Not hunting, but watering the plants... Was maybe 11 or 12 years old and Dad told me to go water the garden, went out barefoot and took one step off the deck, felt something move under my foot. Rattle snake pinned to the ground but the dirt was too soft for my foot to have killed it. Yelled for dad to bring a shovel to cut it in half, had to do it far enough down where it's death wriggles wouldnt give it a chance to wriggle out from under my foot. I stood there for what felt like a long time till dad put on his boot, cut it in half, then stepped on the dying head so I could safely move.
What’s the gnarliest situation you’ve been in while hunting?
- Thread starter HorseCreek
- Start date
I was chasing elk with my bow a few years ago and we had had several opportunities that morning and the particular drainage we were in was full of rutted up and receptive bulls, was an awesome day until it wasn't. We spotted the king of the mountain at the head of the drainage and decided to hunker down and watch him bed and make a move in the afternoon.
We posted up about 1/2 mile away and got settled in for a nap. I was already half asleep when my buddy uttered the one word that makes your blood run cold in the wyoming mountains, BEAR! He doesn't use optics with his stick bow set up so I knew that the bear must be close, unlike when someone sees one in the spotter. It was about 300 yds away and working it's way up the drainage with purpose nose to the wind. We were archery hunting so it wasn't like we had open cans of tuna or something but this thing was definitely winding us and basically running a grid to our location. We had about enough time to draw our side arms and bear spray before it was uncomfortably close. We both started yelling when it was 100 yds or so out and it stopped, stood up, smelled our wind again and hit the ground running directly at us. It blitzed a small meadow and was blasting through downed timber and in our laps within a few seconds. I was just about to drop the hammer on the thing when it turned a quick 90 and was close enough to kick dirt and sticks on us. I've had plenty of close encounters with bears but being actively hunted like that was really spooky. I don't know what made him turn but I'm thankful he did.
We posted up about 1/2 mile away and got settled in for a nap. I was already half asleep when my buddy uttered the one word that makes your blood run cold in the wyoming mountains, BEAR! He doesn't use optics with his stick bow set up so I knew that the bear must be close, unlike when someone sees one in the spotter. It was about 300 yds away and working it's way up the drainage with purpose nose to the wind. We were archery hunting so it wasn't like we had open cans of tuna or something but this thing was definitely winding us and basically running a grid to our location. We had about enough time to draw our side arms and bear spray before it was uncomfortably close. We both started yelling when it was 100 yds or so out and it stopped, stood up, smelled our wind again and hit the ground running directly at us. It blitzed a small meadow and was blasting through downed timber and in our laps within a few seconds. I was just about to drop the hammer on the thing when it turned a quick 90 and was close enough to kick dirt and sticks on us. I've had plenty of close encounters with bears but being actively hunted like that was really spooky. I don't know what made him turn but I'm thankful he did.
AK Troutbum
WKR
Two brown bears in camp on Kodiak island in the middle of the night. Camp being shredded while my buddy and me are huddled up in the tent with an electric fence around it, and hoping that is enough to keep them out. We were more prepared the next night and killed them when they came back at about 2:00 AM. There’s a lot more to the story, but that was the jest of it.
adventure907
WKR
Seeing and trying to comfort a man who's face had been removed by a grizzly bear.
264win
WKR
Hard to top the first few stories, here are couple more.
Buddy and I are archery elk hunting in some brush mountain country, we hike in to a small clearing before light to set up on some well used trails about 100yds apart. Just at first light, I hear him yell then a half dozen shots. After a 100yd sprint I found my buddy looking white as a ghost, next to a dead cougar. After back tracking it we realized it had followed us down the trail for almost a mile.
A few years later another buddy and I are hunting archery elk up high. After stopping for lunch in a little bowl we get up to leave and see a black bear sneaking towards us through a small draw. At this point it is 50 yds away and my buddy decides he wants to shoot it with his pistol ( we both always carry bear tags). We decide that I will back away and my buddy will hide behind a boulder and wait until the bear gets in to 20yds to shoot it. So I worked my way up a hillside about 50 yds from my buddy, planning to try and film him shooting the bear. All goes well until as the bear gets closer, I see him draw his pistol, then put the pistol on the ground and start scrambling back towards his bow, and yells for me to get back there ASAP. After scrambling back down to my buddy and shooting the bear, I asked him WTH happened?
Apparently he realized when he drew his pistol, that he had grabbed his 22 that morning instead of his 357 ( matching revolvers ). Lol
. He will never live that one down ..
Buddy and I are archery elk hunting in some brush mountain country, we hike in to a small clearing before light to set up on some well used trails about 100yds apart. Just at first light, I hear him yell then a half dozen shots. After a 100yd sprint I found my buddy looking white as a ghost, next to a dead cougar. After back tracking it we realized it had followed us down the trail for almost a mile.
A few years later another buddy and I are hunting archery elk up high. After stopping for lunch in a little bowl we get up to leave and see a black bear sneaking towards us through a small draw. At this point it is 50 yds away and my buddy decides he wants to shoot it with his pistol ( we both always carry bear tags). We decide that I will back away and my buddy will hide behind a boulder and wait until the bear gets in to 20yds to shoot it. So I worked my way up a hillside about 50 yds from my buddy, planning to try and film him shooting the bear. All goes well until as the bear gets closer, I see him draw his pistol, then put the pistol on the ground and start scrambling back towards his bow, and yells for me to get back there ASAP. After scrambling back down to my buddy and shooting the bear, I asked him WTH happened?
Apparently he realized when he drew his pistol, that he had grabbed his 22 that morning instead of his 357 ( matching revolvers ). Lol
. He will never live that one down ..idahohikker
WKR
- Joined
- May 10, 2017
- Messages
- 2,158
Two brown bears in camp on Kodiak island in the middle of the night. Camp being shredded while my buddy and me are huddled up in the tent with an electric fence around it, and hoping that is enough to keep them out. We were more prepared the next night and killed them when they came back at about 2:00 AM. There’s a lot more to the story, but that was the jest of it.
More please
FLAK
WKR
Shot a Chipmunk with my bow one time. 145gr. Bear Super Razor, DRT. True story.
6 years ago a buddy and I were rifle elk hunting the St. Joe in N. Idaho. It was Mid October, and we had pulled an all nighter and gotten to the parking spot at 4 am. We hiked in about 2 miles and could see and hear a bull bugling about 1.5 miles away. It took about 3 miles to get to that area and there was elk sign everywhere. By that time it was later in the day and we determined we may as well setup a little camp and spend the night. We had no camping gear, made a fire and built a shelter with tree bows to keep some heat in. Slept for a couple hours and the clouds disappeared and it dropped to around 15 degrees. We both got cold enough to wake us up and stoke the fire again. well the wind must have picked up and blown part of our shelter onto the fire. We both woke up and the whole top section of the shelter we made is on fire. Pull all the burning selections off, clear a sleeping area out and try to sleep again, too cold. (as I said we had very limited gear, admittedly it was a terrible decision to stay out)
At this point we are having to throw wood on the fire constantly just to stay warm. Start to hear small noises around us, coming from all directions. Turn a flashlight on and see eyes back at us and instantly disappear. Keep hearing sounds all around, must be multiple animals. Then they start howling. Wolves in N. Idaho, go figure. They wont come close enough for us to get a good look at them. We had seen a lot of wolf tracks on the way in. To gather firewood I would "cover" my buddy following him with the one flashlight and pistol while he would get firewood and carry it back. They never came closer than 30 or so yards to us but I tell you what, being surrounded by wolves in the dark on the open face of a hillside is scary as hell.
At this point we are having to throw wood on the fire constantly just to stay warm. Start to hear small noises around us, coming from all directions. Turn a flashlight on and see eyes back at us and instantly disappear. Keep hearing sounds all around, must be multiple animals. Then they start howling. Wolves in N. Idaho, go figure. They wont come close enough for us to get a good look at them. We had seen a lot of wolf tracks on the way in. To gather firewood I would "cover" my buddy following him with the one flashlight and pistol while he would get firewood and carry it back. They never came closer than 30 or so yards to us but I tell you what, being surrounded by wolves in the dark on the open face of a hillside is scary as hell.
chinook907
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2014
- Messages
- 120
Probably this:
Was on a fly out hunt by myself a year and a half ago for grizzlies.
Shot right over a big one at 13 yards(initially thought that I had hit the bear); he picked me out and charged immediately.
Drew my handgun and shot over him twice (thought I had a good arrow in him and just wanted to shoosh him away).
The bear turned a few steps away and ran off.
Before the stalk.
After the shot. Size 11 packs.
Was on a fly out hunt by myself a year and a half ago for grizzlies.
Shot right over a big one at 13 yards(initially thought that I had hit the bear); he picked me out and charged immediately.
Drew my handgun and shot over him twice (thought I had a good arrow in him and just wanted to shoosh him away).
The bear turned a few steps away and ran off.
Before the stalk.
After the shot. Size 11 packs.
Poser
WKR
Had an exploratory bite from a Tiger Shark.
- Thread Starter
- #31
OP
HorseCreek
FNG
great choice in whisky! That’s a traumatic experience
- Thread Starter
- #32
OP
HorseCreek
FNG
Gaaaaaaawd damn you got giant balls! Grizz with a recurve!!!
I got nothing on you guys..
Was hiking into a spot with a buddy on a september elk archery hunt to make a spike camp. Came over a small rise and saw a grizz sitting right on the continental divide trail. We drew sidearms and hollered but he did not yield the trail.. instead, he looked our way and started snapping his teeth together. We decided to go 90 degrees up the hill and well around him. After we got home we saw a story that a man was mauled near an elk carcass just a few drainages away from where we saw that bear.
Second was.. again elk hunting, was sidehilling on a steep hill and had to step over a very large fallen pine. As i transferred me weight over the trunk, leading foot slipped and i fell and took the pointy end of a busted limb to the ribs. For a split second i thought i was in big trouble. Got away with some minor bruising and scratches.
Was hiking into a spot with a buddy on a september elk archery hunt to make a spike camp. Came over a small rise and saw a grizz sitting right on the continental divide trail. We drew sidearms and hollered but he did not yield the trail.. instead, he looked our way and started snapping his teeth together. We decided to go 90 degrees up the hill and well around him. After we got home we saw a story that a man was mauled near an elk carcass just a few drainages away from where we saw that bear.
Second was.. again elk hunting, was sidehilling on a steep hill and had to step over a very large fallen pine. As i transferred me weight over the trunk, leading foot slipped and i fell and took the pointy end of a busted limb to the ribs. For a split second i thought i was in big trouble. Got away with some minor bruising and scratches.
Kevin Dill
WKR
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2014
- Messages
- 3,158
Due to car trouble I took my wife to work. I was climbing down from my treestand 1-1/2 hours away when I remembered I was supposed to pick her up over an hour earlier. Pre cell phone days. By the time I got home you couldn't drive a toothpick past my sphincter with a sledgehammer. Her long silence was the worst thing about it....and she knew it.
Worst gnarly ever.
Worst gnarly ever.
6mm Remington
WKR
Mine pale in comparison to most of these stories.
1. Not my story but a couple years ago I called in a 5 pt bull for a friend who shot the bull. As we were getting the front half of the bull loaded onto the game cart to get it up to the gated road above us, he slipped and fell face first on the rack. One of the brow tines punctured his lower frontal face area below his lip and above his chin. Made a nice hole that took some stitches to close. Never knocked any teeth out or anything but sure hurt.
2. About 4 years ago I shot a nice cow elk with another friend. She was on a burned hillside with a lot of fallen timber and there was about 12 inches of snow covering everything. The hillside was steep and when I got to about 25 yards from where she lay I stepped on a branch about 2" in diameter that had no bark on it right about where the middle of my arch would be. Of course my foot went right out from under me and I went down in a heap and lit on my left side on a nice downed tree with my day pack (about 25-30 pounds) on my back and my rifle in my right hand. I hit really hard and both of us heard the thump when I hit the log. I cracked a couple ribs on my left side below my armpit. Still had to take care of dressing and quartering the elk out and get the quarters up to the top of the ridge to where we would come in the morning to pack out. The 3 mile hike back to the truck all uphill was tough. I used to box and in a bout one time I got a couple ribs on the same side broken and cracked in my fight so I know what broken ribs feel like. You can't hardly breath and every breath hurts. It's much worse when you start laughing.
We came back in the morning and spent most of the day taking my cow out. It was brutal with a front quarter, both backstops, and tenderloins in my pack while dragging a rear quarter with a small rope behind me!
3. When I was about 15 I was riding in a pickup with my dad's friend, his 12 year old son was sitting between us, and I was sitting by the door. His boy really had no desire to be out there hunting and you could see it and just feel it. He had no desire at all to be doing this and maybe because of this he was pretty careless. We had been out sneaking on some antelope in the snow but never got a shot. We were driving slowly on a little two track as we figured we knew where the antelope had gone and we were going to close the distance and then try and sneak on them once more. When we got back into the truck the windows were up and the heater was on as it was cold. No-one had checked his rifle or asked if he had taken the round out of his chamber. All of a sudden there was a loud boom and the truck cab was filled with dust. The barrel of his .243 had been facing down towards the floor of the cab and to the passenger side where I was seated. The muzzle of his .243 was maybe 4 inches away from my left foot when the rifle went off. The bullet nicked the edge of my left foot striking the boot I was wearing. Only than a scuff on the leather, there was no damage to my boot but it felt like someone had hit me on my little toe with a hammer, and my left leg also stung from the powder blast.
The bullet went through the floor of the pickup and took a small chunk out of the top side of the starter on the pickup. It continued on and struck the aluminum rim on the passenger front tire and the rim just exploded and the truck dropped down onto the hub. My toe and leg hurt and everyones ears were ringing but luckily nobody was seriously hurt.
1. Not my story but a couple years ago I called in a 5 pt bull for a friend who shot the bull. As we were getting the front half of the bull loaded onto the game cart to get it up to the gated road above us, he slipped and fell face first on the rack. One of the brow tines punctured his lower frontal face area below his lip and above his chin. Made a nice hole that took some stitches to close. Never knocked any teeth out or anything but sure hurt.
2. About 4 years ago I shot a nice cow elk with another friend. She was on a burned hillside with a lot of fallen timber and there was about 12 inches of snow covering everything. The hillside was steep and when I got to about 25 yards from where she lay I stepped on a branch about 2" in diameter that had no bark on it right about where the middle of my arch would be. Of course my foot went right out from under me and I went down in a heap and lit on my left side on a nice downed tree with my day pack (about 25-30 pounds) on my back and my rifle in my right hand. I hit really hard and both of us heard the thump when I hit the log. I cracked a couple ribs on my left side below my armpit. Still had to take care of dressing and quartering the elk out and get the quarters up to the top of the ridge to where we would come in the morning to pack out. The 3 mile hike back to the truck all uphill was tough. I used to box and in a bout one time I got a couple ribs on the same side broken and cracked in my fight so I know what broken ribs feel like. You can't hardly breath and every breath hurts. It's much worse when you start laughing.
We came back in the morning and spent most of the day taking my cow out. It was brutal with a front quarter, both backstops, and tenderloins in my pack while dragging a rear quarter with a small rope behind me!
3. When I was about 15 I was riding in a pickup with my dad's friend, his 12 year old son was sitting between us, and I was sitting by the door. His boy really had no desire to be out there hunting and you could see it and just feel it. He had no desire at all to be doing this and maybe because of this he was pretty careless. We had been out sneaking on some antelope in the snow but never got a shot. We were driving slowly on a little two track as we figured we knew where the antelope had gone and we were going to close the distance and then try and sneak on them once more. When we got back into the truck the windows were up and the heater was on as it was cold. No-one had checked his rifle or asked if he had taken the round out of his chamber. All of a sudden there was a loud boom and the truck cab was filled with dust. The barrel of his .243 had been facing down towards the floor of the cab and to the passenger side where I was seated. The muzzle of his .243 was maybe 4 inches away from my left foot when the rifle went off. The bullet nicked the edge of my left foot striking the boot I was wearing. Only than a scuff on the leather, there was no damage to my boot but it felt like someone had hit me on my little toe with a hammer, and my left leg also stung from the powder blast.
The bullet went through the floor of the pickup and took a small chunk out of the top side of the starter on the pickup. It continued on and struck the aluminum rim on the passenger front tire and the rim just exploded and the truck dropped down onto the hub. My toe and leg hurt and everyones ears were ringing but luckily nobody was seriously hurt.
jmez
WKR
Shark bite, you win.Had an exploratory bite from a Tiger Shark.
Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
Crowmangler
WKR
For the record, this ain't a thread I wanna win.
I had a close call in Montana 2018. Stalking through a thick wooded area with lots of blow downs. It was very quiet from the rain & we walked up on a Grizzly about 20-25 yards away on a carcass. I saw him about the same time he saw us & he bolted 90 degrees to us. Thank the Lord he didn't come at us or it could've been ugly.
As many people have said, you only have a split second to take action so you better be prepared.
I had a close call in Montana 2018. Stalking through a thick wooded area with lots of blow downs. It was very quiet from the rain & we walked up on a Grizzly about 20-25 yards away on a carcass. I saw him about the same time he saw us & he bolted 90 degrees to us. Thank the Lord he didn't come at us or it could've been ugly.
As many people have said, you only have a split second to take action so you better be prepared.
missjordan
WKR
This didn’t happen while hunting but we were scouting in the spring of 2014.
Our camper caught fire at 1 in the morning because of an electrical short in the AC/DC converter. Was very scary to wake up the the sound of crackling not the smell of smoke and in a matter of 15 minutes the entire camper was up in flames. All that was left the next morning was this.
Certain smells weird me out to this day like burning plastic or asphalt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Our camper caught fire at 1 in the morning because of an electrical short in the AC/DC converter. Was very scary to wake up the the sound of crackling not the smell of smoke and in a matter of 15 minutes the entire camper was up in flames. All that was left the next morning was this.
Certain smells weird me out to this day like burning plastic or asphalt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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