I didn't see a thing :)

[WapitiTalk1]

Ran one of these a year or so ago but we have so many new members, I thought it may be time to roll this one again.

Have you ever had one or two of those experiences in the elk woods that you kept to yourself knowing you would sound crazy if you told someone? Heck, I don't know.. waking up with a skunk sleeping in your tent; smacking an elk on the backside with a stick; spotting a housecat 10 miles into a wilderness area; finding something really strange? Something along those lines. Please, share some of those stories from your high country adventures that well, you were a bit reluctant to tell folks about.

[ctdad]

Well, I already got mez to share the bear spray in the face story. Nothing else comes to mind

[Swede]

I have done a few things so stupid that I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

It's a long story, but I tied up a dead elk so he would not run away. I knew he was dead, but I was spooked.

[WapitiTalk1]

I have done a few things so stupid that I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

It's a long story, but I tied up a dead elk so he would not run away. I knew he was dead, but I was spooked.

Umm, that's almost as bad as me shooting an already dead deer I thought was bedded down. The dirty thirty barked and the deer, well, remained bedded. It was a good shot though

[UtPreacher]

No better way to introduce yourself than to sound a little nuts I suppose. Anywho long time lurker here and read tons and learned tons off this forum. Figured it was time to join the fun. When I was in the Marine Corps stationed in Arizona I saw what they call the Pheonix lights while in the middle of the desert two different times a few years apart. Was with the same two friends both times and we all looked at each other in disbelief.

[WapitiTalk1]

Welcome to "the" elk forum Chris. Glad to have you on board. You've gotta find your own log to sit on by the fire but there's plenty of room

[Swede]

Welcome to camp Chris. If those are the only weird lights you see, don't worry. You have to get a lot crazier to be a misfit here.

[bnsafe]

welcome chris, nice to have you.

ive done some stupid things out in the woods. leaving food next to an inside a tent for example. got my clothes soaked last year so ran around camp in nothing but my boots for a couple hours.

[timberland]

Saw a guy walking around his camp with nothing on but his boots. Must have been CRAZY

[bnsafe]

sorry bout that barry, but at least you can say you saw a bare.

[UtPreacher]

I once saw a Captain in the Marine Corps and multiple combat vet nearly destroy our entire wall tent at 3 in the morning when he realized he had a mouse in his sleeping back. I couldn't sleep the rest of the morning do to uncontrollable laughing. That was his first and only western hunting adventure to date as he is a Texas native.

[Bowhunter]

I once saw a Captain in the Marine Corps and multiple combat vet nearly destroy our entire wall tent at 3 in the morning when he realized he had a mouse in his sleeping back. I couldn't sleep the rest of the morning do to uncontrollable laughing. That was his first and only western hunting adventure to date as he is a Texas native.

It is funny how some of the toughest guys run screaming like a little girl at some of the smallest things. I have had them mice run up the inside of my pant leg before. You just grab them and squeeze real tight then shake them out the bottom.

[>>>---WW---->]

I heard about a doctor that field dressed an elk once. After he got the insides out, he actually stitched the body cavity up so it wouldn't get dirty. It was getting late so he went back to camp. For some strange reason, he waited until the next evening to call a packer. When the packer showed up the next morning. they went in for the elk. The packer said it wasn't hard to find the elk, just follow your nose.

[Willie makit]

Several years ago my hunting buddies left a day early and on there way out they saw two guys skinning a deer on the side of the road. Big shiny new truck all brand new looking clothes, they stopped to see if they needed help and we're told " no, we're doctors, we know how to handle this" in a less than friendly manner. After just a little chatting my buddies were agreeing with them that it took a lot of time to do this and let them be.

Apparently they had been working on this deer about two hours at the time they saw them and were about 1/4 done. They were using a scalpel to do the whole deer, precisely as possible.

[Huntrgathr]

Happened this year. My cousin shot a deer with my 30-06 at 348 yards. I watched the shot through my binos. BOOM ! Deer takes 3 steps to the left, falls and slides down the hill, dead. When we got to the deer there was no blood anywhere - not a drop. He had hit it low in the shoulder but looked to have clipped the bottom if the heart. But on further inspection we found that the bullet had hit the near shoulder, angled down under the brisket and caught the offside foreleg. It never entered the chest cavity. The deer had not been hit in anything vital, never bled but still died almost instantly.

The only sign of any trauma to the organs that I could see was two or three tiny purple spots on the heart that had the color of bloodshot. I couldn't find any holes or fragments that might have caused the spots and they very well could have been unrelated. Anyone ever heard of deer dying of shock ? Bullet was a Barnes TSX...

[Willie makit]

This year my coworker dropped his first deer bowhunting, I don't mean his first kill ever as he has taken over 150 big game critters with his bow. This was the first one that ever dropped like a sack of potatoes and hardly flinched. He said was perfect broadside shot but after examing the deer for what happened he found a sliver of a rib had been knocked off and shot straight up and nearly severed the spine perfectly in a joint.

Sounds like something similarly happened to you cousin, just one teeny, tiny piece of lead, bone or copper in the perfect spot will do any of us warm blooded creatures in with minor physical damage.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Came across a hunter with a compound fracture of his arm.

Ah, you remember how I once smacked and elk with a stick. Cool story but I'm lucky I didn't get my teeth kicked in.

[ishy]

An uncle of mine while hiking in arizona came across a hound and mt lion both dead nose to nose. If you've been around hounds you know how some will never give up. Well these two fought till niether one could walk away.

[Buglemaster]

A few years ago I was taking a much needed shower in camp. Had a portable solar shower hung from a tree enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer. It was just 3 of us guys, so there were no shower curtains & really all I had to worry about was one of the other 2 grabbing a camera . Both were setting by a fire enjoying a cold beverage & my Son casually said " Dad, there's a lady walking up the trail" ya, sure there is....and then I saw her all I could do was try to hide behind that skinny little pine tree as she chugged on up the trail. There is not a doubt in the world she had already had an eye full as she never even glanced at our camp, but kept her head down & just kept on going! I'll bet she still tells that story from time to time.

Another great but tragic story was told to me by my Father. They were hunting Idaho in the famed Selway way back in the late 40's. Hiking up a ridge in the dark & heard a shot down in the bottom of a steep canyon. Dad said he and my Uncle both commented that it was to dark to shoot, but heard the guy calling for help almost immediately. They were quite a ways off, but did work their way down towards where the shot came from. Looked as well as called out for whoever needed help but got no response. A couple days later a warden & sheriff came thru their camp & informed them they were going into that canyon to retrieve a guy who had been mauled to death by a bear. They never did hear the details of what went wrong but they were certain they heard him being mauled.

[>>>---WW---->]

I have done a few things so stupid that I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

It's a long story, but I tied up a dead elk so he would not run away. I knew he was dead, but I was spooked.

Don't feel bad Swede! I knew a guy that shot an elk close to the road one time. He tied a log chain to it and drug it up on the road with his truck. Then for some unknown reason, he took the chain off and proceeded to beat the heck out of the elk with it.

I never did figure out if he thought it was still alive or maybe he just wanted to tenderize it a little bit.

[Willie makit]

Many years ago when public land was abundant here in the south my old boss told me about his first gun deer hunt.

He scouted out and found the perfect spot 2-300 yards of the main road, marked his way into there by breaking small limbs and branches. After studing outdoor life magazines he decided to get there way before dark so he would not have to be rushed and could be quiet getting to his stand.

It was one of those moonless nights with the stars nearly bright enought to see. About 3/4 way to the stand he stepped over a log and the quiet night exploded, he said it was the most god awful sounds he ever heard, whoosing, bushes around him shaking vilently, he even heard a woman scream. The most terrifing part was he was being hit in the legs, back and arms. Being the tough outdoors person he was he said it didnt take him long to stop and realize what had happened, he had stepped into a covy of quail.

The best part was he said it took him till 9:30 to find his rifle.

[WapitiTalk1]

Many years ago when public land was abundant here in the south my old boss told me about his first gun deer hunt.

He scouted out and found the perfect spot 2-300 yards of the main road, marked his way into there by breaking small limbs and branches. After studing outdoor life magazines he decided to get there way before dark so he would not have to be rushed and could be quiet getting to his stand.

It was one of those moonless nights with the stars nearly bright enought to see. About 3/4 way to the stand he stepped over a log and the quiet night exploded, he said it was the most god awful sounds he ever heard, whoosing, bushes around him shaking vilently, he even heard a woman scream. The most terrifing part was he was being hit in the legs, back and arms. Being the tough outdoors person he was he said it didnt take him long to stop and realize what had happened, he had stepped into a covy of quail.

The best part was he said it took him till 9:30 to find his rifle.

Classic!