Creepy experiences in the backcountry

Joined
Jul 1, 2018
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60
The Cemetery Bow Hunt
Damn I love this thread. Here goes one from back in the late 80’s when I had just started bow hunting…let me set the stage for y’all. I’m 16 years old and armed with a High Country Safari with 2117’s and Muzzy 125’s. I drive out to our Jefferson Co., GA hunting lease for an afternoon bow hunt.

It was early October and the leaves were just starting to fall. The best bow spot on the club was an oak head right beside an old Civil War cemetery. Gen. Sherman burned the town of Louisville about 5 miles up the road on his “March to the Sea” and folks always said there were a few dead soldiers buried in there. The place always freaked me out (ghosts are bad but Yankee ghosts are some next level shit!) but my Dad had jumped a huge buck in there when he was bushhogging earlier in the year.

I’m feeling brave that afternoon so I grab my Summit climber and hit the woods. How the hell I didn’t die in that thing is a mystery. Of course it makes perfect sense to climb 20’ up a tree with no safety belt and then step over and erect a tiny seat while balancing on a platform that’s 16”x22” wide…but I digress. That’s how we rolled in the 1980’s.

I was hunting over some white oaks and remember the hunt being very nondescript and rather slow. When I climbed down the fun really started. I take the climber off the tree and drop one of the damn wing nuts (if you know you know!). Dammit…after 10 mins of searching in the dark in oak leaves I find it and head out. It’s a moonless night and dark as Satan’s asshole. I start the long walk toward the truck.

As I walk I hear something walking directly behind me in perfect step..I take 2 steps and it takes 2. I try to ignore it but am convinced Sherman’s boys are coming to get a Rebel they left behind. Shit I wish I was old enough to own a pistol! I’m panicked as hell. I stop and the noise stops. I spin around and shine my Mini Mag light…nothing!

I take another step and it takes one. I decide to take off running and it runs right with me step for step! All the while I’m thinking…Dammit y’all! I’m a goner! Mama and Daddy probably won’t even notice until I’m missing 24 hours! They always liked my sister better anyway!

I’ve always been called smart so I devise a plan quickly. I’m going to whip out my Buck knife while I take 3 steps, spin, and dive on the sombitch and it’s every man or ghost for himself! Here it is! The moment of truth! Out comes the knife, I take the 3 steps spin and dive backwards and come face to face with……..my damn bow rope. In all the haste with the missing wing nut I forgot to wind it up and put it in my pocket. Along the way the hook end picked up a stick and sounded just like General Sherman coming to get me.

Still scares me just thinking about it and that was 30+ years ago. I abandoned hunting that spot after that too. We may have lost the war but I’ve got enough sense to not tempt fate again after that night! Y’all watch out for those bow ropes stalking you on the way out!
 

ZipsNLbs

FNG
Joined
Sep 12, 2023
Messages
56
Was driving down a seasonal dirt road one morning after getting a coffeee and just cruising back home looking for coyotes or fox . It’s about 12 mile stretch with no houses or camps . Had my 10/22 riding shot gun . Then in my headlights I see this guy in orange walk down the hill on my right . Into my head lights . No gun nothing . Was like wtf as I got closer he had this weird look in his eyes almost like the meth heads you see on TV . I slowed down he went to my right (passenger side ) as I started approaching when I got next to him he lunged for my passenger door . And tried opening the handle I hammered it and see him chasing after my truck . That was one of the weirder things . My house is on some Indian burrial grounds so spirits don’t really spook me much any more . Got quite a few story’s on that too . One quick one . So in my basement we got a wood boiler . I was down there about midnight loading it up after work . Sitting in a camp chair watching the fire take off . Having a beer . And feel. A bump hit my chair . I see my gun safes door swung open . Thought that was weird . I typically don’t LOCK it . It’s a mechanical lock . So I just leave it on the last number and latch the Handel . Thought hmm maybe I just didn’t latch it good ? We’ll over the last 3 years every winter it happens. Few times . We’ve been standing there talking ( the wife and I) and it’ll just swing open . So I say aslong as I don’t see any guns hovering around the basement I’m good with it LOL
 

go_deep

WKR
Joined
Jan 7, 2021
Messages
2,044
Not the back country but I found a dead guy floating in the Reservoir I was fishing in last week, looked to have been there for 5 or 6 days, luckily the water was cold and he wasn't too rotted or stinky!

So how was the fishing?
Kidding, what's the back story? I'm guessing you called the cops and they got his body out?
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2018
Messages
517
Hiking my deer out last week, it was dark and me and my buddy were coming out of a meadow down into some steep timber following our trail from earlier. Going down at a slight angle so side hilling a bit too, when my pack starts veering to the left and wanting to go downhill. I fight it a bit then stop and turn around expecting to see it caught up in a branch or something…but it’s wide open and clear under these old trees we are hiking through. I asked my buddy if the antlers look good still and if anything shifted, he said no everything looks the same…why? I told him just now it felt like something picked up on my pack and pushed it towards the downside of the hill. I literally felt weight come off my back and as if something was pushing me…everything was strapped down tight so I wouldn’t think the load shifted, and the weight coming off my back is hard to explain. Super weird feeling, chocked it up to ghosts and kept going 😂
 

dtrkyman

WKR
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
3,236
So how was the fishing?
Kidding, what's the back story? I'm guessing you called the cops and they got his body out?
Yes, Ranger from the park came out, he then called the medical examiner and they bagged him up and took him out by boat, land surrounding the water was reservation but since he was in the water it fell under the Ranger's jurisdiction.

I got his contact info but he said it would be a while to determine what happened.

Fishing was decent.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2019
Messages
2,604
Location
Lowcountry, SC
I spent the night on our sea island hunt club in our ancient bunkhouse. Woke up in the middle of the night and went outside to check out the beautiful stars (moonless night). Heard some big dude trudging through the woods about 30 yards away, not running a flashlight. We've had issues in the past with folks jumping the gate and stealing our well pump, etc.

I ran over to the edge of the woods and shouted at him to get out of here, as he was trespassing. I was armed with flashlight and pistol, but kept that to myself at the time. Heard him pop out of the woods about 60 yards away on the archery range. Spotlighted the intruder, which turned out to be a pair of mid-size armadillos running side by side. Those dudes have no respect for private property. :)
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2022
Messages
27
Location
Tennessee
My story happened last year on Halloween night while elk hunting in CO. We backpacked in and set up a spike camp a number of miles up the mountain from the trailhead. I shot my 6x6 on Halloween and had his meat quarters in a tree on the pass where I shot him and his head and bagged meat in camp (meat hung in a tree away from camp).

I leaned the bull’s head up against a sapling next to our tent and tucked in for the night without thinking anything of it. My hunting partner and I were woken up by sounds of heavy footsteps in the snow and crunching periodically. We were certain it was a bear that came into camp to gnaw on the bull head.

This went on for hours until finally I needed to step out to take a leak. I busted out of our tent with headlamp on and pistol drawn ready for action.

Nothing. No tracks. Bull head was undisturbed. So I just listened. I heard the crunching again and still couldn’t see where it was coming from.

Then it finally hit me. We were hearing groundwater flowing under the snow to the creek that flowed by our camp. Every few minutes the snow would give way to the moving groundwater and make a crunch just like heavy footsteps.

My hunting partner and I both felt like idiots and lost a night of much-needed sleep!
 
Joined
Sep 24, 2023
Messages
11
Location
New Mexico
When GPS units were stand alone and attached to the windshield - I tried mine out seeking a short cut from Knoxville to Oneida, TN. At the time - I had an AWD sportscar (only mid-life crisis possession - soon traded in for an F250). I followed the directions headed on a paved country highway, ended up on a residential street which turned into a one-lane road, eading into an old logging/pit mining road. Since I had an AWD, I kept on boogeying. The logging road started turning slick (as it had recently rained) so the AWD traction was working well as I made my way up the roads. I found myself at a huge pit in the Appalachian Mtns for which I had to circumnavigate. I thought about heading back the way I came but didn't. I was now committed going up the slick clayey "road". I was getting nervous as the road was showing significant signs of wash-out and being non-level. I was at some points nearing the 45 degree up and down. Super freaky but kept on truckin'. The GPS telling me I was on track, so I trusted it ... and 45 minutes into the trek - I was pretty deep in HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) country. Oh, I didn't tell you? I worked for the US Forest Service (retired now) at the time and had my uniform hanging in the back as well as a piece in the console.

Out of NOWHERE, these two characters stepped unto the track ahead of me. They were super shady and as I approached, started making assessments of the two. I rolled down the window half-way and made contact. Only one guy spoke and said "what in the hell are you doing up here" in a thick Appalachian accent. The other dude never looked at me; rather, stared away from me the whole encounter. He was my main threat, I assessed. I told the guy I was making my way to Oneida; whereupon, he said "you ain't gonna make it in that vehicle. I barely made it up here in my 4x4". I assured him the vehicle would make it as far as it could and I'd walk the rest of the way. I wasn't too nervous at this point until he looked in the back of my car and asked in that accent "you work for the Forest Service?" I said "yes, I do" ... and he asked back "you ain't up here tryin' to arrest us, is you?" My heart began to pump so fast, I could barely answer. My mouth went dry as I gripped my 9mm. I said "no, I'm trying to make it off this hill to Oneida". The other dude started rocking and I figured they were going to make a leap at my door. Neither did - and I began making my way down the super slick clay with an explosive heart rate... sliding and picking up speed. I don't recall how far it was to pavement but it took a good 30 minutes. Surprisingly, the vehicle was undamaged - only thing being covered in tan clay.

Told some folks about the encounter next day and they were shocked. The area I had been in was HIDTA positive and perhaps but for the uniform - they might have done something but didn't want the law up there.
 

DuckDogDr

WKR
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
720
Really enjoyed this thread .. going back through and reading everyone’s adventures.

Thought I’d share one more. My buddy as he’s gotten older believes more and more in demons and strange religious happenings.
He’s always been a little dramatic at times with the stuff but as he’s gotten older he swears more and more by it.

His birthday is Oct 27, so his mom always threw him Halloween parties to his displeasure, but it’s usually been something we can do outside. Well we were about 13-14 years old at the time.. about 1030 at night… we kept hearing some strange noises in the woods.. well about 5-6 of us went to investigate .. could hear something moving high high up in the trees above us and would vocalize almost like a dying / injured drawn out cat meow..
Then we started thinking with the commotion we heard earlier did something attack one of his cats.. starting to get worried we went deeper in the woods and every step we would take the vocalizing would go further away.. we finally accepted we weren’t going to be able to catch the “cat” and turned around and started going back to the house… well the vocalizations and noises high in the tree started following us out.. well we turned around and started trying to get his “cat” again… and again it started going away from us.

We went deeper this time and crossed a fallen log … well as soon as we crossed over it .. 2 things happened.. his actual cat ran out from under the log and made a bee line towards the house and all our flashlights immediately died.. 4 of the group chicken shitted out and ran back to the house as fast as they could.. I was thinking this was some elaborate prank .. so stayed with it. Started causally walking out and as soon as me and him crossed over the log back towards the house… lights came back on ( I was holding one of the lights so it wasn’t just him messing with me )… cross the log back deeper in the woods the light would go off …. Repeated this and happened every time we tested it.
We finally decided to head back to the house and the strange sick meows started happening and following us back out of the woods .. still 20-30 foot up in the trees.. . As soon as we got in the field we heard this god-awful scream from whatever had been me-owing at us as if a
F-U scream .. oddly enough his cat wouldn’t leave the house for a week after that.
 

go_deep

WKR
Joined
Jan 7, 2021
Messages
2,044
Well, never had anything really happen hunting, till this year.
Long story short, screwing with this bull all day and around 5 p.m. everything kind of falls apart so I start hiking up through the dead fall towards the ridge that leads back to the truck. I hit this little narrow grassy opening and decide good as any of a place to hang out till dark. Up the ridge line behind me about 70 yards I hear something huge in the tree top land, like eagle landing huge. Didn't really pay attention, didn't really care, but then I hear this loud sci-fi like loud noise, I can't honestly even explain it, but I can remember it in my head to a tee. It really didn't bother me the first time, but then whatever was up in the tree top jumped from one tree top to the next, and it was BIG and loud going from one tree to the next, maybe 20 seconds later, same noise. Now, I'm starting to care, and I need to go up the ridge the way this freaking thing is. Maybe 5 minutes goes by and this dang thing jumps from one tree top to another getting closer and it's loud, it starts to freak me out a little because in my head I remember the scene in the predator movie when the alien jumps from one tree to another, it's that kind of big. I never did hear it again and walked within 20 yards of it, and I didn't go back the next day either!
 

49ereric

WKR
Joined
Jun 21, 2022
Messages
922
Walked in at first light last weekend and found a couple of good sized owls that were whooping it up. Have never heard an owl make noises like that before.

Sure made me stop quick and figure out just wtf was going on, before I went any farther:ROFLMAO:
unusual owl sounds are not a good sign depending on what you heard.
springtime you ignore the sounds cuz just mating season.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Messages
1,064
unusual owl sounds are not a good sign depending on what you heard.
springtime you ignore the sounds cuz just mating season.

I dont know if they were fighting or tag teaming something. But shit was going down.

Been while since I have heard something in the woods that just makes you stop real quick.
 
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