Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Avalanche on February 03, 2018, 05:35:35 PM
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Over the last few years I've had a few very close encounters with does. This year I had two situations with does coming about 5 feet from me and I started to worry about getting kicked. That, plus the article about getting hit by a falling goose made me wonder, has anyone been kicked by a doe?
Seems like they could turn your knee inside out if they wanted.
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I’ve had such a close encounter calling bears I literally yelled out thought I was getting mauled. It was cool but she never touched me. Definetly a foot or two away
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Never been kicked. But I have had two experiences where does simply would not leave me alone. Followed me around for 1/2 hour or so at really close range. Both were quite a ways out in the wilderness.
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I’ve had such a close encounter calling bears I literally yelled out thought I was getting mauled. It was cool but she never touched me. Definetly a foot or two away
That's crazy! Did she run after she realized what you were?
Never been kicked. But I have had two experiences where does simply would not leave me alone. Followed me around for 1/2 hour or so at really close range. Both were quite a ways out in the wilderness.
Yeah, it seems like the wilderness does are a little strange. I've had two close ones with Mule deer does in the wilderness. This year a group of 3 fed right up to me on a snowy trail and they just kept coming. It was snowing hard and I was wearing Kuiu Vias camo, so maybe they had a hard time telling if I was a solid object or something. One of them was close to walking into me so I started moving my eyes a bunch and they finally detoured but never spooked.
In late season I shot a whitetail and was gutting him out right around the end of shooting light. All of a sudden I heard something in the brush literally right behind me. My first thought was cougar so I jumped up and yelled, almost stabbing myself in the process. It was a doe and she was about 5 feet from me, just staring. Really weird encounter.
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Had one step on my toes once. She was in a string of five that ran passed me. I tapped the last one on the butt with the barrel of my rifle.
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Had a big white tail doe I shot a couple years ago go down hard and I went out and started to do a carotid stick (not slit the throat, pull the head back slightly and stick a small 3-4” knife in the pit of the throat with an upward flick. Creates a very thorough bleed without collapsing the circulatory system). As I stuck and flicked the deer did a Jackie Chan backwards 360 degree cartwheel kick. I was ready for some reaction after handling dozens of deer and other animals this way, but this doe completely exploded and gave me a good shot to the thigh and catching my off arm. No bodily damage except a bruised thigh and a tear in the arm of my new 800 fill down jacket. Buddy said he saw the deer come completely off the ground on it’s side with legs out and turn into a Tasmanian Devil cartoon with down feathers and snow instead of dust. The deer was dead, but the next time I went up to it I gave it a coup de gras to the skull with my pistol :o. I was wearing heavy gear because it was around 0 degrees, could have been worse in early season gear.
I have been within arms reach of a few Sitka Blacktail does while calling or stalking and never had issues.
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Good stories!
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I was bear hunting one time in the high cascades and saw a doe with two fawns. I put my rifle down and started acting like a deer, looking around, acted like I was eating branches and leaves without looking at them in the eye. I figured I was the first human those fawns have seen, they were about 30 yards away when I first saw them. The two fawns ended up to within inches of my face, almost nose to nose, Mom just watched and ate staying where she was. It was very cool! When I finally looked one of the fawns in the eye they jumped back a few yards, then walked over to their mom.
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I used to practice stalking and walking up on does when I was a teen in the '70s.
I was warned to not touch them. I was close enough on many occasions to touch them but never did. I would talk to them after sneaking up on them and they would turn abruptly and look at me. Then they would run a little ways and turn back to look at me.
Sure was a lot of fun.
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I've grabbed the tail of two yearlings :chuckle: and held on! First one was at Wallowa Lake in the snow. She drug me a ways before I released her tail. My dad was feeding them chips and apple slices out of his mouth :tup: and i wanted to ride one! I was 5 or 6. second was more of a fawn and I was about 7-8. found her in the field next to my dads place and grabbed her tail. she hopped up and started to pull and bleat, and when momma started my way i turned tail and ran back to the house! :bdid: :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Years ago with my stepdad, we had a 3x3 at about 50 yds. As we line up the ol man informs he that it is his turn to shoot first, ok pop. I waited for what seemed like 10 min waiting for him to shoot. When he finally touched off, there stood that buck, untouched. I set the cross hairs behind his ear and touched off, piled him, DRT. The ol man was playfully chewing on me about how I could have waited for him to shoot again. I reached down and grabbed a hind leg to start field dressing and that buck hauled off and drilled me square in the jewels and dropped me like a sack of feed. Pop about fell over laughing, told me it served me right for shooting that deer. I swear he laughed all the way home. Good times, I miss him.
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A few years ago I was hunting from a stand and arrowed a doe through her neck. She dropped like a sack of potatoes, but on further inspection I saw that the arrow went through her neck and pinned her neck to her shoulder. She was bleeding pretty good, but she was making a racket and I felt awful. I quickly got down and instead of sticking another arrow in her, I decided to use my Socom knife. I lifted her front leg and went to "gently" slide the knife between her ribs...as soon as the point dug in, she let out a fierce kick with her hind leg that caught me square in the tater sack, and yes, I also went down like a sack of potatoes. I sat there eye to eye and I could swear there was a look of resigned satisfaction in her eye. After a few minutes, I recovered, got my knife and went for round two, but made sure to make is swift and decisive, with my tenders turned away. Lesson learned that day is not to mess around when putting an animal down.
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A couple of years ago I was set up on an evening hunt in between the bedding area and the feed/watering source. I was on my knees with my back to the watering hole and getting into a good rattling set when all of a sudden I heard a thump behind me and a doe was jumping over my back. She landed just a few feet in front of me and stopped to look where the rattling was coming from. She only stood there a few seconds before heading into the bush looking for the sound.
Another time I was riding my quad up a hill when a doe jumped over me. I ducked to avoid her hoof from clipping the side of my head, but smashed my face into the steering column and bloodied my lip instead. I was a little dazed from hitting my face on the steering column, but that still didn’t save the side of my head from getting clipped by her hoof as well.
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No but I have been drug through the brush by a spike
I was 18. A few buddies and I were camping after graduation up on Hurricane Ridge. There was way more alcohol than there should have been. Well, one evening after having more than my fair share of drinks, I decided I wanted to ride a deer. They had been coming into camp and eating Top Ramen from our hands.
I had a plan that I was going to hand feed one and then when it wasn't suspecting it, I would grab it's antler, swing my leg over it's back and ride it into the woods.
Well, a willing participant arrived later that night. I held out the Top Ramen and it started to eat. Everything was going to plan. With my off hand, I slowly reached up and then in a flash BAM! I grabbed an antler. At the same time, I went to swing my leg over it's back but....... I missed.
The deer took off. Drunk me, I was too stupid to let go of the antler I had a hold of. That deer drug me about 100' through the thick brush. I came out totally scratched and cut up.
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Yes, but in all fairness I was trying to slit her throat with a dull knife. She did leave a pretty good imprint on the inside of my thigh.... :o
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You lucky she didn't get you in the jimmies.
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Haven't got kicked, but I've does walk right under me while standing on a big stump. Thought abut jumping on one, but didn't do it !! Had more close encounters with elk than deer. I've had to find a tree to jump behind real quick when elk were on the trail I was on
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Never unfortunate enough to get attacked but close. I was dozing off on a stump one dusk in NH and a big whitey buck followed my trail right up behind me. I was using fox pee as a cover on my boots. When I woke with a start and turned, he went up on his back legs, but then ran. I'd have been toast.
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I got kicked real good bowhunting one year. I was hiking in to my blind in the fog, I spotted a doe on the trail maybe 20 feet out. I dropped my bag and reached in for my release when another came running up the embankment. I got broadsided and while we were both on the ground she kept bucking and flailing about. I ended up with some bruised ribs and and busted tooth.
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Had a doe at about a foot over at my dad's place in Mazama jump me but fortunately she got distracted and went after my poor lab instead. She gave her a kick and then ran about twenty feet and stopped. My dog charged after her and got kicked again before she came slinking back to me.
The scaredest I've ever been in the woods was when I jumped a cow elk out of her bed while fly fishing one summer. She must have been sound asleep because she waited until I had just about stepped on her in some real thick brush before she stood up. We had a stare down for what seemed an eternity and I just knew this would be how I was going to get killed. Eventually she turned and ran off and I had to stand there for a few minutes to collect myself. I don't think we were more than six inches nose to nose.
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I had a buddy get licked by a doe in the Alpine lakes. It was pitch dark and he was taking a dump and 'in position' and she snuck up and licked him on the back of the neck. It was terrifying for him and obviously hilarious for me.
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I had a buddy get licked by a doe in the Alpine lakes. It was pitch dark and he was taking a dump and 'in position' and she snuck up and licked him on the back of the neck. It was terrifying for him and obviously hilarious for me.
And to this day he still believes a deer snuck up on him and licked his neck? :chuckle: :sry:
I've had more bumps and dings than I can count taking deer and pronghorn out of fences and mugging net gunned, clover trapped and darted wildlife. It's pretty humbling how strong a yearling deer can be compared to a grown up man!
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I had a buddy get licked by a doe in the Alpine lakes. It was pitch dark and he was taking a dump and 'in position' and she snuck up and licked him on the back of the neck. It was terrifying for him and obviously hilarious for me.
:chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
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My dad and I were helping feed deer in the Methow one winter in the mid 80,s, I had just purchased a brand new Ford pickup and it was its first trip. It was a tough winter that year in the Methow and about 5-6 feet of snow in the northern parts of the valley had pushed and congregated all the deer to the south, they were bunched up from Carleton down to the Columbia. The Game Department was subsidizing some of the orchard owners to cut holes in the fences to let the starving deer in to the orchards. We stopped in and bs,d with the Game guy we knew up at Winthrop and when we were getting ready to leave he asked if we could dump some deer feed in an orchard down off the Burma Road on our way out, he said the fences had been cut(this orchard was actually on Game Dept. property) and to drive in and spread the pellets, we said sure and threw about 20 bags into the truck. We got down to the orchard but could not see any deer as we were driving up the access road that had been kept plowed, then as we got closer to the orchard we could see ears and the tops of heads coming through the orchard, the snow was so deep the deer actually had trenches all through the orchard that they had made from eating off the trees. We stopped in a plowed out area they had made for turning around and before I could shut off the truck and open the door we were surrounded by about 200 deer, we could not get the doors open they were packed in around us so tightly! I literally had to crawl out an open window and into the back of the truck, they were trying to get into the back also, hooves all over my new truck, fighting amongst themselves to get to the food etc, it was chaos! I finally got a bag open and started tossing handfuls as far away from the truck as I could, the deer were sp hungry that really started a frenzy but gave me some room to open the tailgate and start dumping as my dad pulled forward a little. My dad stopped the truck as all the deer were swarming the bag, they where starving and had no fear of man! Within seconds I was being bum rushed by about 10 deer, I dropped the bag and ran for the truck and as I was diving into the back(tailgate down) 2 jumped in the back with me, I literally had to push them out of the truck! I closed the gate and just started dumping the bags right there, I dumped about 10 bags and then had my dad pull up and I dumped the rest right there in the turn around :chuckle:. I came out unscathed(very lucky) but my truck had a few scratches and a couple little dings, I had that truck for 25 years and never got those scratches or dings fixed, they were always good for a story :tup:
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Another good story involves a buck not a doe. I think I told this story a few years ago on here but here it is again :chuckle: Back in the 70,s an old cowboy friend of mine was asked to take a bunch of guys from Outdoor Life magazine into an area in the Methow to do a story about "border jumpers", deer that were migrating out of Canada into the Methow. My friend said they took there rigs into an area where he told them they could get some good pictures of some big bucks. It was around thanksgiving and the rut was in full swing. My buddy said they all got out of there trucks and he told them there was a real big buck down in a hole just down hill off the road, my friend knew he was still in there because he could smell him, after about 5 minutes my friend spotted him just down the bank about 30 or so yards, the camera guy was scrambling to get set up for some pictures when he decided to go down the bank a little to get better shots. As the big buck put his head down and started walking up hill towards the group, my friend yelled at the camera guy to "get the hell back up here!" The buck started picking up the pace as the camera guy was scrambling to get up the hill, they all got around to the other side of the truck as the rutted up buck rammed the truck not once but twice! My friend had the picture of him and the Outdoor Life bunch all standing by the truck with holes by the rear wheel well, the picture hung on his wall for years :tup:
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Wow, there are some great stories in here, thanks for sharing.
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Not kicked, but a couple incidents with critters. A couple buddies of mine and I were doing some recon for an upcoming turkey hunt deep into some public land in Missouri. We had met up and were discussing world problems when a doe ran up to us and slammed on the brakes not 3 feet from us. She went arse over tea kettle right between the 3 of us, got up and stood there for 2-3 seconds. We were just bug eyed at that point.
Incident #2, I went to tag a huge tom I just shot and he was not quite dead yet, unbeknownst to me. That thing wanted to kill me. I'll just say, a 24 lb turkey flapping it's wings at your face is not an ideal situation.
Incident #3. I got bit by a Canada goose. Those things can be really mean.
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Another close call at darn near getting beat up by a deer happened not to long ago. Myself and my brother who is retired Army S.F/Green Beret(and that comes in handy later in the story :tup:) were hunting one of our old family honey holes, not a soul/hunter in sight(a rarity in the Methow) or any deer in sight for that matter. As some know, numbers have been dropping in the Methow and this was a "spot" we knew we may see a good buck let alone a legal buck. My brother had already killed his buck and we kept hitting this spot day after day, he was my 2nd set of eyes. We went in one day and right off the bat I spotted some does at around 300 yrds, we kept glassing and I seen horns and a BIG body comming out of a thicket. We watched him moving around in the thicket messing with the does(11of them) when my brother says "he's got 3, but look at the size of him!) I picked him up again in my binos as he was standing next to a doe(still in the thicket) and he was twice the size! He eventually gave me a clean shot(after about 20 min) and I took it. Boom!, the buck drops out of sight and all the does bust out in all different directions like they were shot out of a cannon. We sit and watch for about a 15-20 min because when I squeezed off the shot I told my brother the buck had made a move. We decided to walk up to where he dropped, no deer, no blood, no sign of a deer "beatin feet" to get out of Dodge except for the area the does where in. We started the "center out- circle" method and found no blood, zero. It was a cold, quiet morning when the shot was taken, we both herd the "thwack" of a round hitting and crushing bone, we seen him drop, he was dead in our book. Well, we started fanning out but still no blood, hours went by and more went by then about 2 hours before dark my brother(who has tracking in his SF training) meet up in a pre-determined spot that was about a mile away from where the shot was made, we are consoling each other about the 1st deer either of us have ever lost, when my brother looked down and found a spot of blood on a leaf the size of a pin head(and that is the truth!), he said"lets go bud" and off we went. We would go about 10' and see 1 little drop, and that went on for about 100 yards or so, 1 drop, 1 drop, 1 drop, all the size of a pin head. What we started seeing was distressed dirt but only a track here and there. My brother said "he's trying to get up hill", how he figured that from the mess we were following was beyond me, it looked like someone was ahead of us with a stick, trying to wipe away his tracks. Now we were in rock, lots of rock and we couldn't find blood, he said we need to go up, I,m thinking wounded deer don't "go up" but up we went. We went up about 50 yards and then leveled out and came to a bluff. We both stood there and said "he's around this corner", we both had that feeling. I led the way around the outcropping and there was the buck laying in the rocks facing us like a Labrador retriever sitting in front of a fireplace. The buck was HUGE, wounded, pissed and only about 10 feet away when I came around those rocks! I put a round in him right where the heart should be, boom! He raised up on his haunches and started pawing at us with his front feet, I squeezed off another from the hip. He layed his head down, we high-5,d, hugged and we just sat there for a few minutes when I looked at him from about 5 feet away and noticed his nostrils were still flareing, he was still trying to live. I put 2 more rounds into his heart from point blank. He was dead. We started the process and noticed both back legs were missing just below the knees, the story finally came together. The first shot I took(when he moved) took off BOTH back legs, he dropped into a little swell that we couldn't see into and crawled on his front legs for over a mile! We didn't find blood because of the legs hit, we eventually found the small drop by chance at our meeting place, then we found the turned up dirt(dragging himself with his front legs). That buck had a will to live and my brother had a will to find him. If we would not have met up in that one precise spot that little drop of blood would not have been found and the tracking puzzle would not have come together...thanks bro :tup:.......296 lb(field dressed) 3 by 3, bio figured him at about 340-350 live weight :tup:
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Great story that's a monster buck. Any pictures of that bad boy?
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Great story that's a monster buck. Any pictures of that bad boy?
Yep Skyvalhunter, they were on the "back at camp" thread when I first started here, I took some pictures off because someone told me they were copying them, I don't know how this crap works so I had my secretary :chuckle: take a bunch of them off, ...thank you dear(my wife), love ya :tup:
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Totally understand!! My guess is it was in the good old days of the Methow!!
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I had a spike buck sneak in behind me once and sniff the back of my neck. Scared the he'll out of me ( I might have dosed off ) :chuckle:
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Totally understand!! My guess is it was in the good old days of the Methow!!
The stories were even better back in the "good ole days" of the Methow, this one was about 10 years ago :tup:
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Had one step on my toes once. She was in a string of five that ran passed me. I tapped the last one on the butt with the barrel of my rifle.
Hah! :tup:
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Had a few try removing them from fences, fronts much worse than rears, be careful out there!
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I had a spike buck sneak in behind me once and sniff the back of my neck. Scared the he'll out of me ( I might have dosed off ) :chuckle:
:chuckle: That's too funny!
Thanks for all the great stories.
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Never been kicked by a doe, but I have been kicked by a couple of dead bucks.
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No but I've been pissed by a hick!!
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Jane Doe?
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A longtime family friend who has since passed grabbed his “dead” 3x4 by the antlers to get it in position to gut it. However, it was not dead, just stunned, and when it got up it’s antlers got entangled in his blaze orange and proceeded to break 4 ribs and cut him up to the tune of 37 stitches on his chest. My grandpa said he deserved it because he knew it was the second buck he had shot that year in Washington. -I’ve always approached downed game cautiously ever since.
-and the deer escaped!
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Never had one try to hurt me but i shot a buck who was pretty hot after a doe this year and she circled me the whole 3 hours of dragging him out.
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While walking back to the truck in a down pour, I walked right up to a doe walking and eating on the edge of a logging road. I was 5 feet behind her when she realized it and did a mule kick when she took off. Didn't get kicked but I assume it was close.
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I've been chased by a pissed off muley doe that scared the heck out of me but the worst was a Big Horn Ram that chased my wife and I both onto a big boulder on the side of a cliff then stared us down for several minutes, I guess we got too close to all his girl friends.
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Had an interesting run-in with a herd of does just outside of Liberty 2 years back.
My gf and I jumped out of my truck to start shed hunting, climbed over the first ridge and there were about 20 does just hanging out in this clearing. They were on high alert but literally allowed us to walk right through their herd, didn't move an inch.
What was freaky is that later on we'd learn why they were looking so alert and seemingly amazed by the route we had chosen.
About a quarter mile later I scrambled up this small rock face and came face to face with a 150 pound Mountain Lion. The thing was cornered and I was pretty sure I was a goner. The big old tom was hissing and roaring, but had no where to go. I just grabbed my trekking poles from the side of my pack and slowly backed down the ledge trying to look as big as possible. While all this is playing out my gf is about 25yds below me yelling "what is that???" "why won't you answer me???!!" And in my head I'm thinking STFU woman I'm about to get into a one sided death match with a cat that's as big as me!
As soon as the cat had enough room, he took off. Crazy how a 150 pound cat that's like 7 feet long from nose to tail can sprint away without making a single sound.
Needless to say, my heart rate was doubled for the rest of the day and every time a twig would snap I damn near shat myself LOL.
Those deer probably thought I was a goner when we passed through and they were paying their last respects haha. Sounds like some Pochahontas type stuff but I really do think animals can sense things better than we give them credit.
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