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Those are both awesome stories

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When i tell my wife I will be home at 1pm and I catch the dogs at 1 am!

RutRow!

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I hunted my Plott Dolly and Walker Lola on foot in the Pisgah National Forest for bear again this year. They had been logging off and on in the area I planned to hunt that day, so I kept an ear to the CB radio on the drive there, and didn’t see any trucks working so I started on my hike around 6am. It was raining and the trails we either large stone chunks or snot-like mud depending on where you stepped. By noon the rain had let up some, and not finding any fresh tracks I started back to the Subaru. I made it within a mile of the car when a logging truck came thundering down the trail. There was no dragging the dogs up the mountain to my right so I dove downhill directly onto a fresh track of some unknown animal. The dogs pull me down the mountain in full cry and my foot caught a vine at about the same time the muzzle of my rifle was shoved into the mud bringing me to a halt. I called the dogs and got them to slacken the leashes enough to get my foot out of the vine and figure out which way was up. Tired, wet, and now very muddy I started making my way to the Subaru when a couple of armed hunters ran past me. When I got to the gate I found about a dozen pickup trucks with dog boxes. Unfortunately, they were a little late to the party because the bear had already crossed the trail well ahead of their dogs.

Sounds like that was a popular spot

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My worst jam came on a fall coon hunt where we where it was late and we were going to try one last field. It was my hunting partner who got the worst of it. Running in country we were not familiar with and during that dreaded time when the ponds start to freeze up but the coon are starting to get prime and worth a decent nickel. I was an early teenager along with my dad and a family friend who was about a dozen years older than I. Dogs took off on a track and split so dad followed our dog which went out of the section and into the next, so he had to backtrack to the truck to go find him.

My friend and I followed his dog Nikki and she went off the other direction. We went her direction but she got out of earshot so we kept going. We then saw she had gone over a little ridge and could hear her barking bit it sounded kind of funny. As we topped the ridge we saw why. Nikki was out in the middle of a partially froze pond and the coon was trying to drown her. Like I said, we were in new country didnt know that pind existed. We immediately knew that time was limited.

Oddly enough there was a house on the opposite side of the pond so we booked it over there and I rapped on the door. Their garage door was open so my hunting partner was already scoping out what was available. An middle aged guy turned on the light and came down wondering what was going on. We explained and although not overly excited for the sleep interruption he said to take whatever we might need to being it back to the house. We found a partially inflated raft and all the extension cords we could find.

We got back to the water and Nikki was still swimming but her strength was waining, the coon had climbed out by them We tied all the cords together and the around him, then he shimmied all the way out to her. Our plan was working until he had to lift her out of the water. That's when the ice gave way on him. To get out to her, I had to go a ways out on the ice for the cord to reach. I knew when he went down that this cord and I were the only way he makes it out. So as he's trying to get back up on the ice I'd pull on the cord but the ice would give way. About this time the ice went out on me. Luckily it was only up to my waist but still quite the cold shock. When this happened I'd keep pulling but I started to break ice out to him. I went as far as I could touch and it was just a little but before we had the ice and a path broke to shore. My friend still had ahold of Nikki as he got to me and I took her from him. He was starting to get disoriented from the hypo, so I told him to head to the house light and I had Nikki. I'd be right behind him. I watched as he staggered side to side heading to the light. The homeowner was out at that time and as my friend got there he rushed him into his house to get him into a warm shower.

I'd like to tell ya that Nikki made it but she was gone when my friend handed me her. I knew it at the time but I tried to blow in her nose on the shore. Didnt work. About the time I had carried her to to the house the ambulance showed up. They thought I was the victim but I said the guy you really need to look at is inside. You can check me out after you look at him. About this time my dad had found us and rye sun was just starting to come up for the day.. It took a little awhile but my friend warmed up and we had some spare dry clothes for him to change into. It was a long quiet ride home.

David is completely right in that some situations put you in that you've got 2 minutes to live scenarios. And sometimes you can extend that a few minutes when someone is there to help. Our family friend is/was a tough SOB but that cold almost had him and if he had been alone I dont know if the outcome had been the same. At some point rationale thought isnt possible. I grew up a lot in that night and saw first hand the connection we can get to our dogs. Was it smart, nope and might not do it again. But at that time it seemed like what should be done and a guy also has to look in the mirror and be able to say he did all he could.

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Man Nolte, that's a heck of a story. I hate to hear that Nikki didn't make it. I can sure understand what you mean about growing up a lot that night. The difference maker was the fact that neither of you panicked or the outcome would likely have been different. Composure is a game changer in disparate times. I saw it first hand multiple times working for the prison system. Likely you are just as salty as your friend was.

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I'm think of one particular hunt everytime I'm see a bodarc (spelling?) tree. For those of you that have never seen or heard of one, consider yourself lucky. The only reason there aren't more thorns on them is because there isn't room. The old saying that everything in Texas will bite ya, sting ya, or poke ya rings true pretty often. We had gone hog hunting one summer night with my buddies uncle and his older nephew from his wife's side of the family. I can't remember now what it was but I had gone back to the truck to get something. I knew where they were walking to so I said I'd meet them there. As I was getting to truck the dogs put up bay several hundred yards from me so I put it in high gear. I took a more direct path to the dogs not the one I took getting to the truck. I hit this open field a couple hundred yards from the bay and my little cheapy light started ttogo dead. I stopped and shook it and it came back on then went off. About that time I heard something blow I knew the sound and it could only be 2 things. One didn't bother me but the other might be a problem. I shook the light, aimed it in the direction and turned it on. Sure enough it wasn't the good option, it was a sizable hog. Soon as the light hit it, here it came. Well the race was on out in this nearly pitch black pasture. I dropped the light because it wasn't doing me any good and all I could make out was a lone tree out in the middle of the open ground and figured it might be my best bet. As I neared it I could tell there was a limb I could jump and grab and sling my legs up around the trunk as it wasn't real big climb able tree. It was all kinda just one motion as I did it. The second I grabbed it and it was too late and I couldn't stop my legs from wrapping either as they were a millisecond behind my hands. It was instant shock. I looked down to see the hog standing there looking up at me. It was treed lol. It stood there a blew at me a few times then they shot a hog at the bay and my hog broke and ran. It was a chore getting down from that tree. Likely I could've let go and I wouldn't have fallen. It was like I was velcroed to it. I finally got free of it but it had torn my pants and long sleeve shirt all to pieces and I was bleeding from more places than I could count. I finally got to the others and they asked where I had been and what the heck got ahold of me so I had to tell the story. I wish I had said a bear ahold of me and I won but I told the truth. They laughed till they cried. That was the last time I EVER ran from a hog. I had to soak in Epsom salt baths for a week. I was so sore for a couple days I couldn't stand myself.

I don't know why it won't turn the picture correctly but maybe y'all can see it still. This is what I had grabbed ahold of. I took this picture one more recent hunt because it made me think of that night and I wanted to show y'all.

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Good stories guys!!