Creepy experiences in the backcountry

Most times I see open carry, the dude strikes me as Billy Bob Thornton from tombstone.

So a couple years ago I was hunting some BLM land and there is a some what of an active trail that people can day walk around a local lake but there are plenty of deer as well and people take nice ones all the time. I had been walking and still hunting this trail for a couple hours and it was about late morning when I noticed on the ground human footprints without shoes or socks on. I was probably about a mile from the other end of this trailhead and thought it was very strange someone would walk that far barefoot. I kept hunting though as there were deer popping up here and there. After short time of seeing the human footprints I started to hear what I believed to be a Native American lady singing/ chanting. It was a little on the creepy side so I turned around and started walking back to where I had came from. Not sure exactly the situation that was going on but figured I really didn't want to go find out. Still not quite sure what it was to this day.
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Not a hunting story , just creepy. I was working for Dawn Donuts in Michigan, it’s 2.30 am and I’m driving to work in my Chevette with four 50lb cubes of shortening in the passenger seat south on I 75.
I see this chick hitchhiking so I pick her up but she has to sit in the back seat because of the shortening , so I was looking at her thru the rear view mirror, as we talked .
And every time I would look forward , at the road , I’d catch a glow out of the rear view mirrors , when I’d look back , nothing .
She told me to let her out where I 73 and M 23 split , but I’m trying to figure out what is making the glow in the mirror, but not really seeing it , thought it was a car following with its lights out or something.
She was talking, asking me if I’d noticed a lot of out of state license plates, to which I said no .
She said there was a witches convention in town and that was why so many out of state plates.
Then she said , Know how I know ? Because I’m from out of town , and there was that flash of light , only brighter , out of the corner of my eye , and I still had no idea where it came from.
Then I passed the split of I 75/M23 and had to lock the brakes up , came to a stop on the side of the I 75 and she was pissed .
She got out , on the wrong side of 23 and didn’t like it , she started to say something and I just drive away with her door still open .
I’m looking over my left shoulder checking traffic and there was none , there was a brighter flash of light behind me on the right side , and when I turned around to look at her , nothing , she was gone .
Hair raised on my neck and I was sure she was in the back seat , again , about killed me looking backwards and driving as fast as that little four cylinder would go .
Still creeps me out thinking about it .




PS , had to edit it after reading ...
I grew up in the Chevette era, with 200lbs of shortening in the thing, full throttle would take days to reach 60mph.
Good story.
 
I grew up in the Chevette era, with 200lbs of shortening in the thing, full throttle would take days to reach 60mph.
Good story.
I loved my Chevette , it got 30 miles a gallon , I had roof racks and took it everywhere ,throw the poles on the roof go pier fishing , four grown adults in a car pool , all for $3900 brand new .
 
When I lived in Ruby Valley, Nevada I was on my way to the bar in the valley to get a bite to eat and maybe a beer or 3. Headed down the road, it's dark as the inside of a cow that night. I can see something up along the road in the headlights, and thinkin it's a elk I slow down in case it bolts in front of me. Well it wasn't an elk but a horse, a guy standing next to it, and a calf on a rope with the other end in the guys hand. I stop and roll the window down and ask if he's doing alright. He said yep, doing alright. I asked him if I could help him out or if he wanted to tie off and we would drive slow down the road to get him home. He said he was fine and that someone would be along shortly but thanks for stopping. I asked him one more time if he was sure and he said yep. I get goin again and I just can't help but think something was off. I turned around to ask him if I could at least bring him some food or something to drink and when I got down there he wasnt there. You can see headlights for a hundred miles in either direction so I knew nobody picked him up. I get to looking around and there's no sign of him, the horse or the calf. No tracks, no horse shit, nothing. Needless to say I get a bit spooked. Head to the bar, and instead of a beer I order a whisky and water. The gal who owned the place knew something was up and after I told her what happened she said oh you seen the road ghost. Everyone see him sooner or later.
 
A few days a week I squeeze in a before work ruck up a local mountain. The trailheads 5 minutes from home, if I leave the house at 4am I can be back and showered for work by 6am.

Over the years I’ve seen and encountered a number of bears, blacktails and other critters on this trail system. As the years go by is seems encounters are fewer and fewer.

Well a few weeks back I’m up doing my early morning routine. Headlamp main beam set at about medium brightness with the flood off. Around 5am I’m approaching my turn around point which is the intersection of my ascent trail and descent trail. The trail I ascend cuts straight up the ridge requiring a few hands on scramble moves during the last 400’ of elevation gain, the descent trail I then take drops into a drainage to the south through a series of switchbacks saving the knees. As I make the intersection I pull my phone out to stop the timer I have set. The phone lights up full brightness in the light of my head lamp, washing out any semblance of night adjusted vision. Right as I pause the clock I hear a faint footstep off to my left. As I whip my head around I see 2 eyes glowing in the headlamp. It seems close.

What follows took place in only 3-4 seconds. My mind does a quick assessment. The eyes are wide and low to the ground. In the edge of my beam off to the right I see two more eyes, also seeming the same distance away and height above the ground. As I adjust my focus to those eyes I distinctly see the first set of eyes move towards me.

Now in a millisecond my thoughts went from two deer bedded on the crest of the finger ridge to two adolescent cougars, possibly siblings, testing out my response. The word “HEY” yelled out from an instinctual place as my right thumb grazed the release on the safariland attached to my pack belt and my left hand reached to tap my headlamp. As the illumination increased to full beam plus flood I could just make out what I was dealing with.

Just above the glow of the eyes I could see the tips of the ears of two does. Positioned about 10 yards away and just over the crest of the steep ridge, giving their eyes the low to the ground look of a stalking predator. I wonder what they were thinking, I’m sure they were rather displeased with some jackwagon blasting light in their eyes and yelling at 5am.

Anyway thought I’d share. I got a pretty good laugh out of it as I don’t ever recall yelling at animals I’ve encountered in the dark before or getting quite that excited over a couple of deer haha.
 
I have a legit question because I’ve never seen a cougar or bear in the dark. The eyes of deer always seem kind of luminescent green in the dark. Do cougars and bears and wolves have the same green glow or is it another color?
 
I have a legit question because I’ve never seen a cougar or bear in the dark. The eyes of deer always seem kind of luminescent green in the dark. Do cougars and bears and wolves have the same green glow or is it another color?
Typically orange/red/yellow but not a hard rule. I've got a dog who's eyes are lighter colored and at night they glow green like a deer while my brown eyed dog glows orange like most night time predators I've encountered.
 
Typically orange/red/yellow but not a hard rule. I've got a dog who's eyes are lighter colored and at night they glow green like a deer while my brown eyed dog glows orange like most night time predators I've encountered.
Our Husky/Shepard has a green eye and a red one. Both eyes are light brown, one of his siblings had one blue eye and one brown and another one had blue eyes. Might be genetics when it comes to eye shine.
 
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