I’ve had a couple of close encounters.
The bear in my avatar had come in straight on on a trail at 25 yards but he heard my safety click off. Without hesitation, he backed away and disappeared. I would find out later that he would spend the next 3 hours circling me. He knew something was up but couldn’t find me. I was occasionally hearing a bear “woof” but was unaware that it was the same bear until he appeared behind me out of the thick brush at 8 yards. What a rush!
8 point whitetail buck so close that the arrow would’ve buried in his neck before it was completely off my bow. My buck tag was full and I was hunting for a doe or two to fill the freezer. I love when it starts a light rain while I’m in a stand cuz I’ll climb down and pick a trail into the wind. Shot a lot of deer that way with my bow, really a fun challenge. Quiet walking and wind in your face. I’d topped a small mound and was standing by a small tree when over the other side I could see the top edge of a deer feeding on the trail and working my way…but I couldn’t see “her” head. The trail would bring her right up to me at 5 yards by another small tree. I planned to do my thing as soon as she popped her up by that tree. But when she popped up she had a rack! I couldn’t see it until now because of the steep bank. I had pulled my bow back and was ready but now I’m face to face with a buck at less than 5 yards…just at the end of rut and I don’t have a buck tag. One of us is gonna die. I didn’t move. Adrenaline was holding my bow back but I can’t hold I forever. He saw me but had no clue what I was. Wind in my face. So I kicked my foot a little to move him away hopefully without sparking something bad. Instead he casually started walking directly at me. Now he’s at the end of my arrow. Like 2 feet. This is gonna hurt! My arrow was centered on the white patch under the chin but there’s no way this is gonna be smooth and I don’t want to shoot him anyway. So, while saying something stupid like “get out of here!”, I let my bow down and spun around behind the little tree I was standing by. You’d think he’d flee in terror. Did I mention this was at the end of the rut? Instead of bolting out of there, his ears slowly dropped back as his the hair raised on his neck and back. Here it comes and the only thing between me and a pissed off buck at 4 feet is this baseball bat sized tree. The stare down seemed like forever as I slowly got ahold of my knife. (What I was planning to do with that I have no idea). Man they can give a look! I was really convinced he was coming, but with ears still back and hair up, he slowly turned broadside to my left but kept staring. Apparently, and mercifully, he decided I wasn’t worth he effort and slowly sauntered off. I have no idea why he didn’t kick the crap out of me but I’m sure glad he changed his mind. So with adrenaline drain and pants full, I headed for my truck. Geez!
Of course there was also the “dead” whitetail buck that I spined from a tree stand, hadn’t moved a muscle for the 20 minutes I waited to be “sure”, and came alive when I went to touch his eye with a nocked arrow. His G2 ripped off a belt loop of my pants as I sidestepped away…which was in no way a planned macho move, just a terrified reaction. Pretty close to getting “groined” by that one.
