Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Name the Scariest thing(s) you ever saw in the woods ?

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A couple guys, all dressed in Blaze Orange, parked at the end of a tote road, loading the rifles and getting ready to head into the deer woods.

They had Florida plates.

I don't know about scared - startled certainly. I'm sure the adrenaline rush and elevated heart rate didn't last more than 10 minutes or so.

Fresh 6 inch dump of snow on top of older 18 inches or so. Fluffy, flat, pristine, unmarked snow cover. Dead calm, nothing showing or moving as I plowed through it.

Peaceful......

About half a dozen grouse simultaneously exploded out of the snow all around me.

Durned near left yellow and/or brown stains on all that nice white snow.

A bit of a scare the first time I crossed my own trail. Heavy rainforest, got turned around which is not hard as visibility is only a few yards. I remember thinking who made all this mess walking through here, then it hit me lol. Luckily had a major feature nearby, a river I could compass towards, so it was a lesson that wasnt learnt too hard

Grizz

Easy, coastal brown bear bawling and snarling through the alder thicket. Can't even imagine what 2nd place was.




Oops, I was thinking "heard" not seen.

Never met her, but, sounds like one of mine though.

I was hiking through the woods in West Virginia and came across these two scary looking dudes with really really bad teeth they had some shiny white boy bent over on his knees making him squeal like a pig. There was Dueling Banjo music in the background.

West Virginia is a scary damn place. Y'all best look for land in Montana.

BillyGoatGruff

I came between a black bear sow and her cub totally by accident one time. She came at me on a dead run. If she'd wanted me dead, I wouldn't be writing this today. I'm convinced there's few things in this world that can rival the fury of a protective mamma bear.

Opening day of Elk season. Humping up the mountain at 5am, 1/2 mile into dark timber, with 6" of fresh snow. Come around a bend in the trail and see fresh cat tracks coming out of a tree and going up the hill, in my direction. Tracks were big enough that a .375H&H cartridge easily fit inside the pug mark without touching the sides. Two to three minute gut check before proceeding with a "heightened sense of alertness"...

Reading above, glad to see that I am not the only one who gets uneasy when there is a kitty in the area...

My Ex.

A Kodiak Brown that was probably north of 1000 pounds. After that is was probably the time I accidentally schidt on my coveralls.

Nitwits coming up the mountain late and using their rifle scope on me to see if I was an Orange elk.

I was a kid walking to my tree stand opening day and pretty dark. I kicked up a turkey .......

Scary isn't the right word. I ended up sandwiched between a cow moose and her calf in RMNP. That was a tense few seconds.

Seeing my first grizzly is something I'll never forget. Grew up reading everything I could and finally found one in yellowstone feeding on an elk carcass. What a powerful and impressive critter. It owned the woods and it knew it.

The worst situation I ever was in I fell through some ice during a January deer hunt here in Ohio. After finally getting myself drug out I had a long cold walk to get back to the truck. Stripped nearly everything off when I got there and blasted the heater.

-Jake

Another one... Hiking pikes peak. Felt like every hair on my body stood on end. I don't know how close to getting struck by lightning that is. But certainly closer than I wanted to be.

-Jake

Last year while hunting. New smart phone suddenly buzzed, showed a news alert w/Pelosi's face on the screen.

Beyond that horrendous shock, 300+ black bear exploding out from under some hemlocks while I was sitting in a small clearing during deer season years ago. Heard something coming full tilt boogie up above me. Branches snapping, rocks rolling down the wooded slope and there it was, maybe 30 feet in front of me. Guys were pushing that mostly dense hemlock slope, kicked the bear out ahead of 'em. Had already been a few doe come past, long before the bruin showed up..

Third scariest thing, tree limbs snapping off in a sudden wind storm one morning. Decided I'd been out long enough.

more than once i was out in the woods in scary weather. heavy winds, big trees falling, etc. almost hurricane conditions one time. not fun. and a few years ago i had 3 bear cubs within about 20 feet of me and a big old sow standing on her hind legs bellowing at me. i was closer to the cubs than she was. meanwhile i had a 22 rifle.

Shawl granny on LZ Saunders and her human silhouette upper body buddies looking at me from behind trees in area 50 as I was walking in one morning about an hour before shooting light.
It got to the point where I just sat down with my back against a big ole oak.
TC 50 cal renegade cocked, set trigger pulled waiting on it to get light enough to walk out and leave the place.
I dont hunt that spot in the mornings .
Refuse to walk in their in the dark.
I might hit it once or twice a year in midday.

Caused me to scout new ground in area 50 about 1.5 miles NW of "AO scary".......

Laugh if ya will.
IDC....