Strangest thing you have seen while hunting

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 2:54 pm

Saw this thread on another board, looks like fun, here's mine:

Wife and I quietly snooping through some timber elk hunting one time near Atlantic City, Wyoming, found ourselves within about 10 yards of a small two-track trail through the trees. Momentarily we hear a noisy pickup rattling and grinding up the trail, two guys up front, both with beers visible in their hands. Two guys in back, standing up hanging on to the headache rack, one guy with bow and arrow in hand, the other blowing on an elk bugle. They never even saw us, despite our blaze orange, still blowing the bugle as they passed out of sight up the trail. Rock Springs (county 4) license plates.
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gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:20 pm

I once found two naked homosexual men making out in one of my woods, they were told to leave pretty darn quick..

Canuck Bob · Post by **Canuck Bob** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:31 pm

game keeper wrote:I once found two naked homosexual men making out in one of my woods, they were told to leave pretty darn quick..

I declare you the winner early in this thread!!!!

I was once sneaking along the edge of an over grown slash cut in the Rockies, hot on the trail of a couple of muley does and hoping for a rutting buck or two. I heard a sound that I thought was a deer so I eased back into some scrub brush to hide my outline. It turned out to be a yearling fawn. It walked up to me along the trail and I patted it on the head to catch it's attention. My most successful stalk even though the truck was empty that day.

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:32 pm

Gee thanks Game Keeper,
I could have gone all day without that image.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:04 pm

I was hunting a public hunting area back in the late 80s when I found a woman TOTALLY NUDE sunbathing in the back of her pick-up and had drifted off to sleep! I dont think she ever even knew that I was there, I was single at the time and very tempted to wake her to find out the reaction.

Bob, I would say that mine beats gamekeeper, but I wont say I am a winner.
Perhaps if I had taken the opportunity to wake her, I might have won a prize!

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:20 pm

More than likely she would have called the cops on you when she got to town and accused you of something.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:59 pm

Used to be where I hunted groundhogs as a kid, that every Sunday morning a Sheriff's car would pull down into this field, and a few minutes later the right rear door would open and four feet would be sticking out of it.

One pair was female, at least.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:12 pm

Mescalero wrote:More than likely she would have called the cops on you when she got to town and accused you of something.

That same thought convenced me NOT to wake her! LOL

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:17 pm

An owl followed me around a 40 acre woods...He acted friendly.....

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:22 pm

One time back in the eighties, I was hunting and saw a deer.

Another time I found an antique Winchester leaning on a tree and took it home only to find that it was mine. They were my weed smoking days.

----6

Centennial · Post by **Centennial** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:36 pm

I watched a coyote chasing a herd of pronghorns acrossed a plain, after awhile one of the pronghorns hit the brakes, turned and slammed the coyote head on. Dust cloud covered them both and I couldn't see either one. Then out ran the coyote with the antelope right behind him and a few others chasing him now too.

Elk hunting I saw a cow elks on one side of a range fence and Hereford cattle along the other side. One of each walked up to the fence and stretched their necks out to smell the nose of the other. They stood there for several minutes looking and smelling each other over. As if to say "What are you?"

There was a high strung blue heeler that was the daddy of my best dog ever, he lived to be almost 13. Elk hunting again I saw a coyote come to water and watched him in 12x binocs. Something was weird about this coyote he had a head on him that looked like a heeler with the same colors and ears as my old friend. I figured he was a 1/2 brother or sister and I got soft, that is the only coyote I ever let go.

Bear hunting I walked right under a bear that was ready to swing at me if I came in close enough. I didn't see him till at about 5 or 6 feet from me just above my head.
Made like I didn't see him and kept walking then ran through some trees back to my horse, where the rifle was, went back and shot him.

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:34 pm

GK, I reckon that you know that there are just some things that the minds eye just can't unsee. OOOHH the misery of it all.

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:59 pm

Tracking that black cat, looking up; and that black cat was looking at me!

Grizz · Post by **Grizz** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:29 pm

I lived in an inlet in SE Alaska, think fjord, steep land plummeting into the water, with some cobble beaches. We often hunt from boats, looking for deer on the beach eating kelp for salt, and in heavy snow cover, for survival.

Daughter and I were slowly motoring west toward the Sound in my fishing boat, looking for game on both sides of the inlet when I spotted a neighbor on the north side, doing the silent stalk routine, take a step, stop, look, listen, take a step, etc.

The bit that had both of us laughing so hard we couldn't breathe properly is that twelve feet behind Ing was a two-year-old, stalking him! The deer moved when Ing moved and stopped when Ing stopped. Ing was skunked that day and fortunate that the deer wasn't homicidal...

We have seen a lot of hilarious stuff over the years.

Grizz

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:02 am

JerryB wrote:GK, I reckon that you know that there are just some things that the minds eye just can't unsee. OOOHH the misery of it all.

Yup, it was not the sort of thing I ever want to see again........

Now horsesoldier03's experience I could take that anytime...

mark · Post by **mark** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:15 am

You certainly have some interesting neighbours.

Out hunting foxes with a decoy whistle.

Caught the attention of a couple of pigs two hundred or so yards away.

In they came, one less pig.

Pretty boring really, down this way.

Cheers Mark

wvfarrier · Post by **wvfarrier** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:04 am

Several years ago I found a raccoon that some sicko had crucified and left nailed to a make shift cross. Still alive

MacEntyre · Post by **MacEntyre** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:06 am

Deer hunting at the mouth of a creek on large river, I watched several turkeys on the beach. Some marines in a duck boat returning to the creek spotted the turkeys... one in the bow shouted, "Turkeys! Take me over there!" When they backed off the throttle near the beach, the one in the bow banged away with his shotgun. Turkeys fled. Marines escaped. I called the game warden.

Pete44ru · Post by **Pete44ru** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:31 am

.

I was sitting, camoflaged, next to a tree in a state game-management area one bright Spring day, calling for predators.

The tree was situated on the edge of a bunch of like trees atop a ridge that had a promentory about 50yds to one side of me, complete with a shallow cave/grotto, which always has evidence of young folks using the grotto as a clandestine party area.
(BTW - I've also found black bear sign/scat up there, too).

Anyway, I had made a series of calls, and was awaiting a predator to show, when I heard evidence of anoother kind of predator - the rattle of a 2-stroke dirt bike climbing the trail to the ridgetop/grotto area..........

And what to my waiting eyes should appear, but 2 teen-age kids (doubled-up, riding the dirt bike), very near - one male, one female.

I was entertained for about 20 mins, as they took care of business in a sexual liason, before they got dressed, jumped back on the dirt bike & took off.............

I also left, as I thought that was all the "game" I was going to see there, that day.

.

vonfatman · Post by **vonfatman** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:27 am

I used to hunt quail every weekend. One trip I was walking along, bird dog out ahead, and I noticed a Coopers Hawk in the tree I was walking past. Once past, the hawk flew down the fence line and perched again. When I walked past, he did this again....and again.
My dog went on point. I flushed the birds and ZOOM....the Cooper's Hawk flew right past me....so close I might have shot him if he'd gotten mixed with the quail. Well I shot twice and missed (the norm) but Mr. Cooper nailed a bird right in front of me. He flew off a with is prize. I watched him perch saw the feathers fly with the breeze as he tore into his dinner.

I was stunned....at first it was kinda spooky watching the hawk keep right with us...(I saw Alfred Hitchcock's - The Birds at an early age and it always stuck with me), then the kill by the hawk as I fired at the quail....well that's just weird! No fear of me or my loud shotgun. Fearless hawk!

It dawned on me (I'm kinda slow sometimes) that this hawk had hunted with people and dogs before. He was a daring opportunist! It was a great hunt. It remained me of all the stories about other wild critters (coyotes specifically) that had learned to thrive in cities and suburban areas.

Bob

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:19 pm

Hawks are protected and illegal to shoot. I am pretty sure he has recognized the fact that MOST hunters will not shoot them.

vonfatman · Post by **vonfatman** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:23 pm

Understand completely

He'd have been an easy target when he "flew" off with his meal.

Bob

Booger Bill · Post by **Booger Bill** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:55 pm

I wasn't hunting but I just prowl around a lot. I found a secluded area that had a large pit dug in a wide circle with like a roman Colosseum with circular ledges of dirt like benches with similar rows of benches behind and up. Maybe two or three circular tiers.
About the same time frame there were storys in that area of people finding remains of dogs and cats that had been sacrificed.
I really beleive I had found a devil cults worship area, so to speak. But ten again it might have been a area a bunch of teenagers
dug up and kind of played around in. This was outside of a town in southern california on the desert a few miles and a brushy area. While I did show it to a friend or two I never bothered to "officially" report it to local LEO although one friend I took to show it was a reserve officer in a different town. It was on bare dessert but someone had to own the land. In retrospect, I probley should have reported it however I was soured with local LEO on several other incidents that I reported and they done nothing. Once I was shooting under a mountain road. My dog ran off and I went to get him and found a packed suit case full of woman's cloths under the road bank. It looked like it had to have been there several years. I called the sheriffs office and described the area but I am sure they probley didnt even look as if they would have had me take a officer there. Maybe 4 or 5 years later a woman's skeleton was found in the area.
Another time I was on my way to work as a guard just before midnight. Two blacks forced my car to the curb and blocked me. Our uniforms were the same as the county sheriffs dept. I was wearing my gun belt but no gun in the holster as we drew them at work.
I knew they meant to rob or jack me so I got out of the car, kept my body turned to keep them from seeing my empty holster, and said "You two B------, sure made a mistake, didnt ya!" It worked. One said, aw we thought yo wuz someone else hee hee hee! And they scratched out. I got to work a couple minuets later and called the sheriffs dept. I got the usual "We will check it out"---citizen. I knew they wouldn't or they would have sent a deputy to get my story at the gate. Sure enough, later early that morning they robbed and stabbed a jogger who`s family lived across the street from me. The young man was home on leave from basic training in the 82nd AB. They didnt kill him but did cut him. My heros. Those incidents and probley a few more kept me from reporting that devil pit.

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:17 pm

horsesoldier03 wrote:Hawks are protected and illegal to shoot. I am pretty sure he has recognized the fact that MOST hunters will not shoot them.

They should be removed from the protected and illegal list !

Maybe back in the 60's to 80's they should have been protected but now they are back to a population that doesn't require the same protection .

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:13 pm

6pt-sika wrote:
horsesoldier03 wrote:Hawks are protected and illegal to shoot. I am pretty sure he has recognized the fact that MOST hunters will not shoot them.

They should be removed from the protected and illegal list !

Maybe back in the 60's to 80's they should have been protected but now they are back to a population that doesn't require the same protection .

What possible sporting use would they have?

kragluver · Post by **kragluver** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:46 pm

When I hunt, I typically spray a squirt of coon urine on the soul of my boots to help mask my scent as I walk around. One morning I had laid up on the back side of a tank dam to look over a pasture and brushy area. The tank was to my back, but there wasn't much water in it.

I heard a noise right behind me like feet scratching on rocks. I turned around and there was a coyote sniffing my boot heel! I don't know who was more surprised - me or him! He took off and I snapped a shot at him but missed. I'll never forget that and I'll bet that coyote won't either! He probably thought that was the strangest looking raccoon he'd ever seen - and it shot back. I'll bet he left raccoons alone after that!!!

Mossyoak1957 · Post by **Mossyoak1957** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:03 pm

A white chicken "hen" on top of the mountain

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:53 pm

6pt-sika wrote:
horsesoldier03 wrote:Hawks are protected and illegal to shoot. I am pretty sure he has recognized the fact that MOST hunters will not shoot them.

They should be removed from the protected and illegal list !

Maybe back in the 60's to 80's they should have been protected but now they are back to a population that doesn't require the same protection .

I totally agree, however, the bad thing is, we are still required to observe laws that we dont agree with!

Blaine,

Hawks will KILL out Pheasant and Quail in quick order. Most hunters dont like having them around.

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:15 pm

BlaineG wrote:
6pt-sika wrote:
horsesoldier03 wrote:Hawks are protected and illegal to shoot. I am pretty sure he has recognized the fact that MOST hunters will not shoot them.

They should be removed from the protected and illegal list !

Maybe back in the 60's to 80's they should have been protected but now they are back to a population that doesn't require the same protection .
What possible sporting use would they have?

I view a hawk the same way alot of folks view a coyote .

Lassiter · Post by **Lassiter** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:22 pm

Elk hunting in the Powderhorn Wilderness in CO. a few years ago, it was getting late and I was hunting my way back toward camp. I was in a fairly narrow drainage slipping from juniper tree to juniper tree. I would stand in the lower branches of the tree and glass the area. There was a trail along the creek and at one of my stops I saw a rather heavy older guy wearing a pack walking along headed deeper into the drainage. It was pretty warm and he stopped about 50 yards from where I was standing, to take a breather. He leaned his rifle up against a small tree, took of his pack and dug a water bottle out. He took a drink and rested for a few minutes. He then put the water bottle away, gathered up his pack and started off down the trail. I watched him until he entered the trees about a quarter mile away, still following the creek. I was hoping he would spook a nice elk and I might get a shot. I started to leave my hiding spot and I thought...........he never picked up his rifle?!?! I went down to where he took his break and sure enough right there where he leaned it up was a nice 300 Weatherby Mag bolt action rifle. The devil told me I ought to hide it but I just left it where he leaned it up. I've often wondered how far down the trail he made it before it dawned on him that he was not carrying his rifle because by that time it was quickly getting dark.

Centennial · Post by **Centennial** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:41 pm

He may never of found the same tree again.
Maybe go back and take a look, it could still be there.
I heard of a Spencer found in a tree like that. The finders thought they would leave it and get it on the way home, instead of carrying two guns hunting all day. Then they couldn't find it again.

geobru · Post by **geobru** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:47 am

I found a dead coyote next to a gate that had been skinned and boned out. The really weird thing was that the eyes were still fresh and weren't sunken at all.

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:50 am

That is wierd.

4t5 · Post by **4t5** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:42 am

Saw a squirrel about a 100' up attempt a jump from tree to tree,didn't hang on ,and fell to it's death.It left me wondering how often that happens.

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:45 am

I saw a big game hunter carrying a centerfire rifle w/o a scope. Just happened once though.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:45 pm

Removing an apex predator always has unintended consequences. State Wildlife Managers rarely get it right, and should let nature takes it's own course. Had wolves not been wiped out last century, I don't think we would be having the same problems with the imports ravaging wildlife/livestock.

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:12 pm

BlaineG wrote:Removing an apex predator always has unintended consequences. State Wildlife Managers rarely get it right, and should let nature takes it's own course. Had wolves not been wiped out last century, I don't think we would be having the same problems with the imports ravaging wildlife/livestock.

Let's just say if I saw you shoot a hawk I wouldn't turn you in !

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:18 pm

I would. I'm sorry but breaking federal wildlife laws just sucks. No two ways about it and condoning it on public forums isn't helping the image of hunters for the rest of us that are law abiding and appreciate the diversity of wildlife we used to have and whatever is left of it still today.

Don't tell me about how you shot a hawk, 'cuz, no foolin', I report poachers.

BAGTIC · Post by **BAGTIC** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:23 pm

Hawks and quail and pheasants have co-existed in this world for hundreds of thousands of years without exterminating one another. OTOH we have exterminated several species in the few brief years we have been on this continent.

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:40 pm

BrentD, don't reckon that you try to raise chickens do you.

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:47 pm

I raise ducks, and quite small ones at that. I have never lost one to a hawk, owl or other predator yet I live in the timber. It's quite easy really. Don't give me that BS.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:56 pm

Shooting hawks is something a person would be wise not to advertise.....Crows, yotes, skunks, bobcats (in season), and many others are a more favorable way to help your favorite birds....

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:08 pm

What I still believe to have been a Mig-29 being chased by a F/A-18. This was '85 in CA. I was in our camp @ ~8600' and was preparing breakfast at around 1100hrs. Both planes passed by me with their cockpits @ about my eye level. They were flying thru a large canyon, wingtips maybe a 100' off the side of the hill I was on, about 75' above the canyon floor in excess of the sound barrier. The Mig pilot musta seen me, cause the F-18 pilot was lookin' in my direction when he went by a split second later. While the Mig kept going, the F-18 broke off and circled around. as I was gettin' up off the ground, he passed by very slowly and waggled his wings when I gave a thumbs up. The next day we had a visit from a Navy Commander to remind us we'd seen "nothing"! I know I never want to be that close to a sonic boom again.

vonfatman · Post by **vonfatman** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:51 pm

Griff,
Your story is my favorite(so far). Oh don't ya wish you'd had that on film! Heck of a hunting story!!
Bob

1894c · Post by **1894c** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:19 am

my brother and I had a "Big-Foot" encounter while duck hunting in Up-State New York (November 1977), we were 30 yards away when we bumped into each other on the edge of a swamp...we went threw a series of interviews, polygraphs, and some other stuff, haven't been back to that swamp since... :(

PaperPatch · Post by **PaperPatch** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:17 pm

I was hunting Pronghorn a few years back, and glassing a large herd about a thousand yards distant. A very large bird-of-prey with a smaller one off its wing, coasted into view and proceeded to "round up" a couple of does that were grazing alongside the main herd. After running them in a circle a couple of times; the birds soared off over a hill.

Can't recall now exactly where I read of it....Keith perhaps; but apparently in the Western states, these large birds were able to drive livestock off of mountain terrain and feast on the remains below. For that the Ranchers of that period (1900's) were legally able to dispatch those predators and receive a bounty upon remitting the carcass.

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:41 pm

Paper patch - like this ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VklTs-Tid_I

Nice handle by the way. Very nice.

PaperPatch · Post by **PaperPatch** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:20 pm

[quote="BrentD"]Paper patch - like this ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VklTs-Tid_I

Amazing!

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:20 pm

BrentD wrote:Paper patch - like this ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VklTs-Tid_I

The photographer should be glad he wasn't on the menu!

Canuck Bob · Post by **Canuck Bob** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:30 pm

BrentD wrote:I saw a big game hunter carrying a centerfire rifle w/o a scope. Just happened once though.

Come on now Brent, no need to tell tall tails!