What is the strangest thing you have seen?

After 40+ years of hunting I've seen plenty.....

* A blind 10pt buck stumbling into the side of our barn....probably got his eyes damaged by another bucks antlers in a fight.

* Another buck crawling on his knees through a ravine to avoid detection.

* MetLife blimp/airship flying about 1000 ft directly over my tree stand.

* Several deer caught when trying to jump fences.
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* The most terrifying of all was an encounter with a Werewolf Deer...
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My 1st manager at my 1st real FT job was hunting during WWII, when he came across an area in the woods that was burnt . . . (He wasn't drafted, as he had a "critical" defense job - making Norden bombsights.) There were some pieces of metal framework scattered about, and strips of what looked like cloth caught up in the trees overhead.

He later learned that the Japs had been sending "balloon bombs" against the USA in the hope of creating forest fires. He looked at some pictures and it dawned on him that THAT was what he'd found.

Thing is, this was somewhere in upstate New York - so after crossing the Pacific, the Jap balloon crossed most of the USA. The maps he saw placed it well east of the furthest "official" landing of these devices.

He counted himself lucky, as some people on the Left Coast were killed when they approached one and it blew up.

He told me he looked again for it, but couldn't find the spot . . . so whatever's left is probably still out there.

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As for myself . . . the funniest thing that happened to me was probably on one of the first times I went bow hunting. All decked out in camo, I was sitting quietly in a ground blind, waiting to ambush Bambi . . . when some sort of bird landed on my head! (I jumped a bit . . . :o )
 
I don't know if it qualifies as "strange" or just "COOL" but the first time I went dove hunting, I was about 15 years old. I was next to my uncle on the fence row, and I watched a bird come in headed straight for him. He rose, swung his Parker 20 ga, and shot. Feathers exploded and the dove started its death dive.

My uncle, just as calmly as if he'd done it a million times, reached out his hand and caught that bird and stuffed it in his game pocket.

Now that was COOL!!
 
while deer hunting,,,middle of the morn.. with my youngest boy... we heard something coming towards us in the distance... sounded like nothing Ive ever heard before... reminded me of how Adam Sandler screams all the time in the movie Waterboy... We watched as two owls were chasing each other,,thru the air,,screaching like they were both half dead,, and land in a tree right above where we were sitting..then the beat on each other for about a minute and continued on their way further down the woods. Not exactly sure what that was all about.... and... arent owls supposed to only be out at night??!!!:o
 
CajunBass reminds me of a day duck hunting with a friend many years ago. My friend shot a Mallard just about directly overhead. As the duck tumbled toward our blind he stepped out and caught it like a football. A broken wing bone completely penetrated his left forearm. After fighting infection and a rather long healing process I never saw him try that again.
 
I shot a pheasant one time at about 40 yards out. It flew about 10 more yards then flew straight up in the air about 60 feet then dropped dead to the ground. Deer hunting I saw a guy get run over by a doe coming out of a cornfield. I thought that was funny.:D
 
first time out with a new dog(young german short hair pointer), its first quail hunt.

it came on point, we got ready, my dad called for flush, whoosh, about 30 quail exploded from this fairly small clump of brush.

before we could even shoot the dog was SCREAMING! it ran at least 100yd a way yipping like somebody had just shot it.

we could never get that dog onto quail again, you could tell when it smelled them, its tail would tuck up, and ears droop.
 
A buddy and I were talking just as we set up our fishing gear on a dock in E.Texas.While he was babbling away about something I was watching some ducks flying low around the lake.I took my attention off the ducks,pulled out some gear then stared back at my friend who was talking to me when I noticed the ducks swinging in behind him;).To my astonishment they just kept coming at us FAST,I could hear the wind off thier wings as they glided in.I just stood staring with my eyes widening thinking "No Way!". SMACK!!! My buddy takes a full wing to the back of the head.Of course he didnt even see the ducks that hit him,just turned around opposite the ducks flight path saying "What the H!" thinking someone blindsided him.I pointed to the ducks which at first he didnt believe,I'm guessing he thought it was the Creature from the Black Lagoon? Thats until they came around again at us,this time I was able to reach out at arms length and to touch the wing of one as they passed by veering away.Even though I wasnt the victim when I go fishing now I always glance behind me periodically to make sure nothings coming in on approach:).
 
My brother was dove hunting along the bank of the American River when he sees a body floating along down stream. He swims out and grabs it, tows it to shore and calls the police. No way I would have grabbed it.

I saw a Wolverine up above the timberline around Desolation Valley back in
1972.
 
My great grampa used to coon hunt in central illinois all the time, beagles and a .22...wont go into massive details but he swears once he heard a sound he had never heard in 60 years of hunting, his dogs won't go near this bush the sound is coming through, he gets some lights in there and swears to this day it was an african lion- mane and all..

Me, I like cryptozoology and such. I believe him. So, I was thinking, maybe an animal escaped or let loose from a circus? It wasn't far from RR tracks. Who knows? Weird stuff out there. :)
 
One time me and my hunting partner didn't have as much time as usual to do our elk hunting in the Thorofare country. We packed our horses and went in 25 miles and set up camp and both of us killed our elk the next day. Packed it all up and went out.

The weird thing? Not once did a grizzly bear come into camp and tear things up. Not once did a bear come up to our kill site when we were dressing elk. Not once did a bear meet us on the trail we were riding along. Very weird.
 
Met a guy that got hit with buckshot right between the eyes and lived. He said it felt like a headache and the pellet split in two. one piece supposedly went all the way to the back of his skull down the center of his brain and the other ripped through his sinus and landed on his tongue to which he then spit out. This was ten years ago and he goes to work everyday, tough old goat. He also met someone else in our town that survived a .22 to the head while hunting and it is still lodged in the back of his skull. I don't hunt in my neck of the woods;)
 
didn't see it but

Upstate NY neighbors would go rattlesnake hunting, shot one near its head, still wiggling around his dog grabs it and starts shaking it something fierce, head flies off and imbeds itself in the guys leg. Why take your dog rattle snake hunting? coulda been the beer involved.
 
I was hunting on public land about 15 years ago. I heard someone shoot a shotgun probably about 300 hundred yards to my right. About 20 minutes later a 4 point buck came about 80 yards below me. I dropped him with my 30-06 and sat back waiting for another to come my way. I geuss it was about an hour later some idiot came over and asked me if the deer had been hit. I told I didnt know but it was dead now. He turned around and left saying nothing else.
I never would have believed someone would walk in on my stand knowing if a deer came between us he stood a chance of being hit by a high powered rifle not to mention me mistaking him for a deer.
 
I'm glad this thread's still going. Lots of interesting stories here. Here's (one of) mine.

Back in the 70's, 3 of us were doing a back-country patrol of Grand Canyon's North Bass Trail. It's a really rugged trail and inner-canyon temperatures soar over 100 every day, so we usually wore shorts on foot patrol.

Ranger Jim King was the most experienced of us and was in the lead when he stepped over a small rock ledge. Well, there was a big ol' Western Diamondback resting under the ledge that apparently didn't like Jim's leg blocking his view. The rattler sunk both fangs into Jim's calf muscle, which of course caused Jim to take off running. Bad idea, as the snake couldn't let go :eek:.

It wasn't funny at the time, but recalling the sight of Jim running 15-20 feet with this big snake flopping along behind, hanging onto Jim's leg still makes me chuckle.

We were about 2 days out, so we had to radio for the park helicopter to medivac him out. It sounds serious, but he ended up with nothing more than a sore leg as it was a dry bite, no venom injected. I think the snake was too surprised to think about venom.

Given that it had a happy ending, we ribbed Jim about that sight for months afterward :D.
 
I was bowhunting in October this year, and had a sow and her three cubs come up the hill and right to the base of my tree. In NY, you are not allowed to shoot a sow who you know to have cubs, so i put down my bow and picked up my video camera.

As i was climbing up the tree at the start of the hunt i dropped my face mask on the ground beneath my tree. I let it lay there, because it I was in a climber and already buckled in and was late getting to the timber, so it was there when the bears were coming up the hill.

One of the cubs went directly to my face mask, and began playing with it. She was rolling over on her back and throwing it up in the air above her, then rolling her face in it! Another cub joined in and they were both rubbing all over it! (it could have been the Peanut butter and jelly sandwich i ate on the morning hunt). Eventually they got bored and all four moved off and went on their way.

Definitely the weirdest thing i've ever seen. The sow just stood there and let the cubs play with it. she came over once and investigated, then let them have their fun. Weird stuff, but made for some great video!
 
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