Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Crazy Deer Encounters - no to derail Hoggin's post

What is the strangest deer encounter you have ever had?

1. A few years ago, my wife and I were walking (very rural road) one evening and had a very, very young spotted fawn walk up to us and start sniffing us. The doe was in the woods (we could see her) going crazy (blowing, stomping her feet,..etc). I told my wife DO NOT touch that fawn and we both stood there with our hands behind our backs as the yearling walked around us. It finally bedded down on the side of the road next to us. We were slowing/stopping cars that were passing in case it got up and ran back across the road. Eventually - it got up and walked to its mother.

2. Several years ago - I was stalk hunting and decided to sit at the base of a tree and take a break. Just about the time I was about to doze off, I hear the familiar steps of a deer walking towards me. I raise my right knee and rest the gun on it. A few minutes later a yearling walks directly towards me and starts sniffing my boot and leans its head towards the barrel of my gun. I could literally hear it sniffing my boots and gun barrel. It then stiffened and took of running with its tail straight up - I couldn't help but start laughing.

3. Probably my funniest encounter - I was hunting in a ground blind with the velcro windows down in a pretty thick area. I hear a deer walking behind me, then beside me, then this doe sticks her head in the vertical netting opening. I don't know which of us was more surprised - but both of us jumped. She ran our about 20-yards in front of me and stopped and started eating. I guess she was a lead doe - because about 5-6 other does and yearlings followed her and I watched them for probably 15-20 minutes.

I had a spike getting a double bull blind with me in Kentucky. He panicked when he realized we were both in there and went crazy. I had to kill him in self defense and buy another blind

Sitting on a stump taking a chit wondering where I was gunna hang a stand and had a die walk up 20 yds and stare. Guess that creek crossing is where I should have hung my stand

Twice at 2 different locations, I've had doe fawns walk up to within 6' of me. The first time (at Skyline back in the 1990's) she hung around and stayed within 10' of me for danged near an hour. At one point I reached out slowly and touched her on the hindquarter. She made one little jump and then settled right back down. I've killed several bucks, a coyote and a bobcat with a bow, and had a squirrel resting on the rail of my climber, but none of those encounters were any cooler.

I watched as a spike walked along a high undercut creek bank, when all of a sudden the bank collapsed underneath him.
He tumbled into the water and then stood there looking dumb for a moment like he was trying to figure out what just happened before moving on.

Had a yearling doe to see me as I eased along a creek and she walked to me to get beside me
Then she walked with me for maybe a quarter mile and went back up the hillside
I had numerous encounters with deer but none as cool as this

Sitting against a tree in full head to toe camo calling a turkey one spring morning. Had a young doe walk up and sniff the tip of my boot.

Madison Co, I had a fawn wake me up by licking my ear when I was taking a snooze a long time ago. It lasted down about 10’ from me and stayed for over an hour. Guess it was tired too.

Walking out one evening across my pasture after dark and had a doe come and sniff my coat pocket and just walked away.

Had a great horned owl land on my stand rail and sit a few.

Many more neat encounters over the years, and I remember them just as much as the times I’ve harvested big deer.

Those type of things is why I love being in the woods.

I was hunting in Chambers Co about 20 years ago and had targeted a specific buck (a nice 8 point). Due to the wind I changed stand position on a hillside overlooking the creek he liked to travel. I pull my Summit off the old tree and move up the hill about 80 yards and down the creek some and found me a nice pine to put the stand on. There was another big pine about 5 feet from the one I chose so I walked to it and prop my rifle up against it and then walked back to the one I was going to climb. I started attaching the stand to the tree and wasn't trying to be quiet at all and I hear footsteps coming from behind me off the hill. By the time I got turned around to see what it was, the buck I was hunting had come out of thick pines behind me and had walked between me and my rifle and just stopped like 3 feet from me. He was so close I could hear him breathing and could see the whiskers on his nose twitching. He stood there for like 3 minutes before he lit out like I shot at him and I never seen or got a picture of him again.

I have had this happen before.
I shot I nice buck one afternoon in the rain chasing a doe. After the shot I ran down to find blood before it washed away and I hear grunting. I look up and a nice buck was trailing the same doe and I was on the trail. He ran up to about three ft from me and stopped and starred. I had my gun on him the whole time in case he tried to attack me but I slowly backed up and he put his head back down and kept right on trailing the deer. When he ran by my gun barrel rubbed his side when he went by

Tracked a deer in Woodville a couple years ago. My plott hound was only around 6 months old. We were walking out and my pup jumped in a brush pile. A young doe jumped out about that time and just stood watching my pup. Pup came out nose to nose with the doe. They ended up running circles around that brush pile for awhile playing with each other. Me and the hunter just sat down and watched them.

Last weekend I was walking in to my hunting spot, it’s rut where I hunt. I used a drag attached to my boot on the way in. And sprayed some buck bomb every 10-20 yards. I walked up the side of the holler and sat on the ground leaning up against a tre with a couple more surrounding me. Once I sat down I sprayed some more buck bomb. Around 1 hr later a basket rack 8 point Came in at the bottom where I had walked in and caught a whiff of the tinks 69, became running straight up to where I was sitting and was below me , he came to around 5 yards. We were eye to eye. I sat still and he couldn’t figure out what I was. For about a minute we stared at each other. He spooked a little, ran about 10 yards and came up beside me around 5 yards or so. It was the coolest thing to me. It happened so fast, I wished I could have filmed it with my phone. Eventually he just walked off, didn’t blow or anything.

Years back I was in camp during rut and it was about 10pm.

Had a bunch of fellas in camp sitting around the fire behind the camp house.

I was around front in my vehicle getting my sleeping gear when I heard what sounded like a horse running down the gravel driveway

I turned around just in time to see a buck coming running down the driveway past me around the house and right by all the fellas sitting by the fire. Lol

It was unreal No body could believe it but We knew rut was on!

Nothing too spectacular....had a little 6pt several years ago that I watched walk literally in my footsteps of the trail I walked to my stand, for about 75yards. I know he smelled me because I never really took scent control seriously at all. He walked in my footsteps, all the way to the ladder stand I was sitting in, and started scratching his side back and forth against the ladder.

Had a 8 pt. decide he wanted to help me fix a radio I was working on. Heard something and looked up and there he was standing in the door looking around. Had a yearling several years ago follow us when we were riding horses and giving a couple a workout on the wagon. She followed us to where we ate dinner and just watched us. When we got up to leave she just walked off.

Back in the early 90s, a friend and I had permission to bow hunt this older lady's property as long as we kept her some firewood cut. We went up one afternoon and had been in our stands for about 30 minutes. I look over and see a few deer on the neighboring property. They run onto the property we were hunting and run through the greenpatch I was sitting on. They all jumped the fence to my left except for one of the fawns...it tried to jump the fence and got hung up. The other deer stopped and was looking at the little one like they were trying to figure out what to do. I got down and was trying to help the fawn get untangled but it was kicking and getting more tangled up with each kick. I hollered at my buddy and he came to help me. He threw his jacket over the fawn and held it down while I was untangling the barbwire from around it's legs. The whole time, the doe was steadily inching closer to us. We eventually got the fawn untangled and it stood up and took a couple of steps then stopped and walked right back up to us. The doe eventually eased her way up to us. We tried petting her but she would take a few steps away then ease right back up to us. After about 15 minutes the doe started easing off and the fawn walked off with her.

There were a few deer in the back yard at the house one day. Wife asked what would they do if we let our dog out...I said let's see. I let the dog out (dog is a schnauzer mix). He ran out in the yard and was chasing one of the yearlings around. He'd chase the deer and then the yearling would turn and chase him. This went on for about 10 minutes. Eventually, the dog tired out and came back to the house with the yearling right behind him. He laid down at the base of the steps up to the porch and the yearling laid downright beside him.

I only recently got a few deer on my place so I was pretty surprised this summer clearing a fence row with a chainsaw to hear a fawn over the noise. I cut the saw off and yelled "hey baby where you at?" Every time I spoke she would bleat. Eventually came out jumping on my boots and licking my leg. She stayed with me all day until I got on the tractor to mow that afternoon. I was happy to see mom came out to get her from a brush pile just before dark. I still see both does occasionally so it was cool to watch her grow knowing she was raised on my place.

Craziest thing I ever saw was in Selma one night tracking a small buck I had shot with my bow. We tracked for about 3/4 mile and every time we gave up we would cross blood. I had just seen Blair Witch Project and was talking about it so everyone was a little freaked out. We all heard some weird noises and shut off our lights and stopped to listen.
Every creature in the woods went completely silent and it was dead calm. Here is where it really got weird. As I went under some overhanging brush I froze nose to nose with a snake on a limb. The other guys seen it but nobody knew what to do. I just reached up and gently picked it up. So here I am walking around with a snake. A few minutes later I caught movement in some brush and saw white so I thought I found the deer. Nope it was a full grown hawk on a limb. My buddy gets a stick and the hawk climbs on the stick. He is walking around with a hawk on a stick and I got a snake. The possibility of a hawk attack made me get rid of the snake and he eventually put the hawk back on a limb. We gave up on the deer and got the heck out of the woods. We still talk about how weird that night was.

ten years ago a buddy was hunting my place at Leeds. He called me and asked if there were any tame deer out there because a young 8 point was following him, maybe ten yards behind him. I told him no tame deer and he better be careful if he had to bend over !!!! He said it followed him for over 100 yards.

Walking from the house to the bakery to make sure I'd locked everything up, maybe 300 yds, right at dusk, about this time of year, a nice 6 pointer came running through the woods, pulled up about 15 feet in front of me and started stomping and blowing and shaking his head. Whenever I leave the house I carry something, I had a Colt Trooper .357 and a Ruger LCP in the house, just by chance I took the LCP. If I would have brought the Colt he would have been in the freezer. He stomped another time or two, I used some bad words, he ran off.

Bow hunting on Wheeler, solid hit on a nice doe, took a while to get down from tree, waited another 30 minutes, went looking. Good blood trail but intermittent, walked up on a deadfall, looked over it and was eye to eye with a solid buck. He jumped I stepped back, bumped me with his shoulder as he went by. I took a breath and said damn just in time to dodge another one chasing him. He had his head down and looking right at me, I had just enough time to get behind a tree. He ran after the other one. Found the doe.

Stalk hunting, tracking in privet, creek bottom, I was thinking these tracks are fresh. took a few more steps, dropped to look at some more, looked up and the deer's ass was about three feet in front of me. It saw me, blew, jumped, then it seemed like a dozen of them all ran from everywhere. Like a bunch of rabbits. I was right in the middle of them.

We have a doe that shows up when we are filling feeders. She won't eat out of your hand, but she will get within 10 feet or so to eat corn off the ground. We have named her Mable. I was driving in to hunt a stand one January afternoon and came up on a young 7 point just walking down the road, I drove along behind him for a while until he turned off and stood there and watched me drive by. I have seen deer do some crazy things.

A couple of years ago I was hunting the powerline on our place. It is 700 yards long and about 75 yards wide and runs North to South. Great place to hunt and always produces something. I have a shooting house on the North end a ladder stand on the East side facing West and a ground blind on the South end and a couple of green patches in between. So one Saturday afternoon I head to the South end because we have a N / NW wind. Around three I see a doe come out of the East from the woods about four hundred yards in front of me. She wasn't running but more like a slow trot. A few minutes later she's getting closer and I'm thinking that sooner or later she'll turn. Well she doesn't and now I'm thinking that she is going to walk/trot right into the blind. A the last minute before she does I stand up so she'll stop. She stopped dead in her tracks and just stood there. Then I started laughing and she ran off.