reliveing a Hunting moment 3.i

[frenchbar]

We all had a lot of moments in are hunting trips we would like to have a complete do over.lets here some of em !

I had just hiked an hour and a half into the alpine with a couple buddys . We broke out of the trees and rested up and decided to all split up into different directions .
I headed off and climbed up a short incline to a top of a ridge..got there and my guts were rumblin from a bit of Beer drinking in camp the night before:) i didnt make it another 10 feet before i knew it was time to quickly drop my Blue jeans ..not much camo in those days lol..no sooner than i had dropped em i hear thumping on the ground of a deer bounding ..its a buck it comes out about 20 yrds below me and starts heading it down the hill through the sparsly spaced buck scrub..im in full scramble mode now.couldnt do much but watch the beautifull 4pt 160ish mossy horn bound through the trees with my pants around my ankles.. i finish off my deed lol ..spent the better part of the day trying to find him to no avail..it was another moment in time i.d like a do over . i remember the near misses in my hunting days more than the bucks that ive got..
so lets here some stories !

[Fella]

Was driving back down a spur road after hiking through some high meadows, had johnny cash going and my buddy telling me a story about a grizz hunt he was on earlier that month, saw a big ball of fur streaking through a cut block. Hit the breaks, grabbed my clip and rifle and bailed out. My hands were shaking so badly I managed to somehow rack two rounds and they both dropped onto the road. I started blasting on my predator call and turned the bear back around and he stopped 40 yards upwind and tried to get a handle on what we were. Finally got 1 bullet in the chamber and raised the rifle but my scope was zoomed in all the way from some practice shots from the day before so I couldn't settle the reticle down. My buddy took the shot but nicked an alder so no dice on a really beautiful cinnamon.

[Big Lew]

When I first started bow hunting, it was quite a transition from using a rifle for many years. I had difficulty adjusting to the patience needed. While hunting near Oyama Lake I spotted two large four point mulies near the top of a small treed ridge in the middle of a narrow select logging slash. It was lightly raining and the wind was in my favour so I waited until they both had fed over the top and out of sight before running to the ridge end I expected them to go to. From my hiding place I could see both sides of the ridge base so I would be aware if they left the ridge before making their way to my end. I waited for what I thought was quite awhile but my impatience got the better of me and I decided to creep up the ridge toward them. I didn't get 10 feet before spooking one of them. In frustration, I thought it was all over and started back to my truck when the other, also in range, took off. Had I more patience and waited just a few minutes longer, both bucks would have grazed right into my lap, so to speak, and I would have had a chance of a shot within 20 yards. I had been hiding behind a stump root, so I had good cover for drawing my bow without being noticed. Fortunately my patience has improved since then and I've reaped the rewards.

[monasheemountainman]

It was my buddies green horn year of hunting a few years back. We worked really hard to get him his first buck. We had a lot of chances but things just weren't coming together. We were planning on going to my honey hole the next day with another buddy...but my girlfriend was like come on hunni stay home and we can bang all day... So I reluctently let the two of them go with out me.... Sure as shit, I get the call my buddy nailed his first buck, a beautiful 5x4!!!

[panhead]

Sat down on a log to have a quick bite to eat while watching a meadow for the elusive bull moose many moons ago. I just got this eerie feeling that somone or something was watching me and slowly turned to "took-a-look." My rifle was leaning against a tree a few feet away. Not more than 10 feet from me was a "shooter" looking right at me. I could have poked him with a stick. Don't know how he got that close but we locked on each other for a few seconds while I decided to go for the gun. He whirled and took off through the timber never to be seen again. Probably lived happily ever after too ...
Don't remember going home empty handed so probably filled the freezer with another ... good thread, maybe post another or two as have "seen a lot" over the years ... all good memories, it's part of the game.

[ydouask]

Now you've pushed a button that causes instant replay in my mind.... there are lots of them , but this event happened about thirty odd years ago. A very good friend and hunting partner and I left the truck at the end of the road , shouldered our packs and headed up the mountain in the dark. We had hiked up for about forty five minutes and were about to top out on a ridge which overlooked a large basin. I was feeling that persistent call of nature and decided that this was a very good spot to stop and do the deed before peeking over the ridge.
My partner said he would like to just wander over to the base of a long ago burned out silver-backed snag on the ridge and sit there where he could survey the other side. Ok with me, I had business to take care of which wouldn't wait and did not need an audience. well, I finish up, Ed returns to report that he saw nothing at all. It has been daylight for about fifteen minutes and I thought that there would have been a buck down by now. Yeah, those were back in the glory days when Mule Deer were plentiful and a guy could be quite choosey about what he shot and where it was. So, we thought we would parallel the ridge for several hundred yards and then peek over again... but before heading off I said, "Let's just have another look in that basin". We climbed the short pitch to the ridge and peeked over... OH MY GOODNESS or something to that effect. There about 200 yds. distant is the biggest Mule Deer buck I've ever seen with a rifle in my hands.
Ed said, " Shoot it, shoot it". Broadside, wide open on the other side of the basin, easy shot. I did not shoot. Why not??
I had already put an Elk and a Mule Deer(from an adjacent region) in the freezer this year and was thinking... if I shoot this buck my hunting season will be pretty much done. It was about Sept 30 or so. Also it had a long heavy drop tine on the right antler .. lots of deductions there I commented... WAY TOO MUCH THINKING. The buck stood there for a long time and then stepped over the down side of his ridge never to be seen again.
This episode has been relived in my mind MANY many times. What happened ? I think it was a kind of BUCK FEVER. I was not shaking, glasses were not fogged up, footing good, rest was perfect and , and, and ... I was just kind of stunned, like someone pushed "PAUSE" at just the critical moment, and then the movie ends.. Whaaatt? I am pleased to say that in the following thirty odd years that scenario has not been repeated on any other game shot by this hunter.
I did shoot an average, for those days, 160 ish buck later that day. Now that was a real fiasco, but, maybe another time.

[Sitkaspruce]

Was up north chasing critters, had a grizz tag for the "just in case" bear. Well the second day we were working our way back to camp when we spotted this black thing way in the distance, put the spotter on it, saw it was nice dark grizz. We sat and watch him dig ground rodents until we put him to bed. Came up with a plan the next morning. I hiked back up and found him 100m away from where he was the night before, digging for his morning breakfast. He was about a klick away, so I used the wind and terrain to close the distance to 250y, lied down, flipped up the bipod and settled in behind the 300rum, looking for the shot. Well, he stopped digging, did not even look around and walked off the back side of the small hill he was on. I waited and waited as I could see all around the hill. No bear showed.....I decided to swing to my right and head for another hill about 75y away. I crept up the hill and glassed and glassed, no bear....could see all around the area and could not see anything. I thought as might as well head over to where he was and look at his work. As I stood up and walked over the hill, I came face to face with the bear at 50y. We both stopped and stared at each other...then his insticts kicked in and he whirled and took off, straight away from me. I dropped back down and tried to find him in the scope, found him but still straight away until he disappeared....no shot. A few minutes later, my two buddies called me and asked if I had seen the black grizz as it had run right by them in the next drainage....

I walked over to where he was and saw that there was a dried creek draw about 5-6' deep and he had been using it to walk.

To this day, I have no idea what made him stop digging and walk over the hill to disappear as I was getting ready to shoot. Sixth scense or something else as the wind was totally in my favour. Still can picture the whole thing as if it had happened yeserday.

Cheers

SS

[HarryToolips]

June 2nd of last year, spring bear season was open, headin up to an area with one of my best friends and huntin partner who has never shot any big game before. So on the way up I tell him if there's a bear, he is a blastin not me.. So we get to a cool swampy area and sit for a few minutes, when the call of nature hits me.. so my buddy lights his smoke and grabs a beer out of his backpack and heads up the open area that we took to get down to the swamp.. so I'm doin my business when I hear a big sploosh behind me.. there was a big wall of downed trees between me and the swamp, and I have enough time to do up one button on my pants and grab my gun and turn around to see there's a nice big black bear headin right toward me.. so I think hey I'll take him but remember I told my buddy that he's doin the shootin and I don't wanna break my word so I start lookin behind me and makin subtle noises waitin for my buddy to wake up and shoot the bear.. so I flick my safety off in case this bruin tries to climb the downed trees in front of me and sure enough the bear bluff charges me while I'm waitin for my buddy to shoot it, then the bear turns when I hold my ground and disappears never to be seen again.. turns out of course my buddy wasn't where I thought he was and he's harrassin me sayin why the f@#k didn't I shoot him lol...

[NorthIslander]

This past Sept hunting moose up in 7-11 I had walked into an area in between two small lakes in the dark with the headlight,it was a beauty of a honey hole with fresh sign all over the area.Found my blowdown stumps that I had searched out to camp out in for awhile,got settled in and started calling every 10-15 min.45 min or so later it was starting to get light,I could look over a huge area of grassland and timberline,I thought for sure this was the time and place it was going to happen.It was now just after 9:00 and I was starting to stiffen up from siting in one spot so long,I decided it was time to move back down the timber line a ways so I could see around the corner at some different ground.Gathered up my ensolite pad and gear,walked 15 feet to the old deactivated road I had came in on,and all hell broke loose,this big bull moose walked up over the berm of dirt from the roadbuilding looking right at me from 60 feet away, he turned and ran down the road 150 feet turned broadside and looked at me for what seemed like forever,I shot him 3 times in my mind,he dropped like a rock right there. What a nice looking animal as I watched him run off!!! As luck would have it I didn't have the golden ticket,I was only after an immy.I have to say that that moose got to about 40 feet behind me and I did not hear a thing until he came over the dirt pile.It was the highlight of the 8 days of hunting,in the end my hunting partner got himself an immy, it was his first moose. Just thought I would share.

[warnniklz]

When I was 14/15ish, gramps came up to williams lake to do some deer hunting. We got to our spot and ended up splitting up.

I was picking my way down a trail through some x-mas trees. I heard the thumping of a deer coming through the trees. A doe walked out probably only 30 yards away. I heard another deer behind it.
The doe spotted and took off. Then the other deer came out and followed her. All I seen was antlers everywhere... I froze up and watched them take off over the ridge and disappeared forever. Rifle remained slung over my shoulder the whole time.

[Moose Guide]

I had just missed a small bull moose when I heard another bull grunting, had my partner walk back about 20 yds. and call for me. Soon we had 2 bulls coming in and I took the first one to show, it was a 39 incher, the second bull was closer to 55"! I also missed out on a 363 bull elk by choosing poorly when my brother-in-law and I split up, I was happy for him but heart broke for me!!

[Whonnock Boy]

I don't want to talk about it...... :-|:cry::-D

[knockturnal]

Jumped over a creek after chasing an immy bull moose and was greeted to 2 browns cubs scurrying up a tree. Rifle over my back, full camo, backpack and all. Sow grizzly mows over a 7ft tall Christmas tree and bluff charges me. Stops at 10 yards. I slowly back up and make my way up a small hill into a clear cut. Gun still over my back. I run through 400 yards of clear cut at full tilt with full gear on. Get to the road, strip to my boxers and proceeded to puke my guts out. Adrenaline dump.....you could say that.

[two-feet]

Was out with a good friend after the main season, just WT bucks open and there are not too many of those around here. But we had the rifles anyways just in case. We were walking up a long trail through semi open stuff to get into more open country and were just checking out tracks more than anything else, kind of getting ready for next season. There was loads of moose tracks and a few fresh rubs from the rut that had just wound up. As we were getting higher we found where a pack of wolves had come onto the trail, looked to be about 5 or 6 dogs in total. After we had turned around and started heading back down we saw where the pack had come out of the timber and the tracks were now on top of ours. Then the howling started. I was getting pumped because I have always wanted a nice winter wolf pelt and it had been cold for a few weeks so the fur would have been great. We were down in a draw and my buddy lets out a moose call, kind of a cow call but a bit higher and more like a calf bawling. As we got to the top of the gully we see movement down below and sure enough it is a beauty wolf, kind of cream coloured with some darker highlights. It stops behind a shrub looking at us and I take a knee and fire a quick shot, wolf bolts, clean miss. I know the rifle is deadly accurate and in hind sight I totally rushed the shot on a rare opportunity. Im such an ass!

[Mudzbogger]

Mine happened many years ago on my very first moose hunt north of Edmonton. We had never been to that area so we found a spot that had a nice valley and a few cutlines crossing it that we could walk on the day we arrived. The next morning my buddy and I headed out and walked down the first cutline to the first intersection when I went left and he went right. I was slowly walking and was probably a kilometer or so from the intersection when I came across and older logged out section that had grown over and had these spindly 15-18' alders. As I was creeping along I happened to notice some movement in about 40yrds back so I crouched down until I could make it out and sure enough it was a moose staring at me through the dam trees. I stayed crouched in that position for like 15 minutes and that moose didn't move one inch and my legs were getting tired. I couldn't tell if it was a bull because all I could see was it's face. So I got a little lower and scooted over and couple of feet and the that seemed to spook the dam thing as every dam alder in an 8' radius folded over like it wasn't there. I proceeded to do the holy crap holy crap holy crap as I raised my rifle and was able to put one right through the basket before he was able to launch and he dropped in 20yrds. First bull moose 59 1/2 across, ugliest moose rack ever one side looked like a moose, other side looked like an elk.

[hunter1947]

I relive a hunting moment every time I get to the top of a mountain looking down on the valley this to me means so much to me..

[BradB]

This past season I got out of the truck and went to cross a gully to the area I wanted to hunt. Figured I'd glass for a second before I went too far and saw this big, red bodied deer feeding on the hillside. Cheap bushnells plus low light meant I couldn't even tell if he had headgear but the body was saying "big buck". I crossed the gully and got closer to where I saw him and he's gone....no idea where. I take a breather then pick a direction and start looking. Get busted by 4 does who run straight up the hill and over the ridge. I'm thinking this is where the big guy went but I didn't want to push the does and spook him so I didn't follow right away. 5 minutes go by and I hear a shot on top of the ridge. Well hell, I guess I won't bother now. 3 hours later I meet the guys who took the shot and they were dragging a light colored 4 point out to the road. They said they had seen 2 bucks up there; the one they shot and another really big, red bodied 6 point! They took the 4 point because the big guy was mid thrust in a doe they didn't want to risk hitting by mistake. Kicked myself the rest of 4 point season for spooking that buck and not following him up the hill.

[BCHunterFSJ]

My son and I were having a hard time finding a legal moose bull that year and it was almost the end of the season. We drove down a lease road and as we got to the bottom there were 2 bulls right there. My son yelled at me to jump out and shoot one. i did just that, except that I could not see anything through my scope. "I can't see, I can't see", I yelled. "Shoot!" bellowed my son. Meanwhile, the bulls just stood there, wondering what the heck was going on. Finally I looked at my scope and realized that the ocular lens was covered with a thick layer of potato salad. Earlier that day I had been eating my lunch in the truck and somehow a spoonful of potato salad had fallen on the lens! We never did get a moose that year...

[ydouask]

My son and I were having a hard time finding a legal moose bull that year and it was almost the end of the season. We drove down a lease road and as we got to the bottom there were 2 bulls right there. My son yelled at me to jump out and shoot one. i did just that, except that I could not see anything through my scope. "I can't see, I can't see", I yelled. "Shoot!" bellowed my son. Meanwhile, the bulls just stood there, wondering what the heck was going on. Finally I looked at my scope and realized that the ocular lens was covered with a thick layer of potato salad. Earlier that day I had been eating my lunch in the truck and somehow a spoonful of potato salad had fallen on the lens! We never did get a moose that year...

Ohhh, the evils of salad. I can't even imagine how often you'll be reminded of that episode !!:-D

[frenchbar]

any other stories..keep em coming

[russm]

My son and I were having a hard time finding a legal moose bull that year and it was almost the end of the season. We drove down a lease road and as we got to the bottom there were 2 bulls right there. My son yelled at me to jump out and shoot one. i did just that, except that I could not see anything through my scope. "I can't see, I can't see", I yelled. "Shoot!" bellowed my son. Meanwhile, the bulls just stood there, wondering what the heck was going on. Finally I looked at my scope and realized that the ocular lens was covered with a thick layer of potato salad. Earlier that day I had been eating my lunch in the truck and somehow a spoonful of potato salad had fallen on the lens! We never did get a moose that year...


I bet you won't be eating salad again lol especially potatoe.... Gross lol.

[Gone_Fishin_]

First year hunting and have had two moments i will never forget:

Hunting a local area which see's tonz of pressure but is 20 minutes from my house. Buddy and I were putting the miles on over a few weeks of hiking/scouting and were finally starting to figure out where some deer were and beddding/feeding areas. We spent 4 days surveying an area and figuring out their paths, trails, beds and food. We were documenting wind direction each day with what time of day it changes, if we seen fresh tracks, anything to help us get into our first buck. After a solid 12 hour day of planning and preparing for the following morning we finally found our spot where we wouldn't be winded, seen, and had good visibility of the entire area we know they are traveling through. Spent a little time gathering some downed trees and cover, made a nice blind to sit behind the following morning. We get there for 3:45am, set up shop and get settled in for a cold sit until first light hoping one would cross the area we have scouted for several days. First light rolls in and nothing to be seen, no movement nothing at all. We decide to wait it out for another few hours and see if anything shows as this area has been loaded with fresh tracks/sign every day all week.

10:00am and we decide to start hiking around and see if we can find anymore fresh tracks in the morning snow. We get about 200 yards up and around the corner and decide to call it a day and move to another mountain for an evening look. As we hike back we come to our makeshift blind and when i look over there are at least 7 separate deer tracks within 40 feet of our blind and to boot on top of our prints in the snow.... Buddy and I just looked at eachother like what the heck... 15 minutes ! thats all we had to wait ! 5 days of solid bush hiking, tracking, surveying, noting information, everything we could do to put the odds in our favor and we decide to leave 15 minutes early...


Next day... same buddy and I head up to take a look at another area a few kms away from the one above to see if they have moved down and onto another suspected feeding zone. All morning didn't see anything except a couple old tracks, it was about 3:30 now and we were getting ready to go home. As we drive around a bend there is a large clearcut to our left that we decide to stop and take a look with the bino's. Both get out and start glassing, don't see a single sign anywhere. Decide to have some lunch before we continue on, of course were both being loud talking about this and that, tunes on with the truck doors open while sitting on the tail gate. After about 15 minutes we hop into his truck and start back up the road, as we get a few yards down i see a well beat game trail heading up the bank to my right. I tell buddy to stop and lets take a look, he's saying nothings there lets go man i'm beat. I figure what the heck, were here already lemme take a look for future reference. Put the truck in park and we both get out, buddy is standing against the rear end as i walk up the game trail. I get about 20 feet in and see some deer prints on the ground, i bend down to take another look then turn back towards the truck. As i look to the road mu buddy is waving his arms in a panic with my rifle in his hands, i'm thinking what the heck is he doing with my gun out and why is he freaking out? i can see and hear he is trying to say something but he is so confused and frustrated he can't even speak, then i make out the words BUCK BUCK BUCK with him pointing just up the road. I quickly scramble back down and ask what are you talking about? i guess as i walked up the game trail a 3x2 was bedded about 10' from where i stopped to look at a track, well i spooked him and these are my buddies words: (he has never hunted before or really used firearms besides a shotgun a few times)

"I look over to see where you were going and as soon as i seen you bend down this deer was flying through the air 10 feet over my head and landed right there (about 10' from where he was standing on the road) he says, at first i was like cool a deer quick get a picture, then he clicks in and is like S**T were hunting these things. He panics and scrambles to the truck, grabs my .243 and goes to load one. Earlier that day he watched me dump the ammo by releasing the button by the trigger rathering then cycling it through the bolt. So now he has the magazine open and is trying to stuff shells into the bottom of the gun, he said "i know i could have loaded one single through the bolt but for some reason i figureed i needed lots" lol

So were both in panic mode as i can see the rear end bouncing down the clear cut, we both take off full tilt to watch where he goes and all we see is the bushes moving where he went into the tree line. With fresh snow we decide to follow his tracks, about 2 hours later and a giant circle we come back to our own boots prints and what do you know... same damn buck tracks are on top of my boot prints and heading right back towards where he came from. We called it a day from here after shaking our heads several times and laughing about what just happened.

Lets just say for the next week straight i went back to that game trail hoping for the same deal (this time buddy or myself standing gun in hand ready) but we never did have another buck jump right out in front of us again..

[lovemywinchester]

This happened to two of my good buddies and is a favorite story of mine. It was a few years ago and my buddies first season. He was with my other buddy cruising the back roads north of Kammy in the Dodge, drunk as skunks. It was the last day of the trip and they REALLY wanted a deer. A few days of road hunting had produced one 3 point buck between a bunch of us.

There is a creek crossing with a big open area where a few WT had been seen in the past and as they came around the corner into this opening by the creek, there were two big WT bucks standing there. BIG bucks, right beside each other from the way I heard the story. Both guys bail out of the truck, rifles in hand and start trying to put their mags in. The WT just stood there looking at them. These guys are both sloshed and in the excitement they had grabbed each others magazine and of course they didn't fit in the other gun. Being law abiding hunters, they had the guns unloaded. The bucks finally had enough and booked for the treeline never to be seen again.

The image of these two buddies of mine falling out of the truck and trying as hard as they could to jam the magazines into the wrong guns, with two crankers 50 yds away, is priceless. My buddy still hasn't got his first deer.

[bcmulie]

"Being law abiding hunters..." You mean other than driving around drunk. It frightens me to think that there are drunks out hunting in the area where I hunt with my kid.

[Hunterguy]

what are yah thinking posting a story or nightmare like that?

[ru rancher]

to give him credit law abiding hunters could be diffrent then law abiding citizens... but ya deffinatly scary!

[Big Lew]

My Dad and I ran into a bunch of drunken hunters late in the year west and north of the summit on hwy 24 many years ago. The first sign we saw of them was an empty 40 lber whiskey bottle in the middle of the road on a sharp curve. There were deer tracks, empty shell casings, and piss spots all over. We came upon them coming toward us on a side road. Apparently they had stumbled on a herd of deer in the middle of the road, all 4 of them had bailed out and began shooting. The only one that they killed was a little fawn which they had tied on top of their winch (which they hadn't gutted) We took down their information but never heard anything about it. We're just very glad we weren't on the road in front of them when they opened fire. We went back and checked if they had wounded anything, but all we saw were bullet holes if a few trees.

[frenchbar]

keep the stories coming ..but try to keep em to moments you would like to relive ..not about drunking hunters of the 70s ..:wink: hell i could fill pages.....

[lovemywinchester]

what are yah thinking posting a story or nightmare like that?

Real life hunting stories. Like it or not.

[Hunterguy]

Hopefully you have dumped your buddies?