Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[spacemonkey]

I have one to share. This occured in central UT.

I had successfully tagged out on the first day of a deer hunt. Mind you, I had a full 10 days off work and wasn't ready to go back to real life yet. Figured I'd spend a few nights checking out new areas of the unit for future seasons.

Took some service road way the hell out and found a great spot in the valley bottom, surrounded by peaks. Got camp setup, and went off to look for deer for fun. As I was heading back to camp, I noticed that several of the trees around my campsite were scarred with deep, vertical marks. Claw like. Not sure if they were bear, lion, or purposefully made to fool people like me! Didn't think much of it.

I'm a light sleeper, and in the middle of the night I woke up to the wildest/creepiest sound I'd ever heard--what I imagine a screaming banshee would sound like. It happened multiple times and each one, it would boom and echo in the valley bottom. Very wild.

I now believe it was a mountain lion, perhaps a female in heat. It was a first for me and a good reminder that you're never alone out there...

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[Nickofthewoods]

OK, I've got two. You guys pick one. Neither are mine, but they both come from the same person. I trust him. As far as I know, I'm one of about 3 people he's told either story to. So pick, Bigfoot or the Devil himself???

Another vote for both!

 

[GARLICSALT]

Devil himself we get plenty of BF.
Thanks

 

[Arctic Hunter]

Not so much creepy, as odd. When I was a teenager my dad and I hiked about 4 miles into a high mountain pass to fish. It was a rainy fall day in AK. There wasn’t much of a trail, and what there was wasnt much more than a muddy trench. But we’d been in there several times and knew where we were going. It was pretty steep getting up there, but a fun place to fish for grayling. We were almost to the lake when we looked up and saw some dude coming towards us on what little trail there was. I could see his head over the top of the waste high grass through the alders.

It was some guy on a unicycle….No backpack, no jacket, or anything. Just wearing jeans and a tshirt. We exchanged pleasantries and continued on.

 

[jaredg]

OK, I'll start with the Devil. This was told to me by one of the guys who had the encounter. He and his hunting partner were hunting somewhere in Utah. (I'm being vague because I don't remember exactly where, and I'm sworn to secrecy, so no identifying info).

They were on horses in the middle of nowhere in a large blind canyon. One way in, one way out. Lot's of deadfall, took most of the day on horseback to get in. So to set the scene, middle of nowhere and tough country.

They come upon a guy dressed in 1950's hunting apparel, standing in the middle of a deadfall that no one had any business standing in. They had rode in from the bottom, and did not see any traces. They approach to make themselves friendly. Horses want NOTHING to do with this guys. An air of tension is casting a pall on this whole interaction.

The guy is nice enough, except for the fact that he had red eyes. Not pot head, ripped out of his mind red. Glowing red eyes. Yup, red flannel in the middle of nowhere and glowing red eyes.

They took their leave, both nervous. My buddy looked back at the guy, gone. Nowhere to go but he was not there.

My friend has only told this to a couple of people. I know it's a little anti climactic, but at the time it scared the crap out of two grown men with rifles (Glowing Red Eye Dude had no rifle). My friend is sure that he met the devil himself that day. They have never been back.

Bigfoot story has a little more action, but I thought this was pretty cool.

 

[GARLICSALT]

Yeah freaky, can you tell us a big foot Story now?

 

[68Plexi]

This thread is the best. Please keep it going. Although I still won't watch the missing hunter movie that everyone keeps talking about. The mind makes solo overnights creepy enough without adding anything more haha.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Yeah freaky, can you tell us a big foot Story now?

Wait, I thought you said you get plenty of bigfoot action?



......ok I agree let's hear about bigfoot. Nobody can have too much bigfoot.

The flannel red eyed devil man sounds creepy as shit though. Not camping in that canyon after that.

 

[jaredg]

OK, here we go....

Same friend, different area (still Utah). He and his hunting partner were backcountry hunting. Holed up in a tent. Middle of the night something starts screaming at them. They make to get out of the tent to take a look (two grown ass alpha males)

Guns are in the truck, neither has a sidearm. Up until now, just animal screams. They go to get out and a rock comes flying at them! Pretty soon they are forced back in the tent by rocks the size of their head.

This thing (I started typing motherf.... and then edited pinned my friend and his partner in a tent all night, screaming and throwing shit at them. First light, terrible smell, up all night. No rocks did any damage, but they were pinned. They look out and CAN SEE what is pinning them in. Yup, Santa Clause himself.. Just kidding, it was Bigfoot.

It was first light and all they could make out was a big dark hairy shape. That liked to throw boulders. And stunk. And screamed.

Same outcome as before, they left and never went back. I don't know the partner, but I know my friend. He has been around the block so many times they named the block after him. Only scared of two things, BF and Satan. But one thing he is not is a liar. Or a coward.

 

[Dackdack]

OK, here we go....

Same friend, different area (still Utah). He and his hunting partner were backcountry hunting. Holed up in a tent. Middle of the night something starts screaming at them. They make to get out of the tent to take a look (two grown ass alpha males)

Guns are in the truck, neither has a sidearm. Up until now, just animal screams. They go to get out and a rock comes flying at them! Pretty soon they are forced back in the tent by rocks the size of their head.

This thing (I started typing motherf.... and then edited pinned my friend and his partner in a tent all night, screaming and throwing shit at them. First light, terrible smell, up all night. No rocks did any damage, but they were pinned. They look out and CAN SEE what is pinning them in. Yup, Santa Clause himself.. Just kidding, it was Bigfoot.

It was first light and all they could make out was a big dark hairy shape. That liked to throw boulders. And stunk. And screamed.

Same outcome as before, they left and never went back. I don't know the partner, but I know my friend. He has been around the block so many times they named the block after him. Only scared of two things, BF and Satan. But one thing he is not is a liar. Or a coward.

If that happened to me, I would never go in the bush overnight again . Holy shit

 

[gabenzeke]

I'm super cereal guys. It was bigfoot.

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[Tbonespop]

Go get a gun (a BIG gun) and Shoot that hairy MF'er. If he's being cool and all, then live and let live. Maybe leave a snickers bar or a donut to make peace. But throwing boulders at your head and your tent ain't cool. At least send a zinger down range his direction.

 

[Carpenterant]

Go get a gun (a BIG gun) and Shoot that hairy MF'er. If he's being cool and all, then live and let live. Maybe leave a snickers bar or a donut to make peace. But throwing boulders at your head and your tent ain't cool. At least send a zinger down range his direction.

Agreed

 

[Fatcamp]

Wait, I thought you said you get plenty of bigfoot action?



......ok I agree let's hear about bigfoot. Nobody can have too much bigfoot.

The flannel red eyed devil man sounds creepy as shit though. Not camping in that canyon after that.

Yup. Gave me goosebumps.

 

[Fatcamp]

If that happened to me, I would never go in the bush overnight again . Holy shit

Yup. Time to pick up golf.

 

[Button]

When I’m fishing and camping 40+ miles down the beach close to Mexico I will visibly leave out a gallon jug of water and some canned food for the immigrants that crossed the border and walking towards Corpus Christi behind the dunes. I do that so they don’t rummage through my cooler while I’m in the kayak fishing or at night sleeping. I’d rather them not open coolers taking food, water, and melting ice on long trips. It is what it is. It’s akin to people with south Texas deer leases leaving their cabin/trailers unlocked so they don’t tear it up trying to get food and water.

 

[MNGrouser]

I’ll add two to keep this going.

In high school my brother and I had a coon hound. A walker named Amos. Every non-school night we had that dog out chasing Wisconsin raccoons. My brother is 3 years older and he had better luck convincing mom to let him hunt on school nights.

One school night in October Steve gets permission from mom to hunt but “only for a couple of hours” and only in the woods behind the house. No driving to any of the farmer’s corn fields. Steve and Amos take off with a promise to behave.

The woods directly behind the house were oak ridges but the pretty quickly dropped off to pine trees and swamps with a small trout stream running through the middle. A pretty sweet place to grow up and a decent place to coon hunt.

According to my brother he is on a distant ridge and sees a big glowing light. Describes it as about the size of a television. This was back in the early 90s, so a TV is one of those big sit on the floor consuls. Slightly smaller than a washing machine. He watches the thing float at slightly less than tree-top level and start hovering in front of him. The next thing he remembers he “wakes up” on the ridge where he originally saw the light…about 300 yards away. His rifle and (still illuminated) flashlight are back on the ridge where he was when all of this started. He starts making his way through the woods back to his stuff. When he gets there Amos is sitting next to the tree with his gun and flashlight. Anyone familiar with hounds know they don’t just sit in the woods. They run and hunt and sniff. Steve decides that is enough of a hunt for one night and comes home.

Mom tears into him because he has been gone almost 4 hours and he promised a short hunt. She tells him his school night hunts are grounded for the foreseeable future. He tries to tell him about the encounter in the woods, but mom can see through the lies. We maybe tried to stay in the woods longer than we should have too many times. She tells him to stop with the lies and hit the showers. 30 seconds later she hears a scream from the bathroom. When my brother undressed, he had three equal sized red marks on his chest-just a little bigger than a baseball each. A family friend is a doctor and lived just down the road. Mom loads him up and off to the neighbors they go. We wake doc up, get my brother examined. No explanation for the marks and they slowly wear off.

Years later, I’ve tried to get my brother to admit aliens shoved a camera up his butt but he won’t spill the beans.

Second one also isn’t really one of mine and not a great mystery. In college I worked for a treatment home for juvenile delinquents. We got 10-12 inner city kids who had run afoul of the law kept them in the great Northwoods for 3 months at a time. They had schooling, physical ed & lots and lots of exposure to the outdoors.

We’d take the kids fishing, hiking, canoeing and camping. The end of their time with us, just before graduation was a 10-day venture. Either a long hike, snowshoeing trip or longer canoe trip. We would all camp together except for the last night before our return to civilization. The “solo night” we’d walk the kids through the woods and drop them off with their tents at far enough intervals that they couldn’t see each other. That last night in the woods was to reflect on how far they’d come and think about what choices they would make when they returned home.

Because they were still juvenile delinquents and the Courts had entrusted us with their care, staff spent this last night sneaking through the woods making sure everyone stayed in their tents. As I was making rounds one night I bumped a white-tailed doe and fawn. They took off running down the trail and piled into the dome tent with an 11-year-old thug fast asleep inside. Doe, tent and thug went ass-over-teakettle. Doe gets back on her feet and snorts a couple of time before running off with the fawn.

I shine the flashlight into the upside-down tent. There is the kid sitting on the roof of his tent wide-eyed. I asked if he was hurt. He just stared off into the distance and said, “Something growled at me!” I doubt that young man is on here, but if so, the thing that “growled” at you was a deer.

 

[mi650]

Many years ago, I was pheasant hunting with my lab. Just him and me.

He found a freshly dead coon. I rolled it over onto its back, and there was a hole in it's chest, about 3" diameter.

Its heart was missing, and that was all. No bullet holes, no other damage at all. Went back a couple days later, and it was gone.

 

[Banded_spooney]

OK, here we go....

Same friend, different area (still Utah). He and his hunting partner were backcountry hunting. Holed up in a tent. Middle of the night something starts screaming at them. They make to get out of the tent to take a look (two grown ass alpha males)

Guns are in the truck, neither has a sidearm. Up until now, just animal screams. They go to get out and a rock comes flying at them! Pretty soon they are forced back in the tent by rocks the size of their head.

This thing (I started typing motherf.... and then edited pinned my friend and his partner in a tent all night, screaming and throwing shit at them. First light, terrible smell, up all night. No rocks did any damage, but they were pinned. They look out and CAN SEE what is pinning them in. Yup, Santa Clause himself.. Just kidding, it was Bigfoot.

It was first light and all they could make out was a big dark hairy shape. That liked to throw boulders. And stunk. And screamed.

Same outcome as before, they left and never went back. I don't know the partner, but I know my friend. He has been around the block so many times they named the block after him. Only scared of two things, BF and Satan. But one thing he is not is a liar. Or a coward.

I'm starting to think one of two things is true. Your friend is either full of it or he wants to scare you away from his honey holes... I'll let you decide

 

[CorbLand]

I'm starting to think one of two things is true. Your friend is either full of it or he wants to scare you away from his honey holes... I'll let you decide

I am still trying to understand why, if you were in a tent, close to vehicles and something was flinging rocks at you, you would choose to ride it out all night in the tent...

If whatever it was was throwing rocks that big, I think I would take my chances of getting to a vehicle not trusting nylon or canvas.