25contender
Veteran member
- Mar 20, 2013
- 1,638
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Yea pretty hair raising to say the least!! Still debating on carrying a sidearm.
Close Calls while Hunting?
- Thread starter Never in Doubt
- Start date
I had a nerve-racking encounter several years ago on Kodiak Island.
I was hunting blacktail deer and had spotted a nice buck high up on a ridge. The day was overcast, and as I hiked up towards he buck the cloud ceiling started to lower. By the time I got on the same ridge and was getting close, the buck was in and out of the fog and moving away at an angle. I decided to try and get around him by dropping down into a shallow basin and moving in front. As I did, the fog layer dropped even more and was denser than I thought.
I was starting to push through a patch of alders when a brown bear, obviously very close, started huffing and chomping her teeth. I couldn't see her and couldn't really pinpoint where she was by the sound, but she was way too close! It's scary to be that close to a bear when you can see them, even scarier when you can't see them! She pretty much had all of my attention, I forgot all about the buck at this point.
I don't think she had me pinpointed either and she was nervous too, I could hear her breathing. I doubt that she was 50 yards away and I occasionally could hear the alders rustle and knew that there was more than one bear with me by the sounds of it.
I didn't know exactly where they were but I did know where they had not been just a couple minutes earlier, so I started retracing my path out of there the best I could. Fortunately, I made it down the hill without incident. I saw the bears the next day in the same general spot, a sow with two second-year cubs, all beautiful.
I was carrying my .300 Weatherby that trip and took several nice bucks with it. I'm glad I didn't have to shoot a bear!
I was hunting blacktail deer and had spotted a nice buck high up on a ridge. The day was overcast, and as I hiked up towards he buck the cloud ceiling started to lower. By the time I got on the same ridge and was getting close, the buck was in and out of the fog and moving away at an angle. I decided to try and get around him by dropping down into a shallow basin and moving in front. As I did, the fog layer dropped even more and was denser than I thought.
I was starting to push through a patch of alders when a brown bear, obviously very close, started huffing and chomping her teeth. I couldn't see her and couldn't really pinpoint where she was by the sound, but she was way too close! It's scary to be that close to a bear when you can see them, even scarier when you can't see them! She pretty much had all of my attention, I forgot all about the buck at this point.
I don't think she had me pinpointed either and she was nervous too, I could hear her breathing. I doubt that she was 50 yards away and I occasionally could hear the alders rustle and knew that there was more than one bear with me by the sounds of it.
I didn't know exactly where they were but I did know where they had not been just a couple minutes earlier, so I started retracing my path out of there the best I could. Fortunately, I made it down the hill without incident. I saw the bears the next day in the same general spot, a sow with two second-year cubs, all beautiful.
I was carrying my .300 Weatherby that trip and took several nice bucks with it. I'm glad I didn't have to shoot a bear!
Kodiak Island 2006 - Opening day of deer season after a summer of living on seafood while being a crew member for a commercial fishing outfit had my buddy and I scrambling up the mountain behind camp for some fresh red meat. The fog was intense but that was nothing new, its Kodiak! It did keep us from getting as far up the mountain as we wanted that day. Luckily, the fog and weather had also pushed down some of the bucks from their high perches. If you’ve ever hunted blacktails or mulies in August or September then you have a pretty good idea what it is like to hunt sheep. You cannot hunt that country if the conditions are zero, zero. We had no choice but to drop down below the clouds. Upon losing a couple hundred feet of elevation we stumbled upon a couple of young bucks bedded on an open tundra bench. The shot was just over 300 yards and with two sent bullets we had 120 odd pounds of fresh blacktail to eat with the crab, salmon, and halibut we’d been living on. However, it was getting the meat back to camp that proved to be the most interesting part of the hunt. With the two bucks laying about thirty yards apart my buddy and I began quartering and deboning the animals. We were working diligently and barely talking back and forth (read mistake). Upon finishing our work my buddy went over to a small spring to wash up while I loaded his meat in his pack and was in the process of loading mine and slinging it onto my back when I heard the willows snapping about ten yards downwind of me… only one thing on that island gets that close downwind of a bloody, sweaty human… you guessed it and so did I. Without hesitation I grabbed my .338 Winnie and swung it to my shoulder as I stood. Staring back at me over the willows a scarce two bounds away was a very curious brown bear standing erect trying to figure out the situation. I was looking over the top of my scope at the bear ready to shift into the crosshairs and deliver death at 3000 feet per second. I began talking to the bruin hoping to identify myself as a human and not lunch. I’m not sure if it was the words or the Winchester that spoke more loudly but the brownie dropped to all fours and shuffled off until he figured he had saved enough face and then bolted into the alders about fifty yards away. My buddy had heard me yelling at the bear but decided he was safer where he was and didn’t even see the bear. Some friend… all in all, we made six more hunts up that mountain and killed four more bucks and never even saw another bear but that is the hunt that stands out the most.
Other memorable events; walking fourteen miles into camp leading a pack string after losing a horse and rig off the top of Deer Creek Pass going into the Thorofare, falling headfirst into a ten foot pit while guiding a party of fly-fisherwomen on a mountain stream, stepping on a very pleasantly dispositioned rattler while guiding more fly-fishers… I wonder what comes next?
Other memorable events; walking fourteen miles into camp leading a pack string after losing a horse and rig off the top of Deer Creek Pass going into the Thorofare, falling headfirst into a ten foot pit while guiding a party of fly-fisherwomen on a mountain stream, stepping on a very pleasantly dispositioned rattler while guiding more fly-fishers… I wonder what comes next?
Kevin Root
Very Active Member
Good brown bear stories Grizz and AKavitor. Both on Kodiak to boot. Thanks, I enjoyed reading them.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
That my friend is one hell of a canyon on the SE side of the pass coming up from the trailhead. Bet your glad you didn't go with the horse!
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
The outfitter made us walk the stock up the trail for the last 3 or 4 switchbacks before the pass.
That is smart. Which outfitter did you go with?
PM me if you don't want to post it here or want to swap Thorofare stories... I've got a couple more.
PM me if you don't want to post it here or want to swap Thorofare stories... I've got a couple more.
I lived on Kodiak from 1987 thru 1991, I loved living there, it was a sportsman's paradise! I still have good friends over there.
CrimsonArrow
Very Active Member
Had a few scary moments in the Thorofare myself. Had to hand-lead my horse around a big deadfall on a hill with a shale slide. Going up wasn't so bad, but coming back down to the trail with a horse sliding down behind you is a little frightening. Other than that, I stepped on a small rattler while hunting mulies in western nodak. Had never seen or heard a rattler in the wild before, so what are the odds that I would step directly on the first one?
My calf muscle was sliced pretty good so it was really stiff. Had to walk around the motel just to get it to loosen up enough to walk without a limp. I had to keep it elevated for a day so it wouldn't bleed. But I toughed it out for the last day and snuck up on a goat twice from a ways out. Always have to watch sharp objects, one wrong move and it can be dangerous.
Musket Man
Veteran member
I stopped my truck on a gravel road in WY to take pics, walked around the back and nearly stepped on a small rattler. Now what are the odds of parking with a rattle snake 4 inches past your bumper? I jumped up on the bumper, grabbed a shovel and killed it!
Lightning, lightning and more lightning! Last year archery deer season was insane. I hunted opening week by myself packed in about 3 miles, stayed at close to 10,000' on a ridge between 3 awesome basins that I could glass from camp. That week passed and I came back for the final week with the same plan. For some weird reason I opted to stay at my base camp and not pack in, thank god! For 3 days solid the rain and lightning was fierce, I'd hunt as much as I could then high tail it when the clouds would roll in thick. One stalk left me huddled in my poncho, when I got back to my boots they had filled half way up with water (I turn my boots over now). Sitting there huddled up soaking wet a bolt of lightning struck only a few hundred feet away, scared the piss outta me. With the smell of sulfur and my hairs standing on end I ran, had to climb a high ridge to drop down to camp. Several more strikes happened around me, haven't been that scared in awhile. Two more stalks left me in similar situations and I called it quits, packed up and called it for the season.
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Lightning is freaky! Can't shoot it, out run it, or kill it with a shovel, and you never know where it will hit next... Lightning strikes and I'm gone.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
I went with Hidden Creek Outfitters which Bill Perry runs. I'll PM you with some of my experiences.
6mm Remington
Very Active Member
I know Bill... we were just getting ready to dismount when we lost the saddle horse. We probably rode too far up that day, should have been walking but you never know. That is a great trip though definitely not what it used to be.
I know someone and their son got struck twice on the head in the same spot while elk hunting. That is scary.
25contender
Veteran member
- Mar 20, 2013
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