Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Shooting and Hunting => Topic started by: Bryce on November 30, 2013, 04:04:18 pm
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most of us while hunting, see and hear things that are ordinary. common, everyday things. then there are times when we see and hear things that we've never seen or hear before.
now before you get the wrong idea about me. i know there is a logical and realistic cause and effect for everything. but there had been times in my like where i could not explain what i saw and heard. even as a kid, my parents would tell me it was my imagination and i would chalk it up to that.
i will share 2 of the most recent stories with you guys and i would also like to hear yours :)
1. a few years ago in the Coast range of Oregon. behind the town of Mist and the community of 'Fish hawk" lake. there is a wide expansion of old timer and reproduced timber that no one ventures into because of its steep terrain.
my half adopted brother and i decided to do a 10 day survival excursion where all we would bring is our sleeping bags and knife.
being late summer it was easy to find berries and with my branch bow we got rabbits and grouse.
our shelter was a lean-to made of doug fir and ferns.
it was the early morning of day 9. still dark sometime around 1:30am. when i woke up to what sounded like short 'hoots' back and forth between 3 different owls. i listened and they didnt sound like any owls that ive ever heard.
then my heart started to beat really fast. because the noises where getting closer then i hear a twig snap!
i frantically tried to relight the fire. then i grabbed the flashlight and shined it in the general direction of the twig snap. then i saw something i still cant explain.
what i saw looked like a Large eye, peaking from behind a very large doug fir tree. 25 yards away. the eye had that shininess like when you see deer in the road.
i saw it for maybe 1 sec. then it slipped behind the tree. i never heard a sound (other than frogs).
i did not dare go back to sleep. i stayed awake all night with that flashlight.
2. this is the most recent story that involves one of our own PA members but will remain nameless. (we'll call him Jim)
once again in the Coast range this time outside Coos Bay, Oregon.
it was august, 2013 we where in the range looking to bag us a couple black bear for the fall season. lots of sign.
our tents where spaced about 20 yards apart because jim snores quite loud and violently. jims tent in front of the trail and mine butted against the blackberry bushes.
earlier that afternoon i was trying to get some game birds to fly into camp by throwing some bread chunks between the tents. so dice.
the second to last evening the clouds came in low and the trees drip and everything gets wet. being a little tired from traveling such rough country we turned in a little early.
2:30am i heard jim walking around camp. by the truck and then he walked around behind my tent(between the blackberries). had my ear to the ground and then he stopped at the door to my tent. just before i was gonna ask him "whats up?"
i heard jim start snoring. IN HIS OWN TENT!
my heart began to beat at a rate i didnt think was humanly possible. felt like my chest was going to explode. adrenaline raced.
i listened closely to the ground and only hear 2 sets of feet.
i heard the 'thing' walk over to jims tent.....jim stopped snoring.
then it walked through camp. then walked across the gravel road at that moment i decided it was far enough away i might get a good look.
my tent door flew open! flashlight blazing. the fog was so thick i could barely see the road....but nothing was there.
the next morning. just for kicks i asked Jim,"hey did you get up last night and walk around camp?"
"no... i thought that was you." Jim replied.
i said,"no..that wasnt me."
now i know it wasnt a bear or anything like that because i only heard 2 feet. and the bread was still on the ground.......
Sasquatch???
not sure.
-Pinecone
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D.B. Cooper.
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I was hunting a tree stand at an edge between a cane break and planted pines with a copperhead skinned osage bow. I was in full came with a face mask and it was just after sunset, still and cool when all of a sudden a Brown Thrasher(a ground bird) flew up and started squawking and buzzing me. This went on for a few minutes until I figured my evening hunt was over because the bird would not quit. I headed back to camp. The next evening I was in the same stand and that waskelly bird started it up again. Over and over again he attacked me and again I got down and headed back to camp. As I walked back to camp contemplating what had happened I realized it wasn't me the bird was attacking but the copperhead skinned bow across my lap. Being a ground bird I'm sure a copperhead was one of the brown thrasher's worst enemies.
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I love those long tailed bush dwellers, Pat. They don't generally tolerate much human intervention, I think you got to see some rare behavior with that bird.
But then, that's the beauty of spending time out hunting. It affords us chances to see these things.
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A friend of mine was in his tree stand fully camoed with face mask. When he looked up there was a red tail hawk only few yards away, talons first, zeroed in on his eye movement. Richard threw his arms up just in time and the hawk swooped to one side. I guarantee you don't want a red tail attached to your face while you are 15' up a tree. :o
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A friend of mine was in his tree stand fully camoed with face mask. When he looked up there was a red tail hawk only few yards away, talons first, zeroed in on his eye movement. Richard threw his arms up just in time and the hawk swooped to one side. I guarantee you don't want a red tail attached to your face while you are 15' up a tree. :o
And I might add, you don't want it happening on the ground either! Don't ask me how I know this.
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Good stories Brycey boy. I have seen lots of cool stuff in the stand over the years. But my coolest event has to be the Hoot Owl attack. That little bugger smacked me in the head on two different dives, it actually stung a little with those mini talons. I waved my arms on his 3rd attack and thwarted his efforts for the morning. That was weird and cool.
Pat I had an immature and mature Redtail within 15-20 feet of me this year, eye level. Neither had a clue I was there, and I was good with that. I can only imagine the damage and pain an adult Redtail could do compared to a little Hoot owl.
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On one hunt when I liver in Bluffton, SC while on stand it began raining feathers. This went on for 10 to 15 minutes. I never did see what was above me but I guessed it was a sharp shin hawk.
At the same GMA as above my buddy, Richard thought he'd try rattling for the first time. This was back in the early 1980s. After a few minutes of rattling Richard thought he heard something and when he turned there was an old man sneaking up behind him with his double barrel shotgun, stalking the fighting bucks. This was on a bow only GMA and Mr. Peacock owned the property next door.
I used to use fox pee on my boots as a cover scent. On one occasion I walked into my stand one morning and shortly after day light I spotted 2 red foxes with their noses to the ground following the path I walked in on. When they reached the base of the tree I was in they both looked up, saw me and quickly each ran off in a different direction.
Another time I was gonna try my new fawn bleat call. I sitting on the ground at the base of a large pine tree. I wailed on that bleat call for about 15 minutes and finally gave up. As I began to get up the doe that was standing behind me blew and I could feel her breath on the back of my head. I never heard her come up. ::)
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Bryce, those stories give me the creeps. I hope you take a gun for back up when you go camping. Maybe put up a trail camera and point it towards your camp.
I haven't had anything to strange happen while hunting except for some odd animal behavior. One evening a squirrel in the valley I was hunting in started screaming like I've never heard before. Like a wave at stadium all the rest of the squirrels followed his lead and made the same sound for just a few seconds and then it went dead silent. For the rest of the evenings hunt not a single squirrel moved or made a sound. There must have been some kind of predator in the area. Another time I saw a big possum walk by my stand. A while later he came back by with a stack of leaves wrapped up in his tail. I watched him make two trips to go get those leaves. I guess he wanted a certain type of leaf to line his nest with.
And one year I heard an elk bugling while hunting. The source of the sound moved and came from different ridges and valleys. I thought I was crazy until my brother in law and neighbor heard it also. There shouldn't have been any elk in SE. IN at the time. They have been introduced in KY since then.
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Clint, the elk bugling might have been an elk hunter practicing for an upcoming elk hunt. ;)
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That was my first thought Pat but it was moving around. If it was a guy practicing I would think he would probably stay in one spot. I have heard there are elk farms in Indiana. Maybe they had a runaway.
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That pretty creepy Bryce. Was there any sign in the camp the next day? tracks/hair?
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Hey Pearl, I may have to play my BS card on the hoot owl attack. If that little bugger smacked you in the head with it's talons, you'd have some scars to prove it. >:D :) ;)
DBar
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That pretty creepy Bryce. Was there any sign in the camp the next day? tracks/hair?
The long grass was all laid flat, where I heard the walking.
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While hunting between bend and eugene this last year, it was raining pretty crazy and we were walking down a drainage me and my buddy split up, him having a GPS, me a compass. Needless to say they got to the truck before me, but I found this area that just looked different, huge logs all fallen down in rows on top of others like a lean to, but with root balls on them…I was pondering over this and something thudded about ten feet away, I looked and saw nothing. Kept stalking, and another thump in the same direction, I thought what the hell and went to investigate, being in the semi-open and with an arrow nocked…it was a rock about the size of a baseball. I thought it was for sure my buddies messing with me so walked out and when I got to the truck and they were there….and after I asked them they said they'd been at the truck for about 45 min. It's out there, no reason for every culture in this area to have stories about them if they weren't real. Glad you got out alive, that's weird about the grass…sasquatch, or maybe crystal meth tweekers dragging a body?
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Coos, we were pretty high up and in deep. I don't think there are many meth heads wondering around up there.
You'd know the area if I showed you on a map.
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Here's one that still flibs me out toady. It was early 80's. I'd got perrmission to hunt a large farm a father and son (he was in his 30's) also hunted it.
After 3 years I'd but up a stand in a big open hollow. I've never seen so much deer sign in one place before. I put a hang-on I'd hunted it a couple times everytime I could smell black power. When one day I saw what looked like a building corner on top the hill . Just a couple stones. When I went over and looked it was a head stone. With JAMES MORGAN 1701, 1778 Just a stone not really a head stone you see now.
I'm walking out here a MUZZLE LOADER SHOT BEHIND ME. It was bow season and I knew the other 2 guys hunted legle. I went back to catch the guy. Saw a guy carring a gun going over the hill. Two more times that year I heard a ML shoots but never found him. The next year thinking just some one trepassing that other year.
It was raining so I gave it up walking out I heard a shot close I went over the hill saw the blue smoke ,smelt the black power. About a week later I'm at 7-11 see the father we were talking. I told him about the tresspasser last fall and what I heard and saw the other day.
He just smilled and said I see you've seen JIM. I've never seen nor heard him but my son has 7 or 8 times. Thats why we leave that hollow over there along. He even saw him shooting up in a tree at a squirrel he was on the hill top 60,70 yardsaway. He won't go anywhere close to that hollow anymore.
I smelt smoke 2 other times before I moved on to somewhere else.
Here's another one. When I was growing up through my 20's My granddad had lotssssss of hounds bear,coon. We coon hunted this place had a graveyard on a hill top. Back in the 1700's indains (TOREIS) had round up women and kids 12 in all and had killed them on this hill top.
Grandady said he'd heard them a couple times crying. One night 7 of us were lieing on the ground lessoning to the dogs run. When all at once kids started crying up on the hill. But it sounded like playing not crying to me. THE DOGS CAME BACK GOT AROUND US WOULD'NT LEAVE TAILS BETWEEN THIER LEGS.
We heard he on and off for 20 mins. I still get chills telling it.
A old women where I grew up said they lived there for 7. She said 3 times over the years a apple tree in the front yard would shake like someone was up in it. One time even some of the apples fell off. The 4 time her brother was out picking apples when what or how ever it was jumped on his back causeing him to roll down the hill. She said he's never go back in the front yard. The last 3 years they lived there.
These are totally true storys.
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I've been spooked out a few times in the woods, but nothing like these stories.
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Good stories!! Crooket, you should have posted those stories on the Ghosts thread in around the campfire.
This year I saw a redtail snatch a squirrel off a tree, had a bard owl come with in 10 15 feet of me giving me the evil eye and weirdest of all, I still hardly believe it, but saw what I thought was a huge coyote come through, but the more I think of it, it really looked like a wolf. HUGE I tell ya, dark grey with black hackles and a roundish furry head. It came up behind me, then stood in the brush probably 30 yards from my stand and just stared at me, then he went back the way he came all the time staying out of range or behind the brush. This is in Indiana mind you. We ain't suppose to have wolf here. I keep hoping to see him again, but no luck. He was standing in an area where deer sometimes bed down. This all happened the first weekend of bow season, early October, this year.
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Some years back, my blackpowder huntin' buddy, Mikey, and I were out for a week in muzzleloading season camp. We'd set up my big wedge tent with the woodstove in it and were having a wonderful time not getting deer. New Year's Eve dinner was corned venison, boiled up with whole potatoes, carrots, onions, and a head of cabbage. Mikey had made biscuits on the stove top and wer gorged ourselves well and truely.
We sat up mending gear and cleaning barrels, weaving conversation in and out of the pleasant tasks of primitive camp. Round about 11:00 p.m. we brought in the last couple armloads of firewood for the night and blew out the candle lanterns. The ponderosa pine knots in the wood stove snapped and crackled comfortably and we were each lost in our own thoughts as we drifted off.
In the dark and crystal black night a single howl rose up from a low contralto to sweet and pure soprano note. The note was held without vibrato or quaver, none of the yip-yip-yippee of a coyote call. No, this was a larger canine. Much larger. I held my breath and strained my ears in the dark.
Again came that call that Jack London ascribed as the "Call of the Wild". Only this time another voice joined in. And yet again, and again, and again more voices joined in. At least 6, and maybe as many as 10 of these large canines were singing that clarion call in the pines of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
"I didn't hear that, did I?" I said softly in the dark. "No, you didn't. And I didn't hear them either," came back Mikey's voice muffled by a wool blanket. "Nope, no wolves in South Dakota, couldn't have heard that by any stretch of the imagination," I said. A few more whispers in the dark and then everything went silent.
Slide down the timeline to next June and I am having coffee with a friend that lives in that part of the Hills, north of Custer, SD. I mention that Mikey and I had been serenaded for a good 20 minutes on New Year's Eve. He asks where we were camping, and I gave him the location. He chuckles and says he heard it too that night. In fact, he and his wife were right in the middle of 'em when their neighbor got 'em singing. Apparently their neighbor is big into dogsled racing and wanted to show off how good his string of mushers were at singing.
I was saddened to know it was not what I thought it was, but it was still one of the finest operas I have ever heard.
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SWEETTTTT
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most awesome thing to happen to me was sitting on a log not making a sound or movement, hearing the woods start moving about 20 ft away then having a big female mountain lion appear and run right by me. she ran less than a foot away from me i could have reached out and gave her a hug. i decided not to though seemed the best thing not to try to piss a big cat off that is that close lol. she slightly tensed a couple steps past me so i knew she caught my scent. a scant couple seconds later and she was gone. ive seen big cats before driving down the road at night and whatnot but to see such a big cat up so close was simply unforgettable.
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The Mouse River wanders it's way around Minot and thru a number of city parks. Back in the 70's they channelized the river and cut off a couple of oxbows. I saw a beaver swim into a culvert in one of these oxbows in Oak Park. I dashed down and lay on the culvert waiting for her to swim out the other end.
As she swam out I reached out and stroked her back. Immediately she slapped her tail on the surface and sounded for the deeps like Moby Dick! She left me with a face full of stagnant pondwater and a memory of the touch of a wild beaver.
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Aw, we don't get nuthin' like that in the UK.
But when I was lad I used to beat on the local pheasant shoot.
Going through this thicket one time there was rustling noise and a commotion right in front comin' straight at me. A split second later this little deer burst out in front of me WHACK straight into my thigh. It stopped dead, shook it's head and we looked at eachother... it then bolted leaving me gobsmacked. I didn't realise how lucky I was until I heard that about 6months later one of the forresters was put in hospital when a deer got his thigh with it's antler.
Del
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They have been introduced in KY since then.
No way, really?
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They have been introduced in KY since then.
No way, really?
Some of the states around Kentucky are now offering elk tags because the KY elk are leaving their habitats and expanding their range. One of the more successful stories of game animal re-introduction. And best of all, they are all producing some pretty respectable trophies.
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They have been introduced in KY since then.
No way, really?
Some of the states around Kentucky are now offering elk tags because the KY elk are leaving their habitats and expanding their range. One of the more successful stories of game animal re-introduction. And best of all, they are all producing some pretty respectable trophies.
Just looked it up, that is awesome, and at the same time scary, those guys are big! I am just like 30 minutes or so from kentucky.
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Its about 8am and I'm starving sitting in quicky blind I had made for spring turkey. I was ready to bail and move to another position. But now I hear a faint yelp coming from the west. My blind is facing more east but I shift and get ready. Season is early and gobblers were pretty tight lipped. Well anyway I'm sitting shotgun at the ready.
All of a sudden I see scattered turkey everywhere, clucking and Pitt calls echo through the ponderosa forest. I'm thinking did the turkeys see me or WTH is going on.
I see a turkey zigging and zagging and suddenly from under the canopy a golden eagle grabs the young hen. The hen is flopping and kicking for dear life while eagle is clutching with one talon on the turkey. As the turkey continues to struggle she comes free! Now the eagle is just sitting there with a pile of feathers all scattered about. I was amazed to see a golden from out of no where like a stealth bomber. I'm thinking thats one badazz bird.
All this in front of me at 80yds!
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I live in kentucky.
Semi-rural kentucky,
I swear there are some pretty freaking big things wandering around in forested areas after dark. Or even around neighborhoods.
whenever I sleep over at my friend's house, we always go night biking. His parents own a pretty big farm, with plenty of woodland. People hunt there frequently. its far enough from civilization that there are no druggies, etc.
one time we were biking through some well-defined trails at around 11ish. We both have pretty powerful flashlights mounted on our bikes as headlights, and they work well. We were going by a creek, which is in the bottom of a valley, and we both heard a loud splash, and then a thud. We had no idea what it was, and we decided to be dumb teenagers and find out. We both had machetes, and I had a sling and 5 lead glans as well. I sent one of those glandes in the area of thud, and we heard a softer thud. I assumed we missed whatever it was, as its the sound you get from hitting pine-needle-covered ground. never did find out if so. We then decided to get closer(about 30 yards). Its pitch black, and this a pretty dense forest. We saw nothing, and were considering taking the flashlights off our bikes. well, we heard a really loud sound like a breaking limb, but loud enough that it sounded like a tree. (this place is covered in pines, ERC, spruce, etc). and then we hear it agian, so we just decided to get out of there. His dad has heard this thing too, usually while out at night- although he has heard a splash far away in the evening. We went back the next day, and found no tracks except a LARGE stone(softball sized) sitting near the sling gland's track(when it hits the ground, it makes a long, thin groove). it looked just like a stone from his creek.
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I called an owl up about 10-15 ft from me on Christmas eve. I was sitting in a tent blind and saw him land about 75 yds down the field. I lip squeaked and he came flying up right beside me. Same place earlier this year I saw a coyote run face first into a small tree. I've seen a redtail hawk miss a squirrel. I've seen a gobbler breed a hen on 2 occasions. No Squatches.
Freakiest thing that ever happened to me hunting was when I was 15. I had just started deer hunting and my brother dropped me off in the pasture to walk to a ladder stand about 50-75 yds in the woods before daylight. I didn't carry a flashlight because I knew the spot well and didn't need one. As I was walking thru the underbrush I look up and there is a floating white glowing face staring at me from 10 ft away. I bout crapped myself. It was just a dark maroon cow with a solid white face but in the dark all I could see was the face and it freaked me out pretty good for a minute.
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Nothing too crazy, but...
I was in a rough, hand made ground blind this fall, in the dark pre-dawn. A small meadow in front of me, and a Douglas fir and tan oak woodland behind me. I heard some scuffling from the meadow, and the normal sounds of deer moving. Just as it got light enough to see, a dark shape comes up the trail, small, and low to the ground. Turns out to be a grey fox... Sweet! He comes bobbing and sniffing up into the meadow. About 15 ft in front of me he stops dead still, and than BAM, a brush rabbit comes out of the grass and the fox just nails him in two bounds....! Wow! I love being in the woods...! Fox was so fast I couldn't believe it. Well, then the fox scents me, and he doesn't like it. So he drops the rabbit, and takes off into the woods behind me. Never could tell why he dropped the rabbit. Here comes the scary bit... Then from the woods comes this demon gargling, howling, screetching, yapiong noise like I've never heard. It sure got me for a second, but...
it was just that fox trying to scare me off his rabbit. Didn't work, as I was set on getting a deer, but man he made some un-holy noises!!! guess I KNOW what the fox says (bad cultural reference sorry).
End of the story, I took the rabbit home and ate him with my boy!
Gabe
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I'll tell y'all right off the bat that my story does'nt involve any cryptozoological creatures,or spectors from the grave,but it scared the heck out of me.I was hunting one of my treestands last Nov. 2012 when I had a single doe hanging around picking up acorns. My stomach started hurtin' a little and I had the thought that I wish she would leave so I could stand up and move a little,(without scaring her off,as we had 4 doe days coming up at thanksgiving). This particular stand is hung in an ER cedar at 25' in height.( It's way up there) .I was wearing a simple safety belt(not a harness).Like I said,I was'nt feelin' too well,then, the next thing I knew,I woke up.I did'nt know what happened immediately,so I just hung there ,under my stand,but wedged under a limb.All I knew was I could'nt go up or down,and made no sense of my unique perspective,looking down through all those cedar limbs to the ground. I eventually started to focus and could see my cap and my bow on the ground,way the heck down there.It was only then,(and I have no idea how long I had been unconscious),that I was able to reach up and back and find a limb to grab hold of.I pulled around,got my feet on a limb ,then crawled back on my stand.I sat there a while till I felt I was OK,then got down to gather all I had dropped. It's kinda funny ,but the first thought I remember having was ,"Dang,I scared that old doe off". I was out there by myself,and it was'nt til a little later,I realized it could have been very bad.When I told my wife about it,she turned pale. Seeing her reaction to my story got me to thinkin',and that was when it hit me. I thanked the Lord for sparing me another day,and told my wife if my gut ever feels like that again I'll stay on the ground. Wear your safety belts y'all,mine sure enough saved my hide. God Bless
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Its good to hear that you didn't get hurt, not everyone is so fortunate in those situations. I like to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground when I hunt. I'm sure I could tree-stand hunt safely if I ever decided to, but it just seems like every serious hunting accident you hear about somehow relates to a tree-stand. Be careful out there everyone.
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I've seen a few things that will always stay with me.
Once I was stalking through some woodland near where I used to live in Scotland and heard a warning call from a squirrel...I thought i'd been busted but I hadn't been moving so wasn't sure it was calling at me. So I stayed still and then saw a faint movement off to my right....no way! It was only a proper wildcat, I stood frozen to the spot and it walked in front of me at about 20 yards then it froze and looked in my direction. It had obviously caught my scent but couldn't see me. I spent the next 5 mins watching it in amazement. All of a sudden it decided it wanted to be somewhere lese and was literally gone in an instant. A truely beautiful animal and very, very rare in these Islands. I doubt i'll ever see one again.
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I was turkey hunting when I called in two of the biggest dumba$$, cartoon characters I'd ever encountered. I had to keep from laughing when I saw them so they wouldn't shoot me.
It was right at Daylight and I was camoed up real good off of a firecut on Public land. Heard a bird gobble and clucked softly a few times, he double gobbled and I sat back and took a little nap, waiting.
About twenty minutes later I here a "classic", yelp, yelp, yelp. And I thought to my self, ut, oh. Yep, a few minutes later, Elmer Fudd came walking down the fire cut, taking 5 steps and stop and listen, with his buddy behind him with a Lynch Box call, I was close. These two clowns were wearing those funny, Elmer Fudd looking, Michigan hats in Florida in the Spring. The front guy was carrying his shotgun at Port Arms and they would take five steps together, stop, back partner would hit the box call three times and they would do it again. I was snickering my butt off, but quietly.
They had already messed my hunt up so I would let them get a hundred yards away and Hen yelp and cut, and watch the show again. I finally got bored watching these Jokers have an exciting hunt and snuk out the back way.
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The Wild Cat must have been really cool to see. I had to look it up to be sure what you were referencing.
http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/wildcat.html
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The Wild Cat must have been really cool to see. I had to look it up to be sure what you were referencing.
http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/wildcat.html
Those wildcats are mighty scarce, sad to say. And they are famous for being ornery as all get out. The Clan McPherson's motto is "Touch not the cat bot a glove".
Wikipedia: "Touch not the cat bot a glove. 'Bot' means without. The 'glove' of a wildcat is the pad. If the cat is 'ungloved', its claws are unsheathed. The motto serves as a warning that one should beware when the wildcat's claws are 'without a glove'. It is a reference to the historically violent nature of the clan and serves as a metaphorical warning to other clans that they should think twice before interfering with Macpherson business."
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You don't like Kromers Eddy :o :o :o :o ;) ? Bob
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That's what those are called? :Dkinda out of place when it's 78 at six in the morning. It did fit those characters, though.