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How To Hunt Big Game
What’s your spookiest hunting experience?
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<blockquote data-quote="Karey Kimmel" data-source="post: 3065344" data-attributes="member: 105119"><p>Spookiest hunting event I ever experienced…</p><p></p><p>I was alone hunting whitetail deer in north central Maryland. It was early BP season. It was the rare occasion that I had to use my headlamp as I walked to the location of my tree stand because of how dark it was. It was one of those pitch black, dead still, eerily quiet mornings. </p><p></p><p>I finally settled into my climbing tree stand and started the slow wait as daybreak approached hoping for that careless big buck to come wandering by. The forest was just beginning to come alive. It was still dark, the pitch-black kind of dark that occurs every once in a while when the sky is moonless and filled with low hanging, heavily moisture laden clouds. A misty fog from the clouds rolled slowly across the mountain top as if a fire was burning somewhere close by and the smoke was lazily drifting throughout the trees. The familiar odor of damp, rotting forest floor vegetation drifted up through my nostrils at every breath I took. I could feel the dampness in the moist air as it drifted across my face. It was one of those mornings that was so quiet you could hear your own heart beating, the moisture forming into droplets and intermittently rolling off of the tree leaves falling to the forest floor, and every once in a while the beginning sounds of some kind of small creature who ventured out of their den onto the forest floor as the inhabitants began to come alive after being disturbed by my uninvited entry into their living room a bit earlier. As the time passed, the mist began to slowly clear as the early dawn of the morning began to arrive. </p><p></p><p>I was about 26 feet up on a tree with a large limb extending out to the left of me. It was normally perfect for viewing some heavily used deer trails and I was anticipating seeing something saunter by me right around daybreak. I sat perfectly still. I loved this time of the morning when I was hunting.....</p><p></p><p>THEN it happened……</p><p></p><p>I felt a quick burst of air along the left side of my face and the back of my head where my bare skin was exposed below my hat as if someone had waved a hand-held fan at me creating a light breeze. The odd thing was that THERE WAS NO WIND…</p><p></p><p>The short hairs stood up on the back of my neck and a chill ran down my spine. My thoughts raced trying to rationally identify what I had just experienced. I couldn't think of a quick reasonable answer that made any sense. With my neck hair standing up bristly straight, I very slowly turned my head to the left and SAW the source of the fear that now engulfed me.</p><p></p><p>There, about 3 feet out on the tree limb was a great horned owl, looking directly at me. Time seemed to stand still at that moment. At first glimpse, the size of it, (this one stood a good 18-24") and proximity to me, unnerved me. It's approach behind me and landing on the tree limb next to me was the source of that haunting breeze! </p><p></p><p>As quick as it began, it ended. I then witnessed, from a birds-eye-view (pun intended) the owl, lean forward and give a little hop off of the tree limb before it opened and spread its large wings and began to fly away right in front of me. It literally flapped those huge wings twice, and then turned almost vertical with the wings extended to maneuver through two trees and then straighten out and flapped again only to disappear into the misty darkness of the early morning. </p><p></p><p>Yeah, it was ONLY and owl….<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Karey Kimmel, post: 3065344, member: 105119"] Spookiest hunting event I ever experienced… I was alone hunting whitetail deer in north central Maryland. It was early BP season. It was the rare occasion that I had to use my headlamp as I walked to the location of my tree stand because of how dark it was. It was one of those pitch black, dead still, eerily quiet mornings. I finally settled into my climbing tree stand and started the slow wait as daybreak approached hoping for that careless big buck to come wandering by. The forest was just beginning to come alive. It was still dark, the pitch-black kind of dark that occurs every once in a while when the sky is moonless and filled with low hanging, heavily moisture laden clouds. A misty fog from the clouds rolled slowly across the mountain top as if a fire was burning somewhere close by and the smoke was lazily drifting throughout the trees. The familiar odor of damp, rotting forest floor vegetation drifted up through my nostrils at every breath I took. I could feel the dampness in the moist air as it drifted across my face. It was one of those mornings that was so quiet you could hear your own heart beating, the moisture forming into droplets and intermittently rolling off of the tree leaves falling to the forest floor, and every once in a while the beginning sounds of some kind of small creature who ventured out of their den onto the forest floor as the inhabitants began to come alive after being disturbed by my uninvited entry into their living room a bit earlier. As the time passed, the mist began to slowly clear as the early dawn of the morning began to arrive. I was about 26 feet up on a tree with a large limb extending out to the left of me. It was normally perfect for viewing some heavily used deer trails and I was anticipating seeing something saunter by me right around daybreak. I sat perfectly still. I loved this time of the morning when I was hunting..... THEN it happened…… I felt a quick burst of air along the left side of my face and the back of my head where my bare skin was exposed below my hat as if someone had waved a hand-held fan at me creating a light breeze. The odd thing was that THERE WAS NO WIND… The short hairs stood up on the back of my neck and a chill ran down my spine. My thoughts raced trying to rationally identify what I had just experienced. I couldn't think of a quick reasonable answer that made any sense. With my neck hair standing up bristly straight, I very slowly turned my head to the left and SAW the source of the fear that now engulfed me. There, about 3 feet out on the tree limb was a great horned owl, looking directly at me. Time seemed to stand still at that moment. At first glimpse, the size of it, (this one stood a good 18-24") and proximity to me, unnerved me. It's approach behind me and landing on the tree limb next to me was the source of that haunting breeze! As quick as it began, it ended. I then witnessed, from a birds-eye-view (pun intended) the owl, lean forward and give a little hop off of the tree limb before it opened and spread its large wings and began to fly away right in front of me. It literally flapped those huge wings twice, and then turned almost vertical with the wings extended to maneuver through two trees and then straighten out and flapped again only to disappear into the misty darkness of the early morning. Yeah, it was ONLY and owl….:) [/QUOTE]
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