This thread will be for things that happened during your hunting career that seemed "strange", but actually happened in the turkey woods. The big one that comes to mind for me happened in the early 90's. A few days before opening day, I caught pneumonia, had a bad fever, and was out of it. I vowed to never miss an opening day of turkey hunting. I rested all weekend, and against my wife's wishes, I planned on going out on the Monday opener. The weather actually was miserable, cold, wet, and very foggy. I slipped into my favorite spot before daylight. I promised my wife I'd be back by 8:00 am. There was a dense fog, as I sat occasionally clearing my throat. I was calling at daylight sparingly even though the visibility was minimal. Not hearing anything, at 7:00, I decided it would be best if I started heading out for the day. The fog was appearing to thin, I stood up and ejected a shell out of my chamber. I was hunting with a Remington 870 pump. I gathered my calls, and got ready to start walking out. I said to myself "give it one more call". I yelped on my mouth call, and across the hill from me "A Gobble". Wow, I quickly sat back down, faced his direction and yelped very softly. He gobbled, here he comes. The thinning fog started to dissipate, but there was still a "Misty haze" in the woods. With the gun up on my knee, I spot a Fantail approaching me, a full tail. He came out of strut and and walked to 35 yards. He stopped, looked and started walking in. At about 30, I hit the trigger,"Click". Oops, no shell. I had ejected it out when I was going to head out!. He stopped, stood, I pumped the next shell in, he went into strut. The fog masked my "stupid move". When he came out of strut, I dropped him. I was shocked this fine gobbler allowed me to tag him in this manner. I threw him over my shoulder and headed out. I got home by 7:30, my wife told me I was crazy to go out there. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reminiscing on my opening day gobbler that got "fooled in a fog". I was very lucky here, a clear day for sure would have had a very different ending...
Spring of 2022 - scouting before opening day in another state. Had located a few gobblers. Opening morning rolls around and I whiff on one of them. There is a noon closing time in this state and about 10:40AM I drive past where i'd spotted another gobbler the day before while scouting, and there he is strutting with a hen in the woods about 60 yards off the blacktop! There is another road that comes in behind him so I high tail it around, park, and the clock is ticking. Sneak as tight as I can and see the birds working my way. End up shooting him at 11:10AM.
Fastforward to this spring. The same state. I arrive a day early to scout. My first stop is where the above took place and there in the exact spot is my bird reincarnated! These are woods birds too, not fields. I end up roosting another bird elsewhere and went after it opening morning. No luck. About 11:00AM, with an hour of hunting left, I drive by the late morning spot. Amazingly, there he is walking and gobbling on the shoulder of the freaking medium traffic road! I high tail it around to come in behind the bird and run into another hunter. I thought he may have been going after the bird but nope, he was cleaning a jake he'd just shot! I told him about the bird and he told me to go get him. So I get set up about ~50 yards from where I'd killed two years prior and I hear him gobble on his own. Hit a call and he hammers and he's already crossed the blacktop onto private. With time being limited, I lay it on him. Box call, mouth call, raising a ruckus. He goes wild. A few minutes pass and he gobbles MUCH closer, obviously on my side of the road. Then he comes strutting on in to 40 yards. Time of death, 11:30AM. 30 minutes til closing time.
Two birds, two years apart, opening day, shot within 20 minutes of the same time with less than an hour of hunting time left, and they fell within 50 yards of one another. On EXTREMELY pressured public land. In the woods, not field birds. I'd have a hard time believing it if it hadn't happened to myself.
(https://i.imgur.com/CxadPfp.jpeg)
The place I like to fish is a few acres with a little lake surrounding it on three sides. I discovered there were turkeys in the area a few years ago. So around the same time, I got a Lynch World Champion box call and thought I would hunt them sometime. I knew absolutely nothing about turkey hunting. So I decided on opening day I would do some fishing and turkey hunting. Opening day came and I drove out to the property. I parked the truck about 9 am and started to get my gun and gear ready. Then I thought to myself, why am I fulling with camo and my gun, there's no way I will call in a turkey because I don't know what I'm doing, this is my first try. I'll just call and see what happens. I walk into the woods and I'm about 50 yards from the bank. The paper in the Lynch box says to give 3 short strokes, so I do that and hear a gobble right away across the lake. I couldn't believe it and thought it was great! I thought okay, that was across the lake, if I hear a gobble in the direction I drove in, I'll get my gun because there's actually a chance he will come to me. About 5 min later I do another 3 yelps and immediately a gobble across the lake. I thought man, this turkey calling stuff is easy. Just then I hear wingbeats. A gobbler (Jake) has flown 150 yards across the lake and is on the bank 40 yards in front of me searching for the source of the yelping. My heart is pounding, I go to get my gun and realize I left it in the truck. I try to sneak back to my truck. I'm stepping on branches and leaves while that turkey is bobbing his head down the bank away from me. I get my gun and go back to where I was and yelp but of course nothing. I thought that was just the coolest. I went back a few more times and could get them to gobble across the lake but could never get another to fly across. Beginners luck. It was then I learned the excitement of calling to a turkey and decided I had a lot to learn if I was actually going to get one some day. I've been hooked ever since.
Good stuff guys!
There was a study going on in an area I hunted a lot. The study went 3 years from 2008 to 2010 and they banded a bunch of turkeys over a large area. I really wanted to get a banded turkey! The area was a draw only hunt.
In this area I helped several hunters acting as a sort of guide, nonmoney, just for fun. Four of the hunters I helped in one way or another killed banded turkeys. I just couldn't seem to get one tho. One time I had 4 two-year-olds come in in a sandy area and could see their legs clearly...no bands so I let them walk. When 2015 hit (3 years after the study ended) I thought I was out of luck. The youngest turkey with a band would be 6 years old...what were the odds of one surviving that long, much less me getting it.
By now they had changed the rules per the study. You could draw a tag AND hunt private land on a general tag. I had some private to hunt and had a gobbler come down a two-track form like a half mile away. Shot him at 20 yards and he was banded!!! A 6 year old tom. I was elated.
About 10 days later my draw tag kicked in and I hunted public. It was raining for days and these birds don't gobble in the rain much. Out roosting I heard no gobbles but saw a hen roosted in a tree. I decided to go hunt near her in the morning. The area was very open and I got there in the dark and set up about n100 yards from the hen. At least it had quit raining. Gobbling time came and the gobble blew my socks off! After a few more gobbles I saw him in a tree 60 yards away. He roosted low and right next to the main trunk. All I had to do was call to get him to fly my way and he would be in range. That's what happened and I shot him at 25 yards. BANDED!! This guys was 7 years old. After 5 years of trying to get a banded gobbler no banded tom...I get 2 in one season!
1st pic is the 6 year old. 2nd is the 7 year old gobbler. Both bands have a lot of wear but the 7 YO has more.
Quote from: Treerooster on June 09, 2024, 09:24:47 PMThere was a study going on in an area I hunted a lot. The study went 3 years from 2008 to 2010 and they banded a bunch of turkeys over a large area. I really wanted to get a banded turkey! The area was a draw only hunt.
In this area I helped several hunters acting as a sort of guide, nonmoney, just for fun. Four of the hunters I helped in one way or another killed banded turkeys. I just couldn't seem to get one tho. One time I had 4 two-year-olds come in in a sandy area and could see their legs clearly...no bands so I let them walk. When 2015 hit (3 years after the study ended) I thought I was out of luck. The youngest turkey with a band would be 6 years old...what were the odds of one surviving that long, much less me getting it.
By now they had changed the rules per the study. You could draw a tag AND hunt private land on a general tag. I had some private to hunt and had a gobbler come down a two-track form like a half mile away. Shot him at 20 yards and he was banded!!! A 6 year old tom. I was elated.
About 10 days later my draw tag kicked in and I hunted public. It was raining for days and these birds don't gobble in the rain much. Out roosting I heard no gobbles but saw a hen roosted in a tree. I decided to go hunt near her in the morning. The area was very open and I got there in the dark and set up about n100 yards from the hen. At least it had quit raining. Gobbling time came and the gobble blew my socks off! After a few more gobbles I saw him in a tree 60 yards away. He roosted low and right next to the main trunk. All I had to do was call to get him to fly my way and he would be in range. That's what happened and I shot him at 25 yards. BANDED!! This guys was 7 years old. After 5 years of trying to get a banded gobbler no banded tom...I get 2 in one season!
1st pic is the 6 year old. 2nd is the 7 year old gobbler. Both bands have a lot of wear but the 7 YO has more.
Congrats on a great story. It's nice to see that some Tom's live to 7 years old!
Great stories.
This happened long ago (thirty-two years ago to be exact...my oldest son was ten and he's now forty-two). We were hunting a vast, public-land area where turkey flocks are few and far between. It was a place I had never hunted before, so I was just prospecting for gobblers by driving around, stopping, and calling. Starting a daylight, we had covered many miles without a response. By mid-morning, the notorious mountain winds here had arrived, and I was basically just going through the motions hoping for a miracle for my son.
On the verge of giving up and heading back to camp for breakfast, we drove out the end of a two-track road about fifty yards from where it dropped off into a big canyon below and I told my son we would just walk over to the edge and call. By now, the wind was howling and I was thinking "no way", but we walked about thirty yards from the truck to the edge...no gun in hand...and I yelped loudly.
A gobble rang out from just over the lip probably fifty yards away! Seconds later, a big old Merriam's gobbler walked into sight at thirty yards, looking around for the hen. We were standing there, in the "wide open" with my truck in plain sight thirty yards behind us! I expected the gobbler to turn tail and run or fly off, but he just took a few steps to his left, putting him behind a thick cedar tree from us.
I whispered,..."Sneak back to the truck and get your gun", as I watched for the gobbler to, at any moment, get the heck out of Dodge. My son quietly went back to the truck, got his shotgun, and snuck back over to me. I put a shell in the chamber and handed the gun back to him...just as the gobbler walked out from behind the cedar tree and stood there, letting Jessie get a good aim and shoot...dropping the gobbler in its tracks!
Sometimes the turkey gods just smile down and hand a gift gobbler to a ten-year-old kiddo!...and his dad!... :D :)
Quote from: Tom007 on June 10, 2024, 06:21:06 AMQuote from: Treerooster on June 09, 2024, 09:24:47 PMThere was a study going on in an area I hunted a lot. The study went 3 years from 2008 to 2010 and they banded a bunch of turkeys over a large area. I really wanted to get a banded turkey! The area was a draw only hunt.
In this area I helped several hunters acting as a sort of guide, nonmoney, just for fun. Four of the hunters I helped in one way or another killed banded turkeys. I just couldn't seem to get one tho. One time I had 4 two-year-olds come in in a sandy area and could see their legs clearly...no bands so I let them walk. When 2015 hit (3 years after the study ended) I thought I was out of luck. The youngest turkey with a band would be 6 years old...what were the odds of one surviving that long, much less me getting it.
By now they had changed the rules per the study. You could draw a tag AND hunt private land on a general tag. I had some private to hunt and had a gobbler come down a two-track form like a half mile away. Shot him at 20 yards and he was banded!!! A 6 year old tom. I was elated.
About 10 days later my draw tag kicked in and I hunted public. It was raining for days and these birds don't gobble in the rain much. Out roosting I heard no gobbles but saw a hen roosted in a tree. I decided to go hunt near her in the morning. The area was very open and I got there in the dark and set up about n100 yards from the hen. At least it had quit raining. Gobbling time came and the gobble blew my socks off! After a few more gobbles I saw him in a tree 60 yards away. He roosted low and right next to the main trunk. All I had to do was call to get him to fly my way and he would be in range. That's what happened and I shot him at 25 yards. BANDED!! This guys was 7 years old. After 5 years of trying to get a banded gobbler no banded tom...I get 2 in one season!
1st pic is the 6 year old. 2nd is the 7 year old gobbler. Both bands have a lot of wear but the 7 YO has more.
Congrats on a great story. It's nice to see that some Tom's live to 7 years old!
After getting these 2 toms, and given the difficulty of aging gobblers past 3 or so, I have wondered if we hunters don't realize just how old some of the gobblers we get really are. That 6 year old bird had 1 1/8" spurs...nice hooks but nothing too special. Until you see by the band he was 6.
Man the odds of those 2 bands!!! WOW congrats!
Great stories!!
I'm enjoying these stories. This thread topic was a great idea!
Many years ago, when I was just out of high school I was hunting public land in Western Maryland. One morning the A-10 Warthogs were flying low altitude in the area, and when they would turn a certain way, the engines would get loud quickly. This would trigger birds in the area to shock gobble and I made my move three times that morning to set up on a particular bird. They weren't gobbling to anything else that day. It was interesting to say the least, but I never did pull the trigger or have a response from my calling the rest of the morning.
Years ago I made my way to a small maybe 4acre hayfield where a few days before I had observed a gobbler strutting. I set up determined to hang out a while in an attempt to tempt him or another in range. Couple hours in and I have seen nor heard nada. A southern spring thunderstorm rolls in and begins that long, low thunder rumble...and several turkeys gobble kinda all around me. No less than three. No answer to my calls. But everytime it thunders. I have heard thunder provoke gobbles but only one other time has it been anywhere near what was that day. At first I was mad because they paid me no mind but soon was just happy to hear them- got wet too.
Good stuff guys, the banded birds I wonder why one was below the spur? only saw a few in pics and they have all been over the spur!
This happened to me about 40 years ago. I was hunting a oak ridge that I had hunted many times before but didn't hear a peep or see any sign on that morning. So about 11:00 I decided to take the long walk back to my truck and have a sandwich. I was walking an old abandoned logging road and when I came around a bend there were three big toms standing in the middle of the road at 30 yards. SOOOO I shouldered my 870 and shot the one in the middle.
Well two of the birds ran off to my left and the one I shot staggered a a little then ran into a manzanita thicket on my right so I ran up to where he went in but couldn't see anything. Then I look up the road and here he comes running straight at me. At this point I think I couldn't believe what he was doing and he was closing the gap fast. When he got within about 4 ft I swung my gun at him and hit him in the head with the barrel knocking him to the ground. He started to get up at that point I jumped on him and we rolled around on the ground for several minutes before I finally subdued him. When I got up it looked like a turkey had been plucked there and some of my blood from his spurs.
Bill
I was about an hour late to the party one morning. I hear one gobbling way up on the upper end of the meadow about 300 yards away. I use the trees to get 200 yards away. He was gobbling about every 5 minutes. I finally figure out that he is still in the tree. So, every time he gobbled, I would cut his gobble off with one of my own, to which he would cut me off. Then I would wait for him to gobble and we would do it all again. Sunrise was about 5:30. It was now about 8:00 and he was still in the tree. So, I snuck in to about 150 yards where I ran out of cover. I set up with a dip in the terrain so if he went down into the dip, he would appear to me at less than 15 yards. This gobble back and forth went on until about 10:00. I decided to change tactics and began hen calling and after he gobbled at the calling a few times, down he flew. When his head appeared above the dip, he gobbled and I shot him at about 9 yards.
Back in 2001 there was a pair of gobblers on a piece of private that I have hunted since I was just a pup. I had formed a flinch, which is a bad habit to get. I called them both up first trip in. Stand dead still 25yds I shoot a tree 2ft to the left. I was sick so I give them a few day rest hunting other spots I go back call them up again 30yds and roll one of them up. I start to him crawling through a barbwire fence, look up and he's running off dragging his right wing. I shot twice more out of desperation with really no chance of hitting him but did it anyways. Besides shooting at that bird 2 different hunts I had also shot at 5 other birds in a week and a half and only had killed 2. I was ticked at the gun so I gave it away the day the bird ran off with the broken wing. I pulled out another one that I had a ton of confidence in so Two weeks later I went back to the piece of private to see if the wounded turkey's buddy was still there. I made it about a quarter the way in and he gobbled probably 300yds, I sat down and made a couple calls and this rascal started to me and seemed like he was gobbling every other step and fast too. Right before he got in sight 2 turkeys gobbled. 30 seconds later I see a bird coming full strut and his right wing is broken turned inside out. He gets 20yds and I kill him. No way he could fly so he was sleeping on the ground for 2 weeks. He might have been able to get in a bush maybe. The only way to look at it was the good Lord wanted me to kill that turkey.
Quote from: 3bailey3 on June 10, 2024, 04:40:26 PMGood stuff guys, the banded birds I wonder why one was below the spur? only saw a few in pics and they have all been over the spur!
I think the band is actually supposed to be between the foot and the spur. The two I got here were banded as jakes (that's how they knew the definite age). I imagine with the rough and tumble lives turkeys live that the band could slip up above, or down below (if I am wrong about the placement) a spur nub.
Back several years ago I had been chasing and hunting hard, and was having no luck in killing my gobbler. I was becoming really frustrated with myself and the gobblers on the farm. It seems like no matter what I did or what tactic I used I wasn't getting it done, I was hunting from way before daylight until 2 / 3 clock in the afternoon and now I was into day 5 of the opening of spring season and I still hadn't killed my gobbler. So on the 6th day I again was back at it hunting and trying to kill one of these gobblers I had been hearing from day one, but again I had been whipped and was headed back to the tractor shed and hunting cabin and as I rounded the hill I could see this gobbler down behind the tractor shed and back of the cabin in full strut, so I parked the jeep I jumped out and ran down along the small hill in from of the tractor shed until I came into the middle of the shed and as I ease up into the shed because one end of the tractor shed is open on the end next to the hunting cabin and I stepped out as he turned and had his fan to the back of me and as he turned I shot him at 15 yards. To this day he's one of the biggest gobblers I have ever killed and I have him mounted in full strut in our hunting cabin... Everyone calls him the back door Cabin Gobbler... LOL.. He was also one of the most expensive gobblers I've ever killed because back then it was just over 600 dollars to have one mounted. I have no idea what it would cost now to have one mounted in full strut.
Great stories, keep them coming...
They cost around $1000.00 or more now.
Quote from: Dougas on June 11, 2024, 12:40:53 PMThey cost around $1000.00 or more now.
I guess I have mounted my one and only ... OMG
I hunted two different turkeys a 1000 miles apart this year that would quiet gobble. Almost like a whisper. I've seen it before but this was back to back whisper gobblers.
My buddy and I were hunting in the Apache-Sitgreaves NF in Arizona years ago and came upon a fairly large Pee Wee Herman doll nailed in crucifix fashion to a Ponderosa pine.
We both decided it was probably best to relocate to a different spot.
I actually killed one once. It's amazing and true. The poor fellow thought I was zagging when I was actually zigging. Was probably pretty embarrassing for the gobbler.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I once called up a cow elk while turkey hunting in E. TN. I had a bobcat staring me down from about 35 yards when a big old black bear came ambling by, scaring the bobcat off. That was pretty cool for me, but I decided I better move. The next set up was when I hear the "mew mew" of a cow elk in response to my calling. I turned around and she walked up to within 20 yards of me before leaving. My buddy hunted that same area and called up a raghorn spike elk. I guess they are curious, or our turkey calling was waaayyy off. :TooFunny:
I once called in a black tailed deer doe with my bicycle. It had squeaky brakes and I had ridden in about 8 miles and not seeing any turkeys, I was on my way back, going down a long hill and using my brakes almost continuously. That doe kept running out of the woods and standing there as I would ride by and then again over and over for at least 100 yards. I guess I sounded like fawn in distress.
I usually hunt by myself. One particular day I decided to bring a buddy along, knowing that he can be trusted to keep his mouth shut about where we were going to. I always hunt this meadow from one side and I wanted to see what would happen if I did my normal hunt and my buddy went in from the opposite side of the meadow. We would meet up back at the truck later in the day.
There was nothing going on in the meadow, so I started back to the truck. About half way back, about a quarter of a mile from the truck, I decided to step out into the meadow. As I turned to walk back into the timber, I see an orange knit cap waving at me from the other side of the meadow. I took my orange knit cap from my pack and signaled back to my buddy and stepped back into the timber and he did the same expecting to meet up at the truck.
I walked about 30 yards and step up onto some large rocks, then jump down to the ground. When I hit the ground it gave way and I was instantly up to my chest in a hole not much bigger than me around and since we were hunting with bows that day, I was frantically trying to keep from going down by digging my bow into the ground as my feet dangled in the air beneath me in this hole. It crumbled at the top dropping me about 10 or more feet down pretty much wedging me at about mid thigh down. I was stuck with my arms above me and holding onto my bow by the limb with the tip a little above ground level. I could hardly move and began yelling for help.
My buddy, in the mean time, having no clue what had happened, went back to the truck, ate his lunch and kicked back awaiting my return. He fell asleep and woke up about an hour later. He began looking for me, yelling my name. After about an hour or more, he returned to the last place he had seen me and when he yelled for me I could barely hear him and began yelling back, but he never heard me, even that close. He walked off yelling my name. About 15 minutes later he returned, but from a different direction. He notice a disruption near the large rocks and as he investigated it thinking a bear may have dug some critter up, he saw the tip of my bow sticking up out of the hole. I could see him looking down at me but he was just a silhouette. He couldn't see me, just the bow limb with the tip sticking out. I yelled out and he about jumped out of his skin. He pulled me out by the bow. the hole wasn't big enough for me to move, so he had to pull me out and after close to 3 hours stuck in that hole, I could barely hang on. If I had gone alone and jumped off that rock, no one would have known to look there and I or should I say my bones would still be there today. I shudder with my heart beating out of my chest and get a lump in my throat when ever I think about it and as I write this now.
A very strange day.
Quote from: Dougas on June 11, 2024, 10:24:55 PMI usually hunt by myself. One particular day I decided to bring a buddy along, knowing that he can be trusted to keep his mouth shut about where we were going to. I always hunt this meadow from one side and I wanted to see what would happen if I did my normal hunt and my buddy went in from the opposite side of the meadow. We would meet up back at the truck later in the day.
There was nothing going on in the meadow, so I started back to the truck. About half way back, about a quarter of a mile from the truck, I decided to step out into the meadow. As I turned to walk back into the timber, I see an orange knit cap waving at me from the other side of the meadow. I took my orange knit cap from my pack and signaled back to my buddy and stepped back into the timber and he did the same expecting to meet up at the truck.
I walked about 30 yards and step up onto some large rocks, then jump down to the ground. When I hit the ground it gave way and I was instantly up to my chest in a hole not much bigger than me around and since we were hunting with bows that day, I was frantically trying to keep from going down by digging my bow into the ground as my feet dangled in the air beneath me in this hole. It crumbled at the top dropping me about 10 or more feet down pretty much wedging me at about mid thigh down. I was stuck with my arms above me and holding onto my bow by the limb with the tip a little above ground level. I could hardly move and began yelling for help.
My buddy, in the mean time, having no clue what had happened, went back to the truck, ate his lunch and kicked back awaiting my return. He fell asleep and woke up about an hour later. He began looking for me, yelling my name. After about an hour or more, he returned to the last place he had seen me and when he yelled for me I could barely hear him and began yelling back, but he never heard me, even that close. He walked off yelling my name. About 15 minutes later he returned, but from a different direction. He notice a disruption near the large rocks and as he investigated it thinking a bear may have dug some critter up, he saw the tip of my bow sticking up out of the hole. I could see him looking down at me but he was just a silhouette. He couldn't see me, just the bow limb with the tip sticking out. I yelled out and he about jumped out of his skin. He pulled me out by the bow. the hole wasn't big enough for me to move, so he had to pull me out and after close to 3 hours stuck in that hole, I could barely hang on. If I had gone alone and jumped off that rock, no one would have known to look there and I or should I say my bones would still be there today. I shudder with my heart beating out of my chest and get a lump in my throat when ever I think about it and as I write this now.
A very strange day.
Man, that is terrifying! What part of the country? Just a sinkhole of some type? About how deep do you think it was?
I've stumbled across a few old uncovered wells in the woods and it could be REALLY bad if someone walked into them.
Quote from: deerhunt1988 on June 12, 2024, 05:53:57 AMQuote from: Dougas on June 11, 2024, 10:24:55 PMI usually hunt by myself. One particular day I decided to bring a buddy along, knowing that he can be trusted to keep his mouth shut about where we were going to. I always hunt this meadow from one side and I wanted to see what would happen if I did my normal hunt and my buddy went in from the opposite side of the meadow. We would meet up back at the truck later in the day.
There was nothing going on in the meadow, so I started back to the truck. About half way back, about a quarter of a mile from the truck, I decided to step out into the meadow. As I turned to walk back into the timber, I see an orange knit cap waving at me from the other side of the meadow. I took my orange knit cap from my pack and signaled back to my buddy and stepped back into the timber and he did the same expecting to meet up at the truck.
I walked about 30 yards and step up onto some large rocks, then jump down to the ground. When I hit the ground it gave way and I was instantly up to my chest in a hole not much bigger than me around and since we were hunting with bows that day, I was frantically trying to keep from going down by digging my bow into the ground as my feet dangled in the air beneath me in this hole. It crumbled at the top dropping me about 10 or more feet down pretty much wedging me at about mid thigh down. I was stuck with my arms above me and holding onto my bow by the limb with the tip a little above ground level. I could hardly move and began yelling for help.
My buddy, in the mean time, having no clue what had happened, went back to the truck, ate his lunch and kicked back awaiting my return. He fell asleep and woke up about an hour later. He began looking for me, yelling my name. After about an hour or more, he returned to the last place he had seen me and when he yelled for me I could barely hear him and began yelling back, but he never heard me, even that close. He walked off yelling my name. About 15 minutes later he returned, but from a different direction. He notice a disruption near the large rocks and as he investigated it thinking a bear may have dug some critter up, he saw the tip of my bow sticking up out of the hole. I could see him looking down at me but he was just a silhouette. He couldn't see me, just the bow limb with the tip sticking out. I yelled out and he about jumped out of his skin. He pulled me out by the bow. the hole wasn't big enough for me to move, so he had to pull me out and after close to 3 hours stuck in that hole, I could barely hang on. If I had gone alone and jumped off that rock, no one would have known to look there and I or should I say my bones would still be there today. I shudder with my heart beating out of my chest and get a lump in my throat when ever I think about it and as I write this now.
A very strange day.
Man, that is terrifying! What part of the country? Just a sinkhole of some type? About how deep do you think it was?
I've stumbled across a few old uncovered wells in the woods and it could be REALLY bad if someone walked into them.
It was in the woods between Falls City Oregon and the ocean. It is temperate rainforest. I do believe it was the forming of a sinkhole and my weight coming down on the rocky top broke it open. It was between 9 and 11 feet deep. The diameter at the top was around 30 inches or so and at the bottom about 14 inches. enough to loosely wedge my legs between the rock sides that tapered down to a point sort of. It scares me more thinking about than it did when it happened knowing how my family would have felt if things turned out differently.
Around ten years ago I took a "newbie" friend out turkey hunting in Chautauqua NY. It was his property. As we were getting our gear on alongside the car at 4:45 am, remember that it was still very dark out, the woods lit up like it was noon (daylight) for around 5 seconds. We looked at each other and we both said "What the hell was that". When I got home I checked for any information, like meteor showers or any reports on social media...nothing. We both kept our mouths shut figuring others would think we were crazy. Then a month later I was talking to another friend who was hunting turkeys 200 miles away and out of the blue he quietly mentioned the same phenomenon. He was so relieved that someone else witnessed it! We both were...
A few years ago I was hunting mid week in a neighboring state. When i approached my parking spot for the day I noticed a truck parked there. It was early like 2 hours before gray light early. There is a hiking trail that crosses the road there so I wanted to see which way the guy was headed if he was still in the truck.
When I got out of my truck the drivers door opened, I hesitated a second to give the guy some room. I kept distance to the side but walked up on 2 people naked and going to town on the bench seat.they were stone drunk and who knows what else. I don't think they ever knew i was there or cared. I slipped into the woods to hunnt since I figured they were in no shape to hunt that day.
I would have stayed and watched the free show ... :TooFunny:
Quote from: Greg Massey on June 13, 2024, 06:05:43 PMI would have stayed and watched the free show ... :TooFunny:
Trust me, the brief glance I got will be burned in my brain forever. I saw all I needed to see.
Some things can not be unseen once seen.
Wow Dougas, that is a wild one. You are very lucky to have had someone with you!
I hunt alone 95% of the time, in old reclaimed mine country. Have seen fractures in the earth open up.
I can really envision this happening.
Dude you were so lucky, you were screwed!
I am very fortunate in never had anything to happen I thought Crazy!
I have hunted turkey for 35 years consecutively and haven't had any of these odd things happen. Lucky me!
Turkey hunting has allowed me to see so many unique things. Not strange, just stuff that a lot of people will never see. I saw an Osceola hen hop on a fallen tree and break into strut. I saw a hen in NE find and eat a mouse. I've seen an owl swoop down and grab a 2 foot long snake. It's a front row seat to nature as we do it by treading lightly and keeping our eyes peeled. Nature never ceases to amaze.
Quote from: WV Flopper on June 13, 2024, 07:50:30 PMWow Dougas, that is a wild one. You are very lucky to have had someone with you!
I hunt alone 95% of the time, in old reclaimed mine country. Have seen fractures in the earth open up.
I can really envision this happening.
Dude you were so lucky, you were screwed!
Only two other times have I had close calls when hunting alone. One was when I mountain biked 8.6 miles to a gate and then walked 4.2 miles in and shot a deer. As I was boning it out to put in my pack, I took a load of meat to my pack, which was a few feet away, and I set my knife on top of the deer. When I got back to the deer, I tripped and landed on the knife. It cut right through my pants up my groin and about 2 inches from a place that would have been catastrophic. My pants didn't fair so well but I received no cuts at all. My knife was pressed flat against my inner thigh.
The other time was having a mt. lion following me at 18 steps. I had a tag and didn't hesitate to shoot it in the eye.