I am convinced that they have an ESP sense that they receiving the attention of someone nearby. Especially the does. Fortunately it fades with distance.
Ok ...Fess up
- Thread starter bluealtered
- Start date
I am convinced that they have an ESP sense that they receiving the attention of someone nearby. Especially the does. Fortunately it fades with distance.
I think they sense it when you are staring at them. I have been able to keep them from running off at times by shifting my eyes away when they raise their head to look at me, and freezing until they drop their head again and give that little tail wiggle that means all clear. At times...
bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
I don't know if you will believe this but one spring morning after a friend told me his tale about sneaking up on a doe and grabbing her around the neck and getting the h*ll kicked and shook out of him as he tried to let go, (yes he was black and blue all over) I wondered if i could get that close, and not try to grab anything, just see if it would work.
About a month later i was hiking up a small narrow draw and saw a doe and her fawn, i was on the other side of the draw and had plenty of brush between them and me but we were only about thirty feet apart. The wind had already shifted to up hill and that worked for me as i would stand perfectly still until both of them took a bite at the same time and then i took a step and waited as her head would come up and her eyes and ears would do the radar sweep they do. As soon as her/their heads were down feeding again i would take another step.
It took about a half an hour to go that thirty feet i but got across to their side and even though there wern't any bushes on their side i got close enough that i could have touched her tail, then i even more carefully backed out of there with visions of my head or my chest being kicked in if i stepped on a twig or rock right then and she kicked back since i was standing there. during the whole thing i never made eye contact and tried to keep my mind blank, ... something as you probably guessed is easy for me to do, since i was dumb enough to even try that with her fawn there.
About a month later i was hiking up a small narrow draw and saw a doe and her fawn, i was on the other side of the draw and had plenty of brush between them and me but we were only about thirty feet apart. The wind had already shifted to up hill and that worked for me as i would stand perfectly still until both of them took a bite at the same time and then i took a step and waited as her head would come up and her eyes and ears would do the radar sweep they do. As soon as her/their heads were down feeding again i would take another step.
It took about a half an hour to go that thirty feet i but got across to their side and even though there wern't any bushes on their side i got close enough that i could have touched her tail, then i even more carefully backed out of there with visions of my head or my chest being kicked in if i stepped on a twig or rock right then and she kicked back since i was standing there. during the whole thing i never made eye contact and tried to keep my mind blank, ... something as you probably guessed is easy for me to do, since i was dumb enough to even try that with her fawn there.
XTR
F-TR obssessed shooting junkie
OK, this is old, and I really don't care whether or not it's true, I laugh till I cry every time I read it:
Roping a Deer
Roping a Deer
Range finders are one the great inventions for predator / varmint hunters. I'm not good at judging distances so this was a God send for me. I'm still trying to learn how to deal with the wind however.
Even with range finders, high quality scopes / rifles, tailor made reloads I still miss, sometimes inexplicably. For instance I'll make a 250 shot on a ghog then miss at 150 yards the latter of which should never happen but it does.
Even with range finders, high quality scopes / rifles, tailor made reloads I still miss, sometimes inexplicably. For instance I'll make a 250 shot on a ghog then miss at 150 yards the latter of which should never happen but it does.
bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
XTR that's great! I hadn't heard that one, ... i'm glad key boards are cheap cuz the coffee coming out of my nose ruined this one!
Being as you posted this, I'll confess to trying to rope a coyote.
We had cows that were calving and I had to check on them a couple of times a day, horseback. I happen to be riding my competition rope horse, while easing around the cows. A coyote jumped out of a little tall grass, where he was up to no good.
I had heard stories of old cowboys, who had supposedly roped one, so I shook out a loop and the race was on. Now a coyote can turn faster than a horse and this one put on quite a show, until I finally got him lined out. I was just seconds from getting a loop on him, when Baldy Dun stepped in a badger hole at full speed. He flipped over headfirst and landed on top of me.
Not sure how long I was out, but when I came to, the horse was standing and not hurt. The coyote was long gone and I had a bruise on my stomach, from the saddle horn, that turned all kinds of colors, over the next month. One of the hands commented "It could have been worse, you might have caught that coyote and it would have been a bad wreck".
Happened this past bow season;One of the boys was home in a yank to go hunting with his recurve.I usually don't bow hunt real early,preferring the lazy 9-10 am starting time but agreed to go before lite this one morning.So he heads off in one direction,I in another.Figured we had this woodlot covered at "both ends".So he texts,asking if I'm settled in(we hunt from ground blinds/hides)."I'm good" is the reply,whilst looking for a nap....doh.5 minutes later,and not quite legal daylight he texts back,I knew where he was....."uhh dad,a bruiser buck was bedded down 10 yds from my spot".
Apparently the buck waited till he was sure whatever it was coming in from downwind,wasn't another deer? before having enough of this BS and got the heck outta Dodge,haha.
Apparently the buck waited till he was sure whatever it was coming in from downwind,wasn't another deer? before having enough of this BS and got the heck outta Dodge,haha.
bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
I had walked in about a mile and had farther to go but stopped to take a break in a thick patch of Reprod lodge pole. I wasn't trying to be quiet so i just plopped down and got out my water and had drink. I sat there maybe five minutes and just for fun got out a dog toy squeaker i had stolen from my dog, i worked it a couple of times and up pops a coyote maybe fifteen feet away. Before i could drop the squeaker and grab my ar15 he was gone and going into fourth gear. He must have been really tired, to not have heard me banging around as i worked my way into that pole patch.
i put a beautiful stalk on a black bear in the WV mountains. could not believe how much my woods and hunting skills had improved over the years. when i popped around the last rock outcropping, rifle ready, the bear had disappeared... leaving only it's shadow at the entrance to a small cave.
another... bow - stalk hunting - saw a small buck working down a creek bottom toward me.... hid the only place available between two vw size boulders. the buck made a turn and walked past close enough to poke him with the broadhead while it was still on the string. no room to draw as he went on his way.
yet another... hog hunting, some commotion coming my way as i was 'hidden' in some cedar trees at edge of a greenfield. rifle at the ready, i was quite surprised as the the lead hog instead of passing my shooting opening turned from the field and came right up it toward me. not wanting a wounded scared hog just 5 feet from me i shouted, jumpted back, and fended it off with the muzzle while i hid behind an oak. at that instant i didn't seem so invincible, and questioned that food chain arrangement thingy.
another... bow - stalk hunting - saw a small buck working down a creek bottom toward me.... hid the only place available between two vw size boulders. the buck made a turn and walked past close enough to poke him with the broadhead while it was still on the string. no room to draw as he went on his way.
yet another... hog hunting, some commotion coming my way as i was 'hidden' in some cedar trees at edge of a greenfield. rifle at the ready, i was quite surprised as the the lead hog instead of passing my shooting opening turned from the field and came right up it toward me. not wanting a wounded scared hog just 5 feet from me i shouted, jumpted back, and fended it off with the muzzle while i hid behind an oak. at that instant i didn't seem so invincible, and questioned that food chain arrangement thingy.
hogpatrol
Gold $$ Contributor
Ever have a game animal come back to life? Here's one of those "This happened to me" stories.
I was sitting on the ground up against the base of tree in a nice stand of hardwood nut trees hunting squirrels with a 16 gauge shotgun. Had already killed a couple and left them lay. Getting close to the end of shooting hours I spotted one sailing through the trees, threw up the gun and blasted him mid branch. He must have fell forty or fifty feet bouncing when he hit the ground. Got up walked over and picked them all up and put them in the back of my vest. My movement stirred a few others so I checked my watch and saw that I still had about fifteen minutes of legal shooting time so I sat back down at the base of a tree. I was probably only sitting there less than a minute when I felt something stirring behind me. Yep, that last squirrel came to and skedaddled right out of my vest and across the ground in front of me. The 870 spoke three times as he scampered across the ground, around the other side of a dead oak tree and into a hole. Talk about humiliation. Like Ralphie in Christmas Story, all I could do was just stand there and mutter "sonofabitch", six shells to get two squirrels.
I was sitting on the ground up against the base of tree in a nice stand of hardwood nut trees hunting squirrels with a 16 gauge shotgun. Had already killed a couple and left them lay. Getting close to the end of shooting hours I spotted one sailing through the trees, threw up the gun and blasted him mid branch. He must have fell forty or fifty feet bouncing when he hit the ground. Got up walked over and picked them all up and put them in the back of my vest. My movement stirred a few others so I checked my watch and saw that I still had about fifteen minutes of legal shooting time so I sat back down at the base of a tree. I was probably only sitting there less than a minute when I felt something stirring behind me. Yep, that last squirrel came to and skedaddled right out of my vest and across the ground in front of me. The 870 spoke three times as he scampered across the ground, around the other side of a dead oak tree and into a hole. Talk about humiliation. Like Ralphie in Christmas Story, all I could do was just stand there and mutter "sonofabitch", six shells to get two squirrels.
XTR
F-TR obssessed shooting junkie
I was helping a guy load a doe into the back of a pickup when she stood up. He's spined her at the base of the ribs kind of far back and she wasn't finished dieing. Got her front end up, I bulldogged her head onto the tailgate and he ended the drama with his knife. Truck looked pretty gruesome since she bled out there.
bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
This happened last fall. i walked into a place that has had over the years a fair amount of coyotes, i had just put together a AR47 and wanted to try it out. I took a e-call, something i don't use in the fall very often and put it about 75yds away in a small pine tree. I called and got one response at least one ridge away, i waited and called again and got nothing.
I ended up calling for about an hour and gave up. I leaned the rifle on a tree and walked back out to the pine to get the call, as i was taking the call off the branch i had put it on i happened to look to my left and there staring at me maybe 200yds away was a coyote. i'm standing there reaching up to take the call down with the rifle about 75yds away, i froze and he started walking towards me. I stood there holding onto the call, not moving at all and he slowly kept coming looking me over.
He was about twenty yards away and walked around the little pine still looking at me and as he did so i was able to get my .45 shield out and as he got past me i aimed and shot, he jumped up in the air and was gone. I can make a 6" steel plate dance all day long at 25yds but i missed that coyote.
I ended up calling for about an hour and gave up. I leaned the rifle on a tree and walked back out to the pine to get the call, as i was taking the call off the branch i had put it on i happened to look to my left and there staring at me maybe 200yds away was a coyote. i'm standing there reaching up to take the call down with the rifle about 75yds away, i froze and he started walking towards me. I stood there holding onto the call, not moving at all and he slowly kept coming looking me over.
He was about twenty yards away and walked around the little pine still looking at me and as he did so i was able to get my .45 shield out and as he got past me i aimed and shot, he jumped up in the air and was gone. I can make a 6" steel plate dance all day long at 25yds but i missed that coyote.
A friend and I were hunting waterfowl on the edge of a pond...we were doing good we each had a few. I shot a nice fat drake mallard
that my dog retrieved and brought the duck right to hand...I had my dog heal to the left side of me as I put that fat mallard in the pile
and about five minutes later I'm putting another duck in the pile when this fat (supposedly dead mallard) gets up and flies about 15 yards
out in the pond...my dog see's this and jumps in to retrieve this duck and it gets up and flies off...my dog looks back at me to tell me "how could you let that bird get away" I swear that duck WAS dead...boy was I fooled and my dog mad at me all the same time!
that my dog retrieved and brought the duck right to hand...I had my dog heal to the left side of me as I put that fat mallard in the pile
and about five minutes later I'm putting another duck in the pile when this fat (supposedly dead mallard) gets up and flies about 15 yards
out in the pond...my dog see's this and jumps in to retrieve this duck and it gets up and flies off...my dog looks back at me to tell me "how could you let that bird get away" I swear that duck WAS dead...boy was I fooled and my dog mad at me all the same time!
I learned not to stick my hand on a hole to grab a wounded pheasant .
I've also had a pheasant come back to life and try to get out of my hunting coat .
PS,
Also never try to pick up a wounded goose. They get mean and very nasty .Lol I just backed up and shot it .
I've also had a pheasant come back to life and try to get out of my hunting coat .
PS,
Also never try to pick up a wounded goose. They get mean and very nasty .Lol I just backed up and shot it .
This story is from my buddy in Montana.
He had a hunter on his ranch that was sorely wanting to kill a monster mulie buck, though he'd never hunted nor seen a mule deer before. The rut was going strong and they looked over lots of bucks everyday.
After three or four days, they finally found a bruiser buck on a hot doe. They followed them for hours, trying to get a shot, before they finally got close enough for the hunter to take a shot. He got prone, in the snow, and let one fly.
My friend slapped the hunter on the back and hollered "Hell of a shot! Now shoot the buck".
He had a hunter on his ranch that was sorely wanting to kill a monster mulie buck, though he'd never hunted nor seen a mule deer before. The rut was going strong and they looked over lots of bucks everyday.
After three or four days, they finally found a bruiser buck on a hot doe. They followed them for hours, trying to get a shot, before they finally got close enough for the hunter to take a shot. He got prone, in the snow, and let one fly.
My friend slapped the hunter on the back and hollered "Hell of a shot! Now shoot the buck".
First time I ever muzzleloader hunted I borrowed a .45 caliber KY rifle. I felt like Jeremah Johnson out there in the wilderness as I stalked those woods. Finally, during one of my pauses I hear movement louder than a squirrel but being quiet too. In front of me theres a little bamboo thicket and out pops a medium sized 8 pt. He stops and knows somethings wrong but stands there nice and pretty facing me. 25 yards (ish) from me. I cock the hammer (loudest damn sound in the world) and boom!. Except no it went pop really loud 3 times on 3 different caps. Finally the buck looks at me and snorts as he turned and ambled off. No run, no tail flag, not even a dang jog! He just walked on by like he knew he was safe!.
I got back to the trucks with my two buddies and the guy who lent me the muzzleloader said I cleaned it last night for you. He left a nipple full of oil. Cleaned that out and shot it about the same distance the deer was and hit dead center! Havent touched a muzzleloader since... lol
I got back to the trucks with my two buddies and the guy who lent me the muzzleloader said I cleaned it last night for you. He left a nipple full of oil. Cleaned that out and shot it about the same distance the deer was and hit dead center! Havent touched a muzzleloader since... lol
Dogcapper reminds me of one.....
This was 30+ years ago.I was running a fulltime cabinet shop during the day and working till the wee hrs 7 days a week on my place.Learning what burning the candle at both ends really means.
So it's opening Saturday for general firearms Deer.Dang it,I'm going hunting.Snag a DW744,429421 backed by max load of 2400.I wasn't in the woods 5 minutes and was sound asleep.An hr? later,wake up to some leaves rustling,remember it well thinking and chuckling......dang,great hunt,eer nap.
But the wrustling was a bruiser buck mounting a doe,at around 60 yds downhill from the Oak I was leaning against.Still happy,grateful,for the nap and time in the woods......the doe,week knees,wanders downhill.The buck,grinning ear to ear,lites up a Marlboro red(not really) and walks to within 15' of me.BLAMMMM!Just a nice mature animal.....died with a smile on.
This was 30+ years ago.I was running a fulltime cabinet shop during the day and working till the wee hrs 7 days a week on my place.Learning what burning the candle at both ends really means.
So it's opening Saturday for general firearms Deer.Dang it,I'm going hunting.Snag a DW744,429421 backed by max load of 2400.I wasn't in the woods 5 minutes and was sound asleep.An hr? later,wake up to some leaves rustling,remember it well thinking and chuckling......dang,great hunt,eer nap.
But the wrustling was a bruiser buck mounting a doe,at around 60 yds downhill from the Oak I was leaning against.Still happy,grateful,for the nap and time in the woods......the doe,week knees,wanders downhill.The buck,grinning ear to ear,lites up a Marlboro red(not really) and walks to within 15' of me.BLAMMMM!Just a nice mature animal.....died with a smile on.
hogpatrol
Gold $$ Contributor
As I get older, I find myself not as wide awake when I need to be. Was deer hunting a hay field, most shots within 100 yards and set up in a depression in a bordering hedgerow. Nice comfortable spot, had my predator chair, my hot seat and my muzzleloader on a bipod. At the end of the field is a small patch of woods where the deer come out around half hour before to half hour after sundown. Got in and set up around 3:30, an hour and a half before sundown. Sitting there for about fifteen minutes, figure I'll rest my eyelids for a second or two. Open my eyes, and there are six nice does out feeding. Move slowly, put the crosshairs on the biggest one and pull the trigger. She jumps and kicks and takes off in the opposite direction as the others. I look at my watch, 5:00. God only knows how long they were out there with me sound asleep. Got up and walked to a bordering patch of woods and there she lay, nice double lunger.
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