Things that go grrrr...

[Guy Miner]

A post on another board got me thinking about this...

Have you had to cope with critters that posed a danger to you? Or at least been worried about it while out hunting, fishing or hiking? Other than dusting the occasional rattlesnake, I don't recall shooting anything that was particularly dangerous - but I sure have had the hair on the back of my neck stand up a time or two!

This year, all alone and miles back into the hills, I killed a good sized mulie. For a few hours it was just me and my dead deer. I'd seen bear tracks earlier, lots of them, and it was in an area well known to hold a good cougar population. Eventually I was able to get a cell phone call out. My oldest son and a good buddy showed up to help quarter the deer and pack it out. We hiked two hours with the bloody, quartered up deer on us, every step of the way in the dark, right past all those bear tracks I'd seen earlier in the day. Mark and I had headlamps and good handguns with us, my son had neither, so he stayed between us to make best use of our lights. We did talk a little about bumping into a bear - but these are black bears around here and more prone to avoid trouble with men. We got back to the trucks all in one piece - except of course for the deer.

There have been other times when I've bumped into bears while hiking, backpacking or fishing. Never had a real problem with one though. Have also bumped into cougars a few times out in the hills, generally while alone. They move so quietly that I suspect there have been many times when they've shadowed me, while I simply didn't know it.

Hiking back to camp in Alaska one night, with a fresh salmon for dinner made me wonder a bit about the local, and very big, bears...

Camping alone - in a tent or under the stars in bear country/cougar country can make a man wonder. Elk camp a few years back found two of us spending the night in our tent, with a freshly quartered elk right outside the tent, in grizzly country. We slept with flashlights and big revolvers nearby.

A good light and a good rifle, shotgun or big handgun seem to be prudent tools to help in situations where a guy might be around something that goes grrrr...

 

[JDMAG]

Never had anything quite that drastic. But One year in Elk camp we had a black bear stick it's nose in the tent one night! don't know who was scared most 3 screamin hunters with a flash light and 44 or the bear! it didn't show up any more.
One morning when my son was about 3, I took him on an early morning deer hunt. We were hunkered down next to a big log, in a swamp , in the dark,when he ask, "is there anything out here that can eat us Daddy?" I said no, just deer ,turkey, squirrel, rabbits, coyotes,and bob cats. and the yotes and bobcats wont eat us. well just about the time it got light enough to see things clearly, we both saw the coyote at the same time. It was setting there staring at us as if thinking, "if I could get rid of the fat old tough one, that Little one looks perty good!" so Just to prove that the coyote wouldn't eat us, Dad shot it and said "see I told you it wouldn't eat us!"

 

[JD338]

Black Bears are usually, bot not always in hibernation by the time our rifle deer season opens up. My sister-in-law had a sow and 2 cubs near her blind just last week. I have never really been concerned about bears.

Wolves are another thing. I actually quit hunting an area with my brother in law because there are more wolves than deer. 3 years ago I had a pack run behind me right at dark. They were less than 50 yds away and I could hear them as they ran. One stopped and let out a howl that had the hair stand up on my neck. The eerie part of it was that I had to walk out about a 1/2 mile on the same trail they were just on.

A few years prior to this, my brother in law left his blind at dark and was followed by two wolves, one on each side of him. He said that they even growled a couple of times. Since that incident, he leaves his blind before dark.
It sure make one wonder..........

JD338

 

[Greg Nolan]

Ok
There goes any chance I had to sleep tonight. I've been surrounded by wolves, followed by mountain lions and surprised by bears that I could hit with a rock while salmon fishing. The potential is always there. We've had 2 joggers killed and partially eaten by mountain lions within 3 miles of here and a coyote ate my cat.
That's it!!! I've had it!!! From now on I'm going to close my eyes when I walk thrue the woods. :lol: :lol: Oh yeah, and carry a BIG gun.
Good Hunting
Elkhunt :grin:

 

[Powerstroke]

We've always been somewhat lucky doing as much hunting through Sept archery season without any major incedents.
It has been some years back, but my hunting buddy and I packed all our food into where we planned on camping the weekend before. The trip was a little over three miles and pretty much straight up hill. ( on the side of a place called Hell's Hole & good reason it's named that ) :grin:

Anyway, the following weekend we had gone to sleep in the "small" two man tent and of course all our food etc still outside close to the tent. I was woken to the sound of the plastic garbage bag shaking around a little and thinking... ah, that wasn' too loud, has to be a racoon or skunk. :roll:
A few minutes later the noise again, but you'd have thought the forest was coming down with the noise that was coming from out there. I had to wake my buddy up and tell him to take a look out-side.. there was something rather large out there.

After grumbling a bit and finally hearing it himself he decided it was probably best to grab the flashlight and take a look. ( tent door was on his side thankfully )
He unzipped the door, then the vestibule and army cralled forward out of his sleeping bag slightly.....From there.....hmmmmm :shock:

He let out somewhat of a yell and came back into the tent / sleeping bag faster than I thought someone could move. Me not being able to see what the heck was going on, just about filled my sleeping bag up expecting the worst......
He was able to shine the flashlight back out and right into two bright eyes of Mr. Fox :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
He said when he looked up and shined the flashlight out the fox was just a few feet away from his face.

What I really learned out of that experience is.....Wow, do Fox ever like Oreo's :roll:

 

[FOTIS]

Always carry my 5.5" redhawk with 300 gr at 1200 fps

 

[Guy Miner]

But... Is that really enough gun for an oreo eating fox??? :grin:

 

[DrMike]

I've had close encounters with grizzlies on a few occasions. Once, a young boar backed I and a friend down a mountain. He crab walked all the way, keeping himself at about 40 yards, until we finally had enough and fired a couple of shots at his feet. He then gave us enough room to move away from his territory. I wouldn't say he was overly aggressive, but he did let us know that he considered that area to be his territory.

On another occasion, we came upon a large grizzly that had claimed a gut pile. He did a quick charge and then retreated to circle us. We backed out of the cut block and left him to his meal. He hung around that particular area for a few years until a local hunter harvested him a couple of years ago.

I've had a few other encounters with grizzlies. None were serious, but I do try to give them lots of room when I am going afield. We are seeing quite an increased number of wolves this year, and they are pretty large. However, so far, they've only been seen at some distance and moving quickly to gain cover.

I can't say that I've ever had an Oreo-eating fox take me on. That would be something.