Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[eye_zick]

All these posts remind me how scared of the dark I am.

 

[ZMax62]

When i was 16 my grandfather would drop us off to go coon hunting ,and then drive a 1 mile block around the other side and pick us up when we would come out . One night my friend and i were out and the hair on the back of my neck would stand up . I told my friend about we kept watching our back trail nothing my friend said your just a scared cat. We were going around the corner of the woods .We shut off our lights and grabbed the dog and jumped into the weeds. About 15 min latter a man came walking around the corner. WE jumped out of the weeds with our gun on him and the dog trying to get off the leash going after him. When we confronted him he told us he was fowling us and if we went on his property he was going to throw us off. Not sure if i,m psychic . Scared us and him not sure if he followed any one else. Just crazy

 

[quaggy25]

I just spent the last 3 days reading all of these posts. Some awesome stories in here that would keep you up at night laying in your own bed. Always wanted to try to do a backpacking and what I’ve learned so far is to be leery of other people and not worry about the animals (as much).

Hope more people can post some good stories to keep this going!

 

[Pdzoller]

I just spent the last 3 days reading all of these posts. Some awesome stories in here that would keep you up at night laying in your own bed. Always wanted to try to do a backpacking and what I’ve learned so far is to be leery of other people and not worry about the animals (as much).

Hope more people can post some good stories to keep this going!

I definitely agree! I try to be friendly with people but I also don’t give anybody a chance for bad behavior if I can help it.

My sidearm is mostly for protection from the two legged predators.

 

[Rodmor80]

I am very new to western hunting, in my second season after moving to Utah from Ohio 3 years ago. Hunting a buddies property once or twice a year growing up but was never really into it. Fast forward to now i’m addicted to getting into the mountains chasing whatever is in season. I have had a few unsettling encounters in my short time in the mountains.
1. My first turkey season out here and first time hunting in the mountains, I decided to take a “short cut” which ended up with me bush whacking up about the steeping face one could actually make it up. I finally get to the saddle at the top and look over to see a tent tucked into some trees. My first thought was that someone was hunting back here and just stumbled across there camp, but after looking at it something didn’t feel right. The spot was miserable to get to and the tent was tucked weirdly into the trees almost as if they didn’t want to be seen. I worked up the courage the get closer and realized that it had been there for quite some time (torn tent, rusty cans of food) and all of the persons belongings were left inside, sleeping bag, extra food, backpack, etc. The only rational I could think of is 1. the person is dead on the mountain somewhere 2. the person was hiding out and has since been caught. Deciding in that moment I was getting a handgun and my carry permit for all future backcountry adventures.

Did you report this to the authorities or look to see if there was any missing persons from the area?

 

[Mike Islander]

Solo camping a couple of weeks ago on a sea island near Edisto SC. Got setup and started a fire as the sun set. About 10 minutes after dark the nearby woods cut loose with a bunch of coyotes wailing and howling. They were fairly close.

I don't fear coyotes, especially with a fire and a pistol on my belt, but the hair stood up on the back of my neck nonetheless.

 

[Mike Islander]

Pm pm

Anyone ever hung up a trail camera pointed at their camp to see if anyone or thing (bums, weirdos, tweakers and other creatures) comes and lurks around your camp at night? I've thought about doing it a few times but I've never taken a trail camera in with me. I've ran into some pretty weird people, weird enough that at times I have circled back on my tracks to see if I was being followed. Thankfully nothing too stupid has ever happened to me yet.
Mountain lions screaming at night will definitely gain your full attention the first time or two you hear that. I was definitely thinking a woman was being murdered the first time I heard one, my dad got a could laugh out of it and said nope, that's a cat, not a person.

Every time I camp.

 

[Azone]

Pm pm

Every time I camp.

And…….anything exciting?

 

[Mike Islander]

And…….anything exciting?

Not once. Did capture an armadillo the size of a beachball.

Did get some cool IR shots of me moving around camp. But mostly me getting up in long johns to pee or stare up at the stars.

 

[440Gordy]

Great thread guys. First story happened to me second story was from a guy in camp that was backed up by a few other guys.

Storey one. Myself and 3 other guys where sitting in camp just after the holidays getting stuff set up for the crew to come in the next week. The camp was In the middle of no where in the inlets of the Westcoast of BC. Phillips arm to be exact. Anyways all of us were in the camp house just finished dinner and playing some crib having drinks. All of a sudden we here the door of the camp house close and a male voice say hello. All of us heard it spooked as hell we all investigate. Find no trace of anyone in the camp. The only way in was by boat or plane.

Second storey. Not mine heard from a few old timers I've worked with. Back in the 80s they were logging an old growth site on Indian land. One mechanic found an old Indian grave in a hollowed out cedar. Decided to take the skull and bring it back to the shop. Everyone told him to bring it back to where he found it,which he did. A few days later he was working underneath a jacked up fat truck and the jacks let go and crushed him dead.

I've been into lots of Indian areas on the coast and have had the hairs on my neck stand up multiple times. Hiked into a lake one time and had boulders being thrown into a lake and howling going on. We got the **** out of there pretty quick.

I've read a few native folk lore books.about the coast and they can't be wrong with what I've seen and heard through the years

 

[440Gordy]

I actually have a funny story I just remembered. I was doing a refit in a fish plant up on the central coast of BC in klemtu. I had my dog with me and we went and hiked the powerline. It was rainy season which is 11 months out of the year up there. Anyways next time we go to walk the trail a few days later, every native in the village was out there. Halfway thru I ask them what's going on. The one replies they have found big foot prints and have contacted survivor man to come check them out. Long story short he showed up and found no evidence of Bigfoot. I didn't have the heart to tell them the prints were me with my size 13 Dunlop that have been washed out by the rain.

 

[Bluegrassvw]

I was about 29 when this happened to me. I was coming out of the woods after elk hunting in an area that we have dubbed “elk swamp” as it is a marshy area that a small creek drains into before exiting into a pretty good flowing creek. I was walking along the ridge that goes to the main walking trail that is about a tenth of a mile from the swamp, when I sense something flying towards my head to my right. Since it is past dusk, but not dark yet, my first thought is owl or bat. I duck and a good sized piece of of branch hits one of the trees to my right.

I immediately look in the direction where the flying branch came from and see another one coming towards me. I duck behind the ridge and backtrack about 15 yards thinking my dad, or his friend, is messing with me as I am walking out. I slowly raise up to try to see their movement and I see nothing. I just wait for awhile because I know I am going to see them move over the fold of the ridge, but nothing. I move back down the trail and pick up one of the pieces of wood that was thrown at me and realize it’s a pretty good chunk of wood.

I still haven’t seen any movement and at least 5 minutes have gone by since the initial throw. I figure I’ll throw the wood back in the direction it came and try to hit them hiding on the other side of the ridge. Now I can throw pretty damn good and I couldn’t even get the wood halfway there. I never felt so powerless in the woods at that moment. I picked up the other piece of wood and I put everything into it because I wasn’t believing what was happening to me. Same result, wood lands in the grass before even getting to the base of the next ridge. I can hit the backstop with a baseball from the outfield and I’m really starting to wonder who the hell just threw these two branches at me.

I decide to walk down the trail and back towards where we were supposed to meet in an area we have dubbed “coyote flats”. Before I can get to the steep climb out I see my dad sitting off the trail under his favorite pine tree. I ask him if he was down by the swamp and he says he’s been under his tree. I ask him where his friend is and he says they split up at another spot earlier that evening. I tell him about the branches thrown at me and I know he wasn’t the one because there was no revelry at all. We walk out together and find his friend in Coyote Flats and confirm he hadn’t been down by the swamp.

I’ve ranged that ridge top every time I walk the ridge back to the swamp and it stays a constant 125 yards. Not sure how someone was able to get those branches that far, but it sure makes me think a lot.


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You know what it was...

 

[Bluegrassvw]

one more creepy story
5 years ago while turkey hunting I have a bird gobbling real good about 300 yds away so I start making my way to him before he comes off roost
I see something that just unbelievable and have to do a doubletake to make sure I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing
It is a clear translucent thing that immediately reminds me of the PREDATOR movie monster
This thing was about 8'-9' tall and about 3'-4' in diameter it was maneuvering its way through the trees almost like it was gliding across the ground but definitely working its way through the trees
I really didn't scare me but rather peaked my interest. I watched this thing until it went out of sight and there was no sound to it at all. I never finished my hunt that morning as I had lost all interest
This was about a month after I caught the Guats having a VooDoo ceremony on this property
Yes this really happened as sure as I live and breath

Ive read and heard a few stories matching this same description. Creepy

 

[Los4212]

I've worked as a Paramedic/Firefighter for 10+ years, and I always laugh when people tell me I'm crazy for hunting in the middle of nowhere, be afraid of animals, ect. I always laugh and tell them the crap I've seen people do always worries me more than the mostly predictable behavior of animals. I have 2 stories, 1 hunting, 1 non. I'll tell the hunting as it's the thread. I live in upstate NY and we frequently get lied to about what kind of animals are here. The local DEC has a long history of introducing predators and denying their existence until its blatantly obvious. So this year my dad and I are bow hunting. We meet up and are walking out just before dark (just wanted to do an afternoon stalk hunt together like when I was a kid) I was lead and coming over a knoll that I have shot a lot of nice deer out of, including a good buck last year. Suddenly my dad, who is steps behind me is hissing "Coyote" I turn and look and I can't see anything. He then tells me "you're looking right at it" in my mind I'm looking for a Coyote like I've seen my whole life...scraggly narrow face with brownish white colors...the first thing I saw was the eyes. Wild, yellow eyes connected to a black face with a huge head and almost silver mane. I grew up with German Sheppards and this dog was easily 90-100+lbs, not 30-40lbs like most of the coyotes I've encountered, but was most certainly NOT a house pet. We also were miles from anyone's house and on private land. I've never had an animal look at me like that before. It was not afraid and definitely was sizing me up. More predatory than I've ever had a black bear look at me. So as I was changing arrows (was NOT about to send a $35 Iron will at it) my bow release hit my bow limb and the loud metallic 'clang' and sent the dog running. We both stood for a moment not saying anything and my dad goes "you're gonna think I'm crazy, but I think that was..." "a wolf" I finished his sentence before he could. My dad said he was watching a pine lot just to our left and saw the dog coming running out at us, stopping about 40 yards away. I never even heard the thing. It was as though it was hunting us, not just a random encounter where we crossed paths. I told a few co workers about it and they all said I was crazy, then a few weeks later my buddy sent me this picture of a guy he knows that hunts about 20 minutes from I was. DEC told him it was a coydog...I'm not so sure about that. You guys have more experience with wolves than I do, but to me, that looks like what I saw, and that is a wolf in my book!

 

[ethan]

Just remembered this one. About 15 years ago I was at a buddy’s place and he has a friend over. He starts telling me what a great bow hunter his friend is and we start talking hunting, a few beers later he tells us about a “strange” thing once that scared him so bad he ran off and left his bow and swore he’d never go back in there. Now, my friend and I start giving him a hard time and he starts to get angry, telling us it was translucent and had glowing eyes and was about 8’ tall. He was obviously dead serious, and my friend and I being normal guys proceeded to make fun of him. About 6 months later this guy died suddenly of a brain aneurysm he didn’t know he had. Someone told me when people have a brain aneurysm they sometimes hallucinate and see things that are totally real to them. We felt pretty bad after we found out.

 

[LandYacht]

You know what it was...

Some goof ball angling for some beef jerky?


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[Scoot]

This one pales in comparison to most of these stories, but it's always stuck with me... on a class trip to Itasca State Park in MN we split up as we walked some trails. A buddy and I kept getting too far ahead of everyone, so our teacher made us wait for 15 minutes to let everyone else get well ahead of us. The teacher went up ahead with the rest of the kids. We waited for about 20+ minutes, then took off on a run. We caught up to them in no time- they were slow. He made us wait for 30 minutes, which we did. We took off running and were zipping through the woods. I got well ahead of my buddy and was clipping along really quickly down the trail at a pretty fast jog. In mid-stride I was practically hit by the realization that something was wrong. I stopped on a dime and knew something/someone was there. I looked straight to my right and a little behind me and there was my teacher, leaning against a tree and not moving about 40 yards away. He was out of my peripheral view and really well hidden. I swear I couldn't/didn't see him, but somehow I just knew he was there.

Not nearly as interesting as most of the stories in this thread, but that happened 36 years ago and I still remember it well.

 

[quaggy25]

This one pales in comparison to most of these stories, but it's always stuck with me... on a class trip to Itasca State Park in MN we split up as we walked some trails. A buddy and I kept getting too far ahead of everyone, so our teacher made us wait for 15 minutes to let everyone else get well ahead of us. The teacher went up ahead with the rest of the kids. We waited for about 20+ minutes, then took off on a run. We caught up to them in no time- they were slow. He made us wait for 30 minutes, which we did. We took off running and were zipping through the woods. I got well ahead of my buddy and was clipping along really quickly down the trail at a pretty fast jog. In mid-stride I was practically hit by the realization that something was wrong. I stopped on a dime and knew something/someone was there. I looked straight to my right and a little behind me and there was my teacher, leaning against a tree and not moving about 40 yards away. He was out of my peripheral view and really well hidden. I swear I couldn't/didn't see him, but somehow I just knew he was there.

Not nearly as interesting as most of the stories in this thread, but that happened 36 years ago and I still remember it well.

What was your teacher doing? Or did you just surpass him?

 

[Scoot]

I think he just sneaked off to the side to spy on everyone as they went by. I think part of it was to see if we were doing anything we weren't supposed to and part of it was to figure out how the hell we kept catching up to everyone so quickly. There's nothing crazy or really weird about it other than I had this really odd feeling and I somehow knew someone was watching me, even though I had seen nothing. My head snapped to the side as if I knew to look where he was. At least consciously, I had no idea he was there, but I stopped and locked on him like a bird dog on a pheasant!

 

[jnawalaniec]

Did not report it, looked into missing persons in the area and didn’t find anything.