Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska bearhuntr sets new high jump world record

Should have posted this in the trapping section...

The other day I had an hour to kill and a particularly good trap set was calling. With the warming trend we had recently I realized that this trap's location would cause it to be in jeopardy of becoming uncovered. Sure enough, after hiking into the area, I found it partially exposed. After rebedding it and covering the scent post with a little Yote urine, I took off around the backside of the set to inspect two snares covering the main trails to the bait.

Snare #1 was working fine. Where was snare #2? I took the trail over the 50' to it and discovered what I was dreading most...lots of moose tracks and poop everywhere. I could see the support wire and, as always when a moose hits it, it was straight. I use break-away locks so it's never been a problem retaining a moose. I still do not like it and take every precaution humanly possible to avoid those encounters.

I grabbed the #9 wire and pulled on it to inspect the cable when all of a sudden it pulled back! The dang coyote had been hunkered down behind the dense spruce and was amazingly hidden. I've been startled more than once in my life but this was one of the doosies . As friend Ironbender would say, the leap was a "GAZERED" 9' 2 and a 1/2". Glad it wasn't a grizz on the end of the snare . The Ruger Bearcat would have had one helluva time with that!

best,
bhtr

I hope you had some T.P.

Good story bearhuntr! I had something similar happen last year. I went to dispatch a fox and the dang thing came after me. When it bit my snowpants, I screamed like a little girl. If someone would have had a video camera, it would have been worth the embarrassment for a million dollars.

Didn't have any along, mores the pity. After seeing another thread involving a certain NASA astronaut, there might be something in that "space-age diaper" thing after all!

best,
bhtr

bearhuntr,
That was an entertaining read. Thanks! I'm thinking I would've reacted the same way only I might have cleared 12'.

Great story . I am familiar with the accelerative properties of adrenaline, having once, long ago and far away, uncovered a smallish rattlesnake whilst picking wild strawberries in the grass. I believe I still hold the Missouri State Record for the squatting backwards longjump, at about eleventeen feet .

So let's see a pic of Wiley the Wannabe Escapee .

Troy,

Records are made to be broken! The more I hang around Ironbender the more positive I am that he'll be the one.

You'll have your hands full!

best,
bhtr

I'll just concede right now as Ironbender can likely out jump...unless of course we are talking rattle snakes and then my elevation and hang time have yet to reach there limits. I envy the fact you don't have to deal with the sneaky little buzzworms.

One of the reasons I live in Alaska !

I'm right here, guys, and I can hear y'all talking about me!

So Mark, How do you like the IB2500 model Gazer unit so far?

BTW; no school today, awesome school conferences yeaterday, and I'm taking a young man to the range here shortly:)

Should add: I'll give you $250 for the hide!

Now that was funny. I don't care who you are, that was funny. I would probably have got bit as I tend to be a little gravitationally challenged.

Big Sky - I know what you mean about the buzz-worms. My wife is from Miles City, so I've spent some time around there.

It's real hard to get any distance or elevation inside an air conditioned tractor cab, but when that (estimated 6' rattler, just as he went under the disc blades) went off right under the cab, I got 4 real good ricochets. Left a wow in my pattern, too. It was so loud I honestly thought he was right under my seat, inside the cab.

I have no idea how those toenail marks got in the metal roof of that cab, as I was wearing heavy boots at the time. The fingernail marks are somewhat more understandable.

I discovered another time that it's hard to push her away from a snake when both my feet are off the ground.

I once shot a running fork-horn moose just as it turned toward the swamp. Spine-shot, though I didn't know it at the time. Momentum carried him 10 or 15 feet out, into about 16 inches of water and muck. Walking up, I put another one into the back of his head from 6 yards, parked the rifle against a nearby bush on dry ground a feet back, and waded out to start the retrieval. When I grabbed his antler to turn him around and pull him back to dry ground, he blinked at me.

Levitation 101!

Oh, yeah. There was the time my growing-up buddy and I were shooting dump rats back in ND. I kicked over a sheet of something, and 3 rats under it charged him. He got two for two with his semi-auto .22 but ran out of time. The third one ran up his pant leg. Inside. Best break dancing I've ever witnessed, well before it was invented.

For several years afterward I'd referred to his "rat-dance" . Never really made the connection before now!

I was laughing so hard. And very thankful they picked him and not me, with my single-shot. Empty, as I'd gotten the 4th one as it went for other cover.

I did quit giving him chit about needing more than one shot and spraying bullets all over the place.

You guys are making me laugh... But I miss rattlesnakes! Used to make a concerted effort to catch and mess with bunches of them in Eastern WA, eons ago.

Can relate to the hiding snared yote though. Had one I assumed was dead because it was laid out flat and unmoving, tangled up short around a stub or three. When the snare wire jerked free Wiley thought he had a chance and made a miraculous recovery and dash... right to the end of the snare wire. Did not have time to get scared before he hit the end of the line.

But the one that really scared me was the only hound hunt I have ever been on for black bears. When a bear crossed a logging road and turned toward me I did as directed and dropped him. decided to gut him right away because it was plenty warm.

Squatted over the bear and started to unzip the belly when I heard a low rumbling growl sort of thing. Backing up fast I tripped and was surrounded by fur. In a panic, the dogs coming in quiet was the absolute last thing on my mind... But that was all it was... Cannot remember (admit?) to the sound I might have made.
art

I used to catch a few western rattlesnakes in Asotin county, WA. They were generally docile, but they could scare the crap out of you at times just with a brisk rattle. Beautiful coloration.

Good narrative!!!!
Talk about a wake up call....WOW
I know what my skivvies would be lookin' like after that encounter.

Don

I had a similar experience when I investigated the reason for a raven's interest in a snow covered beaver lodge miles from anything other than wide open, snow covered tundra. Turns out I was unknowingly checking a friend's trap which he had set at this point of interest. Had I known why, I surely wouldn't have "sneaked" up the back side of that lodge to peer over the top at a wolverine on a six foot bracelet. I didn't levitate, but that critter sure did and he was neither silent nor in any way immobile either. And rather than needing TP, I think tranquilizers and and a shoe horn would have been more appropriate for me. I had trouble squeezing out anything larger than a mouse turd for about a week, the pucker was so well cinched. I also discovered that wolverines do not respond well to nose bridge damage. Unlike canids which will generally take a nap after a concussion to the nose, for wolverines it's more like a new set of Energizers when a 160 Failsafe creases their nose - man, that guy was pissed. I finally had take a bit of the hide as well as a hunk of bone in order to expose his brain to the light of day before he settled down. No wonder those little guys are legendarily so much larger than life.

Good one, bearstalker! Sure spawned some damn funny stories, thanks!

One of my biggest scares, happened while trapping as well. I was sqatted down, putting in a dirthole set, in the corner of one of my uncles pastures, in southeast PA, where I grew up. The cows( Brown Swiss) were at least a couple hundred yards away, and I paid them no mind. Well, my "pet" cow decided to come on over, and see what I was up to, and she came in stealthy. So I'm sifting dirt over the freshly bedded #1-1/2 Montgomery coil spring, when she sticks her nose against the back of my neck, and exhales through her nostrils! I must have done a 180 while in mid-air, as when my feet hit the ground, I was facing her. She was damn near as startled as I was, and had those bugged out cow eyes, that seemed to say "jeez, a little jumpy, aren't we?" Damn near had a heart attack!

Jeff

Years ago I was fishing a small praire steam with a friend from Az. He had more snake stories than you could shake a stick at.
The steam ran along a dirt cliff that the swallows were nesting on. So we walked up the steam I noticed at bull snake about 5' long working his way up the buff.
Not letting a chance go by I faled to mention this to Jeff until he was about 3' away and eye level with the snake.
I now truely believe that Jesus walked on water because I saw Jeff also do it that day and at the same time trying to get a revolver out of his chest waders.