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wildest wildlife encounter while saddlehunting?

spracklin

spracklin

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2022
Messages
45
Location
Ontario Canada
whats the wildest encounter with wildlife youve had while saddle hunting?

todays sit, i had a great grey owl swoop in and land on a snag in an adjacent tree that was 3' away from me.

Scared the hell out of me, never would have expected that, owl sat there for what seemed like ages, but was probably only a moment.
 
Not in a saddle, but I had an owl swoop in and hang out with me just before dark. He even moved closer to me eventually and just chilled above about 10 feet away. He must have just woke up, because his first "hoot" sounded horrible, like he was clearing his throat. The second sounded better, and I felt like we were kindred hunters that evening.
 
Had some hens roosted about 30 yards from me Saturday just clucking and yelping their heads off for a few hours. One got down early compared to the others and I watched a coyote chase her back up into a tree. They all eventually flew down and mingled for a bit before working off. Pretty cool just yelping with some turkeys to pass the time.


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had several raccoons climbing down a tree right next to me and then stop and stare at me and then climb back up.....then one started urinating from the tree and it was really loud in the leaves from that height....it was close i was afraid i'd get some splatters
 
Had a squirrel pee on me once. Bout smoked that sucker but didn’t wanna lose my spendy broadhead. Had some kind of hawk circling overhead and then it came down and landed in the tree about 40 yards away from me and about 20 yards up and just stared at me for like 20 minutes. I swear it was thinking can I haul that things fat butt all the way back to my nest? It eventually flew away.
 
The other night I had a possum try to climb up my tree…didn’t know possums climb but apparently they do. Same night when the turkeys started to roost, one got a good running start and flew right to me and I suddenly realized “Oh hell!<——not what I really said, he doesn’t see me…he’s gonna hit me!” And I’ll be damned if he didn’t fly directly over my tether by a few feet and landed on a branch in the next tree about 10ft away. We both cussed at each other until it was dark.
 
Exhumis said:
Had a squirrel pee on me once. Bout smoked that sucker but didn’t wanna lose my spendy broadhead. Had some kind of hawk circling overhead and then it came down and landed in the tree about 40 yards away from me and about 20 yards up and just stared at me for like 20 minutes. I swear it was thinking can I haul that things fat butt all the way back to my nest? It eventually flew away.
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i think it was trying to tell you he'd never let that squirrel pee on you again
 
Last Saturday while I was packing up after dark, I had a small buck change direction and walk directly toward me while I had my bright, white headlamp pointed at him. He got within 10 feet and closing when I got nervous and moved, which finally spooked him.

If you want to get swooped by hawks/owls, try predator calling--it happens fairly often.
 
shamus275 said:
The other night I had a possum try to climb up my tree…didn’t know possums climb but apparently they do. Same night when the turkeys started to roost, one got a good running start and flew right to me and I suddenly realized “Oh hell!<——not what I really said, he doesn’t see me…he’s gonna hit me!” And I’ll be damned if he didn’t fly directly over my tether by a few feet and landed on a branch in the next tree about 10ft away. We both cussed at each other until it was dark.
Click to expand...

oh thanks for reminding of another story (and another just popped in my head too)

anyways, i was bowhunting deer from a ground blind near a field. There was a chicken wire cage with no roof and a big open door, i guess the thing was to protect crops from animals. A flock of turkeys walk by and one turkey walks into the enclosure. I watched for hours while it called out to its flock and kept backing up and then walking right into the chicken wire. It never thought to fly or turn around and go back out the door it walk in. That is when I knew the rumors about turkeys being dumb were sadly true. When I was leaving after dark, I walked up to it to try to scare it out the back, and it just flew right out of the enclosure.

Last story, I was a mile deep on public land near a trail that skirted a field edge. It was mid-November and I was wearing at least 3 layers. I'm guessing it was around freezing maybe a little over but no warmer than 40 F. Out of nowhere, some wild looking dude by himself walks down the trail. He's wearing nothing but jeans, a short sleeve white undershirt (kind from a pack), and hat. His shirt was really dirty. He didn't see me and I just sat tight and let him pass. He looked a little out of it and not cold at all.
 
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Last year had a squirrel fall and land on my bow, caught and hung by a couple digits on my lower cam for like 10 seconds before righting itself. I was sure it was gonna climb up my face. I've also had flying squirrels glide right to my tree and creep around 2 feet from my face. Those things are awesome.
2 years ago was following a blood trail and came around a tree face to face with a possum on the side of a big poplar. I don't know who was more surprised :fearscream:
 
I peed on a deer off my platform

I climbed a tree and at sunup I had a hornets nest 10ft away in an adjacent tree

Little wren landed on my tether and sat there for a little bit

Going thru the prerappel process without my headlamp because of a big bright moon and I see something glowing faint blueish on the trunk above my head and moving toward me...turned out to be a tiny scorpion

Mom bear and her 2 cubs walked under my tree and she stopped to smell and looked up at me

Rat snake in the tree with me

Barred owl landed just out of arms length

2 eagles landed in the tree next to me and were vocalizing

Osprey landed on a branch above my head

Spot and stalk I was about 2foot away from getting run over by a deer at full gallup....saw me at the last second and vered off going by me super close

If I really sit down and study on it I'm sure I could come up with more
 
The only saddle related animal encounter was the other night. Some large bird, either an owl or hawk swooped by the back of my head. I never saw what it was, but it came close. Too close for comfort.

I have seen quite a few owls and hawks that came in for a closer look to see who was poaching their hunting grounds. I've taken pictures of a few.

When I first started bowhunting I saw a very large bobcat chase an injured doe all around my stand. It was thick and they were crashing around, and I could plainly see them from time to time.

I walked up a thick SMZ once and was standing still looking at a tree considering it for a stand spot when a rabbit bolted across about 10 yards in front of me. A big bobcat soon followed, and it stopped mid stride when it caught sight of me. It looked me over good and then slinked slowly back and turned and trotted off.

Oh yeah! I peed on an armadillo the other night from the saddle. Maybe that one belongs in the No Shame thread.
 
2 weeks ago I had a homeless person try to get in my blind while I was in it. He was sneaking/stalking and I caught him at 10 yards after he snapped a stick. He later apologized and told me he was looking for a place to sleep. Expecting to see a deer and seeing a person that close was a pretty big surprise to me.

with wildlife I feel like I always see crazy stuff but one of my favorites was my first year solo bowhunting when I was 18. I was sitting on a bucket on a field edge. I seen a coyote in the field moving my direction. I made a kissing noise and it sprinted my direction. Entered the wood lot behind me at 10 yards and stopped. I tried to spin and draw my bow at the same time and it bolted.
 
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Best stories aren't saddlehunting, but here goes.

Stalking hogs in a beaver marsh on a cold January day. Hopping from firm ground to firm ground. Hopped to one patch of ground that was actually a 5-6ft Gator. He was too cold to do much but hiss and squirm. Scared me good.

I've had a Gator take a duck I shot.

I've watched a Gator stalk piglets at the edge of a lake. Neither of us got an opportunity that day.

I shot a bobcat as it was stalking a flock of turkeys.

I've had several raccoons practically crawl into my lap.

I've been the unfortunate witness of several cottonmouth orgies.
 
I shot a doe a few years back and while I was looking for blood I had a small buck come down the same trail that she did. The buck had his head down and walked up to me at an arms length or so. I didn’t want to startle him because I was afraid of what he might do. Turns out my neighbor was feeding them and had made pretty good pets out of them. Oops!
 
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