Yep It Happened

BritChaser

BritChaser

Well-known member
Sometimes a hunting trip holds unexpected events. Let's hear about some of yours. Here's one of my stories.

A long-time hunting buddy and I met up in southern Utah with a guy he knew there. The plan was to hunt desert quail out of Mesquite. We made first contact with him at his place. His wife pulled the Wild Turkey out of the freezer and started pouring shots. Then she wanted to dance - but not with her husband. We got out of there after agreeing to meet next morning. He brought with him two of his local friends who showed up in a new Hummer. After breakfast we pointed our three rigs toward BLM land. Not too far down the road the two guys in the Hummer stopped and began plinking at rocks with an assault rifle. We walked up to the Hummer to check the wtf status. It was 8:30 a.m. and the Hummer boys were having beers and something else. We resumed our quest for desert quail and began descending a bulldozed road to a valley via some hairy switchbacks. Once down we followed a two-track in an arroyo that had puddles from unseasonable rain. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and I looked right to see the Hummer getting air bounding and bucking along the side slope. Later the Hummer guy handed me his video cam and asked me to shoot the Hummer as it hit a big puddle. We and my buddy's friend ended up ahead of the Hummer, so we stopped to wait by a big mud puddle. The Hummer soon approached and, seeing the big puddle, decided it wanted to hit it with dramatic force. SPLAT!!! You've heard of stopping on a dime? The Hummer sank into the red ooze, immobilized. Among us we had one tow strap, which broke, and the one shovel was no help; the mud immediately oozed back where it had been shoveled away. We built ramps with small stones in front of each of the Hummer's tires, but it would not budge. We had to abandon the Hummer. Out in the middle of BLM nowhere.

My buddy later told me that it took two tow trucks to pull the Hummer out of the mud. The impaction of mud in the undercarriage, wheel wells, and suspension was so vast that the owner took it to the dealer to have it removed. The good news? Nobody got shot haha.
 
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Wrote about it at length 9 years ago…killed a badger by smashing my Ugartechea 16 gauge S x S over its head as it was attacking one of my dogs…was holding the gun by the pistol grip…the stock exploded and the barrels got bent (gunsmith noticed and fixed that, along with the stock…more $ to fix than I paid for the gun). 2 weeks later same dog and I were charged by 2 timber wolves on a rainy day, very quiet conditions….the next few days there were 5 dogs killed in this area between Duluth and Two Harbors, one I knew well…Federal trappers came in the next summer and killed 4 wolves. Just read in the Duluth paper that there was another dog killed in the general area by wolves. It’s dangerous out there! 😳
 
B-B, guessing you wished you shot that badger instead of using that shotgun as a club. Even if you couldn't shoot its head or vitals, a shot anywhere on that badger would have ended the party. But I will guess it all escalated in a moment...did you even have time to unload it? Frickin wolves take the fun out of things.

As to the thread topic, I have never had to much unexpected drama bird hunting.
 
remy3424 said:
B-B, guessing you wished you shot that badger instead of using that shotgun as a club. Even if you couldn't shoot its head or vitals, a shot anywhere on that badger would have ended the party. But I will guess it all escalated in a moment...did you even have time to unload it? Frickin wolves take the fun out of things.

As to the thread topic, I have never had to much unexpected drama bird hunting.
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I did shoot twice first from about 8-10’, but was probably looking at dogs’ position as well as the badger…it was hit, but not dead…tough critters.
 
mlmich@pldi.net said:
Better left alone.
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Yes, but my 2 labs were on either side of it and it was in a very defensive posture…my decision to shoot was made in about a second or two…just read a post on this site by Hub from 2009 about he and his dog being chased by a badger…he finally turned and shot it at 3 paces…I figured I could get one dog back to me, but I feared the other would end up in a scrap and it would be hard to shoot it then…easy for me to correct my decision from the couch, but frankly, same situation, I would do the same thing, just shoot more accurately! 😳
 
Years ago I was hunting ducks on a large pond by myself (no dog either). I had scouted this pond and it was loaded with wood ducks. I went out there on a Friday evening in October around 6pm and within 30 minutes they were buzzing my decoys. I was in chest waders and had my jon boat stashed in the weeds along the shore. I was standing in knee-high water behind a fallen tree for cover. Shortly after I had shot two ducks, three archery hunters come walking out of the timber behind me. They approach me and start cussing me out that I'm trespassing and they have a private lease to hunt deer on the property.

Now, even though I knew I wasn't on private property or trespassing and I was holding a 12 gauge, I could see I was outnumbered 3 to 1. I politely told them that I had every right to duck hunt here as long as I wasn't on dry land. They kept at it though, telling me that I was trespassing. Then one of them said "well, even if you aren't trespassing, you should respect the fact that we're trying to archery hunt here. Every time you blast that shotgun, it ruins our hunt." At that point I called them out for knowing that I wasn't doing anything illegal and they looked at their partner like "you moron." There was an awkward pause and then one of them said "if you don't leave, we're calling the sheriff. I'd hate to see you lose that nice Benelli shotgun."

I finally just caved in. I told them I was leaving because it wasn't worth arguing with them, and I already had a couple ducks. But before I left, I also told them that I would be coming back to duck hunt again whenever I wanted to during the open season.

I went back there two more times before November, shot a few ducks, and never heard from or saw them again.
 
benelli-banger said:
2 weeks later same dog and I were charged by 2 timber wolves
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They aren't after you. They're after your dog. Wolves do not tolerate other canines in their territory.

I grouse hunt in wolf country every year and know the risks with wolves around. Its part of doing business there. The dog could get ripped to shreds and you might not be able to do a thing about it. But the chances are extremely low. You've got better odds of getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery than running in to a pack of wolves. In 25 years of deer and grouse hunting in wolf county, I've literally never seen one. Hours upon hours upon hours of time in the woods without a confirmed visual encounter.
 
gimruis said:
They aren't after you. They're after your dog. Wolves do not tolerate other canines in their territory.

I grouse hunt in wolf country every year and know the risks with wolves around. Its part of doing business there. The dog could get ripped to shreds and you might not be able to do a thing about it. But the chances are extremely low. You've got better odds of getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery than running in to a pack of wolves.
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I agree, but again, it’s an experience I won’t forget. I spend lots of time in wolf country, that was one of 2 situations where wolves were too close for comfort! The other involved a friends’ setter…he guides around Grand Rapids, that day we were north of Duluth…heavy foliage, we heard the whole encounter, both of us had guns mounted, expecting the worst…wish I had a recording of that 20-30 seconds…started with a howl, we could hear the commotion 40-60 yards into the woods, including growling, snarling, etc…then the dog appeared, unscathed…my friend assumed the wolves may have overrun the dog and it made it out of the woods…we were certain that was a dead dog.
 
Was out exercising the dog when a coyote approached us. I would have let my dog have at it with him but was afraid he would get out of range and not be able to control him. That ol yote walked us back to the truck. Really strange!
 

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When my badger event occurred, I was hunting sharptails…awesome day…I was following the dogs, they turned hard to the east and I followed…a hundred yards later they appeared on point, I crept in as close as I could…BADGER! No plan in my head, just did what I thought made sense…lots of excitement! 🤬
 
benelli-banger said:
Wrote about it at length 9 years ago…killed a badger by smashing my Ugartechea 16 gauge S x S over its head as it was attacking one of my dogs…was holding the gun by the pistol grip…the stock exploded and the barrels got bent (gunsmith noticed and fixed that, along with the stock…more $ to fix than I paid for the gun). 2 weeks later same dog and I were charged by 2 timber wolves on a rainy day, very quiet conditions….the next few days there were 5 dogs killed in this area between Duluth and Two Harbors, one I knew well…Federal trappers came in the next summer and killed 4 wolves. Just read in the Duluth paper that there was another dog killed in the general area by wolves. It’s dangerous out there! 😳
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My uncle, a farmer and stockman, said of a badger encounter that he thought he had done in the critter with a good beating with a spade only to to find it gone when he returned 10 minutes later.
 
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Goosemaster said:
I accidentally shot some guy that was deer hunting wearing camo, hiding in the brush.Luckily he was just grazed.I had no idea he was there.
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couple of us bird hunting on walk-in came up on a camoed deer hunter. praise be, he stood up when we got close to gun range.
 
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BritChaser said:
Sometimes a hunting trip holds unexpected events. Let's hear about some of yours. Here's one of my stories.

A long-time hunting buddy and I met up in southern Utah with a guy he knew there. The plan was to hunt desert quail out of Mesquite. We made first contact with him at his place. His wife pulled the Wild Turkey out of the freezer and started pouring shots. Then she wanted to dance - but not with her husband. We got out of there after agreeing to meet next morning. He brought with him two of his local friends who showed up in a new Hummer. After breakfast we pointed our three rigs toward BLM land. Not too far down the road the two guys in the Hummer stopped and began plinking at rocks with an assault rifle. We walked up to the Hummer to check the wtf status. It was 8:30 a.m. and the Hummer boys were having beers and something else. We resumed our quest for desert quail and began descending a bulldozed road to a valley via some hairy switchbacks. Once down we followed a two-track in an arroyo that had puddles from unseasonable rain. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and I looked right to see the Hummer getting air bounding and bucking along the side slope. Later the Hummer guy handed me his video cam and asked me to shoot the Hummer as it hit a big puddle. We and my buddy's friend ended up ahead of the Hummer, so we stopped to wait by a big mud puddle. The Hummer soon approached and, seeing the big puddle, decided it wanted to hit it with dramatic force. SPLAT!!! You've heard of stopping on a dime? The Hummer sank into the red ooze, immobilized. Among us we had one tow strap, which broke, and the one shovel was no help; the mud immediately oozed back where it had been shoveled away. We built ramps with small stones in front of each of the Hummer's tires, but it would not budge. We had to abandon the Hummer. Out in the middle of BLM nowhere.

My buddy later told me that it took two tow trucks to pull the Hummer out of the mud. The impaction of mud in the undercarriage, wheel wells, and suspension was so vast that the owner took it to the dealer to have it removed. The good news? Nobody got shot haha.
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But did you kill some birds?
 
It reminds me of a story from high school. We were doing some work for a guy. He had some money, his wife wanted to live in the city but he was country at heart. Had 80 acres in the middle of town, had some exautics on it. Cool guy cool place. Big elk hunter. Had a 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive decked out van. Thought it was the coolest thing J had ever seen.
He was telling us the story, was up in Colorado elk hunting and drove it off the mountain. As you can guess he was in a bind so he flagged down a couple of locals. One pulled down into the ditch at winch length, the other stayed up on the road and they formed a chain. Working the winches back and forth until all three vehicles were back on the road.
My guy he’s in aw and go’s over to thank them .The local he says to him
You flatlanders need to get back in your van and stay the hell off of this mountain !😂
 
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