This Happened To Me.....

[foxvalley]

My most memorable reading growing up was reading the "this happened to me " in the outddoor life magazine. Anybody have any stories they would like to tell of last years hunt?

My first mornings hunt in the Idaho mtns. started out as they all do,busting with anticipation,head to toe camo, including face paint,white diaphram flicking in and out of my mouth with nervous anxiousness,first light,and still hunting up to my favorite saddle,and awesome crossing that connects two major draws.
Standing there in the saddle,and looking up hill,about 70 yards away, I see this little hawk,sharp shinned,I believe,wings swept back,and just screaming down the mtnside at about 100mph,right at me.........at three feet from my face,it does a tight horizontal 360 loop de loop,still going a hundred,and here it comes again.....now just two feet from my face as it now does an incredible vertical 360 loop de loop,still moving at warp speed,in for the kill,as it tries to rip my diaphram "mouse" from my mouth(hole in this 6' stump)but now I'm ready for it,as I raise my bow to fend off the attack,and felt wingtips hitting my bow,as it backpeddled out of there.
"Welcome to Idaho" was the only thing that came to mind after that.

[Tigger]

How about This (Almost) Happened to Me?

Idaho elk hunting. Decided to take a short cut across about 50 yards (or so it seemed) of blowdown. After about 100 yards, I was walking down a log and quickly had to come to a stop as it was cracked and looked unsafe. What was sphincter tightening about this is that there was suddenly no ground beneath me in about 270 degrees! 2 sharp, steep drainages combined and I was standing on the "point". One more step and that log would have broke and I would have fallen a long ways. I could just feel the adrenaline creep up my spine. I did stop long enough to dig out my camera and take a picture, but like most "steepness" photos, it didn't do it justice.

[pointysticks]

Best thing about that magazine. Okay second best. I loved the McManus stories the best.

[six]

5 years ago on a archery bivy hunt. My friend woke me up at 4 am. He said there's something outside the tent. As I was waking up I heard the sniff sniff sniff. We both whispered bear. We both had our pistols drawn and we were bearing down on the sniffing sound. I remember thinking the sniffing sounded more like a horse than a bear, but I had never heard a bear sniff from less than 2 feet. After approximately 30 seconds we heard footsteps. Whew it was walking away. I turned on my flashlight and lifted the side of the teepee tent. Walking away from the tent was the biggest Bull Moose I have every seen.

We learned the hard way not to camp right next to the hiking trail.

[foxvalley]

It's always spooky when something comes into camp at night, the slow, deep breathing of a bear,the rush in, rush out of a coyote,the clip clop of elk and moose hooves, and sometimes the spookiest is the fuzzy little rabbit that likes to snuggle next to your pup tent, making the fabric move,and making me come "unglued"