"Saved by the bell"

[44inchStone]

Ok,

Not really a "Bell".

How many of you have been in a hunting situation which it has turned from bad to worse? Or from bad to much better!
Bear close calls, your moose grunt calling brings in a bull a bit to close or that big old bull elk almost running you over.

I am very thankful to have a great hunting partner who is quick on his toes, and is calm in close call situations.
He has saved my butt a few times and am glad to have him as a hunting buddy.

I'm sure there are many stories, both short and long where your hunting buddy has been your savior!!

[two-feet]

I took a shot on a bear several years ago that I now regret, the bear dropped hard but then popped up and headed for the alders. We blood trailed till it got quite dark and lost the blood, we then split up and decided to just have a walk around. He stumbled across the still active bear at close quarters and dispatched it, I was so thankful that we did not lose an animal due to my poor shooting. He saved the day for sure. Lesson learned.

[bonecolecter]

iv had several hunting cats,one time,as myself and my partner that day,wer approaching a tree containing a nice cat,all hell brock loose,one of the hounds got up on a couple limbs and freaked out the big tom,he jumped but was more concerned with the hound and never noticed us closing in,he just LEAPED from 18 feet right straight to US!!lol he all but landed on my budys shoulder, seems funny now, got a shit load these stories

[bonecolecter]

was hunting elk once with a good friend,we were up high on a hill, glassing,spotted a good bull with about 15 cows,figured we could run a mile and 1/2 come out right behind them, well, we come around a corner expecting to see them all feeding,and all the cows were up the trail staring at us,and the bull was 1/2 ways in-between the cows and us,standing head down facing us powing the ground like a bull in mexico,at about 20 yards,all this was a bit to take in and happens in seconds.i got off to shots as the bull charged ..... he landed about 6 feet in front of my shaking muzzle . my budy.. had really never bin hunting (successfully)froze,gun in hand. after it landed and i new we were gonna live.....i carefully tossed my rope over its horn, my body pulled the rope moving the elks head, i bout shit my drawers...thout he was coming back ta live...lolthen i climbed down the tree i was in

[bonecolecter]

shot a record griz on the coast,wasn't really a close one but .....tence.i was in a tree watching over a open river estuary,my 14 foot tin boat tied to some trees just below me,id bin sitting there a couple hrs when i heard something in the creek,i turned towards were my tin boat was tied, and there was a big bucket headed grizz,but just his head was above the water he would touch bottom,push off with his hind feet,and pop up while the current carried him down the small side channel,THIS...was cool! he made almost no sound, as he floated by my tin boat....he got very interested in it,swung his melon in tinys direction,and reached up and dragged a front pow along it ever so slowly he climbed out of the chanel,and stood 35 yards down street of me,tiny inbetween,he stood there water was the only sound,flowing off him,sounded like a waterfall,he just weighted,and woched all directions,working the air with huge nose,when he was finished draining,he shook off,and walked through a alder sapling tangle quiter than a homing bird.i mean SILENTLY,IT WAS EREY!! he was here for my tin boat,probably smells of prowns.in hide sight,he walked right under me,12 maby 10 feet.he got to the boat,i wasn't convinced this was my bear?i did not need him getting in my boat,lol its a long ways to camp and that... was all my transport,i tossed a package of cookies at his big ass,he let out with a load howl/rour like i NEVER herd,as he RACED by my tree.DAM TENCE!!! lol he got about 50 yards away(in less than a second)and stops,he turns very slowly and looks back at my tin boat,and starts slowly more creeping back in at about 20 yards i made him myn,put a hole in his heart,with a 375hh mag,he lets out with another ROUR... and runs into a thicket,DAM....bears be exsighting!!!lol i was so high on adrenaline my hairs were ALL standing straight up,i just sat there,couldn't see him? i could smell him THICK in the air,griz(coastal stink)lol i found out,no way i was putin feet to ground after all that,took about a hr and a 1/2 to play out,sat in the tree for about 10 minutes,seemed like hrs,all of a sudden there he is...?standing 70 yards out looking at...ME,i give him another 375 pill in the same bloody spot, he jumped and slouched turns,dos back in the thicket?now what.....?i weighted about a hr,and you believe me when i say i whent.....SLOWLY...lol towards were i last seen him,he had gone inside the thicket and in a bit of a hole,turned to face whatever had don this to him and....died, what a wicked hunt,i got him on my wall,id post a pic but i haven't figured that out yet

[Fella]

Black bear hunting with 2 buddies, I spotted a bear in a meadow about 300 yards away. I sent buddy who hadn't shot anything yet with my other buddy who had experience stalking and killing game. They get to around 80 yards and peer over the top of a log, perfect rest, downwind of the bear. It was first timers shot to take and he let fly with his .308, but I guess had been having scope trouble or something because he nailed the bear in the ass. The bear is spinning and biting at its ass when buddy reloads and sends another round at the bear and whacks him in the other ass cheek. Bear had enough and took off at a dead sprint, busted hips and all, towards the thick woods. I was watching through my binos and was ready for a long evening of tracking when I hear a deep "BOOOOOOM" and the bear dropped right there. My other buddy shot that bear through the neck with his Ruger#1 while it was at a dead sprint 100 yards away and killed it dead.

[Keta1969]

For some reason I seem to attract cougars, they must know I dislike cats. This encounter happened over by Gold River in a favorite deer spot. I was by myself and hiked up in the dark on old deactivated roads. I was heading to a spot where I had taken a nice buck and thought I might get lucky again. As I left the road near the top of the slash I heard what sounded like a deer bound away and thought OK I gotta be quieter.I hunted for about an hour and the fog started to get thick so I thought I'd hunt slowly back to the truck and maybe it'll be a bit better vis lower down.
As I got to where I heard the noise I figured I might as well walk around this small knoll and see if I could see tracks as there were patches of snow and I was curious if it was a buck. So slowly walked around checking for tracks but, not seeing any which i thought strange. As I came around the knoll and headed back to the road I was puzzled and was just about to turn around and go back and double check when the hair on the back of my neck stood up and my spidey senses went crazy. I looked to my left and sitting on his haunches on top of the little knoll was the biggest cat I've ever seen about 50 feet away. The first thing I remember thinking was how yellow his eyes were. I got the gun off my shoulder and put the crosshairs on him and got on a small stump to make myself look bigger.
My mind was racing but I kind of figured had he wanted to attack he had lots of opportunity as I walked below him. So we stood there and I couldn't help but admire him, he really looked magnificent. However, I wanted to get going so thought I'd make some noise as cougars don't like noise right. So after some yelling and arm waving he hadn't moved, don't think he even blinked. So now the fog started to really swirl and I was getting concerned about losing sight of him so I fired a shot in the air. Well let me tell you if you're that close to a cat and see every muscle ripple from his toes to his neck it will scare the shite out of you. In that instant I knew if he sprang I'd be toast yet I still didn't want to shoot him but now I just really wanted out of there.
I climbed down never taking my eyes of him and slowly backed away and headed for the road. Aside from the muscle rippling he had not moved from the time we first saw each other. But now he got up and started to parallel me. I thought don't do this as I really don't want to shoot you but I didn't want to be cat food either. I gave a couple of loud yells and he stopped slowly turned and walked away. So with lots of looking over my shoulder I worked my way down to the truck and home.
This is one of my favorite hunting memories in 40 years of hunting. Lots of guys have said I should have just dumped the deer killer but it was almost like we understood each other (hard to explain). Close my eyes I can still see him sitting there.

[bonecolecter]

i was hunting coughs close to the same area,i had a friend out with me that day who had a few chases with my hounds and was bush savy.we were in deep snow,bout 3 foot at the truck,we cut a big track,heading into a bluffy area with tall old growth patches,with about a dozen elk tracks,one of my dogs was good,so i cut him out he took it right off,but kept loosing it in the elk tracks,and other hounds in truck bowling to join in,i could he him taking off,was concerned,for him on his own,got budy to sit with truck,and id signal him,he could let the other 4 go and join me,well, i got to were my old dog turnd away from the elk tracks,still in big tom's tracks,fallowed for 50 yards signal my budy,and woch for the hounds to fallow our trail,i could see tom way high in a tree,the other hounds show up and rock the forest,lol the tree he was in whent right up tight to a high bluff,my old hound ran and fought to cling to this and when up it,i thought he was going to get hurt?the cat was so close to the bluff,as my hound reached the top,he was eye to eye with tom!and a 60 foot bluff between him and the very angry tom who was letting us no his anger,lol i scrambled to get up to my dog before tom reached out to pull him off to certain death,the other 4 dogs never attempted to climb the bluff,if thay did? i was preoccupied,thay never showed up at the top of the tree,by now budy shows up and try to yell to me theres 2 cats,i try to yell over 5 screaming dogs,and I'm holding one back so he don't get killed,the cougar is about 8 feet away from me and timber(my dog)i yell I'm gone kill this one look out,i tie my dog to my leg and shoot tom from tree,WELL...then the screening starts!!lol my body unbenounced to me as could not see him,was looking at my cat,after i shot,the cat fell,out of my sight,cats live a while after shooting one,my budy was looking WAY up and the big old tom was falling WAY... down it landed on him as he was scrambling,of course the dogs were of no help cus thay were tied of so as not to get hurt,timber,was with me,tied to my leg,he got away with the leash attached and all but flew off that bluff and pulled tom off budy,lol funny now, but budy...dident have a lot say to me on the drive home lol

[campking]

When I first started out I shot a black bear 3 times with my 300 magnum and he was done or so I thought! Me and my friend went down to the bear took our packs off got our knives out and I proceeded to grab the bear by the front paws to pull it out of some small alders and the damn thing was playing possum it proceeded to lunge at me, when it did it I flew back and it landed right on top of me (it was probably dead when it landed on me but my friend shot it to make sure) I tore my calf muscle when I threw myself back luckily there were some guys that were watching our hunt from a road above us and carried me up the mountain.
To this day I swear I can still smell its breath as its mouth was very close to my face when I lunged back, and one other thing I clearly remember its eyes were closed and I have been told they die with their eyes open?

[bonecolecter]

i was about 14,hunting timberstads up round woss,i was in about 6 inches of snow and above the slash,i happened along a set of what i thought to be buck tracks,i started hunting slow and pickin the timber apart, bout 1 hr later still in the tracks,i stopped by a big ceader tree, i herd a definite deep snifffff sniff snifff,i pulled the hamer back on my old 30-30 slowly peeked round the big ceder......there was a black bear less than 10 feet he baerd his teeth and turned towards me and....BOOM,my gun when off i never aimed hip shot him between the eyes,dropped like a sack of twichin cement.scared the crap ota me

[bonecolecter]

another time i had 5 hounds and stopped in at my uncles place in sayward to pickup his son, and try for his first hound hunt,we weren't out long,shortly after daylight,we found a track,i let my dogs go in order of trust,the more i trust them....the father out front thay are,thay took the track after the first 4oo yards, wide open bowlin,gets exciting about here,we were chasin the pack through a slash,towards a big snag,wen the dogs all pile on the snag,i can here them,i can see the snag,i see no cat but the dogs are pounding the tree,i tell my nephew to stay behind me as we get close to the action,i go around the snag,nuthing? i stop and watch one of my dogs(graesy)instead of barking up was barking down,and all of a sudden a clawed black mit reaches out and grabs my dog by its head,i reached down and grabbed her with my left hand and puled pushed her away and launched lead into the hole as i walked backwards away from the hole in the snag,my nephew was behind me and i was so focused i walked right over him.all came to rest,my dogs eye was hanging out on her cheek.i put her in my arms with my gun and pack i headed for the truck,got my nephew too grab dogs and leashes and meat me at truck,kept graesy by my side as i raced to town so she or other dogs would not make it worse,i thought shed loose her eye,but 1600$ later and some home care..... she not only kept her eye.....she could see out it till she was older and retired

[bonecolecter]

dam i like reading these stories.hope you all find them as interesting,cuz i got a lot more ! lol i love hunting and have done most kinds that i could get acsses to,
since a early age.and the learning curve .....cums with some close calls.what a hoot

[scotty30-06]

Awesome stories guys

[albravo2]

Bonecolecter, you are setting the bar pretty high. Great stories!