Your most interesting hunting story

[Outdoors Junkie]

Four years ago hunting in a real rustic spot in Northern MN, I had an interesting hunt.  I was walking deep into the wilderness.  I was at least two miles from our truck. :)  I stumble onto this old slashing that was logged many years before.  Most of the under brush had grown tall.  I see fresh moose droppings.  I see lots of fresh deer sign.  I continue to walk, slowly, stopping every 20-30 yards to listen and watch....Suddenly, I see movement in the brush.  I grip my gun a little tighter, ready to pop it up to my shoulder when that creature gets to the clearing 20 yards ahead.  My heart is pumping!   Twigs are snapping, and I can see the body starting to take shape.  Then, the animal gets to the clearing.  It has a big bushy tail.  It's a timberwolf!  It just keeps runnig.  Then there is another one, and another, and another, and one more.  I stand there in shock.  Not knowing what to do.  Then, they were gone. 

Now I am thinking, there goes my hunt.  I walked all this way, and the dam wolves are gonna chase off anything around here.  I decide to turn back and head towards the direction of the truck.  I begin walking away...when all of a sudden I hear branches breaking, twigs snapping and something running staight towards me from behind.  My heart starts pumping as I turn around.  My mind is telling me that I am gonna see a wolf coming at me.  But to my surprise, it's a big doe, then the wolves chasing behind.  I bring my gun up to my shoulder.  Take care aim, and bang.  She turns, and I aim again, bang.  She flips over like a summer-saults,  then comes to rest ten yards from me.  The wolves were scared off by the first shot.  I was a little scared that I was gonna luck up from gutting her out to see a bunch of wolves licking there chops at me.  The wolves never came back.   I will never forget that morning hunt.

[Mayfly]

Ok...Ya got me. I will share a very interesting/strange story with you all.

So when I was in high school I got permission to hunt some land just north of Taylor?s Falls exclusively. I have been hunting the land off and on for the past 12 years now.

There was a period of 5 years that I was really intro bow hunting and I was always up there. I then added more to my hunting party and my brother, cousin and I were heading up on a regular basis.

Ok?.if you have ever been to the Taylor?s Falls area and are familiar with CR 16 aka Wild Mountain Road that is where we hunt.

To get to the land you have to drive up the drive way and then park in the property owners parking lot.

Well one morning we arrived and got all geared up in the lot. It was just my cousin and I. He headed back down the driveway to the woods near the river and I was going to be hunting on top of the bluff. He left and I was alone. I finished getting all my stuff together and I started up the trail into the woods. Up over the hill I noticed a huge light. It was really bright. It looked like someone was back in the woods near my stand with spotlights! The dark and the woods already freak me out a bit so this had me really going?..who the hell was back in the woods with spotlights at 4:30 am and what the hell are they doing!! It was kinda spooky.

I then backed out and quickly headed down the drive way hoping to catch my cousin. Luckily I did and I explained what I had seen! He was a bit skeptical but came back up in the driveway with me. I showed him the lighted area and he too was like?what the hell!?

At this point we decided that we obviously need to get back there and see what the hell was going on. This is private property and had never had any major problems in the past. We didn?t know what to think?aliens? Intruders? Why would someone have a huge spotlight in the middle of the woods and private property?

Well, we got into my Bronco 2 and switched on the 4wd. There was a small logging road that went back there so we decided to take that. When I say small?.I mean really small. There is no business having a vehicle on this road. We didn?t want to walk back there just because we had no idea what we were getting into and the truck just made us feel a little more comfortable. We were all fired up and a bit nervous. We had no idea what we were about to encounter. The drive was short but tough given the terrain. When we finally reached the top of the hill we saw the biggest and brightest full moon that we had ever seen.

At this point we kinda looked at each other and most likely didn?t say much?..maybe something like??wow, we are idiots.  Hope the deer didn?t hear us?

My cousin is a member on this site?.he may want to add some?.?

He can?t talk his way out of it though?It was his idea to drive back and he drove!
 

[Benny]

About my second year deer hunting maybe was 13 or 14 years old, I was put on the drives as I was the youngest and the only kid in the party.

Well this one area we make drives in has a lot of small rolling hills covered with aspen trees, on the side of a hill I saw a hole dug into the bank about one foot or so in diameter.
There were fresh deer tracks going across the freshly pushed out dirt so for some reason I though that a deer crawled in the hole to lay down or hide.

So there I am creaping up to this hole ready to blast that deer hiding in there, I get up to it and get the sun just right to see in.

There they were, two beady eyes glowing back at me with a brown snout and black nose!!!

BEAR, my uncle said I yelled and took off running like the animal was in hot persuit.

He had been following close beside me to make sure I came out where I was supose to so he saw me doing the danial boone walk.

He first thought that the bear was actually chasing me so he took aim at the hole.

But soon I heard him laughing so hard I almost tumbled down the ravine while looking back to see why he was laughing.

We all gathered around the hole after the rest of the crew got thier ribbing in on me, and there was a small black bear trying to get to sleep.

It was to drogy to move around , so we took a turn looking at it then put a branch over the hole to give it some cover.

I will never ever forget that rush thinking I was about to be chased by a bear in a hole!!!

[bowhunter73]

OK OK I was the one driving Mayfly to the moon at 4:30 in the morning. But you would have had to been there. But now that he wants to bring up Taylor's falls story's maybe he will share the one about his deer that i made him carry out of the woods by himself,over his shoulder,UN-gutted. To be honest i think it was his first bow kill and we were both kinda new & dumb!

What a shot!

If you ever get a chance to hunt with Mayfly I say go for it. Just keep an open mind and be ready for a few good laughs

[Outdoors Junkie]

 

Anyone else have an interesting story to share?

[MnMoose]

The Highlight of my career happened last year.
It was Sunday just after lunch.  My brothers just missed a wallhanger that I stalked to em in a one man drive.  Being frustrated I went for a small walk a posted em up in a oak grove that funneled out into an opening of wheat.  I walked down to an intersection of overgrown fences that ran into a deep swamp with an island in the middle.  A honey hole at best for breeding as reputation would show in the past.  I get comfortable on the ground wind in my face hunkered behind a large rock for a shooting rest if needed. 

Doing the wrong thing I dozed off and woke up about 4:30.  I scan around and spot ivory tines a solid 250 yards out.  My adrenaline warms me as he browses closer 190.  Now its a race with the clock as he takes his sweet time.  140...come on big boy now I can count.  You guys are all thinking come on Moose take the shot take em.  Well folks with a slug gun and open sights..not quite close enough for me.  130 yards 15 pointer easy 150 class.  BOOM Boom Boom.....My brothers are shooting to the east of me.  Bitter sweet feeling hoping they got a buck but now mine is startled.  Big guys just walks back into the cane unseen. 
I sit for 20 minutes to see if he may pop out closer.  No good so I get up to assist my brothers, and what do ya know.  Two deer right were my big boy was.  Back down I went.  Knowing it was a doe and her fawn I got down in a non shooting position.  They wasted no time getting right up to me.  The Doe stops stomps barks snorts and we had a stare off going on 7 8 ft away eye to eye.  Her Fawn meanwhile is all sorts of giddy jumpin around and prancin.  closer closer she some closer, all the sudden she is litterally a step away from me and sticks her little wet tongue out and gets the taste of the remington 870 slug barrell.  she licked it and stood there then her mom proceeded to stomp.  the two of em jumped the fence, caught wind of me, and holy cow right over the top of me and ran back where they came from.
thats my Good one

[Outdoors Junkie]

Seriously?!  It licked the end of your gun?  That must of been awesome Mnmoose!  To have a deer that close! 

Maybe that big boy will give you a close enough shot this year?

[MnMoose]

YES YES YES the fawn licked the end of my barrel... well come to find out I let a guy hunt on the farm with his 12 year old son this year for archery opener and the big boy revealed himself as a 16 pointer this year to the youngster and made a hell of a shot at 30 yds to arrow him down.  I am very happy for the little guy and his father was you could say more than grateful.  We as Dads know the smile we get when our little ones are blessed with something like that, On the other hand so are we!!!
There will be another big guy though I feel!!

[beeker]

 was opening morning in WI a few years back.. my buddy decided to take the first stand we put out and left me to drive to the next stand, being new to the group and new to the area I took off to find the stand. I drove past the parking space and turned around on the logging road in my buddies silverado with his four wheeler in the back, I guess I didn't realize the strap busted off the wheeler rolled out and flipped over while part of the strap held... I dragged his polaris about 20 feet while I was trying to stop. the wheeler was on it's side in the middle of the road.. I was mad, a little scared since it wasn't mine... I ended up flipping it back over, got covered in gas in the process. couldn't find the key so i pushed it into the ditch drove the truck to the parking spot and by this time the sun was working it's way out.. I figured opening morning was ruined, I smelled of gas, dumped my buddies wheeler... regardless I climbed into my stand only to hear what sounded like someone rattling just over the hill from me... I thought what else could go wrong? just then a little basket 6 ran in... I debated about shooting it just because I thought I had no other choice that day.. so I passed.. then I decided to shoot.. tossed up the scope... then I decided to pass... tossed up the scope again.. then I passed again... tossed up the scope again just in time to catch another deer run in to kick the 6 pointers butt...  he ran in I shot.. and to this day that was the biggest 8 I've ever shot.. it hangs on my wall.  I called my buddy (who's wheeler it was) asked him if he wanted the good news or the bad news... good news I shot a big 8 bad news dumped his wheeler...  the wheeler started ran, I busted a headlight and cracked a fender, bought my own polaris based on the beating that one took

[Go Big Red!]

To sum my story up...

The first time my dad ever took me deer hunting.  I'll never forget it...

[Outdoors Junkie]

To sum my story up...

The first time my dad ever took me deer hunting.  I'll never forget it...

I want to hear the long version.  Come on and share.   

[Go Big Red!]

Alright, here it goes. Nothing fancy, but I think it's cool.

I'm 12 years old.  Just past hunter safety and I hit the Army/Navy surplus store to get my very first set of hunting gear.  It's composed of a pair of green, charcoal lined pants (the Original Scent Lok), thermal underwear,  wool socks, and the like.  I then get from dad, a hand-me-down semi-blaze orange shell to wear over my winter coat (mom LOVED that idea), a hat that had a Pheasants Forever patch on it, and the ugliest pair of imitation Sorel boots available.  You can only image what the hell I look like...  and Dad gives me his 20g. pump to use.

SO I get out of school a 1/2 day early (couldn't be a full day like everyone else) and we head to ST. Croix Falls to hunt with an old college roommate of my dad.  We get to his house which is situated on the 40 acres he owns. And he has mounts every where.  A black bear, antelopes, elks, a ram, and deer galore.  Kinda looks like the Deer Classic.  Downstairs are racks upon racks he has taken over the years. Nothing under "six" he says.

Before bed, we set out all of our clothing and I'm more interesting in playing DUCK HUNT on Nintendo.  Go figure.  We turn in for bed and before you know it, the alarm goes off.  Actually, it was my dad's friend yelling down the stairs.  And I reach for the Nintendo...

We eat breakfast, get dressed, and start to head out to the woods.  And then I have to pee.  You know this true especially if you have taken your own kids out to the woods or in the boat.  So back in the house, strip down, and take care of business.  Head back out.  And by 930, I'm cold and I want to play more DUCK HUNT.  Dad, mind you, is situated about 75-100 yards south of me and I can see him.  He thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on me.  I see him and we wave back and forth at each other to pass the time.

Fast forward a bit and I look towards him and he's waving.  I wave back and he stands and points real hard and fast.  And then it hits me, there must be a deer coming.  I raise the gun and get ready.  Out steps this doe and I shoot, hitting her.  She goes down and I shot again. Missed.  I shoot a third, and hit her.  SO she is thrashing on the ground and I remember from my hunter safety not to let an animal suffer.  So I shoot again.  Miss. 2 for 4 so far.  I shoot again.  Miss. 2 for 5.  I open another box of slugs and RELOAD.  I was 12, it never occurred to me to get down out of my stand and walk over to the deer.  I shoot again and hit it so I am now 3 for 6 and I keep shooting.  I miss with the 7th round and by this time, dad is waving his arms frantically.  I had no idea why.

The woods fall silent and dad and I both come down.  He starts by saying, "What did you get?"  "I saw two run past and only one came back."  I replied, "I got the first one."  And then being my genius 12 year old self ask, "Why didn't you come over sooner?"  He says, "Why did you keep shooting!?!"  So we walk over to it, look at, he hugs me, and I start to cry.  Not sure as to why but I did.  I guess I wasn't prepared to the end result.  I managed though.

19 years later, I'm still hunting, enjoying every minute of it, and am now looking forward to passing it on to my 3 1/2 yr. old son and 14 mo. old girl.  You can never start them too early.

SO, there it is.  Not the most interesting of stories, but the coolest thing to a 12 year old.

Thanks Dad.

[Realtree]

Some great stories have been shared here.

Who else has a great hunting story they would like to share? 

 

[dakids]

A few years back I helped a guy buy some land for hunting.  The closing was on the friday before the opener up in longville.  He asked me if I would hunt with him since his brothers were going to be hunting near blackduck.  I gladly accepted.  The next morning we walk out together and find a nice staight tree for his climber.  He tells me to go down 300 yards to the north. He also tells me to shoot some deer because his freezor was empty. It was a little hard to see where I was going but I went what I figured was far enough and hung my stand.  15 minutes later I shoot a very nice 8 pointer.  Before I could climb down I hear the guy shoot.  5 min. later I see a doe sneaking by so I shoot her.  I wait 10 min. to let my heart beat get back to normal and here comes another doe from a different direction.  I shoot her.  4 deer in 40 min.  The tree that I used is the same tree that his brothers have used every year since.  They call it the killing tree because they kill a deer every time they sit in it. 

[stevejedlenski]

my second year bow hunting and i get to my stand opening evening. not 10 min later i already have a six point down. i walked over to my dads stand about 150 yrds away and he is only half way up his tree with the climber. he told me to gut it and so i did. about an hour later and my dad comes back saying he shot a 8 point. we tracked it through the swamp and found it behind our neighbors house. we thought that it couldnt get any better fill both our tags already.

well needless to say the next night i was out for a doe and what do i see but a MONSTER BUCK, it was a 10 point but it only had a browtine and one other tine on its right side, it had been broken off. this would have easily scored 170 if it hadnt been broken. AND ALL I COULD DO WAS SIT THERE AND WATCH AS HE STOOD NOT 5 FEET FROM THE TREE I WAS IN.

[schwinger]

This may not be terribly interesting to you guys but it is my most vivid memory's of deer hunting, mostly because I was fairly new and young.

We were at the Camp Ripley bow hunt like we always did back then (when we were selected). We always hunted off the same old tank trail and my dad set me up in a tree and then head off to his not far away.

One day I got cold or something and decided to take a quick walk down the trail. As I was walking along I looked to my right up this hill and saw 2 does (probably a doe and a fawn but I didn't know that then) standing about half way up the hill. They were maybe 75 yrds away, can't believe they didn't hear me. So I stopped and watched them and pretty soon they started up the hill so I started stalking them. I managed to follow them un-noticed all the way up and was pretty proud of myself.

At the top of the hill it got pretty thick for a moment and I had an arrow ready so I was trying to get through all the branches and was watching my bow and my feet so they didn't get tangled and make any noise. As soon as I look up there is 1 of the does staring at me from about 10ft away, face to face. My bow is not drawn yet so we have a stareing contest for what felt like 5 minutes. I couldn't believe she didn't run. Pretty soon she started to put her head to the ground again to feed, I'm still 10 maybe 15ft away, and my heart is thumping like crazy. So everytime I had an opportunity I would bring the bow up slowly as much as I could until she got spooked and looked at me again. After what felt like forever I had the bow up and drawn back, and I'm getting ready to shoot.

Now remember there were 2 does.... Right at this moment the other doe jumps up about 40 yrds away and they both go running off. Apparently it was bed down the whole time. This never even occured to me and I didn't have an opportunity to look because I was eye balling the other deer the whole time.

Didn't get a deer but it is probably one of the biggest reasons that I got hooked into deer hunting. I always think of that when the season rolls around.

[dag1980]

Well lets give it a try. My first year bow hunting it was Nov 3rd( remember like it was yesterday) my brother and I hunted the morning and didn't see anything. He had to go to work and I decided to go back out and hunt. So got in my tree stand which was on the south end of a 10 acre woods that had standin corn all the way around it except for the ends rows and about 40 rows around the woods. It was cold and kinda a sleet/rain mix. I decided to try my new toy a can-call and turned it over two -three times and then grunt the same amount after it. I turned my head to the left and the to the right and there was a basket 7pts less than 10 yards from the tree. Never heard him. I pull the bow back , get anchored , .....arrow falls of the rest. While at full draw I manage to get it back on the rest with my index finger.. Then he starts walking to my left bahhh to stop him... look through the peep and theres water in it.. so at full draw again lower the bow and try to blow out the water .. finally do by that time he walked off.. I was shaking like a leafy so i tried the same tactic as last time about 20 minutes later here comes a "spork" (had a spike on one side and another spike with crap claw at the end)  let him walk.. tried it a third time here comes a button buck allthe way to the base of my tree. thinking allthe excitement was over ..look out into the picked corn I see a doe running then a buck chasing her and out of no where here comes another buck out of the standing corn chasing her.. finally the BIg buck ran the other buck off. probably my best experience bow hunting so far( it was 5 yrs ago) and I've been hooked since.

[CampYJewel]

It seems like every year has some excitement but the best year was about 4 years ago.  We had gotten a ton of rain/snow and by my stand the beavers had the water all dammed up.  So I had to wear hip waters out to my stand.

Well about 200 yards away a two nice bucks came out. I shot once and both ran back into the woods where they had come from.  Then all of a sudden one jumped back out.  So I shot again.  Well I could tell I hit it and the buck went crashing into the brush on the other side of the opening.  I could hear ice cracking every place, it was crazy.  Then I started thinking that maybe I had shot the first one???  I waded out to the spot and had to bust the ice as I walked through knee high water+.  It was really hard because my feet would get sucked down in the mud then I would have to try and lift my leg high enough to break the ice.  I did end up killing the first buck.  He went into the woods about 25yards and died.  I had to drag him out by myself since we only had one pair of hip waiters and the water was to deep to get a 4-wheeler in. He was a nice 6-pointer and the first buck besides a spike I had ever shot!!!

My dad met me by my stand and took the one buck back to camp and I went off to find the other one.  I tracked him in the dark until my flashlight died and I was out in the middle of a 200 acre woods/swamp.  I made my way back to my stand but got lost trying to make it to the road.  There was sooo much water and I was hanging off brush trying not to get in to deep.  I actually ended up almost falling in one of the beaver runs right by there house.  The road was actually just in front of me but it was soo thick I could not see it.  I have never been scared in the woods until then,  and I was starting to think I was going to be out there till someone found me. 

The next morning thankfully there was enough ice on the water I could skate across it and I ended up kicking up the buck on the north end of our property, only for him to jump the fence to our crapy neighbors.  I felt really bad about wounding it and for letting buck fever get the best of me.  Next time I wont be so trigger happy!!!!  I learned my lesson the hard way!

[BIG 6 BUCK]

You have all heard the story about a father helping his son get his first deer........................
Well I helped my dad get is first deer with his bow(dosent gun hunt).  I live down by hutch and own a cabinet shop by Silver Lake.  We have a 40acre woods that is behind the shop.  My dad has been tryin for years to get one but has not had the best luck.  It was the weekend after opener and I had been seeing alot of deer around the shop (10+ a nite) I called and told him that I have his stand set done and all the shooting lanes cut now get down here and hunt.  Well he could not make it down till sunday nite.  I walked him to the stand and he said with a smile on his face " nice set what is this we only walked 75yds from the shop and most of that was on the lawn" I said dont worry this stand is called THE MEAT STAND.  He got up in his tree and a walked 20yds away and kicked a big strip in the ground,  shoot when they stand here.  With a smile I walk away to my stand.  I started see deer 10mins after I sat down.  Watching them and hoping that they would make it to him.  It was starting to get dark so I went back to get dad............
no dad,  well it was close to legal time so I guess he got down and went to the truck.  I made it almost there when he came running I SHOT ONE, I SHOT ONE.  He said 30min after I left deer came from everywere.  The first BIG DOE walked right up to the 20yd make stood broadside and he let her have it.  It was the best time I ever had in the woods.  We found the deer 50yds away dead.
We shook hand and hugs,  dad said " Man this is sure backwards, My son helped me get my first deer"  we stood back and all was quiet in the woods.  Dad says "Thanks son and do you a a knife, I didnt bring one........... never thought I would need it."
I just want to say thanks dad I will never forget that day

[ChrisWallace]

Bang, they both fell. well that was cool.

135 yards, 300wsm 185 grain Wincheste XP3

[Outdoors Junkie]

Any new stories to share?

[StevenHuston]

Last year it was my first year bow hunting. Opening day and before i get out of the car my dad says if you get one i will get you a new rifle while he starts to laugh thinking theres no way this kids is going to get one on his first day. 30 mins later i come out of the woods will a small doe and start laughing as i tell him if we get back soon we can get to scheels before they open. I ended up getting a remington 760 a few weeks later.

[Outdoors Junkie]

Last year it was my first year bow hunting. Opening day and before i get out of the car my dad says if you get one i will get you a new rifle while he starts to laugh thinking theres no way this kids is going to get one on his first day. 30 mins later i come out of the woods will a small doe and start laughing as i tell him if we get back soon we can get to scheels before they open. I ended up getting a remington 760 a few weeks later.

Awesome Steven!  Congrats!