What’s your spookiest hunting experience?

[Wanashoot]

Years ago a local guy shot and killed a big cat. It weighed 172 pounds and he drove around with it in his pickup for a day or so for all to see. I looked at it and had no idea they were even here. I live in North Texas. Next morning I went deer hunting and I always pride my self on not turning on a flashlight unless it is an emergency and walking in at dark. I was slipping in to my area and thinking about the cougar and stepped into a group of quail that were bedded down. All I herd was fluttering and things hitting me from all sides as they were trying to escape. I remember hearing a scream and it took me a while to realize that the noise was me. Scared the crap out of me. After catching my breath and calming down I turned flashlight on and went to my area. I figured any deer in a mile would have herd me anyway.

 

[marksman1941]

When I was in my late teens I was going hunting one morning ( first day of gun season) I always got to the woods early 1-1 1/2 hours before shooting time I would be in my stand. A friend of mine was supposed to go with me on this day but couldn't make it because of being sick. So I go anyways and was used to hunting by myself. When I got to the property I decided to take a different route to my stand for some reason , it was really bright out from a full moon and I didn't need a light at all. So I get about 75 yards into the woods and see something that catches my eye, as I get closer I can see that it's a blanket and it's covering something up. When I get up to it my first thought is someone shot a deer the day before (Sunday and no hunting back then) so I kneel down and pat it still thinking that it's a deer. So I lift up a corner of the blanket and was extremely surprised when I see an arm and face . I dropped the blanket, got up and made my way to my stand in a hurry thinking the whole time of what in the hell just happened, and whoever put it there could still be around. So I get up into my treestand (still a good hour before light) and I hear someone walking in a straight line towards me, so I load my gun and just wait. They stop about 50 yards from me and I can't really see them or hear them anymore. Once its light enough to make them out I keep a really good eye on him until it's light enough that I can see it's another friend of mine. So finally I can relax a little, after about a hour and not seeing anything I made a grunt call to get his attention and wave him over. He gets under me and says it's still early why did you call me over. I look at him and say ....There's a dead person in the woods up on the hill coming in. He just stands there looking around for what seemed to be 15 minutes and finally says....What in the hell did you just say. So we get our stuff together and go up there and in full daylight you can definitely see that it's a body. Go down to the 7-11 and call the police and spend the next couple of hours telling them the story. The first cop to show was a rookie and when we took him to the body his hand never left his pistol the whole time lol.

Did you ever figure out what happened? Like, was it a lost hunter who got under a blanket and still died from exposure? Or a murder that someone tried stashing the body?

 

[marksman1941]

The dark woods can get a little spooky at night. When I was younger during hunting deer hunting season I would frequently camp by myself when my lazy hunting partners didn't show up. One night at a friend's farm (more like a wilderness tract) I set up my tent and built a small fire. A large pack of coyotes attacked critter literally a few yards away from my camp. It was a pitch black night and the sounds that came from attack were unnerving and viscous. Obviously there was a fight between the coyotes for their kill, and they chased and fought each other for pieces of the animal. This went on for what seemed like forever. I grabbed my flashlight and directed the beam into the woods around my camp site and saw shining eyes in all directions around me. I yelled out and they stopped fighting and yelping for a moment. Turned off my flashlight and sat next to the fire for hours. I could hear them for running through the woods and occasionally howling the rest of night. It was not a very restful night.

Coyotes sound terrible. I can't imagine sitting right next to them during that fight!

When I was 17 I shot a cow elk with a muzzleloader and lost her. Long story, combo of inexperience and poor conditions. We found her 3 days later, rotten and eaten by coyotes. I'd made a clean shot on her but we did a poor tracking job. Anyways, we stood there looking at her for a minute, then started to walk past her and coyote howled about 15 yards in front of me. Then behind. Then the whole group, 10-12, started howling and yipping in a full circle around my dad and I. Cool now, but scared the crap out of me in the moment. My dad looked at me and said "let's go get 'em!" I said "dad we have muzzys. One shot each. There's 12 dogs". Then he mimed holding his rifle like a club and waggled his eyebrows at me, and it was so goofy that it broke the fear the coyotes had on me. We just walked on out of the circle, and they kept their song up for a couple more minutes before they went back to feeding.

 

[Eric H]

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.

Could have been a bear but they were unheard of in that area at that time. There are quite a few in that area now.

 

[Rockchuck27]

Sometime back in the early eighties, I was hunting elk in Washington state. I was near the Elbe hills hunting by myself, which was common. I slept in a canopy on the back of my truck. I was sleeping pretty sound when the truck started rocking back and forth very violently. It lasted about ten to fifteen seconds. I grabbed a flashlight and pistol, but there was nothing around the truck. I still have no clue what rocked the truck like that.

Maybe an earthquake?? I vote sasquatch though!

 

[338 dude]

One year during archery season, I was hunting a WMA near my house, probably a mile or so back in the woods mostly pine ridge. I was up in my tree Stand with my bow just started getting dark and I heard three groups of coyotes, howling to each other and converging on my area, the Hair stood up on the back of my neck and I decided I needed to get down. It was already fairly dark. I had to pack up my stand put it on my back grab my bow to walk out. Luckily I had my 40 caliber Glock but it didn't help my nerves any. I could hear what sounded like 20 coyotes around me probably more like eight or 10 . with a little tiny cap Light I use I don't like a lot of light walking in or out (don't want to spook any game)they were just out of the range of my light completely circling me and followed me all the way to my truck that was pretty unnerving for me !

 

[Mark37082]

@Muddyboots - I'm sure you have experienced some spooky things while on a hunt. Maybe a time or two when you accidentally stepped on a covey of quail and took out the entire covey.

 

[ridgeline300]

Had a pack of wolves come in on me elk hunting right at dark. That gets the hair on your neck to stand up. But the most spooked I have ever been was from a storm. 50+ MPH gusts in a burn area is scary in a tent. We luckily found the only open area to pitch our tent and listen to trees breaking around us all night. Every time I would hear a gust coming I would sit up and hold the center pole of our seek outside tipi, praying the tent would hold. Sounded like an avalanche coming down the mountain when a gust would come through. I had just shot a buck earlier in the day so we were dead tired from that. Got out of the tent the next morning and my cousin shot a buck on the hillside right from our tent. Not spooky in the sense of ghosts or murders, but I sure was spooked! I have no idea what we would have done if it took our tent. We were 3-4 miles from the pickup off trail through deadfall.

 

[skipglo]

Mule deer hunting in New Mexico. We went to check out a new area later in the afternoon. Shadows were getting long rounded a bend in the road there lay a human corpse in a pool of blood! The law was on the way as some else had called it in! The law had lots of questions for us. Next day we drove further back in there in low lock in a jeep! Came up on a little two wheel drive pick up with the doors open and bullet holes in the windshield! We were in the bottom of a canyon and could have been picked off from either side! Rifles ready we headed to the nearest phone (way before cell phones exited)! Law split us up and had more questions. The most scared I have very been. Turned out to be a local murder! That first night I learned to drink whiskey straight and it did not help me sleep!

Did you hear....Dueling Banjos at all?

 

[skipglo]

Sometime back in the early eighties, I was hunting elk in Washington state. I was near the Elbe hills hunting by myself, which was common. I slept in a canopy on the back of my truck. I was sleeping pretty sound when the truck started rocking back and forth very violently. It lasted about ten to fifteen seconds. I grabbed a flashlight and pistol, but there was nothing around the truck. I still have no clue what rocked the truck like that.

Wet Dream?

 

[marksman1941]

Had a pack of wolves come in on me elk hunting right at dark. That gets the hair on your neck to stand up. But the most spooked I have ever been was from a storm. 50+ MPH gusts in a burn area is scary in a tent. We luckily found the only open area to pitch our tent and listen to trees breaking around us all night. Every time I would hear a gust coming I would sit up and hold the center pole of our seek outside tipi, praying the tent would hold. Sounded like an avalanche coming down the mountain when a gust would come through. I had just shot a buck earlier in the day so we were dead tired from that. Got out of the tent the next morning and my cousin shot a buck on the hillside right from our tent. Not spooky in the sense of ghosts or murders, but I sure was spooked! I have no idea what we would have done if it took our tent. We were 3-4 miles from the pickup off trail through deadfall.

Windstorms get eerie. We all like to think we're tough but nature is scary lol. My family used to hunt together a lot, and about 6 of us were heading into a big thicket of old growth timber. There was a windstorm predicted for that night but it was just breezy at the moment. My grandpa was a 40 year logger, and he stopped at the edge of the timber and looked up at the trees for a bit. Finally he said "boys, do what you want but I'm not going in there". We all knew better than to ignore him. The winds hit hard 30 minutes later, and we had gusts that night up to 70mph. Took down one of the tents around my uncle, and we ended up with all 6 guys crowded in my grandpas trailer. No sleep was had, just coffee and card games trying to ignore the wind beating the snot out of the mountain.

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

Sleeping in my tent in colorado in a small opening... no big trees around. Middle of the night i wake up and hear groaning above me... in the sky a little ways. I lay real still as my mind is trying to wake up. Keeps coming and going. No weapons on me. Then i hear soft steps and the groaning slowly going away.. then i realize it is a moose. In the morning the tracks were two feet from my tent.

 

[gareyg]

Many years ago I was hunting Blacktail Deer in the Trinity Alps area in Northern California. Some very steep country. I was on the side of a pretty steep mountain, with rocky ridges running down the sides. I peered over a ridge and about 100 yards away was a good sized Black Bear eating berries on the next ridge. I wasn't hunting bear but thought it would be a great picture. I retrieved my little zoom camera from my daypack, getting it all set up and zoomed inside the pack to be quiet, and carefully peered back over the ridge. No bear. I set the camera down, picked up my rifle and craned my neck trying to spot him. Then I started thinking could he be coming my way? After a couple minutes the little camera timed out and shut down, right next to my ear. Who knew they were so loud when all was silent? I thought the bear had me for sure, and sprang several feet in the air, landing fortunately on my feet about 10 yards down the mountain.

Earlier in High School I was deer hunting in some steep brushy country in the Oregon Cascades. I was walking an old logging trail through an old overgrown clear cut. I heard a noise on a steep hill just above me, and there was the biggest bear I ever saw, coming down the hill right at me. At the time it looked like he could fall and land right on top of me. You of course should never run from a bear to avoid triggering their chase instinct, but I forgot all that and took off like a rocket. I was running track then and pretty fast, but probably broke all my previous bests. The logging trail was a little downhill, and I can remember feeling like my feet were touching down about every 10 to 15 yards or so. After maybe a half mile I finally slowed down enough to risk looking behind me. No bear. He probably just ignored me. Or laughed!

 

[del2les]

Nothing much has ever truly frightened me while hunting, but there was one time when I was a young teen and squirrel and other hunting till "dark 30". I was making my way back home in the moonless dark, when I felt I was being watched. I would stop, slowly listen in all directions, and then take a few more steps and do the same. Something was behind me about 30 yards or so, but in the moonless darkness of the deep woods, I could not make it out. Suddenly, a barred owl about 10 feet up a tree and right beside me gave his best "high ball" scream he could muster. I jumped a few feet and felt as if I had a heart attack, as I turned that old 16ga single his direction. Needless to say, my pace toward home was a little faster, but with feelings of Ichabod Crane fleeing the headless horseman.