What is the strangest thing you've ever witnessed in the outdoors?

[huntfishtrap]

What is the strangest thing you've ever witnessed in the outdoors?

[JM]

There was a big dead tree on our farm and I noticed something white through a small rotted out opening about 4 feet from the base of the tree so I pulled on a piece of bark to expose it. There were a ton of big bones(ribs, etc.) which I am guessing(hoping) were deer bones. No holes in the trunk(besides the very tiny rotted opening which allowed me to see the bones), but it was hollow and there was an opening about 15-20 feet up in the tree where it had fallen/broken in half. I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really think much of it until later on. I eventually went back out to look for it but I have never been able to find the tree again.

[Gary Devine]

Thirty years ago my brother, a friend and I were walking around on the sunny side summit of Mount Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap. We were an hour away from our vehicle parked in the parking lot off of Route 80. It was during summer and we were looking for good tree stand location to hunt deer in the fall.

We were walking down the trail single file and I was In the back. I looked down and spotted a poisonous copperhead snake lying across the trail sunning himself, after the other two just walked over top of it. I yelled Copperhead and scared the snake. My brother turned around and saw it also as it crawl away down into the rocks.

I still can't believe they didn't step on the snake or why the snake didn't bite one of them. A Guardian Angel was with us that day.
Gary

[huntfishtrap]

There was a big dead tree on our farm and I noticed something white through a small rotted out opening about 4 feet from the base of the tree so I pulled on a piece of bark to expose it. There were a ton of big bones(ribs, etc.) which I am guessing(hoping) were deer bones. No holes in the trunk(besides the very tiny rotted opening which allowed me to see the bones), but it was hollow and there was an opening about 15-20 feet up in the tree where it had fallen/broken in half. I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really think much of it until later on. I eventually went back out to look for it but I have never been able to find the tree again.

That would definitely get a person's imagination going! I am assuming that the bones were too big to have been from a raccoon? If so, my first guess would be that an owl had a nest in that tree at some point in the past, and hauled in deer parts that someone had dumped to feed the young, but owls aren't really scavengers, and ribs would be a pretty large object for them to carry off anyway.

[huntfishtrap]

I'm not sure I can say definitively what the strangest thing I've ever seen is, but definitely one of the strangest happened just this past fall. I was fall turkey hunting on a piece of public land in late November when I saw another hunter's stand. I went over to take a closer look at it to see what kind of a setup they had, and when I walked up I saw a big 11 point buck laying dead not 15 yards from the stand. My first thought was that they must've just shot the deer had hadn't dragged it out yet, even though I hadn't seen a soul around. But then my brain caught up with my eyes and I realized that the deer was partially covered with snow that had fallen a week before, so I knew that scenario was out. Upon closer inspection I concluded that it must've died after being hit by a vehicle on one of the the nearby roads, because there were no visible arrow or bullet wounds, one hind leg was broken, and the rack had several freshly-chipped tines. Finding a big buck dead in and of itself wasn't that unusual, but finding one that had died from a car collision within spitting distance of another hunter's treestand was definitely incongruous.

[jhjimbo]

There was a big dead tree on our farm and I noticed something white through a small rotted out opening about 4 feet from the base of the tree so I pulled on a piece of bark to expose it. There were a ton of big bones(ribs, etc.) which I am guessing(hoping) were deer bones. No holes in the trunk(besides the very tiny rotted opening which allowed me to see the bones), but it was hollow and there was an opening about 15-20 feet up in the tree where it had fallen/broken in half. I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really think much of it until later on. I eventually went back out to look for it but I have never been able to find the tree again.

Did the tree grow around the bones or the entrance to the cavity?

[charlie elk]

How about finding some pockets of fabulous pheasant hunting in IA?
Here's my highly trained Vic the turkey dog 2 timing on pheasants. I've heard it said some Iowa residents would find this a strange occurrence.

[huntfishtrap]

There was a big dead tree on our farm and I noticed something white through a small rotted out opening about 4 feet from the base of the tree so I pulled on a piece of bark to expose it. There were a ton of big bones(ribs, etc.) which I am guessing(hoping) were deer bones. No holes in the trunk(besides the very tiny rotted opening which allowed me to see the bones), but it was hollow and there was an opening about 15-20 feet up in the tree where it had fallen/broken in half. I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really think much of it until later on. I eventually went back out to look for it but I have never been able to find the tree again.

What JHP said was going to be my other guess. If it was a big tree those bones would've had to have been really old though. My brother found the skeleton of a deer that had become stuck in a forked tree and died one time, so that kind of thing does happen.

[huntfishtrap]

How about finding some pockets of fabulous pheasant hunting in IA?
Here's my highly trained Vic the turkey dog 2 timing on pheasants. I've heard it said some Iowa residents would find this a strange occurrence.

Lol, good one charlie. I kind of walked into that one didn't I? BTW, in case it wasn't obvious, I wasn't serious when I asked where your secret pheasant honey holes were. I would never ask somebody to reveal their hunting spots.

[jhjimbo]

I guess when I am miles from the closest road over rough terrain, I am surprised to see vehicles and vehicle parts, refrigerators and stoves, and heavy wood stoves.

[charlie elk]

How about finding some pockets of fabulous pheasant hunting in IA?
Here's my highly trained Vic the turkey dog 2 timing on pheasants. I've heard it said some Iowa residents would find this a strange occurrence.

Just couldn't resist...
All in good spirits and grins.

[Gary Devine]

Thirty years ago my brother, a friend and I were walking around on the sunny side summit of Mount Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap. We were an hour away from our vehicle parked in the parking lot off of Route 80. It was during summer and we were looking for good tree stand location to hunt deer in the fall.

We were walking down the trail single file and I was In the back. I looked down and spotted a poisonous copperhead snake lying across the trail sunning himself, after the other two just walked over top of it. I yelled Copperhead and scared the snake. My brother turned around and saw it also as it crawl away down into the rocks.

I still can't believe they didn't step on the snake or why the snake didn't bite one of them. A Guardian Angel was with us that day.
Gary

Copperheads are located in the center of this country toward the east coast. I found this photo online for the guys to see from the other half of the country. Gary

[4everAutumn]

Several years ago, we were duck hunting and watched three deer swim toward us across the Des Moines River. There was a six point buck, a ten point buck and a doe. The larger buck chased off the younger one and bred the doe in the shallow water a few feet from our decoys. Those were the days when I didn't always pack a camera. Now, when I am out, I have one at all times.

[4everAutumn]

I shot this Lesser Scaup with a green rubber band around its head in 1990. All we could figure is that he picked it up thinking it was edible, or along with a bill full of something that was. The rubber band was obviously keeping the duck from eating. I really don't know how it was able to fly, as it had very little muscle mass left.

[JM]

There was a big dead tree on our farm and I noticed something white through a small rotted out opening about 4 feet from the base of the tree so I pulled on a piece of bark to expose it. There were a ton of big bones(ribs, etc.) which I am guessing(hoping) were deer bones. No holes in the trunk(besides the very tiny rotted opening which allowed me to see the bones), but it was hollow and there was an opening about 15-20 feet up in the tree where it had fallen/broken in half. I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really think much of it until later on. I eventually went back out to look for it but I have never been able to find the tree again.

No, the tree definitely did not grow around the bones. The bones were pretty much buried in dirt/rotted tree that had fallen on top of them, so age is a mystery. I recall for sure that many of the bones were still attached to each other, so I doubt that a bird could've pick it up, although we do have bald eagles around here occasionally. This was a very large, hollow tree. It definitely did not grow around the bones. They 100% had to of been dropped in from up top. Scary part is that I really can't think of any animal capable of doing it besides humans.