Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[AKBC]

I was hunting caribou in eastern AK a couple weeks ago and headed up the trail at dawn in the rain when a man came down the trail on a four wheeler. He stopped us and asked if we had a satellite phone. Said his girlfriend was dead in their tent when he woke up and he needed to call the troopers. Later that day we saw a trooper on a four wheeler with a side by side following with EMS on the side head up the trail.

I watched the State Trooper daily dispatches for a while but it never showed up.

 

[TheGDog]

Just this august during my fall bear hunt I was glassing from a cliff that overlooks a very large berry patch. I was right on the edge of at least a forty foot drop. It was getting pretty late in the day and I was glued to my optics. Out of nowhere a robin tries to land on my binoculars. I seriously almost fell off the cliff.

Last year during rifle season I'm up in D14 taking an ambush sit in the leafy gear... then outta nowhere I'm like WhatF!? A bird landed on my head in the leafy boonie hat! HA!

 

[AM_Hunter]

Last year during rifle season I'm up in D14 taking an ambush sit in the leafy gear... then outta nowhere I'm like WhatF!? A bird landed on my head in the leafy boonie hat! HA!

Hey GDog You hunting D14 this year? If so good luck next weekend, maybe ill run into you up there

 

[hflier]

Today my wife and I were hiking in MO. Our original targeted trail head had a guy parked there that was in his truck looking very suspicious. We went to another trail head. Being unfamiliar with the area, we came across the previous trail head with the suspect person about 3 miles into our 4.5 mile loop. Guy was not in the truck, check, need to be aware. A little further, full water bottle on the trail with and empty can of spam, check, odd. A little further small backpack on the trail. Ok, now my wife and I automatically go into condition orange. She is facing one way and me the other while walking. I am always armed so, getting ready as it looked like a set up. 100 yards later hear someone talking. Guy is 20 yards off the trail crawling around like an animal laughing like a insane nut case. Ok now in condition red, we continue on past him weapon out now at my side. He moves towards the trail as we pass, now ready to do what I have to, moved the wife in front of me after we pass and he is coming. At the last minute nut job turns away, he lives. We watched our 6 for awhile. He was so meth’d out he was acting like a bear in the woods laughing it up in fantasy land and digging in the dirt. This is not the first crazy shit I have come across. Have had multiple encounters with violent or crazy people in the city and the woods minding my own business. I feel two legged animals are the most dangerous thing in the woods and elsewhere. I think you are nuts if you are not always armed. I have been standing at a gas pump, pumping gas before work, guy pulls up and threatens to beat me with a baseball bat. Going to the doctor, a guy beating his woman in the parking lot, she runs in the doctors office I lock the door, he says he is going to kill me. Folks it only takes one to go wrong. I’m 60 now, not as tough as I once was, got to be careful. Do your family a favor, always carry. Years ago my wife thought I was a little nuts. We have had enough crazy shit happen, now she is armed and makes damn sure I never leave the house unarmed.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[highcountrymuley]

damn Ron, good to be always aware and ready.

 

[rileybassman]

Same thing to me this year! 12 miles from the trailhead I thought we were being invaded.

I saw these too... pretty trippy lol

 

[The Worst Hunter]

Same thing to me this year! 12 miles from the trailhead I thought we were being invaded.

yeeeeeup. called my mom thinking it was time.

 

[The Worst Hunter]

^^ and did u get it out alive?

after much salsa dancing in circles, i got him loose, and he immediately started grazing on grass. his antler was limp, but he looked like he was going to make it! i'm sure the cougars were pissed.

 

[Torque]

Today my wife and I were hiking in MO. Our original targeted trail head had a guy parked there that was in his truck looking very suspicious. We went to another trail head. Being unfamiliar with the area, we came across the previous trail head with the suspect person about 3 miles into our 4.5 mile loop. Guy was not in the truck, check, need to be aware. A little further, full water bottle on the trail with and empty can of spam, check, odd. A little further small backpack on the trail. Ok, now my wife and I automatically go into condition orange. She is facing one way and me the other while walking. I am always armed so, getting ready as it looked like a set up. 100 yards later hear someone talking. Guy is 20 yards off the trail crawling around like an animal laughing like a insane nut case. Ok now in condition red, we continue on past him weapon out now at my side. He moves towards the trail as we pass, now ready to do what I have to, moved the wife in front of me after we pass and he is coming. At the last minute nut job turns away, he lives. We watched our 6 for awhile. He was so meth’d out he was acting like a bear in the woods laughing it up in fantasy land and digging in the dirt. This is not the first crazy shit I have come across. Have had multiple encounters with violent or crazy people in the city and the woods minding my own business. I feel two legged animals are the most dangerous thing in the woods and elsewhere. I think you are nuts if you are not always armed. I have been standing at a gas pump, pumping gas before work, guy pulls up and threatens to beat me with a baseball bat. Going to the doctor, a guy beating his woman in the parking lot, she runs in the doctors office I lock the door, he says he is going to kill me. Folks it only takes one to go wrong. I’m 60 now, not as tough as I once was, got to be careful. Do your family a favor, always carry. Years ago my wife thought I was a little nuts. We have had enough crazy shit happen, now she is armed and makes damn sure I never leave the house unarmed.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know what you mean sir. I pulled out of work one day and a black jeep screeches up beside me with the driver throwing f bombs at me. I have no idea whats going on. I pull over, (I cc), and put my vehicle between us. He gets out screaming at me that I have been following him all over town and that he knows I'm a cop. The Jeep is brand new, not a smudge or scratch on it and he is dressed very nicely. I am a little confused, but stand my ground and try to explain that I have no idea what he is talking about and that he must have my vehicle mistaken with someone else's. He gets closer and I see his pupils are dialated to almost the entire dimension of his iris. I don't know what he's high on, but I knew I was going to have to shoot someone for the first time in my life. He continues to come closer, then immediately stands up straight, like he had a broom stick shoved up his butt. He turns, and walks stiffly back to his jeep screaming at me over his shoulder that he will be watching out for me. I had mentally calculated that in 2 more steps I would have to shoot him. I had already a drawn, but kept it below the hood. He will never know how close he was to dying and I sure didn't want to kill someone.

 

[shepaloop]

Hunting a spot in Eastern Nev and bumped into a loonatic in the woods. Seriously. We found out His family dumped him out there in a POS trailer and would bring him food once a month or so. Heard him screaming one night. Walking around in shit soaked clothes a knife and barefoot. This guy was certifiable. The guy was dangerous.... both from his attitude and the Cholera he was wearing.

We finally had to intimidate him not to pester us.

..

Nooooooo thank you lol

gross.

hmm sounds like a good day

one day last year my cousin had killed a buck back in at our deer camp (bout 5 miles deep) and he IN reached me to come help pack him out. so i loaded the polaris and headed to the trail head where i saw two men (one 40ish the other like maybe 75) dawning their packs and appearing to be heading in. Said my hellos and high tailed into camp. on our way out we got the the trailhead (which has two trails starting at it headed in opposite directions) and we noticed the younger of the men sitting on his tailgate alone. We continued over to our vehicles and unloaded our packs and pretty whipped from our heavy pack out out of a nasty canyon. The man walked over and struck up a conversation about the hunt and then oddly asked if we have seen an older man on our way back. said "my dad was with me and he has dementia and i looked back when we were hiking and he was gone" hmmm sounds kind of weird i thought. Why TF would let him out of your sight. He seemed worried but not over worried if that makes sense. I felt bad because i could kind of tell he was wanting us to offer to help look but selfishly we were whipped and needed to get the meat taken care of and it was 2PM with a 3 hr drive ahead of us. So we asked if he wanted us to contact someone when we got service and he declined. So we headed home.


At 10pm at night we got an alert from one of our cell cams (it checks in once a day) of a picture of the old man. The location of the cam is absolutely nowhere near the area they were supposedly. Now I'm feeling like a complete piece of shit for not helping. So i immediately called the sheriff and asked they has a missing persons report and they obviously so the put me in contact with search and recue team leader and they asked if i could come back up and hike in with them to the location of the camera. So at 11 i loaded back up and headed back. It was like 25 degrees and the old boy was in wranglers, new balances, and a tee-shirt, nothing else. They had a helicopter with a thermal camera looking all over for him and probably 20 people searching. I was about 2 miles from the trail head when i ran into an officer with the son and the newly found old man. They had just found him because he ran into a creek and followed it down like anybody would think to do and the creek runs along the forest road for about 3 miles. he saw headlights and fired his rifle and got their attention. I mapped out how far he went and he traveled about 18 miles. he had a phone but put it on airplane mode to save battery, little did he know if woulda had it on where we got a picture of him he would have had full service for a while on that ridgeline. lets just say it was a long day lol

 

[shepaloop]

Man this page really drew me in, so I figured I’d contribute. I’ve got nothing on a lot of y’all but still, some might appreciate it.

I grew up across the road from a fairly large(for the east) chunk of state land that I would hunt and hike on some. When I was probably 15 I was really getting into bow hunting, but being unable to drive, my only option unless my dad was going was to go to this public land. Now this is northern WV. Thick Mountain Laurel and not a lot of deer on public land, but it was a way for me to get out. I had an old school junky climber that used wing nuts to strap to the tree so it was super time consuming to pack up in the dark.

One night I hunt and if I recall correctly saw a couple deer out of range, which was rare honestly. Since id seen deer I was feeling brave and decided I’d sit till dark dark(15 year old kid not used to being alone, kinda rare for me to actually stick it out lol) so it gets dark and I climb down and start packing up. I’m feeling a little uneasy because it’s dark dark now and I’m fiddling with this stand when all of a sudden right behind me I hear a noise clear as day. The only way I can describe this noise is a really aggressive buck grunt. I jumped up and looked all around but never saw anything or heard anything. I grabbed that stand and booked it out there without even strapping it all together.

I spent 20 minutes trying to make my grunt make that noise without me blowing through it but it wasn’t going to happen. I have no clue what it was but it took weeks before I hunted in there again and I still feel uneasy after dark in there. Things as a kid have a way of sticking with you..

hell yes that would spook the hell out of me to hahaha

 

[TFrank]

Back on this thread for the Halloween season!

 

[Pdzoller]

Today my wife and I were hiking in MO. Our original targeted trail head had a guy parked there that was in his truck looking very suspicious. We went to another trail head. Being unfamiliar with the area, we came across the previous trail head with the suspect person about 3 miles into our 4.5 mile loop. Guy was not in the truck, check, need to be aware. A little further, full water bottle on the trail with and empty can of spam, check, odd. A little further small backpack on the trail. Ok, now my wife and I automatically go into condition orange. She is facing one way and me the other while walking. I am always armed so, getting ready as it looked like a set up. 100 yards later hear someone talking. Guy is 20 yards off the trail crawling around like an animal laughing like a insane nut case. Ok now in condition red, we continue on past him weapon out now at my side. He moves towards the trail as we pass, now ready to do what I have to, moved the wife in front of me after we pass and he is coming. At the last minute nut job turns away, he lives. We watched our 6 for awhile. He was so meth’d out he was acting like a bear in the woods laughing it up in fantasy land and digging in the dirt. This is not the first crazy shit I have come across. Have had multiple encounters with violent or crazy people in the city and the woods minding my own business. I feel two legged animals are the most dangerous thing in the woods and elsewhere. I think you are nuts if you are not always armed. I have been standing at a gas pump, pumping gas before work, guy pulls up and threatens to beat me with a baseball bat. Going to the doctor, a guy beating his woman in the parking lot, she runs in the doctors office I lock the door, he says he is going to kill me. Folks it only takes one to go wrong. I’m 60 now, not as tough as I once was, got to be careful. Do your family a favor, always carry. Years ago my wife thought I was a little nuts. We have had enough crazy shit happen, now she is armed and makes damn sure I never leave the house unarmed.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not backcountry related but you reminded me of a time I was getting some Subway in the morning before work.

I was getting ready to pay for my sandwich when a very large dude walked in and started picking up and slamming down chairs near the door while growling loudly. I mouthed to the girl at the register to call 911, I’ll stay till they get here. Dude walked out before they did but I was not armed and definitely could not have taken him. Had my adrenaline going crazy.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Not backcountry related but you reminded me of a time I was getting some Subway in the morning before work.

I was getting ready to pay for my sandwich when a very large dude walked in and started picking up and slamming down chairs near the door while growling loudly. I mouthed to the girl at the register to call 911, I’ll stay till they get here. Dude walked out before they did but I was not armed and definitely could not have taken him. Had my adrenaline going crazy.

You should have expected that by going to Subway for breakfast.

 

[M-Wig]

Today my wife and I were hiking in MO. Our original targeted trail head had a guy parked there that was in his truck looking very suspicious. We went to another trail head. Being unfamiliar with the area, we came across the previous trail head with the suspect person about 3 miles into our 4.5 mile loop. Guy was not in the truck, check, need to be aware. A little further, full water bottle on the trail with and empty can of spam, check, odd. A little further small backpack on the trail. Ok, now my wife and I automatically go into condition orange. She is facing one way and me the other while walking. I am always armed so, getting ready as it looked like a set up. 100 yards later hear someone talking. Guy is 20 yards off the trail crawling around like an animal laughing like a insane nut case. Ok now in condition red, we continue on past him weapon out now at my side. He moves towards the trail as we pass, now ready to do what I have to, moved the wife in front of me after we pass and he is coming. At the last minute nut job turns away, he lives. We watched our 6 for awhile. He was so meth’d out he was acting like a bear in the woods laughing it up in fantasy land and digging in the dirt. This is not the first crazy shit I have come across. Have had multiple encounters with violent or crazy people in the city and the woods minding my own business. I feel two legged animals are the most dangerous thing in the woods and elsewhere. I think you are nuts if you are not always armed. I have been standing at a gas pump, pumping gas before work, guy pulls up and threatens to beat me with a baseball bat. Going to the doctor, a guy beating his woman in the parking lot, she runs in the doctors office I lock the door, he says he is going to kill me. Folks it only takes one to go wrong. I’m 60 now, not as tough as I once was, got to be careful. Do your family a favor, always carry. Years ago my wife thought I was a little nuts. We have had enough crazy shit happen, now she is armed and makes damn sure I never leave the house unarmed.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was this by any chance in the Mark Twain?

 

[Dos Perros]

Yes in the south sky about 530am mountain

We saw those. I have a good video of my buddy going "WHAT THE F***!!!!" and kinda freaking out a little.

 

[sndmn11]

We saw those. I have a good video of my buddy going "WHAT THE F***!!!!" and kinda freaking out a little.

Did YOU know what they were? That would be a cruel trick if you did!

I was on a sheep hunt and sitting behind a spotter on one side of the canyon with a big city fire captain while the hunter and another were on the other side of the canyon waiting for shooting light.

Neither of us had any idea what it was and were a little bothered by it. So much so, when we met back up with the hunter a few hours later to pack meat the first thing I asked was if they saw the UFO. That's when the hunter told us it was starlink and he bummed he missed it.

 

[Dos Perros]

Did YOU know what they were? That would be a cruel trick if you did!

I was on a sheep hunt and sitting behind a spotter on one side of the canyon with a big city fire captain while the hunter and another were on the other side of the canyon waiting for shooting light.

Neither of us had any idea what it was and were a little bothered by it. So much so, when we met back up with the hunter a few hours later to pack meat the first thing I asked was if they saw the UFO. That's when the hunter told us it was starlink and he bummed he missed it.

I didn't. In the dark trying to use my judgement, I guessed them to be about 40,000 ft in altitude, like commercial airline altitude. So then I'm thinking a plane dragging some sort of equipment, like earth mapping sonar or something. But no engine noise.

My friend guessed much higher in the atmosphere. We talked satellites but decided it didn't make sense to have so many in such proximity to each other.

On the way home we did some Googling.

 

[Rooster46]

In the early 90’s my Dad and his best friend go on a drop camp for elk with their bows. This takes place in Washington State. They are packed in a few miles. The tent has already been set up prior to their arrival as well as all the norms on a drop camp. I’m going to explain the tent because this plays a huge role in the story and I do not know what the name of these types of tents are called.



The tent that was set up was a very large A frame type tent with two separate rooms. The rooms were divided by the tent material but had a zipper down the middle. So imagine very large curtains if you will. If you left this “wall” unzipped it would just be two pieces of tent material that you could then roll up to the sides and make the tent one big room. In the back room farthest from the entrance of the tent is where their cots lay. This hunt took place during archery season, so they never zipped up either room to keep the air flowing with a nice cool breeze. The front “room” of the tent is where they kept all their gear, cooking supplies, and a cooler. They left the middle wall unzipped but did not roll them up as it was just the right amount of breeze to keep them cool.



The first evening of their arrival they went out for an evening hunt and were surrounded by elk. Sign was everywhere, a few bugles going off and cows in almost every direction they went. The next day they wake up and can’t find a scent of an elk. This goes on for 4 days, not another sight or sound of elk. On the last night of their hunt they are laying in their cots in the back room. Pitch black out. My Dad tells me “you could hear a needle drop on the forest floor.” He says he wakes up but doesn’t know why. Unsure, he lays there for a minute and heard a scraping noise. Almost as if a stick was coming through the side of the tent in the front room. Now remember this front room has these curtains/walls coming down with a long slit in the middle that you can just pass through going from each room.



As this is happening he can see the silloute of his friend sitting up on his cot. This goes on for a minute or two when a backpack full of gear comes flying through the curtain doors and rolls in between them. He estimates this backpack to have roughly 30-35 pounds of gear. The pack never was very high off the ground but was airborne. This backpack rolled 6 feet after it hit the floor of the tent. He had never been so scared in his life. Neither of them armed with anything other than their bows, they both sit on their cots with arrows knocked pointing at the curtain walls. My father ended the story the one and only time he told it to me by saying he could never understand how he didn’t hear a single thing. Not the pine needles crunching. Not a twig snapping not even the shuffle of a hoof or paw. It remained dead silent until the birds started chirping that morning. He has never hunted that area again.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

In the early 90’s my Dad and his best friend go on a drop camp for elk with their bows. This takes place in Washington State. They are packed in a few miles. The tent has already been set up prior to their arrival as well as all the norms on a drop camp. I’m going to explain the tent because this plays a huge role in the story and I do not know what the name of these types of tents are called.



The tent that was set up was a very large A frame type tent with two separate rooms. The rooms were divided by the tent material but had a zipper down the middle. So imagine very large curtains if you will. If you left this “wall” unzipped it would just be two pieces of tent material that you could then roll up to the sides and make the tent one big room. In the back room farthest from the entrance of the tent is where their cots lay. This hunt took place during archery season, so they never zipped up either room to keep the air flowing with a nice cool breeze. The front “room” of the tent is where they kept all their gear, cooking supplies, and a cooler. They left the middle wall unzipped but did not roll them up as it was just the right amount of breeze to keep them cool.



The first evening of their arrival they went out for an evening hunt and were surrounded by elk. Sign was everywhere, a few bugles going off and cows in almost every direction they went. The next day they wake up and can’t find a scent of an elk. This goes on for 4 days, not another sight or sound of elk. On the last night of their hunt they are laying in their cots in the back room. Pitch black out. My Dad tells me “you could hear a needle drop on the forest floor.” He says he wakes up but doesn’t know why. Unsure, he lays there for a minute and heard a scraping noise. Almost as if a stick was coming through the side of the tent in the front room. Now remember this front room has these curtains/walls coming down with a long slit in the middle that you can just pass through going from each room.



As this is happening he can see the silloute of his friend sitting up on his cot. This goes on for a minute or two when a backpack full of gear comes flying through the curtain doors and rolls in between them. He estimates this backpack to have roughly 30-35 pounds of gear. The pack never was very high off the ground but was airborne. This backpack rolled 6 feet after it hit the floor of the tent. He had never been so scared in his life. Neither of them armed with anything other than their bows, they both sit on their cots with arrows knocked pointing at the curtain walls. My father ended the story the one and only time he told it to me by saying he could never understand how he didn’t hear a single thing. Not the pine needles crunching. Not a twig snapping not even the shuffle of a hoof or paw. It remained dead silent until the birds started chirping that morning. He has never hunted that area again.

Im also from Washington and have hunted my whole life and I do know there's a lot of diehard hunters here in WA that know of what's really out there but don't talk about it. Like a head nod to each other and move on from the subject kind of thing when it's brought up. Although some guys aren't shy about it either. The Cascades are a crazy place, both sides of them.