Weirdest thing to happen to you in the tree stand?

[ghuns]

... Nothing to fear of owls!

I would rather not find any part of my body in their talons.

 

[rkwhyte2]

Owls are only big on the outside. Under their feathers they look like plucked chickens. Nothing to fear of owls!

Tell that to the OP with 3 punctures in his shoulder.

 

[two70]

Last year one day during archery season I decided to climb down from my stand, move to a different area to hunt from the ground and check a couple of trail cams along the route between the two locations. I made it to the second location, settled in and began reviewing the photos on the memory cards. I had barely started on the first card when I heard the sound of movement in the brush about 50-75 yards away. I glanced that direction briefly but went back to the task at hand because A) it was 1:30 in the afternoon, B) about 75 degrees, and C) the sound was coming from more or less downwind. I added A+B+C and came up with the conclusion that it must have been a squirrel or other small animal. I had just finished the first card and started on the second when I heard movement again, somewhat closer. This time I didn't even looking up convinced of my earlier conclusion. All through the second card I kept hearing the sound coming closer and closer. Finally, with it sounding quite close now, I look up to see a coyote heading straight for me at a brisk walk at about 20 yards. I waited a few heartbeats for the coyote to see or smell me since I was forbidden by the landowner from shooting them on the property, before I realized it was either completely oblivious of my presence or completely undeterred by it. With the coyote now within 10 yards, I decided to stand up and make sure he saw me. I'm sure it was just my imagination but at this point things appeared to play out just like various cartoons. The coyote stopped suddenly upon seeing me rise and I swear I saw his eyes grow three sizes that day just like the Grinch's heart. He then completed an impressive about face spin and began a rapid retreat. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice the small tree right in front of him in his haste and ran face first into it just as he was attaining top speed. At first I thought he had knocked himself out cold but his legs never stopped churning. After bouncing off the tree, a brief pause and a vigorous head shake, Mr. Yote found an new gear and proceeded to make good his escape.

 

[Jeffrey]

I was sitting in one of my favorite stands well before daylight, and kinda in a sleepy daze when I felt something smack my head on the side. Never saw what it was as it was still dark. Over the course of the next half hour I had this happen two or three more times I think. Just felt like someone smacking your head. Finally as it was getting light, I saw that it was some kind of bird. Was very hard to tell, but I think it was a small owl. Luckily my stocking cap protected my head, otherwise I think it would have been a lot more painful. Kinda got my heart going at the time, but is funny now, looking back.

 

[Chase515]

This didn't happen in a stand. But Saturday 3pm I had a buddy with me and we were getting our hunting stuff out of my truck. I went up front to grab a flash light and turned around and saw brown. My heart started pounding and for a split second I thought that has to be the shortest deer I've ever seen. Then I panicked because my rifle was on the tail gate. Then I though someone was messing with me. A buckskin colored goat was standing right behind my truck, it had come half a mile down the road from a farm house. I think he caught wind of the ever calm I use on the bottom of my boots. The next dilemma was if it followed what to do. Luckily for him he stayed away from us.

 

[Nazgul]

Sitting quietly in a one man blind when a squirrel ran under the edge and up on my knee. We both looked at each other and a not very delicate or graceful dance ensued to see who was getting out first. Ended with the blind tipped over, me on the ground and the squirrel eyeing me from a tree....

Had an owl slam into me in broad daylight, almost knocked me out of the tree. Hit me in the back of the head as I was looking the other way.

Don

 

[Walking Bear]

Had a bird land on my shooting rail of my tree stand (ladder) was a slow day so I waited to see how long it would stay, after about 5 minutes I scared it off

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Great thread, I gotta pass this on to my friends.....

 

[AtTheMurph]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/spor...deer-hunter-spoiler-everyone-lives/886557001/

This one is great!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Wow, close encounter with a Great Horned Owl. That is really cool.

I was sitting in a tripod stand next to a cornfield in the upper panhandle of Texas one morning, just as the sun was rising over the short-grass prairie.

I saw a large bird flying, and I recognized it was a Prairie Falcon (first and only one I've ever seen in the wild). They're about the same size and shape as a Peregrine Falcon, but the markings are not as dark and striking. It was first going to fly fifty yards or so past me, but I saw it look sideways at me, then change course and looked like it was flying right at me. It ended up turning and flying a pretty tight circle around me twice, with it's head turned to give me a good look, then it just peeled off and continued on it's original course. I figure he probably flew past that area all the time and was just not expecting to see some guy sitting in a seat fifteen feet in the air. Thankfully, no blood was drawn.

 

[bstewrat3]

I have had an owl land a tree away from me and size me up, but that was the closest it came. I was playing with a hawk another time at daybreak that was perched 30 yards away and about found out how sharp its talons were. I saw it and decided to start whistling and just moving a finger to see if it would notice and after a minute it decided to fly in for a closer look and I had to jump up and throw my arms up to try to scare it. I don't think it was more than a yard or two away when it flared.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I've had squirrels not realize I was a living thing and climb all the way up me as they ascended the tree. That's weird. Had a racoon and an owl who liked to sit in a neighboring tree and visit. (Not at the same time.) Had a pair of rural "yutes" beat up my decoy. Watching those two grow up into bucks was a privelege not many get.

 

[Hookeye]

I had a pair of coopers or sharp shinned go after each other, right out in front of my stand.......3 mornings in a row.
Cool first day, annoying after.

My fave is when tufted titmouses land on my arrow, while I'm holding my bow.
Done that a few times.
Cute little buggers.