Last night I was reading.....

[kansasbowhunter]

Last night I was reading a story in Awesome Whitetails III about a guy that killed a monster non-typical (I believe it was from Iowa). The story was quite amazing in that he said that the buck was actually bedded about 30 yards from him in some CRP grass and he never knew it. He said that evidently the buck never moved when he walked in to set up for the hunt.

He ended up killing it when his brother got bored and started walking in his direction. His brother almost stepped on the buck and when the buck flushed it ran by this guy and he was able to put a bullet in it. He said that he was there for over 3 hours and evidently the buck was there watching him the entire time.

I know that on several occaisions I have bumped deer when walking and I wonder how many times deer have been watching me as I sat in my tree stand.

I had a similar experience several years back when I was turkey hunting. I walked this creek bed to get to a roosting area to try to ambush a tom on his way back to roost. When I walked up out of the creek bed I immediately found a big sycamore tree to set up against, I set my gun down and walked out about 20 yards to set up my decoy and then walked back and sat down by the tree. I was there about 5 minutes and was surveying the surrounding territory when I thought I saw what appeared to be a turkeys head barely sticking up from behind a downed tree.

First off, I thought that there is no way in hell that a turkey would have sat that tight because it was about 15 yards from my decoy and I had just walked out to set up that decoy. I just dismissed the idea that it was actually a turkey and settled in for the hunt. I ended up shutting my eyes for about 5 minutes and when I opened them back up I looked back towards that downed tree and the object was still there. I pulled out my binoculars from my pack and could not believe my eyes. I could see every detail of that Toms head. I will never forget it because he had a really long noodle. He just sat there watching me. He had to have been sitting on his breast because the downed tree was not very big. I ended up shooting him on the spot and went home happy with a 19lb gobbler with 10" beard and 1" spurs.

Have you had any similar experiences???

 

[Greywolf]

About 3 Octobers ago I was sitting in my treestand watching squirrels when all of sudden a shadow under a tree about 40 yards in front of me stood up and started browsing on leaves. I'd been there for almost an hour and never even noticed the doe was bedded there. She continued to feed and paid no attention to me. Finnally she trotted off after a young buck came down the hill and started prodding her with his antlers.

 

[Central Iowa]

I will never forget late in 2002 I was sitting high on a inside corner and the field split from CRP to corn in front of me. I had sat 2-3 hours and it was nearing primetime. All of a sudden 30 yards from me a family group of does and yearlings stood up one by one out of the CRP. They had been there the entire time for the most part in plain view. I was in shock as I had no idea they were there. Amazing how well they blend in.

 

[SaskGuy]

About 6 yrs ago I shot a 140" 5x5 from the hip. He was laying in an old slough bottom like a big old dog stretched out flat on the ground. I was doing a drive and spotted him when I was just about by him, I thought he was dead at first until he had to breathe and I spotted the steam from his nose. My muzzle was less than a foot from his neck when i pulled the trigger. To this day I can't say for certain he was trying to wait me out but I doubt he was sleeping, he'd have had to have been as deep a sleeper as I which I doubt whietail bucks are.

 

[203ntyp]

I had a similar experience this past season. I climbed into one of my favorite stands near the tip of a small ridge which is about 30' high. I was as quiet as I could be getting in & after about an hour as I glanced over my left shoulder overlooking a small ravine I caught movement below me. There about 25 yards from my stand was a real nice buck bedded in some honeysuckle. I was amazed to see him curled up below me with just the top of his back, neck & head exposed from the close to 40' advantage I had above him. I watched him for the next hour & a half until that magic time approached for deer movement. I had to snip a couple of brahches out of my way to make the anticipated shot. He stood up & stretched offering me a 25 yard shot, if I had only practiced shooting at that steep of angle. Needless to say what could have been the best hunt I ever pulled off, I shot just over his shoulders, darn. Oh well, it was a great experience anyway. He sported a perfect 8 point rack without any brow tines.