Hunting stories

[BigBill]

Lets hear your hunting stories!!!!!!

My mothers brothers (uncles) plus the buddies they grew up with all hunted together for many years. They managed to go to Vermont thru a co-worker back in the 50's. They stayed on a 625acre farm. Back in 73 my cousin invited me to go bear hunting with him in October were we stayed in a small home made trailer that my uncles fabricated. Arriving in Vt. by noon after lunch we started out heading down an old logging road into the national forest. We found three old apple orchards while going up the side of a mountain. We sat at the top of the last apple orchard. There were bird hunters in the lower orchard. When they left it got really quiet. Within 15 minutes we heard something heading towards us in the high brush. It was a blackbear. It got about 20 yds from me and a little bird got into the tree above me and sang its heart out to the beat of "GO Back" there are hunters infront of you. Well that blackbear got the message and went down around us and stayed out of sight and went up behind us and got to go were it wanted to go towards the top of the mountain. We spooked that bear for 4 days and never got a shot but it was so exceiting just to be that close to it. It was just so much fun to stalk it even though we never harvested it. This was my very first big game hunting experience. BB

Back in '86 we purchased land in the same town were my uncles stayed on the farm so what they started would continue for the future generations in my family. Making the trek to VT to hunt every fall has been awesome and so much fun. We spent many vacations with the kids there too. Its a place were you can fire a BB gun with no one complaining and even fire guns with nothing said. My camp is in the backwoods of VT smack in the green mountains you can hunt from my deck. Tubing on the white river and getting the biggest ice cream for $1 they call it a creme. It proves you don't have to spend a lot of $$ on a vacation to have fun. We rode quads and dirtbikes and mini bikes too. It was the best investment of 10k i ever spent for the 7 1/4 acres.

Last edited by BigBill on Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[spiveyman]

I've always wanted to go bear hunting, but dad isn't too keen on the idea (chicken ). I want him to take me somewhere like Canada or Alaska when I graduate.... we have black bears here, but I think it'd be neat to travel and go after a bigun' . I'd also settle for caribou or moose..... I absolutely love my white tail deer hunting, but I get the urge every now and then to go after something exotic

Great story - I probably would've passed out had I been that close

[grumpy]

I've always wanted to hunt a bear with a pistol but I would require someone right behind me with a cannon in case all I did was pi## him off. Got no takers for the cannon job yet. Grump

[spiveyman]

I would totally back you up, Grumpy !!! And if I miss, all I gotta do is outrun you

[BigBill]

In the fall of '74 my older brother came with us and a writer for a local outdoor magazine (Jack)came with us. When we first got to VT we hit a place near Rutland to hunt. Jack didn't have his hunting license yet so he went off with my cousin who had his bow for deer hunting. We split up and me and my brother hit the thick pines. We spooked something big out of the pines maybe a moose. There were bear signs all over the apple orchard that day. Very fresh claw marks in the trees too. When we got back together Jacks knees were knocking. We deceided to go to the camp and our plan was to head up to our usual bear hunt haunt the next morning. Jack got his hunting license by now too.
As we went into the national forest trail at 5am we had a bobcat on our right side and a bear on our left side all the way up the trail in the dark. The bear would hoot at the cat and the cat would growl back. All we had were 2 cell flashlites. Vermont adds new meaning to the word dark. You can't see your hand infront of your face. We got to the upper orchard by first light. We sat for a little while but we were still being watched. As we left to go back down the mountain the bear followed us and hooted at us the whole way down. As we got off the trail near the access road we seen bear tracks in the mud. Of course they look bigger in the mud but my brother got a little more nervous anyway. In '75 my brother was reluctant to come with us. It was quite a few years before my brother would go with us again. But he would never go in the woods in the dark again. He had to be out before dark too. I guess this bear really spooked him. I once found large bear tracks in the snow at 3:30pm and my brother said its getting dark lets go. It was just the shadow of the mountains with the sun going down. It got to the point the bear was having fun with us. Every year we chased it and it never gave us a shot at it. I'm not sure if we taught it or it taught us. We finally agreed to just let it go, so we stayed away from that area for a while. The last time we were up there its droppings were around a 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket he was a bigg'n by then. Just stalking it was fun knowing it was there and so were we.

No one has any hunting stories???????

[spiveyman]

No one has any hunting stories???????

Well, I dont have any stories about a bear stalking me but at the family farm where I hunt, I have sighted I suppose what you would call a north american panther ? Or perhaps a cougar (do they come in black?? ). Two or three seasons ago , I was in a tripod stand on the south end of our block of woods. It had been a quiet morning, and I was getting quite hungry. I whipped out a slim jim and started fiddling with the wrapper. When I looked up after having taken a bite, I saw the black cat move from the left to the right, out of some brush , walked 10 yards, then into more brush. All of this was 25 yards in front of me. Needless to say i was quite shocked. I really only caught a good view of the hindquarters and tail, but I could see the whole body stalk through the brush. I waited a while until I felt it was "safe", and rode the 4 wheeler back home. That evening, I sat in a stand on the north end of the block. A little before dusk, I heard something moving in the brush off to my right at about 2 o'clock. It was big.........I'm thinking, yay a deer! Then it let out this hair-raising moan/ growl (just like a tiger on animal planet). Sure, I know better than to shoot at a noise, but I knew no one was in there with me as we have no neighbors. And I knew no one could imitate that sound. I sent two shots that way and all but slid down the ladder and jumped on the fourwheeler. As to what it was, I never saw and I didnt care to find out.

Since then, once, maybe twice a year, we'll see the LARGE cat tracks in the freshly disked fields. They are not a dog, and way too big for a bobcat. Myself, my mother, sister, and I think maybe my grandma have seen "a cat". The SC DNR totally denies black cats exist in North America, but it's funny that they add a note in the Rule book - "If you think you've seen a large cat, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx " . Anyways, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I know what I saw. I hope one day to get a better look. Until then, you'll have to believe me

[Mr E]

Andrew,
I know south Georgia is a long way from you, but it is a documented fact that there was a pair of black Panthers ranging through by our plant a few years back. Have not heard anything about them of late. Maybe they went up your way.

[spiveyman]

Mr Roy,


The farmstead is in the lower (eastern) part of the state, a little ways below Florence. While it is probably more or less the same distance as the house in Simpsonville to Southern Georgia, it is roughly the same landscape/ terrain as south Georgia. I guess the SC DNR doesn't care to branch out and read the news?? As pretty as (I'm sure) they are.........you can have 'em back !!!!!!

[dakcub]

OK I could only think of one good story. Lived in the city.....backed out of my driveway to go to the store. Came back and my neighbor showed up at my door with a dead pidgeon in a zip lock baggie, crying I killed her baby. I guess it was in the street and I backed over it. She called me a baby killer. She then called the sherriff on me. When they showed up to talk to me I was like......if her bird was that stupid not to move maybe it wanted to die. Anyway I explained they were always roosting above my driveway and pooping everywhere. Here in California they are a nusince bird and he told me I could get a permit and shoot them. Si I did....she never let her birds loose again...I wasn't her favorite neighbor after that....but it was good hunting just the same.....
Robert (putting on his flame suit) Miller

[Eugene]

Brother # 3 and #4 went out to sight in a 50 cal black powder rife with new scope. Brother #3 fires off several rounds then hands the rifle to brother #4. Brother #4 fires off a round and has a mark above his eye where the rifle kick shoved the scope into his eye brow. Brother #3 who is a bit shorter shoots off another couple of rounds. Nothing serious. Brother #3 fires off another round. Kick shoves the scope into the bridge of #3's nose, splitting it wide open. Blood spraying all over brother #3 glasses. Brother #4 takes one look and runs to the pickup. Grabs a bag and runs back. Brother #3 thinks brother #4 is running to get the first aid kit to stop the bleeding.

Brother #4 tells brother #3 to put his glasses back on, opens up the bag, take out a camera. Says, I want to get a picture of this.

[smigelski]

Spiveyman, they sated NC did not have any panthers either. However on a nice foggy NC morning. I had pistol range duty. I arrived about 45 minutes early, wanted to be on time(they told me the wrong time). The pistol range was about 100yds from a set of barracks, and 50 ft from the main road. Shortly after my arrival a corp. showed up. We were sitting there drinking coffee and talking. When a black cat about the same size as a moutnain lion walked out of the brush and sat right there 20yds from us. It sat there a good 10 minutes then just walked away. we decided to go look and there was big cat tracks in the mud. When the Capt. showed up we told him. He just laughed, then called the base warden to prove we were wrong. The base warden was there in 5 minutes. He said he had seen the same cat. However the NC DNR said they did not exist. He was glad that we had seen it and it was reported. We later talked to a NC DNR rep. he told us that we did not see a panther. I wish there were digital cameras back then.

[smigelski]

funny hunting story, I have had 2 hunting partners for the past 18yrs. 1 of the guys is older and the other is my age. about our 3rd year hunting together, Bart who is my age(bart is a nickname -Simpsons). decided to save some money and get an all around license vs buying each 1 seperate. Robbie who is the older only gets his shotgun license. We duck hunted everyday we had off, and the occasional pheasant hunt. We always left my house at 5am to go duck hunting, boat ramp is at the end of my street. opening morning we got everything ready to go. Off we go, we get set up all the decoys out, the perfect morning for opening day. Me and Robbie get our coffee out and start talking about the season to come. That is when we heared Bart shuffleing through his gun box. Asked him if he forgot his shells, replied nope. Asked him if he forgot his gun, replied nope. Asked him if he forgot his calls, replied nope. He then replied he forgot his license. So back we go to the ramp. Un hooked my truck and he drove back to my house to get his license. So we sat at the boat ramp for the first 20 minutes of opening days. since he had the all around license it was on his bow case since he was bow hunting the day before.
3 weeks later Bart and Robbie were going pheasant hunting. Suppose to meet at 7am at the fire house. At 8am Bart had not showed up, so Robbie left. At 830 Bart called, so of pheasant hunting they go. It was an hours drive to the state land where they were going to hunt. Upon arrival, they get out and put all their hunting clothes on, about that time Bart started figetting through his shell box. Bart had forgot his license again, it was back home on his bow case. So another hour ride home, to get his license.
He has not bought an all around license since.

[Lance Leitzel]

OK, I guess it is my turn. How to get your first deer and take your kids hunting at the same time.

I had been hunting with my Father In Law for a year or two before getting my first deer. Always something would go wrong, and opening day in 2006 was no exception. I was sick as a dog with the flu. Alarm goes off at 5:30 am on Saturday, I don't even bother with the snooze button and just go back to bed. Wife wakes me up to double check I don't want to go hunting. Nope, too sick. Well, it is now 7:30 or so and I am sleeping. Kids burst into the room, "Dad Dad! There are deer under your stand." The stand is 175 yards from the house, I tell the kids to just leave me alone. 3 minutes later, "Dad Dad! there are deer in the back yard!!!" There are 9 does standing 75 yards from the house in the back yard. Since it seems my kids don't care that I'm sick, I figure I'll humor hoping the deer will go away. I stumble out of bed, open the gun safe and retrieve slug gun and ammo, making lots of noise (to scare off the deer) I open the bedroom window. Deer just stand there, don't even notice me at all. I sit down on floor, load gun hoping the deer will leave. No such luck. Take aim at the lead doe and whisper to my kids, "cover your ears, this might be a little loud".

BANG! (yes 12 gauge slug guns are loud). Doe runs about 100 yards and drops like a rock. Kids are bouncing up and down singing "Dad got a deer!" over and over again. Wife notices that I'm not has happy as everyone else is, but I am doing my best to hide it. "You know I now have to field dress that darn thing now." I whisper to my wife.

There is nothing better than having 9 other veterian hunters watch me field dress this deer (and of course offer differing advice) to keep the peer pressure up not to get sick while doing so. I have been hooked on deer hunting ever since, but my friends do take great pleasure in buying me hunter orange PJ's. And yes, when it is 8 degrees out and I look up at my house, I still wish I could hunt from bed.

[BigBill]

When I was able to walk good and my older brother was alive we would walk all over the place hunting we never sat in one spot for too long. We would drive my 4x4 as far as we could go, pack some snacks and head up the mountain on foot. On this one occasion i packed one of those throw away camera's with me. There was about 3" of fresh falled snow on the ground as we headed up to one of my favorite spots. First we came across blackbear tracks which appeared to be a mother and cub and thinking about being there if we see the cub or her i don't want to shoot one or the other if she protects her baby. So we started to back out of there when i seen a very large cat track. I knew it was a mountainlion track right away. We put a pack of cigarette's next to it to show the size comparision and i snapped the pics. This was back around the late 80's. Now i'm positively sure there are mountainlions in VT in the higher elevations. They call the mountainlions "catamounts" in vermont for some reason but there still mountainlions for sure. Almost a decade later in the late 90's while returning to my camp after having supper at my neighbors house on the other side of the valley me, my wife and son caught the back 2/3rds of a mountainlion going into the high grass in the field not too far from my neighbors house with its 3' long curly tail. Judging by what i saw i would estimate it between 180 to 200lbs it was that big. The very next morning while gassing up his dirtbike for a ride my son and i heard a loud growl from up on the ridge above us. I knew right away this mountainlion was near us. After a few low growls it left and i never heard it or seen it again. But i figure that since there multiplying and needing more food to support them there moving into the low lands to search for food.

I did tell my neighbor about what we saw and he kind of laughed at us. Then he talked with the neighbor who lives above him and she said she is from Colorado and knows what mountainlions look like and she is seeing them too.

The bottomline is most people i tell my story too laugh at me. They say that mountainlions are extinct in these parts. With all the millions of acres of forest land can they actually say they killed every mountainlion. How could they be so sure. Lets face it i looked for 10 years after seeing the tracks to see one because there so elusive.

Now i have also noticed that the coyotes in VT some of them appear to be the size of a female german shepards. From the ones i have seen shot close up so I think there actually wolves. So i mentioned that to other hunters but really got no good answer why. If i mentioned about wolves they would laugh at me too. Soon after I read an article about the canadian wolves crossing the frozen water in upper new york state into the US from canada and there interbreeding with our coyotes making a larger wolf type coyote. Now thinking about them crossing into the US I thought why didn't anyone think about the mountainlions doing the same crossing into the US too?

We had a northest mountain lion reporting site but do to hecklers and non believers it was shut down. People would report seeing mountainlions from all over the northeast. Having these reports are like getting warnings to becareful if your in that area camping or hiking or even in your back yard with small kids. We had reports from most of the northeast states too. Some from populated places you wouldn't believe possible too. And it would be multiple posts about the same area too. I'll post the sightings i can remember.

Connecticut
Newtown (lake zoar dam area a mountainlion was seen by a newspaper night delivery truck driver he was shocked to actually see it)
New Milford (mountainlion was spotted in a housing development a populated area)
Falls Village (housitonic river area)
Thomaston My wife and Daughter seen a mountainlion laying down eating something maybe a deer it was too ocupied and busy to see them it was behind a fallen log. My son seen tracks in the snow while walking the family dog near their condo. This is near blackrock state park were many reports of a resident mountainlion is staying there too its probably the same one as in the condo area.

Maine
Wells area wild life management area/swamp not far from the shoreline.( Mulitple reports too.)

Vermont
Granville In the area of the national forest near the bowel mill(female with kittens spotted playing with an empty gallon milk jug.)
Rutland Rural area mailman spotted a mountainlion while delivering mail (again a semi populated area with small kids)

My point is to educate your kids to be aware it may just save there lives. There seems to be mountainlion sighting reports from many states now too. Its not just the northeast.

[BigBill]

OK I could only think of one good story. Lived in the city.....backed out of my driveway to go to the store. Came back and my neighbor showed up at my door with a dead pidgeon in a zip lock baggie, crying I killed her baby. I guess it was in the street and I backed over it. She called me a baby killer. She then called the sherriff on me. When they showed up to talk to me I was like......if her bird was that stupid not to move maybe it wanted to die. Anyway I explained they were always roosting above my driveway and pooping everywhere. Here in California they are a nusince bird and he told me I could get a permit and shoot them. Si I did....she never let her birds loose again...I wasn't her favorite neighbor after that....but it was good hunting just the same.....
Robert (putting on his flame suit) Miller

No flame for me, I ran over my neighbor lapsa apso (what ever you call it) with my full size suburban. I swerved to miss the kid chasing it and hit the dog with my right rear tire. The rear tire went up pretty high and slammed down on the dog. I figured the dog tried to hold the truck up like charles atlas holds up the world. The kid ran out from a row of very tall bushes along the road side. I took the dog in the center of the truck to miss the kid at the sametime but it caught the rear tire. I saved the kid but the dog was road pizza. I had to go home to call the police at the time. When the woman who owned the dog got home as the cop arrived she told the cop the dog was tied in the back yard. Soon after this woman would stop at my mailbox and chant some voodoo crap on me. I always had bad luck anyway so its hard to tell if the voodoo stuff worked.