Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I can share 2 stories of really different critter interactions I've had.
In my teen years, we had a wild squirrel mother that raised several broods in the neighbor's unused, detached garage. The mother squirrel got fairly comfortable with us tossing peanuts to her and kept getting closer to me on our sidewalk. I got her to take peanuts from my hand and she got really comfortable with that. So I told my parents I was going to try getting her to come into the house for peanuts. After about a month of trying, she came in the house, across the kitchen floor, took the nuts and ambled back outside. She was so comfortable with me I eventually coaxed her to take the nuts off my belly as I lay on the floor. She even took time to EAT some on my belly !! Having a squirrel sit there & crack / eat peanuts on my stomach was a thing none of us thought we'd ever see. When it would head back outside, it didn't race for the open door. It would take it's time & look around, investigating every nook & cranny.
The other involved a fawn of the year and it's mother doe.
After bow hunting in the last week of October, I was walking by moonlight on a woods road about a mile from my vehicle. The leaves were loud and crunchy and I wasn't being particularly quiet. As I approached an intersection with another woods road, I stopped to listen for any deer snorting or running away from that area. I was shocked to see a fawn and a doe eating acorns there in the moonlight. The fawn walked over to me, sniffed my camo pants, rubbed it's nose on my pants, and then started eating acorns at my feet !! The doe walked over to about 10 ft. from me, made a little "blat" noise to the fawn, and started eating too. She eventually walked away from the fawn & me, eating calmly as she went. The fawn was chewing acorns at a distance of 1 ft. from my leg when it sneezed & blew slimy acorn chop all over my camo pants. I had been talking softly to the 2 deer as they were so close, and it never seemed to alarm them at all. They calmly walked off, eating acorns as they left me there dumbfounded for the close encounter I'd just had. Total time for this up-close encounter was approx. 15 minutes.
How about you guys ?? You guys must have had some strange run-ins with critters over the years. Let's hear 'em !!
In my teen years, we had a wild squirrel mother that raised several broods in the neighbor's unused, detached garage. The mother squirrel got fairly comfortable with us tossing peanuts to her and kept getting closer to me on our sidewalk. I got her to take peanuts from my hand and she got really comfortable with that. So I told my parents I was going to try getting her to come into the house for peanuts. After about a month of trying, she came in the house, across the kitchen floor, took the nuts and ambled back outside. She was so comfortable with me I eventually coaxed her to take the nuts off my belly as I lay on the floor. She even took time to EAT some on my belly !! Having a squirrel sit there & crack / eat peanuts on my stomach was a thing none of us thought we'd ever see. When it would head back outside, it didn't race for the open door. It would take it's time & look around, investigating every nook & cranny.
The other involved a fawn of the year and it's mother doe.
After bow hunting in the last week of October, I was walking by moonlight on a woods road about a mile from my vehicle. The leaves were loud and crunchy and I wasn't being particularly quiet. As I approached an intersection with another woods road, I stopped to listen for any deer snorting or running away from that area. I was shocked to see a fawn and a doe eating acorns there in the moonlight. The fawn walked over to me, sniffed my camo pants, rubbed it's nose on my pants, and then started eating acorns at my feet !! The doe walked over to about 10 ft. from me, made a little "blat" noise to the fawn, and started eating too. She eventually walked away from the fawn & me, eating calmly as she went. The fawn was chewing acorns at a distance of 1 ft. from my leg when it sneezed & blew slimy acorn chop all over my camo pants. I had been talking softly to the 2 deer as they were so close, and it never seemed to alarm them at all. They calmly walked off, eating acorns as they left me there dumbfounded for the close encounter I'd just had. Total time for this up-close encounter was approx. 15 minutes.
How about you guys ?? You guys must have had some strange run-ins with critters over the years. Let's hear 'em !!