Hunting Stories Thread

[oldwood]

Want to read some m/l era hunting stories , get the book , 44 Yrs. A Hunter , by Meshack Browning. Post 1800 , in Western Md./ Pa.. Friendsville , Md. He hunted with dogs , bear , Mtn. lions , and deer , all m/l action.

 

[yellowhammer]

OK you asked for it, here's a long black powder muzzleloader hunting story without a shot fired LOL:

Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge has a 2 week flintlock-only season every year [ LINK ] . Swamp deer country on the bank of the Tennessee River. You have to go in deep to avoid Elmer Fudd - he generally stays within 100 yds of his car. Well, I'm way back in there, sitting on the ground on a dry spot with my back to a big pawpaw, with a big knee-deep flood runoff pond in front of me. It's getting late and I'm thinking I better head back or I'll be sloshing in the dark before I get back to the truck. Suddenly I hear a dog in the distance - that distinctive deer-trailing bark - that "yoop-yoop.......yoop-yoop-yoop" when they're close on the scent but haven't seen it. He's way off - like 1/4 mile - but heading my way and I mean in a hurry. He's running a deer right towards me! Hair stands up on back of my neck. Closer closer closer. Cock hammer... Then silent movement - I see a little small fork-horn buck appear in the understory like a phantom, easing along toward me, not in any hurry, just move 10-20 yds and browse, then look up over his back in the dog's direction and trot a little further. LOL he's just playing with that dog! What occurs next I'll never forget. He eases up to edge of that pond and wades in, and sloshes towards a little brush clump island right in the middle of it. Climbs up on it. Clump is only maybe 10 feet in diameter. That deer went into suspended animation and melted visually into the clump - I actually lost vision of it staring right at it - dangest thing I ever saw. He was at that point maybe 75 yds from me but I really didn't want to kill a deer with a rack that small, plus he was out in the water, and to be honest I couldn't make his outline out good enough to make a shot. Minutes passed and the dog, a medium sized blue tick hound dog, shows up barking and whimpering. He runs around in circles on the scent, never even looked up - he was too busy. Then, he got right to the exact point sniffing where that deer went into the water, froze like a bird dog pointing, and gazed at the clump island. 5 seconds... 10 seconds.... Maybe the deer blinked, because then BLAM simultaneous explosion - dog hit water wide open and deer leaps off in a giant splash of water. Deer gets to solid ground quickly and vamooses off like a bat out of Hades in a hail of leaves and brush. Poof - gone like a gun shot! Dog treads water and gets over and takes off barking at the top of his lungs. Deer was at that point prob a 1/4 mile ahead again LOL. I listened until it was waaaay off in the distance and almost totally dark. Funny spectacle. This happened alongside the Tennessee River and at any point in that chase the deer could easily have veered over and crossed the river and lost the dog; I've seen them swimming across before. The poet in me likes to think the little dude had a sense of humor and was just having fun with that dog.

 

[oldwood]

Here's a strange deer hunting story. I stood in the morning , on an opposite hill side from where my hunting buddy was. Called him on a walki-talky early afternoon , and he voted to go to a tavern "to get warm".. He was on the way to the truck , so I started across the hollow towards him, Down in the bottom of a hollow between us , I had to climb an escarpment to a flat about 60 yds, above me to get to my buddy. Half way up a herd of 10 deer came past me on top of the escarpment. A 5 pt. buck was in the bunch , so shot at about a 45 deg. angle up. Never had to do that before , and when the ball hit him , the buck jumped completely upside down in the air with his off side front shoulder broken. Finally got up to where the buck was standing. There was a big gob of hair , and some blood splashed on the Laurel leaves , but no deer. Called my friend over with his nephew in tow. Fortunately , it was a dry day , dry leaves. The three of us got on hands and knees to be able to track the hair and blood mist spray for about 40 yds. to establish which way the deer had gone. Still the big timber open woods showed no dead deer anywhere. Finally , the nephew got impatient and got to his feet , walked out 100 yds. ahead of us. He yelled he had found the dead buck in a hole . Good thing my hunting buddy is the best deer tracker I've ever seen.. W/o the skills inherited from his grandpa , we could have lost a nice buck in a dry woods.

 

[snakebit]

All great stories gents! Many years ago, I couldn't get vacation time to go back home and hunt with my brothers as I normally did. I always took the 2 weeks off starting around Veterans day to bow hunt the rut, and first 3 day gun season. The closest I could get was muzzleloader season. No problem, I had gotten a used T/C White Mountain carbine in the summer. It came with 4 full, and 1 partial box of buffalo bullets. I had gotten it tuned up and shooting it pretty well. I was able to get a tag, everything was tracking. I show up to camp and my brother practically begged me to use his inline so I could take some meat home. Nah I says, I'll be ok. That gun is too fancy, I don't want to drop it. There is a place on the farm we call the bucket, big low area, if the creek comes out, which it does often, it holds water for a long time. We were only sitting about 125 yards apart. Wearing orange can't help bet see each other. I see him turn in his stand, but couldn't see what he was shooting at through the trees. He shot, missed. So I waited, heard deer running through the bucket, so a flash of antler, buck was running right at me. I didn't even stand up, but I did cock my rifle. I didn't think he'd give me a shot, when that buck slowed to turn to go into the thicker, I centered that front site in the crease of his shoulder and touched it off, that buck went down like someone flipped a switch (brachial plexis). 11 point, 220 pounds and this was after the rut. He was a stud. I told my brother I'd rather be lucky than good any day. We still have a chuckle over that.

 

[yellowhammer]

OK one more and I'll shut up.

A friend we went to church with was a successful deer slayer, to put it mildly. But, he got heart disease, bypass, etc you know the drill. Really slowed him down. Still wanted to go, and asked me to go with him for safety's sake; of course I said. He hunted a pristine big 200 acre hollow, private property, just magnificent big timber Appalachian scenery; I was glad and honored just to see that property and went whenever he asked.

BP & archery; we went out one evening; he took his bow. About dark I went back to the truck and put up my gear and he wasn't back, Worry. I headed his way. I met him, he was huffing and puffing way over-excited, I'm worried about his cardio. He said "I got a deer, I got a doe, it's dead by now surely" and showed me a bloody arrow that had passed thru. We got my Coleman lantern and found the spot and a huge blood trail. Followed through incredible dense horrible rocky terrain to a little flat spot and there was the deer sitting in a hunched upright position with her feet under her, staring forward, just about dead. You could see the blood going spurt, spurt, spurt out of the double lung holes. Waited, waited, and I got cold and said shoot that thing in the head with your pistol and lets get the heck out of here. He got right up close and held his .22 right between it's eyes and shot BANG. Well, that deer jumped straight up in the air like a dog jumping for a frisbee, and took off, tearing through the trees like a locomotive! Unbelievable!

Same drill, follow through increasing hard terrain, He's huffing and puffing, I'm concerned for him. We see it about 100 yds ahead sitting the same way with its nose down on the ground, but still upright. I said shoot it! He says dangit that was my last shell I forgot to reload! I thought this is like some Laurel & Hardy comedy, what else can happen? He took my Buck knife and went up and was going to cut its throat - and it jumped up and took off again with even more speed! Went over the side of a ravine and was hauling @rse last I heard, He couldn't make it down the side, so I said sit here, and I went down a good 100-150 yds to the bottom, blood showing all the way, no deer to be seen. Blood trailing off into the distance.

I went back up and said, dude, that one got away! Even if we found it I'd never have gotten it up that ravine. We sat there several minutes in the dark and then both laughed and went back to the truck. If I recall that was the last time I went with him. RIP Brandon, a great hunter, and friend.