Scariest/weirdest thing that's happend to you in the woods?

[MCH]

I was on a hunting lease in Honobia, Oklahoma(self proclaimed Bigfoot capital of America). The lease was 2 hours away and I had absolutely no cell service at camp. Had to drive 20 minutes up a mountain to call home.

Anyway, middle of the week, I took vacation days and headed up to the lease by myself. At around 2:00 pm I left to go to my stand. On the way, I met a vehicle on the road. It was a late 80's, beat up Toyota with the short extended cab. The driver was wide-eyed(wired) when he looked at me. There was a girl sitting in the small back seat and it looked like she was rolling a "cigarette". I put my brakes on to stop hoping to find out what lease they were on or if they were lost. Keep in mind that this land is totally gated off.

Instead of stopping, the truck floored it and took a left going up the side of the mountain. I laughed and continued on to my stand.

Later on, I arrived at camp just after dark. I started a fire and began cooking my supper. It was then I got to thinking about the "trespassers". A lot of scenarios were going through my head. Drugs was high up on my conspiracy list. A few years earlier, a couple of guys at deer camp were confronted by two "druggies" who were looking for items to steal. They ended up killing the two hunters and getting caught. So needless to say, that was in the back of my mind.

I went to bed that night with my Ruger .22 laying in bed beside me.

At 3:00 am on the dot, I was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on my camper door. And when I say awakened, I mean it. I was asleep one second and wide awake the next. I lay there listening as someone or something slowly walked around the camper. When it passed by the window beside my head, I knew deep down that it was just a raccoon, but there was a little part of me that kept doubting.

I never went back to sleep that night. Got dressed and went hunting that morning before daylight. But my "4 day" hunt, turned into a 2 day hunt and a quick trip back to home.LOL

From that moment on, I never go to bow camp without a high powered rifle or pistol. That Ruger .22 just didn't make me feel as safe as I thought it would!

[redkneck]

Never had anything that exciting happen Kevin. Was waiting on a stand late one night for my buddy to come by on the 4 Wheeler to pick me up. I reached up to scratch my chest and saw a silhouette move in a tree against a full moon. A big barred owl came in at full speed and nailed me. If I had not seen him beforehand it would have give me a heart attack. They make no sound at all coming in at full speed.

[dbHunterNY]

well good thing it was just a coon.... first time out on my own hunting. it was a new moon and completely black out. had a spot with an old chair beyhind a big pine tree looking down a ridge. found it in dark, because flash light was dieing. sat down in the dark waiting for daylight and opening morning to commence. well a fox (didn't know what it was back then) was close and started shrieking out loud. couldn't see to run away or identify what it was let alone shoot it. just sat still and quiet until it left.

had a guy hunting on the neighbors that borders a zoo he didn't know about. Leo, the lion at the zoo/game farm let out some of his morning roars just at day break. hunter heard it plain as day and ran back to the truck. late morning the rest of the party, who knew about the zoo, got back to the truck to find him there with the doors locked. true story and always thought it was a funny one.

[Jeramie]

100% True story... kind of long, I’ll keep it short as possible.

My brother and I counted over 40-slick heads in a field in one night. We decided it was time to thin them down. The next week my brother invited about 6-8 guys from his work to come out during rifle and help us kill off does. He gave them directions to the deer camp because were weren’t arriving until later. He then told them, "Do not killing anything but does on Saturday."

I wasn’t heading to camp until 11:00pm (too much going on). The next morning was Rifle opener. I called my brother, who arrived about 2 hours before me, and asked if he needed anything. He said no but I could tell he was upset. I kept asking what was wrong but soon realized he couldn’t talk about it because of the guys at the camp. He finally walked away from the camp fire so he could talk.

Apparently on the way back to deer camp, the day before opening day, the guys ran across a doe that ran out into the field ahead of them. They shot the doe. A few minutes later a small buck ran out and tried to mount the dead doe.... they shot him too. So here they are at camp with two deer (the day before the legal day) hanging in a tree. One of which was a buck and they were told NOT to shoot bucks.

I was furious. I headed out chewing my tongue the whole way. I started the drive across that particular pasture (about 120 acres) and it hit me what i needed to do. I was driving a Ford Ranger Step side. I had added an aftermarket alarm to the truck. The alarm would turn on when driving where a factory would not. I turned off my headlights and started booking across the field as fast as I could safely go by moonlight. I drove until the campfire and silhouettes came into view and then I set the alarm and started rapidly flashing my headlights with the high/ low beam switch on my blinker.

The guys looked up only to hear an alarm screaming and flashing lights bouncing across the field pretty fast. Within seconds they were all on their feet, two of the guys cut the deer down and made a run for the deep wooded-ravines around the back of the field. They drug the deer into the dark and let them go down the deep 75' + ravines, sliding down loose dirt and leaves to the bottom. They had all scattered short of my cousin who sat on a 5-gallon bucket poking at the fire. I later asked him why he didn’t run and he told me, "Game wardens don’t listen to country music that loud when busting poachers....."

The two guys that shot the deer were told to leave and not come back after they retrieved the deer from the bottom of the ravines. The deer were tagged the next morning and fed us over the next few days....

I really wanted to call the warden but being my brother works closely in a blue collar position with these guys he would have been at the bad end of the deal for years to come. I did the next best thing.... I’m pretty sure I knocked a few years off the end of their life expectancy.

[Shoobee]

A doe crept slowly into my campsite one night, and I could not tell what kind of animal it was, and my worst fear was a bear. I was in a tent, sleeping on the ground, with my S&M 44 mag nearby. It is still unnerving to hear footsteps in the night.

Finally she passed by the see-through mesh at the front, and I could tell from the profile it was just a big doe in the moonlight.

[gzilla45]

About 5-6 years ago there was a string of break-ins at rural cabins where my shack is. The punks(turned about to be teenagers) were stealing guns, booze, money, and sometimes burning the cabins down. My shack is about 1/2 mile into the woods down a dirt road and there are numerous private property signs down it. I was by myself one night reading a book on the couch when I could hear a car approaching. I only had on 1 gas light so it was fairly dark and it was easy to see the lights approaching. My truck was parked on the side of the cabin opposite of the road and with only one light on, it probably looked like nobody was around. My first thought was that someone was there to chat and have a beer as that is not uncommon. When the car just sat there I knew something wasn't right. I went out the backdoor with Mag light in hand as I didn't have time to grab my shotgun. I ran around the side of the cabin and shined the light in their faces. I'm not sure who was more scared at that time. They put the car in reverse and took off down the road. I jumped in my truck but realized I didn't have my keys. I have no doubt in my mind that something bad would have happened had I not been there. Needless to say I didn't sleep more than a few winks that night. Still bothers me to this day.

[Rhino]

From that moment on, I never go to bow camp without a high powered rifle or pistol.

SISSY!!! JK Kevin :clown:

Not too many stange things. The strangest thing was a few years ago during turkey season. Saw a light down in a bottom long before the crack of dawn on my way to a spot where I'd roosted a bird. Went to check it out thinking tresspasser. It wasn't and and I got within 30 yards of it. I still don't have a clue what it was but I know it wasn't a firefly.

Scariest...has to be stepping on a rattlesnake in the dark. When you do & know EXACTLY what it is...you're going to do a world class jump & run on air while you're doing it! Doesn't matter if your wearing snake boots or chaps...it's going to happen! At least I didn't scream like a girl.

Speaking of rattlesnakes, this didn't happen to me but one of my best friends. He was walking out with another hunting buddy of mine one evening. They spotted a rattle snake & the other bud slams his Amacker stand over the back of the snake's head. He was the world's worst for hanging bags of stuff on his stand so the snake's head is covered up with this junk. He ask my best friend to cut the snake's head off. WHAT!!! After some conversation he's talked into the chore with repeated assurance the snake is pinned down. When he starts to move the 1st bag of stuff a frog jumps out from under it right into his face. Not knowing it was, he lets out a blood curtling scream! Thought he'd soiled his shorts too!!! LMBO when he told me the story. Anyway...after that, the other bud that wanted the snake in the 1st place took over the cut the head off chore.

[RangerClay]

Here is my scariest moment.

http://www.realtree.com/forums/lounge/102091-i-had-first.html

[MCH]

Keep 'em coming guys!

This isn't one of mine, but I'm sure my son will remember this one for as long as he lives.

He'd been begging me to take him coyote hunting. He had bought mouth call at Wal-mart and loved practicing with it(much to my wife's disgust!).

I finally broke down and took him one evening. We set-up on the edge of a clear cut in an old buddy stand about an hour before dark. Chase proceeded to use the call every few minutes. Like any father, I was feeling very proud that my son was being still and attentive instead of playing video games or sleeping.

Chase continued his vigal for the next hour. About 15 minutes before official "dark", a pack of coyotes sounded off about a mile from us. Chase's eyes got very wide and I said, "There they are bud! They've probably been listening to you and now they're coming this way!".

Chase looked at me and then back towards the direction the yelping was coming from. He waited a couple seconds and then looked back at me and said, "Dad, you ready to go home?"LOL

I tried my best to talk him into staying but he was already headed down the ladder and there wasn't going to be any compromising. Even though we were about half a mile from our truck, through some thick woods, that boy lead the way and set the pace!

LOL....just the look in his eyes when asked to go home makes me laugh to this day.

[Rhino]

Here's a pig story...not the one I walked up within steps of in the dark that made me levitate though.

I was working a gobbler one morning and catch movement off to my right. Here comes a HUGE boar hog. This sucker is as big a round as a 55 gallon drum. Boar hogs are known to be aggressive from time to time & I really didn't want to give away my position. OK...be still & just let him pass. Not so lucky...this sucker is coming right at me and yep I'm sitting on the ground on a big oak tree. Finally at point blank range (just feet away) he turns. Pigs are such a problem where we are I put a 3 1/2" mag turkey load into his heart. At that range there's no chance for the shot to clear the wad. Ruined the turkey setup but the boar didn't survive the encounter.

[MUDRUNNER]

Scariest moment for me was a few years ago. I generally know where my stands are and don't use a flashlight walking in for morning hunts. I was walking in an overgrown field, similiar to a crp field, about waist heigh. It was about about a half moon that morning, and I heard something in front of me rustling around so I stopped. Next thing I no it's growling and snarreling and running towards me. It was just bright enough for me to see the tall grass parting and moving my way. It got to about 10 feet from me and I didn't know what the heck it was, or what to do. I started stomping my feet and barking (I have no idea why, but this my first instinct lol), and at about 3 feet away it veered to my left and ran into the woods. The sounds it made reminded me of a wild pig, but they're aren't any around here. I put my camera out hoping to get a pic of whatever it was, but no luck. Still don't know what it was, but it was loud and sounded ticked off. Coon, badger, rabbid coyote, hog....who knows? never happened again though.

[RangerClay]

just the look in his eyes when asked to go home makes me laugh to this day.

Similar thing happened to me a few years ago. I had my daughter in the blind with me during bow season. I believe she was 7 or 8 at the time.

We had 2 large does walking in and I told her that if one presents a shot, I was going to take one. Just before they entered the plot, the does lifted their heads and went on full alert. A few seconds later they boogied down the hill.

Abi asked me, "Did we do that?"

"No, they were looking up the hill, something else spooked them", I replied.

No sooner did I say that, a pack of coyotes ran past our blind at about 50 yards. They were howling, and cackling like coyotes do.

"What was that?" Abi asked

I said coyotes and at that moment I saw that same wide-eyed look Kevin. :jaw:

Abi asked about 50 questions in about 30 seconds but never asked to leave.

[Shoobee]

Coyotes raided our group campground a few months ago during the archery opener on the Calif coast. It happened about 2 a.m. in the night.

Prior to that time I had never seen or heard a coyote raiding party. There must have been a dozen.

Any food that was not protected they grabbed from the various campsites and took off with.

They howled like indians on the warpath. An amazing thing to hear and behold.

[Jeramie]

I have a good friend that grew up without a dad. His brother was also killed when he was young so he never got to do much manly stuff like hunting. I started taking him hunting and he was having a blast. One day I invited him to go to deer camp.

It got late and everyone was sitting around the fire. I went to my truck and turned in. An hour or so later I hear really loud snoring. He had gotten in the truck with me and was sawing some serious wood.... I cant sleep with that noise so I got out and laid beside the camp fire in a fold out chair and went back to sleep. Again, another our or so and I hear snoring again. I wake up to see him in a chair beside the camp fire not 5' from me.

I slipped back to my truck..... out like a light until once again I wake up to him opening the door of my truck and getting in. Within 20 -30 minutes he is snoring up a storm again. I let him sleep for a while and then got out and went back to my chair by the fire. About an hour after I got out there yotes came around the camp making TONS of noise. The camp is surrounded by hundreds to thousands of acres of timber and the yotes are thick. They were everywhere and making a ton of noise.

I loaded my .30-06 and laid it in the chair with me and went back to sleep. Just before daylight a loud "Clank..." sounded off about 3' away. I grabbed the rifle and jumped to my feet, barrel in full swing. I quickly met my buddies wide eyed glance. He had gotten up to fix breakfast and accidentally dropped the cast iron skillet on the fire circle (rocks). I scared the living daylights out of him. I think he was scared all night because he had never done anything like that and sleeping in the woods in a chair or the truck was scary to him...

However, I’m pretty sure after seeing the barrel of a loaded rifle swinging around like crazy he probably was less scared of staying the night in the woods.....

[Chris_Johnson]

Having bears within 5ft of me 2 days in a row and a year or so before, having a sow and 2 cubs on either side of me. that was nerve wrecking.

[bowhunter97]

Walked in the woods one morning and i saw the trail cam flash so i waited a lil then continues. It turned out to be a bear. It was wierd though.

[Dawg]

I lay in my tent one cold (like mid teens cold) morning (2am) in Colorado. I had placed my two person tent in the corner of the mess tent, next to the pot belly stove. Momma ain't raised no fool. I was snug and warm until the urge to pee hit me. I lay there hoping either it would go away or I would fall back to sleep. Neither happened. As I lay there thinking of how cold it was going to be out there I started hearing what sounded like foot steps.......crunch........crunch...................crunch.......crunch. Not knowing what it could be but at the same time fully expecting it to be a mountain lion coming in to camp to sniff out our viddles, I quietly slipped one arm out of the sleeping bag, reached over and slid my pea shooter .380 out of the holster and lay there waiting for this world record behemoth mountain lion to come into the mess tent and pounce thru my small tent. Crunch......crunch.....crunch......to me it sounded like it was getting closer, then it sounded as if it were between the mess tent and the bunk house where the other guys were at. Then a little while later it was back around to where I first heard it. Sneaky sucker, he's playing tricks with me. By this time the urge to pee had some what eased up. I lay awake for what seemed like two days (maybe 30 minutes) and then one of the guys busts out of the bunk house and throws his guts up. I guess the chili and 40 Creek he had that night didn't settle well with him. Whew!! Hopefully that scared the mountain lion off. So I dose back off only to wake again a little later.....again I hear foot steps.....crap, not again. This figgin mountain lion his bent on making me his breakfast! Well I lay there again.............all at once.......the thought came to me......it's like 14-15 degrees outside.....clear skies......and what I'm hearing is the ice on the bottom of the tarp walls of the mess tent crackling and popping. By this time I'm wide awake and it's about 3 am, no hope of going back to sleep so I get up, stoke the fire in the pot belly stove, get dressed and sit for a hour and a half before the other guys start waking up.

I did have one heck of a nap after the morning hunt that day!

[Scbasshunter]

The scariest moment for me was the first time I ever used a climber. I had never used one or really ever seen one (I was still new to hunting). I didn't know or figure out that you are supposed to sit on the crossbar of the top climber to lift the platform up with your legs. I was holding onto the top part of the climber and pulling myself and platform up by doing pullups. I got about 12ft up and the bottom part slipped off the tree and wouldn't catch. I hung there for a couple of minutes and finally got the bottom platform to catch. To make matters worse, I wasn't wearing a safety harness (Didn't think to put it on until I got up in the tree.). I finally got the bottom platform to catch and stayed there at 12ft. It was August, early archery season, and I was pouring down sweat. Guess what? I didn't see a single deer. Haha!!!

[Adjam5]

A few years ago I was heading to my bowstand in a apple orchard on a afternoon hunt. About 50 yards from my stand, I find a monster pile of bear scat on the trail. Now I was getting bear pics on the trail cam and a few of my apple trees were busted up pretty good from a bear. I look around...nothing. I get up into my stand and settle in. About an hour into the hunt...A few doe and a forkhorn come out and start chomping apples. I am watching them and they pick their heads up and stare right in my direction, but beyond me. The doe did the foot stomp thing a few times, blows and they all take off like the wind. I start hearing leaves rustling and its getting louder. This noise was coming from behind me...down wind. Now my mind starts to get crazy. This is what scared the deer off... and it has to smell me I am upwind! Its not afraid. Its that bear! Oh man...the leaf rustling is right under me now. I am afraid to breathe or move. In NYS you are not allowed to have a firearm with you in bow season. Even if you have a carry permit.

The noise is getting louder...I am afraid to breathe...gasping. (in my mind its gonna climb right up the ladder to follow my scent). Ya ready...Here comes a flock of turkeys. I busted out laughing so hard they all spooked. But that excitement and adrenaline was something I will soon not forget.

BTW...I have more bear pics on the trail cam this year. So it might happen again! But this time I am ready and will breathe .

[dbHunterNY]

Idaho Elk Hunter Shoots Wolf That Stalked Him | Outdoor Life

...this guy has my vote for being the man without fear.

[whitetailfreak55]

A couple of years ago I was out coon hunting with a buddy. We got to where our hounds were treeing and didn't see a thing. Mind you this is January so there are no leaves on the tree and it wasn't a den tree. So we forgot about it figuring the coon jumped trees. After the dogs did this a couple more times we kinda got freaked out and walked back to the truck. While putting the dogs in the box and getting our gear off we heard a cat scream. Needless to say we kicked it into a higher gear and took off

[cowboy778]

I was in my tree stand one cold Nov morning it was still kinda dark out and I was in one of those half awake half asleep moments when all of a sudden something landed on my head I about jumped out of my tree stand my heart was beating out of my chest. The SQUIRREL jumped off my head to another tree and proceeded to bark up a storm at me. If I had not just bought the arrows I did I would of been starring at a dead squirrel pinned to the tree.

[The Bug House]

I was in my tree stand one cold Nov morning it was still kinda dark out and I was in one of those half awake half asleep moments when all of a sudden something landed on my head I about jumped out of my tree stand my heart was beating out of my chest. The SQUIRREL jumped off my head to another tree and proceeded to bark up a storm at me. If I had not just bought the arrows I did I would of been starring at a dead squirrel pinned to the tree.

I had something similar happen to me while turkey hunting. Still dark, setup against an overgrown stone wall with my eyes closed and a little bird lands right on my face! My RT leafy hood works like a champ. Sure got my heartrate up!

[redkneck]

Was camping once on the river. We were doing a little bass fishing when I got a hard pull on the line. Fought for the longest and finally got "it" up before my line broke. I couldnt believe it but when it rolled at the top of the water, I saw fur. I thought, ok, no big deal, probably hung an otter or beaver. After the line broke though I saw a trail of bubbles headed for the bank. This thing crawled up out of the water about the size of an otter, but when it got up on the bank, it stood on its hind legs, then walked over to a tree and climbed it! We sat in the boat speechless. I decided to go back to the camp, which was close by and get a light and a 22 (it was getting dark) and go back and shoot the thing to figure out what it was. We did just that. When we pulled the boat up to the bank and got out, you could see the eyes shining in the light. I raised the rifle and found him with my scope.

Edited September 24, 2012 by redkneck

[daviswr]

Scariest/weirdest thing that's happend to you in the woods?

Weirdest thing ever happen to me was. I was prescouting I heard a grunting noise and seen a big daddy buck running a doe. As I watched the action un fold they got closer and closer to me. The buck saw me, he had must of thought I was their for the doe. He came at me trying to run me off ( antlers ablazeing, grunting and pawing the ground ) I stood my ground. He charged I grabbed hold of his horns and the battle began. We fought what seamed like days. Well as you can tell I'm the one writing this story and not the buck I won the fight and later that season I bagged that buck and stick his ass in my freezer. Happy Hunting Boys !!