Scary moments

[alberta boy]

One of the most humbling ( and scary ) , and in some respects spiritual , moments I've had , happened when I was 21 years old . I was hunting in the foothills of Alberta around Wolf Lake . Stalker308 knows the country as he's hunted with me and my family there for a number of years now . The area has always had a sizable population of Grizzly Bears , it still does . I was hunting with a friend of mine who was familiar with the area . There's a piece of high ground that runs between two large Muskegs ( bogs ) that has always been a game funnel . My hunting partner went to the far end of it , about a mile away , and slowly walked towards me to push any game in the area towards me . The main idea is to slowly move the animals , not scare them into running , so you don't make a lot of noise , just enough to let the game know you're there . Al , my partner , moved a small herd of Elk ( cows ) and a few Mule Deer ( does ) past me , none legal game . It was quite for about 10 to 15 minutes until I heard something moving to my left and below me on the ridge . It wasn't a loud noise , right on the edge of audible , but something was there . After a moment or two , it stopped and went quite . By this time , I figured Al would be getting close to me , so I relaxed , put up my rifle and lit a cigarette ( I smoked back then ) and waited for him . While I was enjoying my dart , I heard a slight noise behind ( and downwind of me ) and turned to see what it was . About eight feet away was a very large , mature Grizzly that had managed to walk up behind me without making a sound . He wasn't aggressive , but he didn't seem to happy about my presence . The thing that I remember most , is he stared into my eyes the entire time . I've never been more aware of another living thing in my life . We both stood there staring at each other for what seemed like a very long , it was probably only seconds , before he seemed to relax . He looked around , snorted and disappeared back into the bush . To say I was rattled would be an understatement . That bear had me cold , and it was only his choice not to kill me that let me walk away . I've always returned the courtesy and won't hunt Grizzlies , it just seemed the polite thing to do ....................... but Muirs moment still beats mine .

AB

I have no idea how this ended up here , it was supposed to post in the scary moments thread , apologies . Maybe the mods can move it .

 

[Muir]

Another and then I'll quit.
I was hunting with my son's godfather, Lawrence. We had drawn special, once in a life time (literally) permits to an area in northern New Mexico that had been closed to hunting for about 90 years. The area had been used for logging in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and later, oil drilling. There were tales down in in the town of Cimmaron, NM, of how the loggers would come to down and coerce ladies of the night to come back to camp. Many of these ladies were never seen again.

That story came to mind as Lawrence and I were walking through an old logging camp complete with hawsers and chain, and a huge case iron cooking stove just sitting in the forest. It was late October at high elevation (Halloween, actually) and the morning temperature was about +20F. As we walked down the grown over logging road thru the abandoned camp we were suddenly engulfed in tropical warm air that swirled around us and between us. The smell of the pines was replaced with the heavy scent of perfume or flowers. The air was warm and moist. This lasted for a good 20 seconds. We just stared at each other. Then it was gone.

We talked of that for years.~Muir

 

[Sika98k]

Life begins at 40 . Thats when the wife left me ! To begin her life somewhere else .
For the next two weeks I was petrified in case she came back !!!!!!
Thank fully she didnt .PHEW !!! (this is NO joke !)

Some people have all the luck.