Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[IDVortex]

I was up in the Oregon Cascades with two of my cousins during the High Cascade buck season. We were spiked out on a little butte that overlooked a massive burn. We had spent a couple days glassing with nothing to show for our efforts. It was ridiculously hot that year and animals were holding tight until absolute dark.

On the third night I was awakened by wolves howling on the ridge a couple miles away. Mind you, ODFW claims no wolves live in this area at the time. Regardless, I was pretty excited since it was the first time I’d heard them.

I got out of my tent and sat on my little chair where we had been glassing from. It was a beautiful night with the slightest orange haze from distant fires that is typical for this time of year.

I sat admiring the landscape in the moonlight and faint blue of the upcoming dawn. As I sat I noticed a little white light down in a bowl below us. It was odd. The only thing in the bowl was a deep pile of blow downs. I’m talking nearly impassible, extremely dangerous, half burned blow downs. The bowl was maybe a half mile from our camp and fairly visible due to the ambient light.

The little light kept moving around erratically and looked to be floating over the blowdown timber that littered the area. As I watched it moving around I spotted two more little white lights in different areas of the burn and they to looked to be floating around erratically over areas I would deem nearly impossible to traverse in the day, let alone partial darkness.

I watched them slowly bob around until dawn when they disappeared with the arrival of daylight. I was able to glass them with my binoculars but they were literally just little, dim, white floating lights. My only thought about what it could be was maybe fireflies? As I’ve never seen fireflies I definitely don’t have any experience to compare them. Also, supposedly we don’t have fireflies in Oregon but supposedly we didn’t have wolves in the area either…

I remember ODFW claiming there was no wolves around Santiam pass years ago even though multiple people spotted them....

 

[Wiley coyote]

Where I used to live I would explore all over looking for places to metal detect for gold. One day I went to sunny hill to poke around the North fork as it looked real good on the satellite. From the time I reached where I intended to park I had an uneasy feeling. I had planned on sniping, which means my face would be in the water and I would be extremely vulnerable. I walked the creek and headed back to my truck. I just couldn't shake the feeling of danger. I never went back. I later learned that hill was a boundary the Indians would not let the white men cross. A few notable battles were fought there.

Quite a few years ago my dad and his friend were hunting for deer. My dad was in a thicket of large valley oaks and his friend was in a deer stand in a lone valley oaks in the middle of a field. While they were waiting a hog walked into the field and my dad shot it. He stood up and started walking towards his kill when the giant valley oak he was sitting under exploded and completely collapsed, the chair he had brought was flattened. His friend didn't see him move and was sure my dad was dead. My dad said when his friend ran up to him balling his eyes out he had to grab him to assure himself he wasn't looking at a ghost.

 

[Pdzoller]

I remember ODFW claiming there was no wolves around Santiam pass years ago even though multiple people spotted them....

Pretty sure they are going to be guilty of wiping out the last remnants of the native subspecies via the introduction of the non-native species and interbreeding. I’d be interested to see some independent genetic testing of the current populations in the Cascades vs DNA collected from old pelts from the area.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

That is way too logical for this thread.

Don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of this thread. I've been following since day 1 and don't want to discourage anyone from sharing as I have read and enjoy all the stories that have been posted. But when pictures are posted, you gotta call it as you see it. I live in the foothills of the cascades in WA state where if you go 5 minutes east of my house you have nothing but wilderness until you hit the desert of Eastern WA. I've had some weird shit go on in my life.

Anyways, keep the stories coming fellas!

 

[Pharmseller]

I remember ODFW claiming there was no wolves around Santiam pass years ago even though multiple people spotted them....

Does that mean we can shoot them as coyotes and not get in trouble?

Asking for a friend.

 

[IDVortex]

Does that mean we can shoot them as coyotes and not get in trouble?

Asking for a friend.

Take a picture of them first and ask ODFW thinks if they're a coyote or not.

 

[505Wapiti]

More creepy stories, please and thank you!

 

[gwtravis]

I'm sure it's just my brain playing with me, but every time I'm alone at night in the woods, I hear footsteps, growls, and whatever, even though I'm pretty sure there's no one around.

Growls and whatever, probably Miley Cyrus. Footsteps are always mice or moose,

 

[gwtravis]

More creepy stories, please and thank you!

View attachment 731028

Any pics from other angles? I think that’s a deceptive 250. Those ears are tiny; I’d have to pass and hope to see it next year

 

[ODB]

Yeah, the Bradys figured that out in Hawaii.




P

And just like that I'm 10 again....

 

[ODB]

Alright, alright, I'm finally going to cave and tell this story (because I love this thread and this was my creepiest experience ever). 20 years ago I decided to solo hike into a remote area in Idaho to archery hunt for a few days. Tough, 6-hour hike to get to this location (on-trail with elevation for a four miles then off-trail for another two miles, climbing uphill with downhill growing alders, etc.), which I was up for because I knew the gig from hiking in there without a pack on previously. Found a flat spot and pitched a solo tent with high hopes for the next few days of hunting. I wandered around the tent after setting up and spent a few minutes at a nearby glassing spot with no unusual feelings or thoughts other than, "Man, this is going to be great." I had dinner and turned in with high hopes for the next few days. About 1:00 A.M., I woke up with the same feeling of absolute dead/terror that gulfofmexicoflyfishing described in post #1,776. I was used to being in the backcountry solo and had probably spent a few hundred nights in a tent by myself in remote places at that time. This feeling caused every hair on my body to stand on end and there was no doubt I was fully alert with a full dump of adrenalin to boot. It was a new moon and I got out of the tent (without turning on a light) to take a leak. I did some deep breathing to force this sentiment to subside and after staying up for about 20 minutes, I dismissed the whole thing as a bad dream (that I was unable to recall). After lying awake for a period of time, I was finally able to fall back to sleep. Some unknown period of time later, I was again awoken by an even stronger feeling of dread/terror, which I did not believe to be possible. I swear, if I had been anywhere other than this hell-hole, I'd have left everything behind and run for the truck. That's how powerful this feeling of impending doom was - incomprehensible as I sit here typing today. This time, I didn't try to do anything to suppress the feeling. Instead, I turned on my headlamp, pulled on my clothes, grabbed my bow and made my way to the glassing spot I had visited earlier. I recall I arrived there about 3:00 A.M. because I checked my watch. I sat there on that high spot until it got fully light. There was no way I was going to close my eyes again or try to get back to sleep that night. After the sun was up, I wandered back to my camping spot. About 100 yards out, I slowed to a very controlled pace in an effort to determine if I was able to find a cat or bear track, to which I could attribute this event. Nothing! I was rummy from being awake for what felt like all night, but I am confident I didn't miss a track on the way to my tent. I wish I could say that I saw something physical that I could attribute to this experience, but no. I half-heartedly hunted part of the day but had already decided that I was getting the hell out of that location before dark. Seriously, I've never before nor ever since had such an experience. I screwed myself out of a few days of hunting, but I truly felt happy to be alive - it was that intense. And, I've never been back to that location to this day.

Did your ears buzz?

 

[7mm-08]

Did your ears buzz?

No, I have no recollection of any sounds at all. But I'm curious to know if there is some sort of phenomenon, which might cause this to occur?

 

[tony]

Anyone else have super troopers in their head??

“Enhance…”View attachment 730342

Littering And..........
Meow!

 

[ODB]

No, I have no recollection of any sounds at all. But I'm curious to know if there is some sort of phenomenon, which might cause this to occur?

Dunno. But I've felt a sense kind of like you describe, I guess call it mega fight/flight/emergency/some shit's not right and I can't figure it out/reptile brain type of thing and for lack of a better phrase my ears go buzzy/fuzzy and I feel 'detached.' Like "I'm" not the one in control. Freaky stuff.


I remember a moment one night in Kenya where I was having an awful nightmare and got that feeling, woke up, opened my eyes, and the dream still played... now that was some shit... I had to shake myself out of that dream.

 

[IDVortex]

Taking my wife backpacking first time ever in her life camping like this. This is not a thread I have her read.

 

[7mm-08]

Dunno. But I've felt a sense kind of like you describe, I guess call it mega fight/flight/emergency/some shit's not right and I can't figure it out/reptile brain type of thing and for lack of a better phrase my ears go buzzy/fuzzy and I feel 'detached.' Like "I'm" not the one in control. Freaky stuff.


I remember a moment one night in Kenya where I was having an awful nightmare and got that feeling, woke up, opened my eyes, and the dream still played... now that was some shit... I had to shake myself out of that dream.

I recall it being nothing but deadly quiet with absolutely no sense of detachment. In fact, I was so tuned into my perceived surroundings that I kind of felt like my spidey-senses were in high gear in an effort to detect any potential danger. I felt as if I might be attacked and overwhelmed any second. Not a pleasant feeling, for sure.

 

[Gen273]

Bump for any possible summer hiking or camping stories.

 

[Beendare]

More weird than creepy....

I was scouting my upcoming elk unit last week with a buddy. We were on a motorcycle trail on his fat tire bikes with him out in front.

Lightning fast, A big badger attacked my buddy in front, grabbed at his boot, bit the peg and tried to bit his tire. My buddy skidded to a stop and the badger stopped attacking and dashed for its hole 30 feet in front of us right in the middle of the road. Probably a mama protecting its babies.

I'm glad it was him as no way I would have been able to stay upright on that bike with a badger tugging on me.

We drove over the badger hole without incident.

 

[FoggyScope]

Wasnt me, but it happened to someone i trust a lot. He was out mushroom hunting this past spring in the crazy mountains and came across a bard owl baby sitting in the middle of a clearing on a tree stump. He came back a little later and it was still just sitting there. He basically stopped and watched it from afar for a few hours hoping a parent would come or if not he could scare off a predator. Got dark and decided its parent had been killed and he was going to take it back to town and bring it to the raptor conservation center.

He gets back on the trail and makes it part way down the old road hes on. All of a sudden a softball sized rock comes flying in from sidways off the trail that he ducks and hits a tree behind him. He looks around and doesnt see anything. His dog whos tough looks around and takes off running down the trail towards the car. He draws his gun fires a shot at the woods and takes off running.

He gave the baby owl to the raptor people who said they hadnt seen a bard owl in those mountains in years. He said hes not ever going back in that side of the mountains.

 

[(NOP)]

So I've been chewing on this one for a while.

I've been hunting an area which certainly has religious significance to indigenous peoples. It's beautiful, magic, wild place. There is certainly millenia of human history here, millions of yearsof geology. I feel honored to be able to hunt here.

I've done several solo trips which going into the back country by your self is spooky enough. My first solo trip ever i witnessed a flying vehicle with a spot light shining down around the Bluffs, now this could have been a search and rescue helicopter, but it didn't have any tail lights. It made me uneasy but was probably explainable. Ok no big deal.

I some how drew the same tag the next year. Which is usually takes 7+ points .

This time I'm sleeping in my truck. I doze off in the back seat. I'm deep asleep. Suddenly I feel the truck start to shake. I open my eyes and world is the same but with a bright blue gray light coming from the sky. Best way i can describe it is the upside down in stranger things, I was in a tractor beam from the heavens. I could see every detail of pickup, the trees, land scape around me. I feel like I'm stuck in this light for maybe 10 minutes trying to figure out what is going on. I start to panic. I say to my self... wake up! Wake Up! WAKE UP!

I pop up conscious, the moon is bright, every thing is exactly as it should be, exactly the same without the blue tractor beam. The pickup, the trees, the landscape. Exactly the same, but normal.

Idk it was probably just a dream with my eyes open. Overly tired, alone, excited and slightly scared. But i can't help to think that it was maybe more then just that.

I still hunt this area, but I be sure to pray and ask God for permission, and it's been very rewarding to me, giving me several animals. But I felt like it was some kind a warning and also a welcoming.

It's my favorite place in world. I can't wait to go back, and it also scares the hell out of me.