Close calls, while big game hunting!

huntandfish

huntandfish

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I have been big game hunting now for over 33 years and I had my fair share of close calls in the field. Mostly rattlesnakes. One time had a mountain lion hiding behind a bush at a fishing game drinker. While I was looking at the ground at the deer tracks my friend decided to jump the fence. He made a loud noise doing it, and at that point the mountain lion came out from the bush. I was only about 10 feet away and had my friend not came over the fence. I might’ve been wrestling a mountain lion. My weapon of choice that day was a recurve bow. I surely would’ve lost the battle against a mountain lion.

in 2018, I was on a elk hunt and had shot an elk across the canyon. I took three shots and hit him twice and was confident that I had a dead bull across the canyon.So my brother and I descended down the hill and to the other side, and as we were approaching, he said make sure he’s dead. I was sure that the elk was dead and responded to my brother he’s dead! He responded I wouldn’t be so sure about that.As soon as he said that the elk had moved his leg, just a little bit, he was facing away from us and couldn’t see us, but definitely hurt us my brother said you better put another round in him. I instantly jacked in a shell, took it off safety and put my firearm on my shoulder. I was only about 20 yards away, and as I took a couple of steps, the Bull jumped up, and instead of running away, he had turned and was coming right at me. He had tipped his antlers down in fight mode and I just pulled the trigger. I wasn’t aiming through a scope. It was more of an instinctive shot and got lucky and dropped the elk in his tracks. Had I not been locked and loaded gun off safety and on shoulder I wouldn’t of had time to react and would’ve got gored by the elk. Here’s a picture of where the elk dropped. There was no zoom taken. You can see in the back where the blood is in the snow where he was laying originally.
 
Here the pic

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Last year I went on an alligator hunt in Texas, it was quite the adventure as I told the guide I would only go if I could set my own bait trap. The next morning when I went to check it I had a 12 foot gator on there. Most of them stay in the water, not mine he was waiting on shore for me. As I was trying to get close enough to get a ethical shot, the guide kept coaching me to get closer. The alligator roared like a dinosaur and tried to bite me and missed by only a couple of inches. I have an awesome video of the experience but it says the file is too big. I even cropped it down to just 10 seconds and it says the same thing. Here’s a couple pictures of the gator.

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So all I was wondering, am I the only one that has wild things happen in the wild? Let me know what you guys have ran into out there.
 
Closest to actually dying was from dehydration hunting A zone in CA. I was in college and took off on my bicycle at about 2am to ride into a new spot. A few miles in I realized I was lost (pre OnX). So I turned around and drove/rode into a different spot..gruelling uphill ride. Didn’t refill my camel back and was too excited/intense to realize how much I was exerting. About noon it started getting reallll hot and I was hunting downhill from my bike. Started back up the mountain for the big climb and sucked down my last drop of water from the camelback. I ended up getting a little delirious..had to take a few naps in the shade (unsure how long I was sleeping for) and barely made it back to my bike and finally back to the car that evening. Never been so thirsty for so long in my life. I was definitely close to just passing out and being a goner in the 110F heat!
 
I was on crutches one year in CO during elk/deer season. I got driven by quad to a spot, then they left. My buddies were making a drive my direction and my job was to hang out and wait.


A couple hours later I heard something and turned downhill to see a sow on her tippy toes sniffing at the slow fat white boy sitting on a log, maybe 50 yards away. Easy meal if I had not heard her.
 
Was hunting archery back in the early 2000s for elk about 100 yards down below the rim of north bench on love mesa Colorado. I was picking my way through the brush bugling as I went when I stepped into a dry wash. I looked up the wash and 30 yards up the hill was a guy at full draw on me. He let his arrow down and as I walked up the wash he sat down shaking like a leaf. Said to me "I almost shot you." I said, "well you didn't so no big deal." When I left, he was still sitting there still shaking with his head hanging in his lap.

I continued around the contour of the hill and called in a 5-point bull and killed him, my last archery bull.
 
Another time I was hunting coyotes in Colorado and was sitting watching a dead cow about 100 yards across a creek. I usually use my 22 hornet but since the cow was 100 yards and I could see out to about 400 I took my 300 savage. I heard something coming up behind me so I turned my head left and could just see something black, I thought "cow", turned my head right and "bear", 16 yards, I stand up, bear stands up, sow and 2 cubs. As I'm clicking the safety off I said git-outta-here, fortunately she turned and ran off huffing and gruffing till I couldn't hear her. The two cubs ran up an aspen tree then climbed down and followed her.

From that day, when I hunt coyotes out west, the 22 hornet stays home.
 
Back in 2005 I shot a young (4 or 5 years old) boar bear in the face with my smokepole shortly after hitting him with my ball cap after he walked up on me from downwind. The names I was calling him hurt his feeling a little but he got flat pissed when I hit him with my ball cap. I've dealt with dozen's of less than afraid bears on that particular mountain..... that's the only one I felt I was going to get in a physical fight with....

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I think I could've taken him with hand to hand combat but I'd a had a thousand stitches before it was over.....

Everybody wants to be prepared for lions, tigers and bears... And I agree, you should be prepared for those.... But dehydration and hypothermia are the real killers among hunters.....

Todd
 
Had an emergency poo and was wearing overalls. Everything was fine until one of my suspenders fell into the business as I stood up. Had to cut a little of my game bag to use, it’s why I always use cloth game bags and wrapped that afflicted trap and buckle. My overalls sagged a little bit on the hike out which was annoying but I survived.
 
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I have many odd encounters with strange people (and creatures) stories. The closest to an actual life threatening situation I’m aware of was an attempted “almost” suicide by duck hunter.

2009 I believe it was. Me and buddy were at Lincoln beach loading the boat after a morning hunt. This was prior to its popularity, so seeing another vehicle that time of year, that time of morning, was strange. A van pulls up to my friend as he’s backing my truck down the ramp. I’m in the boat. A guy gets out just swearing, yelling, and rambling on and on at him about anything and everything. As I shut the motor off, He mentions he has a gun and wants to use it. At this point I get out of the boat with my gun as my friend starts calling 911. I’m not sure if he wasn’t looking for a gun fight with a citizen or what, but he jumped in his van and went down the dirt road almost as quickly as we did In the opposite direction. We passed just about every county sheriff on duty at the time I think about 3 miles down the road. They ended up shooting and killing him minutes later when he pointed the gun at them upon contact. I can’t remember if his wife called him in initially or what, but they were on the lookout for him and knew he was on drugs and suicidal. I dunno what kinda damage #2 3” steel shot would do to a human at 40 yards, but for a second there I was pretty sure I was about to find out.

You run into all types out there, but for some reason the marsh and lakes attracts the strangest.
 
There’s a thread on here somewhere. The winner was the woman who fell out of the treestand. My apologies to who it was for not being able to remember.

My mosquito bites on Grand Mesa story just seemed insignificant after that. :oops:
 
I was bow hunting elk, walking up a ridge I came upon a tent with a guy sitting outside. I walked up and started a conversation, he wasn't hunting, started telling me this is were he comes to chill out when the stress of life makes him feel like he is going to explode. He started telling me about his marriage and work problems. As I looked around he had a rifle that I could see. He wasn't looking very stable. I finally told him that I had to meet my buddy at the end of the ridge and slipped out as fast as I could.
We went back the following year and found a big pile of trash that he left. I was expecting to find a skeleton.
 
we where glassing from a pull off from a road in Colorado a few years ago during a 3rd season deer hunt, a strange man walked up on us and seemed very aggressive and was telling us of the rich gated communities around the area kidnapping and rape young kids, he was super aggressive towards use so after a few minutes we zoomed out
 
TrophySearching said:
we where glassing from a pull off from a road in Colorado a few years ago during a 3rd season deer hunt, a strange man walked up on us and seemed very aggressive and was telling us of the rich gated communities around the area kidnapping and rape young kids, he was super aggressive towards use so after a few minutes we zoomed out
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7 out of 10 times it works everytime. Stay out of my spot!
 
17 years ago while fishing my dog started to tuck his tail and try to hide under my legs. I start looking around and barely see the tall grass move and out into the clearing comes a mountain lion. All I had on me was a pocket 9. I decided to wait as long as possible before taking my shot. She was ready to attack so I fired one shot at her face and got her in between two vertebra.
 
In recent years I have been paying more heed to stories like this. Many of my outings are done solo. A couple years ago I started carrying a satellite phone for safety reasons.

My wife likes that--- and so do I.
 
This one dates back 30 years; goose hunting with the landowner, as we pulled onto his property and around a hay stack we noticed a car sitting there. (it was 6 am and pretty cold), as we approached the car and peeked in, we noticed a couple laying down in the car......the girl was looking up at us and the guy was facing her so he couldn't see us. The look on her face when she noticed us was priceless, then scary as she started to scream. (closest I have come to getting killed in the wild). :rolleyes:
 
I hunt and scout by myself a lot. Had a run-in with a black bear boar in the Upper Hoback once. By myself, off the trail for a couple of hours and sitting under a fir tree glassing for a big buck. A sixth sense told me to look over my shoulder and there was a big boar bear about 20-30 yards away. I jumped up and hollered at him. He took off. I went back to glassing. Heard a "click" over the other shoulder a few minutes later. He was back. I jumped up, 300 in hand. Shouted again. This time he wouldn't run off. Kept clacking his teeth and hiking his leg at me. He was raking his claws on a tree up a steep hill above me. I told him "not one more step!" He dropped and came toward me. I shot between his front feet. Only then did I realize what an athlete he was. He went up that steep hill at Mach I. I paced it and my shot was just over 6 paces from where I stood; about 19 feet. If he would have come downhill instead of going up, I'd be a bear turd today.

I was scouting up near the top of Franc's Peak for sheep one summer. Seeing multiple griz every day. I took my Dad's old Model 12 shotgun instead of a handgun. No trees up there. So I took my food and pack and cached them in some rocks about 300 yards from where I slept. Woke up in the morning and there was a a fresh set of griz tracks in the north slope snow between me and my pack/food. Came through in the night. I sleep under the stars in my bag (no tent ) a lot. I always wonder how often that happens when I don't see the tracks.

Another time, we were sheep hunting in NW Wyoming. Horses were picketed out, but very nearby. We were in a tent with an electric fence around it. Griz came through at 1 am and spooked the horses. One broke its halter and ran off. I was chasing around in my undershorts and bare feet with only a small flashlight looking for the horse. Glad the bear had left. Not smart behavior.

I once shot a big wild pig in Cali, we later weighed it at 300+ pounds. I was walking a draw and the pig jumped out from under a juniper tree at about 30 yards. I shot it in the left cheek of its butt quartering away as it ran over the rise. I ran about 50 yards so I could see where it went and it was standing just over the rise. When I appeared, it charged me and I shot it right behind the skull through the spine. Dropped less than 10 feet from me.

I stepped on a rattlesnake once. It was later in the year and I assumed the snakes were all gone to den. It was a small rattler, maybe only 18" long. The ground was muddy and I was bird hunting. Instead of taking a chance by jumping away, I shot him with a load of 7 and 1/2 at one foot from the end of my barrel.

When I was young, I"d try to avoid spooking critters by killing wounded (spine shot) animals (not elk) with my folding lockback knife. I'd either stab them in the heart or grab them and cut their throats. Had a couple of near misses with that strategy and decided to use a firearm instead. It's amazing how brutally strong and quick a wounded critter can be. And once you get ahold, it's not a good idea to let go.

I'm glad I'm not a serious lion hunter because I have heard some crazy stories about guys trying to save a dog from a lion disaster.

No real serious crazy people stories. One time my dad and I were on top of a ridge glassing and a small buck came out below us. It was a shale hillside. Somebody below us saw the buck and opened up on him. A shot ricocheted off of a piece of shale and zinged right by us. We hollered and the shooting stopped.

I did almost shoot myself once. I was up in the Snowies camping and took some cans to shoot. Had an old aerosol paint can. Shot it, and it tipped over. I was shooting my 22 rimfire and I was sitting against my old pickup. The second shot hit the rim of the can, looped around the can bottom, hit the other rim and came right back at me. Splatted the fender of my pickup about a foot from my head. I no longer shoot aerosol paint cans.

If you live long enough, you get some real dandy stories. I'm hopeful my dumb ones are behind me.
 
Fell off a couple small cliffs while hunting mountain goats in November. Luckily the snow was deep, and cushioned my fall. My wife's boss went to AK for goats, and his partner fell several hundred feet and died. I don't think there is anything as dangerous as hunting goats!!
 
October of 69 deer hunting near Roy, NM. Foggy cold, my buddy and I were walking downhill towards an agreed upon meet up point. I watched him step over a log/branch and then watched the branch move. It was a timber rattler.

He got out of the way fairly quickly.

I shot the snake just below the head; the bullet exited, entered the body and exited again. The second exit hole produced a cotton tail rabbit.

Later on I measured his rattle and it was darn near 4.5" long.
 
Blank said:
Fell off a couple small cliffs while hunting mountain goats in November. Luckily the snow was deep, and cushioned my fall. My wife's boss went to AK for goats, and his partner fell several hundred feet and died. I don't think there is anything as dangerous as hunting goats!!
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I did a November registration goat hunt with my dad out of Seward in 2017. A nice big dump of snow hit the day before we started hunting. He passed on a smaller billy one of the days. We hiked all over on these little snow covered finger ridges, thinking nothing of it.

I ended up drawing the fall season tag for that area the next year, and went out mid September. Had my brother come up to help me, and we start hiking around and I tried to take him where our dad and I had hiked just 10 months before. I learned that September day that my dad and I had crossed multiple 5-10' wide gaps with 10-50' drops on nothing but fresh snow and we were none the wiser.
 
Spring, mid to late 90s we (bunch of USN guys) were doing a crew swap in Northern NV. SH 60, a helo. We landed on top of Mount Grant for the swap/piss break.

We all got out to pee and I wondered over to the edge just for the view.

Back in the helo and we flew directly over where we did our business. A sow and two cubs were hauling azzz down the mountain.
 
I was duck hunting on Humboldt Bay in my scull boat (they only have about 6" of free board). The tide was running out and a sudden SE wind came up. It went from no wind to blowing about 45mph in a matter of minutes. No way I could row against the tide and the wind. Luckily there was a pole to tie up to, to keep me from getting pulled out to the ocean. The waves were coming over the bow and I had to bail water to keep from sinking.

Someone on shore must have seen the predicament I was in because the Coast Guard showed up in their small boat. They pulled up and said they were going to throw me a lifeline. I asked about retrieving my scull boat and decoys? They said they couldn't save it. I said, "no thanks". They didn't argue, they just motored back into the bay. WTF is wrong with me?

I sat there and bailed water until almost dark when all of a sudden it went dead calm. I quickly untied and rowed back to the boat ramp. It almost had to be divine intervention. Or just luck.
 
Hunted a ranch in South Africa for bushbuck several years back with my brother. While fishing the first evening the PH and another hunter gave me a warning about getting too close to the rivers edge. Crocs!

Next day we find a bushbuck, I take an iffy shot at best. Bushbuck runs off and tries to cross the river. I manage to make a killing shot on the buck after he is about 10' into the river. I look back at our guide, Jackson, and motion to him about getting the buck. He shakes his head "NO". Keep in mind Jackson looks and acts as though he has every disease know to man. I strip down to my underwear, jump into the river and grab the buckbuck. Takes a couple tosses to get it to the edge where my brother is able to grab the buck and haul it to land. I get back on land, no harm no foul. That evening at camp the PH asks me if the version of the story is true that he heard from Jackson. I tell him it is, and he informs me that I am no longer allowed to hunt at this ranch.🤷‍♂️
 
Yeah, I’ve had a few rattlesnake close calls, also. But my least favorite are the two instances of barrage of bullets whizzing over my head during two UT Gen season rifle openers, I can now tell the difference between close bullets and farther bullets. Preferred the farther ones when my son wasn’t with me.
 
huntandfish said:
I have an awesome video of the experience but it says the file is too big. I even cropped it down to just 10 seconds and it says the same thing. Here’s a couple pictures of the gator.
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Gator jaws coming at you would be something to see...NOT!!

To post the video, you have to upload it to YouTube, then post the link on here.
 
Another one my wife laughs at. We were both 21 and went scouting with my dad and stepmom for her antelope tag. Her tag bordered the blackrock and we were camping at hot spring 30 miles off the paved road. We had back to camp to have lunch and pull up to 10 to 15 people heading to burning man having an orgy.
 
My Ex-Wife and I were hunting in Washington near Yakima for Blacktail. We came off a Ridge as there were some other hunters showing up. We decided to go down a gully, and hike to another Ridge about 3/4 mile away. It had turned cold unexpectedly so we had on heavy snow boots from KMart, which was all we could afford.
My feet were hurting and I was getting a couple big blisters from a poor boot fit.
A short distance from there a hail of bullets were Zinging directly over our heads, and we could tell they barely missed us. My sore feet were not a problem at that moment, and our momentum turned up a few notches as the adrenaline from the crazy shooting gave is some incentive to separate our distance from these tards. After another 200 hundred yards we saw a button horned buck so small I could have lifted him with one hand. He was Wounded with one leg shot at the knee. Seconds later here come two guys asking us if we had seen a Wounded buck they were chasing.
They didn't see the Deer only 40' away, and they continued downhill running like idiots. The Buck took off in their direction, much to our unbelief. A couple minutes later we heard 5 or six shots then guys yelling " we got him". We headed to the truck and got out of Dodge,shaking at how close we came to getting shot. We never went back to that shooting gallery..
I bet they got less than the meat off an Antelope from that yearling. I also bet they cut him up poorly, and ruined the meat as dumb as they were.
I never wore those boots again.
 
Had a horse rear over backwards and pin me beneath on an elk hunt. Very lucky the saddle horn didn’t hit me in the chest or it would have been prob my last hunt.
 
Shot an antelope in Nevada at about 500 yards. He went straight down. When I walked up on the antelope I always look for where I hit him. As I got closer I noticed that it looked like I hit him in the horn. Was about to touch him and he started to move. I ended that scary encounter. Couldn't believe I hit him in the horn. But I did! When I was a kid I was hurting squirrels in my home state of Pennsylvania. In those days I would sit and wait until they would come out and shoot them with my .22. Afterwards go and retrieve them. I would grab them by the tail and put in my game bag we carried in those days. I reached down and pulled one out the oak leaves he had dug into and when I pulled him out he was alive and reached up on my arm and started bitting. At 12 was so scared that I thought about shooting him off. I didn't but the nearby oak tree I found a way to rub him off. Grabbed my .22 and shot him multiple times. When I got home I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid my mom and dad wouldn't let me go hunting alone again. Well my mom wondered when washing my jacket why there was holes in it. If someone could have been there and saw me the way I behaved, running scared, yelling, til this day I still laugh about it but when it happened, no way.
 

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