Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[Wash. Hiker]

I was told a story year’s ago.
Two guys had been deer hunting in the Blue mountains of Washington. They were packed in about 8 miles and they came out for approximately a week in between deer and elk season. When they got back to camp a bear had come in and taken down their tent and pretty much destroyed camp. So, after they spent a bit of time putting the tent back up and putting camp back together. They had noticed the horses and mules were kinda nervous with the smell of the bear in camp. They finally get to sleep and all of the sudden one of the guys is screaming bloody murder. So, the other one grabs his 357 revolver and flashlight, turns on the light just to a mouse sitting on the screaming guy’s neck.
The guy screaming just about died!

 

[Blowdowner]

This story is one my dad told me. This occurred in the early 1970s in the backcountry of montana.

My dad and mom had backpacked in several miles to an area he had hunted elk in numerous times in the past. They set up their tent and got camp all situated, didn't see hide nor hair of any elk that evening but figured they would get after it in the morning.

About 1 am they started hearing a moaning sound off in the distance but it kept getting a little closer and a little closer and by around 2:30 am the noise was only 50 or 75 yards off and it sounded almost like a person that was injured so my dad got out of the tent with his flashlight in one hand and 44 in the other. He shouted out hello are you ok but no response. He scanned the woods with his flashlight but nothing no eyes reflecting or nothing. He went back in the tent and about 20 minutes later it was back and getting closer. Whatever it was came right up to the tent and was brushing against it. My dad said it almost seemed like a person walking around the tent with their hand brushing against it. When it was on the opposite side from the door he unzipped the door and jumped out ready as one could be to see what it was , scanning with the flashlight again but again nothing. My mom yelled it's right behind the tent I can hear it moving. So my dad went towards the back of the tent but still nothing, no eyes reflecting as one would expect with an animal. This continued until just before it started breaking light and then it completely vanished. They left and came out after that but him and I hunted that area again about 25 years later. If I'm being honest the first night out there I didn't sleep a wink. My dad said that was the only time in his life when he was truly frightened. For what it's worth he had tons of backcountry experience both in montana and Alaska.

Funny thing is he ran into an outfitter a couple months later and he had dropped a hunter off in an old trappers cabin about 7 miles as the crow flies from where my parents had been. The hunter had a similar story and got so scared he just left all his gear except his rifle and high tailed it outta there.

His story beats my worst all to hell. My worst was having a mountain lion in heat circle my tent most of one night after backpacking in 7 miles for mule deer. Was an uneasy night listening to her screaming all night but at least I knew what it was.

Been some great stories to read on here keep em coming!

Do they get more curious/stupid at that time? Why come near a camp is it like moths to a light?

 

[EastHumboldt]

I wonder how much of these is just hunters messing with each other. I know I’ve done it and never told anyone. Yet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t mess with other hunters. Especially in the middle of the night. They are armed and jumpy. Sounds like a good way to get shot.

 

[hflier]

Was this by any chance in the Mark Twain?

Lake of the Ozarks State Park

 

[bigbassin]

Not supernatural but the most scared I’ve ever been in the woods:

I decided to try a creek in the Cohutta's (North Georgia) where 3 creeks merged at around 2600'. Hoping to catch trout or one of the local bass species. After driving to the location, spending quite a bit of time on dirt roads to get to there, it is very clear based on the overgrown parking lot and lack of trash or other signs of humans that this was not a frequently used trail. At the start of the trip, that's exactly what I was hoping for.

As I begin to head down the trail, it becomes pretty clear the descent is much steeper than I expected from Google maps. After descending roughly 800' over the stretch of a half mile, I'm already nearing what I think is the end of trout water, but as I mentioned earlier they have black bass species that live only in this area to target as well. The trail has completely flattened out and parallels the river which has several creeks feeding into from higher elevations, giving me hope the water will be cold enough.

For the first two miles the creek is too narrow and shallow for me to even consider trying to fish it. As I make it further in, eventually enough creeks have merged that the water is consistently at least 6 inches deep, with little pools maybe a foot deep, stream is about 6-10' wide. Once I reached this point I began to fish the creek anywhere I could feasibly bushwhack to the bank (there weren't many spots I was able to do this).

The whole time I'm hiking in/fishing I'm keeping in eye out for any tracks or signs of bear activity, still a little on edge from running into a few the week prior and knowing that the next person to come along won't just be 10 minutes away like last week. Around the 5 mile mark, I see my first sign that anything else has ever been out there. It's a track, 3" long, 4 fingers, 2 pads on the heel, no claws. Another 50', another track. 50' past that I come up to a 2' tall game trail that appears to lead to a bedding area for something.

I’d assume the track belonged to a bobcat or coyote. No claws makes me think cat, but I’d think it was on the big side for a bobcat.

At this point I hadn’t had a bite and decide to head back to the truck.

I reach the bottom of the hill to climb back the last stretch, I see a bad sign. The third set of tracks I see all day that are not mine or the ones I previously described belong to a bear. Two tracks. Several trees in the area have also had pieces of bark ripped off, saplings were ripped up.

Now all of the missing bark was facing downhill, so I convince myself I just wasn't able to see it earlier and I must of missed the tracks. This is about all I can come up with since that trail up is the only way out.

Not even 5 steps into my ascent, I found the bear. As I was 90 degrees with a bush to my left, it roared and (at least in my head) the entire bush shook when he did. I was close enough to touch the bush with my left arm.

Unlike previous bear encounters at distance, where I was able to calmly stand my ground and then back off when that didn't work, I completely panicked. My first reaction was to turn my back to the bear and run before realizing what I was doing. As soon as I caught myself, I tuned back towards it, stood tall, arms out and trying to talk as normally as possible as I retreated back 100'.

As I'm standing here, I quickly realize I'm at a low spot on all 4 sides with zero visibility forward, backwards, or to my left (2 of the 3 directions I'd assume the bear would come from if it were to advance on me). Moving to my right by about 30' puts me on slightly higher ground, but also takes me off the trail and most likely further reduces my visibility. I decide standing right where I was while everything cooled down was not any better or worse than anything else I could do.

After waiting 30 minutes on my watch after the initial bear encounter, I have not heard the bear in a while. I decide to test with a rock throw in it's direction since I'm getting pretty tired of the calling. The bear very loudly lets me know it is still there.

I remember how remote the area is and that I did not see a single track or sign showing human life had ever been on the 5 miles I walked.

Another thirty minutes go by (both the fastest and slowest 30 minutes of my life). I repeat the process and it plays out exactly the same way, except 5 minutes later I hear the bear snort just a little to the left of where it had been.

I wait another 20 minutes or so and now something has changed. I try throwing a rock at the bear again, no reaction.

I think I held it together walking past where the bear was and then ran a 2 minute half mile straight up hill.

With only 5 creek chubs to show for the whole ordeal I will never be back to that area again.

 

[bigbassin]

Scariest people encounter:

Back in college I entered a tournament as a coangler on Rodman Reservoir in Ocala National Forest.

Boater told me to meet him at the lake at 5:00 AM. I hit the road around 3:30 AM, should put me there about 15 minutes early.

I’m driving through Ocala National Forest and the fog this particulate morning is thick, I’m probably driving 30 in a 55 due to the limited visibility.

I come around a corner and all of the sudden I see the whitest lady I’ve ever seen in my life walking towards me in the lane. Clearly just substance abuse going on, but could easily pass for a zombie/ghost. I pull into the oncoming traffic lane and hit my breaks to miss her.

I come to a stop about 15 feet past her, and watch her turn around like a zombie and start walking towards my truck.

I went ahead and got out of there.

Since then I’ve had a similar thing happen in almost the same area with a regular looking guy that appeared to have a bit too much to drink. Another time, guy just crossing the road around midnight, no vehicles around.

I’ve got several buddies that have similar stories of people walking in the oncoming lane seemingly in the middle of nowhere out in the Ocala National Forest and they had to swerve to miss them.

Weird thing is it always seems to happen 5-10 miles from the closest building that shows up on the map, and these aren’t hikers. No clue what these people are doing out there.

 

[zalewitz]

Real random, just wondering if anyone has any stories from backcountry hunts that were unexplainable, weird, or just plain scary?

I love these stories. Try googling for “creepy hunting story Reddit” or something like that, there’s some good ones on there.

 

[HoneyHoleOutdoors]

The very first time I went deer hunting was back in 2015. In West KY and went on my then girlfriend (current wife's) family land on the opening day of rifle season. I got put in one of their stands on the edge of a swamp that was only about 100 yards in the woods with soybean field out front. The stand faces into the woods and about 300 feet from the stand turns into public TVA ground. The TVA ground is accessible but youd have to either trespass or walk through about 2 miles of thick swamp to get back to where we were. I get dropped off to the stand and remember taking in the 25 degree pitch black morning, and waiting in the dark for things to lighten up. Then I see a blue light walking through the woods. As it got closer I see an old man with a white beard wearing red and black flannel and a stormy kromer walking down the trail that leads to and past this stand, with an old school lantern held out at arms length. He walked past my stand, never looked up at me and walked onto the TVA and disappeared. I got a doe that morning and never have figured out where that guy came from. I was there until about 12:30 or so and never saw him walk back out either.

 

[PNWbowhunter]

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.

I bowhunt elk in WA. Can you tell me what GMU this was so I can stay away from it?

 

[PNWbowhunter]

Scariest people encounter:

Back in college I entered a tournament as a coangler on Rodman Reservoir in Ocala National Forest.

Boater told me to meet him at the lake at 5:00 AM. I hit the road around 3:30 AM, should put me there about 15 minutes early.

I’m driving through Ocala National Forest and the fog this particulate morning is thick, I’m probably driving 30 in a 55 due to the limited visibility.

I come around a corner and all of the sudden I see the whitest lady I’ve ever seen in my life walking towards me in the lane. Clearly just substance abuse going on, but could easily pass for a zombie/ghost. I pull into the oncoming traffic lane and hit my breaks to miss her.

I come to a stop about 15 feet past her, and watch her turn around like a zombie and start walking towards my truck.

I went ahead and got out of there.

Since then I’ve had a similar thing happen in almost the same area with a regular looking guy that appeared to have a bit too much to drink. Another time, guy just crossing the road around midnight, no vehicles around.

I’ve got several buddies that have similar stories of people walking in the oncoming lane seemingly in the middle of nowhere out in the Ocala National Forest and they had to swerve to miss them.

Weird thing is it always seems to happen 5-10 miles from the closest building that shows up on the map, and these aren’t hikers. No clue what these people are doing out there.

I had this happen to me while driving highway 101 in the Olympic National Park in WA. It was night time in December and this guy just walked out from the tree line and into my lane. It happened so fast that if I had been checking my phone I would have definitely hit him. Weird thing was he never looked up at me and just kept walking. There wasn't another vehicle in either direction for miles.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I had this happen to me while driving highway 101 in the Olympic National Park in WA. It was night time in December and this guy just walked out from the tree line and into my lane. It happened so fast that if I had been checking my phone I would have definitely hit him. Weird thing was he never looked up at me and just kept walking. There wasn't another vehicle in either direction for miles.

Was he tall, bearfoot, and wearing a head to toe fur suit? If so he was probably....insane.

 

[Rooster46]

I bowhunt elk in WA. Can you tell me what GMU this was so I can stay away from it?

Haha, this took place In the William O. Douglas Wilderness.

 

[PNWbowhunter]

Ah - I know where that is! I was out there last summer camping in Goose Prairie. Thanks,

 

[Trbrincefield]

I have 2. First was about 1997, opening weekend deer season central california. Was sitting in camp after setting up the Thursday before the opener, had a campfire going, this was base camp for the whole season, so we set up everything. Sitting by the fire just bs-ing with my cousin, when 3 lights started making their way up the hill, about 8 feet off the ground. I thought they were possibly fireflies (none. This side of the Sierras) or maybe sparks floating from another fire. As they got closer I realized they were about baseball sized and pretty consistently bright. They made their way up the side of the mountain, watched them for a good 4 to 5 minutes, they didn't fade. Just went over the hill out of sight. No drugs or alcohol involved, just some bright lights and weird feelings all weekend. Like being watched.

Second was probably no more that 3 miles from the first place, opening weekend again but this was about 4 years ago. Moving along the edge of a meadow, my 14 year old nephew with me for his first archery deer hunt. I have bear tag as well. He points and whispers, "bear!" I see it, about 100 yards, pulling a log apart looking for grubs, wind in my favor, so I start stalking. Got to about 60 yards, pull the range finder, start putting it away and the wind swirled. I feel it on the back of my neck. The bear stands up on two legs. Not a bear, whatever it was was about 7 feet, covered in black hair, half turned to me and walked away. On two legs. Silently. Not super surprised by that, it was on a bed of pine needles. Was shooting light, but dark in the meadow. Wasn't a bear, and it was big.

 

[WildBoose]

I th

I have 2. First was about 1997, opening weekend deer season central california. Was sitting in camp after setting up the Thursday before the opener, had a campfire going, this was base camp for the whole season, so we set up everything. Sitting by the fire just bs-ing with my cousin, when 3 lights started making their way up the hill, about 8 feet off the ground. I thought they were possibly fireflies (none. This side of the Sierras) or maybe sparks floating from another fire. As they got closer I realized they were about baseball sized and pretty consistently bright. They made their way up the side of the mountain, watched them for a good 4 to 5 minutes, they didn't fade. Just went over the hill out of sight. No drugs or alcohol involved, just some bright lights and weird feelings all weekend. Like being watched.

Second was probably no more that 3 miles from the first place, opening weekend again but this was about 4 years ago. Moving along the edge of a meadow, my 14 year old nephew with me for his first archery deer hunt. I have bear tag as well. He points and whispers, "bear!" I see it, about 100 yards, pulling a log apart looking for grubs, wind in my favor, so I start stalking. Got to about 60 yards, pull the range finder, start putting it away and the wind swirled. I feel it on the back of my neck. The bear stands up on two legs. Not a bear, whatever it was was about 7 feet, covered in black hair, half turned to me and walked away. On two legs. Silently. Not super surprised by that, it was on a bed of pine needles. Was shooting light, but dark in the meadow. Wasn't a bear, and it was big.

I think I would avoid that particular area haha.

 

[Trbrincefield]

I th

I think I would avoid that particular area haha.

It holds good deer and bear, and I've never had anything really bad happen. Just odd. Been hunting it since my first time with my dad over 30 years ago.

 

[Z Barebow]

I have a few experiences that I would categorize as "Cool"!

1-Having a timber wolf at 10 yards. (Bear bait)
2-Having a mtn lion come into 40 yards. (Wyoming elk hunt and I have it on video)
3-Seeing Starlink this year! (Early AM pre-hunt prep. With a roll of TP in my hand!)

The only "creepy" thing that I can think of is 2004. Hiking into new NM backcountry to set up spike camp. I underestimated difficulty/effort to reach camp planned location. Found a flat spot off trail, near rushing creek. With no threat of storms, I threw out ground cloth and bag to sleep on ground.

Sometime during the night, I woke up. Something was crawling on top of my bag, near my knees. (I could BS and say it was the size of a bear! But it felt to be rabbit/woodchuck sized. Marmot?) It took me a second or 2 to recognize what was happening. I freaked and kicked my feet. Whatever it was, it went flying through the air and I heard it hit the bushes.

Needless to say, it took me a little time for the shot of adrenaline to dissipate so I could get back to sleep!

 

[Wib]

If not a marmot possibly a coon? Wasn't a skunk or you would have soon known it!

 

[Z Barebow]

If not a marmot possibly a coon? Wasn't a skunk or you would have soon known it!

I will never know. But not too many racoons at 9500' in elk country.

 

[Scoot]

Z, could it have been a wold? NM at 10K- seems to fit the kind of country they frequent.