Has Anyone Else Had This Happen?

Question

A couple years back I was pheasant hunting here in Central Iowa. I had the worst luck that year. I couldn't find a rooster to save my life that year. The season ended first part of January like it always does. The next day after season ended, I was in the farm truck on my way to one of our building sites, and passed one of our fields that I had hunted several times that season with no luck. As I live and breathe, there were at the very least 100 roosters and hens in a giant cluster near the entry to that field. I could have chewed through metal I was so mad. For the life of me I can't figure where the hell they came from. We even had dogs with us when we hunted that patch just a couple weeks before. Has anything like this ever happend to you. Share your story, and the best one will get ten points. Looking forward to your stories. Take care.

Lol, bring it. I love the challenge. Infact, I expect to see at the very least: 100 posts, and 100 stars. I will keep this question open as long as it takes to get the best story. Good luck gentlemen (and ladies), looking forward to some good hunting tales. Take care.

Answer 1

Don't you guys know that all wild animals now have laptops and they email each other? It's like hey...Rudolph...man with gun to your left, go right...see ya at the watering hole later Moose........ or something like that. (tongue in cheek)

Answer 2

I'm not much of a pheasant hunter, but last elk season, I went to some property a family friend has in Eastern Washington for the weekend at the end of the season. The first day I spend damn near the whole day in a tree stand and saw nothing. The next day I was out sneaking around in the woods for about 30 hours and still nothing. I wet, tired and mad. I was driving back to Seattle the next morning and I saw a HUGE herd of elk in the same area I was just hunting in. I could have easily picked one off from where I was, but all it takes is that one game warden in the area to screw up your hunting life. This year I hope I have better luck.

Answer 3

Last dove season in Texas! We have had a lease in Cisco for the past 20 years and the hunting has ALWAYS been great. Last year we show up expecting the same thing and we left a week later with 31 dove between 5 of us! As we're driving back into Dallas we start seeing groups of 10-30 dove just flying around the city. It was like they figured out when to make the trip into the city limits to taunt us! Needless to say we were all a little ANGRY!!!!! Sure hope this year's better.

Answer 4

Yeah, 2004 Florida Alligator harvest. I was allowed to hunt 2 alligators. I managed to get one.

The second time I saw an alligator that I could've hunted down, guess what? I was not on a hunting trip and didn't have a gun except the Glock 17 I kept under the driver's seat. I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to shoot the alligator so I didn't even try. Well, even if I did get my gun, the alligator would've been out of sight.

Answer 5

deer season of 05 the worst season i have ever seen i got to hunt more than usual so i was very confedent that i was going to get some meat out of the that holler i hunt it every year and usualy before ten oclock opening morning i at least get a doe but nothing but squerls running every whereso after seson went out i took my squer rifle back to that same hollor no sign of life of any kind in that holler untill about nine thirty and all at once a nice little buck chaced seven does right upon me and all i could do was just watch them after they moved on i had no other chose but go back home and cry like a two year old


ok i didnt cry but i realy wanted to






good luck and happy hunting

Answer 6

Some years ago, a customer invited my boss and I to come shoot deer out of his garden. Reverend Ainsworth talked like his garden was overrun by deer and that he saw the biggest 10-point buck (Eastern Count) that he'd ever seen in his life just a few days before.

We were there opening morning well before daylight, and I stayed until after dark. Never saw hide nor hair of deer. There was so much gunfire from surrounding properties that it sounded like a repeat of Shiloh, but nothing on the Ainsworth place.

As I was driving home that evening, I saw a big deer on the side of the road. I slowed and slowly approached. The deer just stood there. He was a huge 10-pointer, and must have weighed 300 pounds. He was a spooky blue-grey color. I stopped next to him, rolled down the window and we just stared at each other. I was sorely tempted to shoot him, but it was dark and on a public road. So I just cussed him fit to scorch his antlers and drove off, leaving him standing on the side of the road.

You can't tell me that deer don't watch the calendar. They go nocturnal just before opening day.

Doc

Answer 7

A friend, the President of the rod & gun club where I am a member, had gone through the entire deer season without seeing a single one.

The season ended on a Tuesday, the day before our December meeting. Guess who killed a buck with his car on the way to that meeting?

Answer 8

I once emptied both barrels of a 12 guage muzzle loading shotgun at a pair of pheasants at about 40 yards and cleanly missed both.... then about 7 or 8 more jumped up about 10 yards away... easy range for that mussle loader. I could have easily got a double at that range, it would have been my first with the muzzle loader.

Answer 9

When people think animals and birds are dumb they are deluding themselves. I have observed deer and antelope that keep to a restricted area when hunting season is on and the day after just scatter; Gary Larsen knew what he was talking about with his Farside Cartoons.

Answer 10

let me set the picture here for you ....
Its mid november in the mountains of southwestern va. theres a light snow on and the temp is around 20 degrees.. its about 6:20 in the morning and im sittin in my stand wating on the buck ive been after all season... hes a brute a big wide 11 point with a drop tine that reaches clean down to his left eye.. ive seen him 2 times already once squirrel hunting.. crossing a ridge about 200 yards off with about 4 other decent bucks in september and once at night feeding in the hay field behind my house..... he is massive and in full rut i know because the ridge im hunting is tore all to peices with rubs and scrapes ... im about 25 feet up overlooking where 2 trails come together leading down to a creek and a big white oak patch ...there is a thick overgrown clearcut to my left where a faint trail leads into also... I have a little tinks sprayed on a rub about 20 yards in front of me....
okay you got the picture ........
Well there I am paying attention to a little yearling doe feeding and watching a couple squirrels around her when she looks directly behind me into the thicket... I hear the faint sounds of leaves crunching and my heart starts to beat a little faster after each crunch.... till i think its gonna scare everything off if it doesnt slow down.... i slowly turn my head and see the faint signs of a deer standing in the thicket moving parallel with it towars me following the old trail.....the deer is dark and big and has kept its head down the whole time .... its been walking ... i have fulll concintration on that animal im trying to hold my bow still as it comes within about 15 yards and stops still inside of the thicket.... I know its the monster ive been after the whole season.... i play everything over in my mind on how it will happen how it will step out and i will already be at full draw..... it will look at that little doe giving me a perfect broadside shot and then i will finally have somthing worth bragging about......
suddenly..... it steps out of the thicket i am already at full draw trying not to look at the horns ... when i notice it doesnt have any.... i feel like a idiot as i slowly let my bow down while the large doe looks downhill at the other doe... i turn my head to look back down the hill at the other deer when i see him standing right under the tinks looking right at me.... he had watched the whole thing and now he was mocking me.... I started to slowly draw my bow back agian... but by then it was too late he was long gone all eleven points and drop tine and all..... along with my pride and dignity.... but thats not even the bad part of the story... i get done hunting that day and put my bow in its case... get in the truck and start heading out of the holler i was hunting by then its dark... i cut a steep curve and my headlights catch some eyes on the side of the road i pull out a flashlight to see it and guess who it is .... yep him... mocking me one more time..... and he is less than 30 yards off with 2 old does.... just looking at me .... I watch him ... till he follows his girlfriends down the backside of the hill into the laurel ... I never seen him agian that winter... i did find one of his sheds though and we scored it at 85 1/2 inches the other side had the drop tine so it would have been even more ,,,,,,, theres not a day goes by that i hunt i dont think about that deer and how he did me....