What the closest face-to-face encounters you've had with animals while hunting?

[eddielasvegas]

Good stories in this thread.


Eddie

 

[MulemanMT]

I had a grizzly bear snap his jaws and not leave while bow hunting elk in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. He was about 40 yards away.

 

[Panhandler80]

walked into a horse one time. Literally. About crapped my pants. Actually…..

 

[ccthomasjr]

Charged by hippo in Tanzania. Hit it in the right eye from 20yds, went up on back to legs with jaws wide open and came down full charge again.

The bottom metal of my .375 came open from the recoil somehow and my bullets lay scattered on the ground. PH saw my problem and opened up point blank (maybe 4ft from the tip of his 500 nitro) with both barrels in the side of the head. All it did was knock it off course from the percussion as it blew by him barreling down on me. The force of his shots turned its head and body just enough for to blow by me at 2ft jaws wide open trying to split me in half.

Even wilder part is it took 4 more shots and over a mile of tracking to finally bring him down, despite having 3 in the head.

My first shot missed his brain by maybe 1”. I had a scope on my gun but didn’t use it, it charged so fast and was so close I just pulled up and reaction shot.

I’ve had close encounters but that one was 2ft from ending in my death.

Even crazier part was when I got back home to Texas. Had a full on scene out of Ol Yeller. Survived Africa and came home to ranch in south Texas and my cousin shot a 227lb boar. Crawled into the brush and thought he’d killed it. Went to check the feeder later that day and that SOB burst out of the brush at us and we had a full on war. Lasted 30min. I jumped out of the path, landing on my back, flipped over to see the boar being held by the ears wihh th my cousin on his ass chomping at him with his tusk missing dick by about .5” (literally was biting his pants but not him.

Jumped up and kicked it as hard as I could to knock it off him. No weapon and it lunged at me. Same scenario played out…and again and again. For 30min. We literally beat it to death with rocks bashing its head in (not a soft head). Every time we would release it hoping it would scamper off it would full charge again. Never gone cave man beating a rabid animal to death before but wow. We eventually killed that boar with rocks and sat down both absolutely exhausted unable to lift our arms and covered in blood like a scene out of Band of Brothers.

Escaped Africa from the charging Hippo, a charging Cape Buffalo that almost killed my wife, to almost be killed by a ******* wounded boar on my own ranch.

Been hit by a rattlesnake bending down to pick up a quail and several close mock bear charges but that month God was trying to tell me something.

 

[6mm Remington]

Black bear about 8 feet off the end of my muzzle! I shot at this bear at about 250 yards. I missed but was not sure if I had hit her or not. I shot she took a couple steps and just disappeard on a steep clearcut hillside here in Montana. I was shooting my Ruger 1B in 30-06. My hunting partner had left his rifle in the pickup as we had just walked out on this clearcut to just kind of scope it out while we were waiting for evening to come. He ran back to my Jeep and grabbed his rifle and came back. I sat there waiting form him to arrive before we went to investigate. Walked up a two track on the clearcut. He set up on the hillside looking down to where the bear had been standing when I shot. He was about 20 yards away. I went down below the road and walked towards what I thought might be the bears den. It was November and getting cold. As I approached to about 10 feet from the den hole in the side of the mountain, I could just make out a side profile on the bear as it was facing out. I was watching and the bear was alive as she blinked. Holy crap.
I had to drop down below the den and cross the 50 degree slope (roughly) below it and come in from the other side as the hole came into the mountain at an angle. I had one round in the chamber and one round in my left hand as I approached from below and to the side. When I was about 8-10 feet away I could see the bear looking out. I hollered for my partner to be ready as I was going to shoot. At this time I still did not know if I had hit the bear or not. Turns out I did not, but I was faced with the possibility of facing this possibly wounded or completely healthy bear at spitting distance. I pulled up my rifle and looked down the barrel to aim as I was too close to use the scope. I squeezed off the shot and spun on my hills and tried to put some space between me and the bear while I was loading the round I had held in my hand into the chamber. I got about 20 feet or so away and turned back to face the den and could see the bears head was down. I hit her just above her right eye killing her instantly. My adrenaline dumped big time and I was pretty pumped up. I don't know which was worse, going in after a wounded bear, or one that was completely healthy and full of fight. My partner was worse off than me, and he hadn't even been the one on the possible receiving end of pissed off bear.

One thing that was surprising to me is that the bear never snapped her teeth or growled at me the whole time. She ended up being 5' nose to tail, was very fat, and weighed about 200 pounds. The picture is back at camp as we had no means to take pictures where this adventure took place.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

I was 21-22 yrs old, spearfishing off the coast of Mexico Beach, Florida. Not free-diving but SCUBA. 80 feet of water with 30 foot visibility. I shot a big sheepshead just between eye and top of head and it wiggled off and swam away. My dad saw it happen and I motioned to him that I was going after it. He gave the Ok and sat against some debris waiting to ambush a gag grouper that was playing hide-n-seek.

Hit the fish again in the same spot the 2nd time. Swam toward a different bit of the wreck separate from the main barge. Hit the fish a 3rd time in the same spot and said to hell with it. The problem was I couldn't see my dad due to visibility. Knew that I had passed another smallish section of the wreck in my path after the fish and picked an angle off the current outcropping and swam that way.

As I got closer to what I though was the initially passed outcropping, I saw "it" begin to move as I got closer. And then it swam off. It was the biggest goliath grouper I've ever seen and looked like a VW Bug. Scared the shit out of me and I was getting low on air.

Went back the way I came, tried a different angle off the wreck, and found my dad. He was pointing at his air gauge, as he was also low on air, and clearly pissed off at me.

Shot a big trigger fish on the way to our anchor and subsequent decompression stop, with juuusssssst enough air to decompress.

One of the biggest ass-chewings I received by my father. The next dive after lunch I was put in timeout for an hour. KO'd a big gag grouper once I got out of time out, and my Dad was annoyed.

 

[elkbowhuntr]

Called in a Grizzly to 8 yards while bowhunting elk, felt a little vulnerable at that moment. LOL.

 

[CJ19]

My experience was most unexpected. A hummingbird flew in to inspect something on my face. It hovered only inches from my eyes for about 30 seconds. One if those unexpectedly fascinating moments you never knew you wanted to have.

 

[Tom-D]

I had a wombat at about 6ft on saturday… saw my life flash before my eyes

 

[TheGDog]

My experience was most unexpected. A hummingbird flew in to inspect something on my face. It hovered only inches from my eyes for about 30 seconds. One if those unexpectedly fascinating moments you never knew you wanted to have.

Oh Yeah!! The moment you damn near jump outta your skin because some Hummingbird sees "this bush" (you in a leafy suit) there and decides to check it out, just inches from your earhole! HaHA!

Kinda like when you're hiking back out int he dark, and on the trail line there are trees and bushes that are taller than your head and you end up spooking/flushing roosted Quail... also feet from your head, in the middle of the night. hehe.

 

[MTtrout]

I’ve had many close encounters with wildlife but the ones that alway startle me is when I’m about to step on a snake. I spend my entire youth catching them and one day everything changed. I used to trap black bears in Georgia for the DNR and didn’t appreciate all the snakes! Using a 10’ jab pole to tranquillize an angry bear that only had a few toes caught in a leg snare was nothing compared to the time when I was there and stepped over a log onto a large black rat snake and fell onto the ground next to it. Not proud of how much fear was involved.

The funniest one was when my wife and I camped in our first floorless shelter, mega tarp. She wasn’t convinced about the idea but I assured her Rokslide said it was great. We were in the PNW and it was a downpour. Our sleeping bags zipped together and during the night I woke up to a mouse running down my back and could feel it scurrying at our feet. I kept that to myself for awhile

 

[handwerk]

woke up from a midday nap during a Colorado elk hunt to find this guy sniffing my boots, he hung around for 10 minutes or so, it seemed chill to the extent it let me reach in my pack and grab my camera.

 

[flathead#2]

Had a Brown Bear sniff my face through the tent in the middle of the night.
Literally inches. Terrified would be an understatement.
Left 5 gallons of blueberry poop at the front door for me the next AM.

 

[DuckDogDr]

About 2 maybe 3 years ago we had a literal brand new spear fisher on the boat for a big tournament.
4 of us on a drop at a time. Newbie was paired up with the divemaster .

First dive Newbie was too reluctant to shoot / had trouble ID ing fish even when shown legal ones…. And subsequently there was a “discussion“ on the boat

1/2 way through the Second drop we saw 4 sharks swimming around and called the dive / started surfacing.. .. at that time a school of amberjack swam right in front of us … and the newbie (I can only assume hearing the dive master’s voice ) raised their gun to shoot …. We all kept trying to wave them off to STOP …. DO NOT SHOOT…STOP…..THUNK……F@&$
Spear went right through the gills ( if any of you have any dealings with Amberjack you know that is not the first fish someone should shoot / try to wrestle down)
The sharks went NUTS .. I tried to send my step kid (my dive buddy) to the surface but he refused to leave me… he hung with me and we both started stabbing the sharks with our spear guns trying to keep them off of both us and the other 2 while the Divemaster was trying to get the fish under control and stave off sharks as well.
A few minutes in the ordeal ; I heard my step kid start yelling through his regulator . Assuming the worst I spun around only to watch a Tiger shark .. mouth wide open, eyes rolled back in head like something out of the discovery channel swim no further distance than a center console away from my head and snatch the amberjack out of the water . Divemaster cut the line and we bailed out of the ensuing feeding frenzy…

 

[DuckDogDr]

I've had several, had a female grizzly with 2 cubs so close I could have touched her, had a black bear climb up the tree that our stand was in while hunting over a baitsite and could have touched it as well. I've also had several bull moose within spitting distance that were coming into calls but they were not legal, they can be difficult to run off if they are ready for a fight. Shot a mule deer buck in Idaho one time, went to go grab it and it was still alive but luckily for me his neck was broke and I finished him off with a round through behind the ear.

@Alaskan89 how did you not shit your pants with the brown bear

 

[glank09]

When I was in high school, when driving down a trail in my quad to go hunting, I had a big turkey fly out of the brush and bounce off of my chest. Last year I stepped within a foot of a skunk, still thankful it didn’t spray me.

 

[ZValentine]

While hunting, I shot a small buck in self defense at about 5 feet when I was 15. I was walking a trail and someone else spooked a bunch of deer at me and this buck was using the same trail I was on.

I used to work as a packer/wrangler for an outfit out of June Lake, CA that did horse trips into Yosemite and we regularly had blackbears in camp close enough to slap of kick, they would run off and circle the camp, it was fun sport to chase them with ropes and horses so they left you alone. It was a real problem from hikers not securing their food and bears acclimating to people=food.

 

[Choupique]

A fox stole my sammich out of my hands.

 

[Charlie-NY]

On a northern Maine bear hunt I had a surprising encounter with a BIG sow. My outfitter asked all hunters to remain in the ladderstands until the guide actually picked us up. I hunted until dark and then unloaded my rifle. I sat there in the total dark under a heavy canopy for some time before something ran right under and past my stand. It was a small cub running to the bait. A minute later, another cub ran under the stand and to the bait. Now I was like all eyes and ears looking for the sow. I eventually saw the black shadow of the sow which walked slowly to the bait. The bait was only 20yds away but it was difficult to see the bears, but they made plenty of noise.

Eventually, I see the sow walk away from the cubs & bait and head in my direction. She disappeared in the darkness but I knew she was close. All of a sudden, I feel her weight pull down on the metal ladderstand. I don't feel her moving but the weight wasn't released either. I slowly reached into my pack for a tactical light that was extremely bright when deployed. I waited a few minutes and then leaned forward as I turned on the light to see if the sow was still there. To my total SHOCK, that sow had her fat head right between my boots. Holy sheet!!

I have never been so startled in my life.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

The lion in my avatar was 10ish yards. Was calling for javelina. Looked up and this dude was staring into my soul from the bushes in front of me.

Shot him in the neck with a snap shot, he busted a 180 hauling ass, blood spurting out, made it to another hill about 120ish yards away and cut perpendicular to me still running, then I shot him in the back leg. He spun in a circle and tipped over.