being still

[msbadger]

while walking the lands or hiking the hills ...encounters with lots of differant animals have happenened but mostly deer.....several times I've had them walk right to me because I was able to be still ...moving only when they turned away or went behind a tree....whats the longest/closest incounter have you managed with out spooking a deer?

[Woods Walker]

I had a nice 10 pointer in the 2.5/3.5 age class about 6 yards from me as I sat on a deadfall log, stand there for about a minute before he turned around and walked back down the way he came. I had JUST sat down on that log.....set my bow down (without an arrow on it yet...[:@])...and had taken off my fanny pack and set it on the ground when I looked up and there he was, walking up the hill towards me. I knew right then and there I was not going to have a shot, so I figured that the next best thing would be to have him walk by me that close and not detect me.
 
BTW......this was another coup for the ghillie suit! There have been many others, this one was the closest.

[shaman]

I have been in touching distance of deer during turkey season and turkey in deer season.  I 'll never forget an instance back in 1989, where my buddy and I sat down in a bit of a drizzle after a long morning of turkey hunting.  He was on one side of the tree, and I was on the other.  Two doe, a mother/daughter combination, came up on my side and started munching less than 10 feet away. 

I hissed at my buddy, "Hawgy, there's two deer standing right here." 

"Where?" asked Hawgy with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Right here!" I said.

"I don't see 'em." said Hawgy. We went back and forth on this for some time.  He was telling me I was lying, and I'm looking right at the two deer.  Finally Hawgy laid out over my lap and screwed his way around the trunk.  And there we were, Hawgy in my lap with a cig hanging out of his mouth, gaping wide-eyed at these two deer.  The closer doe finally had enough and the two of them wandered off.

[vipertech]

I had a turkey step on my ankle.  The friend I was hunting with had just shot a bird.  We remained there in the hopes that the flock would come back together after being dispersed by the shot.  This lone jake came back and he walked right over my feet.

Another time I was walking to a field edge.  I saw a buck with one missing antler in the field.  He turned and walked right at me.  I stood partially behind a tree.  The buck walked right by me at a few yards distance.

[MDV WI hunter]

This past season, 2008, I had a doe about 5 yards from me.  I got home from work with enough daylight to stand post for about a 45 minutes before dark.  I grabbed my gun, my jacket, and put on my boots and ran out.  The funny part is, I'm a manager so I have to dress up.  I still had my dress pants on and a button down shirt under my blaze orange!  I leaned against a big wood fence post overlooking a cornfield, I heard "munching" just over a hill about 25 ft away but dismissed it after several minutes.  Low and behold a doe walked right at me to within 15-20 feet before I couldn't contain my excitement and had to move.  Funny part was when I heard her eating, I dropped to a knee and was waiting, ready in the direction she came.  Never got a shot but was truly awesome just to be there.

[Demoderby4]

Opening day (Nov 15th) gun season 2007

I was sitting on the edge of a field, but just in the woods, my back to the field at the time overlooking a nice primary scrape and bait pile (still legal at the time) i heard a huge crash into some brush right behind and to the right of me, i nearly fell out of my damn seat! I look over and see a decent sized doe, about 5 ft away almost jumped right on top of me! She obviosuly saw me and we stared for about 10 seconds an she ran off, scared the crap out of me! lol! No doe permit for state land that year so i had to let her run off

[danesdad]

About three years ago on the opening day of archery, I was walking into my stand.  It was pitch black and I had my headlamp on.  I saw two sets of eyes coming up the logging road towards me, so I just stopped.  As they got closer, I saw that it was a mature doe and her fawn of that year (about 3/4 grown).  The doe stopped about 20 yards away, but the little deer kept coming until she passed me at about 2 feet distance.  I could easily have reached out and touched her.  Even tho my light was shining up the whole area, the deer weren't disturbed.  It was very cool.

[Wanderer]

Back in the late 70's, I bought 10 acres of wooded land in Waupaca county and built a new house on it. My 10 was part of a wooded 40 that was broken into (3 ) 10 acre home sites along East Road with the remaining 10 being a buffer strip between our homesites and the farmer we bought from. The neighbor to the south of me had built a home there also but we were the only two there at that time, so we both hunted that 40. I did a lot of squirrel hunting back then. I would ease along the oak ridges with my Marlin 39A and either lean up on a tree or squat down to look and listen. During one of my tree leanin sessions, I saw movement in the brush about 50 yards to the south. I was leaning on the north side of the tree. The movement turned out to be a yearling six point, browsing his way along the ridge. With the wind in my favor, he waltzed right past me on the west. If I had a bayonet on my rifle, I could have had venison for supper that night. That was the closeest I had ever been to a wild whitetail that was still alive.

[Everyday Hunter]

I wouldn't have remembered my closest encounter if wanderer hadn't mentioned the bayonet. I once had three does walk to within poking distance of my rifle barrel.

Steve

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: danesdad

About three years ago on the opening day of archery, I was walking into my stand.  It was pitch black and I had my headlamp on.  I saw two sets of eyes coming up the logging road towards me, so I just stopped.  As they got closer, I saw that it was a mature doe and her fawn of that year (about 3/4 grown).  The doe stopped about 20 yards away, but the little deer kept coming until she passed me at about 2 feet distance.  I could easily have reached out and touched her.  Even tho my light was shining up the whole area, the deer weren't disturbed.  It was very cool.

 
Wow, great story danesdad....Very interesting how they react!