What’s your spookiest hunting experience?

[victor3ranger]

Back in 2018 me and a couple buddies were elk hunting first rifle season in northern NM. We had taken our pickup trucks to different areas that morning with the plan to meet back at camp around 8 or so for dinner. I didn't see anything on my hunt so I head back to camp after dark, running a little late. As I'm driving back to camp, I see headlights; it's my buddies coming up the road in their pickup to come check on me. We're both on a two track so I stop at the top of the hill where there's a little turnout and they pull up beside me. We've all got our windows down parked side by side (driver to driver) discussing the day and what all happened. By this time we had shut our pickups off and all the lights were off, it's pitch dark and quiet except for our talking. We're knee deep in elk talk, discussing what we saw, what we want to do tomorrow. We start to hear this approaching sound, like a whoosh at first, but it's coming fast and getting louder quick. Quickly going from a whoosh to a roar. I'm starting to duck in my pickup cause this thing is getting LOUDER and CLOSER with every millisecond. It happened too quick to really look around but in our minds we're all trying to figure it out, minds racing - is this an earthquake, a tornado, hurricane winds, CHUPACABRA?? I really thought tornado. Suddenly it passes DIRECTLY overhead, whistling, ROARING and shaking both trucks, and all four of us hit the deck. I'm laying over the center console part in my seat and part in the passenger seat. As I look to my right a sliver of moonlight is just coming up in the direction it's heading I can make out two small red lights on the rear of it, a huge wingspan and four turbo props - it was a C-130 doing a low level mountain run in blackout. I guess they were flying off infrared. They were low and they were dark. It was probably a little higher in reality, but it seemed like this thing was RIGHT OVER OUR HEADS maybe 20' over the tree tops at the top of that hill. Close enough that it shook our 3/4 ton trucks. I'd love to know if we just happened to converge at that spot, or if those pilots thought "I bet we can scare the hell out of these guys?" Probably the latter!

you can bet that is exactly what they were thinking

That reminds me of when I had my son in law in the truck and I was taking him to the farm with me to hunt, we were rolling 80mph down I40 pulling my trailer and we started dropping down a big hill, all of a sudden I see this yellow airplane to my left, it looks like it's going to hit the top of my cab, we both ducked.
It was a freaking crop duster I thought we were done for

 

[tyslong0226]

This actually happened last summer while hunting black bears in Northern Idaho. I was staying with an outfitter who was 1.5 from the nearest town, then another 1.5 down a dirt road to their camp, and then another hour by side by side to get to the bait sight. I was sitting on the bait all day and had a moose come in but not bear. At some time in the afternoon I had a deer sneak up behind me and blow at me before running off. Not to alarming. What was alarming happened about two hours later when I heard something creep through the thick foliage behind my blind to within 5 yards of me. I turned around trying to see what it was but couldn't see anything. All of the birds and chipmunks went quiet and stayed quiet the rest of the afternoon and I had my .44 mag sitting on my lap the rest of the afternoon. To this day I don't know if it was a mountain lion, bear, or something else. The creepiest part for me was I never heard it leave.

 

[Calvin45]

you can bet that is exactly what they were thinking

That reminds me of when I had my son in law in the truck and I was taking him to the farm with me to hunt, we were rolling 80mph down I40 pulling my trailer and we started dropping down a big hill, all of a sudden I see this yellow airplane to my left, it looks like it's going to hit the top of my cab, we both ducked.
It was a freaking crop duster I thought we were done for

I'm convinced those crop duster pilots are a whole other level of adrenaline junkie. It's actually nuts what they do, and how closely they're flirting with a violent death, compared to pretty much any other profession.

 

[Rosebud]

This actually happened last summer while hunting black bears in Northern Idaho. I was staying with an outfitter who was 1.5 from the nearest town, then another 1.5 down a dirt road to their camp, and then another hour by side by side to get to the bait sight. I was sitting on the bait all day and had a moose come in but not bear. At some time in the afternoon I had a deer sneak up behind me and blow at me before running off. Not to alarming. What was alarming happened about two hours later when I heard something creep through the thick foliage behind my blind to within 5 yards of me. I turned around trying to see what it was but couldn't see anything. All of the birds and chipmunks went quiet and stayed quiet the rest of the afternoon and I had my .44 mag sitting on my lap the rest of the afternoon. To this day I don't know if it was a mountain lion, bear, or something else. The creepiest part for me was I never heard it leave.

Bigfoot, their always messing with my stuff here. Knock over the trash cans. Mess up the bait sites. Steal corn out of my corn barrels. They seem to take joy just screwing with me. Wife says its the raccoons, but its got to be Bigfoot. But just to make sure I trapped seventeen of them and several possums last year. I'm still going with Bigfoot.

 

[Rosebud]

Three of us were hunting mule deer up near Bagdad, Az. The terrain is rough to say the least. Each of us were riding mules. We needed to cover a lot of territory, we split up and each took to riding a ridge on adjacent canyons. We knew the deer would be in there somewhere. We had been riding for three days and it seemed like the deer had left the territory.

I was riding a 16 hand Apolusa mule named Chief. I had been riding Chief all year, and he was sound as a dollar. As all three of us separated, I started working down into the some draws, then up the canyon walls, and down into the neighboring draws. The three of us were never more than a half mile from each other, and we had planned what we were doing off of a good topo map, we had good radios, also.

I had a Browning A bolt in 7 Mag in the scabbard, and my Ruger GP100 was in the saddle bag on this ride vs being on my hip.

I rode into some cows that looked more like scarecrows they were so skinny. All of a sudden, Chief went bucking wild, I rode him out pretty good but he finally threw me off. I landed on a rock in the small of my back and head. I was knocked out cold, and as I woke up, I tried to roll over to get my 357 out of my cross-draw Galco holster, but it was on the mule.

I lay on the ground, screaming talking to God, while screaming from the pain. I finally rolled over on my side, screaming all the while. I got on my knees and hands, screaming and crying at the same time. I realized that my radio had been busted from the fall. I got to my feet, and I thought that I was going to pass out from the pain. Every step was a scream with Prayers for God's help.

I figured that I was 5-6 miles from the truck and horse trailer, no way for me to make it back. I pulled the map out of the pocket on my leg, and oriented the map with my simple Boy Scout Compass. There was a road about half a mile from me. I began to think of killing that mule which helped me to accept the pain. I made it to a stout fence meant to keep the cattle off the road, but I could not lift my leg to get over the fence. I cried and Prayed for God's help. I realized that the only way for me to get through the fence was to lay on the middle strand of barbed wire and just fall through the fence, as best I could. I knew that it was probable that I would get hung up on the barbed wire. With God's Grace, I fell through the fence, only tearing a pants leg with a very small slice on my leg. The Fence was on the top of a hill with the road perhaps 500 yards down the steep hill. I knew that I would probably trip and fall going down the steep hill, but with a lot of Praying and screaming, I made it down to the dirt road.

When I got down to the road, I just laid down on the side of the road and went sound asleep. Sometime later, I was awoken by three men, they happened to be Paramedics, hunting in the same area. Another Paramedic came riding up on my mule Chief, exclaiming how good a mule he was.

They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I told them to take me back to the horse trailer as I needed to wait for my two friends. I made it home, lucky to be alive. Hospital visit the next day, full recovery in three months. I sold Chief to a good friend who had seen me ride Chief many times. I told Chief's new owner to send me a check in three months if he still liked the mule. I bought another mule that I named Kansas because he came from Kansas. Kansas would go to bucking every time he stepped off into a Sand wash. After he bucked the first time, I cut a big green limb off of a tree, The next time he went to bucking, I beat his head and ears real good with that stick. After the second tune-up with that stick, Kansas never bucked again!

My good friend liked to buy cheap mules. He bought a mule at an auction named Diamond. Diamond had the largest ugly head I have ever seen on a mule. The mule was good to ride but we had to have him sedated by the vet to get shoes on him. Diamond had the crazy habit of jumping creeks and mud puddles. Craig was fed up with having his balls busted on the saddle horn from Diamond jumping like a flying squirrel.

Craig had wanted to use his new Suburban to pull the 4 horse trailer to the trailhead. During the hunt, Diamond once again busted Craig's balls on the saddle horn while jumping a creek. I thought that Craig was going to shoot the mule, but I reminded him that he would have to carry the saddle about 4 miles back to the truck. Craig was cussing and raising hell all the way to the truck.

When we arrived at the horse trailer, There was a very large mud puddle that completely covered the dirt road we were on. Craig got the idea of unhooking the horse trailer and tying Diamond with two leade ropes to the trailer hitch of the New Suburban. Craig said he was going to drive back and forth through the mud puddle until Diamond was no longer scared of the water.

Diamond was tied up to the Trailer hitch, and when he got to the mud puddle he locked up all 4 feet. As his front feet went into the mud puddle, Diamond tried to jump the mud puddle and landed on top of the Suburban! Diamond caved in the top of the Brand new Suburban, rear door, broke the rear glass, and caved in a rear quarter panel as he rolled off the top of the vehicle. This event ended the hunt for that weekend, Diamond went back to the auction.

I asked Craig what he was going to tell the Insurance Company, I never found out!

And I thought horses were crazy!

 

[marksman1941]

I was told that's a skin crawler. I used to hear the exact same elk bugle squall in a place I hunted years ago, in SE PA where there are no elk. It would always come right before dark and freak out the deer and send them running. the area is a well known Indian sacred site. The place was weird. I've gone in and out of the woods before sunrise and after sunset for over 35 years, and have no fear of the dark. this place? It always felt oppressive, like I was being watched, and I would sometimes get the feeling that something was hovering next to me, breathing down my neck.

Skin crawlers… same as a skin walker I would think? I assume there are slightly different names across the Native American tribes for similar spirits/entities

 

[Rosebud]

What's kinda funny about the whole thing is that owl and I had a little discussion about what I was going to tolerate, we agreed on a compromise and shook hands then he let me pet him, he sat in my lap while we talked and then it went on about it's day
Real story

I live on a dead end road, and about two decades ago there was a family with some rowdy kids about a half mile from me. I was coming home one evening just at dark and heard something thump into the side of the Tahoe. Slammed on the brakes and jumped out thinking it was the kids hitting my vehicle with something. No kids, no noise of them running away. Walked back the the Tahoe and saw a barred owl laying on the edge of the road. As I got closer it stood up only to pitch forward on its face. Grabbed a rag out of the vehicle and picked it up. It's got it's eyes open now. Stroked its back with my thumb and carried it home. Placed it on the sofa and was calling my vet friend about what to do with it when my wife said its standing up looking at her. She then said its flying around the living room. Managed to corner it in the bedroom and toss a towel over it. I had the wife open the front door about brought it there opening the towel. It looked around for a couple of seconds then off into the night. I guess it slammed into my tahoe trying to grab something in the ditch. But cool experience, for me. Wife, not so much.

 

[Chadp82]

Wasn't hunting but made for a nervous night.

My wife and I were camping in the national forest, before we had a kiddo, maybe 10-12 years ago.

We got in Friday and set up. Then it proceeded to rain almost all evening. It was dispersed camping and someone else set up in the rain that evening about 100 yds down the road, not a big deal.

We made dinner under the canopy we had set up and sat by the campfire a bit when we thought the rain passed, and the break only lasted about 30-45 minutes. So we put out the fire and went to bed.

Around 1am, a vehicle pulls into our campsite and leaves the lights on, I figured they were late getting in and would see the area was occupied and back out to the main road. Well, then I heard doors open and people getting out. I threw on a t shirt and grabbed the pistol. Then footsteps approached our tent. I yelled get out of here.

Then a guy in a shakey voice said we need to talk to you. I said back away from the tent and I will come out. I gave my wife the bear spray and said stay in, I have the gun.

I got out, tucked the pistol in the back of my belt so they didn't see it. I then asked what the hell are you doing it's 1am.

The couple was shaken up and I asked what was wrong. They said we went into town when the rain kept going and went to the bar, and we are camped next you you, and our tent is shredded. I asked if they had food, soap anything, in the tent. They said we were drinking rum and coke in the tent after they set it up while the rain was pouring and decided to go to town since they couldn't cook dinner outside in the rain. They left the rum and coke in the tent when they left.

I said it's probably a bear. They said we are going to pack up and leave but they wanted to let us know. While we were talking I started the fire up and noticed a silhouette pacing back and forth behind our campsite. I didn't tell them as they were freaked out already. They left and I told my wife to come out. I said be quiet and watch that direction. She saw it and asked what I thought it was and I said probably the bear that trashed their tent. It starting snorting and breathing hard and was maybe 50 yards away in thick brush. I said we can sleep in the truck if you want and she said, screw that, let's get out of here. So we packed up and left the site around 2:30/3 and got home at 5am. It was a rough night but I wasn't going to argue since she got a little spooked as well.

 

[marksman1941]

Wasn't hunting but made for a nervous night.

My wife and I were camping in the national forest, before we had a kiddo, maybe 10-12 years ago.

We got in Friday and set up. Then it proceeded to rain almost all evening. It was dispersed camping and someone else set up in the rain that evening about 100 yds down the road, not a big deal.

We made dinner under the canopy we had set up and sat by the campfire a bit when we thought the rain passed, and the break only lasted about 30-45 minutes. So we put out the fire and went to bed.

Around 1am, a vehicle pulls into our campsite and leaves the lights on, I figured they were late getting in and would see the area was occupied and back out to the main road. Well, then I heard doors open and people getting out. I threw on a t shirt and grabbed the pistol. Then footsteps approached our tent. I yelled get out of here.

Then a guy in a shakey voice said we need to talk to you. I said back away from the tent and I will come out. I gave my wife the bear spray and said stay in, I have the gun.

I got out, tucked the pistol in the back of my belt so they didn't see it. I then asked what the hell are you doing it's 1am.

The couple was shaken up and I asked what was wrong. They said we went into town when the rain kept going and went to the bar, and we are camped next you you, and our tent is shredded. I asked if they had food, soap anything, in the tent. They said we were drinking rum and coke in the tent after they set it up while the rain was pouring and decided to go to town since they couldn't cook dinner outside in the rain. They left the rum and coke in the tent when they left.

I said it's probably a bear. They said we are going to pack up and leave but they wanted to let us know. While we were talking I started the fire up and noticed a silhouette pacing back and forth behind our campsite. I didn't tell them as they were freaked out already. They left and I told my wife to come out. I said be quiet and watch that direction. She saw it and asked what I thought it was and I said probably the bear that trashed their tent. It starting snorting and breathing hard and was maybe 50 yards away in thick brush. I said we can sleep in the truck if you want and she said, screw that, let's get out of here. So we packed up and left the site around 2:30/3 and got home at 5am. It was a rough night but I wasn't going to argue since she got a little spooked as well.

I think with an unknown silhouette pacing your camp perimeter and watching you, heading home was the best idea. Bear, lion, methhead, Bigfoot, whatever it was, if something is gonna stake you out and wait for an opening, it's time to fight or bail.

 

[VinceMule]

A Retired forest ranger taught us this trick on our mule pack trips back in the Wilderness. Always carry moth balls, and spread them around the outside of the camp perimeter. There were lots of lions and black bears in our area. Dress animals hundreds of yards away from camp, and pull animal carcus/quarters way up in a tree. A few moth balls go a long way as they get a whiff of the mothball and they scatter fast!

Putting moth balls in a sock, tied on a length of para cord will keep lions and bears from stalking you.

 

[memtb]

A Retired forest ranger taught us this trick on our mule pack trips back in the Wilderness. Always carry moth balls, and spread them around the outside of the camp perimeter. There were lots of lions and black bears in our area. Dress animals hundreds of yards away from camp, and pull animal carcus/quarters way up in a tree. A few moth balls go a long way as they get a whiff of the mothball and they scatter fast!

Putting moth balls in a sock, tied on a length of para cord will keep lions and bears from stalking you.

Nice to know! Thanks! memtb

 

[Calvin45]

A Retired forest ranger taught us this trick on our mule pack trips back in the Wilderness. Always carry moth balls, and spread them around the outside of the camp perimeter. There were lots of lions and black bears in our area. Dress animals hundreds of yards away from camp, and pull animal carcus/quarters way up in a tree. A few moth balls go a long way as they get a whiff of the mothball and they scatter fast!

Putting moth balls in a sock, tied on a length of para cord will keep lions and bears from stalking you.

I wonder what it is that they don't like about them?

 

[memtb]

I wonder what it is that they don't like about them?

They've seen what happens to Moths in a campfire! memtb

 

[victor3ranger]

I live on a dead end road, and about two decades ago there was a family with some rowdy kids about a half mile from me. I was coming home one evening just at dark and heard something thump into the side of the Tahoe. Slammed on the brakes and jumped out thinking it was the kids hitting my vehicle with something. No kids, no noise of them running away. Walked back the the Tahoe and saw a barred owl laying on the edge of the road. As I got closer it stood up only to pitch forward on its face. Grabbed a rag out of the vehicle and picked it up. It's got it's eyes open now. Stroked its back with my thumb and carried it home. Placed it on the sofa and was calling my vet friend about what to do with it when my wife said its standing up looking at her. She then said its flying around the living room. Managed to corner it in the bedroom and toss a towel over it. I had the wife open the front door about brought it there opening the towel. It looked around for a couple of seconds then off into the night. I guess it slammed into my tahoe trying to grab something in the ditch. But cool experience, for me. Wife, not so much.

I had a barred owl that had gotten thumped hard by a vehicle, one of its eyes got all bloody inside so I took it home and had it live in my shop while I nursed it back to health.
I would leave the walk in door open so it could come and go when it wanted.
A few times I would be laying on my back on the shop floor working on a vehicle and the silly thing would show up and get on my belly and pick at my shirt until I paid attention to it