Saturday, March 5, 2011
A Brush with the Other Side
Rory over at R-Dub Outdoors has a cool little thing going on called a Leap Frog bloggers prompt. For more details about the Leap Frog bloggers prompt check out Rory’s post The Leap Frog Bloggers Prompt.
I could go into great detail about my near fall into raging rapids last fall while trout fishing, or the time I almost got run over by a bull moose while deer hunting in Idaho, but I’ll leave those for another time besides they aren’t nearly as chilling as the story I am about to tell.
If you don’t know I hunt public land very often I would say about 90% of the time.
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| image credit mr.smashy |
Gosh it must have been about five or six years ago now. It was just like any other deer season except for the fact that I had actually harvested a deer opening weekend. Typically when I take a deer early in the season I spend more time walking around trying to sneak up on deer and scouting for new areas to place my stand.
It was Sunday morning I had stayed in my stand only until about 9:30 when I decided to get down. I walked around trying to push deer in the direction of others in my party. After an hour of not seeing any deer or hearing any shots from the others in my party I chose to try out some other areas I’ve had luck pushing deer out of in the past.
I was walking through small patches of thick brush hoping to scare out a deer and wasn’t catching any breaks. With lunch fast approaching I headed in the direction of the parking lot, but I had one last spot I wanted to check out. It was a small swamp with a bunch of willows and downed trees.
I was trudging through the swamp when thought I heard a deer get up and run to my left. I immediately exited the swamp and went to the higher ground on my left. Hoping to get a shot at the deer unfortunately I didn’t see anything.
With my stomach growling, and me being a bit warn out I opted to stay on the high ground and get back to the truck sooner, so I could eat. As always when I’m deer hunting my head was down looking for fresh deer sign. When out of now where I heard a shot ring off and it was close.
A brief instant later I heard a slug zing through the air not more than two feet from my head. Talk about an adrenalin rush. Then a split second later another shot went off. I immediately hit the ground in order to avoid being hit by the slug. I heard that slug fly by about five feet away this time. As I lay on the ground there were a few more shots, but I heard only one more slug whistle past.
After lying in the dirt for a good five minutes with my heart still pounding I decided it would be safe to get up and go eat some grub. As I emerged from the woods on to the trail I saw a group of three guys who seemed to be gutting out a deer.
As I approached them I looked to see a very old and graying doe. I didn’t even bother telling them they almost shot me, because in hind sight it was really my mistake. I should have known better, I was hunting on public land, and they really had no way of knowing I was back there.
What would I have done differently? I wouldn’t have even walked into that swamp, and to this day I don’t walk through that swamp unless I’m heading out to the woods in the afternoon. Needless to say I am always a more mindful of the decisions I make while hunting on public land after my brush with the other side.
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7 comments:
Great post. My dad was shot in the same kind of incident a few years before I was born. He still has the bullet in him to this day. Thanks for posting.
Ben don't blame yourself for the idiocy of others. I would have read them the riot act. There is simply no excuse for this.
Ben, thank God they weren't where I was on this day - probably the dumbest (and luckiest) day of my life:
http://rivermud.blogspot.com/2011/03/learning-to-hunt-ducks-stupid-way.html
Ok I am picking your post. Great job, keep the flame going and poatthe rules and your idea for a prompt on Friday.
Well I admire your attitude! And i think it is the right one, because however close those rounds were to you, obviously they were shooting at a deer they could see...you must have jumped it unknowingly! Good post! Jack
Well love this article and your attitude towards this article is positive,You know how to make your post understandable for most of the people.
Thumbs up and Thanks.
I was watching a heavily hunted area. 500 yards away I saw some hunters climbing a hill and when they got to the top I heard, "deer! shoot em" shots started ringing out in the sky across from me and then heard, "stop shooting at at us you &$$&%*(! I hate gun hunting public land and wish there was somewhere safer for my kids to hunt.
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