Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What Scarred You the Most While Out In the Woods

Had a moment where I thought my 79 year old granny dress wearin maw kettle English teacher embodied several old men on this thread.

Flying into Fort Francis for a customs clearance on a fishing trip with five of us in a heavily loaded Beechcraft. The guy who owned the plane was use to the big 3,000 foot multi directional runways like O'Hare, not the single strip 1,500 footer up there in Canada. We took off like he always did without standing on the brakes and revving the engines and we were too slow and out of runway when we had to lift off. It was the first (and last I hope) time that I ever heard a stall horn. Pine trees at the end of the runway were looming large and we must have clipped them going over. Five sets of very wide eyeballs that time. Scared and mentally scarred.

I'm not sure that "scared" is the right word, but twice moose have come after me and caused me enough concern to haul ass faster than I'm used to. Luckily for me, both were content to watch me haul ass. One was a cow browsing on some willows along a stream. I was working my way downstream fishing, saw her, and made an arc around her. Got down below and the next thing I know I hear her bellowing and trotting toward me. Then I heard her calf, I'd gotten in between. The other was a bull with two cows.

And there was one time I was side-hilling along a steep shale slide above a river that was over my head deep, in the mountains in March. It was rimmed with ice and the bank was steep enough that I'd have to swim a ways to get to a place where I could climb out. The shale gave way under my feet and I started sliding, that was the longest few seconds, until I stopped just short of the water.

While chucker hunting in southern Idaho I stepped on a rattlesnake. Absolutely scared the schiit out of me!
I think I set a world record for standing broad jump--in reverse!

Once, walking along a dark footpath, I found an old shack, and in behind was a spot on the ground that was always wet. That night, as the moon shone through the trees, I could hear men screaming, and then an evil laugh. I know I ain't goin' back into them woods at night.

Walking through the edge of a waist deep crp field in the moonlight heading to my stand two hours before daylight, (early bow season). Tripped over an emu laying in the grass, it jumped straight up and let out a squawk like nothing I've ever heard. I thought I'd awakened the devil himself. This was in Western Oklahoma, a few farmers had released these God awful creatures when the market fell out. Before that nothing really concerned me walking in the dark except skunks and rattlesnakes.

Working Security unarmed at the LA county fairgrounds during a car show this thing is huge and sprawling I was surrounded by a half dozen hard core cholo gang banger types giving me grief over me telling them where to park. You know their strapped high and crazy after 7 or 8 minutes of heated debate with these fuqks they finally complied. It was a little unnerving. This was a part time gig that paid well and was put on 8 times a year

I fell a few years ago on a hill side (go figure in WV). As I slid down hill I caught my left foot on a sapling and really pulled my front thigh muscle. It hurt like when I tore the quadricep tendon off of my knee cap. I thought I was going to have to be carried out. I just pulled the muscle pretty bad but it was a scare.

Bombing full throttle on my snowmobile tracking caribou across a muskeg lake on a -30 grey day on the NW Alberta/British Columbia border 100 miles from the nearest town and not realizing there was a stretch of open water in the middle of the lake before i was on it.

1981 i was 17 ,hunting deer near Thorndike Maine.i was walking down a trail,and i stopped next to a little island of brush that the trail kinda split around,and something EXPLODED out of it,i had my Marlin 336 30 30 cocked and to my shoulder with the open sights on the flash of white tail i saw.I didn t pull the trigger,all i saw was a flash of white tail and a flash of brown.no antlers.Till this day i don t know if i missed out on a " beginers luck "giant buck or not.
It sure scared the living crap out of me,my hands wouldn t stop shaking from the adrenaline dump.I ve thought about this alot over the years,but i have to stand behind my decision not to shoot,no clear target,don t shoot.

One time, at band camp....

Half a dozen of us young teenagers camping back in the woods, when in the middle of the night a couple Screech Owls decided to make us poop our drawers and run for home.. What an ungodly sound they made.

I looked into an old decomposed root cavity from about 3 ft and there was a black bear moving therein. Did 200 yds in 9 seconds flat and then remembered I had my 7 Mag along.

Same area about 2 yrs prior probably 900 yds as the crow flies up on that ridge.
I found a clorox jug with the # 13 painted on it full of ants.
A big ole pentagram border made out of rocks about 20' in diameter
With a fire pit in the middle.
Never thought much of it other than some freaks out in the middle of nowhere on FTCKY doing some stupid satanic worship schit.
Before they gated up all the back access roads into the back 40 training areas.

I basically dont hunt south of pyror trail in area 50 anymore.


South side of sukchon dz road in area 21 is another place I have heard of from other hunters over the years about eerie schit going on .


Lots of 1790,s to 1800,s homesteads and revolutionary war land grants on FTCKY.
Oldest gravestone I have seen was a 1810 death in one of the many cemetaries on post.

Everything got imminent domained in 1941 IIRC.

Diarrhea

I've been startled more than a few times, felt spooked, etc., but the only time I truly felt scared was when I got caught on top of a small mountain with a fast approaching lighting storm. By the time I gathered my crap, it was too late. Strike right behind me. Scramble off the cliff, and start tearing ass down the ridge, intent on making the truck 1.5 miles away. Strike on the ridge in front of me. Drop into a draw, another strike in front of me. Like I was being freakin' targeted.

Hoofed it back up to where I knew there was a nice overhang. Dropped equipment, hid out under there for about 45 minutes in what turned out to be the most freakishly intense lighting storm I'd ever been around. Thought I was going out on that one. A well used family campsite that we use at the base of the mountain sustained 3 strikes to the ponderosas, exploding two of them. In all the 25 to 30 years we used that site before, I was aware of two trees which were struck.

It took a lot of years for me to get past that. Was a long time there where even a hint of a flash would send me running for cover. Any hint of lighting or thunder for miles after that sent my skeered azz to the truck to sleep or hideout more than a few times after that. Kid took a pic of me around campfire one night shortly after, with me unaware. The flash from the camera and resulting jump put a crick in my neck that lasted weeks.

Fug lighting. Used to enjoy a good lighting show. Not any damn more.

Yep, glad I had some napkins and electrical tape. I’ve used the elec. tape more than once for cuts, always have some with me.

I had an encounter involved these satanic birds myself that was pretty creepy. Was hunting in a big flat stretch of crumbled shalerock at the surface where the only thing that would grow was hawthorns, and they were thick, you could get lost in there only 100 feet from a road on a flat overcast day. I take a little stand sitting against the base of a tree. I can hear rustlings in the leaves, all around me, getting closer. Whatever it is there's more than one and they're circling me. Then i see some WTF legs and next thing that nasty little head on its stalk with those flat, bloodred doll's eyes, blank and dead looking, like glass eyes. Same deal, someone had let a bunch go. Anyways, it was a real twilight zone of an experience.

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I was stationed there from 1988-1993 when the based closed. I worked at the Fighter Intercepter Squadron. Fun to work on and watch.