Whats the Weirdest?

[billrquimby]

I first hunted deer in Arizona in 1948, and over the past 60 years have seen some wierd, funny and awful things. I've found men who died from heart attacks, shooting and hanging, watched a spike bull elk that was mostly white with patches of tan, called in a coatimundi in a cholla patch near Florence (of all places), and had two shirtless, braless female hikers walk up to within a few yards before they saw me and ran. I've stepped on rattlesnakes, fallen off ledges, driven up on a couple doing the deer in an SUV where I wanted to park, and had my trucks break down and leave me stranded and alone miles from anywhere. I think the wierdest thing I ever saw happened with the last Arizona whitetail I shot.

 

I was staying in a motel in Willcox and hunting alone above Arivaipa Canyon because both of my buddies had business commitments. At first light, I found a buck and a bighorn ram feeding within a few yards of each other on a cone-shaped peak at least a half mile from where I was glassing with my 20X spotting scope. The ram would plop down and bed for a while, then get up and move to another bed. The deer mostly stayed up and feeding. It was about 11 a.m., before I was certain both of them were down for the day. I circled the peak and approached the buck from the top and shot it when it jumped up. I was gutting it when I heard something above me. The ram was about 30 yards away, looking down at me.

 

I was 63 years old then, and there was no way I could carry the buck whole so I cut it in half and relayed the two halves down to the road -- carrying the rear legs and rifle 100 yards or so, then leaving them and going back for the front half, etc.. The ram followed me all the way. When I reached the road, I left my buck, rifle and binocs and went for my truck. The ram still was there when I returned and loaded up everything. He still was standing in the two-track road, looking dumb, as I drove away.

 

Bill Quimby

[Tines]

I first hunted deer in Arizona in 1948, and over the past 60 years have seen some wierd, funny and awful things. I've found men who died from heart attacks, shooting and hanging, watched a spike bull elk that was mostly white with patches of tan, called in a coatimundi in a cholla patch near Florence (of all places), and had two shirtless, braless female hikers walk up to within a few yards before they saw me and ran. I've stepped on rattlesnakes, fallen off ledges, driven up on a couple doing the deer in an SUV where I wanted to park, and had my trucks break down and leave me stranded and alone miles from anywhere. I think the wierdest thing I ever saw happened with the last Arizona whitetail I shot.

 

I was staying in a motel in Willcox and hunting alone above Arivaipa Canyon because both of my buddies had business commitments. At first light, I found a buck and a bighorn ram feeding within a few yards of each other on a cone-shaped peak at least a half mile from where I was glassing with my 20X spotting scope. The ram would plop down and bed for a while, then get up and move to another bed. The deer mostly stayed up and feeding. It was about 11 a.m., before I was certain both of them were down for the day. I circled the peak and approached the buck from the top and shot it when it jumped up. I was gutting it when I heard something above me. The ram was about 30 yards away, looking down at me.

 

I was 63 years old then, and there was no way I could carry the buck whole so I cut it in half and relayed the two halves down to the road -- carrying the rear legs and rifle 100 yards or so, then leaving them and going back for the front half, etc.. The ram followed me all the way. When I reached the road, I left my buck, rifle and binocs and went for my truck. The ram still was there when I returned and loaded up everything. He still was standing in the two-track road, looking dumb, as I drove away.

 

Bill Quimby

 

"......a couple doing the deer"????????

[More D]

'deed' I bet.

 

Bill, it seems as if you took the bighorns buddy.

 

 

Great stories everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

[JayAz]

Nothing can top Tyson's very disturbing story but here is my contribution....

 

2-3 years ago I was out quail hunting east of Rio Verde. On the way back to the truck I spooked a barn owl as I was heading up a small ravine. I stopped to watch him fly away and noticed that he did not go more than 10 yards before landing in a nearby tree which seemed strange. I then noticed that there were 15-20 owls all around me hanging out in that small ravine. Some were on the ground, some were in trees and they were not bothered at all by my presence. It didn't take long for my Vizsla to notice them and he went in for the owl-retrieve and they didn't spook. They just flew up into the nearest tree to get out of his reach. It almost seemed like they were having a meeting and were waiting for me to leave so that they could continue. I looked around an did not find anything abnormal such as a critter that they would have been scavenging on. It was very strange/spooky behavior and something I don't think I will ever forget.

 

Jay

[firstcoueswas80]

Mike, unless his actual snout is busted, youll never be able to tell!

[Tines]

'deed' I bet.

 

Bill, it seems as if you took the bighorns buddy.

 

 

Great stories everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was about to say that Bill's story was going to give Tyson's a run for his money.........maybe.

[Apatkelley]

I was hunting with my brother in 30A and we found a skull that looked human. The front of the skull was missing but the brain cavity was intact and was larger and round unlike any critter I'm familiar with. I gave it to the game and fish department and they never got back to me....maybe I was actually in unit 51

[Huntn coues]

C-mon CMC post it up.

[Huntn coues]

Amanda do you have any explanation to the owls behavior??

[Huntn coues]

'deed' I bet.

 

Bill, it seems as if you took the bighorns buddy.

 

 

Great stories everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was about to say that Bill's story was going to give Tyson's a run for his money.........maybe.

 

 

 

HAHAHA LMAO

[CouesWhitetail]

Amanda do you have any explanation to the owls behavior??

 

 

Well, I assume it was a family group. Barn owls can have up to about 12 young, although 4-7 is more common. Or possibly two family groups haning around together. Neat sighting.....I haven't ever seen anything like that.....don't suppose you had a camera with you? The other question would be if you are sure they were barn owls and not burrowing owls? Since you said there were trees around, I assume you were in a drainage going through a forest rather than the more open habitat that burrowing owls use. But burrowing owls have large broods and can be particularly abundant in one spot like that.

 

Amanda

[drcarr]

About 10 years ago, while varmint hunting on the west side of Unit 32, my 11yr old son and I called and dropped two foxes that came to us within about three minutes of each other. They fell in plain sight about 10 yards apart and neither was more than 20ft away from us. Not too unusual. I kept hand calling for about another 5 minutes until a dark colored cat sauntered out of a thicket and tried to carry one of the foxes away in it's mouth. I almost took the shot but the darned thing just didn't look right. Most striking was that it's fur was a glossy uniform purplish/black, it's tail was oddly long/thick and it was very low slung to the ground. It gave us quite a show for the next few minutes. It finally gave up on the fox and just stepped back into a catclaw thicket. Good thing we passed the shot as that night we found the cat's picture on the internet under Jaguarundi. Very exciting. Some weeks later the G & F WM for that unit confirmed having occasional reports of Jaguarundi sightings.

[az4life]

Man, I've got a ton of "weird" stuff that I've seen.......especially because of all the time i've spent out in the woods with Shortypants! I have seen and heard the crazy mating rituals of the porcupine, and always thought the screams and moans were because of the quills The craziest and saddest thing I've found has to be when my brother and I found a human leg, the sad part was that it was from a young person The scariest happened last year and I still have no explaination for it. A client and I were set up on a tank about 2 hours before light on the late elk hunt. The temps were at a record low last year and I know it was below zero that morning. We packed in our sleeping bags to sit in and stay warm and had just gotten comfortable and turned our headlamps off. All of a sudden branches broke not more than 15 yrds behind me and "something" started screaming it's head off at us! The critter or creature I should say, sounded like it wasn't very big by the sounds of the branches and sage breaking as it ran sideways to my right. It kept screaming as it moved and you could tell it would turn away as it screamed and then turn toward us while still screaming. I was all tied up in my sleeping bag trying to get out and finally got the light on it but I could never see any eyes even though it was still within 30 yrds or so! The screams were something I've never heard before anywhere! I've been in the woods huntin and chasin critters my whole life and I believe I've had encounters with almost every critter in this state, but this was somethin' new!!! The screams were very loud, very angry, and non-stop! My client was yelling at me "what the --- is that" and I was yelling " I don't ----- know! over and over again as I tried to get the light on it. The problem was that each time I breathed out the frost from my breath blocked out my light and I couldn't see past it! I don't know why I did it, I think because I had to just know what it was, but I took off running after it! The critter stayed ahead of me and I could tell it would stop and scream back at me and then start running again! My client was too afraid to stay so he was runnin' behind me yelling " what the --- do you think you're doing?" This client NEVER cusses so this obviously had him shook up too! This lasted for several hundred yards and then it shut up and dissappeared! I looked after it had gotten daylight and couldn't find any tracks but I was originally guessing it was a Javalina, bobcat or lion, but it sounded like neither! What ever it was it was very upset with us! I got the goosebumps all over again just writing about it! Maybe it was a Chupacabra?! Thanks, JIM>

I bet it was the Mogollon Monster. Y'know, the AZ answer to Bigfoot!

[lfootmatt]

About 10 years ago, while varmint hunting on the west side of Unit 32, my 11yr old son and I called and dropped two foxes that came to us within about three minutes of each other. They fell in plain sight about 10 yards apart and neither was more than 20ft away from us. Not too unusual. I kept hand calling for about another 5 minutes until a dark colored cat sauntered out of a thicket and tried to carry one of the foxes away in it's mouth. I almost took the shot but the darned thing just didn't look right. Most striking was that it's fur was a glossy uniform purplish/black, it's tail was oddly long/thick and it was very low slung to the ground. It gave us quite a show for the next few minutes. It finally gave up on the fox and just stepped back into a catclaw thicket. Good thing we passed the shot as that night we found the cat's picture on the internet under Jaguarundi. Very exciting. Some weeks later the G & F WM for that unit confirmed having occsasional reports of Jaguarundi sightings.

 

What is their status as far as G&F? Endangered? Non-Game Species? Predator?

 

I'm just curious if you could have legally taken it. That would make a pretty cool full body mount with it after a fox!

 

Later,

 

Matt

[drcarr]

The Jaguarundi is listed as federally protected. No can shoot!