Most Memorable Whitetail Encounter...???

[avidhunter]

Just curious to hear what everybody's most memorable whitetail encounter has been, without having let an arrow fly, or dropping the hammer???

I remember the first season I ever hunted, where I had setup in a dead tree stump, not 40 yds inside of a loose timber, a staging area sitting beside a picked corn field - late muzzy season. Snow blanketed nearly everything. It was amazing to see the woods come alive, as deer slowly emerged from their bedding areas, magically appearing all around me - I had multiple doe-fawn groups literally surrounding me within 5 yds. I could have reached out and touched one. Needless to say, I was giddy with the excitement of that moment. Luckily enough for me, there was no wind to speak of, and the deer that graced me with their presence that evening, were none the wiser of the visitor in their midst

I've been hooked on whitetails ever since!

 

[simplesimon]

I would have to say mine was on a juvenile hunt with my dad when I was 12 years old. We had been in the stand since daylight and the time was approaching 12:00 p.m. I was very antsy and wanted to go back to the truck and talk with all my buddies. My dad told me to sit still and wait because he said that we might see something because people are thinking the same way thing I was and will be heading to the truck for lunch and they might jump something up. It was not very long when I spotted a deer. Needless to say, It is the biggest deer I have seen since I have been hunting. He came right down the trail we was set up and walked with in 30 yards of us. My dad said,
"shoot, shoot, shoot" under his breath. I was wanting to pull the hammer so bad but could not concentrate because my knees were shaking so bad. The buck crossed over the road and out of sight. My Dad just smiled and put his arm around me and said maybe we will get him this evening. That is one hunt I will never forget.

 

[Kat]

There are a lot of them, but one that comes to mind is an obsession I had with a certain sleek gray 10 pointer a few bow seasons ago. I saw him three different times on the same trail, unfortunately the closest he passed by was about 35 yards from the permanent stand I was using. Since that shot was out of my comfort zone and I couldnt move the stand, I decided to make a barrier and funnel him closer to me. I got to my stand early afternoon the next day and constructed a makeshift fence out of all the fallen limbs and downed branches lying around. When I finished I stood back to view my handiwork and had to laugh because it looked like something out of that really bad movie, the blair witch project. But it had to work! There was no other way for him to go around but by me

A few hours later, here he comes; he was finally going to be mine. He seemed to be daydreaming or something because he got up to about ten feet away from the fence before he saw it. He stopped abruptly and just stood there with the funniest look on his face. He looked down the length of it to where he was supposed to detour and I thought for sure he was going to take a step. Then he looked at the fence again, and to my surprise he tilted his head at an angle and stuck one side of his rack through a triangle shaped gap, turned his head at another angle and got the other side through. Then he gingerly put one leg at a time through, until he stood on the other side. He looked over his shoulder and gave the fence one last look of utter contempt, then flicked his tail and walked on like nothing happened. All I could do was shake my head and laugh to myself and think, Thats the coolest buck I have ever seen. I never saw him again.

 

[klg53]

You should have got that on video, Kat, that has to be one of the coolest things I have ever heard of a deer doing. If only he could have looked at you and given you the finger. Just kidding, but it really would add to the story.

My most memorable one was a buck that came up to me from behind while I was sitting in a fenceline, sniffed the my stocking cap on top of my head, grunted (I jumped a little), and ran off about ten feet only to stare at me while i slowly turned around to see the biggest buck i saw all year. Too dark to shoot so i watched him walk away.

 

[muddy]

while in high school i went out the day before shotgun season. it was post rut but i figured i'd try the horns anyway. nothing all night. i got down and was standing next to a brush pile, all of a sudden i hear something in the leaves. i crane my neck over the pile and see a decent buck about 100 yards away cruising at a fast trot. i figured, what the heck, it's almost dark and i can't hunt for a few weeks. i whacked the horns together and that buck came unglued. he literally put his head down and came charging in... i hunkered down behind the brush pile and raked it with the horn once and got ready... suddenly there he was, upwind and stiff legging around the brush pile at about 10 yards. now, the brush pile was butted up against a bluff so he just eased around the corner and stopped about 5 steps from me. i was backed up against the rocks and tucked perfectly next to the brush. in about 2 steps he'd be facing away enough that i could draw. he took the two steps and then actually quartered away! i could not belive this, here i was, 5 steps from a buck and he has NO idea i'm there. i began to slowly raise my bow but felt a slight pressure as i did so. the next thing i know my arrow pops off the rest and hits the riser with a TINK! the wind was absolutely DEAD calm and at 5 steps that buck turned inside out and was gone. i almost cried when i looked down and saw a very small sapling twig stuck in the blade vent on my muzzy broadhead. slowly i sank back onto my heels and started shaking. it took me a few years to realize that was absolutely awesome even though i did not get to loose an arrow at him. this buck was no "cooker" or "smoker" but at that time he was a booner to me as he stood there, snot rolling off his mouth and his breath vapor shimmering about his head like a mist.

i can still picture the entire 30 seconds like it was yesterday. absolutely AWESOME.

 

[BJohnson]

Mine was three years ago. I had seen a 140 class nine point from the road on a property I had permission to hunt. Real small creek bottom with even smaller trees. Went in on a Sat. morning to hang a stand since I had to go to a wedding that morning at about 10:00 AM. Got a tree picked out and hung the stand by about 7:30. Decided to sit a little while. You guessed it, the buck came into view following a doe. Not in range and the doe eventually took the buck off with her back into the brush. About 15 minutes later I see the doe again off about 150 yards and I figure it's time to get out of there since the buck is most likely still trailing her. WRONG. I lower my bow to the ground and started to trim some limbs on the tree on my way out. Turn around and mister BIG is standing about 35 yards away!!! I proceeded to hug the sorry excuse for a tree trunk to try to break my outline. The buck then starts walking directly towards the tree and stops broadside about 8 yards away and looks at the tree trunk with the BLOB stuck to it. After about 3 minutes, he slowly walks off and I never did get a shot at that deer. A neighbor shot that buck the next season and it scored in the 140's.

Brent

 

[okla hawkeye]

A couple years ago , I saw a bucks antlers shining on a terrace one morning and I decided to try to put the sneak on him. I started down a tree lined fence and when I got about 50 yds. away, I noticed the buck was up and chasing a doe. About 10' down the fenceline was a button buck standing there looking right at me . He didn't care at all thet I was there. He was obviously upset that this big buck had chased him off his mamma. He hung out with me for about 5 minutes. Never did get that buck off the doe despite my best grunting.

 

[quackmaster]

By far the most memorable and whackiest deer encounter happened a couple of years ago while living in Milwaukee. It was around 10:00 and I had just returned from a goose hunt (early november) I was living with some relatives who lived in the ritzy 'burbs right on Lake Michigan. I was eating a sandwich looking out the big picture window when a forkie goes trotting across the back yard. Following him was a young 8. Then a whopper 13 pt! I see them trot around to the front of the house and decide to drop my sandwich. I run out the front door to the drive and these guys run by me at about 10 feet. The big buck continues on into the neighbors yard and jumps up on an elevated porch. The neighbors (who weren't home) had an indoor swimming pool. I'm thinking this big joker sees himself in that sliding glass door and is gonna bust through it! Well he lays down up there! I was quite perplexed. I ease up to the wooden rail fence to look up at the deck and can see the head of a doe laying up there with him. I run back in and get my camera (and my bow

). I kneel down in a little patch of 5 or 6 cedars that form the border between the houses when all of a sudden the big boy jumps off the porch and comes to a stop standing about 10 steps from me. I'm thinking he's fixing to bolt. He starts snort wheezing at me I think! I slowly turn around and their is a 10 pt about 10 steps behind me! Now I am directly in between these two and they really don't care. At this point I realize I may be the center ringman in an Ultimate Fighting Championship. Well I hold my ground and keep taking pictures. Eventually the 10pter decides to back off and the big boy jumps back on the porch. They lay up there for better than an hour when she decides to get down. The back yards aren't seperated by a fence, just a row of bushes. She trots down the side of those and cuts across the back yard. I say to myself if I'm gonna try and shoot this fella this will be my chance. He jumps off the porch and starts walking down the neighbors side of the bushes. I'm walking along the other side. We are no more than 3 yards apart. He comes to the break in the bushes and just stands there! At this point I realize how much trouble I'm gonna get in if this deer runs through this neighborhood with an arrow sticking out of him. I watch him trot across the backyard and disappear down the bluff towards the lake. i just shook my head. The next morning the 10 pt was laying next to the house and I kinda smiled and told him "She left you yesterday buddy"
I have several 35 mm pics I'll have to scan in sometime.

 

[Rudd]

Would love to see the pics.

 

[paktermite]

What a great question! Sure to stir up some great memories for everyone...

Mine would definitely have to be from the fall of 1986... I was off from school (MEA Weekend) and I was determined to bowhunt our property hard because of the 2 days off from school, and I wanted to show my dad that I could "go it alone" because he had to go to work!

Well, I hunted the first morning and didn't see too much... so I decided to get out of stand about 10am (rookie move) and go back to the house and grab the winchester lever action .22 and do a little squirrel hunting during the late-morning and early afternoon before the evening hunt. So here I am back in the woods with the .22 across my lap leaning against a giant oak tree waiting for the squirrels to appear once again... what happened next will haunt my memories for the rest of my life.

As I am sitting there enjoying the beautiful fall day and loving being off from school, I hear footsteps to my left in the thick brush on the edge of a small swamp... now when I'm deer hunting, I'm hoping it's a deer... but squirrel hunting I was hoping it was a squirrel... besides deer don't move around at 11:30am!!! Anyway... I hear this noise and I catch some movement.. only this is MUCH bigger than a squirrel... when out of the thick brush appears the most magnificent buck my eyes have ever had the pleasure of witnessing in the wild.

There he was walking perfectly by my, not 10 yards from where I was sitting on the ground... he was so big he was grey... and the rack... oh my gosh the rack... I must have counted his tines a thousand times as he walked by me... 14 long, beautiful perfect tines... he looked like he had a broken rocking chair on top of his head!

As he approached me, I was dumbfounded... he caught me completely offguard, with a .22 in my hand and my jaws agape, and he, only 10 yards away... I did the only thing I could think of... I stood up! Needless to say, he caught this movement and I am positive he heard my heart pounding and my breath racing... but instead of bolting... he just stopped, looked right at me... and gave me the most wonderful look I have ever seen from a deer... it was like he knew what he was doing... he knew that I could do nothing but admire him... after what seemed like an eternity, he walked off... I watched as this huge animal walked away from me... and all I could think about was how I wish my Dad would have been there, because there is NO WAY in hell he is gonna believe this!

I raced home, grabbed the bow... and I proceeded to sit in that woods from sun-up to sun-down for the next 3 days... never to see that deer again. But the memory I have, still sends chills up my spine... a year later, in 1987 almost to the day... Oct. 17th... I harvested my first bowkill buck, at age 17... after 5 years of bowhunting I took a 142" 9-pt... and that started the obsession.

 

[FurDog]

[ QUOTE ]
... and gave me the most wonderful look I have ever seen from a deer... it was like he knew what he was doing... he knew that I could do nothing but admire him....

[/ QUOTE ]

It's that Animal ESP......

Great story, I like your broken rocking chair analogy.