Favorite Wildlife Watching moment.

[2rocky]

One of the things i like best about spot and stalk hunting is the fact that I am an active participant in the landscape and I get to see "nature in action" It's kind of like watching one of those TV nature shows Disney used to make, or Mutual of Omaha. Thinking back, i've seen a number of things that most people wouldn't get to experience and I remember them fondly.

One year before the rifle season opened in Western Wyoming, I was be-bopping around the hills near the trailhead with my bow hoping thata mule deer buck would stumble into range. While resting on a ridge, I hear something coming, and it is a female black bear with cubs about 40 yards below me. I had the wind in my face, a slight breeze, and it brought the sounds of the cubs and mother to me quite clearly. I really enjoyed just sitting there soaking in that moment on that ridge in Wyoming.

What moments with wildlife that you weren't necessarily hunting have you experienced that you remember fondly?

 

[Letthemgrow]

While bear hunting on POW island we sat for lunch on a log washed up on the beach. We hear some rustling behind us in the bushes and out pops a marten maybe 10 yards from us. He walks right past us and swims out in the bay. He gets out there maybe 15 yards or so and dives out of sight. After a few seconds he pops back up with a dungeness crab in his mouth and swims back to shore. He tears one arm off and starts eating it and by this time the crab is not happy. He seems to take an aggressive stance towards the marten and the marten just crushes him, bites him right in face, killing him. The marten sat there on the beach and ate that crab in front of us and when he was done he walked right past us and back in to the brush. I got the sense he had done that a time or two prior.

 

[Cav1]

Watching a single bighorn ewe and lamb work their way down a cliff face through the spotter one time. The little guy was absolutely fearless, utterly oblivious to the drop-offs they were circumventing, too much so for mama's taste. She'd try to lead him down a safe route and he'd just take off on any alternate little ledge that struck his fancy. He'd get stuck someplace when the ledge pinched out and mom would have to work her way back up and lead him out of the mess before he tried to make his own way down. Once he just jumped down to another, wider ledge several feet straight down from his dead-end perch before mom could get back to him. Ewes can have pretty expressive body language at such times and mom looked like she was having a heart attack at that point. She went and gathered him up again and appeared "unhappy". I could just imagine her chewing him out in her "mom voice" and using his middle name like moms do when they're really ticked off at their male offspring. "Timothy John Lamb! I swear you're going to drive me to distraction, young man!"

 

[MTLabrador]

Tough to say, I have seen a lot of cool stuff. Watched a group of nanny and kid goats repeatedly running up a snow slide only to slide back down, clearly playing, was cool. I’ve watched bighorn rams fight a few times, that ranks pretty high.

Lots of great black bear and grizzly experiences, just yesterday I walked right into a black bear and scared him so bad he fell on his ass before running away. Just watching bears doing bear things is always amazing.

Most rare was probably seeing a mountain lion with two kittens that were wrestling and playing right in front of me in the meadow I intended on elk hunting.

 

[Ben Lamb]

We were fishing the S. Fork of the Shoshone outside of the Park, maybe 15 miles down from Pahaska and as we were walking up the trail on the river to the next spot, an otter swam along next to us, chatting us up and playing. That otter was the cap on an amazing day of catching big fish on big flies.

Watching large herds of mule deer roam across the prairies and sage brush flats of central Wyoming.

Having a wolf pack parallel us for 2 miles as we walked a closed logging road in 2010. YOu'd catch them everyone once in a while as they leap frogged each other, giving us a side eye and staying about 100 yards away. Just two sets of hunters, sharing a landscape.

Around Lima, sage grouse hunting and a small herd of elk comes in to about 40 yards from us, oblivious until we topped a small hill. We watched them casually walk off. I think they knew that those shotguns weren't for them.

Watching Gristly bears forage on the south side of Lamar Valley through spotting scopes, and letting foriegn tourists see their first bears through my scope was cool as hell. They just went silent as they watched.

Being surrounded b Bison in Jellystone as they wallowed and grazed in a tiny little cut where they funneled close to the road. The noise was amazing and to see them that close without other tourons around made it an epic visit.

Glassing up Bighorn rams working a peak on the Rocky Mountain Front as we blew an opportunity on a bull elk as he crashed through the gulch below us. Nobody thought twice about it though.

 

[morley.tyler]

There's a place I hunt in North Idaho that has a defunct and 90% decayed railroad trestle on it. I used to sit atop the trestle and watch a meadow to the south for deer to cross from bedding areas to feeding areas, morning and night. As a youngster, I found much success here. One evening after school, I hustled to the spot, sat, and waited. I kept hearing leaves rustling and branches snapping to my right, and pretty damn close. Over the course of 20 minutes, the noise continued along with some grunts, that sounded like a man working hard. Eventually, movement, up off of the ground, caught my eye. A small (yearling?) black bear had climbed an ancient apple tree and was attempting to reach the last, highest apple on the tree. He was really struggling to get there when suddenly there was a creek, a pop, and a loud snap. The limb and the bear fell 12-15' out of the tree, hit the ground, and rolled down the side of the old railroad grade, coming to a rest at the bottom of the hill. He laid there a few seconds, groaned like an old man, and then pushed up on his front legs and sat there, like a dog, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs and trying to figure out what in the hell just happened.
After about a minute, he seemed to remember what had happened, stood up, walked over to the downed limb, found that last apple, and ate it in a manner that made him seem angry at the offending piece of fruit.

 

[Ben Long]

Great thread. Many come to mind. One evening Karen and I watched an adult grizzly feed across an open hillside toward a herd of mountain goats. Goats and bear were apparently unaware of each other. We got all excited thinking those goats were going to freak out when they realized there was a big grizzly moving toward them. In the end, though, the opposite happened. The goats lifted their heads and the bear spooked, tore off over the mountain.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Hiking down the trail after evening hunt two mountain lion cubs scampered up the hill and "hid" behind a bush not ten yards away. They grew impatient so started amusingly wrestling, finally just moving up the mountainside. I then realized the moment and asked myself, "Why didn't I pull the camera out of my pocket?, ... and more importantly, "Where's Mamma Lion?!"

After delivering the eulogy for my close friend and hunting buddy, a decades long RMEF volunteer, I was standing on a spot right above where he had shot his last bull elk. Right over my head a golden eagle sailed as though making his appearance known to me. Then a black bear sauntered up the ridge across the ravine, exactly where we had last watched one. Then to my amazement and spiritual awe, two bull elk in velvet trotted sidehill across the ridge in front of me. It was an experience never to be forgotten and never duplicated before or since.

Last week of hunting season, the buck below remained bedded and merely stared at me, as though saying, "You wouldn't disturb such a peaceful deer with such a mediocre set of antlers, would you?" I promptly shot him ... but only with my camera!

 

[Ben Lamb]

Great thread. Many come to mind. One evening Karen and I watched an adult grizzly feed across an open hillside toward a herd of mountain goats. Goats and bear were apparently unaware of each other. We got all excited thinking those goats were going to freak out when they realized there was a big grizzly moving toward them. In the end, though, the opposite happened. The goats lifted their heads and the bear spooked, tore off over the mountain.

That reminded me: Cow elk hunting on a friends' ranch outside of Depuyer, we watched an incredibly large bull elk feed as a white wolf trotted past him at around 30 yards. Bull didn't even look up and the wolf went on it's way down the reef.

That's a really cool experience, #1.

 

[ChrisC]

The wildlife experience I remember most fondly was my first ever experience seeing a bear of any kind in the wild. It was in Kodiak when four brown bears came up to our fishing spot a few minutes after we got out of the water. One grabbed a fish out of the river and started eating it, another tried to swim across towards us in what felt like a very close proximity. Got it all on video to relive the memory occassionally. Would attach it to the post but even the trimmed video clips seem to large to attach.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

The most memorable that comes to mind is after a very long day of not seeing anything, my parents and I stopped to eat lunch and take a nap. I was exhausted and instantly fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of footsteps above me and wrote it off as my dad walking by to go to the bathroom. I lifted my jacket that I put over my head to sleep and see him napping 20 yards away in the shade. I instantly sat up and saw a cow elk very close to stepping on me. I startled her and she ran about 30 yards before stopping and staring at me. I watched her slowly walk off but we definitely gave each other quite a scare.

Watching a herd of cow elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer feed together on an open hillside was pretty interesting.

Another memorable moment was the first time I ever saw antelope. We were walking back from an unsuccessful elk hunt and I stopped to look at some funny looking deer. Turns out they were antelope that had come to gather around this big juniper bush. It was awesome just to sit and watch them.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Mmm tough to pick one. A couple years ago I had just walked past a snag that I'd noticed a hawk perched in. Maybe 10 seconds later I heard something rocket over my head and before I knew what was going on it pounded a blue grouse about 10 yards in front of me, I had no idea the grouse was there. Shortly after another bombed in to double team it. I'll never forget that sound; I felt it as much as heard it.

Badger fight, rams jumping around doing twists, bear cubs, wolf/elk interactions, lots of other cool ones but that moment stands out.

 

[QuazyQuinton]

I heartily concur with the original poster's sentiment on this. It's one of the better parts of hunting to see what else you can see while you're out there. I'm a birder, as well as a hunter, and it's funny what I think of as almost a "trash bird" that my birder friends would get all excited about.

One such bird is the Northern Goshawk. A couple years ago we were hunting elk up on Hell's Canyon and a goshawk came out of the trees over our heads with a squirrel in its talons. This taught me about goshawk identification. If you see a hawk and wonder if it's a goshawk or a Cooper's Hawk, it's probably not a goshawk. On the other hand, if the bird explodes out of the trees over your head, and you start looking for someplace to hide because you're afraid the hawk might drop the squirrel and haul you away, then THAT'S a goshawk!

QQ

 

[rwc101]

I've had several mink swim/walk past me while fly fishing. Last weekend I watched a coyote bed down with some pronghorn.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

First one that comes to mind was just this morning. As my son and I walked out of the house to head to town I noticed a yearling doe standing on my archery range about 50yds from us. About the same time my 4yr old "Froze" as he noticed her too. She began to play/investigate our chickens who were just coming out of the coop for the day. She would buck and stomp around them, Our rooster gave her a little chase and she would back off a few steps. Was a cool experience to have with my son.

 

[marshman]

Duck hunting a frozen valley, I could hear Gadwalls chuckling in the frozen fog, but could not see them. After a bit I watched a Bald Eagle soar over the mostly frozen marsh then suddenly dive - as the eagle dove a flock of Gadwalls flushed and yep the eagle got one - midair. As I watched the flock of ducks work its way across the valley sky I gave them a quick chuckle or two and... here they come, managed a double two drakes.
We both were successful. As my lab Junior broke ice to make the double retrieve I watched the eagle have duck breakfast on the ice.

 

[JimQ]

A factory I worked at 25 years ago had quite a few trees out front and I use to take my lunch leaned up against a tree enjoying the solitude. One day I sat and watched a squirrel and a raven fight over an oreo cookie sombody had dropped. The squirrel would pick it up and head for a tree and the raven would dive bomb him forcing him to drop it and take cover. This went on my entire lunch break and I was almost late clocking back in. The raven won out in the end by snagging the cookie and flying off. One of my most enjoyable lunch breaks of all times.

 

[gouch]

I was shed hunting one hot afternoon. I had left my camera in the truck thinking there wouldn't be any critters for me to take pictures of running around in the heat. Big mistake! I was walking through a big meadow/marsh with my short hair Buck, where I had found antlers in the past . It would have been a perfect backdrop for a photo with the bright green grass filled with millions of yellow, blue and purple flowers. The ground was covered in about a half inch of water that time of year but there were a lot of small bits of ground high enough to be dry. Suddenly, out of nowhere a huge mail cougar just seem appear. He was kind of tip toeing trying to just step on those dry spots as he worked his way across the meadow. He was maybe fifty yards away so I decided to see how close I could get to him. Buck really wanted to chase the cat but I did a lot of puddle jumping ducks in those days so I had trained him to heal at the sound of a very soft whistle. Soft enough to not get the attention of the ducks or in this case the cougar. That big old cat was so intent on not getting his feet wet that he had no clue I was there even though I was right out in the open. I got within about twenty feet when he heard my boot make that sucking sound as I pulled my foot out of a muddy spot. He turned his head and looked right into my eyes. He didn't act startled or scared nor aggressive. He just looked at me. One of the coolest and beautiful sights I have ever seen. Then Buck woofed and lunged towards him and he ran to the edge of the meadow where he sat down and watched me for a couple of minutes before walking off.
As I write this all the many other cool wildlife encounters keep popping into my head. This is by far my favorite part of hunting or fishing or anything else that gets me out into nature. Just this morning I was entertained by a fawn running full bore back and forth through a dry irrigation ditch. Didn't seem to be any reason other than it was fun.

 

[MarvB]

Way cool thread! Have had a lot of encounters that I thought were pretty cool in the wild but honestly one I shared with my wife 4-5 years ago would be tough to beat just by watching her reactions.

She loves the outdoors but hunting is something that never appealed to her enough to want to be part of. She does enjoy watching wildlife though so about 4? years ago I took her to Jackson for a Valentines trip and we played tourist for that week. In and around the refuge she got to witness 1000's of elk, mule deer, antelope, wolves, coyotes, bison, sheep, moose, eagles, and some i've likely forgotten all in about 5 days. We hiked, snowmachined, did the horse/sleigh thing on the refuge, you name it and she was in awe the entire time...something I got to share with her and that we both will never forget.

 

[BigHornRam]

Coming back from a mountain goat hunt trough Yellowstone, came across a big huddle of bison in a defense circle so pulled over to see what was up. Found a wolf through the binos, then another, and another. The whole pack was putting on a drive and were spaced about 1/4 mile apart from each other. They looked back and forth at each other and were communicating without saying a word. Don't know how the hunt ended, but that was some impressive natural instinct teamwork to see.