Well that didn’t go how I planned it!

Alright I'll share my oddest story. My family didn't hunt so everything I have learned or experienced has been on my own or with one of my buddies. This story is from when I was 16.

I was out archery hunting with my buddy, he dropped me off and told me to walk the ridge and glass ahead. I followed his directions and started waking and glassing. I stopped pulled up my binos and I saw a deer. What was odd I swear I saw some pink on the deer. I put a bunch of oak brush between me and him and headed that way. I stopped after making a couple hundred yards to see if I could see him. It was just my luck he was working his way towards me. I continued until I could see him and he just kept coming. The oak brush was still between me and this buck. The oak brush patch was roughly 20 yards or so long and only about 5 feet thick. I made my way until I was hiding behind the oak brush and I could just see him and he was headed right at me. I figured he would pop out one side or the other and I would get a shot. However he came to the oak brush and started to stick his head through the oak brush right at me. I was a bit perplexed and expected him to do something but he just kept shoving his head toward me. Not close enough to touch him but pretty close. He finally started moving down the oak brush so I held still and waited for him to emerge but he didn't. He walked back to where I was and tried to stick his head at me again. Then he proceeded to go to the other side of the oak brush and stop right at the edge again. This time I was certain I saw pink on his neck…now I was really confused. To shorten the story he continued to go up and down the brush and try to stick his head at me. Finally I saw it, the pink on his neck was a collar and on the collar hung a small sign saying please don't shoot me. I was so shocked…I stood up deciding I wasn't going to shoot him even if I got a shot and walked towards him. He ran right up to me and looked at my hand as if I was going to feed him. A hung out with this crazy deer for a bit longer and then went and found my buddy. My buddy knew exactly who had put the collar and sign on this deer and it just happened to be my moms best friend who had a cabin in the area. I was real glad I didn't shoot him at that point. Pretty wild experience. My family actually has a cabin in that area now and we sometimes have deer who will eat out of our hands, it's pretty cool to experience. Never a deer as friendly as that buck tho. I am trying to find my videos or pics petting deer at my parents cabin but haven't located them yet.
 
Probably my second coolest archery story:

First outing of the season, three(?) years ago. So, early October in PA. It was warm. I have two little guys at home so time is limited, but I managed to sneak out for a hunt. Of course I was in a hurry. My brother suggested a spot where he had seen a buck a few days before.

I get out to the area. Hunting a field edge, I set up a tripod chair in thick golden rod along the field, near the top of a gentle knoll. The field slopes down to a corner, and inside the woods at the bottom is a stream. The stream comes from the right, and half way up my field the stream comes through a small ravine, with another hay field starting on the other side.

Digging through my pack, I discover that I had (not surprisingly) forgot basically all my gear in my hurry. No grunt tube or bleat can. No big deal, as I'm basically out for some fresh air.

Soon enough, I see movement on the woods below the other field. BUCK!! He was a thin, white racked 8 point. A trophy to me, who had up to that point never harvested a buck with my bow.

I can see him meandering through the forest on the other side of the stream. "Maybe he will come my way"?!

Nope. He struts up the hill and into the other day field. Probably 75-100 yards away. He lowers his head and starts browsing- away.

If only I had a bleat can or grunt tube!! Figuring I have nothing to lose since he is feeding in the opposite direction, I try desperately to remember what my bleat can sounds like, and let a little bawl out with my mouth.

The buck snaps his head up instantly. I repeat the soft bawl, and he turns his head sharply; his body quickly follows. He starts a very purposeful stride across the hay field. Silently drops into the ravine, and quickly reappears, now in MY hay field.

He seemed suddenly wary, and in a semi sneak, came from my right to left, broadside at about 40 yards. He never slowed as he crossed the field, and my heart started to sink. Figuring that I (again) had nothing to lose, I came to full draw. I planned to mouth grunt as he hit the edge of the field before going out of sight, but by miraculous chance, he stopped hard at the field edge, working a scrape!

I, at full draw, stood and centered my 30 yard pin just behind the shoulder. The starts were really aligning and I had him in the back of my truck already. I left the arrow fly, and with a WHACK!! the buck lurched into the woods.

Heart racing, I waited a few minutes, and pursued.

"PFFFFFFFFSH"!!!!!!!!

NOT the sound I expected, or wanted to hear.... Again it came, with crashing down through the woods below.

I found my arrow- clean other than the dirt it had caked on the end.

Ranging my shot afterward, I had underestimated the distance by about 5 yards. With the buck lurching, I had cleanly missed... Disappointing, but I'd rather a clean miss than a wounded animal. Chalked it up to lesson learned, but still was super excited about the buck I had mouth called in: the One that got away.
 
WYO300RUM said:
Was archery elk or deer season going on ? Maybe somebody flung an arrow at him ?
Click to expand...
That was my best guess at the time, an encounter with a bowhunter down in the lower forest area, but it seemed he had been running a pretty long ways when he encountered me. That was before I had the weird stuff that went down on a day I was alone up there, so I don't know. It could have been something else.
 
Last edited:
Tidus56 said:
Alright I'll share my oddest story. My family didn't hunt so everything I have learned or experienced has been on my own or with one of my buddies. This story is from when I was 16.

I was out archery hunting with my buddy, he dropped me off and told me to walk the ridge and glass ahead. I followed his directions and started waking and glassing. I stopped pulled up my binos and I saw a deer. What was odd I swear I saw some pink on the deer. I put a bunch of oak brush between me and him and headed that way. I stopped after making a couple hundred yards to see if I could see him. It was just my luck he was working his way towards me. I continued until I could see him and he just kept coming. The oak brush was still between me and this buck. The oak brush patch was roughly 20 yards or so long and only about 5 feet thick. I made my way until I was hiding behind the oak brush and I could just see him and he was headed right at me. I figured he would pop out one side or the other and I would get a shot. However he came to the oak brush and started to stick his head through the oak brush right at me. I was a bit perplexed and expected him to do something but he just kept shoving his head toward me. Not close enough to touch him but pretty close. He finally started moving down the oak brush so I held still and waited for him to emerge but he didn't. He walked back to where I was and tried to stick his head at me again. Then he proceeded to go to the other side of the oak brush and stop right at the edge again. This time I was certain I saw pink on his neck…now I was really confused. To shorten the story he continued to go up and down the brush and try to stick his head at me. Finally I saw it, the pink on his neck was a collar and on the collar hung a small sign saying please don't shoot me. I was so shocked…I stood up deciding I wasn't going to shoot him even if I got a shot and walked towards him. He ran right up to me and looked at my hand as if I was going to feed him. A hung out with this crazy deer for a bit longer and then went and found my buddy. My buddy knew exactly who had put the collar and sign on this deer and it just happened to be my moms best friend who had a cabin in the area. I was real glad I didn't shoot him at that point. Pretty wild experience. My family actually has a cabin in that area now and we sometimes have deer who will eat out of our hands, it's pretty cool to experience. Never a deer as friendly as that buck tho. I am trying to find my videos or pics petting deer at my parents cabin but haven't located them yet.
Click to expand...
Wow ! Great and crazy story !👍
 
I found a photo of my arm when I fell on Nevada deer hunt. It was 2016. That's not my knee. Lol ! I took of it off laptop with phone. If you enlarge the lines go away. Sorry.
IMG_20220216_122331759.jpg
 
OK! No ethics remarks. This was about 1971 while stationed in Alaska. A group of military hunters set out to harvest caribou. Three campers and three snowmobiles and seven neophyte shooters. We drive into the snow covered mountains and set camp. The second day we spot a herd of caribou up on the side of a mountain. The three snowmobilers plan to herd the herd toward two shooters. Two of us stay at camp to act as spotters.
The snowmobilers are successful in moving the herd toward the shooters. One of the snowmobilers is not paying too much attention to where he is driving while focusing on the herd of caribou. His machine launches over a twenty foot cliff. Happily (?) there was a 7 to 10 foot drift at the bottom and both he and the machine land tread down into the drift.
The driver is shaken up but not injured but, the machine is almost out of sight buried in the drift.
The team takes turns digging the machine out. Can you imagine how much and how compacted snow is in the tread and under-carriage of a snow machine that fell twenty feet.
Late that day we get the machine running and back to camp.
All are convinced lady luck has given us all she had and we should call it quits.
Next morning we break camp safely stow our firearms in the back of the campers and head home.
Of course, as we drive down the mountain snow covered gravel road a herd of caribou amble across the road in front of us. Mad scramble to get to the campers, find rifles and their ammo. Finally, three stalk off after them and were able to shoot two before the herd raced off.
All is well that ended well.....the driver of the snowmachine was only shaken up, the machine still operated and all of us got a little caribou to show our spouses what great hunters we were....of course the 'little' incident of the cliff never got discussed with them.
 
Well, if you insist.... I was Whitetail hunting in NE Wa, about 20 years ago with my father in law, brother in law and my lifelong friend and we had gotten a tip about a good mountain to hunt so we parked one truck at the bottom of the mountain and all piled in another truck for the drive to the top. We all picked our routes down and said good luck to each other. After reaching the bottom a few hours later with me being the only one with even a sighting, my father in law and friend jumped in the truck to drive up and retrieve the other truck while my brother in law and I stayed down below. It had been pouring down rain all morning so we were soaked to the bone and the longer we stood there, the colder we got so we decided to walk toward the intersection where they would pick us up and along the way, I got the urge from my stomach that we all get when we least want it. I told my brother in law that I would go up the hill a ways and then just meet him at the intersection in a bit. I climbed up through the brush about 100yds or so and found the driest place I could find under some limbs to take care of business. I took off my orange vest and jacket and put both of them over my gun barrel which I leaned against a tree about 3' away. Just as the job at hand was nearing completion, I happened to look up the hill and noticed what I thought were the lower part of a deer's legs not more than 30 or 40 yards from me. Well, the job was done all but the paperwork and if it were in fact a deer, I doubted it would stay there long so, I leaned forward to one knee in order to reach my jacket and gave it a tug which pulled my rifle to me. I now had to almost get my head to ground level with my rifle laying flat in order to see through the scope and low and behold it was a decent buck, with his head lowered, staring down at me. As soon as I saw his antlers, I took the shot and he dropped in his tracks. My brother in law heard the shot and yelled up to me to ask what if I had got one. I said yep! and he said he'd be right up. I told him to take his time and the next thing I knew he was within 50 yards of me and I said, Hey, there was a reason I told you to take your time! We both laughed our heads off while I finished up. We took care of the buck and drug him down to the road. When the others showed up and I told the story, my father in law reach in the back of his truck and grabbed a roll of toilet paper and put it on one of the antlers for the picture session! We still talk about that to this day. That had to be the most curious deer in the world for sure.
 

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