Unusual things you see when hunting

[standingbear]

Just for the record, vulture chicks are the nastiest infants in the animal kingdom. They stink, they're ugly, and they growl

not only that,I had a relative that went along with me on a groundhog hunt and we both saw 6 or 7 turkey vultures high in a dead tree,with their wings outstretched.Wouldnt ya know it,someone decided to throw a rock up at them.He though he'd knocked one out cause we heard this crashing noise like "something" was coming down.That something was their defense......buzzard upchuck.needless to say,he was looking UP when we heard the sound and got "slimed" with the worst smelling stuff that ruined the rest of the day.I hadnt laughed as hard in a VERY long time.

 

[pete f]

1/ sitting in my tree stand and having chickodees playing peek aboo over the bill of my cap.

2/ sitting in the tree stand on the banks of the Kettle River and having a bald eagle fly up the channel close enough to feel the puff of wind from it wings.

3/ sitting under a shade tree hunting on a warm day and seeing a buck mount his doe and do his business then yawn and lay down. I guess men alike.

4/ playing a electronic caller in a ground blind and getting blind sided by a coyote. Not sure which of us was more surprised.

5/ shooting prairie dogs and seeing a black footed ferret, this about six months after there removed from the extinct list.

6/ not hunting but sitting in my kids kindergarten room and watchin three timber wolves walk up out of the bottoms of the Mississippi River in DT minneapolis. The DNR said no way till they saw the pictures

7/ last but not least. sitting in a tree stand and I had just shot a nice plump buck who had conviently piled up against a deadfall just about 50 yards away on a trail. Bubba comes up the trail and sees me in the stand
Bubba walks right up to me touching every branch he can reach with his bare hands and talking loud. He has a knife Rambe would be jealous of on his back pack strap taped so it hung handle down in a oh-so -tactical manner, a high gloss Weatherby with mongo scope and a back pack that most sherpas could not lift on his back (all this in a 1200 acre pulp forest). "I heard a shot, did you see one?" I thought for a minute and said "nope" and he waddled on down the trail. On his way to see me he had stepped over the buck leaning against the dead fall. I figured he was hunting something different. (sorry DiD NOT MEAN TO MAKE THIS A BUBBA THREAD)

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

I remember being out dove hunting one afternoon and seeing a large school of migrating hawks. (As you may know, hawks join into large groups and soar at fairly high altitude.)

The group I saw had maybe 50-100 hawks, all turning lazy circles as they rode the wind to the south.

Just a beautiful sight.

 

[106rr]

Unusual things

In the 80s, my wife and I were camping in Big Sur, CA. We were in a majestic grove of Coastal Redwoods. The campground was empty but for our tent. It was early fall. I awoke to the sound of wild turkeys. I thought I was dreaming but crawled out of the tent to check. There was no movement on the ground in this narrow valley. Redwood groves normally are barren of wildlife since there is no new plant growth. I could look up at the great trees reaching skyward to drink from the river of fog. There could be no turkeys in this coastal cathedral.
I went back to my warm sleeping bag and heard it again this time closer. When I looked out the sun had broken through trees. A flock turkeys was moving very quickly through the camp. I yelled to my wife to get up and look.
They came closer gobbling louder, almost running through the dappled sunlight and then moved past our site. They disappeared downhill into the streambed. I walked down to the stream that tumbled through the campground but couldn't see them. The cathedral was silent again.

 

[kikilee]

My brother and I once saw an bald eagle snatch a duck out of a flock sitting on a lake. It was a sight to behold. That happened almost 30 years ago and it is still vivid in my mind.