Large Predator Encounters In the Elk Woods

[WapitiTalk1]

Big cats, bears, wolves, or marauding pack of ravenous yotes - -, please share a story or two of too close for comfort predator encounters during your time in the elk woods. Can be from this year or a previous year.

[Olydog09]

I have had a few cat encounters. All in N. Idaho. Here is one from this year even though I was not directly involved but the camp of guys approx 1 mile down the road from ours was. To start the story off my partner and I (P.D.) were driving to our morning destination to start our elk hunt that morning. It is still dark out and when we hit the flats with open meadows a good size fawn stumbles out on the road in front of us. It was walking kind of funny and there was a patch of fur missing on the side of the shoulder that was pointed towards us. There was an angry red square aboutr 4"X4" that I could see. It chucked across the road and rambled up the hill a few yards and stood there and watched us drive by. Well we though of that fawn a bit the next few days bringing it up on occasion and wondering what had happened to it and what had become of it. We figured the missing shoulder square was likely the area where a cat had grabbed ahold of it from behind. But we werent sure if maybe coyotes had gotten on it and tried dragging it down.

Fast forward a few days and I am visiting the other camp down the road from us about 1 mile away. We were talking about the hunts and one of the guys says "tell him about the cougar!" Apparently earlier in the week it was around 2:30 in the afternoon and they were at their camp sitting around with music playing and socializing when they heard a terrible fawn bleat about 150 yards from their camp. They silently stalked towards where the noise came from. They got close to the spot and just caught the retreating tail of a cougar. They looked around and here was this yearling fawn on the ground. It turned out to be a little buck. They went up to it and one guy got down and kind of petted it and saw that the deers throat was all wet from getting suffocated. Then he notices that it is still breathing. He sat and petted the fawn and tried to lift his head but it just fell back to the ground when he let it go. He waited a bit and repeated and the fawn jumped up and bolted with a BBLLLEEEAAATTTT!!!!! Holy cow man what a story. I would have been leery of believing them had I not seen the fawn myself the next morning AND they had video of when they walked up to the fawn and it was laying there. Pretty crazy story

[jswbga]

I have no exciting stories to share.

we leave for CO, 1st rifle tomorrow and hope for no change in that status upon return!

[Lark Bunting]

Hippies. I ran into a couple hippies while following a game trail this year. Pretty strange to run into people not hunting while in the woods. Somehow I narrowly escaped smoking a bowl and coming out wreaking of Patchouli.

[elkmtngear]

Don't know if I've posted this story here before, but here goes:

I had climbed up in an old wooden treestand one evening that sits in a creek bottom, between a dark timber bedding area, and a semi-open South facing slope. There was no rope, so I slung my bow over my shoulder when I climbed up.

Winds were surging a little that evening...had a cow come down the trail under the stand, and she was acting very nervous. I was cow calling intermittently (every 10 to 15 minutes).

Finally as the light started fading, I decided to climb down, since I still had 2 miles (uphill) to go to get back to the truck. When I climbed down, something made me turn around and look behind me. There was a BIG cougar crouched at about 8 yds next to a spruce, with his ears laid back.

Took me a second to process it all, and decide to pull my bow slowly off my shoulder, nock an arrow, and draw. Just before I came to full draw, the cat turned tail, and slowly walked away.

I was a little nervous walking out in the dark that night

[WapitiTalk1]

Hippies. I ran into a couple hippies while following a game trail this year. Pretty strange to run into people not hunting while in the woods. Somehow I narrowly escaped smoking a bowl and coming out wreaking of Patchouli.

Yikes. Close one Tom; glad you made it outa there in one piece

[WapitiTalk1]

Don't know if I've posted this story here before, but here goes:

I had climbed up in an old wooden treestand one evening that sits in a creek bottom, between a dark timber bedding area, and a semi-open South facing slope. There was no rope, so I slung my bow over my shoulder when I climbed up.

Winds were surging a little that evening...had a cow come down the trail under the stand, and she was acting very nervous. I was cow calling intermittently (every 10 to 15 minutes).

Finally as the light started fading, I decided to climb down, since I still had 2 miles (uphill) to go to get back to the truck. When I climbed down, something made me turn around and look behind me. There was a BIG cougar crouched at about 8 yds next to a spruce, with his ears laid back.

Took me a second to process it all, and decide to pull my bow slowly off my shoulder, nock an arrow, and draw. Just before I came to full draw, the cat turned tail, and slowly walked away.

I was a little nervous walking out in the dark that night

Damn sneaky cats. While hunting in ID two years ago, a buddy and I were working our way out from our hunt on an old outfitter trail that circled above a steep draw. As we passed the head end of the draw, we looked back to where we'd came from (5 minutes ago) and there was a big old cat sitting on a rock, not 20 feet below the trail. He could have been laying off the trail 5 feet and we couldn't have seen him. I've got a dandy story about a cat that stalked a hunter for hundreds of yards I'll share a bit later in the thread.

[mjblowers]

It's been 2 years I think since my wolf encounters. I knew them to be in this specific area up in Mcall, Idaho for some time, but I had never laid eyes on them.

I was hunting by myself, sleeping in the bed of my truck and decided like any other hunting morning to get an early start. It was 5 am or so before I was to the spot not too far from the truck and I was wanting to see if I could stir some pre shooting like action and get a location on a bull so I laid some sweet, sweet cow calls out there. I was in a large opening surrounded by a lot of dead, standing as well as fallen timber. About 5 minutes in and about 3 calls into it all, the little area I was in EXPLODED with wolf howls at what I felt was roughly 100 yards away. It was not a moonlit night so it was dang near pitch black. I was by myself, granted, with a 9MM, but if you've seen me shoot a pistol you'd know I'd might as well have a couple of rocks in my hand.

At that time, I was into the whole "elk scent" stuff and I took the hanging stuff I'd laid and chucked it as far away from my position as possible. I turned on my flashlight, loaded my gun, put my bow down, crapped my pants, and sat in complete silence from probably 5:15 until light (this was opening day of Archery elk season so that was probably about an hour?)

Fortunately, as the light bled into the trees, I could begin to peer through and down the slope I was on top of, and I could see in another open meadow (pinned at 225 yards) 5 wolves trotting around in circles and eventually dispersing separately into the forest in my direction. The fear had subsided at this point, and I was just happy to see a wolf. I continued looking down the slope and I just made out another wolf that was left behind, laying down in the field (what I believe to be the Alpha female). My pistol shot is horrendous, my rifle shot is poo, and my bow shot is ok. Did I mention at that time I also carried a .243 in my pack?

In the most awkward angle possible to get a steady shot (laying down on my back with rifle resting on my thigh to steady and my head propped on my bag, I found a hole through all the fallen/standing timber and shot. It got up an trotted away and I thought I had surely missed it. I watched it exit the other side of the large meadow and an hour later I went to where it exited, just to verify. Well.... there was blood. Blood footprints on the fallen logs, blotches of blood, randomness all around. I looked for it all day. Drove into town and called my Dad to come help. He looked all the next day. Could never find it .

That being said, the next day in the evening I was cow calling and had a small wolf howl and come in at 10 yards and I shot him dead... almost pinned him to the tree behind him.

Army crawled in the same meadow later that month towards a pack of 4 before deciding I don't know what the hell I was doing or knowing enough about the animal and backed out like a girl never to see any since. Haven't been to that spot since, or that unit for that matter.

EDIT: Haven't been nearly as confident with the hiking solo in the dark since. Even though I know the likelihood of anything having happened with them is 1:10000000000000000000000.

[Lefty]

Watched 3 lions for some time,.. they eventually figured out I was human
Deer hunting. I was swapping into my clean clothes Had this cloud come in and drop whour frost. I walked 30 yards and a big cat track on top of the frost
Sitting on a bear bait and had two wolves walk past at 200 yards
Walked up on a wolf while tracking a bull I didn't see it my wife did,.. 80 yards out
Two wolves in August

The one that got my attention. Bear hunting glassing a field on fresh snow and watched a grizz attack a couple moose
But even more scary were three different moose encounters,

[redtop]

4-5 times in the last few years I've had bear encounters. I live in Grizzly country but all of these were in the dark in the morning going in to elk hunt so I never saw the bears. Every time I was just walking along with my headlamp on when something started growling and snapping it's jaws close, very close. I'd get out my bearspray and turn off the headlamp trying to see something but only twice did I see anything and then it was just a big shaggy butt moving away, once growling and making threatening noises the whole way. I try to convince myself each time it happens that it was just a black bear.
Last year mid morning I popped out of some timber on my way down off a ridge when I spotted what I thought was a moose in the bushes about 100 yds. away. Turned out to be a huge boar grizzly. I had the wind and just a silly bow and arrow and I was totally in the open with no trees to retreat to without alerting him. I plopped down got out the bearspray and watched him feed and rustle around in the bushes within 50 yds. He either never knew I was there or was just ignoring me more likely. He moved off in the direction I was headed but I changed course and took the long way home.

[Viking]

Had a grizz smashing brush, huffing and popping its jaw at me this morning. Must have had a kill nearby. Wonder why the wife hates me hunting alone hahaha.

[LckyTylr]

Iv'e had some Wolf encounters in Idaho.

First year they opened the season on them, two weeks prior to that opening date, I was scouting an area in unit 43. I was sitting in the back of my pickup on a logging road and lacing up my boots. I looked across the road and saw a coyote trotting sneakily through the timber angling towards my truck . . . then I noticed how tall it was and the shape of it's head. That's NOT a coyote! About 15 yards behind it was a larger wolf. They stopped about 40 yards from my truck when they finally spotted me and just sat on their haunches to watch me. It was neat, I got crappy video of it with my cell phone.

The next year, the liberals managed to get the season closed and i had a wolf at about 15 yards opening weekend of archery season.

The next year, I was calling into a large basin near McCall and from WAY across the basin I noticed a slinking black figure headed my way quite rapidly across the rocky cliffs near the top of the basin. I didn't have a pistol and it was nearing dark . . . I let the black wolf get about 100 yards away before I picked up and Hauled A$$ towards camp. I wish I had stayed and tried for a shot . . . what was I thinking?