What is the smartest and dumbest thing you have ever seen a hunted animal do? Was calling once out of the back of a truck. Looked down on the side of the truck and a gray fox was peeing on the tire, marking his territory, I guess. Never figured out if this was smart or dumb. I had a shotgun and did not shoot for fear of hitting the tire. Fox looked up as I looked down and he was out of there.

Funny you mention this. We were calling late one night and on our last set as we called from the high rack I caught a glimmer directly below. I shined down directly behind the tailgate and there was an ole bobcat sitting in the road 2 feet from the truck just watching us look 100-200 yards out. 2 seconds later he was gone. Probably my best predator hunt memory and we didn’t even kill on that set. Just an awesome experience.

This also falls into the smart AND dumb categories. Was hunting a feeder that didn't really have a stand, just a brush blind and an old bus seat with a shooting rest. Had some does show up for the afternoon feeding and the stupid feeder didn't go off. After about 15 minutes of milling around, one of the does walks the 140 yards up to my brush blind and stands there about 20 yards away staring at me. I finally get up and walk down to the feeder, which was jammed. The deer trotted off a little ways and as soon as I spun the feeder and started walking back to the blind, here they came and pounced on the corn. Yeah, I think some of the smarter deer know when you're there and they know where the corn comes from.

We trapped a hog, or should I say a really large boar. The plan was to let him out and shoot him as he ran off and out of the trap. So, the smart thing was to stand to the side and behind the trap when we let him out. The dumb thing was, that hog went 100 mph out of that cage and made an about face right at all of us. Scattered us like chickens, and we only got a shot or two off on him.

Dumbest, my stepdad emptied the mag in his pump .22 at a squirrel, out the window of my mom’s car from like ten yards? Squirrel sitting straight up on his haunches never moved. He reloaded and aimed center mass and got him.

Smartest? I swear the other doe behind the one i shot this year paused and crouched behind her back half. Call me crazy, that’s what she did. Maybe just coincidence but as soon as i released my arrow she ran off wheezing and the younger dumber doe i shot did’t go ten yards.

I had a pair of does that came out and one of them went crazy snorting at me. She got behind a bush, so I shot the other one, DRT. That really set her off! She stomped around for a couple of minutes snorting up a storm. Then she decided to go check on her dead pal. Oops.


Worst was the turkeys (and I thnk I've posted this before). Everyday they'd fly down from their roost, and then run up and down the fence for 30 minutes before one would fly over it, reminding all of them 'Hey, this is how we did it yesterday.' Thank God Ben Franklin didn't get his way.

No wild animal that's dumb makes it to adulthood. They just have a different perception of the tame world we live in and don't respond to it the same way we do.

Once watched a Bluebird playing with a feather. It carried it up in the air before releasing it, then flew back to catch it once it had fallen some distance. It must have repeated this 10 or more times before stopping. Have no idea if it was for fun or if it had a purpose in mind.

I've also seen Cormorants work together to herd small fish into a smaller area to feed on them.

Hunt turkeys with a shotgun or bow at close range and without bait and you might come to respect their ability to fool you.

They are the dumbest smartest animals out there.

Had an 8 point buck with narrow spread and really dark horns on camera on and off all summer and fall. When I was trying to switch from protein to corn, both times I went to do this, the roads were muddy and I could not get to my feeder. So, the protein to corn switch did not occur until the 2nd weekend of hunting season. I set up my corn feeder and was in the process of filling it from a small A frame ladder. I looked up and this small 8 pointer was walking up to the feed pen. It sort of scared me because he was right there next to me so quickly. I climbed down from the ladder, got another bag of corn and poured it into the feeder. He stood outside the feed pen which is way too small and looked at me. Next bag when I climbed down from the ladder he moved off about 10 yards or so, but came right back after I climbed down. I went out the gate opposite of him, put my stuff back in the truck, and he ate corn that was thrown when I tested the feeder. He was closer to me when I was on the ladder than I have ever been to a deer. I could have spit on him and I am not a good spitter. All of this occurred the 2nd weekend of rifle season. A week later I was in my blind at the same feeder and had been really quiet getting set up. He fed around the feeder for a few minutes, walked up the little hill to within about 30 yards of my blind and never took his eyes off of the blind. His hocks were dark and stained, and I guess he was starting to rut. He was on high alert that day while a week before he practically ate out of my hand. Maybe someone raised him on a bottle or he frequented a feeder behind someone's house. No idea. I just know I kept my eyes on him the entire time he was close.

I went camping with my family several years ago to Palmetto State Park. Camp was set up and fire going that evening and were ready to make some smores over the campfire. Had everything out and ready on top of the picnic table. Then, both my daughters needed to go to the restroom as well as my wife which was just a short walk away from camp. We had opened up the bag of marshmallows and left them on the table. Well, this smart grey fox jumped up on the table and grabbed the whole bag of marshmallows and decided to take it back to his hollow log in the woods. You talk about an easy trail to follow. With my flashlight, those white marshmallows were easy to follow for about 50 yards to his hiding place. We still had enough in the bag to make a few smores!

First year I had a lease in Texas, opening afternoon a good doe walks in to about 10 yards of the feeder on the woods side. Stands there and looks back, then I heard buck grunts. Nice 8pt comes in grunting with the doe standing there he starts rubbing on a small sappling. I shot him and he dropped there. The doe took a couple hops stopped looked back at the buck, then at me and back to the buck. Then she flicked her tail some and walked off. Almost like I brought him to you, thanks for stopping him from chasing me.

THIS.


Mine is a "Dumbest Thing Squared" that makes me smile EVERY time I recall it, so bear with me.

My turkey experience was when I was working on a ranch in high school. The ranch was absolutely L-O-A-D-E-D with turkeys. I had to hitch up to a crappy old trailer. At the top of each crank the jack would make a noise; pretty much just like a box call. I'll be danged if that squeaky jack didn't call in a jake. Dumb bird. I was between the truck and trailer working the "world's most effective turkey call" that happened to need to be raised to get the hitch on the receiver. That dang gobbler was bobbing his head above the corner of the trailer trying to figure out if that mystery hen was going to be worth this effort. He was mere steps away from me and was ready to give that trailer the business!

Well, as I said I was in high school; SO, being the macho tough guy I thought I was, I took off trying to catch that stupid little bird. We made about a lap and a half around the truck and trailer with that dude just barely out of fingertip reach. I knew he was about to hit the afternburners and skedaddle so I made a flying leap to try to get my arms around him. I grabbed a fistful of air and got a chest and face full of prickly pear. It was a failure of epic proportions and if cell phone cameras had been around, I'd be famous. I have NO idea what I would have done with him had I caught him. Just bragging rights, I suppose.

I still can't figure out if the bird or my teenage self was dumber. Makes for an entertaining story at parties nonetheless.