99% True Unbelievable/Interesting Family stories of the "Tall Tale" variety.

I've always loved hearing stories like these, so I'm hoping to hear some from a bunch of outdoorsmen who have good they would like to share.

To start us off.

These were all my grandfather on my mom's side in SE WA.

There are 3 main ones that I can remember.

1) He once killed a deer, and a mountain lion, with one shot. Mountain lions are still cats. Unbeknownst to many, they are skittish, and scare fairly easily. He was out hunting, which for him meant either still or stalk hunting. He set up on a deer, and took his shot. Lo and behold, he wasn't the only stalking said deer. The deer dropped dead on the spot, and so did the ML mid leap. With no exit wound on the deer. Combination of noise and deer collapsing apparently scared the cat to death. He ended up trading the hide and meat for something, I can't remember what, he trades crap constantly.

It's an unbelievable story, but it's true.

2) Just posted this in a different thread. It's not incredibly unbelievable, but it's one my favorites.

My mom remembers him driving home with a Sturgeon in the back of his 62' F100 in the late 70s. The tailgate was down, and the tail was dragging the road, or at least, what was left of that portion. A friend had caught it, but gave it to him because he knew he needed the food. 


3) Every morning till around 2004, from 4:30 am to 6:30 am, he would pray. Some days longer, and some days again in the afternoon. While doing so, He would always walk in the section of old growth rainforest that bordered the church. Actually, ancient growth would be a better term, these trees were unbelievable. Even as a teenager I couldn't wrap my arms around 90% of them.

Anyway, He spent so much time in those woods that the animals knew him. After always warning me to wait and stay behind. He would walk off 50-100 yards depending on location, and at various times I watched deer, chipmunks, and squirrels, walk up and eat from his hand. He said they were skittish because they could smell me. Many times deer would walk up and stick their nose in his jacket pocket because they knew corn was in there. Chipmunks and Squirrels would walk up expecting food, instead of needing a little coaxing. Was unbelievable to see multiple wild deer eat from his hand. His main walking trail was over a foot deeper than the rest of the forest floor.

In 2004 the people who owned the land clear cut the entire thing, and I think it broke something inside of him. He has never been the same since. That being said, it was still an amazing dedication of faith, and even the animals could see his heart.


So, what do you all got? Names, dates, and locations can be fudged a tad to protect the innocent. Hence the .1%



My truth serum for the aforementioned tales, and just a little extra, because where he lives is incredible and deserves mention


My grandfather has lived in Salem, Oregon(11) or View, Washington(49), for 60 of his 76 years on the earth. He has been a Wesleyan pastor since 1963, and moved to View, WA in 1967 to pastor Hazen Chapel Wesleyan Church.
View is 15-20 minutes outside of Battleground, WA in the rolling foothills and ridges of Mt St Helens, near Amboy, WA and Lake Merwin. It's the tallest hill/small ridge for 10 miles in any direction, farther in most, and the view is top 10 in the state imo. You can see St Helens, Adams, Hood, and on clear days you may see Jefferson and Rainer if you have good eye sight.

Neat note about the church, it's ancient for white man buildings in that area. The Wright brother's father preached there around 1902.

I'll edit in a bit to insert a link to the view on Google Earth from atop the hill.