Fun With Critters

[Art Eatman]

Back in the late 60s and into the 70s, a group of us leased a ranch north of Uvalde, Texas. I and my father, three guys who worked for him and I guess five others. The lease fee was equal to the school taxes--and back then, quite reasonable.

Oak mottes, mesquite, black thorn acacia, prickly pear. Half the ranch was hilly; half was gently rolling and mostly mesquite. All in all, interesting country.

Deer, javelina, blue quail and dove.

So one mid-day I'm leaned back against a tree trunk at the edge of a thicket, half asleep and sorta watching a narrow clear area upwind from me. No sign of Bambi.

I caught a flicker of motion off to my left. A fox finally came into view, maybe twenty or so feet away. I worked diligently at imitating a stump. Then my sense of humor attacked. I began doing a mouse-like lip squeak. Foxy-Loxy alerted to the beautiful music, the "Sound of Supper".

He moved closer at each squeak. A few steps and stop. Rinse and repeat.

Closer and closer and closer.

I boinked his nose with my boot toe.

HAIR! Stuck out in all directions. Looked like a four-legged bottle brush. He did a 180 through his own innards and practiced being elsewhere at a high rate of speed.

Made my day.

Probably ruined his.

 

[JeffG]

This critter had fun with me. In the 80's, I fabricated a more comfortable seat out ouf exterior plywood for my deer stand. The ladder stand was a homemade 20 footer, no roof and no walls. I thought a couple of coats of brushed-on boiled linseed oil to protect it from the elements. After installing the seat, I steered clear of the stand for 3 weeks prior to deer-gun season.

Opening day, about 0500am, I sat on my new treestand seat and went right to the floor. It seems the local porcupine decided my linseed oil treated seat to be a delicacy, and had chewed through it in several places. After recovering from that indignity, and being forced to stand, instead of being seated, I was treated to something else.

The 10 pound plus rodent had not gone on his merry way. He continued to alternately scratch bark and twigs to fall on me from his perch farther up the tree, for hours. After his 11am potty time that came precariously close to me, three things happened. I climbed down the tree, shot Mr. Porcupine, and went back to the cabin for an aluminum lawn chair.

 

[Patocazador]

I had an incident somewhat like Art's several years ago. It was noon and I walked to my back pasture to check on things. The wind was blowing about 25 -30 mph right in my face. I came up on a blackberry thicket and a large (25+ lb.) bobcat was hunting through the thicket. I was in plain view but the wind hid my scent and sound. I walked up behind him at about 10 feet and asked loudly, "Having any luck?"
He jumped straight up as high as my head with his head twisted looking at me in amazement and shock. I didn't see him land. It looked as if he had rocket power as he shot away.

 

[FL-NC]

Op- that is a funny story, but in all seriousness that critter could have took a chunk out of you after you scared it. I saw a soldier bit in the face by a fox at Bragg because he left his MRE trash next to himself before he went to sleep in the woods. A fox snuck up and started eating it. The noise of that woke him up, which startled the fox, who used the famous "punch and run" tactic on him. While he wasn't seriously injured, it did require an ambulance ride to the hospital and some shots, IIRC. Of course, this story is funny too. Except to the guy who got bit.

 

[LoonWulf]

Poked an Eland in the butt with a stick thru the trophy park fence near our old farm. For something that big, they sure are fast.

 

[22250Rem]

About 20 years ago I was turkey hunting sitting in the woods just at the edge of an open field. Had two turkey decoys out just a couple feet out into the field and just to my right. Every 20 minutes or so I gave a gobble off a hold'n shake type call. It was a very quiet morning..... seemed like no turkey activity at all. But game will sometimes show up when you don't expect it so I sat tight and continued my occasional calls. After a couple hours of this I was somewhat bored. Suddenly I was startled by a flash of motion out of the corner of my eye just to my right. A fox had just exploded from the edge of the woods and leaped onto the nearest decoy. The instant he hit the soft rubber collapsible decoy on a small stake he knew it was fake and did the fastest 180 I ever saw and vanished so fast I was stunned. I never even had time to point the shotgun at him had I wanted to shoot him. He must have been stalking that "turkey" slowly for a long time and wasn't aware of me sitting a few feet to his left. There were some bushes between us and I was in full camo with a camo head net on so I assume that's why he didn't notice me. I'm sure his concentration was focused on what he thought was a real live turkey. What a surprise he ( and I ) got that morning!

 

[Art Eatman]

Heh. You never know what'll pop up. A buddy of mine was parked on a jeep trail on our lease, watching a couple of very young deer. A bobcat jumped onto the back of one. The deer played rodeo bucking horse and threw the cat. The deer and the cat vanished into the brush. The other deer kept on browsing as though nothing had happened.

 

[brewer12345]

A couple years ago I was dove hunting with a small spread of static decoys on the ground near water and a mojo positioned as if landing with the other doves. I didn't have much luck with the doves that day, but I did get to watch a small hawk descend on the mojo with its talons outstretched. I heard the CLACK! as its talons bounced off the hard plastic of the mojo.

 

[brewer12345]

Almost forgot about another dove story. I was hunting small game at a place with some big trees on the plains and roosting euros are targets of opportunity. I flushed one shortly after dawn and nailed it. I watched where it fell. As I watched, a big hawk came out of a tree, caught the dove on the bounce and took off.

At the end of the day I was headed for the truck and flushed another. Again a hawk burst from the trees. This time it grabbed the dead dove in mid air and took off, leaving me staring with my mouth open at the cloud of feathers still in the air.

 

[sage5907]

Several years ago I went bass fishing in a farm pond in western Oklahoma. I went with a friend in an old old 3/4 ton Ford truck and we had a 10 ft bass boat. As we fished we noticed two really large Rio Grand tom turkeys on the bank watching us fish. We knew that the farmer had been feeding the wild turkeys and they were not afraid of people. When we got through fishing we loaded the bass boat in the back of the truck and proceeded to leave, but the old truck wouldn't start. My friend raised the hood and proceeded to work on the battery cables. The turkeys kept strutting, flapping their wings aggressively and acting like they were going to flog us. The situation got so serious that I stood with my back to my friend as he worked on the battery, and I was sword fighting with the turkeys with a 5 1/2 ft bass rod. One of the big toms made a pass at me and I slapped him in the side of the head with the rod tip and he fell over dead. We never did tell the farmer what had happened because I didn't know if he would laugh or get mad. I'm probably the only turkey hunter that ever killed a 20 pound tom with a bass rod!

 

[Kingcreek]

Years ago I was in my deer stand with my bow early am, it was just getting a little grey with first light. I was wearing an old camo stocking cap that had a yarn ball top knot (remember those?) I had been real still but my subtle head movement must have been enough that the biggest barred owl in the state swooped in for that little yarn ball. Almost soiled myself and scared that owl too! I took out my knife and cut the topper off when my hands stopped shaking enough.

 

[WestKentucky]

Mine didn’t end so well. It was bow deer season and I had a hawk take a liking to my rabbit skin cap. He hit my head hard enough he almost knocked me over, and then he came around for another pass. He was determined, but I was mad and armed. Pass 3, well... pass 3 didn’t go so well.

 

[WestKentucky]

Not my story, but one I know well, and have heard 3 eye witness accounts.

A friend of mine was bass fishing a pond at first light. They were on a church outing and were camping on a members farm. He was throwing a floating mouse lure and zigzagging it around a fallen cluster of logs when a big owl came in and hit it. The line wrapped around his wings and he fellbut his feet were still loose and very capable of running. Apparently an owl can be a heck of a fight on a baitcaster. He finally secured the owl at the one of the fishing rod and threw his shirt over the owl so he could grab him. The 3 eye witness accounts were from the guys who cut and untangled all the fishing line. That was the last camping trip to the farm pond... after that they camped in the cattle pasture.

 

[buck460XVR]

I have had more memories made when hunting from non-shooting experiences, than from all the game that came home in the back of my truck. I know many consider coming home empty handed or hours spent looking at other wildlife than quarry, is a waste of time, those folks that do not get anything from the whole outdoor experience are really missing out.

 

[Sour Kraut]

One of the great joys of boating on the Columbia River in Oregon/Washington is watching the feathered wildlife. One afternoon while relaxing at anchor, we were entertained by the Osprey fishing the river while Bald Eagles watched from a nearby tree. One successful Osprey was gaining altitude after a successful “catch” when one of the Bald Eagles dive bombed the Osprey several times. The heavily leaden Osprey could not out maneuver the eagle and let go of the fish. The eagle then swooped down and snatched the free falling fish out of mid air. Coolest acrobatics we ever saw!

The eagle flew off with the stolen catch while the Osprey squawked and circled. Bald Eagles are somewhat lazy opportunists and this one found dive bombing easier than actually “fishing”!

 

[22250Rem]

I have had more memories made when hunting from non-shooting experiences, than from all the game that came home in the back of my truck. I know many consider coming home empty handed or hours spent looking at other wildlife than quarry, is a waste of time, those folks that do not get anything from the whole outdoor experience are really missing out.

............. Very well said and that's exactly how I feel. Last Nov. on opening day of deer season I never had a deer anywhere near my ladder stand. But just after first light I saw two raccoons about 50 yds away headed my way but lost sight of them in the underbrush. Half hour later they both climbed a tree near me and settled in for a day long nap. Until one of them noticed me nearby up in the stand. They both stared at me for about 45 minutes before they both curled up in the crotch of the tree and slept the rest of the day. Luckily I had my small Canon digital camera in a shirt pocket and got a picture. Another cool hunting memory and a neat outdoor experience.

 

[Grumulkin]

I once saw a hawk being harried by a small bird. The hawk, being distracted, didn't notice a wire and few head first into it following which it fell to the ground. Perhaps it was just knocked out; since I was driving at the time, I didn't stop to check.

 

[Kingcreek]

I had a raccoon climb the tree I was sitting in one evening. I let him get all the way to my tree stand before I squirted him in the face with doe pee. He didn't like that and ran off in a bad mood. I often wondered if he was harassed further by amorous bucks.

 

[Sergei Mosin]

Was on the phone with a friend one night when she was startled by a thump on the sliding glass door to her balcony. There in a heap was a duck that had flown right into it, leaving an oily patch on the glass. It lay there stunned for a while and after about ten minutes got up and flew away.

 

[22250Rem]

Back in the 1970's one of my buddies and his future wife were driving home after too long at the local watering hole. She was driving as he was in no shape to drive. It was mid-winter and the snow was deep and the local deer herds were suffering and weak. She rounded a corner on a remote, backwoods road and hit two doe who were already weak, skinny and slow from hunger. Luckily the car only had minor damage. One doe ran off and the other was in no shape to even get up but was still very much alive although badly injured. They decided it should be put out of its misery as they didn't want to leave it on the side of the road to die a slow, painful, freezing death. The only thing available as a weapon were some old golf clubs that had been in the trunk since they got that car. So my very inebriated buddy got the clubs out and killed the deer with a few blows to the head with the clubs. But before he took his first swing she asked him.........Aren't you gonna yell "FORE"...? . And for the next week or so she became known as his caddy, even though she didn't suggest which club would be appropriate for such a shot. I also heard something about him being under par for a shot like that.... The golf jokes were rampant for the next week or so.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Was on the phone with a friend one night when she was startled by a thump on the sliding glass door to her balcony. There in a heap was a duck that had flown right into it, leaving an oily patch on the glass. It lay there stunned for a while and after about ten minutes got up and flew away.

We got a few partridge that way when I lived in Michigan. They got drunk on fermented berries and crashed.
I love watching squirrels while deer hunting.

 

[dh1633pm]

I was hiking near Los Alamos NM last June. Was on a trail and when I rounded a curve came face to face with mule deer (as I think thats what it was). I stopped and the deer stopped. Was close enough to touch it. I didn't. It didn't move and neither did I for a second or two. I then backed up slowly. The deer turned around an jogged off zig zagging around the trees, a trot and not a run. Scared me because it was unexpected.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Was sitting on the slope of a decently steep draw..., from the tracks the deer liked to use it to get to and from a bedding area without be very visible to humans, going through the hunting area, into a field of corn, so I figured to wait....,

So the chipmunks got busy as I waited, and lo and behold, one ran up and stopped on the toe of my boot, eating a seed, and looking right at me with a sort of "whatcha doin'?" demeanor. Then it actually turned it's back on me, looked around for a second, turned back and cleaned it's whiskers, then scampered off my boot-toe, stopping once at a short distance, to look back over its shoulder as if to say, "You gonna sit there like that all day? OK. See ya!".

LD

 

[Milt1]

I was rabbit hunting with friends one day behind a pack of beagles. I watch as three or four beagles were just going crazy in a small patch until the rabbit had to bolt. When he did he zigged and one of the beagles zagged and it was either the rabbit running onto the middle of the beagle or vice-versa (memory dims the exact sequence) and upon impact both rolled over and immediately the rabbit was up and gone. I was laughing so hard I didn't care to shoot. Happened years ago and still one of my favorite memories.

 

[MCgunner]

Was on the phone with a friend one night when she was startled by a thump on the sliding glass door to her balcony. There in a heap was a duck that had flown right into it, leaving an oily patch on the glass. It lay there stunned for a while and after about ten minutes got up and flew away.

I had a sparrow hawk hit the glass toward the back yard once. We had a bird feeder set up and it came swooping down, grabbed a bird whose species I cannot remember, feathers flew, then got close enough to the glass before it could stop to just touch it, never dropped its kill. That was cool.

Driving out to big bend with 2 buddies who were classmates at Texas A&M one August (yes, AUGUST big bend trips, dumb kids) we observed a golden eagle. It had intruded on a red tail hawk's territory, apparently. That hawk would swoop down on it, the eagle would flip over on its back and deploy its talons, the red tail wanted nothing to do with THAT and swerved off. This repeated several times until the eagle was far enough out of the red tail's territory that he broke off the attack.

I've seen LOTS of stuff like this, what keeps me observing nature.