Dangerous Situations in the Woods?

[Max Volume]

Every dangerous encounter I've had in the woods involved deer hunting on public land. I used to be and extremely avid deer hunter and didn't start blasting away in what could possibly be construed as a wreckless manner.

One instance involved being in a tree stand using a deer call and I had a ****load of slugs whizzing by me. When I turned to look in the direction of fire there was a running deer and a person emptying out his shotgun 75 yards away. I was wearing full orange and all leaves were off the trees. My profile was not hidden in any way from the shooter.

Another instance had me in a stand about 30 yards inside the intersection of 2 fire breaks on public land. Three people stopped at the intersection and raised their firearms. I shouted "HEY" and one proceeded to fire in my direction and more bullets whizzed by me. The crosshairs of my muzzleloader's scope then became centered on the shooter's chest before they ambled away.

I have had or seen many bad instances on public land up north to cause me to cease deer hunting since that is all I have access to.

I've met many people in parking areas who admitted to emptying their gun on running deer and saying maybe they ought to go back and see if there's any blood trail to follow, several instances of a perfect lung shot on a deer only to find is didn't have an antler 3" long and was left to lay. When I've seen that it was reported to the check station where the ranger said "again"?

Yeah, it's a deer which many schmucks say "who cares". My contention is PLAY BY THE FRICKIN' RULES ASSHAT. Just like the deer "cain" I've seen around people's treestands on public land.

Many ass holes on public land feel they must get something to prove to their friends they are the mighty hunter at the risk of other's safety. As a hardcore hunter, seeing some of the things I have makes me think the anti's have valid points.



The other instance

 

[rhino]

I got stuck in mud almost to my knees on an orienteering course during ROTC class back in 1984. I finally got out of it, but it could have been a really bad day for the rhino. On the bright side, I learned that I tend toward being calm and analytical during stressful situations (which has been confirmed multiple times in subsequent years).

 

[trimman83]

I had a brother in law once. He was a very good shot with his .223. He told me he had been out driving on a country road in Johnson County. He sees a groundhog work'n the banks of a ditch that he had full permission to hunt. He gets out of his truk and takes a rest on a nearby tree and fires one good shot. Just then, the guy wearing a coon-skin cap comes up out of the ditch. My BIL jumps back in his truck,(known very well, locally) and gets out of the area. Next day, he runs into Mr. coon skin cap. Guy says "you scared the hell outta me yesterday!" BIL just says "yeah, I figured I got ya good." CSC probably doesn't know to this day how lucky he was my dumb ass BIL missed by miracle that day.

 

[trimman83]

I really don't think I hunt with stupid buddies, but things happen sometime??? We get back to the truck after hunting deer one morning. One of my buddies tells the rest of us that he swears a guy on another ridge was shoot'n straight at him that morning. He had shots wizz'n by and could hear the impact. We asked him why he had the thought that the other guy was shooting at him in particular. He says "I was watching him through my scope!"

 

[Crossbow Porpoise]

Ah, which part are you from? I'd say I'm from the Susquehanna Valley, but considering there are two areas that refer to themselves by this name, it's not a good way. (My hometown is 26 miles to the south of Williamsport.)

This also explains who else has been asking for things like Lebanon bologna and birch beer around here. (I have found the former. No luck on the latter.) I've gotten some strange looks when I asked for things like 'fastnachts.' And yes, I would believe how your grandmother could cook. I imagine she made hearty meals, including things like chicken pot pie, ham and green beans, chicken corn soup, and shoofly pie. I've made some of these things since coming here last year. I've also made potato bread, even after I found out Wal-Mart sold it.

As to the most dangerous situation in the woods, that would have occurred while I was in boy scouts, but that involved a washed out bridge and getting lost in the trails surrounding R.B. Winter state park.

P.S. There's a large Pennsylvania Dutch museum where the ancestors who bare my family name settled in this country in Lancaster County.

 

[atvdave]

A long time ago 3 buddies and myself went canoeing down this river valley in northern Georgia before all of the valley was to be flooded from a dam being build up stream. We ran into 2 moonshiners and tried to buy some white lighting from them and then they...... I don't want to talk about it anymore...

 

[Double T]

Had someone have the nerve to steal firewood and a cooler from my campsite. They were lucky it was on ACOE property.

 

[pwoller]

I wasn't judging you merely curious. I thought someone came on your land and when you asked them to leave they threatened you or something. I've had trespassers during hunting season. A stern get out and stay out usually works in my situations.

Sorry for being sensitive. The land I hunt is private and is used by the locals as their personal atv playground. I just don't get the dudes that own ATVs but live in a trailer with no land. Where do they plan to use them besides trespassing?

 

[Max Volume]

A long time ago 3 buddies and myself went canoeing down this river valley in northern Georgia before all of the valley was to be flooded from a dam being build up stream. We ran into 2 moonshiners and tried to buy some white lighting from them and then they...... I don't want to talk about it anymore...

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gLN3QoN-q8

 

[Dirty Steve]

Does a dangerous situation with a horse count?

I was on a late season high mountain elk hunt in Wyoming. I was riding along a narrow icy and snow covered trail between two ridges. I decided that the trail was to narrow and icy to ride and started to stop the horse, get off and walk it across. I got my right foot out of the stirrup. Before I could get my left foot out, the horse stumbled and fell to the uphill side of the trail on top of me. The impact jammed my left foot in the stirrup. The horse got up and ran the rest of the way across the gap, dragging me by my foot, head and shoulders bouncing off of the rocks and ground. I was cursing a blue streak while it drug me about 50 yards. Thankfully it stopped as soon as it got to the other side. I was battered, bruised, cut up and my left leg was sore as heck. Nothing broken though. If the horse had fallen to the downhill side, he and I both would have rolled a over a steep ledge and a long way down the mountain. It probably would have killed me.

I never told my wife about that. However, the next year before I went on a fly-in drop camp hunt in northern Quebec, I prepared a will, durable power of attorney and advanced health care directive. That one close call 5 hours from any help really made me think.

Dirty Steve

 

[churchmouse]

Trespassers. Some arrogant, some threatening. Threats do not work, actions do.
Guy in tree stand on adjacent property shooting at deer across property line. He was set up 50 ft. into his property and the stand was facing the line. We were walking up towards him and he loosed a volley in our direction....Did not end well for him.

 

[Miles42]

After reading some of these I know for certain giving up hunting in my old age is a good thing.

 

[xcalibur]

I have a story of a near miss which happened to me about 20 years ago that I will never forget.
A co-worker of mine asked if I would take him hunting sometime. He had a brand new single shot 12 gauge that he was itching to shoot, but was unable to on account he lived in the city limits of Bloomington. I have a few acres in Lawrence county and after weeks of persistence he wore me down. I never liked the idea of going hunting with someone I didn't know well. After all, I had my regular hunting pals that grew up shooting and whom I trusted would not put a slug in me.
It was squirrel season and I figured how much trouble is it to sit him on a stump for a short time. So I told him to be at my place around 7am and we'd go out behind the house. In the back of my mind I didn't figure he would show that early on his day off and I would be off the hook. I was wrong; he showed up on time and also brought a friend of his. We all introduced ourselves and I loaned his buddy a bolt action 22 rifle of mine because he had no gun of his own. Once again this should be a walk in the park, after all we are just squirrel hunting for a couple of hours.
After entering the woods, the three of us were talking quietly and looking up and listening and waiting. So the scene looks like this.....My co-workers friend is standing just to the right of me maybe 2 or 3 feet. My co-worker is directly in front of us about 10 to 15 feet fondling his single shot 12 gauge. He had broken the barrel down for some reason and pulled out the shell. I didn't think much about it, but when he put the shell back in; it looked like he was struggling to close the barrel which was pointed in our general direction, but I didn't have time to say a word...........Boom........
I thought my heart stopped. His eyes were as big as silver dollars and so were mine, and even bigger when I saw the maple tree just off my left side. About chest high was a spot full of pellet holes. He blamed the gun and we all walked back to the house.
It goes without saying we never went hunting again together.

 

[junior438]

miles42, dont give. up the hunt just beacuse of a few peoples near misses. continue to do what you love. pass it on to generations yet to come. never give up something you love to do.

 

[Grunt]

Does a dangerous situation with a horse count?

If the horse had fallen to the downhill side, he and I both would have rolled a over a steep ledge and a long way down the mountain. It probably would have killed me.

Dirty Steve

This part of your experience reminded me of when I nearly fell over a cliff.

Years ago along a river with steep shale cliffs, I was at the top of these cliffs securing 120 foot long ropes to a tree to rappel from. Before I positioned these ropes, I secured a safety line in case there was a fall before a person was secured to the rope.

The safety line was set perpendicular to the 120 foot rope and about 6 feet back from the anchor point 3 feet above ground level with slack in it.

We were about 100 feet above the river. I had just completed anchoring the rope and turned around and lost my footing. I was on my back sliding feet first to my possible doom. As I was sliding I extended my right arm skyward hoping to grab the safety line. This all occurred in a millisecond.

I fricking missed grabbing the line with my hand as I slid under the safety line, but my wrist did catch on it as I was sliding down past the safety line. I left slack in the line and the rope was now in front of my wrist which caused the slack to pull tight. As the safety line tightened it caused me to start sliding on my side. As I slid on my side, the safety line looped around my wrist and jerked me to a halt.

I was shocked and amazed that I wasn't falling down a 100 foot tall 85 degree slope. I laid there for a few seconds gathering myself, wrist entangled in the safety line. I was about 8 feet from going over. It happened so fast that my friend didn't realize I almost went over. It happened too fast to yell or scream.

I have had several close calls that I often think about; "what if?" This is one of them. I don't know if it would have killed me, but it would have put a hurtin on me.

 

[CSORuger]

1 March to 29 May 1969 Operation Oklahoma Hills

Quang Nam Province South Vietnam

 

[shootamc58]

A year ago I got a new side by side atv. My son who was 8 wanted to go trail riding so bad he couldn't stand it. We took it up to the trails around the muncie resivour. We got there and there was no one else on the trails and no cars in the parking area where we unloaded the atv. We were excited to have the trails all to ourselves. We had been riding for about 30 minutes when I got it hung up in some pretty bad mud. As I'm hooking up the winch, 2 guys ride up on bikes and stop about 25 yards from us and don't say anything. They look at each other and immediately take off. I waved at them and they didn't even acknowledge me, which I thought was weird. We pull out and head back toward the trails and for some reason I get a weird feeling that these guys are up to something. To this day I don't know why this feeling came over me, but I'm glad it did. We head back toward the car and these guys are on my trailer trying to get into my suv. I immediately stop the atv and get out and yell at them. This started to scare my son, but I told him to stay calm. One of the guys hops off my trailer and acts like he's going to pull something out of his waist band. My instincts kick in and I grabed my m&p and pulled it out but never pointed it at them. I made sure they could see it in my hand and kept it pointed at the ground. When they saw this, they bolted so quick it made my head spin. Had my son not been there, I don't know how it would have turned out. I really think he would have pulled out whatever it was he was reaching for had I not made it evident I was armed. To this day, I never saw another vehicle or trailer in that area which made me think they lived around there. I went straight to the ranger and reported what happened. He didn't seem to interested until I called the cops and reported it. I hope I never actually have to pull on someone, but I was so glad that I had it with me. I think it ended what could have been a really bad situation.

 

[Blondie]

I was bird hunting with friends and we kicked up some qail and they flew every direction, My friend shot every direction and shot me in the back. Good thing i was wearing a hunting coat and it was 8 shot and not in the head. I dont hunt with him anymore.

 

[bwframe]

A buddy and I were paddling back to the truck an hourish after dark. Came upon a bubba family bank fishing at the put in spot. One had a lantern battery light looking into my truck windows.

We came in silent unobserved, then got stuck on a stump 15 yards out.
It was a stressful time for a bit with a couple bubbas trying to throw us a rope to "help us out" and the other couple making up lame excuses about "someone just left who was looking in your truck."

After ten minutes of rocking, refusing "help" and arguing with my buddy not to attempt to dive from the canoe, we got off the stump and left. Luckily the Mini14 didn't have to come out of the bag. On the way home my buddy expressed his happiness with my decision to paddle around the extra pounds of steel.

Last year I sold the Mini14 and changed up my woods/water carry thinking. I'm thinking the .357 revolver/rifle combo for paddling and rod box. What do ya'll think about that?

BTW - I run across lots of maybe nefarious folks in the woods and waters frequently. Prolly just me with paranoia and trust issues?

 

[throttletony]

Worst situation outdoors was our own fault. Wolf/coyote hunting in Idaho, we got the truck stuck in some snow going over a mountain pass. We'd been out of cell coverage for over an hour, last ranch house was 17 miles back. It was about 1:00 in the afternoon, so we decide to walk back down the road. I carried a 870 with buckshot in case some critters got curious. There were wolf prints right on the road!!! Anyways we walk a couple hours and run in to a nice elk hunter who was able to tug us out.
Worst part was we hadn't talked about what to do IF we didn't find anyone else - I thought we'd go back to truck and camp the night, my father-in-law thought we'd walk until we got somewhere. I wouldn't want to be out there in the dark, walking on the road in wolf country. Since I thought we'd end up back at the truck, I didn't bring the extra food/water or flashlights with us on our 7 mile frantic walk. If we hadn't seen that hunter, who knows what would have happened.

P.S. I tried to pay back his good actions by helping a lady the other weekend with car troubles (what goes around, comes around, right?)