What’s the gnarliest situation you’ve been in while hunting?

[HorseCreek]

Last season in Idaho I went out for a quick evening hunt a couple miles behind the house. I sat down and waited out a snow storm. As the storm let up I felt something to my right. I looked over and less than 5 yards was a young female cougar. She was crawling thru the grass towards me. When our eyes met she bared her teeth and started a low growl. I jumped up, (left my bear spray and pistol at the house)
I started yelling at her all while trying to load a round in the chamber. She lunges at me and I knocked her back with the barrel of my rifle. She then circled me growling the whole time. She made it back to her original spot and went to her belly again and lunged again. I hit her with my barrel a second time. She started to circle again. That’s when I finally got a round loaded. I’d had enough..input the cross hairs on her and let her have it.
she rolled down the hill and died a few feet from me. I collapsed where I stood and just sat there for about 30 minutes until I could get my emotions under control. I skinned her out and tagged her with my deer tag. I had her checked by IDFG and told them the story. She was a healthy young cat so no one really had a good reason as to why she acted so aggressive. I usually take one of my young kids with me to this spot. I didn’t that night and I’m super glad I didn’t.P

 

[TxxAgg]

You've got me beat

Nice job

 

[feanor]

Id say close the post after that one....whew.

 

[netman]

I fell over dead a few minutes after I shot a bull elk right before the Halloween blizzard hit. My defibrillator fired my heart back into rhythm and I laid unconscious long enough for a foot of snow to pile up on me while I was out. Upon ‘waking’ up I walked miles to find help.

 

[Billy Goat]

Got the stomach gurgles one time while on stand. Waited a little too long and found out I had the tree pegs a little too far apart.

Drawers got pretty gnarly, maybe rivaled yours but I don't know.


I'll see if I can find pictures.

 

[full choke]

Last season in Idaho I went out for a quick evening hunt a couple miles behind the house. I sat down and waited out a snow storm. As the storm let up I felt something to my right. I looked over and less than 5 yards was a young female cougar. She was crawling thru the grass towards me. When our eyes met she bared her teeth and started a low growl. I jumped up, (left my bear spray and pistol at the house)
I started yelling at her all while trying to load a round in the chamber. She lunges at me and I knocked her back with the barrel of my rifle. She then circled me growling the whole time. She made it back to her original spot and went to her belly again and lunged again. I hit her with my barrel a second time. She started to circle again. That’s when I finally got a round loaded. I’d had enough..input the cross hairs on her and let her have it.
she rolled down the hill and died a few feet from me. I collapsed where I stood and just sat there for about 30 minutes until I could get my emotions under control. I skinned her out and tagged her with my deer tag. I had her checked by IDFG and told them the story. She was a healthy young cat so no one really had a good reason as to why she acted so aggressive. I usually take one of my young kids with me to this spot. I didn’t that night and I’m super glad I didn’t.View attachment 162036View attachment 162037View attachment 162040P

I fell over dead a few minutes after I shot a bull elk right before the Halloween blizzard hit. My defibrillator fired my heart back into rhythm and I laid unconscious long enough for a foot of snow to pile up on me while I was out. Upon ‘waking’ up I walked miles to find help.

So, I didn't think any story would beat the OP's... I stand corrected!

 

[Rs3003]

This is insane. 2 of the craziest stories I read in my life in the same post.

I fell over dead a few minutes after I shot a bull elk right before the Halloween blizzard hit. My defibrillator fired my heart back into rhythm and I laid unconscious long enough for a foot of snow to pile up on me while I was out. Upon ‘waking’ up I walked miles to find help.

 

[Crowmangler]

Not much worse than a crazy pussy...cat I mean

 

[lyle_destroys]

Got the stomach gurgles one time while on stand. Waited a little too long and found out I had the tree pegs a little too far apart.

Drawers got pretty gnarly, maybe rivaled yours but I don't know.


I'll see if I can find pictures.

Pictures or it didnt happen!

 

[Tick]

I fell over dead a few minutes after I shot a bull elk right before the Halloween blizzard hit. My defibrillator fired my heart back into rhythm and I laid unconscious long enough for a foot of snow to pile up on me while I was out. Upon ‘waking’ up I walked miles to find help.

Wow. Amazing you survived that.

 

[Jherek]

OMG...... No reason to tell my story after that one, that is CRAZY!!! Way to react and defend yourself, hell of a job man.

 

[Jherek]

So, I didn't think any story would beat the OP's... I stand corrected!

WOW..... Talk about getting away with one!

 

[isu22andy]

Damn, hard to beat some of these being from the midwest. Closest to death ive been is one time we were coon hunting in the snow. I had my permit to carry so just threw my Ruger 10/22 in the front seat loaded yet, while my buddy had a lever action .17hmr and he decided to unload the shells on the bench seat of my 99 Ford Single cab so they wouldnt fall in the snow. Next thing you know my ears are ringing the rear windshields shattered and theres a bullet hole about 16 inches from the center of my head right through the glass.

 

[idahohikker]

Last season in Idaho I went out for a quick evening hunt a couple miles behind the house. I sat down and waited out a snow storm. As the storm let up I felt something to my right. I looked over and less than 5 yards was a young female cougar. She was crawling thru the grass towards me. When our eyes met she bared her teeth and started a low growl. I jumped up, (left my bear spray and pistol at the house)
I started yelling at her all while trying to load a round in the chamber. She lunges at me and I knocked her back with the barrel of my rifle. She then circled me growling the whole time. She made it back to her original spot and went to her belly again and lunged again. I hit her with my barrel a second time. She started to circle again. That’s when I finally got a round loaded. I’d had enough..input the cross hairs on her and let her have it.
she rolled down the hill and died a few feet from me. I collapsed where I stood and just sat there for about 30 minutes until I could get my emotions under control. I skinned her out and tagged her with my deer tag. I had her checked by IDFG and told them the story. She was a healthy young cat so no one really had a good reason as to why she acted so aggressive. I usually take one of my young kids with me to this spot. I didn’t that night and I’m super glad I didn’t.View attachment 162036View attachment 162037View attachment 162040P

What’s the best practice for close range rifle shooting? I’ve never had the need. I would imagine cross hairs are good but having enough time for that might not always be possible.

 

[Marble]

I slipped while stepping over a bull on a steep snowy hillside and put the browtine through my shirts and into my upper arm almost in my arm pit.

Unbuckled my belt to get it ready to use but it didn't bleed much. I was lucky.

The OP has an epic story. Then the heart attack...

 

[*zap*]

Hunting out of a slide in camper in my truck I was snowed in for a while, all roads were closed due to the amount of snow. Coldest it got was -35 F actual temperature. N/W Missouri public area. Ran out of gasoline for the generator and the valves on my propane bottles froze solid but I managed to get to the area shop and plug into an outdoor outlet. I was happy to have a place to plug in but it took a bit of doing to get there....I think I was shut in there for around a week, give or take. No one else around. Pretty peaceful actually, just me and my dog Zap. Killed 3 whitetail with the bow. That was 2009-10.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Man, those are some stories. Be pretty tough to beat...…….some tough dudes.
I ran out of Pendleton on my last backpacking hunt.....whoa,

Randy

 

[Mt Al]

Had a similar situation to the OP, except if I was him I'd have soiled my Sitka gear. Big man points for you, sir.

Mine's like this: I hiked in about two miles very early, found a nice smallish pine tree to sit under. It was about five minutes before legal light and saw something moving through the sagebrush in front of me, but to my left. I thought it was a coyote, then a bobcat, then "bobcats aren't that big, it's a lynx!" in an area not too far from where lynx are, then thought, "lynx aren't that big, it's a mountain lion!" I know, genius level wildlife identification skills right here. It sat about 15 yards away and stared at me. Not a big cat, as cats go, not that i'd ever seen a lion in the wild, but very uncool regardless. I always buy a lion tag just in case, and here, just like I had been hoping for for many years, was "the" case. However, it was a few minutes before legal light, the cat wasn't that big, it definitely wasn't lunging at me, growling or looked ready to pounce or anything like the OP, and, being kind hearted towards all of God's creatures and thinking maybe this is a young female with cubs snuggling together in a nearby cave waiting for their mother I opted to try to shoo it away.

I jacked one in the action just in case, yelled and waved my arms, used foul language and rude hand gestures, and it didn't budge a millimeter. Then I put the cross hairs just to the right of its left ear and shot, pissed off that any deer on the way to my tree would head to the next zip code, but pleased that the wee lion cubs' mother (if it was a female) would soon return to raise more lions for me to shoot if the conditions were appropriate. It was early and dark and the muzzle flash was pretty intense. To my amazement, the cat didn't budge at all, and I can't imagine the sound, flash, etc. that it saw and felt. Jacked another round in to shoot it in the chest, now really pissed that I'd have to bring a fish and game person to my secret lair because I'd be shooting before legal light, plus, just in case I got to keep it that my hero pics wouldn't be with a massive, grizzled old Tom. In that second it turned and half slunked/half jogged/half ran down the hill in front of me.

Nothing like the OP experienced, but pretty cool, intense and now at least I can say I've seen a mountain lion.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I didn't know it was gnarly when it happened:

1960s Arizona mule deer hunting with Dad. We were somewhere on Mingus Mountain and I was tired of hiking. So Dad locates a huge hillside boulder and directs his 9 year old son to sit next to it while he hikes off up-canyon to glass a bit. I found a level spot just below the rock and tucked in there for a nap. I woke up and had no sense of time or where my dad had gone. I knew better than to go wandering around, but I walked uphill a few yards and looked around. Nobody and nothing around. I went back to the rock and decided to sit where I could see a bit better. I got bored and thought about starting a fire with my little kit. I fidgeted. I put my boots against the rock and gave it a shove....whereupon it instantly rolled right over the spot I'd been laying in earlier. The boulder was about the size of VW Beetle and it proceeded to roll-crash its way down the hillside into the canyon. All I could think about was how much trouble I was about to be in when Dad got back.

And that happened pretty quickly. He came hurrying up and started asking me about all the noise and crashing and brush snapping and...."wait....I left you....there's a .....WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE BIG ROCK!?" I shamefully explained what happened and we marched back to camp. I never told him the part about sleeping just below the rock.

 

[cnelk]

Back in the 70s, my Baker climber left me hanging on some branches more than once