Halloween Week- Weird/Scary stuff seen
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With Halloween just around the corner I thought it my be fun to share stories from the dark woods on stuff you have seen or heard while bowhunting
I don't have any personal stories but I had a good friend of mine years ago that was the most avid hunter fisherman outdoor guy that I have ever known. Did it all until one day he came home from deer hunting and within a week he sold every piece of hunting fishing outdoor gear that he had. Including one fishing boat and one duck hunting boat
Would not ever talk about it except to say "if saw what I did you would have done the same thing". Took it to the grave with him.
A buddy sent me this on Saturday night from the stand saying he might need to clean out his shorts....Happy Halloween!
Pig Doc. That would have been logical but not married. Bachelor days
Dammit Jack! That pic makes me think twice about joining my buddy this weekend to check his cams. His place already reminds me of Texas chainsaw massacre!
Jack. Love it and it is creepy. There is a legend on one of the ranches where that pic would fit in perfectly
I just took this pic last week.
Most terrifying thing iv seen is 3rd season rifle elk in colorado(over Halloween) wake up early opening morning and my mother in law is walking out of their camper without her teeth in that was scary as anything looked like the creature from the gum ya to death lagoon!
I dont remember if it was on here or another archery/bowhunting site... but some guy answered a question like this by saying: Murder victim. He then went on to explain that he'd gone in, hunted, and on the way out found a body. So it had been dumped between the time he went in and came out.
Every time I see a thread along these lines, I think of that dude - I dont think I could go in in the dark any more after seeing that!
Spooking grouse will always get me!
I had a pile of turkeys roosted in my treestand tree. It was a pitch black morning, no moon and overcast. I could barely see my latter. I did not know the turkey were up there. I started to climb, and about half way up, the skg exploded. I was only about 12ft from them. Not dead body spookie, but I almost needed to change my shorts!
JTV - this may be even scarier!
I was sitting in my stand waiting for the sun to come up, it was pitch black in the deep woods. I had my hat on backwards because I had used my headlamp to get in so that made it worse. Then a bat landed on my face. I could feel its little claws on my forehead and all. I may have screamed like a little girl.
Jack those pants suits she wears covers up some scary skin covered cottage cheese. Let that image burn into your brain.
My kids are allways watching those tv shows where they hunt for Bigfoot or other monsters. So I decided to have a little fun on the way to the blind yesterday.
Added a coyote tail for "authenticity"! In a couple of days Im gonna have my brother put on the mask & pose him for a bowkill to show the kids its safe to hunt there again. Dad will be the hero...until I get a phone call from the school counceler.
I love the owls but you gotta watch out for them. Last year at one of the hunts at the McAlester Ammo Depot in Oklahoma a guy got into his stand on the first morning and put on his face mask. He saw an owl fly by and land in a tree a short distance away facing him. Owl sat there a bit, then flew off. Owl circled around, came in and hit the guy in the eye. The guy had talon punctures in his eyebrow and one below his eye. I guess the owl mistook his eyes for some sort of easy meal and attacked him. They had to take the guy to the ER because his vision started to blur. Turns out he had a detached retina. That's no BS story because I heard it from the victim's cousin who was on the same hunt I was the following week. Then on orientation day the hunt coordinator told everyone about it. Sometimes we are not at the top of the food chain.
I used to have a stand that I walked through a cemetery to get to. Always in the pitch dark of morning. Half way through there was a small brook that had a bridge over it. One of those creepy, foggy mornings as I walked in I disrupted a blue heron that must have been sleeping in the brook. He took off right next to me and in his confusion flew into a metal building creating a lot of noise and confusion. My heart went into my throat and I ran the rest of the way to the safety of stand. I stopped watching horror movies years ago due to the fact that I spend way too much time in the woods in the dark. Don't need those thoughts in my head.
Years ago I purchased an adjoining farm to some land I had owned for years. On a dark rainy November day I was exploring it and came upon what appeared to be a very ancient home site. Nothing left on the surface but somehow you could just tell a house had been there. Tree growth patterns. I dug around a bit and found a carved stone that said something like this.
Site of the Smith homestead. Burned to ground Dec. 24, 1872. Below that a list of children and birthdates was listed for the little kids that were killed in the fire. Very sad thing to find. From babies to about 12 yrs. old. Do not recall how many. Several. I seldom go in that area now.
I hate these threads. I have an over-active imagination, and like bowthwacker said, I don't watch anything scary because I spend way too much time in the woods in the dark, by myself :)
The scariest thing that ever happened to me in the woods. . . . .
17 years old. Hadn't been bowhunting but for a couple of years. Same farm I've hunted for years and years, huge patch of brush on a miles-long ridge system. Back in the brush, it's at least a mile to the nearest house and a mile and a half to the nearest county or state maintained road (which is big here). . . .
I had an old Summit climber, with about 20 feet of twine attached to the base for a pull-up rope.
I was hunting my favorite place on the farm (still favorite place), a place called the Round Rock Pond. It's as far into this brush as you can get.
Legal shooting light ended, and I had lowered my bow, and was getting ready to climb down when a bunch of coyotes started singing.
Now I'm not afraid of coyotes, never have been. I thought the singing of multiple groups was very pretty, and it was one of those blood-red sunsets, crisp late October day. . . Just magic in the woods
So I sat there for about 20 minutes just enjoying the darkness, the last vestiges of the sunset, and the coyote chorus. . . .
Finally got down to head to truck. This was back in the days of being broke and begging my parents for every piece of gear, and I didn't own a flashlight or headlamp.
Packed up my stand and headed out on the old logging road. Hadn't gone far when my brain registered rustling in the leaves behind me. I stopped, and it stopped. I couldn't see anything, figured maybe it was a possum.
Kept walking, rustling in the leaves behind me kept up, seemed to be following me. I stopped. It stopped.
This happened 4 or 5 times, with my adrenaline level ratcheting up each time I stopped. Finally, I said F it, and took off on a dead sprint to the truck. . .
Reached the truck, just dropped the stand, opened door, threw bow in, and climbed in.
Fired up the '92 Chevy 350 (it was loud), and clicked on the high beams. Nothing. . . .
Finally calmed down, and got out of the truck to put my stand in the back. . . .
You guessed it, my pull up rope had been dragging the ground and had chased me all the way to the truck. . . . .
Bake
A guy I know was walking out to his truck at night after an evening hunt on some local public land. Felt a hard slap on his shoulder and turned around to see a guy in a ski mask with a gun pointed at his forehead. With him were several illegal aliens the bad guy was trafficking. He pressed his finger to his lips telling him to be quiet and then drew his finger across his throat as if to say "make any noise and you are dead". The bad guy just shoved him aside off the trail and walked on by with the immigrants.
That story scares me far more than than the multitude of mountain lions we have in our area.
I have this mental image of a man running from wiggling twine.
Thanks Bake. I needed the laugh!
There's an old cemetary close to a place I hunt and so I went in there one night just to look around. I found a young childs headstone that was very old and had an epitaph with the following inscribed: "As you are now so once was I. As I am now so you shall be. Prepare for death and follow me." Creepy as hell if you ask me.
I'm not going in the woods by myself after reading these! damn it!
When I was younger I was hunting/scouting the pine barrens in NJ....I typically go off the beaten path when I can and this particular time found myself in some nasty thick pines and tangle. Well I pushed through for some time, even on my hands and knees in spots and came to a small clearing with a 110 qt cooler with huge rocks on top and a small piece of black trash bag sticking out...I didn't open it and got out of there freaked out
Also had a guy following behind me in NJ and had to turn around and walk straight up to him and confront him...weird dude to say the least
Found a note on a hunters truck window saying he was being watched in his stand every night and those watching knew how he walked in and out
Those are all nj public land stories and prob my creepiest...more so to me than footsteps and huffing outside of my tent solo in Colorado
A neighbor of mine, Ted, has exclusive rights to hunt 300 acres that adjoins his 5 acre lot. One evening he was in his garage and a pickup pulls into his driveway and a man gets out and walks up and says Hi. Ted had recently had some tree stands stolen off the 300 acres. Ted recognized the guy as his neighbor that lives down the road. The guy says he knew who stole the treestands. Ted asked him how he knew this and the guy said he was the high priest of a coven of Wickens. He said his group walks those woods and practices their "religion" there and have watched Ted "many times". He wanted Ted to know it wasn't them who took his stands. It was some kids. Ted thanked the high priest for telling him about this. Then he went on to tell the High Priest that they are trespassing and not to go onto that land again. If he saw them out there, he would report them as trespassers. Ted said the landowner does not like trespassers and that he has permission to run people off. Ted then showed the High Priest his written permission slip that was signed by the landowner. The High Priest then said "well you will never know we are there. We don't allow ourselves to be seen". Ted wasn't buying it and just told the guy to keep out. Ted told the landowner about it. That was about 5 yrs ago. Ted has had no more issues with tree stand theft. He never got his stands back though.
My story is neither weird or truly scary but is definitely unnerving. I have had several nights walking out of a bear stand at night. As anyone who hunts bears knows, the final half hour before dark is always the most active and bears will often hit bait sites throughout the night. We all know that bears are elusive and could be observing us at any time, but turning on your head lamp for that long walk out and seeing a bunch of eyes reflecting your light in the woods around you is an experience. Not that I fear being attacked, but it definitely puts you on edge.
Bake, great story - I bet many of us have similar stories where something that wasn't there terrorized us.
Lost Man
You had the opportunity to be famous.
Jimmy Hoffa was probably in that cooler.
I used to have permission to hunt a farm that I accessed from a dead end road in the woods. I pulled in there one day, and spotted a local dubious character standing by his pickup. He was kind of a violent guy. Extremely tough, no one wanted to tangle with him. I noticed his hands were bloody and he had a knife. We were acquainted with each other and he waved. I Dont know why I didn't just drive away, but I grabbed my bow and started walking around his truck to go hunting. About that time I saw a hoof poking up in the bed of his pickup. He had about a hundred pound hog in there. I asked him if it was a roadkill, kinda kidding around. He told me he got it with a ball peen hammer. I looked over my shoulder at a hog confinement about 300 yards away and back at my "friend". He had a look in his eye. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Same farm, a year or so later in late october. I hear a ruckus coming my way. Assumed it was a buck chasing a doe and got ready. It turned out to be some odd looking guy running through the woods. He went right to the base of my tree, dropped his pants and squatted. Couldn't believe it. This was the worlds hairiest man. I'm pretty sure he was half Sasquatch. Scary, but a different kind of scary. Anyway I let out a yell. I wouldn't have believed a guy could move that fast with pants around his ankles. Small community, never saw that dude before or since.
About 5 years ago, I was walking into my bow stand about 1 hour before light. Less than 100 yards away, I hear at least 6 wolves howl. I pick up my pace, and nearly run to my ladderstand.
I get in the stand, hang up my back pack, get everything ready, and just start to calm down, when a GH Owl takes off from about 3 feet above my head!
I literally ducked down on the stand, thinking I'm being attacked.
Later that day I watched a Mink, Pine Martin and Fisher all follow the same path, and then I missed a nice wide 10 pointer.
Weird day all around.
Jack, I just threw up in my mouth a little Thanks
Nothing bad or scary, but kind of creepy.. I have access to an area that is an old homestead - complete with graveyard.. it also has a big field near a river.It's a good half hour or better walk in, and about 45 mins out (uphill on the way out).
Many times, near the magic hour, a fog or mist comes in off the river and fills the field a few feet high off the ground. It's like every steroetypical bad Hollywood horror movie cliche. Your mind play tricks, and it's fun when deer explode out of the brush 2 feet from you off of the path! lol
Last week, coming out, we had to have a standoff with a skunk for a few minutes.
To you guys this is nothing but to me....very scared! Hunting public land in michigan I was in a spot with my climber that easily a 30 minute tough walk through thick woods.
I waited to long to pack up and it was almost black out. As I am climbing down a pack of at least 10 yotes starts howling maybe 40 yds from my tree.
Unfamiliar land, pitch black, cheap flashlight, and a long walk ahead of me enough sucks but add a pack of yotes and yea not fun at all!
Patel, that guy with his pants halfway down didn't look anything like Pat, did he?
Jack I don't even want to know how you got that picture!!!
Nijimasu, I have no idea. Wouldn't know pat if I saw him. I doubt it. This dude looked like he spent the previous ten years living in a cave.
Those familiar with the serial killer in alaska (bob hanson) know he either committed his crimes or hid the evidence of them in semi remote areas. My brother discovered one of hansons victims on the Knik river when he was flying up to visit a friend at his hunting cabin. As he was landing he noticed two coyotes on something unusual, when he walked back to where the coyotes had been he made the gruesome discovery.
Fast forward almost 20 years, I was hiking up in the hills above the road to Eklutna Lk (hansons first discovered victim was known as Eklutna Annie) when I came across a very old blue tarp partially covered in what appeared to be a shallow grave. It had been uncovered somewhat over the years by animals so a portion of its contents were visible.
Bones!
I didn't really know if I should disturb it to investigate further, after giving it some thought I decided to pull up on the portion that was still intact and to my relief saw what appeared to be a dogs skull. Because of the effort required to get to this spot I can only assume the owner had some sentimental reasons to lay his dog to rest here.
Had a serious case of "the creeps" for a little while that day !