Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[Voyageur]

Thanks. I studied under the great Patrick McManus. By that I mean I read everything he ever wrote. I’ve been enjoying this thread for months.

I take it then you are familiar with "The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw"? I still laugh outloud and uncontrollably whenever I reread that story.

 

[Kountry Biscuit]

Ran into some rough people in the Colorado wilderness. They had pack horses and camp set up about 5-6 miles from the nearest trailhead. There were obviously people in the tents that did not/weren't allowed to come out to speak. Just get a weird feeling in the back country after encounters like that. Watch too many movies like deliverance lol

 

[MasterTimo]

This one is from late night drinking at a bluegrass festival in the back country of the Grass Valley CA fairgrounds. Me and a friend had been sitting outside his camper knocking back beers, and we decided to go visit another camp where we’d heard there would be some hot mando on fiddle action. I got out in front of him a few yards and stopped to wait for him. While I stood there I noticed a rather large black bear silhouetted against the yellow glow of some parking lot lights. He was very still and just stood staring at me unmoving. I said “ Git, bear!! “ in my most authoritive bear gitting voice, but he did not git. He continued to glare malevently, ... a dark bear shaped hole in the darkness. I said to my budddy “ There’s a big bear over here... you might want to hang back. I don’t like the looks of him and no sense in both of us getting mauled”. He bravely walked up beside me, picked up a small pebble and hucked it hard at the bear. I nearly shat... thinking this would be the provocation the evil brooding Bruin was waiting for. I looked about for a tree to climb and coldly calculated whether I could outrun my friend, fairly drunk and in the dark. The distinctive sound of rock striking wood echoed in the night. My friend started laughing. “Ya know that’s just one of those chainsaw carved bears and he hasn’t moved in the 20 years he’s been there. You’re cut off. “

I wasn’t cut off, the music was as hot as promised, and we had no more trouble with that bear.

Great write up man!

 

[Kobuk]

I said “ Git, bear!! “ in my most authoritive bear gitting voice

Haha! I think I peed a little!

 

[Wib]

Ran into some rough people in the Colorado wilderness. They had pack horses and camp set up about 5-6 miles from the nearest trailhead. There were obviously people in the tents that did not/weren't allowed to come out to speak. Just get a weird feeling in the back country after encounters like that. Watch too many movies like deliverance lol

Should have reported what you saw. Not that the forest service or Wardens would have immediately responded but it would have been good for them to know they were there and all did not look right.

 

[Jermshooter]

Tagging along

 

[Still Hunter]

Great thread, great reading. I guess I will post one. This one is not in the back country but on a hunting trip to a guys ranch in Texas. Work related hunting trip. I bring my 9 yr old son along. We are staying at the old family ranch house that has become the “hunting cabin”. This is a large single story old house that has been added onto several times over the years. It is in a big L shape. Guys are showing up and taking their gear in and picking rooms and bunks. My son and I go all the way back to the last room which is back in the end of the short end of the L shape. I figured we would take the last room so I could get him to bed early and not have him kept up all night with the guys drinking around the fire and cutting up. As we are unloading the food into the kitchen from the trucks I notice the Ranch owners two yellow labs will not come into the house. They stop at the edge of the door and act real apprehensive and nervous. These dogs are his shadow and are constantly by his side. I said “David, what’s up with the dogs not coming in to the cabin, you train them to stay out “, he said nope, funny you should notice and ask me that. He said neither of them will step foot in this house, When I am in here alone by myself they will stand at the door and whine and howl till I come out. He said, the old original owner of the ranch told me this house is haunted. Well, that kind stayed with me. So that night we have a great meal, The guys build a big fire and we all sit out around it having a great time, I take my 9 year old in about 9:30 and put him in the bunk we were sleeping in. I has slid the two bunks together and had our sleeping bags all laid out and a big blanket to cover us both. He went down quicjly and was out like a light. I checked on him a few times and finally snuck in around 1:00 am and crawled in next to him. About 3:45 in the morning I wake up lying there and something is wrong. I lay there not moving and kind of listening and trying to figure out what this strange feeling is. My pistol is right next to the bunk and I am thinking about slowly reaching for it. Then I notice a light reflecting off the wall in the room. Now this is a dark ass room. The reflecting light is moving all around the wall. So I slowly turn over and look across the room and there is this bright white orb about the size of a softball moving around the room and I mean up to the ceiling across the room and side to side. I am getting goose bumps right now on my back and both arms remembering this as I type this. So my mind is trying to make heads or tails of what I looking at, I have just woken up, I am like trying to make sense of this and then right next to me my son whispers to me in the softest faintest whisper, Dad, do you see it too. what’s this light thing moving all around the room. So as to not scare him, I said Tyler it’s just the reflection of the moonlight off the windmill outside, roll over and go back to sleep. So thank god he does. I watched that another 20 to 30 minutes and then while looking right at it, it just burned real bright and then shrunk down to nothing an disappeared. I never slept the rest of the night. So we slept in the same room again the next night. I never saw it again and figured whatever it was, if it had wanted to hurt us it would have the first nite.My son had a great hunt, killed a nine point buck the next morning and to this day ( he is now 25), he still remembers that floating orb in the room.

 

[robtattoo]

Great thread, great reading. I guess I will post one. This one is not in the back country but on a hunting trip to a guys ranch in Texas. Work related hunting trip. I bring my 9 yr old son along. We are staying at the old family ranch house that has become the “hunting cabin”. This is a large single story old house that has been added onto several times over the years. It is in a big L shape. Guys are showing up and taking their gear in and picking rooms and bunks. My son and I go all the way back to the last room which is back in the end of the short end of the L shape. I figured we would take the last room so I could get him to bed early and not have him kept up all night with the guys drinking around the fire and cutting up. As we are unloading the food into the kitchen from the trucks I notice the Ranch owners two yellow labs will not come into the house. They stop at the edge of the door and act real apprehensive and nervous. These dogs are his shadow and are constantly by his side. I said “David, what’s up with the dogs not coming in to the cabin, you train them to stay out “, he said nope, funny you should notice and ask me that. He said neither of them will step foot in this house, When I am in here alone by myself they will stand at the door and whine and howl till I come out. He said, the old original owner of the ranch told me this house is haunted. Well, that kind stayed with me. So that night we have a great meal, The guys build a big fire and we all sit out around it having a great time, I take my 9 year old in about 9:30 and put him in the bunk we were sleeping in. I has slid the two bunks together and had our sleeping bags all laid out and a big blanket to cover us both. He went down quicjly and was out like a light. I checked on him a few times and finally snuck in around 1:00 am and crawled in next to him. About 3:45 in the morning I wake up lying there and something is wrong. I lay there not moving and kind of listening and trying to figure out what this strange feeling is. My pistol is right next to the bunk and I am thinking about slowly reaching for it. Then I notice a light reflecting off the wall in the room. Now this is a dark ass room. The reflecting light is moving all around the wall. So I slowly turn over and look across the room and there is this bright white orb about the size of a softball moving around the room and I mean up to the ceiling across the room and side to side. I am getting goose bumps right now on my back and both arms remembering this as I type this. So my mind is trying to make heads or tails of what I looking at, I have just woken up, I am like trying to make sense of this and then right next to me my son whispers to me in the softest faintest whisper, Dad, do you see it too. what’s this light thing moving all around the room. So as to not scare him, I said Tyler it’s just the reflection of the moonlight off the windmill outside, roll over and go back to sleep. So thank god he does. I watched that another 20 to 30 minutes and then while looking right at it, it just burned real bright and then shrunk down to nothing an disappeared. I never slept the rest of the night. So we slept in the same room again the next night. I never saw it again and figured whatever it was, if it had wanted to hurt us it would have the first nite.My son had a great hunt, killed a nine point buck the next morning and to this day ( he is now 25), he still remembers that floating orb in the room.

Ball lightning - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[EastHumboldt]

I take it then you are familiar with "The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw"? I still laugh outloud and uncontrollably whenever I reread that story.

It rings a bell but can’t exactly recall it. How ‘bout “Shooting the Chikenout Narrows” ? Now I gotta go on the inter webs and see if I can order all his old books. On a related topic I renewed my Field and Stream subscription and got a card back in the mail saying they had been sold and the future of the print magazine was up in the air.

 

[Voyageur]

It rings a bell but can’t exactly recall it. How ‘bout “Shooting the Chikenout Narrows” ? Now I gotta go on the inter webs and see if I can order all his old books. On a related topic I renewed my Field and Stream subscription and got a card back in the mail saying they had been sold and the future of the print magazine was up in the air.

For outdoor humorous writing Patrick has no equal.

 

[007hunter]

It rings a bell but can’t exactly recall it. How ‘bout “Shooting the Chikenout Narrows” ? Now I gotta go on the inter webs and see if I can order all his old books. On a related topic I renewed my Field and Stream subscription and got a card back in the mail saying they had been sold and the future of the print magazine was up in the air.

There is a plethora of McManus books on eBay for $3-5. No doubt he’s one of the best.

 

[Glyn Ingram]

Great thread, great reading. I guess I will post one. This one is not in the back country but on a hunting trip to a guys ranch in Texas. Work related hunting trip. I bring my 9 yr old son along. We are staying at the old family ranch house that has become the “hunting cabin”. This is a large single story old house that has been added onto several times over the years. It is in a big L shape. Guys are showing up and taking their gear in and picking rooms and bunks. My son and I go all the way back to the last room which is back in the end of the short end of the L shape. I figured we would take the last room so I could get him to bed early and not have him kept up all night with the guys drinking around the fire and cutting up. As we are unloading the food into the kitchen from the trucks I notice the Ranch owners two yellow labs will not come into the house. They stop at the edge of the door and act real apprehensive and nervous. These dogs are his shadow and are constantly by his side. I said “David, what’s up with the dogs not coming in to the cabin, you train them to stay out “, he said nope, funny you should notice and ask me that. He said neither of them will step foot in this house, When I am in here alone by myself they will stand at the door and whine and howl till I come out. He said, the old original owner of the ranch told me this house is haunted. Well, that kind stayed with me. So that night we have a great meal, The guys build a big fire and we all sit out around it having a great time, I take my 9 year old in about 9:30 and put him in the bunk we were sleeping in. I has slid the two bunks together and had our sleeping bags all laid out and a big blanket to cover us both. He went down quicjly and was out like a light. I checked on him a few times and finally snuck in around 1:00 am and crawled in next to him. About 3:45 in the morning I wake up lying there and something is wrong. I lay there not moving and kind of listening and trying to figure out what this strange feeling is. My pistol is right next to the bunk and I am thinking about slowly reaching for it. Then I notice a light reflecting off the wall in the room. Now this is a dark ass room. The reflecting light is moving all around the wall. So I slowly turn over and look across the room and there is this bright white orb about the size of a softball moving around the room and I mean up to the ceiling across the room and side to side. I am getting goose bumps right now on my back and both arms remembering this as I type this. So my mind is trying to make heads or tails of what I looking at, I have just woken up, I am like trying to make sense of this and then right next to me my son whispers to me in the softest faintest whisper, Dad, do you see it too. what’s this light thing moving all around the room. So as to not scare him, I said Tyler it’s just the reflection of the moonlight off the windmill outside, roll over and go back to sleep. So thank god he does. I watched that another 20 to 30 minutes and then while looking right at it, it just burned real bright and then shrunk down to nothing an disappeared. I never slept the rest of the night. So we slept in the same room again the next night. I never saw it again and figured whatever it was, if it had wanted to hurt us it would have the first nite.My son had a great hunt, killed a nine point buck the next morning and to this day ( he is now 25), he still remembers that floating orb in the room.

I lived in a flat in a big old country house once. I had a labrador at the time and one night she started snarling in her bed on my bedroom floor and staring at the corner of the room. There was nothing there and I had never seen anything like this behaviour from her before. After a while whatever she was snarling at moved across the room towards the open door. She continued to focus very aggressively on it. As it went out of the door she followed it and stood in the doorway looking down the corridor and kept on growling. I'll be honest and say that I was pretty anxious about all this. Bare in mind that whatever she was reacting to was completely invisible to me but because she was so focused it was as if I could see it through her eyes if that makes any sense. Eventually she went back to her bed but was uneasy for the rest of the night. I should say that I am not a believer in ghosts etc but I am open minded to things that I don't understand or have experience of.

 

[timberland]

My wife and mother in law were working in the kitchen when ball lightening came through the window bounced on the counter top twice and went out. Didn't realize that was so rare. They were pretty excited and vocal about it, I was watching tv in the other room

 

[Yarak]

one last bump for a great thread

 

[505Wapiti]

Yeah, have to admit I wasn’t wanting this one to come to an end.

 

[Honyock]

About 30 years ago a buddy and I went to far SE Oklahoma to muzzle load hunt deer on the Weyerhauser land. On the drive down we were laughing and talking about how we hoped we didn't run into any "Deliverance" people. Let's just say that the people in far SE Oklahoma are "clanish". The night before season opened up as we laid in our tent, all we heard were dogs barking and semi-autos going off (you can't run dogs for deer in OK and muzzle load is the first gun season). The next morning while hunting we went over the top of a hill and came upon a small village of tents with women and children of all ages and what appeared to be 10-15 deer hanging in the trees. We quickly backed out and decided to hunt in a different direction.

Later that afternoon, we had the pleasure of meeting some of the men from the village who were all carrying ARs. As banjo music began to play in our heads, they described our truck and our camp and advised us that "our kind" was not welcome and that this was their hunting area and their deer. My buddy being the easy going type decided to try and reason with them and explain to them that this was Weyerhauser land open to the public. When the man with three teeth proceeded to tell us that some people that come into their area are never seen again it was clear it was time to leave. I don't think we took the time to even fold up our tent. Needless to say, we decided that in the future we would hunt another area of the State.

 

[ez_willie]

So there we are a few years back in SW Montana hunting archery elk. I'm wearing ear plugs because my buddy on the other side of the Kodiak Canvas tent we're sleeping in snores like a bear......he also sweats like a fat kid in a candy store so he keeps a 5 gallon bucket of water right outside the tent on my side..... to wash his sweaty balls in. It's 4 am, full moon I think, when I get woke up to a roll of paper towels hitting me in the head. I pull out one ear plug thinking WTF....and all I hear is the worlds most gigantic paddle tongue slurping water from the bucket 2 feet from my head outside the tent. I look over at my buddy with bug eyes and he's holding on to his Judge (revolver) in the fetal position on his cot when I slowly grab by .45 ACP under my cot loaded without one in the chamber(I didn't read rokslide at the time my bad). I get ready and rack one in the chamber in one smooth motion and he instantly stops drinking the water. Now we have both guns drawn pointed at the front door when we hear his paw hit the canvas we have for a door mat, then silence for what seem like an eternity.....and then we think we hear him run off.....we never saw it but we were 99% sure it was at least an 800 lb Grizz from the sound of its drinking. We then proceeded to laugh like a couple of school girls until morning.

 

[Antarctica]

^^^ Well told!!

 

[Still Hunter]

Bump for a great Thread

 

[ndbwhunter]

This happened to my son. To start with he’s ex-military combat veteran, 82nd Airborne, scout sniper, Ranger School. (He had to tap out of Ranger School because his static line hung up on a jump and slammed him against the plane. He woke up on the ground with a broken collarbone and still carried his 70 lb ruck for three days before the pain made him nearly delirious). He does’nt act like a badass or pretend to be one he just is. I’m relating his tough badass bonafides just to say that he ain’t afraid of much. Doesn’t panic easily And he’s the most skilled woodsman I know. And yet...

On a backpacking trip with some friends in the Sierras they all took a short walk out of camp on the last morning of their trip. The others went back to camp and he said he’d follow shortly. When he did head back to camp he had barely gotten started when a full grown cougar appeared about 100 yards off, on the trail between him and camp. At first it just stood there and then advanced on him. He yelled and threw some rocks in the big cat’s direction, but the cat just paced sideways and switched its tail, unafraid. Normally he carries a .45 or 9mm auto, but he’d left it in camp. I’m somewhat convinced that predators will read your body language, and if you approach them with a sincere deadly gleam in your eye, and the swagger of a killer, you may have a chance to back them down. OTOH they may just accept this invitation to fight. At any rate it’s hard to pull off when your only weapon is a rock.

He tried to walk around it but the cat just blocked him and the landscape offered few options, so he started walking away from camp, hoping it would lose interest. No dice... it followed him for three hours. Never attacking or bluff charging, but also not backing off. Finally he came to a near vertical cliff band about 60 feet high, and nearly 1/2 a mile long. Being a fairly skilled rock climber, he figured the cat would not be able to follow. And he was right. The cat started to go along the base of the cliff in one direction and he watched until he felt the cat was committed then hightailed it in the other. He managed to put a large distance between himself and the cat. It was then, his attention no longer focused on the large predator, that he noticed three things. 1) Three or so hours had passed. 2) He had no water or food, and just his clothes and a large pocket knife. 3) He was lost.

Not seriously lost... he just didn’t know where he was!! This is pretty open country with lots of Jeffry Pine and alpine scrub growing in rolling rocky basins flanked by ridges. One basin looks very much like the rest and it’s pretty easy to get disoriented, especially when you are distracted by being hunted. He new he was south of CA 88 by a few miles and all he had to do was walk north. Once he found the highway he’d know where he was and be able to hitch a ride to his car. Well anyone who has ever traveled in real mountains knows this. “Just walk north” is easy on the map, often hard to near impossible on the ground. He walked north (and various other directions as needed) until nearly sundown. He ended up drinking a little water out of a tiny rock pothole and did not get back to camp until the next morning. He got out in time to stop his friends who were in the process of organizing a search.

I had a similar experience a few years ago in MT. I had hiked in late afternoon while it was raining. By the time I reached my destination, the rain had turned to snow and was accumulating quick. Managed to get the tent set up, but couldn't find any dry wood to get a fire going and dry out. Right at dark I finally decided to call it quits for the night and head back for the truck. Everything was soaking wet. Starting hiking back down the mountain and a few hundred yards into the hike, I caught a glimpse of eyes in the trees off the side of the trail. The snow was coming down so hard that it was tough to see more than 20-25 feet with the headlamp. Saw the eyes a few more times along the 4 mile stretch. As I got lower in elevation the snow started to let up and then the eyes appeared again. The cat stopped 25 yards off the trail and was locked on me. I yelled and threw rocks, but he just sat there like a statue. After what seemed like 5 minutes (maybe 45 seconds), I grabbed my pistol and put a shot in the dirt right in front of him. He stood up, let out a growl, and slowly turned and walked away. I was only a 1/4 mile from the truck at this point so I kept my head on a swivel the rest of the way out.