fast forward a couple weeks later. My bud was hunting that same spot and shot a doe in the late evening. I wasn't there so he called me and explained the situation, and how he had lost the blood trail in the dark. As he is walking and looking with me on the phone he all of a sudden says "Wait, hold on. I see eyes and something is making a growling sound." I reminded him about the bobcat on his buck in that same area a couple weeks earlier and then he told me it growled real loudly at him and ran off. I told him to go look where the cat was and sure enough there was his doe. Once again the cat had found it before he did.

We ended up with two more encounters with what had to be the same bobcat always finding our deer before we did. On the last one he had already covered it up with leaves and had eaten his fill of hindquarter.

[Jayt22]

I sharted my self and had to walk down a 20ft ladder stand with the evidence.....not good!

[91cavgt]

My dad took me to his lease for the first time. I found and climbed up in the tallest tripod stand I had ever seen (this was my first time hunting). About an hour after being in the stand, a blue norther comes through. I tried to stay warm but eventually I started shivering. Not too much long after that I heard dogs way off in the distance barking. They got louder and louder as I suddenly heard something crashing through the underbrush.

Next thing I know there is a doe in full trot heading right towards me! She ran straight towards me right to the base of the stand, then made a hard turn and kept trotting away from me to my right. I could hear her panting even in the fridged cold. Those dogs must have been chasing her.


I never got close to getting a shot off though. Between shivering from the cold, shaking from seeing the first deer while hunting, and trying to figure out why I could not tell where the trigger was (my hands were numb), there is no way I could have gotten a shot off.

[bigmactog]

Y'all will like this one - so I sitting in a 15 ft ladder stand watching 4 does and a young 8 around 45 yrds. They had no clue so I was checking out which one and when....totally focus, not moving, barely breathing......then straight down my face fell one large leaf, one of the biggest I've ever seen....I mean inches from my eyes....scared the stuffing out of all of 5 us - leaf scared me and I scared the deer....laugh a long time on that one......

[STONE KILLER]

Found a dead guy once, y'all remember 3 years ago the group of hunters that found the missing Garland man? Well that was us. lol talking about unexpected


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[bigmactog]

My oldest and I got to deer camp kind of late one several years ago. He said he needed to work on a stand before bed so I went with him. Deep dark down in the woods...I was on the ground holding the flash so he add a bow holder to the stand....shortly after starting I hear the leaves rustle on the ground..."Dude, you hear that" - son...no what.....I told him to make room up there if it get any closer - 15 mins goes by and this SOW comes dragging by at 20 yards...so big her belly was on the ground, bigger than a state fair hog....yep, had my knife and flashlight.....