What's scared you?

[elkfarmer]

I know everyone has at least one good story of getting scared SH**LESS, so lets here som. here are mine.

a few years ago on our way to the stand during shotgun season, useing our flashlights to see our way in the open field. someone shot a few hundred yards from us, bad thing was it was someone i knew and have hunted with. he swears he could see deer, although he never told us who was holding the flashlight..

another one wasn't as bad. but being an easterner out west i have never had the privalage of encountering mountain lions. so as i found a nice place to sit for a bit, i looked beside to see a cat print bigger than my fist. boy, i about grew hair in my bald spot.

 

[Elkhunter]

Was hunting the edge of timber that was being trashed by bears. Well one morning after seeing elk near there, I got up and sat on a ridge at the edge of the timber about an hour before first light. The racket in the timber was enough to make me nearly crap my draws. I had my 4 wheeler then and had it parked under a tree on the ridge. Guess where I ended up sitting until daylight? I never did see what was in the timber.

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Elk Hunting 101: Everything You Need To Know About Elk Hunting
www.jacksonholewyoming.net/elk

 

[Terry aka Coydog]

A few years ago opening morning of elk archery season. I planned because of the number of hunters in the area to hunt from a blind above where the elk feed at night to intercept them when the hunters started moving them around. I hiked into my blind 2 hours before daylight. On the way in I had to walk thru a herd of slow elk. That was spooky, but it got worse. About a half hour befroe light I could hear what sounded like a freight train coming from down below in the darkness. A few minutes later I had about 150 elk runningall around me, some coming within feet of where I sit. I just laid down and froze. It was anawesome experience but scared the crap out of me. I will never forget that morning. About 15 minutes after light a few stragglers came thru and I blew a shot and then antoher.

I have a feww others for another time. Been scared a couple of times. Good topic.

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Live to Hunt-Terry aka Coydog.

 

[engman99]

My cousin John and I were coon hunting with a friend of ours.We turned the dogs loose at this one spot and they had been gone for about 10 minutes when our friend says,"I dont like to hunt this spot much,there are a lot of people that grow dope back in here." I thought,"man,I'm glad you told us AFTER we turned the dogs loose." Well,the dogs got treed in there about a half mile and we started walking in.Then it starts raining.I mean really coming down,lightening and thunder and everything.We finally get to the dogs,find the coon,and shoot it out.About the time I get the leash on my dog a shotgun goes off about 75 yards from us.I ran all the way back to the truck.

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Hunt hard and prosper.

 

[danr55]

I can't say that it scared me, but it terrified my ex-wife and her girlfriend. We had taken a Labor day weekend up to the ranch were Glen and I hunt Elk. The second evening we were there, I had convinced the ladies to come sit on the point with me and watch for elk across the canyon. They agreed with the proviso that I help them carry lawn chairs and Champange. Well, we got out on the point and got settled in, got the glasses set up on a tripod, and started glassing. Naturally the girls started sipping champange. After about 20 minutes, a mountain lion roared down in the canyon. That just about made the girls wet their pants. They jumped up and ran the 1/4 mile back to the truck and sat there and yelled for me to come up and take them back to camp. I argued for almost half an hour that they could go back to camp, but I was going to take my rifle and go find that lion. They won. I packed all the gear back to the truck and drove them back to camp. They wouldn't come out of the trailer until morning.

I still laugh about that.

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Dan AZ www.huntandlodge.com

 

[olefish_99]

TWO years ago I was helping this senior with a deer hunt. We were watching several areas the deer travel through. I stepped around a tree and a buzzzzzzzz tail (rattle snake) hit my pant leg with out any warning. Lets just say there is a new world record for tree jumping. olefish

 

[wall hangers]

The first one that comes to mind was when I was hunting deer down in Utah. I was walking just off the ridge when a horrific thunder storm came through. It was lightning strike after lightning strike, raining like someone pouring water over me. About 3oo to 4oo yards ahead of me a bolt of lightning hits a large tree, maybe 15 to 18 inches in diameter and blows the top third off. I was gone. The other was while I was also hunting deer on another occasion. I was hunting with a good friend and we were a few hundred yards apart. I heard a shot and then I heard what sounded like someone crying for help. It was such a terrible sounding cry. I thought for sure that my friend had shot himself and was calling for help. I hurried toward the sound and found that it was a small buck that Gary had wounded and it was crying out in pain. Freaked me out.

 

[Chambo]

I walked up on a huge black bear, to within 20 yards before I saw him and he never moved.
I thought he was dead and gave a little shout. he sat up and looked right at me.
He never ran or anything and it made me nervous.
I stood still for 5 minutes and he just sat and looked at me.
I eased back into the brush and hauled ass down the mountain.
I would run about 100 yards then stop and look back to see if he was behind me.

The thing that scared me the most was that I walked to a big oak tree before daylight during deer season and when I got to it, it was already occupied.
The occupant had shot a hunter 2 years before for a deer. The hunter lived.
Really gave me a sick feeling after I found out who it was.
By the way , this guy was my ex- wifes brother.

Also many years ago a friend and I set out to go coon hunting.
We loaded up his old chevy, a 54 I think, he burned drip gas in it and it stunk like hell.
He pulled over on the side of the road to park and when I stepped out I was falling !!!
Seems there was a big culvert there and it had washed the bank away.
I free fell about 10 feet before my feet hit ground and then slid the rest of the way to the ditch on my backside.
Scared the hell out of me at the time,my friend came around the truck to see what had happened ,shined the light on me and started laughing his ass off.
Seems I had been drinking a PBR at the time and still had the beer in my hand after the whole incident. Didn't spill a drop !!!

[This message has been edited by Chambo (edited 02-21-2001).]

 

[1_pointer]

The most scared that I had been was my first day ever in a treestand by myself. My dad dropped me off about 20 minutes before daylight. After he left, I hear this growling noise directly behind me at about 15 feet in the air. Once daylight hit, I realized that it was only an angry coon. But boy did that scare me. Second biggest scare was when I was sitting in a treestand on the adge of an old strip pit and a beaver decided to do some tail slapping before daylight. That is loud!! Also, who has every walked into a covey of quail before dark??? That will get the blood flowing!!

 

[Westman]

1 pointer,
You are right on that covey of quail! Or, how 'bout stepping on a rooster pheasant on the way to the stand in the dark. Instant adrenelin:eek

Westman

 

[Westman]

Okay, I'll try and tell this story...
My hunting buddy and I were scouting the weekend before the season. We had backpacked a couple miles in above the Teanaway river in Wash. state. We were carrying shotguns for grouse and rabbit and worked our way back in another couple miles. We went our seperate ways about mid morning looking for good saddles to sit over for opening morning. After spending the better part of a great day, I started back out to camp. I have no idea how, but I took a wrong turn and ended up one drainage over from the one I wanted. I started up and over to get back. This terrain was not the big ridges and valleys that are back in there. It was a series of small ridges tangeled up with the thickest brush you could imagine. On top of one of those ridges I got tangled up in the brush so bad I could hardly move. I couldn't hardly turn around in all those peckerpoles.
Just at it's worst I hear a cat doing a half growl, half scream...and it was close! I nearly cra**ed!
To this day I have no idea what it was. I never saw it, but I did hear it plain enough and more than once. I have seen two cougars back in that area so I naturally assumed it was one and damn near killed myself getting off that hill!
That was a long time ago, but I'll never forget it as long as I live!

Westman

 

[Boggy Creek Ranger]

At the time I was too busy to be scared but later I shook for thirty minutes. I was chasing a drove of hogs through a swamp when the horse hit quick sand. Damn horse went sky winding nuts and managed to fall over backwards with me under him. I didn't think that thousand pounds of idiot would ever get off me where I could come up for air. He finally rolled off and I got out with a busted rib and dislocated shoulder. You couldn't drag that horse in another mud hole with a winch truck till the day I sold him.
BCR

 

[davey crockett]

I dropped a bear in an old gravel pit. After watching it for a half hour, I went to get some help to butcher and drag it out. Returning after dark, I found the spot that I had left the bear and it was not there!!!
After weighing our options, we decided to load our firearms and travel in a triangle, watching each other's backs. We went to the rim of the pit where the tracks seemed to lead and worked our way down. About 50 feet from the rim of the pit, we found the bear piled up in a small group of trees. We were VERY relieved when, after kicking it a few times, we realized that the bear was dead. I'll never shoot a bear within an hour of sunset again.

 

[Chui]

Olefish - Your story reminded me of two years ago. During the summer I usually get up early for a 3 or 4 mile run on logging roads that go up and down and through creek bottoms. This one morning I started before daylight. About a mile into the run I could just pick out the road as it was getting lighter. Making a turn in the road my foot landed on the back of a cotton mouth and the head slapped against my ankle. That took ten years off my life and made me a "high stepper" for about 50 yards. I don't run in the dark anymore!

 

[Gun Smoke]

My mother in law came over last year to spend two weeks with us. Nuff said!!!!!!!
Regards
Gun Smoke

 

[elkfarmer]

i hear that gunsmoke, every year i get the same feeling. the hair on my neck stands striaght up and it don't go down for about 10 days (when she leaves). hehe

 

[Big Sky]

Gunsmoke, thanks a lot now I'm going to walk around with a twitch the rest of the day.

 

[deadeye2]

I think B.S. is the thing that I fear the most! I was on a trip a few years back in AK. and told "my host to Get a new set air maps! He was to bussey! We flew for four hours, his plane held six hours of fuel. We got back to were we had started from, after getting fuel, well at that point, I took over! I should not of let this happen, I was by far the PC! I will never let that happen again, I don't care who the "BIG GUY FLYINY IS, I know!"
Be safe, have fun1
DEASEYE2

[This message has been edited by deadeye2 (edited 03-19-2001).]

 

[30-06]

i used to camp at a summer camp in the sierras a bit north of yosemite. nice little creek ran through the camp where my friends and i would catch trout (or at least try). we were walking down the creek to get away from camp and happened upon a nice tree trunk that formed a nice bridge about 10 feet over the creek. i was first, walking across carrying my poles in one hand, tackle box in the other...halfway across my friend screams "bear!!!" this being before i had learned predators stand, prey runs, i looked up, saw a nice black form wandering in the bushes and turned running like i've never run before. luckily it was a young bruin who wasn't interested in tasty children. it later headed into camp and proceeded to raid styrofoam coolers.

10 years later i was up there working instead of camping...at the end of the season after everyone had left all the critters came out. there's nothing like wandering around a forest without a flashlight knowing there's a bear hiding in the camp. always comforting to find deep claw marks on the refrigerator behind the kitchen...

too much fun.
30-06

 

[Big D]

In 1988, I drew the coveted 6A bull elk hunt in AZ. Opening morning found us with 6" of fresh snow. My nephew also had a tag, and we were hunting together, along with my brother in law and my 2 sons. About a half mile from the truck At 8:40 in the a.m., we walked around a bend, and there about 80 yards away stood 2 humongous bull elk. They were standing facing us, so a vitals area shot was impossible. I opted for the smaller of the two 6x6's, to let my nephew take the larger bull, which would have easily scored in the 370-380 bracket. I got into a kneeling position, put the crosshairs on the throat of the smaller bull, pulled the trigger, and he dropped like a ton of bricks. My nephew was so shook (he was 14 at the time), that he couldn't even chamber a round, so the biggest bull just non-chalantly walked over the top of the hill and disappeared. My bro in-law ran back to get the truck, took maybe 10 minutes to get back. We walked up to the bull I had shot, I nudged him w/ the barrel of my rifle, and he didn't budge. Out comes my wallet, and I slap the tag around his antler. Meanwhile, my bro in-law gets out his camera, and starts taking pics with the kids on either side of the bull. He even got a pic of my youngest son on the back of this bruiser (which wound up scoring 351), while I was unloading my rifle, and casing it. I'd no sooner got my rifle put away, when someone screamed. I turned around to look, and here was this monster elk trying to stand up! For some reason, my warped mind thought this was funny, so I got a pic of him standing up, with my tag on him. Since my rifle was already put away, I had to finish the bull off with 5 shots from a .357 mag point blank into his ear, before he finally expired. I didn't really get scared till I was gutting him out, and realized what the consequences could have been, had I not been carrying a sidearm!

Big D

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