Hunting stories or encounters?

[BigBill]

True story,
This guy grabs his 30-06 rifle with three rounds and heads out to his stand for an evening hunt. He sees a Blackbear charging him. He fires two shots into the bear and climbs a tree. The bear is at the tree below him moaning all night. By morning the moaning stops. He fires the third round and is convinced the bear is dead. He climbs down and gets back to camp to get help to get the bear out.

Hearing this story makes me think do I carry enough ammo?

Just something to think about.

 

[Tony M.]

I want to know why his hunting buddies didn't come to find him?

 

[Peak53]

I recommend 5 in the magazine plus 5 for a reload as a minimum. Apparently my SIL did not get the memo. He unloaded on a cow elk which was wounded and refused to fall. Out of ammo. Very unfortunate situation. I cautiously made my way over to his location, discovered the wounded animal standing at 175 yds, and quickly dropped it with one through the breadbasket. You don't need enough for a war, but some extra "just in case."

 

[tops]

Why did he wait until the next morning to fire the 3rd shot? Larry

 

[Drm50]

When I was young and dumb I had a 20shot mag for a 742 Rem 30-06.
It was a home made job but worked slick. Below me was a thicket of maple saplings and a dozen deer ran into them. There was a nice buck in
the herd by eastern WVa mountain standards. I didn't have a real good
shot and got buck fever because they were moving away from me. 1st shot tagged a sapling but hit the deer. It took of and I shot at it every time
it hit a opening-20shots. Snow was on and it left a blood trail a blind man
could follow. I'm sitting there out of ammo, with rolling thunder of 06 still
in my ears. Who fires 20 shots at a deer, in fact who fires 20shots in whole
deer season? I was wondering whether I should track it or go back to camp for more ammo. About that time one of my buddies appeared on a
break neck above me. He could see it from up there and since he had 7mm and me 3006 he finished it off. Deer was about 50yds below the wire
that separates State from private line so we scooted down and drug it up
to State property. I had shot deer to ribbons without hitting any vitals. One side of rack shot off, right front leg just hanging by hide. Never used
that rifle again and never used Win Silver Tip ammo again. I actually went
the other way on ammo. Load rifle and carry 20 extra. Then got to point
load rifle and carry 5 extra. That was 69, since then with rifle I've never
fired more than 2 at a deer and never lost one.

 

[ACP230]

When I went out on opening day this year (Nov. 15) I had five
rounds to put in the rifle and five extra in my coat pocket.

Have fired two rounds at a deer one time. If I had been a bit slower getting to the deer the second shot would not have been fired

Didn't see any deer on the opener so came home with all
10 rounds.

I used to carry 20 when I was younger.

 

[THEMULE]

A few years back, a good friend of mine and I were spring turkey hunting. We started at an oak tree that was about 4’ in diameter. The boys were talking back, 4 of them we figured. We were very confident that we would double, then they shut up. So.... we started following them. We crossed a creek that required waiters, our feet are stlll wet! The water was hip deep, we figured they got hung up on that creek.

We chased em for for 3 miles! No joke, at least that’s what my fit bit said.... So, 2 1/2 -3 hours later, there we are.... sitting on the other side of that SAME tree! and here come the boys.... he and I are sitting side by side. Our vests are and calls are rubbing each other, we are that close. He and I are are whispering to eachother.....”you take the one furthest left, I’ll take the furthest right”. I got a good shot”. “ “I don’t, sapling in my way”...... this went on for a few minutes.

The boys got within 5yrds, passing to our left and I’m on the right of my friend. At this point, I’m on mybird from the farthest right laying across my buddies lap. His shotgun is raised directly above me.... we are still talking...”I got a shot”, “I don’t”. Eventually they busted us and I let one go, the Old boy collapsed at 10yrds. My buddy never had a clear shot.

But, hot damn what a good time!
We worked those Toms for a long while. Pretty darn funny we started chasing them from the north side of that tree and killed one 2 1/2 hrs later on the south side of the same tree. I’d bet my retirement they were the same birds. Those pea sized brained birds led us in big circle! What great day!

Bob.

 

[crazyphil]

Way back around mid 1950s I was shooting jack rabbits. I had a very
old Winchester .22 pump. It had an octagon barrel and gold leaf hunting
scenes on both sides of the stock. I killed quite a few rabbits, and then
with my last shot I just crippled one. I chased him down and smacked
him with the gun. Broke the stock. Pretty dumb huh? Well my Dad
did a fairly decent job of gluing it back together. I gave it to my grandson
a few years ago.

When I was about to be discharged back in 1956, my Dad got a 1903
Springfield and put it into a Bishop stock, and gave it to me when I
got home. I nice rifle, but I could never hit the proverbial side of the
barn with it.

Here's the part where I brag a little bit. I traded the Springfield for a
slightly used Model 70 Winchester (this was about 1956) that had a
Weaver K4 on it. I was going to school in Southwest Montana. Probably
the best hunting and fishing on God's green earth. I could not miss with
that Winchester. Killed deer, elk, antelope, and bear. I don't remember
ever needing a 2nd shot.

When I retired from hunting around 2000, I gave all my long guns away.
When I told my wife, she said "you did what? Are you crazy? The name
kinda stuck.

 

[steelslaver]

The 3 rifles I regularly hunt with all hold 3 rounds in the magazine. I never put a round in the chamber until I am ready to fire. If I run out of ammo I was shooting when I should not have been. I shot 2 deer this year. Both times I ended up with 2 rounds left in the magazine. The wife's deer needed a finisher, but it was down hard. The 2 step daughter both fired 2 rounds to dump theirs. One of them was not necesary though deer was dead with first round just didn't know it till she fired again. Haven't run a hunting rifle empty for as long long time. I do carry a big bore handgun and have fired a all done shot with it.

The charging bear would change things., but the odds of geting off 3 shoots from a bolt gun are slim. If I failed to "get er done" with that I'll have to go to the revolver. But, at that point the bear will probably be closer than a rifle barrel is long anyway or I will be up a tree and the hang gun will work there as good as or better than a rifle. Holding on to a tree and firing a rifle down with one arm could be interesting though.

In my family there is a saying when hearing gunshots hunting. One shot, one deer, 2 shots, maybe one deer, 3 shots nothing.

 

[keith44spl]

I want to know why his hunting buddies didn't come to find him?

Well,

I was in a wilderness hunting camp, had the nephew of one of the guys in camp.
The uncle and his hunting partner were still out way after dark,
nephew worried, frettin and pacing the tent floor. "We gotta go find em!" he said.

I sez, "Okay, this drainage covers about a hundred square miles,
where ya want to start looking? If they can find their horses, they'll be in sometime.

We can't be out stumbling around in the dark and get ourselves into a jackpot."

Common sense has to rule the day.

.

 

[redlevel]

Probably the day after a Thanksgiving, guessing around 1960. I was about to be 12 years old. I was walking through the fields with the 20 gauge Parker my Great Uncle had left my Daddy. Suddenly a single Bobwhite Quail got up under my feet. I shouldered the Parker, and fired the right barrel. The bird folded, I picked him up, and walked back to my Grandparents’ house. My Granny helped me clean the bird, then immediately cooked it for me. My first ever quail. A most cherished memory.

 

[bearman49709]

When I was young and dumb I had a 20shot mag for a 742 Rem 30-06.
It was a home made job but worked slick. Below me was a thicket of maple saplings and a dozen deer ran into them. There was a nice buck in
the herd by eastern WVa mountain standards. I didn't have a real good
shot and got buck fever because they were moving away from me. 1st shot tagged a sapling but hit the deer. It took of and I shot at it every time
it hit a opening-20shots. Snow was on and it left a blood trail a blind man
could follow. I'm sitting there out of ammo, with rolling thunder of 06 still
in my ears. Who fires 20 shots at a deer, in fact who fires 20shots in whole
deer season? I was wondering whether I should track it or go back to camp for more ammo. About that time one of my buddies appeared on a
break neck above me. He could see it from up there and since he had 7mm and me 3006 he finished it off. Deer was about 50yds below the wire
that separates State from private line so we scooted down and drug it up
to State property. I had shot deer to ribbons without hitting any vitals. One side of rack shot off, right front leg just hanging by hide. Never used
that rifle again and never used Win Silver Tip ammo again. I actually went
the other way on ammo. Load rifle and carry 20 extra. Then got to point
load rifle and carry 5 extra. That was 69, since then with rifle I've never
fired more than 2 at a deer and never lost one.

You didn't have a real good shot and got buck fever because they were moving away from you and never hit any vitals then you blame the rifle and the ammo, how about taking the blame yourself.

 

[Highhawk1948]

I was hunting with my recurve bow in NE Alabama. 15 foot ladder stand next to a creek down from some young planted pines. Had 1 arrow nocked and 3 more in the bow quiver. A large doe came down the creek and stopped at approximately 25 yards. I drew and shot. The arrow sailed over her back. She jumped and moved to the other side of the tree I was in. I leaned around and took another shot. Again the arrow flew over her back and she was gone. Shortly a couple of does filterd thru the area. I picked out the biggest and proceeded to again shoot over her back. 3 arrow stuck in the ground. One left. After those deer took of a group of 4 does came thru that area. I waited for one to get under my stand. Yep, shot over her back. I climbed down, found my arrows. Went back to camp and put all 4 arrows right behind the shoulder of our 3D deer target. It dawned on me that I had not allowed for the angle and had not held low. New to tree stand hunting I had forgotten that important factor.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

When I have shot at large game -
I have usually knocked it down -
Or I missed and it took off to the next County.
I have never needed enough ammo to have a firefight with ISIS!

 

[olcop]

Why did he wait until the next morning to fire the 3rd shot? Larry

It was dark & he couldn't see

 

[dougb1946]

Met a guy in the woods once-he was carrying a Marlin 336 in .35 caliber. Nice gun and he carried 40 rounds for it, because he had once used up 20 rounds on a deer crossing a meadow on its way to Canada. Probably made it, because the guy had not touched it. My personal thought was use 30 rounds at the range and then carry 10.

 

[Mule Packer]

While I've had some great times during the many years I've been hunting, one of my most favorite is the hunt two years ago when my grandson Brig got his first mule deer. He was using my old Ruger .243 with a Leupold 3x9 scope and nailed the buck in his bed. I know I've shared this before, but it still ranks right up there with my top hunting adventures.

They had left camp at around five o'clock that morning. It was darn cold with ice on the water buckets. They finally glassed this big four-point around two o'clock in the afternoon.

It took Brig, his dad, and his uncle Matt several hours to bone it out, load it up, and pack it the several miles through steep, rugged country back to camp. So steep and rocky you couldn't get mules or horses into it.

They arrived way after dark, tired, cold and hungry. The poor kid was practically draggin', but just as proud as could be about his big buck. I had the wood stove going in the wall tent and a big pot of homemade beef stew with hot biscuits waiting for them.

Believe me, I couldn't have been happier if I had shot that buck myself.

Needless to say, Brig decided he wanted to keep that ol' gun of Grandpa's and I was just as tickled to let him do it, too.

 

[tops]

I hunt here on the homestead with a rifle that holds 5 shells. I don't reload but when I get down to 2 shells in the rifle I will carry 5 in my pocket and when I shoot empty I reload because by doing that I don't have to rotate shells or keep the same shells in the bottom of the mag. Larry

 

[madmikeb]

Many years ago I was hunting early one morning before work with my scoped 657. I had walked in on a skidder trail that had cut a pretty deep trail in the woods, probably a couple feet deep anyway. I picked a spot, climbed out of the trail and leaned against a tree in a fairly thick area but with a good view of the trail. I had been sitting there for awhile and heard a noise behind me, slowly turned my head and there was a 6 pointer right behind me. He was so close I could have reached out and grabbed him right by the antlers!
About that time buck fever kicked in full force and I forgot how to breath. I started wheezing, he sniffed me all over, looked at me as if to say "what the heck is wrong with you" turned around and went on his way.
All in all it was quite the encounter!

 

[CajunBass]

All my deer hunting has been using dogs and buckshot.

We made a drive late one evening toward the end of the season. Does were legal, but as a general rule my club didn't shoot them too often, but this one drive the president said anyone who hadn't killed a deer all season could take a doe.

I hadn't killed a deer.

The drive started, the dogs jumped right out of the truck. They turned and headed down the hill toward where I was standing. When they came by the guy on the stand just up from me, who had killed a nice buck earlier, stepped out and gave me the "Coming your way" signal. At the time I'd only killed a couple of deer so I was hyped.

I was using a Remington 1100, 3" mag, full choke, 30" barrel, and 3" Winchester 000 buck. Ten pellets to the shell.

Sure enough, the deer broke the thicket about ten yards from me, crossing shot. She was about the size of one of Muley Gills mules I think. Up came the 1100, the bead settled on the front shoulder and there was a BOOM!

And the deer kept running. Never missed a step.

I stood there dumbfounded. My jaw must have dropped. I never thought about the other two shells in the gun. WTH?

I walked over to where she had crossed. There, just in front of her tracks was a little gum tree...about 3-4 inches in diameter. In that gum tree were 10, count 'em ten buckshot pellets, in as pretty a pattern as you've ever seen.

I lost a piece of a really nice shirttail that day.