What is the closest you have come to a deer?

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

What is the closest you have come to a deer?
I walked into the woods and stopped and loaded my gun. I felt as if something was watching me. I turned to my right, and was looking right at the butt end of a buck, who was looking over his shoulder right at me. He was 2 feet away in between the trees. If I had thought I could have gave him a gun powder enema.

Hutch

[spekwa66]

I was sitting on the ground with my dad when I was about 8. We were sitting in the corner of a woods where a fence row ran into the woods. We had a buck walk down the fence row on the opposite side that we could see. He got about 5 yards and jumped the fence to our side. Needless to say, we were pinned down. He stared at us for probably 10 seconds before waving the white flag and bolting.

[HawgEnvy]

a spot n stalk in a 5 acre woodlot bordering a cornfield. Kicked up a doe that ran to the far edge of the woods and cut back in. I figured she bolted off the property across the corn,so I continued slowly stalking. I made it bout 35yds when I heard a crash and saw her coming out of a brush pile 70-ish yds away. As she was feeding closer,i was stalking closer. She got within 40yds and I estimated(wrong)@ 35 and shot just under her chest. I figured it had something to do w my quiver still being on(shot and tuned w it off). I removed the quiver and nocked another arrow(leaving quiver hangin on a limb)since she just startled and trotted about 10yds and started feeding again. I continued to stalk and got within 15yds before losing sight of her in the overgrowth between the woods n corn. I stepped from behind a tree and saw her bedded in the grass. She caught movement and stood watching and finally walked back into the woods slightly uphill from me 35-ish yds away. I shot and and shaved some hair off her back. she bounded towards me and stopped less than 10 FT away,licking her freshly shaved hide. I could see the whites of her eyes,the wet on her nose and the hairs she was trying to get outta her mouth,as I stood tightly against the tree with by bow in front of my face...and my quiver w 2 more arrows hanging in a tree 60+yds away.

lessons learned: 1) practice more yardage estmating skills 2)dont swith bows/setup mid season,3)pratice,shoot,tune w quiver on and off. She was about a 2 1/2 yr old doe,but I learned alot that day. It's what I love about hunting. It was an emotional rollercoaser and a day I will never forget though I came home empty handed.

[gravedigger]

no long story here.i was at work and a fawn walked within petting distance.at another cemetery i was mowing at same thing except mama was right there too.and in jewl oregon there is a safe spot for animals not tame ones and sometimes they walk right up to a guy.you can feel there breath.

[Money Man]

I didn't have an opportunity to measure, but 2 years ago while gun hunting, I was sitting on the ground against a tree. I hear a noise behind me to my left, I turn and see a doe running from a 9 pointer. She was running up the hill right towards me, but I focused on the buck, and I remember thinking that she was so close, I actually pulled my feet back thinking she would step on me. My movement made her stop, which made him stop about 25 yards from me, and my new .308 had no trouble figuring out how to do damage at 25 yards. One shot, he went down, she stared at me and I look back down the hill and see a little fork horn about 30 yards away trying to figure out what just happened.

[SonnyThomas]

Does touching count? I've close plenty of times. Had does and fawns between the tree and the ladder and reach up and smell my feet. Got charged once. I was looking at the deer in the field and carefully walking the brushed fence line. When I got to the gate opening, wham! A buck charged, just missing me. He kept going. Good thing as I was just plain stunned. Early one squirrel season I had a pair of young bucks browsing on acorns. Just for kicks I wanted to see just how close I could get. Using trees, brush and saplings and one slow step at a time I got within arms reach and just grazed my finger tips on it's hip. I drew back and held and they just kept going.

Worst case; Neighbor wanted to shotgun hunt and he's one of those who has to be in the stand 2 hours before day light. So he went to my south stand and I went to the north end. When I got within 20 feet of my ladder I shut off the flashlight and walked around the corner to the path. I reached for the ladder and all H___ broke loose. I stepped on a deer bedded down at the bottom of my ladder. Yep, I scared...and I made it to the seat of my deer stand in one leap. I sat there and cussed my neighbor all morning.

[martinbowhunter]

Pssssst! Hutch, we don't have deer here on the Big Island of Hawaii...... We do have axis deer on a couple of the other islands though. Just never got a chance to do any kinda deer hunting.

[HawgEnvy]

Pssssst! Hutch, we don't have deer here on the Big Island of Hawaii...... We do have axis deer on a couple of the other islands thought. Just never got a chance to do any kinda deer hunting.

you don't know what your missing. There's nothing like hunting a whitetail dear in a stand of oaks during the rut. Or seeing the buck of your dreams appear out of nowhere and be gone just as quick leaving you breathless and you jaw resting on your treestand. The big bruisers that bust outta the cornfields doggin does...i wish October would get here.

[martinbowhunter]

you don't know what your missing. There's nothing like hunting a whitetail dear in a stand of oaks during the rut. Or seeing the buck of your dreams appear out of nowhere and be gone just as quick leaving you breathless and you jaw resting on your treestand. The big bruisers that bust outta the cornfields doggin does...i wish October would get here.

You just had to go there huh? Care to rub it in more? So when you watch that buck of a lifetime walk away, is it kinda like watching a big fat juicy piece of onion fall to the floor? Lol. You know, you get that long noooooooooooooooooooooooo and then wanna cry right after. lol