iloveto4x4innc

Never been charged by game. I have however, been charged many times by cattle. Got to kiss the grill guard of the pickup once when I lost the race. Busted a Black & Decker spotlighter on one's head. Been forced to crawl under feed bunks, hurtle fences, dive under trucks, and into loader buckets. Even had one charge me while on horesback, I almost ended up with 1700 pounds of horse on top of me that time. Seems like the meanest cows always came from Montana. Closest I've come to an attack by game is finding a nest of rattlers while picking up junk out of the pasture. So scared I couldn't even get a shell in my shotgun. Nothing like having 20-30 rattlers at your fingertips to get the adrenelin pumping.

bearklr

The scariest encounter I have ever had was with a black bear I killed in 99'. He was about 25 yards away standing broadside and I drilled him right through the lungs. He hit the ground immediately and rolled about 30 yards down the side of the mountain. I took my time walking up to him and found a long brach to poke him with. I stood pretty far away poking him in the eye with the stick getting no reaction. I couldn't see him breathing at all and decided all was safe to walk up and check him out. He was laying on his laft side facing away from me so I had to grab his right paw (which was as big as my face) to roll him towards me. Needless to say he didn't like that very much because he proceeded to rip his paw right out of my hand and roll onto his belly. Luckily I didn't have ahold of any of his claws. Well, after I cleaned the crap out of my pants I checked on him again at which point he was finally dead. Nothing like grabbing ahold of a 415 lb bear that's been shot and still alive. I guess it was one last effort on his part.

feddoc

Almost got charged. I sure got the feeling I was to be a meal.

Despite being in the military since 1974 I have only missed 4 elk seasons. In 1998 I had to have some major ankle re-construction in October (due to injury). Hunting season was still on for me, even though I would be on crutches for the entire time. I had to climb into the basement to get my ammo and some gear, then load my truck by myself and head home to Colorado.

I wasn't mobile at all, so could not participate in any drives or stalks and had to wait for my buddies to push a few towards me. One afternoon they had encountered a small herd of elk and decided to set me up in an area (we have hunted this area since 1973) known for elk travel when spooked. So, I crutched my way down to a spot about 1/2 - 3/4 mile from the rig.

I was in my spot when I heard brush cracking behind me. I slowly turned around and saw a sow stand up on her hind legs and start cracking her teeth. It was as if she was smacking her lips and saying "there sits a nice meal before hibernation". I raised my rifle to fire, but she ran away before I could get a shot off.

Dirt2

Great stories! I've had several dustups with game: twice with grouse, a sparrow hawk, a group of four moose, a black bear, and twice have had cougars stalk within 20 feet ready to pounce. Do I sound like a liar yet?

The first cougar was in high school (me not the cougar) in '88 in western MT. I tracked a lot of cougars in those days just for fun. On this day the track led me into a den with 3 newborn kittens with eyes still closed. While I stood there gawking I caught a movement in the corner of my eye. Mommy was sneaking up behind me, crouched on a ledge about 18 feet away. I backed out of there real slow, .357 in hand. Do I need to add that my heart rate was above healthy levels, even for an 18 year old? She let me back away.

The second cougar, or cougars, happened in the Middle Fk. of the Salmon River country in central ID. I was working on a big horn sheep study for the summer, and on the walk back to camp one evening, I was passing through a saddle from one canyon into another. This saddle was commonly used by game. I stepped around a snag and came face up with two full-grown cats crouched and ready to spring, 10 feet in front of me. The next second of time is so vivid in my memory it still brings chills. I looked full into the bigger of the two cats eyes, and those eyes registered pure murder. I thought I was dead. Then, all in that one second, the cat's eyes began to change as it registered the fact I was a human. Those eyes went from "kill" to "ohmygod" in that split second. The two cats dug out of there in a blink. I would have run the other way, but my legs weren't working just then. I tracked this all out in the soft soil afterward, and those cats had clearly heard me coming and slinked forward to crouch behind a log in my route. They obviously thought I was sheep or elk.

All that said, what I fear most is range bulls. It's almost an irrational fear, but I just look at a range bull and know it's calculating whether killing me is really worth the effort. Where I bowhunt is black bear country, no grizzlies, and when I go out I leave the pistol at home, except when I go into one area where the range bulls live. Then I take the pistol along.

j3k2c1

Last summer my dad, me, and my two little brothers ( ages 10 and 12), were fishing in alaska when we wanted to go visit a waterfall that was famous for the numbers of salmon that jump up it day and night during the run. OUr plane left in anchorage at about 12:30 so we needed to make this a quick hike as it was two miles both ways. 500-600 yards away from the waterfall we saw two cubs run across the trail, yes they were grizzly cubs. WE went back up the trail for 200 yards or so and waited for 10 minutes thinking that by then the mother would be with the cubs and we could "slip" past them. As we get to that spot again, we start to hear some crashing in the bushes about 50 yards to our right, at that point my dad told us very calmly to get up this pine tree 15 feet away. By the time my little bros my dad and I had made it ten feet up the momma bear was clawing at the trunk. We waited for 2 hours until she left due to the fact that my dad had called the game warden in the area and he came up with a group of guys all armed and they chased the bear off. I don't want to do that again any time soon, but I still enjoy fishing!

sawbill

I had the boots put to me by a stupid rooster one time. I'd rather face a wounded bear than go through that again. I was going to check a farmers trout pond at the time but learned you could actually jump a 5 ft fence wearing chest waders.

dog1

I don't know if this is true or not, read about it in one of the popular hunting magazines about 20 years ago. This hunter that wrote the article said he was hunting bear in Alaska and shot one. When he got to the downed bear he laid his rifle down, got his knife out to started the skinning,etc. He grabed the bear by one paw to roll it over. When he realized the bear wasn't chasing him he was about 100 yds. away, his knife and rifle laying beside the bear. Seems that when he went to roll the bear over, air rushed out of the bears lungs causing a growl. One of the best I ever heard.

dog1

rambopacker

I've had a lion sneak within 8 yrds behind me while doing timber work near Dubois Wyoming a few years back. I couldn't scare it away but I had pepper spray and I dosed him and he took off.

I've been chased up a tree by a cow moose over near Pinedale Wyoming. It didn't realize that I went up the tree and ran right under me and kept going.

The best story was told to me by a guide back over near Dubois. Himself, another guide and a hunter where hiking thru the woods near the bottom of a little hill. My friend said he heard a sound like a twig snapping from behind him and he knew what it was right away. When he turned around and looked up the hill a sow Griz was charging down the hill at him. All three guys were carying bear spray. My friend tried to get his out but he was so scared he couldn't. Luckily the bear just made a bluff charge to within a few paces. It then went back up the hill and turned around. It charged again this time going at one of the other guys. The bear stopped again within a few paces. At this point none of them had the bear spray out (I guess they were to busy cra$$ing their pants. The bear turned and made eye contact with my friend and charged at him again. This is when the hunter finally got his spray out and dosed the bear and took off. I always thought it was funny that the guys who worked out in Griz country all the time were the ones who froze. I have other Griz stories but I feel a beer coming on. I'll send them next time.

justhuntitall

I was following a herd of cow elk in the Flat tops and had a young lion track up to 10 ft from me . All I had was my bow he crouched down and started poping his legs (of course I was at full draw ) I took aim and thought one chance and thank the lord the lion for some reason turned tail and ran like I scared him to death. [:-]

hhmag

Last April I was in the Kalahari hunting gemsbok with another professional hunter. We were stalking a small herd, closing in on a nice bull when Hennie (my buddy) heard some rustling in the brush about 40 yards behind us. We could both faintly make out a dead animal smell, not good, then we heard a cough on our back trail. Hennie had me stay put on the trail and went into the bush to our left, circling around. He told me not to shoot at anything coming directly up the trail, as it would probably be him.
About five minutes later he came stalking down the trail, looking mighty nervous, and told me we had 2 lions on our back trail, stalking us! We were standing face to face when he screamed for me to hit the ground and shot over me, killing a lion about half a second before it hit my legs! As I hit the ground, I was face to face with the other lion as it was pouncing on Hennie. I shot once, between Hennies legs as he jumped over me, then again as it hit the ground less than two feet from the end of my barrel. Somewhere in all that, I pissed myself, but I got my first lion!