"They are surrounding us!" a bit off topic..

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:34 am

Yesterday my wife and I loaded up the kids and a trailer and quadded off into the bush to find a place to camp for the night, around 9:30 we were in the tent and heard a large flock of geese land in the river beside us, they quieted down before long though..
About 1:30 in the morning I woke up to an erie loud squealing sound (my wife can duplicate it perfectly now), I raised my head and scanned the tent and did a quick head check, everyone was accounted for. I whispered "did you hear that?" across the tent and the wife replied with "yes, they are big and they are surrounding us, did you bring a gun?" I was thinking coyotes even though they sounded much bigger, couldn't imagine what my wife was thinking it was.
I slipped on my shoes quietly and grabbed a larger than average flashlight, the whole time these things are still walking around the tent breaking sticks, at least one making that awful squealing sound and pounding/scratching at the ground.. The tent is old so unzipping the door quietly wasn't really an option, but I tried anyways, the animals seemed not to care..
I jumped out the hole in the door shotgun in one hand, big flashlight in the other, I thought I was in for a good coyote shoot..
As I buzzed the light around I seen what was responsible for all the racket, I lost track at 11 deer! They didn't budge, the one that was making the weird noise was still going at it about 10 yards behind the tent, stomping and "squealing" the others just stood around staring at me. My wife asked what was going on, when I told her it was just deer she just started laughing.. The things completely surrounded our make-shift campsite, fire still smoldering, kids snoring, me racking a #4 into the chamber.. I literally had to wave my arms in the air and yell to make the things leave.. It was very exhilarating.. Don't know what made them act like that but I picked out a nice tree to hang a stand from, unloaded my gun and went back to bed..

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:21 pm

Cool experience. Deer can indeed make some funny noises ... and they are LOUD in the woods at night, as you discovered!

Thanks for sharing!

MADMAX2 · Post by **MADMAX2** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:24 pm

I think they know its not season yet

sounds like a good spot for opening day

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:28 pm

The only reason I didn't associate the noise to deer was the sheer volume of the verbal noises, they were just not something I would expect a deer to do.. Live and learn..

Andre Leblanc · Post by **Andre Leblanc** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:25 pm

hey Pydpiper, you were'nt harvesting some magic mushrooms that day by any chance were you? lol
Hope I experience the same one day.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:34 pm

Rule #1, never plant where you sleep.. Or vise versa..

If my wife wasn't there to witness the whole thing I would have questioned it too

.

Andre Leblanc wrote:hey Pydpiper, you were'nt harvesting some magic mushrooms that day by any chance were you? lol
Hope I experience the same one day.

R.J. · Post by **R.J.** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:31 pm

Cool experience .... thanks for sharing ... cool to see that many deer in one place , you were definately surrounded !

LV2HNT · Post by **LV2HNT** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:17 am

I wish you could have taped it. There were several occasions when my girlfriend and I would be sitting in our house at night watching TV when we would hear this crazy sound coming from the woods behind the house. Every time I would go outside to investigate, I would turn up nothing because it was dark and I couldn't see far enough back into the woods to figure it out or it would run when I came out. It went on for a while. Sometimes nightly and sometimes every week or two. I wish I could have taped it because it was one of the weirdest sounds I have ever heard. It was kind of like a long wheeze and a horrible, high pitched scream mixed together and it kept repeating over and over again for a very long time untill it was far enough away for the sound to dissapear. I thought maybe a coyote had gotten a hold of a cat or something but it lasted way too long.

I was stumped untill one night when it happened and I ran outside armed with a big flashlight. Like usual it ran off but it went down the creek staying near the edge of the woods instead of heading up the hill further back into the wood lot. I turned on my flashlight and started scanning the trees and a couple eyes appeared, then a bunch more. It turned out to be a good sized heard of deer. They were pretty spaced out. A few hear and a one or two there. They were just walking around and didn't seem to be threatened but one of the ones in the group just kept making that noise. I wish I could desribe it. I think that if I were alone in the middle of the forest going hunting one morning and heard it I would probably run back to my truck thinking that there was some kind of murder taking place. I have never heard a deer make that noise before. I figured that because it was only one deer making the noise that maybe it had some kind of a birth defect or injury that was the causing the sound. I wonder if it was the same sound you heard?

navaman · Post by **navaman** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:37 pm

the same thing happened to me in '99 at big bend national park in texas. i was camped on the south rim and they woke me up in the morning with their commotion. they hung around while i made my coffee and just kept looking at me like ; "what are you doing here ? " one more thing . those deer have never been hunted in their life and have no fear of humans. they're called carmen whitetail deer. i believe in arizona they're called cous deer. for me it also was an experience i won't forget either.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:22 pm

I had my camera there and could have got it on video, or at least the vocals, but seeing deer is not what I was expecting when I emerged from the tent.. Then I got so caught up in the fact that it was one of them making that weird noise and that they weren't taking off at the sight of me I never considered trying to capture the scene.. However, it is one I won't soon forget.
LV2HNT, that is as good as I can describe it, the same way you are, again, my wife can duplicate the sound close enough that it still sends chills down my spine. Sounds like you heard what we heard.
That is my 4th time in these particular woods for a nighttime, and the third time I have heard it, the first time I was in the tent with my cousin, his dog and my 4 year old son, that time it was right beside the tent when it made the sound, only a few times though, once real close, the dog looked up and growled for a second, then it darted off 50 yards or so, did it again then the next one was very faint. This time it hung around like we owed it something, and was mad..
Now I am tempted to go back down there for a night and try to capture the whole thing on video..

Excalibur Crossbow Forum

"They are surrounding us!" a bit off topic..

"They are surrounding us!" a bit off topic..

surrounding you