OT: I had a unique experience today.

[bigbore442001]

Dad and I went out after work to set up a ground blind and move two trail cameras. We arrived at the spot and saw fifteen wild turkeys in our spot. Three hens and the rest were poults. It was fun to watch. They fed while the three hens stood guard and watched us.



We walked to my cameras with laptop over my shoulder. In a way it is sad that I am carrying a laptop computer to a hunting site. But the rationale is to check the chips on a large screen, store them in a file and then clean the chips for reuse. Saw one deer and some turkeys on the other camera.



I planned to set the cameras in two different locations. One would be deeper in the woods where I shot a nice buck with the bow and arrow and the other where my Dad normally has a stand. I set the deeper camera and then walked up the hill to where he normally set a stand. As I was attaching the bracket to a small tree I heard something.



Soon I saw two does running as fast as they can. Leaping towards me and then angling off to my right. They ran in a circle and were only twenty yards from me. I stood next to the tree perfectly still. The wind was at my back at the bottom of the hill but I really could not ascertain what the wind direction was where I had been located. Shortly I heard more crashing and a large doe was headed from my rear left quarter and ran in front of me. Again in a circle. Then I heard another crashing sound. It was a fawn. She was running with her mouth open and again all four seemed to run in front of me in a circle of about fifty yards square and no more than twenty yards from me. Soon then took off in another direction. While this was going on I noticed that I could hear some crows off in the direction they came from.



I wonder if a coyote was chasing them or somehow the wind swirled my scent and spooked them but they could not reliably determine where I was. I watched the whole spectacle for about four minutes.



What do you think happened?

[CEMENTHEAD]

....Ummmm.....forgot your camera? ........................LOL !!!!!

Thanks, Tom

[rjohns94]

sounds like they were being chased. Do you have a high coyote population? dogs? someone else in the woods?

[TedH]

I agree, it sounds like something else spooked them. Could have been something or someone several hundred yards away from your position. A spooked deer can cover a lot of ground quickly.

[rjohns94]

and I thought when I read the title, that you were going to talk about reloading with Unique.

[gamekeeper]

I agree, it sounds like something else spooked them. Could have been something or someone several hundred yards away from your position. A spooked deer can cover a lot of ground quickly.

+1

[bigbore442001]

We do have a number of coyotes and in northeastern Connecticut a number of very large bobcat. I waited a while to see if whatever was chasing them was going to come by but nothing showed up.

[rjohns94]

I once saw a mountain lion in ct. my dog was very excited about the very large putty cat!

[FWiedner]

I experienced a similar event a few years ago while I was out squirrel hunting.

I walked up on a doe herd of maybe 5 does (actually, I think we crossed paths) and they were startled but unsure whether I was a threat, because as soon as I saw them I froze. I usually de-scent before I do any type of hunting so I'm pretty sure that's how we ended up so close together, and since I didn't smell like anything, they were confused. I had a rifle and a license, but I wasn't hunting for deer.

The does started running circles around me. I swear that if I'd had sugar cubes in my pocket, they could have picked them out. They were close.

This went on for about 10 minutes, those does running around me, "buzzing" me, and me not moving.

I guess the matron finally had her fill, was still undecided whether I was a threat, so she gave a big old blow and they moved off into the woods.

It was really quite entertaining. One of my most enjoyed hunting memories.