gamestalker
member
I have the wonderful opportunity to share my life with 9 Grand Children, and more Nephew's/Nieces of great, great-great, and great great great, that counting how many would be a task of epic porportion. I won't even attempt to figure out how many other close relatives. But the most intersting of these accounts in my life are the hunting and fishing trips.
My life long dream from as early on in life as I can remember was to eventually move to Flagstaff, Az. when I grow up. I did accomplish this goal and will never forget the first week or so of living there.
My First Encounter
I took my oldest Son, he was about 10 yrs. old at the time and we drove off into the Lake Mary area to look at wild life. After entering a dirt road minutes before sun rise I saw 5 bull elk, all in velvet. Two were 6x6, 1 was 5x5, and then a 4x4 and a 3x3. In my head lights some 100 yds. or so away I was curious as to how close I could get to them so I started walking slowly toward them. They never even looked up or stopped feeding as I got closer and closer. EventuallyI was no more than 2 or 3 feet from them and found myself in the very center of them. I thought to myslef how cool it would be to bring back the proof that I got that close to a large game animal. Having forgotten to bring a camera I decided to use my pocket knife to steal a hunk of fur from the hind of the big 6x6 standing at arms reach from me. I'm glad I had a change of heart because after about 10 minutes or so I realized they were acting strangly and no longer just feeding but instead they were pawing at the ground and had surrounded me with an obvious sign of being threatened. I decided to just stand perfectly still and hoped that they would grow bored of my presence and just walk away. After a good long while they did loose interest in my and slowly began to feed away from me.
When Bears Fly
I was now an accomplished turkey hunter and had arrived at the spot where I had put a gobbler to bed the night before. It was still dark and a good 45 minutes or so from the sky geting light. I was sitting against a tree waiting quietly for the sun to come up so I could begin calling my my bird when I heard branches crunching and snapping above my head. I thought it was just other turkey roosted or that I might have miss judged my location the night before and was in fact under the gob when suddenly I heard large branches snapping off and a thud that would set off an earth quake, so it seemed. I turned my flash light on to see a large black bear on the ground just several feet i front of me. It had fallen out the the tree, which come to find out is rather common for bears. He got up looked at me for a moment and then calmly walked away. This event was the first of two in which a bear nearly landed on top of me.
Hunting, or, Hunted?
Turkey hunting has always been my favorite hunt of the year with some where around 50 gobs killed since I started and countless other's I helped other's to harvest. So one nice cool spring afternoon my Wife and Kids waited in a nice little valley while I headed toward a gob I had located about an hour before dark. My plan was to call him in if the light would hold out, and if not, put him to bed for the next morning. As I got to within an estimated 100 yds or so from him I heard a distant sound that was very much like that of a mountain lion. I didn't pay much attention being that it was so far off. But as the gob kept gobbling like there was no tomorrow, the cat got closer at a very fast rate and was now clearly a cat. I stopped doing my locating thing (I won't devuldge my secret locating thing) and began to worry the cat might think I'm the meal. Sure enough, the light in the tree canopy was getting to the point I could barely see so I started to work my way down the slope back toward my family in hope the cat would catch scent of me and go the other way. I wasn't so lucky, I saw him at about 50 to 75 yds. away and then I broke into a run slamming into tree after tree for the first 25 to 50 yds. and when I looked back the cat was now ready to launch on me when I fired my 870 at him which seemed to do the trick. I made it out of the trees and back to my family. But when I came back the next mornng to set up on the gob I found nothing but feather's. the cat got my gobbler.
What is it about bears and Turkey?
I was doing some preseason scouting a couple of weeks prior to spring turkey season. My 3 yr. old son was with me and was enjoying the deer, elk, and antelope that were coming into the turkey call. Some wherer around the 4th or 5th stop of the morning in search of gobs we heard the pine needles crunching as we had earlier in the morning when the elk, deer, and antelope were responding to the call and came in for a close look. So I was apprehensive until out of the tree line not more than 50 yds. away was a large Black Bear and her cub walking straight toward us. I was no more than 100 yds. from my truck where I accidentally forgot my 44 mag. so we were without a hope. My first instint was to grab my Son and run, but instead I told my Son to make absolutely no noise or movement. She continued to advance toward us with what appeared to be a mission, and when she got up to my face, inches away, she smelled us, turned and ran as fast away from us as she could with cub in tow. After I changed my under wear I went back to pick up my call I had left on the ground.
Elk again?
I was turkey hunting and hadn't heard a gobble one all morning and just started goofing around. I grabbed a large pine branch and started smashing it against the tree's for no apparent reason. I soon heard a bull elk sound off in the distance but didn't pay much attention to him. After about 10 minutes off making all the noise possible with this branch I heard the bugle again but this time it was extremely close, like maybe 50-ish yds. away. I stopped with the whole branch thing and the bull came straight in and was thrashing everything in his path, obviously trying to locate the bull that was challenging his territory. He stood mear feet from me pawing the dirt and looking as though he was going to come after me. I was right he charged and with power I've never wittnessed in my life. The only thing that saved me that morning was the large tree's I was able to stay behind for the several minutes he spent in anger. My shotgun was leaning against a tree too far from me to attempt to get to it, before he got to me.
Fall turkey hunting, or Fall turkey?
I took a friend fall turkey hunting one fall morning and knew exactly where they bedded the night before. So it was going to be an easy and quick hunt. We got to the spot and sat against a tree waiting for the sun to rise. I heard the branches above us crunching as though there were some gobbs walking around up there. This isn't unusual and especially in the fall because the birds are in large harems. The afternoon before when I put these birds to bed there were 15 or 20 of them so I thought some were above us. When the sun rose and I let out a soft tree call turkey in the area of at least 150 birds landed at our feet. I've never seen that many birds before and was in shock. But being an accomplished turkey guide I whispered into my friends ear to take the shot. But he was so amazed he couldn't react. I shot my bird and he just stood there watching as some flew and others walked away.
I have so many more stories of experience to share but my eyes and hands are growing tired at this point, so I'll share more later.
My life long dream from as early on in life as I can remember was to eventually move to Flagstaff, Az. when I grow up. I did accomplish this goal and will never forget the first week or so of living there.
My First Encounter
I took my oldest Son, he was about 10 yrs. old at the time and we drove off into the Lake Mary area to look at wild life. After entering a dirt road minutes before sun rise I saw 5 bull elk, all in velvet. Two were 6x6, 1 was 5x5, and then a 4x4 and a 3x3. In my head lights some 100 yds. or so away I was curious as to how close I could get to them so I started walking slowly toward them. They never even looked up or stopped feeding as I got closer and closer. EventuallyI was no more than 2 or 3 feet from them and found myself in the very center of them. I thought to myslef how cool it would be to bring back the proof that I got that close to a large game animal. Having forgotten to bring a camera I decided to use my pocket knife to steal a hunk of fur from the hind of the big 6x6 standing at arms reach from me. I'm glad I had a change of heart because after about 10 minutes or so I realized they were acting strangly and no longer just feeding but instead they were pawing at the ground and had surrounded me with an obvious sign of being threatened. I decided to just stand perfectly still and hoped that they would grow bored of my presence and just walk away. After a good long while they did loose interest in my and slowly began to feed away from me.
When Bears Fly
I was now an accomplished turkey hunter and had arrived at the spot where I had put a gobbler to bed the night before. It was still dark and a good 45 minutes or so from the sky geting light. I was sitting against a tree waiting quietly for the sun to come up so I could begin calling my my bird when I heard branches crunching and snapping above my head. I thought it was just other turkey roosted or that I might have miss judged my location the night before and was in fact under the gob when suddenly I heard large branches snapping off and a thud that would set off an earth quake, so it seemed. I turned my flash light on to see a large black bear on the ground just several feet i front of me. It had fallen out the the tree, which come to find out is rather common for bears. He got up looked at me for a moment and then calmly walked away. This event was the first of two in which a bear nearly landed on top of me.
Hunting, or, Hunted?
Turkey hunting has always been my favorite hunt of the year with some where around 50 gobs killed since I started and countless other's I helped other's to harvest. So one nice cool spring afternoon my Wife and Kids waited in a nice little valley while I headed toward a gob I had located about an hour before dark. My plan was to call him in if the light would hold out, and if not, put him to bed for the next morning. As I got to within an estimated 100 yds or so from him I heard a distant sound that was very much like that of a mountain lion. I didn't pay much attention being that it was so far off. But as the gob kept gobbling like there was no tomorrow, the cat got closer at a very fast rate and was now clearly a cat. I stopped doing my locating thing (I won't devuldge my secret locating thing) and began to worry the cat might think I'm the meal. Sure enough, the light in the tree canopy was getting to the point I could barely see so I started to work my way down the slope back toward my family in hope the cat would catch scent of me and go the other way. I wasn't so lucky, I saw him at about 50 to 75 yds. away and then I broke into a run slamming into tree after tree for the first 25 to 50 yds. and when I looked back the cat was now ready to launch on me when I fired my 870 at him which seemed to do the trick. I made it out of the trees and back to my family. But when I came back the next mornng to set up on the gob I found nothing but feather's. the cat got my gobbler.
What is it about bears and Turkey?
I was doing some preseason scouting a couple of weeks prior to spring turkey season. My 3 yr. old son was with me and was enjoying the deer, elk, and antelope that were coming into the turkey call. Some wherer around the 4th or 5th stop of the morning in search of gobs we heard the pine needles crunching as we had earlier in the morning when the elk, deer, and antelope were responding to the call and came in for a close look. So I was apprehensive until out of the tree line not more than 50 yds. away was a large Black Bear and her cub walking straight toward us. I was no more than 100 yds. from my truck where I accidentally forgot my 44 mag. so we were without a hope. My first instint was to grab my Son and run, but instead I told my Son to make absolutely no noise or movement. She continued to advance toward us with what appeared to be a mission, and when she got up to my face, inches away, she smelled us, turned and ran as fast away from us as she could with cub in tow. After I changed my under wear I went back to pick up my call I had left on the ground.
Elk again?
I was turkey hunting and hadn't heard a gobble one all morning and just started goofing around. I grabbed a large pine branch and started smashing it against the tree's for no apparent reason. I soon heard a bull elk sound off in the distance but didn't pay much attention to him. After about 10 minutes off making all the noise possible with this branch I heard the bugle again but this time it was extremely close, like maybe 50-ish yds. away. I stopped with the whole branch thing and the bull came straight in and was thrashing everything in his path, obviously trying to locate the bull that was challenging his territory. He stood mear feet from me pawing the dirt and looking as though he was going to come after me. I was right he charged and with power I've never wittnessed in my life. The only thing that saved me that morning was the large tree's I was able to stay behind for the several minutes he spent in anger. My shotgun was leaning against a tree too far from me to attempt to get to it, before he got to me.
Fall turkey hunting, or Fall turkey?
I took a friend fall turkey hunting one fall morning and knew exactly where they bedded the night before. So it was going to be an easy and quick hunt. We got to the spot and sat against a tree waiting for the sun to rise. I heard the branches above us crunching as though there were some gobbs walking around up there. This isn't unusual and especially in the fall because the birds are in large harems. The afternoon before when I put these birds to bed there were 15 or 20 of them so I thought some were above us. When the sun rose and I let out a soft tree call turkey in the area of at least 150 birds landed at our feet. I've never seen that many birds before and was in shock. But being an accomplished turkey guide I whispered into my friends ear to take the shot. But he was so amazed he couldn't react. I shot my bird and he just stood there watching as some flew and others walked away.
I have so many more stories of experience to share but my eyes and hands are growing tired at this point, so I'll share more later.
