What’s your spookiest hunting experience?

Being too ignorant to be scared, I had shot a nice croc ( see my avatar) about 40 km south of Gabarone. PH called the skinners who showed up piled in a bakkie about 30 feet from the, supposedly dead croc. After photos the skinners gathered around the croc to haul it to the bakkie. Suddenly after several minutes of photos and walking around the croc, it opened its mouth! Yikes! You never saw guys move so fast and everyone climbed into the bed!
The PH gave me a .22 lr rifle and I took a final brain shot. All was calm after that. Still it took a bit of coaxing to get the skinners out of the bakkie.
Reptiles don't die quickly!

I was in Southern Colorado in 1990 on a guided bow Elk hunt, the guide and my buddy were to my right a few hundred yards away, we were working our way toward a large rock face a few miles away when suddenly from my right came a noise, threw the cover I could see what looked to be an ELK very lite in color and coming towards the game trail I was on, perfect would be 15 yards or less when it hit the trail. I drew my bow and to my surprise It was big Blond bear, 350 lbs plus, she hit the trail at 12 yards and saw me , then she turned towards me and stomped her front feet, so close I could feel it in the ground so I thought thats strange, so while still at full draw I stomped my foward foot back at her. then it got worse, behind her at around 18-20 yards out came 2 blond cubs. I thought **** this just got way worse. she started walking towards me slowly shaking her head but did not raise her hair so I slowly backed up and down hill off the game trail. I only moved maybe 10 yards or so at point she completely looked away as though I was not there I let down my bow and backed off a few more yards then knelt down to retrieve my camera from my pack but before I could snap a pick our guide grunteded at her. she spun towards the cubs and rain jumping over her cubs and gone from site with in 3 or 4 bounds. thats when I relized If she was coming when she was at 8 yards or so. I would have had no chance at a self defence shot. IT all happened so fast there was no time for fear. I had always herd you should stand your ground, but with cubs I thought best give all the ground she wants. I know how my wife protects her cubs.

SheepShapeAK said:

Think it was an earthquake?

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Nope. I have been through a lot of earthquakes. This was like someone rocking the truck back and forth from the side. Like we used to do to each other in high school.

skipglo said:

Wet Dream?

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Finally after all these years, someone figured it out.

I have far too many to write them all down here. Seriously.

Lots of time in the woods will lead to numerous very odd situations.

Probably the spookiest was during archery deer season.

My buddy had dropped me off at a walk-in trail to a tank about 1/4 mile off the road. I walked in about 11am.

I was 30' up in a blue spruce in my treestand sitting a tank. I had been in it for hours. Seen a few does and smaller bucks. Turkey, squirrels, birds of all kinds.
I caught movement in my peripheral, and slowly turned my head....I didn't see anything. Stared for what must have been 15 minutes.
Then I caught movement again...the slightest flick of a tail....attached to a big mountain lion just laying there all coiled up! In plain sight! He was hunting the tank like I was! No clue when he slunk in, or how long he had been there.
My eyes were now GLUED to this big cat not 30 yards away. He sat watching the tank for over an hour (felt like an eternity). He finally crept super slowly down to the tank to get a drink. Completely silently. Even his lapping up the water was dead quiet.
He stood up and stretched, and very slowly and completely silent, walked off. He never saw me. I watched him go as far as I could see and he never looked back. I sat in that stand completely paranoid the rest of the evening. I just knew he was still out there.
Getting out of that treestand after dark and walking back out to the road the same way that cat went was nervewracking.

Or....

When I was 14, I went to AK with a friend to spend a month up there with his dad who lived there. It was amazing. Fished everyday for a month.
His dad would drop us off somewhere and come back 12 to 36 hours later to pick us up.
On drop off, we had a few miles to hike in. My buddy was in the lead, and was constantly talking. I mean non-stop. I told him to shut up after about an hour and he explained to me that talking spooked the bears away.....***?
About 10 minutes later, we rounded a rock the size of a VW bug, and there was a HUGE bear track in the muddy trail...filling with water! You could not see 5' into the trees. There was no crossing trail visible, and it was dead quiet. It made for a fairly unpleasant 36 hour fishing excursion. Plus, we had to walk back out!

I would have to say my spookiest experience happened in broad daylight as I was cleaning a mountain goat I had just harvested. I was in an area that was on a river and heavily populated with brown bears. There was just enough brush to conceal movement around me, you know, since the goat committed suicide and decided to jump off the cliff when it was shot instead of laying down to die.

I heard a bunch of rocks rolling and rustling in the bushes. I didn't want to find out what it was and began throwing rocks and yelling. Luckily whatever it was turned and hightailed out of there. Needless to say that goat got cleaned pretty fast and I packed up my raft and headed out of there.

Eric H said:

Over a half century ago prior to military service, I went squirrel hunting bringing along our dog Mac. I may have been about 13 or 14 years old. We were about a mile or so from home and deep in the woods. Walking down a steep hill my dog stopped and started sniffing with his nose high in the air. He started whinning and then stuck his tail between his legs and hauled *** back towards the house. Needless to say I was close behind him running from whatever he was running from. Never knew this dog to be afraid of anything. Was so relieved to make it back to the main road.

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Always listen to the dog. There a whole lot smarter than we are!

I had a surprising encounter one time. Not spooky, but shocking...and cool.

A buddy and I rode in on horseback into a winderness area to archery deer hunt.
We hunted until completely dark, and let the horses have their head on the trail coming back out in the pitch dark. We kept our faces down and hats covering due to mesquite and palo verde branches.
About halfway back, my horse just stopped dead. Would not take a spur to move or anything. I flipped on my headlamp, and my horse was nose-to-nose with a big mule deer buck on the trail. About 1 second later, that buck blew up and was gone! My horse just started back up amd never missed a beat the rest of the way back.

I have two episodes. Number one I was walking back to the truck after bow hunting on Ft. McClellan Alabama in the 90s down a fire break. A bat was flying up and down the fire break over my head. Then I noticed what I thought was a robin fly into the brush right ahead of me. Suddenly the bat was coming back towards me and the robin, that turned out to be a sparrow hawk intercepted the bat and both of them collided with the back of my head and got tangled up in my climbing tree stand. I screamed like a six year old girl. Number two. Hunting in LA, lower Alabama. One of our leases heavy swamps and low ridges. Arrow straight dirt roads. Was Walking back to the truck and got the sixth sense I was being followed. Sun was setting behind me, so I squatting down to sky light anything. Nothing! Kept walking but the further I went the more anxious I became. Ok, there is something there. I stopped dead in the two track road and waited with my 9mm in hand, nothing. Ten minutes later its full dark and I've got my flashlight out. I'm still looking back with the light. Nothing! I'm about to be in full panic mode. Get to the truck throw the tree stand in the back of my tahoe and as I got to the drivers side door I holstered the pistol and climbed in. At that moment something jumped on the back of the Tahoe and was bouncing up and down. Now I'm really freaking out. I jumped out, still don't know why, and drew the pistol. My Game Warden buddy who was a lease member shines his flash light on me say its ok, put down the pistol. He he had parked up the road and came in where I was hunting to " Help me drag one out". His words. But the big grin on his face told the real story. He scared three years off my life. He told the story for two decades.

Rosebud said:

I have two episodes. Number one I was walking back to the truck after bow hunting on Ft. McClellan Alabama in the 90s down a fire break. A bat was flying up and down the fire break over my head. Then I noticed what I thought was a robin fly into the brush right ahead of me. Suddenly the bat was coming back towards me and the robin, that turned out to be a sparrow hawk intercepted the bat and both of them collided with the back of my head and got tangled up in my climbing tree stand. I screamed like a six year old girl. Number two. Hunting in LA, lower Alabama. One of our leases heavy swamps and low ridges. Arrow straight dirt roads. Was Walking back to the truck and got the sixth sense I was being followed. Sun was setting behind me, so I squatting down to sky light anything. Nothing! Kept walking but the further I went the more anxious I became. Ok, there is something there. I stopped dead in the two track road and waited with my 9mm in hand, nothing. Ten minutes later its full dark and I've got my flashlight out. I'm still looking back with the light. Nothing! I'm about to be in full panic mode. Get to the truck throw the tree stand in the back of my tahoe and as I got to the drivers side door I holstered the pistol and climbed in. At that moment something jumped on the back of the Tahoe and was bouncing up and down. Now I'm really freaking out. I jumped out, still don't know why, and drew the pistol. My Game Warden buddy who was a lease member shines his flash light on me say its ok, put down the pistol. He he had parked up the road and came in where I was hunting to " Help me drag one out". His words. But the big grin on his face told the real story. He scared three years off my life. He told the story for two decades.

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That's a good gag but man… that's a good way to get ventilated too!

This has been the most entertaining thread in a long time. Thank you for all the contributions, especially the ones that caused me to laugh out loud.

Buddy and I were upland bird hunting at my remote cabin in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Riding our ATVs on an old logging trail into a very remote area we'd never been in looking for birds. We stopped to have rest and a drink ( of water ). Starting looking around and saw several black irrigation pipes with water running from them. Further investigation led us to find a water tank with the spigot on and surrounded by a marijuana grow site as far as I could see. We both carry guns for a living but I didn't feel like getting into a gunfight with 16 rounds of 9mm and #7 1/2 12 ga so we quickly did a 180* and got the #$&@ out of there.

Both of us were disappointed in ourselves. We specifically go up there to get away from people and events like this. It goes to show you can never let your guard down even when in vacation.

We were turkey hunting in Eastern Montana along the Tongue River, we had gotten to the camp site about ten that night. We set up camp and got the trailer all situated for the three day hunt. It was about midnight and we were just sitting in the camper BS'ing when there was a knock at the door. We were pretty far out in the boonies so I grabbed my pistol and my buddy checked the door. He said there is someone out there. I pulled the hammer back on the 357 and he slowly opened the door. There was a guy standing there and just off the cuff like he had known us all his life asked if we had any coffee brewing. We looked at each other like you gotta be f'ing kidding me. We told him no, that we were getting ready to hit the sack and he said well you just never know unless you ask and then let out the loudest, longest, eeriest laugh I had ever heard, then turned around and walked off into the darkness. We never heard a car engine start-up. light drive away or nothing. Needless to say I laid wide awake with the pistol at my side and in the middle of the bed, so not to put myself to close to the outer walls, for the rest of the night. Luckily the next day we killed our Turkeys and headed home. Scary stuff when you out in the middle of nowhere and someone walks up on your trailer in the middle of the night. Felt like one of those Hill have eyes kind of things.

It was 1980, the 1st time I hunted on my buddy's section. We got there after a 5 hour drive after work. Did not have time to scout the place that night. The following morning he dropped me off at one of the corner fence lines. With me was just my shooting stool, M1a, 1911, and backpack, forgot my flashlight. It was still pitch dark when left me by myself.

As the light starts to break I was seeing figures straight from the corner. Mind you, his place is near Laredo. He mentioned there were frequent Coyote traffic through his place, both 4 and 2 legged kind.

I was hunting with irons, so no help with optics to discern what the human like figures were, but they were not moving.

I switched the M1a mag from 10 to 20, and patiently waited. As the sunrise became more prominent everything became clear... He put me in the corner overlooking their family cemetery. Those human like figures were of religious figures.

He never told me that I would be facing the family cemetery from the corner.


2nd one, on the same ranch
He dropped me off at mid point of a long fence like overlooking a wide open field.

At about mid morning he drove by to pick me up. We'll, it was nice cold morning, he drove up as I just woke up from a nap, backpack for a pillow, but still on the ground.

He warned me not to take naps on the ground on cold days, as I may wake with a rattler warming up next to me.

I waved him off and I will just walk back to the ranch house. Sat back against the fence again with hope to see something before I started walking. Well, I did see something. No more than 5 feet from where I sat on the ground, a dang rattler crossed the fence. I hate rattlers. I grabbed the 1911 and emptied all 8 rounds on that thing.

I never took a nap on the ground ever since.