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Old February 22, 2011, 08:08 PM   #51
Art Eatman
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"the fainting tends to mess up their charges." Happens when bills aren't paid.

Yeah, "Tennessee Wooden Legs", the guy down the road from us called his critters. Dangdest thing I've ever seen. Just yell, and the silly things would fall over. Weird.
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Old February 22, 2011, 10:56 PM   #52
doofus47
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Slo-mo Moose charge

I was elk hunting with some buddies and we had taken up positions along a game trail before night fall just to see if something would move. As I was sitting there next to the game trail, I hear this "hwump, huwhomp" call and I hear the sound of something very big dragging a very very large rack through the underbrush. I hadn't SEEN a moose in the wild before, but I vaguely remembered someone saying that the moose bulls made some sort of "huffing" noises.
But this was day 2 of muzzle season and I had elk fever going, so I lined my muzzle loader on a shooting lane between trees and waited for my money shot as the critter came out of the trees 30 yards away.
Of course, it was a moose. It was as big as one of those Budweiser Clydesdale horses, but it wasn't bringing me a present...
And of course the "shooting lane" was the game trail. The moose turned right toward me and began ambling down the trail, Hrumphing and not caring about man nor beast.
So I'm racking my brain for any bit of info retained from every camp fire story or Discovery program about moose behavior that I'd heard.

I couldn't remember if it was better to "get big" and be seen since (I vaguely remembered) I had heard that their eye sight was bad and spooking them was asking for a trampling.

I couldn't remember if getting big was tantamount to challenging them which was also asking for moose whooping.

I don't remember if I "got big" or "got small", but I got out. I faded back into the woods and got between three closely growing trees that were at least a foot thick. The moose stopped at my previous post. He snorted a little over my pack and water that I'd left behind; he stomped at the orange tape I used to make my back pack more visible. He looked left and right a bit, then he started humphing and wandered on down the game trail after asserting his authority.

I don't need the real thing; I was scared enough.
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Old February 22, 2011, 11:37 PM   #53
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Kraigwy,
I could not agree more!
A cow moose is without a doubt the most dangerous animal in N. America. They are fearless and they NEVER bluff.

They are as big or bigger a big bull elk, at least as strong, and much meaner.

If there is anything like them in temperament, it's probably a Pit Bull with a C-Clamp on it's testicles ------ but Pit Bulls don't weigh 1,100-1,300 pounds.
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Old February 22, 2011, 11:59 PM   #54
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wasn't really a charge but . . .

I was bowhunting a good friends farm which is located in fox hunting territory in Northern Maryland.

His property had several horse paths cut throughout the woods for the "tally-ho'ers" and they were quite useful for humans as well; wide and easy going, really manicured.

I was coming out of the woods in the early evening. It was totally dark but because of the wide trail and good moonlight, I used no flashlight.

Under one arm was my good ole Baker climber and in my other hand my compound bow. I was walking uphill on this horse trail, when ahead of me from the right several deer bolted across the trail to the left into the woods.

I stopped for a moment to let them distance themselves from me and then I continued.

When I reached the spot where they crossed I looked into the woods to the left of the trail and there was a big doe, ears back, stomping the ground and snorting at me.

Before I could do anything, I heard commotion in the woods to the right, and a tiny yearling bolted across the trail maybe 10 yards from me entering the woods and rejoining what surely must have been it's Mom.

I froze, while they, together, bounded away.

It was cool, and I am sure it could have been very dangerous.

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Old February 23, 2011, 08:19 AM   #55
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Sure are lots of good stories in this thread but none of you has ever lived unless you've hunted deer in the SC lowcountry swamps in August. Our's is I believe the only state where taking a buck in velvet is a possibility. However to do it takes courage and a hard core attitude. You'll have to be able to contain the nerves dealing with various poisonous snakes, alligators and bugs. All that is the easy part. The real fun begins when you get into a stand, you can watch it coming but you can't do a thing about it other than get down and go home. It starts as one or two but quickly grows in number until its all consuming. These hard chargers aren't big but they pack a wholap. They're black with small white stripes and I shudder thinking about them. Mosquitos or as I refer to them, the demons of hell are ruthless. They laugh at deet and drink it like booze, therma-cell? PFFFFFFFtttt, had them landing on a lit one with fresh pad at one time this past season. It takes a combination sometimes and you're still getting bit even with the Thermacell, Spray and a Bug Tamer.
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Old February 23, 2011, 08:28 AM   #56
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No Photoshop... honest...

got this pic one night trying to get a pic of the muzzle flash of this custom revolver ( with a new style compensator on it )

they say they are MN's state bird... you can see we grow them big up here...

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Old February 23, 2011, 09:33 AM   #57
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Pfffffffffffffttttttttttttt, those big ones are fat and slow and not nearly as ruthless as those little black and white striped ones. Those things go stealth on you or attack in clouds so thick you can't breath. One day I had to get out to open the gate and got 40 bites before I got back in the truck, put on the Bug Tamer in the truck, then realized I had to pee, you can see where this is going. Let me tell you, its pure T hell not being able to scratch your nads and root, especially sitting on a hard wood pew in church. I honestly be lieve that half of the deer and hogs we killed were suicide cases trying to get away from the blood sucking bastards.
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Old February 23, 2011, 09:52 AM   #58
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not going to get in a "peeing match with you" sorry about the pun

but these big ones get into "clouds" just like the small ones... I live on a farm, & when out in the full hot sun, you are "usually" safe, but walking anywheres close to the tree lines, & you can hear them just buzzing in the shadows... waiting for anything with blood to wander close...

we have 2 nice sized patios, but I've got to fnd a way to screen at least one of them, as we don't even grill out at supper time... after 5-6:00 pm during the summer, the yard is no longer safe... even standing in the smoke of the grill will not protect you
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Last edited by Magnum Wheel Man; February 23, 2011 at 10:22 AM.
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Old February 23, 2011, 12:11 PM   #59
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You think this might increase the pucker factor, if he decided to turn around and make a run at you?





I'm not sure where these pictures were taken, but it wasn't in Texas.
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Old February 23, 2011, 01:21 PM   #60
doofus47
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Gahh! Stop hornet-guy!~ I'm having flashbacks...
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Old February 23, 2011, 01:40 PM   #61
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Quote:
they say they are MN's state bird... you can see we grow them big up here...
Nice crane fly. I always thought your state bird was the mosquito.
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Old February 23, 2011, 01:49 PM   #62
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that is a mosquito that was caught in the flash, closer to the camera...
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Old February 23, 2011, 03:30 PM   #63
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HornetGuy, those trees and undergrowth look a lot like Maine, but I suppose they could be anywhere in the northern US.

SaltyDog235, if the lowlands are anything like Fort Jackson, the chiggers are worse than the mosquitos. (At least, in my experience, mosquito bites stop itching a lot sooner.)
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Old February 23, 2011, 04:39 PM   #64
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My Gawsh!,,,

I had forgotten just how massive those Bullwinkle critters really are.

People hunt those with something that isn't belt fed?

Day-um!

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Old February 23, 2011, 04:40 PM   #65
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Toss up MLeake, you get the water on the ground and in the ditches we had last fall and it hell on earth with the skeeters, especially in the woods and bays. Chiggers are worse out in the fields and briar areas. Columbia, SC is just hell period in the summer. Of course I left out the Green Eyed Bomber's and Horse Fly/Killers, try stopping the boat even in the middle of the bay and you'll lose chunks of flesh, even worse if there's any blood or guts on deck. Course any of the southerner's on here know what I'm talking about. Not to say you northerners and westerners don't have a few.
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Old February 23, 2011, 05:15 PM   #66
MLeake
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Saltydog235...

... my grandfather had a friend, when I was a kid, who had a trait I really envied: Mosquitos didn't like his blood.

Not sure if it was his choice of tobacco, his diet, or what, but we'd be on a trail, on a bank, or in a boat, and mosquitos and black flies would swarm everybody - but none would bite or even land on Bill.

Interesting guy, though. Former Navy Atlantic Fleet heavyweight boxing champion (1930's timeframe). Handloaded custom ammo for rifle competitors, did some light FFL work. Great big guy, booming voice, scared the heck out of me when I was little, until I grew old enough to realize he was just an enormous teddy bear.

He stayed an avid outdoorsman into his 70's. What finally took him down was his last deer hunt. He got tired of dragging a buck through Maine undergrowth, so he just hefted it over his shoulder and started carrying it. This was actually working ok for him, until he stumbled on a decline and fell, with the deer on his back. He never quite recovered from the fall down the hill.

But anyway, bugs would not bite or land on the guy. Wish I could bottle that. I'd be past rich.
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Old February 23, 2011, 07:49 PM   #67
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Several trapped and cornered muskrats. Little doubt they would put a hole in your boots if given a chance.

Every mature male fisher I have trapped came to the end of the trap chain on my side of the circle.

I used to keep bear hounds. I had two bears come for me, both were wounded and both were being harassed by hounds.

The first was low shoulder shot bailing out of a tree. Two dogs worked him like a ping pong ball. As I was closing he saw me and came for me. No false charge. I also learned that day that a black bear can actually unhinge his jaws, like a snake, to make his mouth appear bigger than life. I was armed with a BLR 308. Hit him under the chin with the bullet stopping under the hide on his hip. Third shot through his neck under the spine as he swung away. He got back up and tried for the dogs, his quickness was compromised. He would no longer face me. I had to work around to his front to finish it.

Second was several years later, the bear was on three legs when we got after him. It had a broken front shoulder from a 12 gage foster style slug. Shoulder was green with infection. I did not have adequate ammunition supply. Dancing in the tag alders, I did manage 1 thru the low neck and one through the lower jaw. 1 clean miss and no more bullets. So I broke the gun stock over his head. Then he came for me. A hound running from a bear will watch the bear over its shoulder. a man running through the tag alders looking over his shoulders will trip. I was pushed back until my shoulders were against the base of an alder. I figured he could have anything below the knees and elbows. It was a pretty fair fight, him being sick with an old wound and broke jaw. Then my hat slid over my eyes. I felt him close his mouth over my right calf and thought this is the part that hurts. I was unaware that his jaw was broke. All I got was a couple of little poke bruises from the top canines. Then he was off me. The neck wound was bleeding him out. A fellow along stuck him with an arrow to finish it.

Both bears were mature boar bears. Neither was very large, one dressed in the 230s and the other in the 250s.
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Old February 26, 2011, 05:16 PM   #68
Ryanfromcanada
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I had a calf moose with brain worm come and try to say hi to me, but i just got up and slowly walked away. They're oblivious when they have that worm
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Old February 27, 2011, 12:38 AM   #69
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Twice in a five year period I had run in with grizzly bears. This was in Alaska, South of the Paxson Jct/ McKinley highway. Once while Alaska was still a territory and the second after it had become a state. One was an actual charge the other was not. Both occurred during caribou season which opened on 20 Aug. and Grizzly opened 1 Sept. I never figured that one out. On the first one I had my .30-06 with hand loaded 150gr Sierras and the second time, was about 10 miles from the first, I had the same '06 with 180gr Nosler Partitions.
The first, the actual charge, I was walking along the rim of the high ground next to the MClaren (sp) river looking for caribou that had come to drink. I had my rifle in both hands, moving slow then the bear came out of a draw to the river right at me. I broke a shoulder with my first shot and the second with my second shot, and put the other three into his neck. I don't know if they were need, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Then I walked out to the highway and waited for a game warden. That time of the year there is one comes by three or four times a day. The game warden and I walked back to where the bear was and he checked out the tracks. After he was happy that I'd told him the truth he started to skin the bear. Over the time of the skinning, and the carry back to the truck we must have talked about it for five hours. The Warden decided it was just a case of P.O. Bear. Seems they really don't need a reason. That is when I switched to Noslers 180gr Partition. The second bear was following me as I was headed to camp with a packboard of caribou hams, cape and head. I'm sure he had his nose full of blood, not mine, and wanted a free meal. He was covering ground a lot faster than I was and there was no way I was going to reach camp sooner than he was going to reach me, so I had to put him down. Game Warden cleared me on it. The heck of it was, because of the season differences I didn't get to keep either bear skin. I would like to have kept it. He was a dandy.
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Old February 28, 2011, 04:54 PM   #70
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When boating up the missouri river, flying fish attack you. Some can knock a man out. Not a charge in the sense of a bear charge but hurts and can be dangerous.
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Old February 28, 2011, 08:24 PM   #71
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the flying fish are real dangerous one broke my dads arm this year and knocked him out when he came to he was still coing down the river full boar he thinks he must have went a few miles or so
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Old March 1, 2011, 04:30 AM   #72
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Do owls count? Never seen it coming. Heard the sound of something sailing through the wind toward my head as a large shadow covered me. I instinctively ducked and blew off a load of 3" buckshot where my head had been. Turned around to see this thing the width of a Buick flying away trailing feathers
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Old March 1, 2011, 04:49 AM   #73
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Was chased by an antlerless moose once but it wasn't much of a contest. I had stopped my motorcycle on the side of the road to switch out my sunglasses for night riding glasses because it was getting dark. It came out of the brush across the road from me as I was digging around in my pack and I didn't waste any time getting back on the bike. When I took off it came after me. It wasn't giving up and I only watched it in the mirror for a little while before getting the heck out of there.
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Old March 1, 2011, 05:43 AM   #74
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An owl came after me one night also. I saw some in a tree while walking at night and all of a sudden I felt talons scrape across my head. It took a few more dives at me before i got out of Dodge.

I also forgot about hornets. One of my friends threw a rock at a hornets nest and it fell near me. Not many actually chased me but enough to get stung a few times.
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Old March 1, 2011, 08:07 AM   #75
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I had a possum put a little fear in me. I used to catch a late night smoke at a younger age, and I had seen this possum before. On this night the little critter(she was a big one) stared a hole thru me and somehow got in my head. I actually backed away and went back inside. She was real close in the bushes or tree, and I thought it was gonna attack. She rubbed me the wrong way.
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