does anybody have any funny or strange hunting stories?

Had a racoon dive bomb me out of my buddies tree stand after I had shot two other racoons that were living in the tree stand while trying to clear them out.
 
We are waiting for prairie chicken to come flying into the field, which they do before sunset. Grandfather and I are at one end of the field. My older brother and his friend are halfway down one side of the field.

A whole BUNCH of "prairie chicken" come flying in ... right over my brother's head. He stands up (we think to shoot) and yells out .... "if that were prairie chicken we could sure shoot a lot of them ". We're stunned.... and yell out... "they are prairie chicken... shoot you nitwit". Tooooo late..... they were all well by him by the time he got it.

We suggested next time he hunt, he make sure he knew whatever he was hunting, looked like.
 
A few guys from down state came to the U.P. of Michighan to deer hunt. One of them just got a new pick up truck, so he was in the truck messing with the c.d. and some of the other stuff that came with it. He was parked on a logging road. He looked down the road and saw a real nice 8-pointer just standing there. He got out his gun made a nice shot, and the deer jumped into the woods. He loaded back up and took a walk down were he shot. When he looked in the woods the deer was looking at him, so he shot it again, and dropped right there. When he got to the deer about 30 feet away was one more 8-pointer laying dead. Two 8-pointers got them both while messing around in the truck. He did have a combo lic so he was covered for the two deer. We were in a bar when he was telling the story. Someone kind of doubted him. So we went outside to his truck, and there they were. I guess it's better to have luck than no luck.
 
Last deer season I was sitting on a rock outcropping about half way up a mountain side and was glassing the small valley below and also the side of the mountain where the coues whitetails were coming around from the other side and down into the valley.

there is a small forest service road at the bottom of the valley and cars can make it about 500 yards into the valley. well i saw a car going real slow into the valley and I thought it might be drug or illegal smugglers ( AZ has a big problem with them) and I took out my spotting scope to get a closer look at the occupants and to my suprise they were a high school couple. I watched them stop and start to get "busy" and then I decided i should probably start looking for more deer. :D
 
I was pheasant hunting in slew in one of my father in laws fields. The field draw was waist high grass. There were about half a dozen of us with shotguns and a few kids, plus a few dogs. We had knocked a couple pheasants down and they were runners. We got to a bottle neck and were expecting things were going to get busy. I took a step and my foot came down on something soft, but firm. Ok’ I just stepped on one of the wounded pheasants. I reach down and part the grass and I see black and white. Shoot I just stepped on a skunk and have it pinned between my boot and the ground. I yelled skunk, I’ve stepped on a skunk get over here and shoot the bastard. My brother in law ran over and I jumped off and he gave it hell. Needless to say I rode home in the back of the pick up. But honestly I only got a small dose of spray. I was more worried about my mini-dachund that was somewhere around me, than myself. He was one hell of a bird dog.
 
I have had both squirrels and raccoons try to get in the tree stand with me. They could see me and I could see them and I tried various silent things to get them to go away. I waved, flailed my feet at them, etc. The squirrel got up as high as my feet before I was able to convince him to find climbing access elsewhere. The coon I had to pelt with twigs.
 
Buddy of mine got the 44 mag combo back in the very early 70's. A Ruger Blackhawk and a Marlin 1894 carbine. Got his tag for bear and headed for the mountains. He was an experienced woodsman and experienced hunter and a member of our Navy Rifle Team.

He was doing his thing scouting when a black bear stood up in front of him no more than 25' away. The carbine comes up, the shot goes off, the bear goes down. Even experienced hunters have those days. All excited he drops his carbine in the ground and runs up to inspect his bear.

At what he estimated was about 6' the bear stood up. His next conscious memory was his single action revolver going click, click, click as he thumb cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. He didn't even remember drawing the gun let alone shooting it.

The bear was dead and he was a mess. When he drove back he wore his coat around his waist like a kilt, he smelled bad but the bear was in the back of his pickup.

When he entered the gate the MP took one look at his apparel, got a whiff of bad air coming from the cab of his truck and waved him on through. I suspect the gate guard thought he really needed to get in to clean up and he didn't have any interest in doing a thorough check of his vehicle or ask needless questions about how come he wasn't wearing any pants. Some things are just to obvious.
 
We deer hunt with dogs where I come from. I was on stand one afternoon, back to the river when the dogs jumped and headed my way. After a good chase, I saw a doe swiming the river down the river a few yards from me. It happens, and I'm not sure now if does were legal anyway. I watched her come out of the river, and climb the bank on the other side, just as the dogs got there. Before I could cut them off and get them leashed, splash, they were in the river, after her.

I watched as three or four dogs swam the river, and laughed out loud. There was one little dog, a short legged beagle named "Shorty" mixed in with them. Shorty had climbed up on one of the bigger dogs back and was riding along. Every once in a while, he'd give a feeble kick, and a half hearted bark, as if to say, "Come on guys...let's go." He jumped off when his ride started to climb out on the other side, and off he went.

One other one.

My buddy and I were heading back to the club house, at the end of the last drive. We were following another pickup, owned by a fellow who was about 80 years old. Suddenly the pickup stopped, the door flew open, and this 80 year old man, rolled out, and took off across the cut bean field, at a full run. We figured he'd lost his mind, when he got to the honeysuckle pile at the edge of the field and started stomping around. Then he bent over, rummaged around a bit and came up with two, wiggling, screaming, baby 'coons. :eek:

Holding them by the nap of the neck, he walked back to my truck, held them up and asked "Y'all want a baby 'coon? They make great pets." Those things were hissing, and popping their teeth and clawing at the air. They looked like anything but a "great pet" and I'm not a "pet person" anyway. No way I wanted one. Neither did my buddy.

So the old man, looking rather dejected I must say, carried them back and tossed them into the honeysuckle, got back in his truck and went on the clubhouse.
 
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woodpeckers and bird cat

I used to shoot woodpeckers everytime I saw one when I was younger.Seemed like every day one would be banging on the house.So I took up shooting them every chance I got.When I did manage to get one I would throw it to one of moms cats.Before long one of them caught on that if she was the closest she got the bird.Everytime I walked out of the house it was right beside me as loyale as any hunting dog.This is the truth,she wasn't even gun shy!She was especially handy to have around when the neighbors complained about me using a 22 so I swicthed to a pellet rifle.More than once my shot was not a clean kill but as soon as it hit the ground she was right there waiting.I never cared much for cats but I do miss that little 3 legged runt!
 
I had a big ol' yellow cat when I was a kid on my grandparents farm. He was lazy as all get-out & couldn't be bothered to hunt for hisself. But.... as soon as I grabbed my .22 to go bust some sparrows or starlings, he'd be right beside me, traipsin' out to the woods.

Seems like just about the time I'd be lining up a shot on another bird, he'd be finished up with the previous & right on time for 2nds or 3rds.
 
A guy I know was hunting bucks in a tree stand with a 12 Gauge with rifled slug in it. He started to feel something bouncing on his head, and looked up to see a squirrel intentionally dropping nuts on his head. The squirrel continued this for hours, until the squirrel grabbed something a little bigger and dropped it. The guy I know wasted no time. Knowing there were going to be no deer that day, he aimed at the squirrel, and blew it completely off the tree branch above his head.
 
I have two!

the first one is I shot 3 turtledoves with one shot. Mind you, they were sitting on a fence, but when you are only 12 and just starting out hunting, that is cool.

The other one is this: I was sitting on a stand on a patch of land that is great for white tail. BUT!!!! the place is a 'doe only' area. So I'm waiting for something to come out of the brush in front of me and out comes this big stinking 4x4 whitetail. I wanted to cry. On that same hunt I had 4 coyotes come out of the brush not 10 feet from where I was sitting. And there was another one behind me working the river bank, trying to figure out what in the heck I was.
 
I was pheasant hunting with a couple of buddies and we were testing out a newly finished dog to see how well he took to his hunt training. The dog belonged (and still belongs) to one of the buddies I was hunting with.

I'm on the left, the dog's owner was center and another friend was 15 yards to his right. The dog flushes a bird maybe 10 yards to my left. It makes a flight straight to our right so it crosses all our shot paths. I leveled off my shotgun at the bird sweeping to lead it. My other buddies both did the same thing. Apparently we all shot at the same time - 3 shots simultaneously and the bird explodes into feathers then drops. After the dog retrieved it my buddy (the dog's owner) puts the shot filled bird in his vest and we continue hunting. About an hour later we've got no more birds other than that one and I was starting to think we were jinxed... then the day got worse. The bird that we all had shot must have decided it didn't want to be dead because it woke up and started thrashing about in my buddy's vest! He starts screaming and shouting and manages to pull his hunting vest off and throw it to the ground. Out of sheer surprise he shoots the vest and yet somehow misses the bird in there. Said bird escapes from the vest and starts half hopping half running into the grass. We'd winged it and crippled a leg but it kept on trying get away. My buddy issues the fetch command and the dog takes off after the bird. Well the dog came back and I wrung the bird's neck - and accidentally popped its head off which then ended up dripping blood all over MY vest since my buddy's vest is now full of holes.

That was two years ago.

1 week ago I had a non-hunting encounter with a deer family. I was driving down the road with my family in my suburban when I encounter a mother deer and not one but two fawns. The mother deer crosses the road safely but both does come running across right in front of my truck. I hadn't slowed down because I thought they were going to stay put till I passed. Instead I had my foot on the brakes and I was hoping not to come away with too much damage. My poor wife now has this vision of two little heads disappearing beneath the front end of my truck... and we both waited for the obvious thuds from the fawns. Nothing came. I passed OVER them without a scratch to them or my truck. I let out an exasperated WTH? and looked in my rear view mirror to see both fawns getting up from the road and walk toward their mother. My wife was traumatized from the experience but there was no damage to my truck and the fawns were unharmed. I guess God decided those fawns weren't dying that day. Just a note - my truck isn't raised nor do I have monster wheels on it. Its a normal suburban with normal suspension and 31" tires. I think I've got about 14" or so clearance.
 
One of the first few times I went hunting, we took the women and were rough camping with tents and sleeping bags. We were camped where we could see the 4wd road. On the second night, in the middle of the night (most of us was still up), suddenly there a vehicle on the 4wd road and stops. Two guys got out of it and approached towards our camp a little ways and stopped and was watching us. I said can I help you guys with something and another from my party said howdy. They didn't respond to us but I could hear them murmuring to themselves. My spidey sense was tingling a little bit so I casually leaned over and picked up my folding Mini-14 that we had with us as a camp gun for the women.

My friend tried a couple times to talk to them and they wouldn't respond, middle of the night, women in camp...I went ahead and chambered the mini-14 and didn't try to mask the noise. I wanted them to hear it. Ahh! response. Suddenly one of them says we're tryin' to find my friends camp, I think its on up the road. So they piled in their car and left.

I felt sort of bad about it in a way because I may have scared some stoned lost young guys. But dangit, you don't approach someones camp in the middle of the night and not identify yourself or your intentions. That's kinda creepy.
 
This past Tuesday morning I went out for a rabbit hunt excited as all get out because found a place I can hunt with a 22 (everywhere else I hunt is shotguns only). So I'm out for almost 2 hours and see very few rabbits. I only get 2 shots off and miss both times. Disgruntled, I head back to the car for a break and diet soda. I put the 22 away an grab my 12 gauge. I make a bee line for the base of the field start working my way back towards the car on a new small sub path about 50 yards away from the main trail. I shot 5 rabbits in under 70 minutes:D

Pretty killer hunt for a day that started out so lousy.

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Also this is the first time I've limited while hunting cottontails:)
 
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Two stories - both deer hunting in Iowa

Jumping on a doe, friend yelled "Don't do it Doug", didn't stop me. I was standing in clump of trees over dry creek bed , line of does very near, set gun down, jumped on last one in line, new coveralls were shredded, many new bruises, deep cut from hoof in my hairline, story for my children who laugh !!!


Shooting a Buck while spray pooping and barfing in road ditch near church on Sunday morning with pants and underwear at ankles, gun in hand. Church ladies have no sense of humor. Very cold day, not good for full exposure, Frost bit, no teeth involved.

Got the Buck, then continued emptying both ends of body while holding member trying to warm it.
 
There was a new guy at work recently moved from back east. He wanted to go hunting so I told him how to get a leftover mule deer doe tag (I got one too as it was an extra) and we were to go that saturday. He backed out at the last minute because he need the overtime and worked. I went and killed a good deer.
Well after seeing how easy it was he was excited and wanted me to guide him the next saturday and could we take my truck because his car wouldn't make it in the snow. So off we went.
We got there and the altitude was high and he wasn't used to it so I kept slowing him down which didn't work because he needed to prove how tough he was I guess. After 800 yards of huffing and puffing a nice doe stood up right in front of us. He raised the rifle, then lowered it and asked if he should shoot. The deer ran away and right then I knew we were in trouble. Another 800 yards of puffing put us below a ridge where some cow elk were bedded. I looked at them throught the glasses and him through his scope. I said don't shoot. He thought I said shoot and blazed away. Thank God he was terrible shot. The rest of the day went like that and I was glad when it got dark.
On the way home he was very quiet and had really overexerted himself. Next thing I know he's vomitting into his unzipped coveralls and the map pocket on the door. So we cleaned it up as well as possible and put he coveralls in the bed of the truck under a shovel. The hour ride home with the heater on was barely tolerable. :eek:
At the house he thanked me for taking him and invited me in for some coffee and fresh made pie. I had no appetite at that point and took a rain check and went home to clean the truck. Yes i was kind enough not to tell anyone at work. :rolleyes:
 
Please don't ever let my wife know I told this one..... She decides that she wants to learn to shoot and start hunting with me. I teach her how to shoot on a skeet field and she does pretty well. So we get her a license and come dove season here we go. Sitting about 30 yards apart in a field with not much flying but I had a few. One comes in toward her, she shoots but misses. We were sitting fairly close to a power line of the sort that would go to someones house way off the road. After she missed the dove it lands on the power line and she blasted it while it was lit on the wire. The bird goes down and so does the power line!!! I suddenly remembered that I had left the tub running and the stove on at home........
 
Back in the early 80's, I worked for a company that had a couple of hunting ranches. As employees (oil traders we were), it was also on our list of stuff to do to take customers hunting. Terrible job, huh? We were based out of Houston, but had offices and customers in several other cities, one being Los Angeles. The guys in that office had heard about all the fun we were having quail and dove hunting, so they claimed 3 or 4 days to take their west coast guys quail hunting. I happened to also be at the ranch in South Texas when the west coast guys showed up, covered in sunglasses and cool looking LA type clothes and with their brand new shotguns. The ranch was divided into zones (red zone, yellow zone, etc.) and I knew where the quail were, so I claimed the best zone. The LA guys, knowing nothing about hunting, got the worst zone. Well...the quail didn't want to come out to play that day, so my guys and I didn't do so well, but all the jeeps had radios and I could hear that the LA guys were just cleaning up out there in their zone. Damn...I didn't know there were many quail out there. So...by evening we all gathered at the ranchhouse to tell lies and count birds. The LA guys had shot 60 or 80 Meadowlarks. To this day, to those of us that remember, those birds forever became "California Quail".
 
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