A buddy and I were hunting on Kodiak island for deer when we climbed a really steep bank that was about 20 feet high and muddy.

We made a lot of noise going up. As soon as we got to the top my buddy leans forward like he sees something in the brush ahead.

I am being still, waiting when he says "bear miller!" The brush immediately erupts and it sounds like a stampede.

I knew right away there was more than one bear. I could see trees being folded over not barely 20 feet away but I didn't see any fur at all, not a single hair.

The bears hauled butt , luckily away from us as fast as they could. In seconds they were running across a hillside 200 yards away. The first bear was big and second one was huge.

My buddy thought he saw a a deer looking at him but when his eyes focused on the bigger picture it turned out that HE WAS LOOKING UP THE BEARS NOSE! They werent eyes, they were nostrils.

Have you had any so called "close calls" while out hunting? Something tells me there are some good stories out here amongst the members.

I had one tonight. My life flashed before my eyes.

I was deer hunting in some open farm country today and the land varies from large alfalfa fields, corn or beans of several hundred acres. It's mostly flat land and the soil is clay here so there are lots of very big ditches bordering all of the fields for drainage. Brush, tall grass and cat tails grow in these ditches but the sides are steep and a bit hard to climb with the grass.

I was hunting corn and nearly closed the distance on a doe but she ducked into the thick stuff before I got close enough. There was a strong west wind and she never knew I was there. It was getting dark so I departed for my vehicle to try for the deer another time. I made my way through the corn and crossed the ditch 100 yards south of my car. Then, while walking about 5 feet away from the ditch edge towards the car I heard something. I was about 25 yards to my parked car.

I saw it the same time I heard it. A large black and white head popped up from the edge of the ditch (5 feet from me!). As soon as I saw it I dove sideways and figured for trouble. I was down wind and that is not a good place to be from a startled skunk!

FORTUNATELY, he backed down the ditch and I caught my heart, stuck it back in my chest and jumped in the car. I thank my lucky stars he did not spray, I was 40 miles from home.

I was walking back to the truck from my favorite duck pond one evening when I was almost run down by a love struck buck. The area was rolling hills with brush in the gulleys. I had just stopped to adjust my sack of decoys when a doe busted out of the brush. Hot on here tail was a nice buck with one thing on his mind

The doe passed about 5 feet in front of me and that buck did not even give me a second thought. I backed up and that buck went right where I had stopped.

I don't think either one noticed I was there.

I was pheasent hunting with a buddy and his prized hunting dog. My buddy winged a pheasent, and it hit the ground and took off running. I fired just as my buddies dog appeared and grabbed the bird. I thought for sure I had nailed the dog, and I still don't understand how I missed him. I would have never forgiven myself.

There once was a fellow in Florida of some financial significance, who, in the '50s paid near $5000. for a field trial champion GSP.

He invited Grandad to hunt with this dog on a few of his many thousands of acres and no sooner had they gotten out of the truck but the poor dog pointed. They all addressed the point and from beside a log in front of the dog a bunny did leap and scurry off. Well, the HIGH an MIGHTY was rather confuddled and red in the face. So he raised his gun and shot the dog dead. At which time a large covey of quail erupted from the far side of the log, and flitted away unscathed.

Gramps never hunted with the fellow again, fearful of what might happen if he accidently flushed a rabbit himself. Or so he said...

Ann, I never saw a skunk in the field, but I seranaded a civet cat with my guitar on the beach one moonlit night. I coulda swore it was dancin'!

that's horrible about the guy shooting his dog, no second chances huh?

I was talking to a coworker, and some relation of his by marriage, I think a brother-in-law or something, lost a brother to a hunting accident. He was a police officer and was hunting with a very good friend of his that was also a police officer (only relevant since you would think it would make you more careful all that training). I guess the story went that they split up and the buddy saw movement and shot, hitting the brother of my coworker's inlaw in the head. Tragic.

sorry not along the same funny line, but you didn't specify type of hunting close calls.

I did just come back from my wife's grandparents and have pictures which I will post later of a non-hunting elk related accident. My cousin (by marriage) who lives in Colorado was on the phone with her boyfriend, nice guy named Ryan I met at Christmas, when the phone cut out. He had hit an elk. You will not believe the damage to the car. Whenb her and her father got to the scene car was 120 feet I think they said from the remains in the road. the air bag never deployed. Amazingly and thankfully Ryan lived, which must be a miracel from God when you see how the hit was. Glass was removed from one of his eyes and the second miracle is no loss of vision.

Red

Yeah, Skinner, do you think that would get me outta work for a day or two? Seriously, I do not know how on earth you would be able to descent a car interior. I would have had no choice, if sprayed, but to get into my car.

Yucky thought. Considering how many skunks I kill every year I cannot believe I got off scott free on this one. And no, I would not waste an expensive arrow on this feller. I'll keep your potion handy though, if anything, I will make my hair a lighter shade of blonde.

These "close calls" can be anything, funny or not. I can see there are some fascinating stories out there.

I was guiding a buddy elk hunting. I was walking through the woods when my foot gave way and I fell yp to my crotch into a hole. I heard growling from below and managed to get my leg out, just as a Badger came out of a hole about 10 feet in front of me. I backed up falling spread eagle and quickly drew my pistol and fired as he was coming toward me. I missed, but he stopped at the sound. The second shot entered his left eye.

Was hunting in Tellicoe Junction, TN, for boar. Had got mine and was taking pics for another hunter in the camp who'd forgotten a camera. He hit a boar with his .44mag handgun, I'm taking pics behind him, boar seems to be getting bigger, realize hunter has moved out of the way, boar has focused on me, oops...run around tree so it can be shot again and killed.
Looking through that lens had "focused" my mind on pics instead of the possible hazard.

This year was the year of the "Bear" in Idaho.My neighbor ,a preacher,from Elk City shot his Elk with the bow and when he bent over to cut the throat..He got hit from behind from a Black Bear.Ripped his jacket and back and neck and landed on the other side of the dead Elk.He tried throwin rocks but quickly the Bear rounded the rear of the Elk for him and he made a fatal shot with the bow point blank.Thankfully he is a very cool calm and collected guy and did everything right and had someone on his side we all want.

Just last week my sons freind was hunting out of Orofino Idaho and shot a large Buck close to dawn...Tracked and tracked till way after dark.The landowner freind said he would get it in the morning so they could go home(To Grangeville) and save the meat.He went out un-armed and walked up on a Big Bear for Idaho that charged him but thanks to his two Border Collie ranch dogs as they worked in tandom as wolves do....He was able to get away and leave the Deer for the Bear.

Both cases were reported to the Fish and Game and both were told..This is a bad year for the Bears beeing angry.Myself-I shot a Spike Elk and my son insisted on standing guard as I took care of it....Yah right..His excuse not to dive in.

Good luck to all......Jayco

How about waking up from a 10 minute power nap on the ground in Wyoming while taking a break from glassing the mountainside for mulies and having a badger 4 feet from your crotch without evidence of slowing down.



CAN YOU SAY, AAAAAHHHHH, HOLY SHIT!!!! Slammed my knee on a frickin rock while attempting to leap straight up in the air and rolling onto my hands and knees to crawl away as fast as I can, wound up doing a backwards roll (like my 2 year old does in gymnastics), then attempting to stand up, and continue to run another 15 feet or so...bout shit my pants, pretty sure I pissed them, made my heart beat up against my sternum, knocked my tripod over with my Swarovski 20-60x80 (it's ok). Kicked my 300 Ultra over, said a prayer while cussing for the badger not to get my nads or continue it's pursuit, turned around and thanked GOD it was running the other way, fell to my knees banging same knee AGAIN (DUMB), crawled to my gun, picked it up, aimed, then realized you have to have a furbearer license to kill badgers in Wyoming. Screamed out to the little bastard that I'd be back in half an hour with the proper license to kill his ass for making me look like a fool.



Any Indians around watching from a distance would have thought I came up with a new rain dance to end the drought.



I've already gone through one vasectomy and it didn't exactly tickle.



I hate BADGERS.

I've had many close calls over the years, but the one that sticks in my mind ocurred on an elk hunt I was on.

My elk was down, not going anywhere, in some second growth. When I got to the elk, a couple of hunters on a different ridge opened up on the elk that had stayed in the second growth keeping the down elk company, I guess. Between the "bees" buzzing around me, and the elk running thru the second growth blindly, I thought I was a goner for sure. I "found" a hole, the elk were jumping over me, the "bees" were singing and impacting around me, it was an "interesting" couple of minutes. I had a sprained ankle, an elk, couldn't locate the "hunters", but I was alive and mad! No, they didn't "down" any other elk. I assume they saw the red from my coat, and went the other way. Worse than facing down a big brown in Alaska!

A few years ago my son, I and a guide were hunting near Giddings, Tx. The guide was with my son (16 at the time) and I was following as we were attempting to stalk a large fallow deer. I saw Gage kneel down along with the guide and get ready for a shot....I was back about 6 feet and saw the two of them whispering earnestly to each other. Suddenly my son jumped in the air and back nearly landing on my feet, the guide threw his binoculars on the ground, then grabbed a stick and started beating a 2' copper head to death....apparently the snake was coiled right between my sons's legs as he knelt on the ground. In the confusion the fallow took off, My son nearly painted his shorts, I had a good laugh and the guide got a bit extra for a tip. BTW, we got the huge fallow buck later in the day.

I WAS hunting deer in a ravine area on the western side of Mi. Had myself a nice little 6 point I had taken from just below the hill crest as it walked the bottom of this little passage cut between the hills. IT IS THICK, with visibility maybe 20 feet at the most. I am bent over this deer starting to dress it out when I hear this clattering comeing up the trail and fast. I turn to look in the direction of the noise when I catch a deer coming at seroius speed. I have time to spin draw my issued Model 19 .357 and fire AND DUCK going to my back as this 4 point in headlong flight launches and starts to clear me as I am shooting UP at him. He continues on for about another 100yds before he piles up dead. If I had not had reflexes he would have hit me for sure.(ahhhh the wonders of being young)

The only other really interesting time was when I got charged by a small black bear while moose hunting. Had my Model 70 in .375H&H, scope in my pocket so I had the iron sights up and was slow plodding along on the back of a swamp in Ontario. VERY thick going. Eveidently the moose was previoulsy killed by "something" and died and the bear found it because he just wasn't that big. Would be a toss up who was heavier, me or the bear. He started his whuffy bawlly charge of starts and stops, shuffle closer but not the ears laid back whites of eyes only charge.. You could "kinda" tell his heart wasn't into it...or not.. anyway, I had Nosler partitions in the .375 so I was feeling pretty secure in whether or not I could stop him. I picked a spot about 20' away at which point I would go into "dead bear" mode. He decided that somewhere about 21' away I wasn't a threat to eat his rotting moose meat. I was talking to him gently telling him he really didn't want to do this, nice bear, I'm not gonna hurt you( hey, who knows how that translates into "bearese"?) Anyway, he let me back out of there with his pride and meal well protected. I got out of there without having to explain to Officer Warden WHY I shot Mr. Bear when I didn't have a tag( he couldn't have been that big a threat, where are the teeth and claw marks?)
IF he had come headlong I would have popped him long before the 20' mark.

I was climbing the stairs to a friends porch when something brushed up against my pant leg. I looked down and thought, "it's Bobs' cat". I started to take another step when it dawned on me that Bob didn't have a cat. At that moment my friend turned on the porch light and in the instant before it hit me, I saw a skunk obsured behind the spray .

I was calling elk from a bunch of blowdown on the top of a ridge in mid September. Getting no responses I decided to start heading down about a half hour before dark. When I turned around to leave something stood up out of the long grass and brush. I thought it was a whitetail for a second; then I saw that this whitetail had a real long tail, and whiskers. I nearly wet my Mossy Oaks . While I was calling; a cougar had stalked in to 30' of my position. It ended with the two of us slowly backing away from each other with me looking through my scope, and the cat looking into the barrel of my .300 Ultra Mag.

Great reading guys, keep the stories coming!

My story has a different flavor. I was rifle hunting whitetails one late November. I was slowing picking my way along an overgrown field toward some larger woods. The woods were dark as they were mostly evergreens. As I was about to step over an old stone wall from the bright field to the dark woods I spotted a small movement that looked white in color. I picked up my Leopold binoc's and looked in that direction. About 100yds away there lying at the base of a tree in these very dark woods was a large deer. I being so dark in these woods I couldn't quite make out which way the deer was facing. I put my rifle up to see if I could see it any better with the higher mag of the rifle scope. Still couldn't make out which direction it was facing. I still could see that little bit of white flashing every once in a while and figuring that was the tail I had a pretty good idea which way the deer was facing but I was not positive about it. I decided to try to stalk a little closer having the rifle ready just incase the deer decided to run. Well I was able to stalk in another 20 to 30 yards and I put my scope on the deer to see how it was laying. A cold sweat broke out over me. What I was looking at through my scope was another hunter dressed in brown and gray lying prone on the ground looking the other way. The white I say was from the bottom of the sneakers (it was below freezing out) he was wearing. Lets just say I was shaking so bad I had to sit down. Thank god I was always taught to make sure of my target and where I was going to place the bullet instead of just shooting at first sight. Going from the brighter field to the dark woods I could have sworn it was a deer. To this day I still get a chill everytime I think of that incedent. And even if it can cost me some game I always make sure I not only know what I am shooting at but where I am going to place the bullet also.>John

I'm lucky enough to have a buddy that lives in Alaska and he's taken me out on 3 hunts over the past years. All have been flyins via small float planes. On the very first trip the pilot took my buddy, another friend and some of the gear out and came back to get me and the rest of the gear for about a 60 mi flight. We were about 1/2 way there and were flying at about 500ft and had seen a couple bears on the ground. In short we had started looking for game and not looking at our flying. Out of the corner of my eye I caught another plane coming at us at exactly our altitude from the direct right. It took about 2 seconds for me to calculate it was gonna be really really close. I hollared to the pilot "WE GOTTA A GUY TO OUR RIGHT"!! He put it into a dive immediately and we missed by very very little. When you're on the ground watching a plane go by it looks like it's going really slow. When 2 planes approach each other at 90mph the last 200 yds goes so fast you can't believe it. The other guy never moved an inch off course so I'm thinking he might have been doing the same thing we were doing.===Looking not piloting. You'd think in an area the size of Alaska you wouldn't have planes hitting planes but there is really alot of flying going on there. I was much more watchfull on the last 2 trips.

I'm amazed. If I saw something like that guy with antlers on his head, I may shoot the guy in the big toe and say, "Well, HOW'S THE PUNCHLINE TO YOUR GOOD JOKE?"



What an absolute couple of dumbasses. I remember riding my atv up to a spot I was going to hunt (rifle season, but still legal to bowhunt IF WEARING ORANGE). I had my rifle with me. I ran into a bowhunter getting off of his atv about 300 yards around the mountain from where I'd be. I stopped and frankly asked, "Where's your orange?" He replied, "I'm bowhunting, I don't need it." I turned off my atv and said, "your lucky I have the regs with me. You DO need orange until you're 12 feet up a tree. IF you don't have any, I wouldn't hunt, the wardens will be in the valley since it is opening day of rifle season."



He ACTED like he was leaving. I was suspicious. I went on to my spot, got lucky and killed a 8 point within a 6 minute walk up the mountain from my atv (different story all together ). When I was on my way back down, his atv was till there. He was taking a chance that I would never do.

Doc I am with you, that guy with the antlers on his hat could really use some sort of reinforcing of the message he is a moron.

I have some more here, won't give names but these were close calls for somebody.

1. some years back (at least 5-10) a couple of friends of mine were up for a day of shooting and caught some people using nets to take all the fish out of a pond, highly illegal. one of the friends shot holes in their radiator, they had a long walk out.

2. My mom had her hunter safety class a couple years ago, the lady teaching it told this story. her and her eldest son, apparently a very large guy (over 6'4" if I remember right) were hunting. The son was about to take a shot at a deer when one of these animal rights guys comes out of nowhere grabbing for the gun, almost gets shot. the guy was real aggressive. The son tied him to a tree and they told a warden where they left him......a few hours later!

i had a third one but can't remember it now. :-(

Red
PS
I wasn't in danger on this one, but it was one of those,"now why in the hell did I do that" incidents. I was sitting on the tailgate of my truck with my stepfather and kept hearing some sounds of an animal I was thinking was a bear coming up the valley. I decide to get up and check it out, and leave my 357 on the tailgate. Sure enough, got about 50' from Jerry and the bear pops up about 30-40' from me, equidistant from the truck. I looked around to make sure Jerry saw him and remember thinking,"I hope he's a real good shot"! bear caught Jerry's scent and took off, but it was a good lesson.

This sort of thread pops up every now and again and every time it does, I'm amazed at what you guys go through to hunt. People taking shots at you, other dick heads in the bush wearing antlers and such . When I hunt I know that apart from my hunting mates, I'm the only one on the property. The only close calls we have is when a pig charges or we nearly step on a snake. Makes me realise that we have it pretty good here.

Had my Summit hang on stand set up for several months in the prime spot on the edge of great stand of white-oaks, excellent feeding area. Had hunted this stand 15 or 16 times, trail cleared out, could slip in like a ghost before daylight. Opening day of gun season, decided to hunt this stand, still with my bow. Five steps before I get to the tree--OH MY GOD the world is exploding! What on earth!......stepped slam in the middle of a nested covey of Quail...they sound so cool when they rise when your dog has pointed them up, but in the dark woods 30 mins before sunrise, Holy crap! Luckily didn't have to walk the 1500 yards back to the truck for T.P. ..... checked with my flashlight though.

I�ve had three, two I'll relate here, the first in OCT 1993. I was visiting my brother in OR for a blacktail hunt. I wanted to show him how effective calls and rattling horns were in bringing in deer. We set up against a logging road washout with my brother being about 50 yards below and to my right to film the action. Since I was trying to fill a doe tag I started my call set with a fawn squall, wait 5 call again, wait 5 call again and my brother comes off the ground waving his arms like a crazy man and yelling at me to look. I turn around and there at the top of the washout my flat lander mind sees a cat?, big cat!.?, REALLY BIG CAT!!!!!. Hey shoot that thing. Cat is gone. My brother told me that he noticed movement behind me at the very first squall and at the last squall was when the lion got ready to launch off the washout at me, AKA the distressed fawn. Everyone who has seen the tape that has run cats said that it was a very large 150 pounds or more tom and that there was no mistake he was coming to the call.
The second event took place this past May in SW TX. I get down there two, three time a year to hunt feral cattle with my brother on some family land. Usually these hunts go like you would expect a spot and stalk hunt for very large, moderately dangerous animals to go, exciting but relatively safe. Brother #2 had a Mossberg 500 loaded with Lightfield 3 � inch 12g slugs and I had my Reeder Custom Contender in .41GNR#2 loaded with 265g CPBT hard cast stuff.
Because of the wind we were moving slowly along a flat dried streambed heading to a small bog that the cattle liked to wallow in. Well the walls of the stream got higher and closer as we moved toward our objective. The stream took a hard jog to the right and as we came around that corner, there he (?) stood in all his pissed off, who the hell do you think you are, glory. At less than 20 feet we were face to face with a huge (later weighted on the grain mill scales at 2268 lbs) feral steer (we also found that out after the fact). From his alert posture it was apparent that he had been waiting for what ever was coming down that streambed. I could hear my brother slowly moving to my right but I was totally focused on his nose. I have a saying that �there is dead and there is real dead� and that was the problem screaming through my mind just then. I knew that I could kill him with a center chest shot, which is what I normally would have done, but in this case dead wasn�t good enough because I knew that even dead he would have gotten me and maybe my brother so I needed him REAL DEAD RIGHT NOW with no discussion. So I kept focused on his nose, knew I only had one shot in the Contender, knew I could reload very fast, didn�t know if it would be fast enough. I could hear from a very long way off my brother saying �I don�t have a shot, shoot him�, I was focused on his nose.
I felt him jump more than I saw him move, maybe it was a slight movement of his head, but I knew in my core that this was the time. Everything that happened next was over in less than 5 seconds but it moved at super slow time for me. I shot at his nose and I saw the blood splash from the back of his head, his front end went down but he was still driving with his back legs, heard two shots from my brother and saw dust fly off the right front shoulder and then I shot again saw the hit at the center of his back and the back end dropped down and then another shot from my brother and dust fly from the steers neck. Shear weight, speed, and momentum were driving him toward me. When everything stopped the first thing I noticed was I was more excited than I had ever been in my life. I was so high that I�m sure I would have taken on King Kong with my bare hands. I also noticed that from my knees down I was covered in blood, he had blown it on me with his last breath. His head was less than 2 feet from the toe of my boot on a direct line through me.
After the fact when we butchered him out we found that all the shots except my last would have killed him dead. My last shot would have killed him too as it hit the liver. I also know that if I had shot for his chest he would have gotten me, I know this in my soul. The headshot centered his nose pad, ranged up the sinus, and out the back at the base of the skull. It was just the raw power and speed of his effort that kept him coming. Some after the fact observations; I wouldn�t want to do that for a living, it was the only time I�m sure that an animal knew what I was and wanted to kill me, and lastly every hunter should have the privilege and honor of an encounter such as this one.

Damn Quail...bout make ya shit every time don't they!!?

Ray,

I expect you could write a nice book on the subject!