So I had a really close encounter with a bull elk the other day and it got me thinking about how close is too close. I'm not bow hunting this year because of a bad shoulder, but I'm still getting out and scouting for the November rifle season. So this bull walked up to me from up wind to inside of 6 feet ! This was a mature 5x5, about eight hundred pounds of him. I never heard him until I heard him breathing !! Next thing I know, he's almost in my lap. I've never been frightened by an elk before but this was way too close. Anyone else have really close encounters?

A few years ago I had a Colorado 5x5 hit the breaks as he walked in to where I was kneeling down. After a stare down he whirled away and stopped broadside after a few bounds. I only had a cow tag. I measured from his hoof marks to where I knelt. Nine feet! So if his feet were nine feet away, how close was his nose? I recall thinking that I could probably touch him with my longbow. Pretty cool encounter.

My hunting partner had a similar experience with a young bull moose in Idaho last week. Bull got to within less than 5 yards of him and never made a sound (that my buddy could hear anyway). Definitely got his adrenalin flowing.

I was new to hunting deer and wanted to try out a doe bleat. I had a camo sheet that I threw over me as I sat on a large boulder on the edge of a field. I gave a few bleats and watched down the gentle slope before me. Within five minutes a coyote head popped out from behind a bush at ten yards. Wow!Cool! It stared intently at me as it walked towards me. Uh Oh! At about petting distance it suddenly turned and bolted down the slope with an occasional look back towards me. Whew, that was close. A minute later another coyote pops out from behind the same bush. It stands there looking towards me and then towards the route the first coyote took, then it took off at a trot towards the first coyote. In hindsight, I wouldn't want to be that close again.

I had a cow elk walk up to an arms length once. I had shot and killed her companion and she was very confused. I really wanted to reach out and touch her but the thought of brain trauma stopped me. I had just the year before had to go hands on with a Buck so I let her walk past. So cool! I mean how many people in the world get to see and smell and touch the stuff we see every day as hunters? So cool !

I put my arm into my hunting coat that was hanging in the barn one time and a mouse ran out the sleeve as my arm was going in... Ok not as scarey as a bull elk on top of you, but hey those mice can bite---ask me how I know...

i had a sow black bear with two cubs pick up the scent where I'd walked in to a brush blind, in a big stand of wild cherry trees one time. She started huffing and followed my trail right to the blind and I thought for a minute she was going to climb right in with me. She stopped right at the edge within a few feet of me, huffing the whole time and then turned and crossed directly in front of me with the cubs in tow. I'm not ashamed to tell you that I was nervous for a few minutes on that one. Then there was the time the skunk walked up and sniffed my leg in the predawn darkness one morning on a turkey hunt, lol.

On one of my bear hunts a bear walked past the bait and to my ladder stand, stood up, climb up my stand until he got 4 rungs from the top and looked at me.

That was interesting.

While hunting on deer from a ground stand had a large bobcat come by at 10 feet. When it saw me move my bow it bristled and let out a deep guttural growl like a dog. Then ran off. I had expected a loud Meeowww. Very unnerving.

Sitting near the edge of a swamp on my nif-t-seat in some deep grass when the grass started parting in a straight line toward me. I stood up to see a bobcat slinking my way. He stopped about 10 feet away from me when he saw me. We stared at each other for a moment, then he bolted.

I was deer hunting in Wisconsin, on some property that I had. I was sitting on the ground in a double bull chair, it was January, and minus 16°, it was a eight point buck, he walked all the way up to my back, and of course I was trying to stay still, but when he sniffed the back of my neck, I jumped and he jumped, he ran off and I sit there laughing for about 30 minutes. Best day I had hunting in a along time.

Carl

I had a Doe stick her head inside a Primos Double Bull ground blind and have a good look around. That was pretty interesting.

5 steps

Hunting from the ground and had just sat down. Looked up and a doe was a foot from the tip of my broadhead. Just sat and watched her heart beat.

I know ( from other WALLERS) that people need to be real careful about BULL MOOSE during the RUT! There is very little that they are afraid of during this time! BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

Was bear hunting several years ago in a ladder stand perched in a little grove of trees. A nice sized sow stepped out of the bush followed by two tiny cubs. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at their antics. I could faintly hear some noise in the woods beyond the sow. She woofed, whirled around, and got out of Dodge quickly. Her cubs did not follow her but scampered up one of the little trees about three feet from me and climbed eye level with me. My smiles just about turned to panic when I figured Mom would come up after me thinking I was to harm her kiddos. After just a few minutes, they climbed to the ground to make their exit. I was very happy to have them leave.

My youngest son loves to tell the story about me sitting down in the gloom of the turkey woods on top of a mole hole. Well you can pretty much guess the rest, of course we were covered in Turkey's when the mole decided to come see what all the noise was about. Apparently in moments of great stress I speak in tongues and do some pretty cool dance move also. That kid wouldn't look me in the eye for the rest of the day, because every time he did he laughed so hard he couldn't stand it.

I was following a blood transfusion trail of an 8pt buck that I had shot earlier in the snow ! I looked up and saw movement down below me . Another smaller buck was coming up the trail my buck had gone down. I stood motionless and he walked right beside before I spoke and asked him "what are you gonna do now?" The buck froze and had a look on his face like "Oh crap!" He then bolted back down the hill a few yards not knowing what happened. Then he slowly walked off, looking back every few steps! I laughed for a long time, he was close enough to grab his antlers!

While on Kaskaskia public land in Illinois I was standing up in my stand when out of the corner of my eye I saw fluttering and then the sapling next to my tree shook. I figured something had landed, so I waited for a bit and poop fell past me from above, I looked up and the large barred owl looked down at me, he then flew off. Cool experience! I also had a squirrel come up and smell my shoe once while I was ground hunting.

My best ones:

Still-hunting along and having a pine squirrel come off the ground to the tip of my lower limb, up the string to my wrist, up my arm to my shoulder, and off the side of my head onto a tree.

Cruising along a cow-path, head down, paying no attention at all and 5 doe mulies blew up under my feet like overgrown quail on crack.

Hauling butt down an Elk trail on the MTB at about 25 mph and locking up the brakes before skidding to a halt about a dozen yards from a HUGE cow Elk that was stopped broadside in the middle of the trail.

And having a big fork bull feed in from about 30 yards until he got so close that I was looking UP at him - even though I had been caught in the open and was standing up at normal height.

But the only really scary one was one time when my brother got pinned down by a Shiras bull at about 4 yards; Bro was kneeling down, hiding behind a .58 Enfield and a little grass, and that bull was locked up like a bird dog on point... and pawing the ground a little. I was at full cock with the set trigger already squeezed and a bead on the bull's ribs, wondering if we were into a DLP situation yet or not... and questioning whether I could react quickly enough to put a .54 ball anyplace useful if that bull had decided to cause any trouble. THAT one was too close for sure.

These guys got a little to close for comfort. All I wanted to do was get back to my truck

This bear just got within 10 feet of me on the ground before I was able to gets his attention and chase it away... luckily it did go the other way.

https://vimeo.com/234165079

Wish it was October 23rd and bear season.

I was moose hunting on an old logging road a couple of weeks ago and saw two caribou walking towards me. I didn't want to spook them because they would have ran through the area I was intending to hunt. So I tucked away on the side of the trail to let them pass. It doesn't look like it in this picture but this little caribou passed by at about 6 - 7 feet. He spotted me but just continued on undisturbed.

Rick

There is a story a couple years ago, this was on the Manti unit in Utah - a sheep herder was sitting under a tree taking a nap, and a large bull elk came up on him and gored him in the stomach - poor guy almost died, was able to get on his horse and ride for help, he was in rough shape (I think he was a Mexican shepherd, lots of shepherds from other countries here like Peru and elsewhere, come for seasonal work). That's too close! The story goes, it was the rut, and the bull was probably just irritated and confused - wrong place at the wrong time.

Just Saturday, I was deer hunting in Idaho, heard some elk bugling, so I sat down and did some cow calling. Got a raghorn to come within 30 feet before busting me! It was fun - but the crashing as he was coming closer, and the screaming, it was a bit eerie, was kind of wishing I had my 44 mag.... turns out, didn't need it, the elk saw me BLINK and was gone!

No such thing as long as you are drawn.

Like Shawn I have had a doe cross a hayfield on a run and it passed my hiding spot behind a big round bale inches from the end of my arrow. I never got the chance to draw! The same hayfield I was scouting turkeys and laid down between bales to glass the field. Had a huge tom, a jake, and a hen come into the field and the big tom ended up less than an arms length away. I actually thought for a second about trying to grab him, but his spurs had me worried :>)

I had a 150 pound Cougar come in while calf calling right to the base of my tree. He was getting ready to come up to check out the smells but I put a stop to that. Never been so scared in my whole hunting career. First one ever harvested.

Had a fisher enter my brush blind. That was exciting. He bit the end of my arrow in the grand rush that followed his entry. Got bit twice trying to take a bat of the hook while flyfishing at dusk and had one bite me while roofing. While trapping and releasing bobcats had some close calls. Worst animal I ever released was a pit bull.

Was sitting in a down tree top when a doe got nosy. Had the bow laying on my lap and she sniffed the limb tip until she knocked the bow off my lap. (Didn't have a doe tag)

Also have a eyelid scar from a hawk attack that took 5 stiches, (I don't take nest pictures anymore.)

This young bear was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My range cows will try and kill a dog and the bear must have looked like one.

Last fall I took my daughter out for the season opener in NY. She was 13 and it was the afternoon that day. We were in a ground blind when a deer came down and gave us no shot. Told her to relax it was early. Suddenly she asks if she can shoot this? I look and a bear is coming broadside at 10 yards. She's about to shoot when it turns towards us and comes to 4 yards looking at us trying to figure what we are. As it turns to leave I tap her to draw, she can't get bow back. Guess she was nerved up. Goes to bout 20 puts its feet on a tree than comes back to ten broadside, but slowly walking. To make a long story shorter she shot the only small sapling blocking the vitals. Said she never saw it but we were close to that bear.

During our recent youth hunt I had twin 10 year old boys in the pop hunt. We had a big bodied 6pt less than 5 yards and no shot. When the buck looked in the front window things started shaking! Buck turned and walked away without a shot. If a bear had been that close, not sure those boys would've been able to keep it together. Fun to watch young hunters with close encounters. That kind of adrenaline rush will get them coming back.

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