sitting in a little creek bottom with just my head above the bank watching for squirrels, heard something come running through the underbrush right toward me.It was a doe as she stopped right on the bank across from me,tongue out she never really saw me as she turned and ran down the bank,Thought "Wow" that was cool, when I looked back there was a mangy looking coyote standing on the bank staring at me! I slowly pulled my bess up and had it pointed at his nose when in a flash he dropped back and I heard him running off through the brush.I swallowed my heart back down to where it was supposed to be and stored that memory away
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Squirrel hunt suprise
- Thread starter rushlake1
- Start date
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Brokennock
Cannon
My brother and I were turkey hunting one spring morning, we generally try to sit about 10 or so yards apart left to right with our backs to big trees facing opposite directions. This way we can see each other and what is coming up behind the other. This time we were positioned a few yards left to right but facing he same direction, he slightly behind my left shoulder. We got to watching a small red squirrel poking around the raised edge of a trail in front of us, both hoping it wouldn't spot us and start it's non-stop complaining about intruders. It started working its way in our direction. When it got even with me but off to my left it suddenly dashed towards my brother's tree and I watched as it jumped onto his knee then onto the camo mesh facemask he was wearing, onto his head, then on up the tree. His squaking didn't matter cause we were laughing to hard for anything else to come within range anyway.
Patocazador
54 Cal.
The 'Brother' story made me remember when my brother and I went elk hunting up from Jackson Hole. We were sitting on opposite sides of a U-shaped narrow valley with our bows in the hopes of an elk coming by. We both watched as a golden eagle swooped on a bighorn ewe and lamb at the edge of a cliff behind my brother. It was trying to drive them off the edge so they would fall to their deaths and he could reap the spoils. It didn't work but about 10 minutes later a hawk swooped at my brother's head and took his grey fox "mountain man" hat off. It dropped it a few seconds later.
He was spooked BIG TIME! He suggested that we move because there weren't any elk around. :grin:
He was spooked BIG TIME! He suggested that we move because there weren't any elk around. :grin:
I see coyotes more than I care to at times. They sometimes scare off the deer but most of the time they just annoy me coming in and under my stand.
Three years ago during bow season during the fall before it got cold I had one drive me nuts.
I was up in the stand and he came in on me. Probably smelled the deer scent I put out. Then as he got under my stand he obviously smelled me. The wind was calm so he was having a hard time what direction the scent was coming from. Duh, right above him. He never looked up. Just kept wondering around under my stand for 10 minutes. I didn't want to make a noise. I tend to stay quiet no matter what happens in the woods. Finally he just wondered off.
Then two years ago I had a pack of 5 coyotes wonder out of the woods right in front of my stand while I was there with my bow. About 250 yards away were 4 deer browsing in the corn field after harvest. The coyotes didn't seem to care and the deer didn't notice them. The pack continued on across the field in a different direction.
I have thought of taking one just to get it stuffed but my wife has a limit on stuffed dead things in the house. LOL
My brother in law owns the property 80 acres certified forest, 10 acres he has a house barn for goats and a pond on and then 100 tillable that he leases out. I am very fortunate that no one else is allowed to hunt there other than me and someone I bring with me.
I leave the coyotes alone as they don't bother the deer and keep the population of opossum and raccoon under control.
Three years ago during bow season during the fall before it got cold I had one drive me nuts.
I was up in the stand and he came in on me. Probably smelled the deer scent I put out. Then as he got under my stand he obviously smelled me. The wind was calm so he was having a hard time what direction the scent was coming from. Duh, right above him. He never looked up. Just kept wondering around under my stand for 10 minutes. I didn't want to make a noise. I tend to stay quiet no matter what happens in the woods. Finally he just wondered off.
Then two years ago I had a pack of 5 coyotes wonder out of the woods right in front of my stand while I was there with my bow. About 250 yards away were 4 deer browsing in the corn field after harvest. The coyotes didn't seem to care and the deer didn't notice them. The pack continued on across the field in a different direction.
I have thought of taking one just to get it stuffed but my wife has a limit on stuffed dead things in the house. LOL
My brother in law owns the property 80 acres certified forest, 10 acres he has a house barn for goats and a pond on and then 100 tillable that he leases out. I am very fortunate that no one else is allowed to hunt there other than me and someone I bring with me.
I leave the coyotes alone as they don't bother the deer and keep the population of opossum and raccoon under control.
robinsroost
50 Cal.
waross said:
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Was out hunting in the sand hills of Nebraska with my dad when I was a teen. We were walking down a hill and spooked a coyote up from probably 5 feet away from me, not sure how it didn't know we were coming sooner. I was so startled I couldn't get a shot off, but my dad got him at about 100 yds on the run downhill. Hell of a shot. I thought it was a pheasant or a grouse at first when I saw the movement. Closest I've ever been to a live one lol.
Patocazador said:
I have had two very close encounters with birds of prey...both while bowhunting and camo'd to the max including face mask. The first was a barred owl that definitely came for my face. I don't know if he saw my eye's blink and came for the movement or what. The second was a red-tailed hawk. I was sitting in a tree stand and looked up just in time to see the hawk coming in full speed at "me." He was actually turning claws up. It happened so fast. As my subconscious took over and made me lurch violently to the side (thank God for safety belts)I caught a scurrying red squirrel that unknown to me had been on another tree trunk just a foot away from my head.
Kinda felt bad because I like hawks a whole lot more than noisy chattering red squirrels and wish the red squirrel had become a meal!
Best to get rid of every Coyote you can. They have killed everything here but the Squirrels. Don't wait 10 years and then decide they are a problem. Not trying to be pushy on my part just honest from owning 3 farms and seeing the result. 
Larry
Larry
James Stella
40 Cal.
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When I was younger I predator hunted a lot with a hurt rabbit call. I have called in fox bobcat and coyotes to with touching distance. It is awesome. I called in a small black bear to within 10 feet one time.
In November of last year I started calling again. I alway put my back to something, this time it was a fallen tree that was about a foot above my head. After about 5 minutes of calling I heard something hit the log above me. I thought a bird had landed on it. I slowly looked straight up and the was a beautiful grey fox standing a foot above my head. He saw me move and he was gone. That was awesome.
In November of last year I started calling again. I alway put my back to something, this time it was a fallen tree that was about a foot above my head. After about 5 minutes of calling I heard something hit the log above me. I thought a bird had landed on it. I slowly looked straight up and the was a beautiful grey fox standing a foot above my head. He saw me move and he was gone. That was awesome.
Patocazador
54 Cal.
I was riding with my youngest brother in his pickup when he pulled to the side of the hiway and told me to roll down the window. He started "squeaking" into his hand and then I saw a red fox out about 150 yards in the pasture. He called that fox to the hiway side of the fence right next to the truck when he said, "Fur's not good enough". That startled the fox and it took off.
I was real proud of "baby brother". :applause:
I was real proud of "baby brother". :applause:
hanshi
Cannon
I've had quite a few "up close and personal" experiences with bobcats, foxes and coyotes but the one I'll relate here was with a gray fox.
I was sitting in the middle of a powerline right-of-way on the edge where it dropped off rather steeply forming a swale. Deer were my target and I was armed with a .58 zouave. This was decades ago when I lived in Ga. and I'd already taken a large buck nearby. Alerted by the "tich, tich, tich" sound of a small critter trotting toward me across the dry carpet of leaves on my right, I tried to stay calm not knowing what to expect. Slowly turning my head I was surprised to see a gray fox headed right for me. I knew that within seconds he would be in my lap. Before I could react he was on my right leg. I wasn't prepared for his comic, instantaneous and shocked reaction. At that moment he got my whiff and shot straight up into the air spinning as he did so. I can't recall ever seeing an animal move that quick. It was if he had been spring loaded. That fox hit the ground running as I leaned right and fired. He was just so fast my shot hit 5 feet behind him.
It's these kinds of encounters that form fond memories of outings even when we fail to get a shot at our intended game animal. I know many of you have multiple experiences that cause you to feel the same way.
I was sitting in the middle of a powerline right-of-way on the edge where it dropped off rather steeply forming a swale. Deer were my target and I was armed with a .58 zouave. This was decades ago when I lived in Ga. and I'd already taken a large buck nearby. Alerted by the "tich, tich, tich" sound of a small critter trotting toward me across the dry carpet of leaves on my right, I tried to stay calm not knowing what to expect. Slowly turning my head I was surprised to see a gray fox headed right for me. I knew that within seconds he would be in my lap. Before I could react he was on my right leg. I wasn't prepared for his comic, instantaneous and shocked reaction. At that moment he got my whiff and shot straight up into the air spinning as he did so. I can't recall ever seeing an animal move that quick. It was if he had been spring loaded. That fox hit the ground running as I leaned right and fired. He was just so fast my shot hit 5 feet behind him.
It's these kinds of encounters that form fond memories of outings even when we fail to get a shot at our intended game animal. I know many of you have multiple experiences that cause you to feel the same way.
