Don't you mean Vitamin R?
Creepy experiences in the backcountry
- Thread starter Teaman1
- Start date
Gonna regret that some day. When you are all busted up in the retirement home facing the end, yer gonna think back and kick yourself.
The Ri Guy
WKR
Probably the most truly terrifying experience of my life was a run-in with a Wendigo...
North central Washington, 14 or 15 y/o, first time hunting solo and I hiked up on a high ridge line in the dark ~1-2 miles from anyone else in our camp. I was scared sh*tless from the get-go by my first hike in the dark alone.
First light comes and it's HEAVY fog, you know the kind where you can't see more than ~30ish yards and you can physically feel the clouds of moisture flying by you? The kind that soaks outer layers and chills you to the bone with a slight wind behind it. All of the objects in sight were constantly changing shape and shifting in depth and dimension, and I was completely disoriented and unhinged.
I had already thrown in the towel and was picking my way back to camp, and after about 30 minutes I catch a dark shape move swiftly in the fog up ahead, no further out than a stones throw. I suddenly had ice in my veins, all my hairs standing on end, and the only thing I could think to do was try to become one with the ground as this tall, antlered figure with terrifyingly long arms and claws loomed ahead of me. I knew I was a goner when it immediately started blowing at me and making loud stomping noises as if preparing to charge at me -- I was absolutely petrified, completely unable to react or move. That specter of death has been burned into my memory ever since...
Then, as if out of that Lord of the Rings movie, the sun broke the horizon behind me and the first beams of daylight suddenly shot on and illuminated the monster...at that point I lost all the air in my lungs as the Wendigo shape-shifted into the biggest 3x4 Muley I'd ever seen on the hoof. Turns out he was standing slightly uphill of me, body hidden behind a slender old sapling rooted in a little depression between us. His long arms were really the drooping remains of two limbs, and the claws were, in fact, wisps of old mans beard. I was so beyond scared I couldn't even comprehend what was happening until he stotted off.
Still haunts me to this day knowing that I didn't unleash the fiery hell of my aught-six on that buck...
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Hehe.... spot on man ROFL!
Wait... What? in what Universe is a 130Lbs chic a "Land Whale"? I'm confused though... you'd said 350Lbs before. Which is it?
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Sccritterkiller
WKR
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Sounds like somebody was moving water getting ready to mash in.
I interpreted what he said as "it's not like she was a 130 pound chick", as in she was a 350 pound land whale, which is why he was surprised she was walking around topless...
Doh!... got it... gotcha... went back and re-read. Ugh... just used to young ones over using the word "like" in sentences... sorry.
stillwaitin
FNG
- Joined
- May 22, 2020
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- 22
This is the best thread I have read... anywhere...
Awesome thread. I don't have any too crazy. None are backcountry, but off the beaten path.
20 or so years ago I got in my deer blind an hour earlier than I planned to. Just some brush that I had cut and moved. I saw the same type of lights in the sky everyone else is describing. Two different lights doing rapid moves. They were far off but I was hunkered down as close to the ground as I could get. Saw the same thing a few years ago at Guadalupe Peak in West Texas.
Fishing a river a mile or so from the parking area. Haven't seen anyone, but usually encounter at least one weirdo at this spot. I have one line in the water and I'm casting another when I look downstream and this gorilla of a man steps out of the woods, not a stitch of clothing on him. He's probably 100 yards away just casually scanning up and down the river but never sees me. I don't know what his intentions were but I kept an eye on the brush behind me the whole time.
In high school we had a spot down a dirt road where some old oil wells were capped. We would drink beer there because you were well hidden. One night we're standing around and a guy on a horse busts through the woods. We all look at him, half drunk probably, and he asks if we saw a man and woman come through. We tell him we haven't seen anyone. He said he was looking for his wife and the guy she's cheating with and holds up a machete. We offered him a beer but the man was on a mission. He loped the horse to the dirt road and took off.
20 or so years ago I got in my deer blind an hour earlier than I planned to. Just some brush that I had cut and moved. I saw the same type of lights in the sky everyone else is describing. Two different lights doing rapid moves. They were far off but I was hunkered down as close to the ground as I could get. Saw the same thing a few years ago at Guadalupe Peak in West Texas.
Fishing a river a mile or so from the parking area. Haven't seen anyone, but usually encounter at least one weirdo at this spot. I have one line in the water and I'm casting another when I look downstream and this gorilla of a man steps out of the woods, not a stitch of clothing on him. He's probably 100 yards away just casually scanning up and down the river but never sees me. I don't know what his intentions were but I kept an eye on the brush behind me the whole time.
In high school we had a spot down a dirt road where some old oil wells were capped. We would drink beer there because you were well hidden. One night we're standing around and a guy on a horse busts through the woods. We all look at him, half drunk probably, and he asks if we saw a man and woman come through. We tell him we haven't seen anyone. He said he was looking for his wife and the guy she's cheating with and holds up a machete. We offered him a beer but the man was on a mission. He loped the horse to the dirt road and took off.
SCS_BG_Hunter
FNG
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2020
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- 12
33 Years ago I went scouting with my buddy, his dad and his brother in central Utah. We rode the 4 wheelers up a dead end road 9 miles from the truck. Didn't see another vehicle or person the whole time. This was a thursday so most people were working and wouldn't have been out anyway. We got to the end of the road and started hiking.
I went up one ridge, my buddy another and his dad and brother went up a third ridge. A few hours later I started heading back to the wheelers and saw his brother and dad on a ridge across from me so I dropped down through the bottom and started up to them. About half way up the ridge, with no sound at all I caught a glimpse of something flying above me. It was a volleyball sized rock about 30 yards straight up above me. I hollered up to them and told them to stop throwing rocks that I was coming up. Back then it wasn't uncommon to go to the top of a ridge and roll or toss a rock down below you to flush out game. Another 10 steps and another rock flew over head and crashed below me. They weren't close to me but these were big rocks, again, volleyball sized. Much larger than anything I could have thrown like that. When I got up to the two of them they were just standing there pale as ghosts. I asked them what they were doing, they could have killed me. They said it wasn't them and just then another rock flew over the three of us and crashed below.
We got out of there quick but to this day I still regret not walking up there to see what it was. There was no smell, no sound nothing but very large rocks flying over head. We didn't see any other vehicles on the way out either.
About 10 years later my brother in-law drew a limited entry archery elk tag and was hunting that same area. He wounded a big bull and tracked it for a couple of miles before losing it in a deep dark canyon. He dropped into the bottom of the canyon figuring the bull would head down as he got weaker. once down there he found a couple of carcasses that had been picked over pretty good but he said he had the most uneasy feeling the whole time he was there and couldn't wait to get out. Incidentally I've never told him about the rock throwing incident so he went into that canyon without any pre existing fears or concerns.
Not sure what it was but man, if I had it to do over again I'd walk up there since it's been eating at me for 33 years.
I went up one ridge, my buddy another and his dad and brother went up a third ridge. A few hours later I started heading back to the wheelers and saw his brother and dad on a ridge across from me so I dropped down through the bottom and started up to them. About half way up the ridge, with no sound at all I caught a glimpse of something flying above me. It was a volleyball sized rock about 30 yards straight up above me. I hollered up to them and told them to stop throwing rocks that I was coming up. Back then it wasn't uncommon to go to the top of a ridge and roll or toss a rock down below you to flush out game. Another 10 steps and another rock flew over head and crashed below me. They weren't close to me but these were big rocks, again, volleyball sized. Much larger than anything I could have thrown like that. When I got up to the two of them they were just standing there pale as ghosts. I asked them what they were doing, they could have killed me. They said it wasn't them and just then another rock flew over the three of us and crashed below.
We got out of there quick but to this day I still regret not walking up there to see what it was. There was no smell, no sound nothing but very large rocks flying over head. We didn't see any other vehicles on the way out either.
About 10 years later my brother in-law drew a limited entry archery elk tag and was hunting that same area. He wounded a big bull and tracked it for a couple of miles before losing it in a deep dark canyon. He dropped into the bottom of the canyon figuring the bull would head down as he got weaker. once down there he found a couple of carcasses that had been picked over pretty good but he said he had the most uneasy feeling the whole time he was there and couldn't wait to get out. Incidentally I've never told him about the rock throwing incident so he went into that canyon without any pre existing fears or concerns.
Not sure what it was but man, if I had it to do over again I'd walk up there since it's been eating at me for 33 years.
JerryThePlumber
FNG
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2020
- Messages
- 10
Sheesh
BeastOfTheTrees
WKR
West By God Virginia
This thread has been very entertaining and just got done reading all 27 pages! I have never had any real sort of paranormal/extraterrestrial experience, despite attempting to seek one out. I do have two lion stories though.
1. A couple years after moving to Idaho, the wife and I are camping in this little spot a little off highway 21 that we found. It was really hot, we were car camping and had brought way too much stuff. We were trying to get dinner cooked as fast as possible because there was strong weather moving in, and fast! So I get everything cooked, throw it inside the tent, pack up any loose gear and make sure it is either secured in the truck or tent just as these black clouds start unleashing a torrent upon us. We ride out the storm in the tent eating our food (which we made WAY too much of), and just sorta stash the leftovers in the corner (it was her Dad's old, giant canvas wall tent–very roomy). We end up just going to sleep and while we're sleeping the storm stopped. Not sure what time it was, but we were suddenly awakened by a LOUD lion roar. I mean, this dude must have been CLOSE. I grabbed my XD45 as we both looked at the pot of leftover food in the corner of our tent and mouthed the words "Oh. Shit." We didn't sleep much the rest of the night and learned a valuable lesson about food storage in the mountains.
2. A few years after the previous story, my wife and I are deer hunting with her dad in the Idaho woods. We had camped at a site a couple miles down the trail from where we'd hunt, and would all drive up the FS road, park and then walk into our "spot" each morning in the dark. My father in law stayed down low in this bowl, and my wife and I walked up this narrow, knife ridge to get to an area up top where we could glass down on either side. Spent all day hunting and was going to go back down this ridge to meet up with her Dad late in the afternoon. As we are walking down, there are very clear lion tracks IN our boot tracks that were going up. Never heard, saw or smelled anything, and damn glad of it. Not sure what it is with lions and my wife and I, but we apparently are desirable to the species! Anyways, that freaked us out quite a bit but we still decided to hunt the same ridge the next day. Needless to say, we were wide awake and alert going up! Wife got her deer that afternoon and we worked quick to get out of there.
1. A couple years after moving to Idaho, the wife and I are camping in this little spot a little off highway 21 that we found. It was really hot, we were car camping and had brought way too much stuff. We were trying to get dinner cooked as fast as possible because there was strong weather moving in, and fast! So I get everything cooked, throw it inside the tent, pack up any loose gear and make sure it is either secured in the truck or tent just as these black clouds start unleashing a torrent upon us. We ride out the storm in the tent eating our food (which we made WAY too much of), and just sorta stash the leftovers in the corner (it was her Dad's old, giant canvas wall tent–very roomy). We end up just going to sleep and while we're sleeping the storm stopped. Not sure what time it was, but we were suddenly awakened by a LOUD lion roar. I mean, this dude must have been CLOSE. I grabbed my XD45 as we both looked at the pot of leftover food in the corner of our tent and mouthed the words "Oh. Shit." We didn't sleep much the rest of the night and learned a valuable lesson about food storage in the mountains.
2. A few years after the previous story, my wife and I are deer hunting with her dad in the Idaho woods. We had camped at a site a couple miles down the trail from where we'd hunt, and would all drive up the FS road, park and then walk into our "spot" each morning in the dark. My father in law stayed down low in this bowl, and my wife and I walked up this narrow, knife ridge to get to an area up top where we could glass down on either side. Spent all day hunting and was going to go back down this ridge to meet up with her Dad late in the afternoon. As we are walking down, there are very clear lion tracks IN our boot tracks that were going up. Never heard, saw or smelled anything, and damn glad of it. Not sure what it is with lions and my wife and I, but we apparently are desirable to the species! Anyways, that freaked us out quite a bit but we still decided to hunt the same ridge the next day. Needless to say, we were wide awake and alert going up! Wife got her deer that afternoon and we worked quick to get out of there.
Antarctica
WKR
macabra's post reminds me of a trip I took years ago (2002) with a girlfriend to southeast alaska.. We were mostly just riding the ferries and seeing the sights, but one of the ferries we intended to take didn't come out of dry dock on time and we had to shuffle some plans. I booked a forest service cabin on prince of wales island and a float plane fight there on short notice.
We threw our crap in the plane and took the short hop to the cabin from juneau. As the pilot was throwing our crap off on the shore, he looked at me and asked me "do you got a gun?" I said no. He asked "have you got bear spray?" - 'No.' He asked me why we didn't get some or why we didn't ask for some and I explained that we set this whole thing up only about 3 hours before. His parting words were "don't leave the cabin".
After about three days, we got cabin fever and took about a 3-4 mile hike, before I called "stupid" (the hike was along a small creek and the salmon were just about to run) and told the GF we were heading back. She thought I was paranoid until we found bear tracks in ours on the way back.
After that we took the pilots advice and stayed around the cabin. There were some damn sketchy stories in the log book, and I wouldn't find myself there again without a gun.
We threw our crap in the plane and took the short hop to the cabin from juneau. As the pilot was throwing our crap off on the shore, he looked at me and asked me "do you got a gun?" I said no. He asked "have you got bear spray?" - 'No.' He asked me why we didn't get some or why we didn't ask for some and I explained that we set this whole thing up only about 3 hours before. His parting words were "don't leave the cabin".
After about three days, we got cabin fever and took about a 3-4 mile hike, before I called "stupid" (the hike was along a small creek and the salmon were just about to run) and told the GF we were heading back. She thought I was paranoid until we found bear tracks in ours on the way back.
After that we took the pilots advice and stayed around the cabin. There were some damn sketchy stories in the log book, and I wouldn't find myself there again without a gun.
AZmark
WKR
Hey Fulfan....................If you had taken her beer and I mean enough of her beer the 350lbs would have seemed like 130 so you shoulve gone for it! AKA Beergogles
505Wapiti
WKR
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- 528
This is one of the absolute best threads ever in an outdoor forum. I find myself checking daily for added stories. Please keep them coming. There has to be more!
505Wapiti
WKR
- Joined
- May 11, 2020
- Messages
- 528
That said, I guess I will share my own story. Back in 2014 I was packed into the Gila Wilderness with a couple of buddies for an elk hunt. On the second day we decided to split up and I opted to hunt alone the remainder of the day. We were camped about a 1/4 mile below a natural spring with fresh water running out of the ground so every morning we would stop at the spring and stock up with water for the day and depart from there. My buddies took off to the South West and I took off to the East to work a different area.
I worked my way a mile and a half or so on the south facing side of a step cut headed east and was moving along slowly glassing ahead and checking out the nice aspen parks across the draw from me. I stopped at one point to look into the aspens across from me and spent a few minutes checking things out and decided to move on. I proceeded to cover another quarter to half mile and was looking over across to the south at some more areas and heard something take off to my left (North) and it startled me as I had been diligently looking ahead and was certain there wasn't anything close to me at all. I stopped for a minute and glassed around and looked everywhere, and nothing. No smell of elk or anything else, and nothing visible at all anywhere. Just when I was starting to think I was losing my mind, I looked down and I was standing over an enormous scat pile that looked like it was only a couple minutes old. As I looked at it trying to determine if it was a cat or bear, I noticed what looked like bone and hair in it. I grabbed a stick and in my best CSI mindset began to mash around to see how fresh it was and what was in it. IT WAS WET FRESH like whatever I heard run just pooped it out on the fly, LOL! Well I'm getting a little uneasy by this time trying to decide what kind of animal this is that I kicked up unexpectedly and as I turn to scan all around me I turn to my left and less than 5 yards from me is this really nice Mule Deer buck lying there with tongue out staring at me dead as a door nail. It startled me because I was not expecting that, and then my heart really starting racing because I realized I had just walked up on some large predator that had just taken down this deer a short time prior, rigor mortis had not even kicked in yet.
Now that I'm on high alert I poke around it a bit and take some pics and mark the waypoint on my GPS as I also have a bear tag and the wheels are turning. I continue to scan the area, glass heavily in all directions, and yes even above me in the pines, LOL, and nothing at all. I decide all is well and press on. Needless to say my senses are heightened the rest of the day as I press on in my quest for elk. I continued on for a while to the east and worked my way around back to the North and up on top of the flat to start my way back toward camp. I figured by this point in the day it would be an easier route back to camp and I could cover a lot of ground more quickly. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful sans a few deer and turkey. So I'm cruising along and my senses are calmed down and back to normal by this point. Well, I end up about 1/4 of a mile directly due North of where I'd jumped whatever it was off of this deer and am cruising when I get to a bit of water and some pretty good sized boulders. I'm cautiously maneuvering through the rocks and water when something lets out this deep guttural growl and I froze in my tracks immediately. This growl was unlike anything I've ever heard in the wild and was so loud and felt so close that I could not even really convince myself what direction it came from. It literally felt as if it were right on top of me. Heart rate in full on tachycardia mode, I'm once again looking everywhere as hard as I can as thorough as I can in all directions and nothing. Not a sound, not a movement, no visible bear or cat, nothing. Trust me I'm looking hard as I want to fill the bear tag as well as the elk tag and I was hoping this was my moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm getting frustrated at this point because I'm dying to know what killed that deer, I'm curious if whatever killed that deer is what just growled at me and if it had been following me. Lots of things running through the mind, but no answers.
I finally move on and make my way back to camp just after dark. My buddies come rolling into camp about 20 minutes after I did and we got the fire and dinner going and I proceeded to tell them about my encounter. I showed them the pics and the next day we hiked back by the carcass again and nothing. To this day I don't have an answer but believe it to most likely be a big mountain lion. Whatever growled at me was no juvenile by any means, have never heard anything like it. I've seen many bears in my life, have had a black bear sulk up and clack her teeth at me, and I've see a couple of cats in the wild but I've never heard a growl like that ever, so can't say with any certainty what it was. Not really a creepy story in the true sense of creepy, but damn sure unnerving to say the least. Will follow up with pics.....
I worked my way a mile and a half or so on the south facing side of a step cut headed east and was moving along slowly glassing ahead and checking out the nice aspen parks across the draw from me. I stopped at one point to look into the aspens across from me and spent a few minutes checking things out and decided to move on. I proceeded to cover another quarter to half mile and was looking over across to the south at some more areas and heard something take off to my left (North) and it startled me as I had been diligently looking ahead and was certain there wasn't anything close to me at all. I stopped for a minute and glassed around and looked everywhere, and nothing. No smell of elk or anything else, and nothing visible at all anywhere. Just when I was starting to think I was losing my mind, I looked down and I was standing over an enormous scat pile that looked like it was only a couple minutes old. As I looked at it trying to determine if it was a cat or bear, I noticed what looked like bone and hair in it. I grabbed a stick and in my best CSI mindset began to mash around to see how fresh it was and what was in it. IT WAS WET FRESH like whatever I heard run just pooped it out on the fly, LOL! Well I'm getting a little uneasy by this time trying to decide what kind of animal this is that I kicked up unexpectedly and as I turn to scan all around me I turn to my left and less than 5 yards from me is this really nice Mule Deer buck lying there with tongue out staring at me dead as a door nail. It startled me because I was not expecting that, and then my heart really starting racing because I realized I had just walked up on some large predator that had just taken down this deer a short time prior, rigor mortis had not even kicked in yet.
Now that I'm on high alert I poke around it a bit and take some pics and mark the waypoint on my GPS as I also have a bear tag and the wheels are turning. I continue to scan the area, glass heavily in all directions, and yes even above me in the pines, LOL, and nothing at all. I decide all is well and press on. Needless to say my senses are heightened the rest of the day as I press on in my quest for elk. I continued on for a while to the east and worked my way around back to the North and up on top of the flat to start my way back toward camp. I figured by this point in the day it would be an easier route back to camp and I could cover a lot of ground more quickly. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful sans a few deer and turkey. So I'm cruising along and my senses are calmed down and back to normal by this point. Well, I end up about 1/4 of a mile directly due North of where I'd jumped whatever it was off of this deer and am cruising when I get to a bit of water and some pretty good sized boulders. I'm cautiously maneuvering through the rocks and water when something lets out this deep guttural growl and I froze in my tracks immediately. This growl was unlike anything I've ever heard in the wild and was so loud and felt so close that I could not even really convince myself what direction it came from. It literally felt as if it were right on top of me. Heart rate in full on tachycardia mode, I'm once again looking everywhere as hard as I can as thorough as I can in all directions and nothing. Not a sound, not a movement, no visible bear or cat, nothing. Trust me I'm looking hard as I want to fill the bear tag as well as the elk tag and I was hoping this was my moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm getting frustrated at this point because I'm dying to know what killed that deer, I'm curious if whatever killed that deer is what just growled at me and if it had been following me. Lots of things running through the mind, but no answers.
I finally move on and make my way back to camp just after dark. My buddies come rolling into camp about 20 minutes after I did and we got the fire and dinner going and I proceeded to tell them about my encounter. I showed them the pics and the next day we hiked back by the carcass again and nothing. To this day I don't have an answer but believe it to most likely be a big mountain lion. Whatever growled at me was no juvenile by any means, have never heard anything like it. I've seen many bears in my life, have had a black bear sulk up and clack her teeth at me, and I've see a couple of cats in the wild but I've never heard a growl like that ever, so can't say with any certainty what it was. Not really a creepy story in the true sense of creepy, but damn sure unnerving to say the least. Will follow up with pics.....
505Wapiti
WKR
- Joined
- May 11, 2020
- Messages
- 528
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