Amazing wildlife stories!

Last week I had the most amazing thing to me while I was out trying to fill my antlerless elk tag... And it was just a simple reminder of why I love being out in the woods... no matter what the case may be. I would LOVE to hear anyone else's stories of amazing things that have happened in the woods! Here is mine!


So this morning (2/11/10) started out as all hunting mornings do for me... get up at 4:45, leave the house by 5:30... get up to the private farm that I
hunt at about 6:20... get my boots on and start walking the trail to
what we call Packards Creek. I have a damage control tag for an
antlerless elk specifically for this farm, and there are three herds
wandering around up there. So I start up the trail, checking the
popular crossings the elk use as highways to get from the mountain, to
the grass fields below. Nothing fresher than about 4 days old at any of
the crossings... but I continued back to the fields at Packards Creek.
Less and less sign is around as I get farther down the trail... until I
get to the last hill that drops into the field. What I came up on was
just amazing, scary, and awesome all at the same time. At the foot of
the hill is an OLD logging bridge that spans between the field and the
hillside (Over the top of Packards Creek). For the last two years I've
walked or ridden over this bridge well over 100 times. I've seen bear,
ducks, beavers, yotes, elk, and a bobcats all over this trail... but
this was different. An elk,.. on the bridge! seemingly bedded down on
the bridge... ok... weird? I looked around for the herd to be in the
field beyond her.. nothing. I came in a little closer trying to get a
clear shot at her, I brought my rifle up but she's just a yearling... I
don't want to take something so young, and also...............she's
only half on the bridge! Her hind legs are hanging off the right side
of the bridge, I take a closer look through my scope and I can see why
she's sitting so precariously. Her left front foot is stuck in a hole
in the bridge. I take a couple steps forward and she see's me, she
starts bawling, and struggling trying to get away. I'm now stuck with a
moral decision... do I take the animal to put her out of her misery? Do
I go down and try to free her? I mean... I do have a tag for and elk...
and she would fill it... but that's most definitely not hunting or
sportsman-like... shooting an elk who is trapped and struggling... so I
hang my gun on a near-by alder branch and slowly walk down to her. At
first she's going crazy. So I come up with a plan to try to get her
whole body on the bridge first... then try to free her foot. So I use
some of the cattle pushing techniques I've seen, and grab her by her
right flank, and managed to pull the wiggling animal up on the bridge,
she landed on top of me on her side, but quickly stood up I rolled out
from under her to avoid getting kicked or trampled. At this point, she
calms down, she's got her legs under her again, but still stuck. So I
approach again... from the front so she can see me, she lets me touch
her neck, cautiously.... I happen to always carry a leatherman with me
in the woods... my old hunting partner gave it to me last year when I
got my elk... and its been a life saver (LITERALLY!). I look at how
she's stuck... her foot is caught between a jagged piece of old steel,
and a log. The steel was the covering of the bridge at one point, but
now has deteriorated to the point that it is thin and weak. I've seen
the hole in the bridge there before... but just made sure to avoid it
so I wouldn't fall through. Well... she wasn't so lucky. I started
bending up the jagged edge of the the old steel... but still her foot
won't free up enough to slip out, so I use my body to push pull her
towards the edge of the bridge, she stumbled towards me, almost
knocking me off the bridge, but it tilts her foot just enough for her
to slip it out of the hole! I reef up on her foot while its tilted and
put it on dry land. It took her a couple seconds to realize that she
was free... I gave her a couple pets on her side and then she was off!
She gave a couple wobbly legged cow kicks and ran into the field,
stopping about 50 yards away and looking back at me before she walked
away towards a trail to the top of the mountain. In the end... I may be
a hunter... and I have the ability to taking an elk right now... but I
have never felt better about ignoring both of those facts, and doing
whats right. Helping an animal who without my help, would have surely
died hanging there, or been killed by a bear. This is easily the most
rewarding day of hunting I've ever had... I wish every hunter out there
gets the opportunity to do something like this. The rewarding feeling
is FAR better than any trophy...