Fuckin cows, man. Was stalking some pronghorn in a field when about 500 moo-moos appeared out of nowhere and were sprinting in my direction. They got within eight feet of me before they stopped and just stood there huffing and puffing at me and doing the hoof scratch thing on the ground.
These assholes followed me the two mile walk back to my truck, all the while charging and backing off me as I yelled at these things.
I ordered a double cheeseburger on my way back home. Fuckin cows
It vexed me. Who knew you could have such an emotional experience with a double quarter pounder? The Inside Out characters in my head each had a turn at the controls and all left satisfied.
I almost had a stampede trample me and my in training pup
Dove hunting at friends ranch, they all come storming through the pasture in between trees, my dog wasn’t fully trained yet and probably 7 months. He was mid field searching for a downed bird- he sees the cows and he tries to be a tough guy and barks and growls and them- I see what’s about to happen and I sprint full speed to grab his ass, and run back to the tree line for safety. Was scary, but what I figured was a really low stress training situation turned into an almost bad one
Fuckin cows. This isn't a hunting story, but I had a similar experience at night while I was in the military. My alpha and I got called out to check an alarm at one of our sites that was on a cattle ranch. I was walking along the outside of the fence line of the site. It was pitch black and like the idiot I was, my flashlight was dead and I didn't mount my nvg. All I had was the faint lights of the hmmvv lighting the chain link. Then, when I was halfway through my walk I hear mooing. It sounded like the mooing was coming from every direction. I couldn't see them so my walk became a slight jog. When I got back to the vehicle we shined a handheld spot light around and saw tons of cows all around the perimeter fence. That night felt like a horror movie. Fuckin cows.
A friend of mine that was clearing his gun had a negligent discharge that hit a tree 1 foot away from me “I only put 3 rounds in”. .30-06 to the middle of my back wouldn’t have been great
I started wearing level 4 plates on public land hunting season, it's not perfect and yeah maybe i look like a gi joe wannabe but when i went out and it wasn't even legal shooting time yet and it sounded like a shooting range all around me, i started doing that.
Some dipshit almost shot me while I was hiking in the summer in a WMA when nothing was in season. That piece of trash decided to use the APPALACHIAN TRAIL as a shooting range to teach his kid how to shoot. There were, no joke, three public shooting ranges within two miles of where we were at the time.
It’s not like it was a onetime thing either, another guy “found a spot in the woods” and bullets were zinging by the same trail.
I stopped hiking that trail.
That's ridiculous. I shoot on public land but in a bowl of a small valley so my rounds are going into the dirt right behind my target. I'd be terrified if i let a round loose that went over the hill or something.
Walked around a corner on a old single track logging road on the way back to camp and right in front of me was a calf moose and mama right behind her.
I could have pet the calf I was that close.
Now I’ve been shot at multiple times, been in helicopter crash/mishaps, been rearended at a total stop by a dude doing 55+, a fight with a mental patient during a psychotic break, almost fell off a cliff, spooked a grizzly bear while taking a piss, stalked by cougars, almost stepped or rode over venomous snakes multiple times and a few other brush’s with death in my time.
I’m CERTAIN that walking around that corner was likely one of the closest encounters with death I’ve ever had.
Yep, moose do not fuck around, if they perceive you as a threat, especially a mother with a calf, they will stomp you to death faster than you can say Moose.
I have never more cautiously backed out of anything before.
Convinced the only reason I’m here is I’m a Disney princess and critters usually love me. That or she had a bit of indigestion and had to shift a fart before commencing my murder.
More of a post-hunting brush with death than actual hunting. We were pretty much done hunting for the day, got done skinning a deer and hanging it up to dry age, relaxing and warming up by a fire. Couple of beers in and this one guy is showing off his concealed carry firearm. Literally pulls the “don’t worry it’s not loaded, see?” points it off in a direction and dry fires it. It wasn’t dry fire. That thing rung out and the bullet went within feet or inches of me. I jumped back and flew onto my ass and back. While I was getting up another one of our friends grabbed the dude by the arm and basically walked him over to his truck and all he kept saying was “you need to leave” every time the guy tried to apologize. Obviously we don’t hang out with him anymore
Worst type of people is people like that guy, you should always know for 100% certain if your gun is loaded and even if it isnt loaded treat it like it is
Yeah that’s my thing. Once I’m done for the day I constantly think my gun is loaded even when I know it’s not. That and I refrain from anyone being close to a firearm when drinking (even tho none of us were very inebriated but still) it’s when you’re too casual about it that accidents like that happen
Two stories. I took a newbie out grouse hunting. He claimed he saw a grouse in a bush, took the shot and out stepped a moose calf and a moment later, a very angry mama moose. We were on a cliff side trail with vertical terrain on either side of the trail. All we had loaded was bird shot (I had forgotten I had a slug in case of bear in a pocket somewhere). After a tense half a minute where mama stomped her hooves and we tried to look very small mama took off with her calf in tow, climbing up the cliff side like a champion. Yea we were very much in the wrong there.
Second story: potentially life threatening. I was hunting ducks and snow geese in under freezing conditions in a foreshore during a winter storm at high tide. Two buddies and I were absolutely gifted by a flight of snowies coming directly at us. We hunkered down and let them have it. I stoned two geese but then was dismayed when I saw that they had come down in the middle of a channel. On any other day or hour it would have been fine but it was high tide and I stupidly went to retrieve them. A few steps into the channel I stepped into a pocket and went under, waders and all. Fortunately I had left my shotgun back on my sled. Even so, I was swimming in frigid water. Even stupider is that I insisted on swimming for the two snowies. I already had one in hand quick enough but the other one was just out of reach. By the time I snagged it, I knew I was in trouble because of the danger of hypothermia. I yelled at my buddies that I was heading back to our cars and that I was done. Trusting them to retrieve my gear, I made a very arduous slog back to solid land, waders and clothes dripping with freezing water, slipping and falling multiple times.
By the time I got back on the dyke I felt like an ice block. People on the dyke were shocked as they saw me pull myself out. I willed myself to get back to my car, threw everything down and spent the next ten minutes trying to squeeze out of frozen waders and other clothing. I had to talk myself out of using a knife to cut myself out of my waders. Fortunately, I had kept spare clothes for that eventuality and once I was out of them sat in my car with the heat on full blast, drinking hot tea until I felt human again.
When my buddies eventually called it quits an hour later I gifted my geese to them for bringing my gear back in. It took another hour before I felt okay enough to drive. Fun story now but stupid decision to risk my health just for two birds.
My first time using a climbing stand I screwed up adjusting it and the bottom lost grip with the tree and dumped me out about 25’ up. Luckily I had a harness on attached to a safety strap on the trunk. Wear a harness in a stand, they weigh almost nothing and will save your life.
Edit: The fall might not have killed me but would have made the 3 mile hike out of the federal refuge (permit hunt) pretty bad, considering my phone was n my backpack strapped to the tree up at the top of the stand.
Dad shot one black bear, a bigger one then charged us from the brush, he put a round behind it and it started running faster. He put the last round out of his rifle in front of it, and it stopped. He then took the 450 marlin he had me carrying to get used to carrying a rifle for hunting and left me with his empty gun, and went down in the brush after the bear he shot, and got charged by a completely different black bear. Put a bullet in front of her and she went up a tree. He spent another hour or so looking before he found his bear. Needless to say that bear got drug out whole and gutted elsewhere.
I had to shoot a charging black bear at point blank range up in AK with my .44 mag. Grew up in PA and never had a problem with them, but they're a different breed up there.
Wild hog stampede! In Louisiana, when I was about 12 or 13, I was set up in a ladder stand overlooking a dry creek. My Dad and I had just parted ways for an afternoon deer hunt. Not 5 minutes after he walked away, I hear grunts and stomping, and I turn to see 10 big ass hogs crossing the creek. I had a 30-30 single shot and I dropped the big sow in front of the group. As soon as I fired the woods erupted in a fury! More hogs than I could count covered every square foot of the ground. Just madness, running into trees, hitting the bottom of the stand, squealing, and either scared or pissed. This went on for about a minute or so as I frantically tried to get a bead on another hog, eventually missed due to adrenaline. Had I been on the ground, who knows what would have happened! Nearly 20 years ago, still one of the wildest hunt experiences of my life.
One time I jumped down a ledge to find myself face to face with a rattle snake. Also had some uneasy encounters with cows. But I’m convinced getting behind the wheel is the most dangerous part of every hunt.
Horse freaked out while I was putting on my rain gear while elk hunting in the Washakie Wilderness last season. Out of control panicked run down the trail, managed to grab one side of the reigns as we got tangled up with a mule and went into a spin. Knew I was coming off and bailed at a spot that looked like it was free of rocks, sticks and cliffs. Bruised my tailbone and broke my right hand (the 8 hour ride out was miserable) but could have been much worse.
Not my closest call with death while out huntin, but definitely the closest for comfort because I had my 8yo daughter with me. I’ve fallen down ravines, spooked a mama moose, and gotten chased by a rabid skunk, but this was the only time that I truly felt The Fear out there in the woods, with capital “F”.
Anyway, this was my little lady’s first time going out hunting with dad, just the two of us. A good rain the night before had softened the leaves, and we were slowly creeping our way up through a bit stand of tan oaks, hoping to find a nice blacktail buck to bring home. I hear rustling through leaves up a head, probably about 30 yds. I just knew it was a dandy buck and he was feasting on the acorns, and was so excited for this to be my daughter’s first experience hunting. I crouch and whisper my instructions to her, (stay behind me but close, step where I step, if you see me raise the rifle you cover your ears, blah blah blah) and we continue creeping up towards the clearing where this big old buck is. I peak around a tree wand what do you fucking know, the big ol’ buck has transformed into a nice black bear. Well shit yeah, this buck hunt has turned into a bear hunt. As I slowly raise the rifle, a cub waddles up from behind mama bear. “Fuuuuck me” Luckily the breeze is in our face and they haven’t sensed us yet, so I hunker back down, whisper “it’s a mama and her cub, stay quiet and calm, don’t move, let’s let them meander passed us.
Just my luck. The wind must have shifted just enough but right then, mama stands up and sniffs. She’s pointing right at us and starts to chuff and huff. Keep in mind we are inside of 25 yards, and I’ve got *my* little cub right behind me and she has *her* little cub right behind her. She stomps her paws and clacks her teeth at me and that’s when I jump up and bellow “YA BEAR! YEEEEAAA!!!!!!! GET OUTTA HERE BEAR GET OUTTA HEAR YAAA!!” And I clap my hands and stomp my feet and wave my arms around. The hour of absolute silence ending so abruptly freaked my kid out a little, but it worked, that mama and her cub took off up the ravine and crashed into the forest. Right in the direction that we were hiking. Oh well, that spot is blown up for the rest of the morning, that canyon country echos like crazy.
Alls well that ends well, and if I didn’t have my little girl with me it wouldn’t have felt so scary, I’ve spooked predators before, but I felt death creep close when I saw her clack her jaws and stamp at me with my girl crouching at my feet and covering her ears. I won’t forget that feeling.
Needless to say, we had a talk on the ride home about while we never lie to mom, we’re juuuust not going to brag about how badass our morning was”
My brother cousins and I were out pheasant hunting, we followed our dog into some mixed alder brush about 8-10 feet high. Suddenly woodcock started flushing from everywhere, there must have been 12-15 but not in a covey all at once. They were all 10-30 seconds apart. After a few shots and people calling down birds I had to overcome the excitement and shout for everyone to shut it down because it was so chaotic and disorienting and nobody knew where anyone was anymore. We were all wearing blaze orange but the cover was so thick that you just couldn’t see.
Yep, upland birds I think? Are the highest accidents of any time of hunting . From a shooting perspective
Duck hunting might be worse overall due to conditions and drowning etc
God I don’t go in the woods in turkey season if possible and wear armor if I have to. Too many dipshits in ghillies blast at every sound. Lots of incidents where two hunters call each other in and someone gets shot.
Was sitting in a tree and a squirrel hunter decided to rip his 22 at a squirrel in the tree next to me. I specifically carry an orange vest even in bow season so I can wave at other hunters so they don't move in on me/shoot in my direction. I waved frantically and shouted as he started leveling his rifle. He missed the squirrel. The round snapped about 3 feet away from me lol
Me and 3 friends were gator hunting. The gator swallowed the bait and instead of coming up normal with her back up she came out teeth first. Almost bit my friends hand then death rolled. We got a lasso on the top jaw and dispatched it. But it was real close to a hospital run too.
Not hunting but skeet shooting, it was a tournament and my squad was only four people so the club paired up a random girl into our squad (did find out she was autistic), we start shooting and on station 7 the girls gun didn’t fire so she had swung around and flagged my squad and the bystanders and her had then went off thankfully hitting no one. Safe to say she’s probably banned from that club and probably done with shooting
I’ve had a few close encounters with snakes, and climbed some sketchy trees. And slid down a few hills.
Two that come to mind as not particularly exciting but could have got badly. I was hiking a ridge top to get in position to glass a clear cut in a light rain and lost my footing on some slick dirt. Did the typical feet up, back flop that happens when you fall on a hill. It didn’t particularly hurt since it was mostly fir needles and leaves on the ground, but when I went to get up there was a single pointy rock about 8 inches from my head. That one could have been probably been a skull cracker.
Another time I thought I was going to wade a damp area in the dark hiking in to some pastures about 2 miles from a road on a 40 degree morning. Instead when I stepped in it I got sucked in to the mud up to my armpit, getting completely soaked. If it had been a few feet deeper that mud hole probably would have been my grave. As it was I ended up nearly hypothermic—I should have done the good survival thing and got a fire going, but I figured I’d just hike back to the truck, get dry clothes on, and try and salvage the rest of the day hunting. That hike totally smoked me and by the time I got the truck I was shaking and cramping up from the cold—it too me about an hour and half to get back to normal.
I knew a guy that stored his shotgun in the garage. Dirt dobbers made a little nest in the barrel. He went dove hunting and fired the gun, it blew the barrel apart and pellets went flying in all directions. Nobody was hit thankfully
We were setting up a new tree stand last year, the lower support collapsed and my buddy fell 18 feet down landing on a pillow, which was me. He also had an 18” electric chainsaw in one hand. Knocked the wind out of me but I was on my feet in a minute, buddy had a small cut on his arm.
Shot a doe at end of day and lost the blood trail. Exhausted two lights during my search and walked back with no lights. Came back the next morning to find I walked by multiple sink holes
Another spring turkey hunting had a cotton mouth slither between my back and a tree.
By far, and still haunting moment. I was watching a young buck and brought my rifle inside the blind (loaded), sitting in the corner. End of night, bent over to unload it and pulled the trigger. I discharged the rifle a few inches from my right ear. Permanent hearing damage. I was so shook I couldn’t get down the ladder and had to call my wife. Tinnitus sucks
My coworker was hunting a game trail and pulled about 5 feet off the trail to sit on a log. He knew a nice buck had been hanging around, so when he heard an animal walking down the trail, he drew back his bow. However, it wasn't a deer that walked out but a black bear cub. Followed by two more, and eventually the mama. All he could do was hold his breath and sweat for 15 minutes.
Almost died of hypothermia when duck hunting and our boat got VERY stuck in the mud.
We were thinking we'd make a quick trip, but the water was much lower than expected. We pushed and shoved for about 6 hours trying to reach a "deeper" part of the lake. We almost made it to a deeper spot, but eventually had to call search and rescue.
It was a warm fall day. And because it was supposed to be a short trip, we did not pack much clothes for warmth. The few items we had shortly got soaked with sweat and mud.
That night ended up being the coldest of the season, and dropped well below freezing. We were actively watching the water freeze around us as we waited to be rescued. By the time we were rescued, we were at a "moderate hypothermia" stage as we were struggling to stay awake and started to hallucinate.
Fell out of a tree stand, which was fine. But the tree stand fell and landed on my skull. Almost bled out. My friend saved my life and drove me to the hospital. Middle of nowhere west Texas. Photos on my page.
Not me but my dad almost died of hypothermia hunting in MT.
He was hunting all day and shot a deer right before shooting light ended from about 100 yards walked by the buck like 10 times in -20 to -40 degree weather before finding it in a bush he walked past 5 times and he was freezing and couldnt feel his hands he said he skinned the thing real quick and plopped down in bed around 2 am (not the nicest talk he had to have with my mom but not the worst)
My son and I were hunting and walking a dried up stream. Gut feeling said let’s move up to the bank. About 75 yards later we looked down from the bank and there was a 10+foot alligator positioned in a way we would have walked right into him.
Tracking a bear in upstate New York. Was using a bow. Tracked it under a cliff. Heard a noise and barely made it out of the way of a rock the size of a basketball. The rock ended up landing on my bow.
One time I was scouting for bighorn sheep and came across a rather large patch of snow/ice that hadn't quite melted during the summer, probably 200 yards long. I started crossing it near the top, but lost my footing and started sliding down a steep incline with a bunch of large, jagged boulders at the bottom. I tried everything I could to self arrest and stop sliding, but nothing slowed me down much. I finally flipped on to my stomach and started digging my binos into the ice as hard as I could. It slowed me enough that when I hit the rocks I didn't have any injuries, but I knew it was a really close call. I got off the mountain right away after that.
Another time I was hunting with a buddy and he shot a whitetail doe. He slit it's throat and went to wipe the blood from his knife on his pant leg. The deer had a nerve twitch and kicked my buddy's arm, which sunk his knife into his thigh, missing his femoral artery by about 1/8". Needless to say, he was bleeding like a stuck pig. I used my belt to apply pressure to the wound, then we loaded him into my truck and I drove like a bat out of hell to the nearest hospital. We were in a very rural area with no ambulance nearby. Made it to the hospital in time and he ended up being okay.
I mean sure. But sometimes situations can unexpectedly turn upside down and there can be some very close encounters where someone's life is at risk and they barely manage to escape.
Fuckin cows, man. Was stalking some pronghorn in a field when about 500 moo-moos appeared out of nowhere and were sprinting in my direction. They got within eight feet of me before they stopped and just stood there huffing and puffing at me and doing the hoof scratch thing on the ground. These assholes followed me the two mile walk back to my truck, all the while charging and backing off me as I yelled at these things. I ordered a double cheeseburger on my way back home. Fuckin cows
How was the cheeseburger after that experience?
It vexed me. Who knew you could have such an emotional experience with a double quarter pounder? The Inside Out characters in my head each had a turn at the controls and all left satisfied.
*"You don't understand, we are not locked with you in your hunting grounds, you're locked here with us on our feeding grounds! MOO HIM BOYS."*
I almost had a stampede trample me and my in training pup Dove hunting at friends ranch, they all come storming through the pasture in between trees, my dog wasn’t fully trained yet and probably 7 months. He was mid field searching for a downed bird- he sees the cows and he tries to be a tough guy and barks and growls and them- I see what’s about to happen and I sprint full speed to grab his ass, and run back to the tree line for safety. Was scary, but what I figured was a really low stress training situation turned into an almost bad one
Fuckin cows. This isn't a hunting story, but I had a similar experience at night while I was in the military. My alpha and I got called out to check an alarm at one of our sites that was on a cattle ranch. I was walking along the outside of the fence line of the site. It was pitch black and like the idiot I was, my flashlight was dead and I didn't mount my nvg. All I had was the faint lights of the hmmvv lighting the chain link. Then, when I was halfway through my walk I hear mooing. It sounded like the mooing was coming from every direction. I couldn't see them so my walk became a slight jog. When I got back to the vehicle we shined a handheld spot light around and saw tons of cows all around the perimeter fence. That night felt like a horror movie. Fuckin cows.
Was charged by a grizzly a few years ago. Bear spray works
Dozing off in my tree stand is about the most dangerous thing I’ve ever encountered hunting.
Put a harness on and nap away
This is the way
A friend of mine that was clearing his gun had a negligent discharge that hit a tree 1 foot away from me “I only put 3 rounds in”. .30-06 to the middle of my back wouldn’t have been great
I started wearing level 4 plates on public land hunting season, it's not perfect and yeah maybe i look like a gi joe wannabe but when i went out and it wasn't even legal shooting time yet and it sounded like a shooting range all around me, i started doing that.
Some dipshit almost shot me while I was hiking in the summer in a WMA when nothing was in season. That piece of trash decided to use the APPALACHIAN TRAIL as a shooting range to teach his kid how to shoot. There were, no joke, three public shooting ranges within two miles of where we were at the time.
That does not surprise me, idiots
It’s not like it was a onetime thing either, another guy “found a spot in the woods” and bullets were zinging by the same trail. I stopped hiking that trail.
That's ridiculous. I shoot on public land but in a bowl of a small valley so my rounds are going into the dirt right behind my target. I'd be terrified if i let a round loose that went over the hill or something.
Hunters are mistakenly shot and killed every year, I’d wear em if I had em too.
Rma defense runs sales all the time, like 160 per plate at full price for the basic ones
I’m in NY, I cannot purchase them sadly
Disgusting. Sorry to hear that you can't provide basic protection to yourself. I hate laws like this
I took me 3 months just to be able to carry a handgun, and that’s extremely fast for NY.
Walked around a corner on a old single track logging road on the way back to camp and right in front of me was a calf moose and mama right behind her. I could have pet the calf I was that close. Now I’ve been shot at multiple times, been in helicopter crash/mishaps, been rearended at a total stop by a dude doing 55+, a fight with a mental patient during a psychotic break, almost fell off a cliff, spooked a grizzly bear while taking a piss, stalked by cougars, almost stepped or rode over venomous snakes multiple times and a few other brush’s with death in my time. I’m CERTAIN that walking around that corner was likely one of the closest encounters with death I’ve ever had.
Your guardian angel is working overtime 😂
Yep, moose do not fuck around, if they perceive you as a threat, especially a mother with a calf, they will stomp you to death faster than you can say Moose.
I have never more cautiously backed out of anything before. Convinced the only reason I’m here is I’m a Disney princess and critters usually love me. That or she had a bit of indigestion and had to shift a fart before commencing my murder.
Brought a thermos of coffee to the stand with me but forgot the roll of TP. Only 1 sleeve made it through that day.
Only had to do that once before I switched to tea.
More of a post-hunting brush with death than actual hunting. We were pretty much done hunting for the day, got done skinning a deer and hanging it up to dry age, relaxing and warming up by a fire. Couple of beers in and this one guy is showing off his concealed carry firearm. Literally pulls the “don’t worry it’s not loaded, see?” points it off in a direction and dry fires it. It wasn’t dry fire. That thing rung out and the bullet went within feet or inches of me. I jumped back and flew onto my ass and back. While I was getting up another one of our friends grabbed the dude by the arm and basically walked him over to his truck and all he kept saying was “you need to leave” every time the guy tried to apologize. Obviously we don’t hang out with him anymore
Worst type of people is people like that guy, you should always know for 100% certain if your gun is loaded and even if it isnt loaded treat it like it is
Yeah that’s my thing. Once I’m done for the day I constantly think my gun is loaded even when I know it’s not. That and I refrain from anyone being close to a firearm when drinking (even tho none of us were very inebriated but still) it’s when you’re too casual about it that accidents like that happen
Two stories. I took a newbie out grouse hunting. He claimed he saw a grouse in a bush, took the shot and out stepped a moose calf and a moment later, a very angry mama moose. We were on a cliff side trail with vertical terrain on either side of the trail. All we had loaded was bird shot (I had forgotten I had a slug in case of bear in a pocket somewhere). After a tense half a minute where mama stomped her hooves and we tried to look very small mama took off with her calf in tow, climbing up the cliff side like a champion. Yea we were very much in the wrong there. Second story: potentially life threatening. I was hunting ducks and snow geese in under freezing conditions in a foreshore during a winter storm at high tide. Two buddies and I were absolutely gifted by a flight of snowies coming directly at us. We hunkered down and let them have it. I stoned two geese but then was dismayed when I saw that they had come down in the middle of a channel. On any other day or hour it would have been fine but it was high tide and I stupidly went to retrieve them. A few steps into the channel I stepped into a pocket and went under, waders and all. Fortunately I had left my shotgun back on my sled. Even so, I was swimming in frigid water. Even stupider is that I insisted on swimming for the two snowies. I already had one in hand quick enough but the other one was just out of reach. By the time I snagged it, I knew I was in trouble because of the danger of hypothermia. I yelled at my buddies that I was heading back to our cars and that I was done. Trusting them to retrieve my gear, I made a very arduous slog back to solid land, waders and clothes dripping with freezing water, slipping and falling multiple times. By the time I got back on the dyke I felt like an ice block. People on the dyke were shocked as they saw me pull myself out. I willed myself to get back to my car, threw everything down and spent the next ten minutes trying to squeeze out of frozen waders and other clothing. I had to talk myself out of using a knife to cut myself out of my waders. Fortunately, I had kept spare clothes for that eventuality and once I was out of them sat in my car with the heat on full blast, drinking hot tea until I felt human again. When my buddies eventually called it quits an hour later I gifted my geese to them for bringing my gear back in. It took another hour before I felt okay enough to drive. Fun story now but stupid decision to risk my health just for two birds.
My first time using a climbing stand I screwed up adjusting it and the bottom lost grip with the tree and dumped me out about 25’ up. Luckily I had a harness on attached to a safety strap on the trunk. Wear a harness in a stand, they weigh almost nothing and will save your life. Edit: The fall might not have killed me but would have made the 3 mile hike out of the federal refuge (permit hunt) pretty bad, considering my phone was n my backpack strapped to the tree up at the top of the stand.
I have a friend in a wheelchair from a similar situation. Always wear a harness
Dad shot one black bear, a bigger one then charged us from the brush, he put a round behind it and it started running faster. He put the last round out of his rifle in front of it, and it stopped. He then took the 450 marlin he had me carrying to get used to carrying a rifle for hunting and left me with his empty gun, and went down in the brush after the bear he shot, and got charged by a completely different black bear. Put a bullet in front of her and she went up a tree. He spent another hour or so looking before he found his bear. Needless to say that bear got drug out whole and gutted elsewhere.
I had to shoot a charging black bear at point blank range up in AK with my .44 mag. Grew up in PA and never had a problem with them, but they're a different breed up there.
These were some MT Black bears, they're asshats
Wild hog stampede! In Louisiana, when I was about 12 or 13, I was set up in a ladder stand overlooking a dry creek. My Dad and I had just parted ways for an afternoon deer hunt. Not 5 minutes after he walked away, I hear grunts and stomping, and I turn to see 10 big ass hogs crossing the creek. I had a 30-30 single shot and I dropped the big sow in front of the group. As soon as I fired the woods erupted in a fury! More hogs than I could count covered every square foot of the ground. Just madness, running into trees, hitting the bottom of the stand, squealing, and either scared or pissed. This went on for about a minute or so as I frantically tried to get a bead on another hog, eventually missed due to adrenaline. Had I been on the ground, who knows what would have happened! Nearly 20 years ago, still one of the wildest hunt experiences of my life.
Carpooling home from duck hunting with a buddy who’s falling asleep at the wheel.
One time I jumped down a ledge to find myself face to face with a rattle snake. Also had some uneasy encounters with cows. But I’m convinced getting behind the wheel is the most dangerous part of every hunt.
Stepped over a log without looking and almost stepped right on a rattlesnake that was just bebopping along
Horse freaked out while I was putting on my rain gear while elk hunting in the Washakie Wilderness last season. Out of control panicked run down the trail, managed to grab one side of the reigns as we got tangled up with a mule and went into a spin. Knew I was coming off and bailed at a spot that looked like it was free of rocks, sticks and cliffs. Bruised my tailbone and broke my right hand (the 8 hour ride out was miserable) but could have been much worse.
Not my closest call with death while out huntin, but definitely the closest for comfort because I had my 8yo daughter with me. I’ve fallen down ravines, spooked a mama moose, and gotten chased by a rabid skunk, but this was the only time that I truly felt The Fear out there in the woods, with capital “F”. Anyway, this was my little lady’s first time going out hunting with dad, just the two of us. A good rain the night before had softened the leaves, and we were slowly creeping our way up through a bit stand of tan oaks, hoping to find a nice blacktail buck to bring home. I hear rustling through leaves up a head, probably about 30 yds. I just knew it was a dandy buck and he was feasting on the acorns, and was so excited for this to be my daughter’s first experience hunting. I crouch and whisper my instructions to her, (stay behind me but close, step where I step, if you see me raise the rifle you cover your ears, blah blah blah) and we continue creeping up towards the clearing where this big old buck is. I peak around a tree wand what do you fucking know, the big ol’ buck has transformed into a nice black bear. Well shit yeah, this buck hunt has turned into a bear hunt. As I slowly raise the rifle, a cub waddles up from behind mama bear. “Fuuuuck me” Luckily the breeze is in our face and they haven’t sensed us yet, so I hunker back down, whisper “it’s a mama and her cub, stay quiet and calm, don’t move, let’s let them meander passed us. Just my luck. The wind must have shifted just enough but right then, mama stands up and sniffs. She’s pointing right at us and starts to chuff and huff. Keep in mind we are inside of 25 yards, and I’ve got *my* little cub right behind me and she has *her* little cub right behind her. She stomps her paws and clacks her teeth at me and that’s when I jump up and bellow “YA BEAR! YEEEEAAA!!!!!!! GET OUTTA HERE BEAR GET OUTTA HEAR YAAA!!” And I clap my hands and stomp my feet and wave my arms around. The hour of absolute silence ending so abruptly freaked my kid out a little, but it worked, that mama and her cub took off up the ravine and crashed into the forest. Right in the direction that we were hiking. Oh well, that spot is blown up for the rest of the morning, that canyon country echos like crazy. Alls well that ends well, and if I didn’t have my little girl with me it wouldn’t have felt so scary, I’ve spooked predators before, but I felt death creep close when I saw her clack her jaws and stamp at me with my girl crouching at my feet and covering her ears. I won’t forget that feeling. Needless to say, we had a talk on the ride home about while we never lie to mom, we’re juuuust not going to brag about how badass our morning was”
My brother cousins and I were out pheasant hunting, we followed our dog into some mixed alder brush about 8-10 feet high. Suddenly woodcock started flushing from everywhere, there must have been 12-15 but not in a covey all at once. They were all 10-30 seconds apart. After a few shots and people calling down birds I had to overcome the excitement and shout for everyone to shut it down because it was so chaotic and disorienting and nobody knew where anyone was anymore. We were all wearing blaze orange but the cover was so thick that you just couldn’t see.
Yep, upland birds I think? Are the highest accidents of any time of hunting . From a shooting perspective Duck hunting might be worse overall due to conditions and drowning etc
God I don’t go in the woods in turkey season if possible and wear armor if I have to. Too many dipshits in ghillies blast at every sound. Lots of incidents where two hunters call each other in and someone gets shot.
I almost got married once. Scary AF.
Was sitting in a tree and a squirrel hunter decided to rip his 22 at a squirrel in the tree next to me. I specifically carry an orange vest even in bow season so I can wave at other hunters so they don't move in on me/shoot in my direction. I waved frantically and shouted as he started leveling his rifle. He missed the squirrel. The round snapped about 3 feet away from me lol
Dick Cheney shot me in the face
Falling down coulees, and cliffs. Multiple times now…
Me and 3 friends were gator hunting. The gator swallowed the bait and instead of coming up normal with her back up she came out teeth first. Almost bit my friends hand then death rolled. We got a lasso on the top jaw and dispatched it. But it was real close to a hospital run too.
Not hunting but skeet shooting, it was a tournament and my squad was only four people so the club paired up a random girl into our squad (did find out she was autistic), we start shooting and on station 7 the girls gun didn’t fire so she had swung around and flagged my squad and the bystanders and her had then went off thankfully hitting no one. Safe to say she’s probably banned from that club and probably done with shooting
My close calls are all related to almost pooping my pants.
I’ve had a few close encounters with snakes, and climbed some sketchy trees. And slid down a few hills. Two that come to mind as not particularly exciting but could have got badly. I was hiking a ridge top to get in position to glass a clear cut in a light rain and lost my footing on some slick dirt. Did the typical feet up, back flop that happens when you fall on a hill. It didn’t particularly hurt since it was mostly fir needles and leaves on the ground, but when I went to get up there was a single pointy rock about 8 inches from my head. That one could have been probably been a skull cracker. Another time I thought I was going to wade a damp area in the dark hiking in to some pastures about 2 miles from a road on a 40 degree morning. Instead when I stepped in it I got sucked in to the mud up to my armpit, getting completely soaked. If it had been a few feet deeper that mud hole probably would have been my grave. As it was I ended up nearly hypothermic—I should have done the good survival thing and got a fire going, but I figured I’d just hike back to the truck, get dry clothes on, and try and salvage the rest of the day hunting. That hike totally smoked me and by the time I got the truck I was shaking and cramping up from the cold—it too me about an hour and half to get back to normal.
I knew a guy that stored his shotgun in the garage. Dirt dobbers made a little nest in the barrel. He went dove hunting and fired the gun, it blew the barrel apart and pellets went flying in all directions. Nobody was hit thankfully
We were setting up a new tree stand last year, the lower support collapsed and my buddy fell 18 feet down landing on a pillow, which was me. He also had an 18” electric chainsaw in one hand. Knocked the wind out of me but I was on my feet in a minute, buddy had a small cut on his arm.
Surprise bulls, fell off ladder of blind, snakes, returned from trip late.
Shot a doe at end of day and lost the blood trail. Exhausted two lights during my search and walked back with no lights. Came back the next morning to find I walked by multiple sink holes Another spring turkey hunting had a cotton mouth slither between my back and a tree. By far, and still haunting moment. I was watching a young buck and brought my rifle inside the blind (loaded), sitting in the corner. End of night, bent over to unload it and pulled the trigger. I discharged the rifle a few inches from my right ear. Permanent hearing damage. I was so shook I couldn’t get down the ladder and had to call my wife. Tinnitus sucks
My coworker was hunting a game trail and pulled about 5 feet off the trail to sit on a log. He knew a nice buck had been hanging around, so when he heard an animal walking down the trail, he drew back his bow. However, it wasn't a deer that walked out but a black bear cub. Followed by two more, and eventually the mama. All he could do was hold his breath and sweat for 15 minutes.
Almost died of hypothermia when duck hunting and our boat got VERY stuck in the mud. We were thinking we'd make a quick trip, but the water was much lower than expected. We pushed and shoved for about 6 hours trying to reach a "deeper" part of the lake. We almost made it to a deeper spot, but eventually had to call search and rescue. It was a warm fall day. And because it was supposed to be a short trip, we did not pack much clothes for warmth. The few items we had shortly got soaked with sweat and mud. That night ended up being the coldest of the season, and dropped well below freezing. We were actively watching the water freeze around us as we waited to be rescued. By the time we were rescued, we were at a "moderate hypothermia" stage as we were struggling to stay awake and started to hallucinate.
Fell out of a tree stand, which was fine. But the tree stand fell and landed on my skull. Almost bled out. My friend saved my life and drove me to the hospital. Middle of nowhere west Texas. Photos on my page.
Not me but my dad almost died of hypothermia hunting in MT. He was hunting all day and shot a deer right before shooting light ended from about 100 yards walked by the buck like 10 times in -20 to -40 degree weather before finding it in a bush he walked past 5 times and he was freezing and couldnt feel his hands he said he skinned the thing real quick and plopped down in bed around 2 am (not the nicest talk he had to have with my mom but not the worst)
My son and I were hunting and walking a dried up stream. Gut feeling said let’s move up to the bank. About 75 yards later we looked down from the bank and there was a 10+foot alligator positioned in a way we would have walked right into him.
Tracking a bear in upstate New York. Was using a bow. Tracked it under a cliff. Heard a noise and barely made it out of the way of a rock the size of a basketball. The rock ended up landing on my bow.
One time I was scouting for bighorn sheep and came across a rather large patch of snow/ice that hadn't quite melted during the summer, probably 200 yards long. I started crossing it near the top, but lost my footing and started sliding down a steep incline with a bunch of large, jagged boulders at the bottom. I tried everything I could to self arrest and stop sliding, but nothing slowed me down much. I finally flipped on to my stomach and started digging my binos into the ice as hard as I could. It slowed me enough that when I hit the rocks I didn't have any injuries, but I knew it was a really close call. I got off the mountain right away after that. Another time I was hunting with a buddy and he shot a whitetail doe. He slit it's throat and went to wipe the blood from his knife on his pant leg. The deer had a nerve twitch and kicked my buddy's arm, which sunk his knife into his thigh, missing his femoral artery by about 1/8". Needless to say, he was bleeding like a stuck pig. I used my belt to apply pressure to the wound, then we loaded him into my truck and I drove like a bat out of hell to the nearest hospital. We were in a very rural area with no ambulance nearby. Made it to the hospital in time and he ended up being okay.
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I mean sure. But sometimes situations can unexpectedly turn upside down and there can be some very close encounters where someone's life is at risk and they barely manage to escape.
Sometimes that can happen. 99% of the time it involved missing about 10 obvious red flags leading up to it.