campfire stories. was out with BIL on a hunt. we over slept, twas daylight in de woods. we decided ta put on a stalk & hunt ta stands. BIL first i bringing up the rear 25-30yrds behind. we made it 300yrds, BIL frooze in his tracks. i stopped. he motioned to his eyes then pointed to his left. gave him the nodd, an took a knee. BIL eased ahead & around the bend ta left. i waited. deer eased out inta trail. held fire, ta let deer pass inta safe shooting lane. it was a doe. no permits. it passed, waited, nothing. mother nature was calling. so ran inta woods ta right, pudding me hands around a sappling. bearing down tight, made a deposit, did the papper work, & dubble timed it ta catch BIL. as eased around curve he was standing in middle of trail what happened? seen a doe was reply, & answered a call. he ditto, waiting on U, twas wondering, SHIIIT was what he said, as his eyes buldged out the side of his head. it was a cold morning with the usual runny noses. as he went ta use his sleeve as hanky he breathed in. he was wearing coveralls & was careful ta keep them clear, but chit happens. he had got some on his sleeve. we headed back out, he took the lead, i followed behind, just like before. we came ta the fork in the trail, he went ahead, i took ta the left. At the apointed time we meet back at the fork. BIL had shaved his mastash.

Back in the late 90's i had a big Porcupine climb up the tree my tripod was nestled in and literally got on the platform! I climbed halfway down the tripod and jumped the rest of the way! I hunted on the ground that morning...

I've never seen a porcupine in the wild but could imagine....not something that is regular in my neck of the woods.

last year i walked out to the blind nice and early. i oppened the door and was climbing in, i got about halfway in when i hear the sound of wings flapping and all of a sudden a big ole woodpecker lands on my arm.. i about fall out of the blind halfway down the ladder. took me another 30mins or so to get him out seeing as he pecked a hole in the side and didn't wanna go out that way. finally got a big stick and held the window open and he finally flew out... talk about excitement!!

I had thought about that, but it wasn't practical part of my trek consisted of deep water, part was barely an inch, and there would be random dry patches. Too much to portage.

Love these stories

I have had some of the same...owls, quail, etc.

The owl I encountered was a screech owl that was hiding in a hole in the ceiling of someone elses stand I decided to hunt that morning. Started getting light and I started glassing. It was a big stand so I had to move from window to window. Guess I made one move too loud and ticked him off because he let off the loudest screech and decided to go out the same window I was glassing...slapped me in the head before flying off.

The funniest, after the fact of course, was when I was about 9. We had a place near Corsicana off the river. Covered in hogs and a few deer. We stayed in an old camp and to take a shower, you had to get water out of the tank down the hill. Dad was cooking, so they sent me to start getting water. The hogs were known to go by that pond but not often. Coming up the hill, the path was about 3' wide and had tall grass on each side.

Well, about the 4th trip, one of the other hunters had snuck down and hid in the grass and thought it would be funny to scare me. It was funny, but not as funny as the look on his face when I shot him in the chest with my bb gun. Of course, I was terrified...first when he flew out of the grass and second when I realized I had just shot my dads friend in the chest. Being 9, I had taken my bb gun for protection...well, it stopped the threat

None too scary but this past opening morning i got the feeling someone was watching me which i never get that feeling...

It's funny to me because last time I tried to "scare" my boy I got smacked in the lip! The look on his face after he realized he hit me was worth the smack.

Moral of the stories here is don't scare little kids, them suckers are dangerous.

I was in my popup blind earlier this week and bobcat let out a scream just before the sun came up.


Absolute silence and darkness

Then out of nowhere and what sounded like 3 feet away it sounds like a banshee screaming.

I jumped a little bit

I never get scared walking to/from stand. I just go with the notion that I'm the baddest mofo in the woods.

Almost had a "Messed my shorts..." story to tell Friday evening before opening morning this year. Walking back from the blind scouting I stayed longer than I thought and it was pitch dark on the way back to camp. Of course I didn't have a flashlight. All of a sudden something at least 10 feet tall and with a loud ROAR was in front of me about 5 feet. I stumbled backwards on the rocks grabbing for my pistol when I realized it was about 15 turkey taking off all at once! Wish I had it on camera...

on them cool clear chilly fullmoon lite nights. way back down in the hollows. if ya listen real close. ya can still hear my shrillish screams. twas easen threw the woods in dark on hog hunt, whin heard a snap, turned on my flash light & got scared of me own shadow. some say its a panther.

My first night hunt with my daughter was on a full moon.
After a long time sitting it was about 11:00, the moon was high, coyotes were singing, and the pigs started coming.
We were in a ground blind and the pigs were unusually active, they were running past us, squealing, and snorting like wild animals . They never would stop they would just shoot past the sendero that we were watching, woosh, like some kind of elusive monster on a scary movie. And all of the action only made the coyotes howl even more, it was the wildest thing I have ever heard.
Hogs would even come up right next to the blind, within a few feet of us on the inside, oinking, snorting and running. I was super creeped out, chills up my spine like never before hunting. This must of gone on for ten minutes, hogs were everywhere, then a pig finally stopped at the corn about 75 yards out, my daughter dropped him. Then they scattered with about the same amount of commotion as when they arrived.
The walk 1/4 mile back to the truck was the scariest that I have ever done. I had my side arm in-hand the entire way, if anything would have run out I would have probably shot myself.
After we were at the truck and I finally started to relax, my daughter said "no wonder you like night hunting dad, its a blast." She was as calm as if it was the middle of the day, I was a nervous wreck. She didn't realize, that was not a normal night hunt.

Simple searcher, she was with dad, why would she worry, but have fun...

was canoeing with daughter & seen hogs on bank. graves me colt told daughter stay with cannoe. it was real thick area. went in, hogs had scattered. got back ta caoe, daughter was POed, she wanted ta go with me. she been in some rough stuff. PROUD daddy some cool stories.

x2

Stumbling on to hogs unexpectedly gets my heart racing every time.

Some times it pays off to be alert when walking in the early before daylight.

Hunting in a river bottom where “Buggers” are known to be, (according to the ranch foreman). When I got to my tree, after my long walk in pitch darkness. I noticed two different “critters tracks” in the frost that covered my wooden steps. The critters apparently have already climbed up my ladder and were possibly still up the tree where I had placed my bow stand. It’s just a coon and a bobcat, what could possibly happen?



Oh well, didn’t think they would eat me so I climbed up and got settled in my seat and waited for daybreak. Shortly after storing my back pack and hanging my bow up on its peg, I started hearing my unwanted guest above me. I didn’t have a clue what was going on above me but, it was making enough noise that I was wonder if ever deer in the river bottom was now gone. Shortly there after I could hear what I thought was deer moving below me, all I could do at this point wait and see what happens or who was going to jump out of the tree first. Sure enough that critter kept getting closer to me and was just a few feet above me several times, and then it would turn around, run back up the tree only to turn around and come back down the tree again towards me in a few minutes. I figured out that I was blocking his escape rout. This went on for what seemed like an hour.

Daylights breaking and I can now the see movement below me and what has been moving above me in total darkness; the movement below me is the buck that I have been hunting all year. Adrenaline of a different kind is now kicking in. Grabbing my bow and needing a little more daylight in the river bottom canopy of trees to make the shot. While all this time that damn critter is still causing all kinds of ruckus above me and now wants out of the tree.




Well as my luck turns even worse and disappointment set in, all I can do at this point is watch and enjoy the morning. The buck that I have been after all year had been fighting and broke off 7 or 8 of his tines.



Moral of the story, don’t be scared they wont eat ya!

Thunder chickens! Hunting in ID you can't the grouse so you'll walk right up on them and they take off with the loudest drumming you can imagine. Very tough on trousers...lol

Possible even in the daylight!

Keep thinking that, and don't look behind you....

QSYB, all a fella needs is a bed sheet I hear! What folks think will keep the gremlin under the bed from getting them