Harriest predicament you've ever found yourself in while in the woods?

[cbhunter]

I was bow hunting near a persimmon tree one afternoon when one of the landowners wives - who hated anyone hunting there started picking up persimmons and she squatted and peed . She never saw me but I saw more of her than I wanted to.

you win for possibly the "harriest predicament"

 

[cbhunter]

I was a kid maybe 12 or 13 years old, I'm sitting in my stand in a big deep hollow. It's my first time hunting this property and I walked off the ridge where the road was. My dad walked opposite across the road in another hollow. I remember like it was yesterday, Tennessee was playing Georgia and I had a little radio with an ear piece listening to John ward call the game. Suddenly I could see a truck drive up the old road bed and can hear cussing and screaming from a ways off. I call dad on the Radio and tell him what I'm seeing. He says don't move, don't talk, take your orange off. A guy gets out screaming goes around the truck and grabs a woman by her hair and they fight for what seemed like a while. I hear and can see everything plain as day he goes back to the truck and grabs something. I'm watching through my binocs and see a gun she starts screaming don't kill me. I freak out lay the binocs down. Pull up the 3006, scope him and i yell as loud and manly as a kid can, if she dies you die. Talking about somebody freaked out he swung around looking everywhere. I never moved or said another word. He got in the truck and took off. She yelled thank you and walked out also. I feel like I would have watched a murder that day if I didn't say anything. I never hunted that place again.

That took great courage from a young man/boy that age. Kudos to you!!!!!

 

[Volbuck777]

That took great courage from a young man/boy that age. Kudos to you!!!!!

Yea and I almost crapped my pants.

 

[reliable]

Maybe not the scariest experience, or even on a hunting trip, but is the most bizarre injury I've ever received, happened while fishing with my son in Alaska, along the kanektok river, in the togiak National preserve.
We were walking along the bank of the river, I was 30-40 yards ahead of him and the guide, we were mousing for rainbows in the log jams and deadfalls along river edge.
Walking thru head high grasses and willows, in waders, stumbling over hidden branches and into/thru unseen ditches. Falling and tripping was not uncommon.

Took a slight tumble, knew I was going to the ground, so I held my fly rod high so that it would not get broken. Hidden in the grass, right in front of me, was a chewed off beaver stob, about 4" in diameter.

Took the stob right in the face, the point punctured my cheek and cracked a tooth, knocked me out cold.
I came too a few seconds later with my son and our guide staring down at me, blood covering my face and neck.

Nothing could be done, the first aid kit in the boat was waterlogged, wrapped a t shirt and bandana around neck and face, finished the drift back to camp, fishing all the way back.
Luckily there was a retired doctor in camp who carried sutures and needle. He stitched my face up later that eve while I laid on top of a cooler, used boiled purell to disinfect the wound.

Not life threatening, but pretty helpless feeling, and definitely unprepared for that event. Left a pretty sweet scar on my jaw line, makes for good campfire story/scar talk now.

 

[Ski]

I've got two. First was when I was a kid doing a deer drive with my brother. He was on ridge while I was on shelf, still hunting in unison. I bumped up some deer out of briars and he shot down, dropping a big 9pt. It was more than 100yds ahead of me but I saw it drop. Being an idiot kid I ran up to the deer, grabbed his horns, and began pulling him out toward the open. You guessed it. He wasn't dead. That big ole bruiser stood up and began trying to thrash his head, with me attached. I just knew I was dead. Luckily he was dead enough that he didn't have full strength. I was able to cut his throat with my skinning knife, holding on for dear life(pun intended) as he expired. My brother, at the time a budding taxidermist, comes down to see all the commotion and gets mad because I ruined the cape!

Same brother visited last year for the velvet hunt. It was last evening and a bad storm was rolling in. We were texting back & forth deciding to climb down because the wind had picked up strong and there was thunder in the distance. But before I climbed down, a 10pt stepped out at 17yds. Of course I shot him. So I texted my brother who was on other side of property & told him come to me rather than meeting at truck. He was there within minutes but by now the rain was coming, wind howling, and thunder closer. As he approached, I grabbed the barbwire fence so we could cross & retrieve the buck lying 40yds on other side. Next thing I know I'm on the ground seeing stars and ears ringing. Lighting had hit somewhere nearby on the fence and blasted me. My brother said there were sparks & arcs all over me. My hands, legs, and bow were burnt, and my face had severe welder burn. Otherwise I was fine.

I have not hunted with him since

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I've got two. First was when I was a kid doing a deer drive with my brother. He was on ridge while I was on shelf, still hunting in unison. I bumped up some deer out of briars and he shot down, dropping a big 9pt. It was more than 100yds ahead of me but I saw it drop. Being an idiot kid I ran up to the deer, grabbed his horns, and began pulling him out toward the open. You guessed it. He wasn't dead. That big ole bruiser stood up and began trying to thrash his head, with me attached. I just knew I was dead. Luckily he was dead enough that he didn't have full strength. I was able to cut his throat with my skinning knife, holding on for dear life(pun intended) as he expired. My brother, at the time a budding taxidermist, comes down to see all the commotion and gets mad because I ruined the cape!

Same brother visited last year for the velvet hunt. It was last evening and a bad storm was rolling in. We were texting back & forth deciding to climb down because the wind had picked up strong and there was thunder in the distance. But before I climbed down, a 10pt stepped out at 17yds. Of course I shot him. So I texted my brother who was on other side of property & told him come to me rather than meeting at truck. He was there within minutes but by now the rain was coming, wind howling, and thunder closer. As he approached, I grabbed the barbwire fence so we could cross & retrieve the buck lying 40yds on other side. Next thing I know I'm on the ground seeing stars and ears ringing. Lighting had hit somewhere nearby on the fence and blasted me. My brother said there were sparks & arcs all over me. My hands, legs, and bow were burnt, and my face had severe welder burn. Otherwise I was fine.

I have not hunted with him since

Dang! I hate lightning with a passion!

 

[kamml]

The only time I seem to get scared in the woods is in the early darkness after the sun goes down. The shadows change and the woods always seems to look different. The couple of times I have thought I might be lost was because of that. It was hard to trust my compass when my intuition is telling me something different. Of course, I took the direction the compass indicated with my intuition hollering in my mind over and over "you are lost sucker." With today's GPS and visual apps on our smartphones unless you get blinded somehow I don't see how you can get lost anymore. The only time I was fearful of an animal was the very first time I saw a fox squirrel. I had never seen one before and when this large on the ground fox-faced animal kept coming up the deer trail I was sitting next too I actually started to pick up my rifle when it got close. Thinking about it now I laugh but it had me wondering what the devil it was back then. It was sorta brightly colored and I was thinking what the heck was that. Cute little bugger.

 

[Ski]

Dang! I hate lightning with a passion!

Lucky for me, God pities fools. Could have ended way differently.

 

[Dbllunger]

Dang! Some of ya'll got some crazy stuff going on. I've certainly been in some very dangerous situations in my life but none were in the woods or hunting related. Well, there was that one time I forgot my terlet paper. It was a little dicey that day.

 

[Safari Hunt]

Tracking the buck in my profile in 2019. He was wounded and headed uphill at a 45 degree angle along a deep (500') ravine. As he neared the top he leveled out walking parallel to the edge of the ravine. As I track him, I notice the trail becomes little more than a 6 inch wide path on wet shale, situated on a slope that had to be at least 60 degrees. And just about the time I thought, "this could be dangerous" I slipped and began the slide down into the ravine. There was no stopping as gravity worked it's magic. I started on my butt, then rolled over on my belly, clawing at anything I could grab. But to no avail. Gun's banging off everything, pack is flailing, and I'm still sliding. With a ledge fast approaching, I figured I was about to end up in the boulder filled bottom of the ravine, with who knows what damage. About 10 feet short I spy a small tree at arms length and make a last ditch lurch and hook it. Thankfully I stopped. I ultimately made it back up the hill, and finished tracking the deer, who had died and promptly rolled all the way down that slope into the ravine. 5 hours later, 200 feet of rope, 3 150 foot traverses, and another 300 feet of carrying a quartered and caped buck uphill we got him to the side by side and on our way home.

Always take more ammo that what you need.
My biggest was being in the woods and not having any toilet paper. Made sure the leaves weren't poison ivy.
Edit: Was told to watch for marijuana patches in the Cherokee NF. Have heard of guys getting shot from guards in other places.

 

[philsanchez76]

I hesitate to share this cuz I was such a dumbA$$ but if it'll help anyone save an injury it's prob worth it. I've since then read about people who have actually died in the field from Broadhead accidents so I feel lucky. As a new hunter, I had hiked about 1.5 miles into some public and I was entering the outskirts of a bedding area where I had encountered deer bedded before. I had actually missed shot opportunities at deer as I jumped them and they would stand still for 2-3 seconds and then run. Since I never had an arrow nocked, by the time I would nock and draw, they were gone. You can now guess what I did which was nock an arrow and begin to stalk in. Since this is bow season, grass and cover is still very thick. I stepped into about a 2 foot hole that was totally covered by tall grass and my Magnus stinger stabbed straight into my thigh. It didn't even hurt cuz those Broadheads are SOOO sharp. I almost just kept walking but then decided, no maybe I should just check out the damage. Well I looked down and saw that pretty much my entire left pant leg had just turned red. Uh oh. Pulled my drawers down and blood actually spurted out at me. BIG UH OH. Thank Jesus I have some advanced tactical first aid/trauma training from a Nashville SWAT member, so I was able to remain kind of calm and took off my belt and made a tourniquet and stop the bleeding. I decided to walk slowly and see how it went since it would be so hard to explain to 911 where the heck I was. I was actually able to walk 1.5 miles all the way back to my truck and drive myself to the ER. Doc took my tourniquet off and blood sprayed all over his white coat and on the curtains in the room! Pretty sure that training probably saved my life and I now carry a full kit with a CAT tourniquet in it. I also NEVER nock an arrow until I am stationary in my decided spot or stand. If I miss an opportunity at a jumped up deer, so be it! Hope this helps someone. Also tactical first aid and CPR certification is definitely worth it.

 

[Lost Lake]

Dang! Some of ya'll got some crazy stuff going on. I've certainly been in some very dangerous situations in my life but none were in the woods or hunting related. Well, there was that one time I forgot my terlet paper. It was a little dicey that day.

LOL. Yep. It'll make you break out in a cold sweat.

That's when the pocketknife comes out and the drawers become TP.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Muzzleloader season 2000. Shot an 8 point I had watched that afternoon for nearly 45 minutes. Was back and forth between letting him walk or not. I followed blood until well after dark, lost blood followed tracks. I had permission to recover deer on the farm behind us from that landowner, so I went on following on unfamiliar ground. It was very overcast, could not see the moon. Got turned around. Ended up lost in the willow thickets in the bottom, was calling for flooding later that night. Everything looked the same and was unable to find any landmarks or the hills where I would know where I was. Tried backtracking, but got off the tracks I had been following. Hadn't started raining yet, but started thinking about making it until light if it started flooding. Started feeling a bit of panic as the temps were dropping.

Ended up hearing a car on the highway, then another. I went that direction through the thickest crap in the dark, every so often hearing cars. Eventually found my way to the road where I immediately knew where I was. Was able to find my way back to the house after knowing where I was and getting my bearings straight. Had been about 5 hours after I started looking for the deer until I got back to the house. Wife and daughters were in bed asleep and had no clue I wasn't back.

After that, we got we radios. Even now, getting a cell signal in the bottoms in some spots is just not possible, but at least with phones, have offline maps and compass. Had I had a compass with me never would have gotten lost.

 

[UCStandSitter]

I've got two. First was when I was a kid doing a deer drive with my brother. He was on ridge while I was on shelf, still hunting in unison. I bumped up some deer out of briars and he shot down, dropping a big 9pt. It was more than 100yds ahead of me but I saw it drop. Being an idiot kid I ran up to the deer, grabbed his horns, and began pulling him out toward the open. You guessed it. He wasn't dead. That big ole bruiser stood up and began trying to thrash his head, with me attached. I just knew I was dead. Luckily he was dead enough that he didn't have full strength. I was able to cut his throat with my skinning knife, holding on for dear life(pun intended) as he expired. My brother, at the time a budding taxidermist, comes down to see all the commotion and gets mad because I ruined the cape!

Same brother visited last year for the velvet hunt. It was last evening and a bad storm was rolling in. We were texting back & forth deciding to climb down because the wind had picked up strong and there was thunder in the distance. But before I climbed down, a 10pt stepped out at 17yds. Of course I shot him. So I texted my brother who was on other side of property & told him come to me rather than meeting at truck. He was there within minutes but by now the rain was coming, wind howling, and thunder closer. As he approached, I grabbed the barbwire fence so we could cross & retrieve the buck lying 40yds on other side. Next thing I know I'm on the ground seeing stars and ears ringing. Lighting had hit somewhere nearby on the fence and blasted me. My brother said there were sparks & arcs all over me. My hands, legs, and bow were burnt, and my face had severe welder burn. Otherwise I was fine.

I have not hunted with him since

Were you able to restring and still use the bow or was it trashed?

 

[dr]

Got charged by a hog ,after stepping down from treestand. Had a bear sit down in front of my stand, and walk behind me another day.

 

[DMD]

Muzzleloader season 2000. Shot an 8 point I had watched that afternoon for nearly 45 minutes. Was back and forth between letting him walk or not. I followed blood until well after dark, lost blood followed tracks. I had permission to recover deer on the farm behind us from that landowner, so I went on following on unfamiliar ground. It was very overcast, could not see the moon. Got turned around. Ended up lost in the willow thickets in the bottom, was calling for flooding later that night. Everything looked the same and was unable to find any landmarks or the hills where I would know where I was. Tried backtracking, but got off the tracks I had been following. Hadn't started raining yet, but started thinking about making it until light if it started flooding. Started feeling a bit of panic as the temps were dropping.

Ended up hearing a car on the highway, then another. I went that direction through the thickest crap in the dark, every so often hearing cars. Eventually found my way to the road where I immediately knew where I was. Was able to find my way back to the house after knowing where I was and getting my bearings straight. Had been about 5 hours after I started looking for the deer until I got back to the house. Wife and daughters were in bed asleep and had no clue I wasn't back.

After that, we got we radios. Even now, getting a cell signal in the bottoms in some spots is just not possible, but at least with phones, have offline maps and compass. Had I had a compass with me never would have gotten lost.

Did you find the buck?

 

[Gravey]

I guess the worst situation I've been in was probably 10 years ago. I was on a lease that was 3100 acres and went into an area I hadn't been before. As you know when it gets dark everything looks the same. I got turned around and realized it when I started having to pick my knees up to my chest to step through the thick stuff. Knew I was turned around but also knew another member would be riding back by at some point so I text him to stop at my 4-wheeler and whistle for me. Luckily he did and I walked straight out.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Did you find the buck?

Unfortunately, no. It started raining not long after I got back, and by morning it was raining heavy.

 

[gtk]

I'm enjoying reading these. As others said, it reminds me of the old "This Happened to Me" part of outdoor life..

I've been lost in the rocky mountains, which is scary, especially at night when lions/bears are common.

Speaking of lions. I shot my 2nd elk one afternoon, next to a watering hole. As I was getting ready to gut it, something moving caught my eye or so I thought. As i get back to work gutting, I thought I saw movement closer to me, and looked up and there was a mountain lion sitting 25 yards from me on a log pile, staring at me, his tail switching back/forth just like a house cat that is ready to attack something. I was so shook up I didnt even think about grabbing my gun, I just froze for a bit.. I looked back down the mountain to see where i could run, turned around and the cat was gone.
Caught a glimpse of him sneakng off ..

 

[DMD]

Unfortunately, no. It started raining not long after I got back, and by morning it was raining heavy.

Shucks. But I'm glad you made it home safe