Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Walked into a trip wire set up on an old grow site. Chest high. Looked over to see whatever it was hooked to at eye level. Slooooowly backed out and went around. Found the grow site below a spring in the desert above the wire.

Smoke if you want, grow if you must, but it's a piece of garbage that sets up trip wires and leaves trash on public land for their dope habit. Would have like to put a boot in whoever's ass was responsible for that.

You gotta be real careful around those too. The folks that set those up usually use an insanely strong pesticide/animal repellent that can be dealt for people as well.

 

[jlaner0408]

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.

2. The last season, I decided to hunt the same general area with a buddy, scouted it this year, set a trail cam, got a few pictures of a tom. The road I typically take in had washed out and was closed so we came in from the other side. This is just a random canyon on a small mountain range, it seems like locals will camp in the pull offs but nothing noteworthy. Pulling onto the dirt road that leads into the canyon, there’s about a dozen DWR officers with vests on, stopping all cars going into the canyon checking IDs and registration on Sunday afternoon in May. I asked the officer if this is something they do regularly and he hesitated and said “yea once in while” after looking at my license he sent us on our way. We immediately decided they must be looking for someone who they think may be heading for the hills.

3. That same trip, I ended up calling in a turkey for my buddy (he shot with my gun after bringing the wrong shells for his) and we decided to pack up camp and head to a different spot in the morning. As we packed out, I caught some eye shine off the side of the trail down in a drainage. We didn’t think much of it but continued to glance down and check where it was as we continued to walk. I look down and can’t find the animal, take a few steps, look back down and it’s not lower to the ground and has cut the distance in half. We both stop dead in our tracks and start throwing rocks at what we assume is a mountain lion stalking us. We throw some rocks and both unholster our sidearms when the “lion” stands up and bounds off with the other deer further down the drainage.

4. I’ve hunted alone of majority of this deer/elk season, the unit I have a tag for has a lot of road access and i’ve been fortunate enough to find some pretty good spots for both about a mile or so from the road which allows me to camp at the truck. At 2am one night, I wake up to something growling outside of my tent, at first I think i’m imagine things then realize that this animal is very real. It was a new moon so I couldn’t see anything outside but whatever it was was close and wasn’t moving. I grabbed my gun and worked up the courage to shine my light out the window of the tent, only to be blind myself with the reflection! At that moment I decided if whatever was out there wanted to get me it was welcome to, pulled my blanket over my head and went back to bed once it moved off.

Any chance they run sheep in that area you turkey hunt? I’ve come across lots of tents and things like that up in Idaho that are from the sheep herders

 

[jnawalaniec]

Any chance they run sheep in that area you turkey hunt? I’ve come across lots of tents and things like that up in Idaho that are from the sheep herders

Not that I know of, the run sheep where I deer/elk hunt and those guys have trailers. i’m sure the actual reason is much less interesting than the scenarios going through my head, it was my first time up in the mountains alone overnight.

 

[2ski]

Not that I know of, the run sheep where I deer/elk hunt and those guys have trailers. i’m sure the actual reason is much less interesting than the scenarios going through my head, it was my first time up in the mountains alone overnight.

I dont know. Look up Mountain men in Big Sky. They kidnapped a woman that was an Olympian so the son could have a wife. Those guys lived in the mountains and left caches all around. A customer found a tarped over area that had been there a long time and we wondered if it was left from them.

 

[WyoKid]

I just know that when I am solo hunting/camping I see and hear a lot of weird shit....much more so than when hunting with others even if we head out our separate ways during the day.

 

[WyoKid]

Let me just say a red fox screaming in the predawn hours while you try to creep in the woods to set up on a turkey can scare the piss out of you.

For those not aware of how they sound.

I've heard that sound at night on a solo hunt....scared the crap out of me....

 

[WyoKid]

Years ago my best friend and I were trout fishing in WVA. kind of truck camping, It got late and we found a spot out in the boonies to set camp,this was in the early spring and the weather was turning kind of nasty a rain,sleet,snow kind of thing. So decided a pot of coffee and some crackers,cheese and jerky would suffice for supper and hold us over till breakfast, we also had a huge yellow lab with us (jasper was his name) well got out of the truck to start the coffee and called the dog was sure he had too pee, jasper just set in the truck and growled would not get out, any other time he was the first one out. Well my buddy comes around the truck with a drawn pistol ( we were both carring and had a loaded riot gun in the truck) and the strangest look on his face, I have know this guy since we were 18 years old and served in the Marine Corps together ( he does not get rattled easy) and have been in some tight spots together. So he quietly says get your gun out, while he got the shotgun, then he tells me I got a feeling something is not right here we are leaving, I knew right there it was time too go, ( no questions asked) moved down the road (mountain trail really) about five miles, the dog settled down and went about our business. Needless too say it was a restless night even with moving. The next morning I ask him if he wanted too go back too the spot we were at and recon the area, and he says no hell no, told you it was a bad spot, guess there are places like that about. Just evil spots.

I am a big believer in following your gut instincts.... something doesn't feel right, get the hell out of there....

 

[505Wapiti]

bump for a good thread.

 

[Granular]

A hunting farm I own in Iowa is located near a Metro area with one side along a fairly busy highway and a State Park.

Was mowing head high native grass CRP around the edge of a field one day along the road in a cab tractor pulling a 14' wide heavy duty bat wing whirligig mower......moving right along listening to the radio.......

All of a sudden I catch movement out of the corner of my eye......an apparent homeless man jumps up in the grass right beside the tractor cab in front of the mower.

I slam my foot on the clutch & brake and stop the tractor right before the mower runs over him.

Apparently he had been sleeping soundly in the tall grass along the field edge and woke up just in time.....

Luckily I caught his movement as I was traveling fairly fast in a sound proof cab with radio on and focused straight ahead in front of the tractor in the tall grass.

I still remember the look of terror in his eyes as he jumped up. Would have been a terrible deal.

 

[SMOKYMTN]

I wonder how many have heard the whistle thing whitetails do in the middle of the night and wondered if it was something else. I let my dog out at 4 this morning and we spooked one and it continued to make noise for at least 5 minutes.

Never had that in the middle of the night, but one early morning I was walking into my stand and walked up on a bedded doe, 5yds from me. I was walking up a mountain so by the time my headlamp hit her and I saw her 2 eyes reflecting back at me, I was eye level with her. I nearly sh*t myself. She wasn't spooked one bit and appeared perfectly healthy.

I ended up walking right on by her and she never moved. The only thing I could figure was that a.) she was used to seeing me come and go and b.) she had been nearly ran to death all night by rut driven bucks and was too tired to care.

 

[Skinl19]

A few years ago I was hunting a new area and ran across this. I decided to hunt somewhere else.

 

[TonySkyline]

Just this morning I shot a doe right under my stand with my pse and rage trypans. It was a hard quartering away shot and super close l, almost under me. When I shot, she did a back flip and started screaming sounding like a goat getting slaughtered. It ran and jumped off a small cliff and tumbled down the hill screaming. I recorded some of it but it kept screaming LOUD af and it sounded like it was saying maaaaaa, maaaaaa. Poor gal was crying for her mama but I like the filet mignon so I make sure to take a small (easy drag and best tasting) doe every other year or so. Anyhow when I walked up on her, the guts were hanging way out and she had a 8" gash with 4 broken ribs. Id attach pics but someone would cry im sure. Not scary but it was definitely creepy and took me by surprise with her screaming like that for about 5 minutes.

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[UWneptune308]

Just this morning I shot a doe right under my stand with my pse and rage trypans. It was a hard quartering away shot and super close l, almost under me. When I shot, she did a back flip and started screaming sounding like a goat getting slaughtered. It ran and jumped off a small cliff and tumbled down the hill screaming. I recorded some of it but it kept screaming LOUD af and it sounded like it was saying maaaaaa, maaaaaa. Poor gal was crying for her mama but I like the filet mignon so I make sure to take a small (easy drag and best tasting) doe every other year or so. Anyhow when I walked up on her, the guts were hanging way out and she had a 8" gash with 4 broken ribs. Id attach pics but someone would cry im sure. Not scary but it was definitely creepy and took me by surprise with her screaming like that for about 5 minutes.

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Post the pics


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[switchback7]

I agree, post em up!

 

[Delloro]

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

Had a deer blow at me, that was interesting at first.

 

[TheGDog]

3 years ago I was hunting antelope out in the northern part of the Red Desert in Wy, near an area called Bison Basin. I was hunting alone and put on a short stalk over a ridge on a group and picked out a nice buck and put the shot on him he dropped and I made my way out to field dress and tag him and get him loaded up. It was about 200 yards out to where he dropped and as I'm walking out and nearing him I look off in the distance towards the south and see an extremely bright light heading quickly in my direction.

I'm a little confused at first because there was no road out there, I thought maybe it was a game warden in a side by side coming to check my tags and what not after he heard me shoot. The light was about 2 miles off when I first noticed it. I get to the buck and see the light still zooming toward me, hovering about just above the sage brush, its about a mile out and I notice there is no sound at all expecting to hear a motor running at this point. I also notice that with the sun setting behind me and the light in front of me it appears to be almost a reflection from the setting sun, like a mirror zooming over the top of the sage. I started to get spooked at this point. I divert my attention from the light and quickly fill out my tag and tie it on his horn and I look up and see the still silent light is about a quarter mile off and it dives down behind some sage and I don't see it anymore.

At this point I'm ready to gtfo, I field dress as fast as I possibly can all the while peeking up to see if the light has returned, after about 2-3 minutes I look up and about 5 miles in the distance I see the light now zooming away from me across the prairie, its going faster than any side by side or atv could possibly travel in that terrain and it has covered about a 4-5 mile distance in a matter of minutes. I finish dressing and then nearly run/drag the antelope back to the road and run to my truck get the antelope loaded into the cooler and gtfo. No clue what that light was that day, I asked around if game and fish has been using drones to observe hunters and they have not been doing that, plus a drone would have made a considerable amount of noise given it came close enough for me to hear it especially given the size. Would love to know what I saw that day, spooked me pretty good.

This sounds like maybe an Electric Moto or an Electric assisted MTB. They can be surprisingly quiet.

 

[TonySkyline]

Post the pics


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Ok you guys asked for it, haha
Mods can delete if its to much. The big hole is the entrance. Hard quartering away shot and she reached behind to bite at her back and I let it go

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[grstevens08]

After reading all 48 pages, this is one of the best threads ever!

 

[Howdoyoulikemenow]

Ok. Beings others can offer their opinions I'll offer mine. I've followed along since the beginning of this thread and have read each and every post. I wish those pictures of that doe ( and the story actually ) weren't on here. I see little reference where this fits this thread.

Sorry TonySkyline. Just being honest. Sometimes although we all strive for cleans kills, things get messy. I've been there and get it. I just feel we do not need to fuel the fire for others to use against us.

Also, and I mean this sincerely. Congrats on the doe.

 

[SWFLhntr]

This has got me freaked out and I’m only on page 10. Missing 411 The Hunted was creepy AF.