What the closest face-to-face encounters you've had with animals while hunting?

TheGDog

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OC, CA
Closest encounters?

After finished a calling set for predators... I rise from my stool, only to realize the Bobcat is 8yds away.

Missed twice on a deer w/ bow... as he's regressing a certain direction, I try to rise to my feet and try to reach for another arrow... didn't reach the arrow before the deer decides to abruptly turn-in towards my direction and there we were 7yds at a face-to-face standoff! Me in the leafy. STaying frozen with my fingers at the base of the arrow knocks. After a few seconds... I think my scent wafted over to him. He turned his body around so that now his but is pointed at me, but he's turned his head to look over his shoulder. His tail is twitching because he's caught my scent and starting to get nervous. Yup... sure enough, not long after his tail had axiously flickered a bit, he decided it was time to go!

Sitting on a cliff waiting for sun to go down overlooking a waterway and the trail I'm waiting for bears to come thru along... a Bobcat ends up stalking in along the cliff and gets himself to about 20 ft from my sit location. First I tried a Dog Growl. Nope. Didn't shew him. Eye just opened up bigger. Pointed the .30-30 at thim..Nope... still just stayed there. Wasn't until I decided I better raise to my feet that he saw my size and realize he should go.

While on a sit for Rabbits, with the mesh ghillie suit... a CottonTail comes from around the Scrub Oak I'm backed up into and stops literally like 8 freakin' inches from my right foot! He was adorble to watch. Even stood up on his hind legs trying to catch my scent! But the wind was working against him this day. Eventually he meanders on back to behind the scrub oak. Later I moved/fidgeted in my chair and that startled him to where he bolted like 20yds away, but..ya know... he made that fatal mistake of turning around to look back. So he was added to the tally that day. Sure was super cute though seeing him so up close and personal.

Then one time 3 of us were hiking back out right after final shooting light, when we had a bear jump out of a bathing pool 10yds away in the dark.
 

nodakian

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Yesterday’s black bear encounter is fresh in my mind. My 14YO bumped into a little one at 10 yards. It ran off, and about 10 minutes later we met it again at 50 yards. Nothing crazy, it was small, but fun to see at that close range.
 

Fatcamp

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Sodak
Still hunting for deer got to 15 feet or so from a bobcat. He poked his head up from behind a fallen log and I froze. Camo from head to toe so he knew I was something, just not what. Ended up circling away from me never to be seen again. Found a mountain lion den an hour later. Never been back to that ridge.
 

GSPHUNTER

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Once while quail hunting near lake Isabella South of Kernville Ca. with my GSP, I cleared a large boulder to see what my dog was barking at. On a cliff about 15 yards away was a Mt. lion. It screamed at Rommel a few times then decided to turn and walk up the hill. On two separate occasions while turkey hunting I called Mt. lions into my setup. First time unknown to me I had all called in four coyotes, they actually treed the cat and he went way out on a branch and jumped down and ran up the hill with the dogs in pursuit, which stuck me as weird. The other time a cat was about 15' to my right before I saw it. I was sitting right against a large Oak tree surrounded by a natural blind. When the cat realized I was there she just sat down and looked in my direction. At that point I knew turkey was done for the morning so I stood up and yelled at it while waving my shotgun over my head. I figured she would run off or attack which would have got her 1-1/4 oz of 4x6 duplex 3.5 inch magnum at about 10 ft. She just ran off. She wanted my decoys not me. I have also called in bobcats. I also had a heard of about 15 cows come in and knock down all my turkey decoys, I'm certain that was their intent why I don't know, maybe they were intending to run them off just for fun.
 
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VA
Still hunting up a trail looking for pigs while my partner still hunted down the trail. We were about a half mile apart but figured we might spook them toward each other. I heard some running toward me and readied my bow as I stopped beside a tree along the trail. In a few seconds several 20ish pound piglets came into sight running right at me. I froze and focused on the following sow. Three piglets scooted between my legs and I thought it could get real interesting as mom closed the distance. She noticed something she didn’t like and locked up four feet away. It was an interesting moment as she grunted for the kids who were making noise behind me……..good times…….
 

Cliffy65

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Jul 26, 2020
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Whistling foxes in, have had them step over my boot a few times when I couldn’t draw. Have put an arrow through 100 or so foxes around the 4 yard or closer mark. Big pest in Australia.
Had deer at arms reach more than half a dozen times. I’ve shot a few Fallow bucks and Axis stags at 6 yards.
Only chased elk once in 2019 but shot my bull at 10 yards.
 

rayporter

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arkansas or ohio
while rabbit hunting one winter i caught a rabbit before it could run.

caught a young turkey

shot 2 bear with a sling shot.


in yellowstone park, no less.
 

GSPHUNTER

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while rabbit hunting one winter i caught a rabbit before it could run.

caught a young turkey

shot 2 bear with a sling shot.


in yellowstone park, no less.
Damn, A Lady is getting prosecuted for taking the picture of bears. If you got caught, you would prolly do hard time with bubba for a cell mate. Do it hurt, bitch?
 

SOIHUNT

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Called a bull elk in with in a few feet. When their rutting their brains aren’t working properly.
 

rayporter

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the bears were in addition to the 11 squirrels and a moose.


P5zLklv.jpg

yea, they would have no sense of humor over it.
 

def90

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Sat down around noon time last year on opening archery elk day next to a clump of trees at treeline to eat some lunch. Proceeded to lay back and decide to take a little nap. Was in that in between lucid dream and awake state when I suddenly woke up and I sat up. Looked to my right and there was this silver black thing about 10 feet away from me and I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first. As soon as it dawned on me what it was it also realized what I was and spun around and ran about as fast as anything could run in the opposite direction. It cleared a 200 yd wide open meadow in a matter of seconds. The back bear had a silver iridescent look to it's fur in the sun, was probably the coolest thing I've seen the way the sun reflected off of it.
 

GSPHUNTER

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Sat down around noon time last year on opening archery elk day next to a clump of trees at treeline to eat some lunch. Proceeded to lay back and decide to take a little nap. Was in that in between lucid dream and awake state when I suddenly woke up and I sat up. Looked to my right and there was this silver black thing about 10 feet away from me and I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first. As soon as it dawned on me what it was it also realized what I was and spun around and ran about as fast as anything could run in the opposite direction. It cleared a 200 yd wide open meadow in a matter of seconds. The back bear had a silver iridescent look to it's fur in the sun, was probably the coolest thing I've seen the way the sun reflected off of it.
I was hunting Mt. quail years back with one of my many GSP's. She disappeared for a short while, next time I saw her she was hauling ass with a bear chasing her. That bear had zero chance of catching her and gave up after about 100 yards but she was taking no chance and disappeared. I though sure as hell she was gone for good but about a hour later she found my scent and came crawling into camp happy to see me.
 

jmcd22

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Fishing central Idaho last fall and had a cow moose about 50 feet from me. I yelled and she ran back where she came from. About 15 minutes later a bull pops out in the same spot. I wasn't thinking straight and yelled at him too. He was NOT fond of this. Luckily for me he was on top of a cut bank and the hole was fairly deep so he had to find a trail to get down at me. The main current was directly behind me with a very brushy bank so I had nowhere to go. The water was running about mid thigh so I was stuck and in bad shape.

My dad just happened to turn around as Bullwinkle was getting into the water so he threw a rock in his direction. The moose turned and bolted right at him. My dad has a fused ankle and doesn't move as well as he used to but he was able to climb on the river bank and on to a piece of private where we met up. Luckily there were trailers and junk piles everywhere so we were able to keep that between Bullwinkle and us. At times, he had to have been within 20 feet but we never did look to find out. We ran into him two more times before we were able to get back to the truck on the bridge. As we got there, two Bay Area city slickers (saw their license plate cover) with white faces asked if we saw the moose. We laughed and said "oh yeah" and went up river to fish a different spot...they packed it in and left. :ROFLMAO:
 

grfox92

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I've had dozens of whitetails just a few feet away from me on the ground and hundreds directly under me in the tree stand.

I walked up on a grizzly bear at first light in NW Wyoming, we were no less then 30 yards away. In heavy timber on a game trail. Luckily for me he was more scared of me and ran off up the mountain sounding like a bulldozer running through the woods.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 

wytx

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Wyoming
Shiras moose at about 3 ft ,we met in a willow bottom and I harvested the bull.
Spike elk at about 6 inches as he sniffed my arm, called him and a young cow in.
Many curious squirrels.
 
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