This is topic Most memorable night hunt? in forum Night forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Doug (Member # 31) on February 12, 2003, 01:42 PM:
Let's get this night hunting forum rolling. I bet a bunch of you fellas have some great stories to share. What's your memorable night hunt?
Doug
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 12, 2003, 06:31 PM:
Doug, I could write about memorable hunts for a couple of weeks, I've been very fortunate in that respect. But, I won't steal anyone's thunder. I want to hear all about it, guys. I'm sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that every single member has had a memorable hunt, for one reason or another.
I'll tell you one thing, aside from the big number hunts and all night action; the thing that seems to linger in my data banks is adversity.
Froze to death, no heater, broke down in Death Valley- in July, nursing the last gallon of gas for forty miles/downhill- then using handwarmer fuel and rubbing alchohol and Coleman stove fuel and then pushing the last couple miles into Little America at daybreak, changed out four U-joints in the mud-within a hundred yards of the Mex border, limped back home with electrical tape patch on a brake line, spent all night repairing burned wires under the dash with moths in my face the whole time, drove thirty five miles down a major highway with a near dead battery, and shining a handlight down the road to keep the engine from dying by turning on headlights, repairing holes in sidewalls with glue and cord, rebuilding a thermoquad on the tailgate with flashlights, having a wheel come off after a hundred miles of washboard-driving the next 400 with three lugnuts at 45MPH...stuff like that. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Good hunting. LB
Posted by WhiteMtnCur (Member # 5) on February 12, 2003, 07:34 PM:
Gee Leonard, I don't know if I can write one to compare. Like you said, the big numbers hunts are memorable (the most for me), but the unique ones are worth writing about.
One hunt at night I remember quite well was spotting a set of eyes in some medium height sagebrush at about 100 yards. Only had him in the light long enough to know it was a grey fox. Lost him pretty quick but kept looking for him, especially right around where I'd lost him. Pretty soon I see a little movement directly under the light about 15' from the truck (I was in the back, legal where I was hunting). I kept the spotlight shining on the area where I'd last seen the fox, and pulled a small flashlight out of my pocket, clicked it on and shone it over the side of the truck towards the road. A grey fox was standing on his back legs, with his front two propped up against the tire, looking directly up at me. I fumbled my .22 out of the holster and managed to drop the little guy when he looked back at a lip-squeak at about 8 yards.
I was calling once in some pretty open cedar country, mostly high sage and grass. I'd been calling for about 10 minutes and was starting to wonder why I wasn't seeing anything when I start to hear a pretty heavy foot-fall getting closer and closer, I thought cattle at first, but when I shone the light in the direction, there were three wild horses standing within 5 yards, and looking rather perturbed with the situation. They were pretty stubborn too about letting me get back to the truck (they were between me and the truck), and it became quite an event. The damn things get pretty aggressive around a screaming, and red lights don't seem to help improve their mood.
Don't want to bore you guys with too many more. But the thick fog we had here in Utah two winters ago (any of you guys remember that?) was a riot to hunt in. Or the bobcat that played peek-a-boo from the top of a boulder for 30 minutes. I vividly remember walking out to retrieve a downed coyote and shining the light past where the coyote lay for no reason just before I picked it up, and seeing a medium-sized lion not 15 yards away, laying down watching very intently, tail twitching. That was a s**t-a-brick experience. Or having 9 reservation dogs all within 50 yards at one time looking for the rabbit, that was the only time I've ever wished I had an AR-15 with me instead of a bolt gun.
Ahhh, the night shift.
[ February 12, 2003, 08:23 PM: Message edited by: WhiteMtnCur ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 14, 2003, 09:16 PM:
I'm starting to get total recall on my most forgettable night hunt! (get it?) LB
[ February 14, 2003, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
Posted by WhiteMtnCur (Member # 5) on February 15, 2003, 08:38 AM:
I know there's more guys on this forum who hunt at night. Frank? Danny? Anyone else want to share?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 15, 2003, 09:22 AM:
Trevor, there is no question that Danny has a noggin full of adventures. We joined the Army about the same time, went to the same High School, where I graduated the year before him, and have both been on more hunts, contest and otherwise than we can remember. He was never in my own Club, but he's been a member of CSVCA for almost as long. We have hunted against each other for many years. You bet, he's got stories to tell.
Frank, on the other hand has hunted quite a bit with Danny, off and on the past ten or fifteen years. He probably has some great Danny stories, as well as memorable hunts.
It's hard to pick out "A" most memorable hunt with that sort of history. Both them guys could monopolize the thread forever, but I'd rather hear from some of the guys coming from different backgrounds, firstly.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by WhiteMtnCur (Member # 5) on February 15, 2003, 11:15 AM:
Danny's always seemed to be able to relate past experiences with hunting coyotes, and I know he has done a lot of night hunting. Last I heard he told me he was looking for a place in Colorado or New Mexico. Haven't heard from him since.
I thought there were more callers on this forum who hunted at night?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 15, 2003, 11:43 AM:
Yeah, me too? Well, takes time to form up and regroup. Danny bought (or should I say, his lady friend) a fair size ranch in Elk City, Idaho. I imagine he is very busy, these days? I'm sure he will be back.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Krustyklimber (Member # 72) on February 15, 2003, 05:55 PM:
Man, I'd really like to chime in here, with one of my loquacious narratives, but I've never hunted anything but girls at night! LOL
But I could share a few of those stories... naw a gentleman never....
I was told by someone recently that (man, I'm gonna screw this quote up... he's gonna see it... oh well) "hunting coyotes at night, is the worst thing a newbie can do... even while spotlighting, it is very difficult to see them and you'll end up educating way more coyotes than you'll ever kill"
So I unpacked my night gear and haven't given night hunting a second thought since... which is really too bad, because if anybody has a "graveyard shift mentality" it's me! And now I have money invested in stuff I don't need.
I can't wait 'til I'm not a newbie anymore, and then I can work the graveyard shift.
Jeff 
P.S. It seems we do know about at least one of LB's most memorable night hunts... ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
LOL
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 15, 2003, 09:25 PM:
Okay, I'll have to use catagories, if that's okay?
Most memorable bobcat hunt was the first time we got three on one stand, one night in the rain, on a high butte, and got totally lost in the piņon pines for a couple hours. We were completely desperate, dragging three cats, a spotlight and automotive battery, and a rifle all over that mountain looking for the way we came in. It was as lost as I've ever been. Luckily, during this time, we missed a flash flood down on the flats, but had to dig our way out of the silt to get back to a decent road.
It sucked us in, we lost track of direction, one after another, and boot tracks were nonexistant when we got around to backtracking. I remember the deep satisfaction and the panic and it was a memorable hunt because of that single event.
Posted by varmit hunter (Member # 37) on February 16, 2003, 01:33 PM:
Maybe there should be a nightmare section, Along with the night hunting. I have a lot of experience in that aria.
At the ripe age of fourteen. I fired off my Cushman 5 HP motor scooter. My twelve year old partner mounted up behind me. With a 28 ga shotgun, Weems wild call, And one head light we set out to challenge the demons of the dark. This was our fist night hunt.
The good thing about this country were ever they drill a oil well. They have a good shell road leading to it. No matter were it may be. We putted down the shell road surrounded by swamps and ridges rising out of the water. We got to our destination. A old storage tank with a rusty set of steps leading to the top. We set up on the third step, And I cut loose with that old Weems. Being a dead still night with a light fog. I don't have to tell you how the screams echoed through that swamp. After about three minutes my partner said "That sure sounds eerie, Aren't you getting scared?." Being the oldest, And the leader of this expedition. I bravely told him no, And that it was supposed to sound eerie. Twenty minutes, And twelve steps higher up. I was whishing that old cushman could crank up and come save us, Like trigger used to do Roy.
Yelp I was a little scared. Then things got real scary.
A voice way off in the distance started calling out my name. Roonnnniiiiieeee floated out of that fog. I will never forget my partner grabbing my arm in a death grip. As my name was being repeated over , And over. My partner screamed out "How do they know your name?." He then took of for the Cushman with me right behind.
After a twisting, Turning ride down that shell road. ( That would have made any GP racer proud). We came out to the main road. There stood my Dad, With my cousin from out of town.
Now knowing it was my Dad's voice drifting across that swamp. I tried to hide my knocking knees, And shaking hands. I asked if there was a family emergency. Dad said no. That when he told my cousin were I was, That he wonted to come join us.
It did not take me long to proclaimed we were through for the night. The next Friday night the old Cushman puttered me down another road. Once again to challenge the demons of the dark.
Little did I know that night in 1959. That I would be challenging those demons into the next century.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 19, 2003, 08:30 PM:
Good one, Ronnie. I have never heard the expression, "shell road" but I guess that's what it is made of, right?
I had a hunt with Pat once where we planned to split up with him walking down the riverbed and me circling around in the truck and both making stands along the way.
The first stand. Actually, it was too dark to hunt, but I figured I might as well get everything set up. Then I fgured, I might as well start calling, maybe I'll see something? Then I swore I heard someone call my name?
Real spooky! I was looking over my shoulder as I packed it up! ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Then I promptly forgot about it until much later in the day when we met up. I actually didn't know what he was talking about until he started explaining every detail. How he covered that much ground while I was practically racing along the bluff road, I'll never understand?
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Krustyklimber (Member # 72) on February 20, 2003, 02:14 AM:
Man that was funny Ronnie! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
It was like I was right there with you... I cold here the putter-putt of the little engine and the pitter-pat of you and your buddy's hearts! LOL
And I've spent enough time riding doubles on mini-bikes with no brakes to know exactly what that wild ride musta felt like!
Yours reminds me of one of my "night hunting" stories, I can share... as it truly was innocent and people in the family still roar at the story...
When I was about 16 I was sent to live with my uncle in Darrington for the summer, a small town neslted deep in the Cascades. Not long after I got there I walked the pretty girl down the road home, one mile away.
It was a beautiful summers eve as we walked barefoot in the fading light of the sunset... by the time we got to her place it was really dark! A lot darker than a city boy like me was used to, I lived on a dirt road but we had lights and houses around. But my uncle lived on a paved road with no lights or houses or nothing around just deep woods and a few small barley fields... which the young lady told me had bears grazing in that week... And houses about a mile apart.
I said my good-byes and began to walk back to my uncle's place... have you ever heard the phrase "whistling in the dark"? Because that's what I was doing... at first I was brave, and logical... "Bears don't attack people, they're more scared of us..." then I began to walk a little faster, and my mind began to doubt, and I walked faster...
About halfway I broke into a full sprint! I was sure they were after me!
About 100yds from my uncle's house, just as I was coming into the light on the barn...
TWO HUGE ROARING FIGURES LEPT FROM THE FENCELINE ON EACH SIDE OF THE ROAD!!!
That's all I remember 'til I woke up in the living room on the couch! Where my cousin and my girl cousin's boyfriend (who taught my so much about the woods that summer) told me how it had been them who jumped out of the bushes and how I had jumped high into the air, stiff as a nail, grasping my chest and gasping for air!
Well told it as best they could between turns of rolling and crying with laughter. My cousin's now ex-husband still says it was funniest thing he ever saw in his life.
I don't know if it was the tumble or fright that knocked me out, but I was... they were sure I was dead! Until one of then put their hand on my chest, where my heart was pounding like a drum...
My feet were black and blue from going from 70mph to 0, and I was all roughed up.
I never did get my kiss from that pretty girl...
Jeff
Posted by varmit hunter (Member # 37) on February 20, 2003, 08:29 PM:
Thanks Krusty, Yelp Leonard we use shell for roads. The only place we have rocks, is on the railroad tracks. The Gulf of Mexico is full of shell. So we make use of it. I know it is hard for you guys to understand, But I am typing this at 14' elevation. Last year we had 104" of rain. Do the math.
Today we have had five inches of rain, And six more coming. Time to launch the calling boat, But that is another story.
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