Things you've mistaken for elk/deer

[Wildabeest]

There’s an archery club just off the freeway between Park City and Salt Lake where they have decoys/targets out most of the time. The first time I saw the elk decoy, I literally got off at the next exit and turned around because I thought it was real. Now whenever I have guests out and pick them up in SLC, I like to point and say “Wow, look at the big elk over there!” Then on the return trip I’ll say “Look that elk is still there!”. Some catch on, some don’t. I’ve gotten good at keeping a straight face.

 

[MNElkNut]

The worst for me is when stand hunting whitetails. As it is starting to get light you see a deer. dumb thing doesn't move, but it is for sure a deer. 10 minutes later....yeah, not a deer. But it sure looked like it. Then full daylight and you would be embarrassed at what you thought was a deer was a leaf and a shadow. Then as it gets dark that night and after you forgot about that leaf.....you see a deer, the blood pressure redlines and then you realize it is that same leaf. Repeat every day you are in the stand.

 

[Panda Bear]

Funny girl, days are getting longer how have you wintered?

minus 20 today, but we had 3 hours of light, not sun mind you, but light

That Heym-Ruger # 1, 6.5 x 68 was nice. Damn!

Talk to you soon

 

[Lone Elk]

Walking into a stand just at daylight, stepped on a broken grapevine that turned up when I hit it. Could've swore I saw the fangs on that rattler when I was floating back to the ground.....( sorry not deer/elk)

 

[Marshian]

Some of my best stalks have been made on what later turned out to be a cow. Roller coaster of emotions right there.

 

[ovis2]

Many rock-alopes/deer/elk. The one that makes me still smile is my super-successful, crawl-through-cactus, ultra-stealthy stalk many, many years ago on a long-before-I-got-there dead javelina.

 

[Gellar]

There’s a stump on my way home from work that is on a timbered hillside overlooking a pasture. About once a week I catch myself saying there’s a deer!

 

[devon deer]

Llama (only joking!)

I spotted what I thought was a roe deer a long way off once through the bino's, saw movement and the ginger summer coat, stalked around for a shot only to find it was a brown patch of bracken, the movement was a branch being blown in the wind between me and the 'deer'

Cheers

Richard

 

[Rzrbck918]

Tree deer and bush elk are often spotted. A little off subject but one of my closest friends shot a buckskin colored nanny goat that belonged to his grandmother when he was a kid. His grandpa kept the secret to his grave.

 

[BigHornRam]

On a sheep hunt looking into a basin I saw what looked to me to be a grizzly bear at the base of cliff. I set up my spotting scope and the bear turned into a marmot.
Cliff was way closer than I thought it was.

 

[Jape]

So, so many rocks and logs.....

 

[MTelkHuntress]

Saw what I thought was a grouse too far to shoot and began sneaking up with my bow. I got within 15 yards and drew my bow before staring at it for a moment....turns out it was a rock! I'm so glad I didnt shoot.
Lots of stumps that look like elk butts...one of these days its gonna be an animal.

 

[LukeDuke]

Grey Jay. They are in cahoots with cone dropping red squirrels. Pure evil.

I’ve seen my wife angry only a handful of times, but this past September I witnessed a rage in her that I never thought possible. We were set up in a perfect spot over a water hole where we had a close encounter the night before. This was her first archery bull tag and she was convinced the bull from the night before would be back. Hopes were high going in, but after two hrs of constant squirrel chatter and in the peak of prime time, she lost it!! She picked up a rock and chucked it in the direction of the squirrel. She missed by a mile, and the rock bounced off the tree and landed a few feet from me. I gave her a WTF look and then bust out laughing. The squirrel was quiet...for about 10 seconds...repeat rock attempt #2, and #3...I didn’t say a word. I’m quite certain she would murder every squirrel she could after that evening sit

 

[Gerald Martin]

Pine squirrels are reincarnated ax murders.

 

[Danderson]

Roosted a gobbler one night. Went back to set up on it the next morning. I realized it was a squirrels nest after a while.

 

[Schaaf]

Once in Alaska I was going on 3 days without seeing a big game animal. Saw something moving through the timber from my right to left a couple hundred yards away and barely caught a glimpse of silver. Thought I was getting ready to punch my moose tag in my pocket when he stopped and looked at me and it was the biggest Grizzly Bear I've ever seen.

 

[Archbull]

Squirrels dropping pine cones and snapping small branches in trees. Could've swore there was a herd of elk heading my way.

 

[dcopas78]

I was sitting a treestand in a white oak thicket that was absolutely polluted with buck sign during archery season several years back when I heard what sounded exactly like a deer crunching on acorns coming around the hill. I could tell it was heavy and I had myself convinced that I was about to get a shot at a monster buck when the largest dang domestic pig stepped out of the brush in front of me. Turns out our neighbor had one of his boars get loose. It sure woulda made a lot of bacon.

 

[MarvB]

Stump bucks and stump bears, esp in old burns. Have stalked a few....they never heard me coming!

 

[rustednuts]

I jumped a muley buck and I swear that a bleached prickly pear pad was his butt.