I was about 17, hunting my first deer season since getting married, hunting in Louisiana behind my Grandparent's house. It was raining……this should surprise no one that knows anything about Louisiana.
I was in rain gear, hunting a small power line right of way, standing, backed into a bit of brush to hide me.
I'm sure that I just sensed the presence of something behind me, rather than having heard it…..rain drops on leaves and all.
I very slowly turned my upper body to the left…..there at about 3 or 4 feet was a Fox slowly inching toward me. Very surprised and even a bit startled…..moments later it received a round from my .308 Win. This stopped it's advance!
I'm not certain of why it was coming my way, just pure happenstance, maybe I had made a slight sound and it thought there was a small animal nearby, or was it rabid.
It didn't appear to be rabid…..but, who knows!
There have been a several of others….. all predators!
Another fox….I had climbed into a tree using it as my deer stand. I was only about 10 feet or so above the ground, when a fox came sneaking by right beneath me! Same .308 Win…..same results!
The wife and I were elk hunting in Lincoln County, Wyoming. We had split up, I was on an elevated edge of a large Willow covered bottom. I was standing on a vertical drop of about 10 to 15 feet, with the bottom of the drop covered by loose rock. I head hooves on rocks to my right, out of sight around a bend in the drop I was standing on.
Suddenly a doe Mule Deer ran past directly beneath me. Only yards behind her was a coyote in pursuit. The coyote came to an abrupt stop directly beneath me….I guess he winded me. Looking straight down on him, a 300 grain Sierra from my old .375 H&H ended his deer chasing career!
The last, another coyote, was called in by my mouth call. He appeared from nowhere, right in front of me at about 10 yards. I'm not certain who was more surprised him or me. Perhaps him, when his hide was perforated by a 285 grain cast bullet from my .375 AI. To date…..my only coyote with cast bullets from that rifle!
I'm not certain if the stories should have been told, saving the closest encounter for last or place them in chronological order…..as I did!
memtb