What has been your closest buck ....

[growalot]

encounter...be it hunting...hiking or just on your property....

[G-Man]

I use to wrestle a 10pt called bucky in losson park years ago. people fed them back then and deer would eat out of your hand. I still go there (now stiglemeyer park) to tune my grunt tube and practice calls and study deer reactions to them. I distinctly remember the power that buck had while holding on to its horns and thought if it wanted to kill me it probably could.

[noahmstone]

when I was a kid and it was still legal to feed deer part of my fathers job was feeding the deer daily during the winter I have literally pet 12 points. but that isn't really fair considering we were feeding 300+ deer some days. For deer that weren't being fed I have had a six point walk up to about 3 yards while I was on a smoke break at work in the village of Norwood. while hunting or hiking I have had bucks within 10 yards. 

[NYbuck50]

i petted him.  Old Forge, NY

[sampotter]

My Uncle spotted a 10 pt with his antlers stuck in a hammock hanging in someone's yard. He, my  dad, and I cut the deer free. It was a real "hands on" experience.

[Five Seasons]

5' in front of me during turkey season

[mbucks27]

I had two spikes walk 4-5ft next to me while i was still hunting during rifle season.  I could have honestly smacked both of them with my gun if i wanted to.  I was wearing orange so also and they never saw me.  I also had a doe and fawn walk up to me and eat a few yards from my feet while i was sitting up against a tree another year. I don't like being too close to wild animals like that b/c you never know if they are going to spook and run right into you. Even though the bucks were small i still wouldn't want to get hit with a 5" spike.

 

John

[orion]

About 1 foot.  Put some cut limbs behind me and a small buck walked right to them from behind me, Thought for sure he would see me. It was fun until he got too close and I thought those horns will hurt. I was looking at eyelashes! I just froze and he turned a little and walked right by me,

[ants]

When I was in my early 20's. I was bowhunting a stand that was about 40 yards, inside the woods off an open field. I could look out into the field and see a big flock of turkeys on the other side. They were near a hedge row that separated the field from another field. It got to be about 10:30 or so and I hadn't seen a deer but these turkeys were still there. I snuck out of my stand and went back to camp to get my shot gun, figuring that I could sneak along the hedge row and get close enough to get a crack at a bird. About half way up the hedge row, I see this buck crossing the field,to my right, coming from the woods about where my stand was. He was a nice six point and he walked right up to me. I mean right up to me. I was just on the other side of the row and he poked his head out about 5 feet away. We did the stare game for about 10 seconds be for he figured out what I was, and hauled ass. 

 

Never got a shot at one of those turkey's either.  Still fun.

[GreeneHunter]

Years ago climbing down from one of the built-in tree stands I get to ground level and turn around and 5 feet away a Spike is staring at me then runs off !

[BizCT]

Arms length many times with does and small bucks. Eating the bush/tree I am sitting against on the ground.

[Sogaard]

I can get pretty close to the deer in SI before they spook.  I've had does pop out of thick brush 5 feet from me during gun season (but never when I've had a DMP...lol)

[mmkay]

years ago (20+) while I was still hunting a thick swamp I step over a log and stepped over a bedded deer.  Scare the hell out of the deer and me.  didn't get a shot.  it was a small fawn. 

 

I did the same thing a few years ago in the dark walking to my stand, but his time I stepped on a sleeping coyote.  my 250lbs crushed the poor little thing.  It was howling and whining in the dark for about 10 minutes.  Never saw it in the day light.

[Lawdwaz]

Closest kill on a white tail?  3 yards from the base of the tree. 

 

In Colorado one year I had a bull elk 3' (three feet) from the tip of my arrow.  I was hunting with traditional gear and drawing as he was coming straight in wasn't in the equation.  I thought he would swing wide to get my wind but he had other ideas.  He exploded when he saw a 235lb hunk of ...........staring at him, trying to hide behind a little pinion pine.  Twas a religious experience............ 

[NFA-ADK]

  Closest miss was at about 7 ft called in at first light, should have just taken him at 50 yards but he was coming straight for me so I was in no rush, just did not remember to compensate for such a close target when sighted in at 50...  I placed the gun on a rock, I was crouched in boulders, and let the buck walk into the sight and held perfect.  You can imagine my shock when the buck ran a 180 around me and was now about 5 ft away.  Well I tried to pull up on him and finish him but he had other ideas and ran off!   The small trail and spot that he rested proved it was a graze and he ended up back tracking and then headed up a ridge where I lost him.  ARG!!!  That was upsetting to say the least after tracking him the day before and setting up a ambush and calling him into me the next morning, well everything was perfect except for my shot...  ARG!!!!  And so the saga continues... 

[Two Track]

Buck about 10 foot away during season about 2 years ago.   Didn't take the shot as couldn't see any way to get through to where he was in the thick brush.  Of course he went deeper into thick brush and then into the swamp.

 

Back when I was in college, had 2-3 does does run right by me 4-5 feet to my right during season when I was on the old woods road.  Squirrels had been playing there earlier and we were about to head back to the truck so I did not have a round in the chamber at the time.

 

About 4-5 years ago we had 2-3 deer that would walk through the yard and observe the kids playing.  One day one of the young does and my then 8-year-old daughter were cautiously approaching each other.  They got about 3 feet apart before the deer got nervous and bolted.  I was nervous about my kid getting so close to the deer.  Told her to not do that again.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Two Track

[growalot]

Theres been a few over the years...

1...had a buck jump a hedge row and land on me...we got tangled up rolling in the snow kicking each other....I ended up bruised head to toe and slept for 3 days

 

2...Had a doe  come up behind me during turkey season and grab a mouth full of emerging beech leafs and my head net...yanking my head against the tree I was sitting next to...Lol startled us both..
She did the stiff legged stomp back to 10ft from me trying to figure out what I was...until I laughed out loud

3... Had a big 8pt notice me standing still watching him trail a doe...he broke off and walked 15ft or so parallel to me ...I slowly turned in place to stay with him...stinking and in regular work clothes from putting up posted signs. I let the hammer I held slowly drop down for a better grip...for he walked past me then dropped down and came up my back trail...he got to with in feet of me...I could see the follicles his whiskers came out of...  lip curled..bobbed his head and then turned and walked away...So...OK that scared the crud out of me...and will never let an encounter go that far again

 

4... a few fawns bounce off my legs ...running in the wrong direction when spooked

 

5...Walking to stand in the dark busted some deer...so I stomped and snorted back......Next thing I know I here the stiff legged stomp... so I laid my bow down ..squatted and tucked my head..I was next to some young pine.. the deer kept coming and next thing I know a tine slides up next to my face and a buck snorts in my ear...and runs away......Ya got up after he ran...and ran for my stand...lol

 

 

That a few

(sp)

Edited September 11, 2013 by growalot

[sampotter]

My little brother was about 8 years old when he was riding his bike from our house down to the farm about 1/2 mile away. The trail crossed a couple of standing cornfields. Halfway through the 2nd one he suddenly heard something crashing through the corn towards him. This was a boy's worst nightmare come true! Panicking, he pedaled faster but the animal matched his speed. Presently, a body flew through the air and WHAM! -knocked him clean off his bike. He landed with the creature on top of him in a tangled mess of cornstalks. He swears he still isn't sure whom was screaming louder; him or the spotted fawn.  

[ncountry]

Had a small buck , don't remember how many points get tangled in a fence next to my house. Took me a few minutes and a few bruises ,when he was struggling to get out , but I got him untangled. Afterwards somebody asked me how come I didn't shoot him( it was hunting season) . It just didn't seem right , the thought never entered my mind. Shot a decent 7 point last year at about 10' with ml.

[Geno C]

i mean ive pet some that were tame before at parks or zoos but the closest wild experience ive had was about 2 years ago i had a basket 8 walk up to me less then 8 feet to my side in my down wind side. walked right to the side of me and literally got right next to me before he even noticed me. he was looking up and down for a min or two trying to get me to move, he was breathing so loud. i never ran off just walked off when he saw i never budged. but if i extended the gun out to my side the barrel could have hit him in the nose. 

[ncountry]

Does it have to be horizontal distance?? I have had too many to remember that I could have dropped something on the head.. lol

[apoallo]

3 feet my first bow season. I hunted from the ground and shot at a doe and the arrow it a small branch that I didn't see and flew off. the doe ran but I got up to see if there were any blood on the ground. while I was looking (about 10 yards from the spot I was sitting) a small 4 was walking with his nose to the ground and walked about 3 feet from me. I didn't know what to do so I stood still and looked mback to where I was sitting and noticed I left my bow there.... for a split second I th9ought ablout jumping on its back.

[Doc]

There was one time where if I hadn't have taken a step sideways to get behind a tree, I would have been run over by a deer during a drive. He stomped right through the very spot that I jumped from. No, I didn't get the deer. I didn't even get my gun up.

[growalot]

I love reading these...it's what makes being out there exciting and fun...ya just never know....things the kids coming up should read to peek their interest in the possibilities of being out doors....

[Paula]

My closest was ones that others have killed .  .  .