you have seen while out in the wilds? I know this has been asked here before but it always makes for some very interesting threads. With all of the folks on this site and all of the time spent out in the field there is always plenty of content. Fire away.

Wow thought this would fill up fast....OK I will start. When I was a kid up near prescott AZ we had a cabin. I went hiking up the side of a large mountain and came across a hidden mary jane plot. Kinda scared me as I was probably being watched and I didn't know it. Couple years later I saw a guy and a gal doing the wild thing, they never saw me as they were obviously distracted. Been some others but that is a start.

i do quiet a bit, either fishing or on my buddy's ranch.

If one is alone, it can really cut down on noisiness.

Saw a couple of inebriated natives doing the nasty on an old dirty mattress under a tree out on the rez one time. Does that count?

Well, I found a 1600 foot long paved airstrip on top of a mountain once. That was a bit of a surprise.

Calvert Peak STOLport

Not real far from there, I hiked up an absolute goat trail, steep as [bleep], sidehilling, hanging off bluffs, to get to a mine tunnel and found a freakin' truck camper set up on pilings. No road so it had to have been placed by helicopter.

Bumped into nekkid gals a couple times.

Bigfoot a couple times.

But .. the weirdest thing I ever saw .. I know you'll never believe me, but I'm going to say it anyway: one time I actually saw a bull elk during elk season.

Tom

This reminds of coming over a hill towards Two Lakes in San Diego, California. That would be fifty-four years ago. In the distance, maybe a couple hundred yards, I could see two of God's lovely creatures skinny dipping. As an eighteen year old I got an eye full as long as I could. That lasted until they noticed they were no longer "alone". Then they hurriedly quit their frolicking and got dress. The young man with me was only fourteen. He was embarrassed and wouldn't watch them.

So did I, T_O_M, but I had a cow tag. By the way I still have your story. I shared it with only one person because I am convinced believed me.

Not hunting Oregon huh Tom?

When I was on Marine patrol one sultry August night we quietly motored our 36' twin engined Munson aluminum patrol boat on a vessel drifting in the fairway with no lights on. Since we responded to a lot of accidents at night due to unlit vessels we always carried cheap flashlights to give to boaters that had inoperable navigation and since unlit and drifting vessels usually meant that a couple was getting busy we approached delicately and would hit the deck lights a little ways off to allow the female a little privacy. On this night we hit the deck lights and blue lights like normal while I made my way to the bow to let the skipper know that he needed to turn on his navigation lights only this time there was no female to be delicate around. The mid 20's year old male and his medium sized dog were a bit flustered. The dog started barking like crazy when its master pulled out. My partner was so flustered that he said f'ck this and we left with both engines at full throttle. Truly disgusting.

ok read the title, i'll have to think about one i can post about.

In the 60s hunting Coues deer down past Arivaca almost on the Mexico border - near old Ruby - and a far hike from anything, came across two healthy looking goats tethered on a grassy hillside. Went a bit further up the canyon and two fierce sounding/looking dogs came snarling toward me with no sign of stopping. Flustered a bit, I raised the rifle thinking I might have to shoot 'em - but they help up short/barking and I started thinking. "Two goats tethered, two dogs protecting turf - there must be a human in here somewhere."

There was. Within a short time a crusty disheveled looking old guy with a beat up lever action rifle came scampering around the hill - yelling, waving his arms, threatening to shoot - wanted me out of there. I quickly left the lower part and went up the opposite side quite a distance - then watched him gather the goats and dogs.

Don't know how he managed it, but was living in what looked to be an old mine shaft up on the side of the canyon - somehow getting himself and his animals fed and watered. Found no deer in that canyon.

What happens on the REZ stays on the REZ

jmp300wsm, Back in the early 80's, wife,myself,and two kids were camped in a pop-up camper on Elmer's Island, La. Technically, only an island at high tide. With only one way in/out, we went into the island at low tide. The road (two track) took you about a mile through tall Marsh Grass to the beach, where you could go either right or left. We camped about about a half mile from the road on the beach. Around midnight we were awakened by commotion near the road/beach intersection. A large bon fire had been lit, and in the light we could see a large Uhaul or Ryder truck. Soon, a group of men (about 5 or 6) began walking back and forth from the truck into the surf and into pitch darkness. This "bucket brigade" continued for about 45 minutes. I'm guessing there's was a boat in the darkness. Going with just a gut feeling here, but they weren't offloading seafood!! It's a pretty helpless feeling being trapped with your family, and your only escape was passing within feet of what was probably a very big drug haul. By morning, other than sign of a large fire, no evidence of the nights activities. memtb

When I was a kid I saw a buffalo walk through the woods in east TN while deer hunting. Good thing I didn't shoot it cause about 20 minutes later a farmer came looking for it. Walked it home on a lead when he caught it!

Have run across a few pot grows, one they had a very elaborate green house set up like a garden nursery.

Found a dead guy in the river while fishing. I was like "is that a leather jacket in that brush". It was. He was still wearing it though.

As far as wildlife? A peacock running with a flock of turkeys. Fit right in, or at least he thought he did. Lol.

Drove up a jeep road outside Central City, came to a little house by a mine tunnel. Went inside, and it had 4 foot ceilings, was furnished with couch, table, and all. I probably am lucky I did not meet the residents if they were still around. I felt like I should have been looking for Snow White.

You gotta be chitting?????

Did you see the goat? Bastid lived on tin cans.

One time in the late '70s I was somewhere in west-central Missouri headed northbound on a two lane highway in my semi about 3:00 AM, when I had to slow down for a cattle drive and wait for the road to clear.

They were being driven by a couple of guys on horses from someplace to the east of the highway over to the west side. In the darkness I could see a cattle hauler parked a ways down the road to the west.

I thought and thought about that. Not being a cowboy I didn't know what to think. Were they doing that at night because there was too much traffic in the daytime? Why not have the hauler east of the highway?

I stopped in the next town and called the Sheriff's office and told them about it, saying that I didn't know enough about cattle ranching to know if that was really as peculiar as it seemed to me. The officer I spoke to assured me he found it very interesting.

This didn't happen to me , but, the buffalo story reminded me. Back in the late 30's (I think), my uncle (back in Louisiana) was going out squirrel hunting on a "very" foggy morning. Getting there before day break and getting too foggy to see, he took a nap. He woke just as it was getting enough light to see, there were elephants walking the dirt road he had parked on. He kinda freaked out at first, then saw that they were being lead.... By their circus handlers!!! memtb

How about heard?

Hunting Muleys in North West Nevada, brother and I camping in the desert with our camp tucked up against a little hill. Nothing but sagebrush surrounding us. Having a night cap around the campfire heard from the other side of the little hill a noise that sounded something like when someone has a flat stick tied to a string and whirls it overhead. Well this got louder and and was obviously coming right at our camp, getting louder and louder. It was so strange we got ourselves armed in a hurry, ran up the hill and saw....nothing. The noise stopped right as we crested the hill. Investigations in day light revealed...nothing.

Once I was standing at the edge of a clearing looking into the timber on the other side. I'd been perfectly still for five minutes when all of a sudden a grouse exploded out of the grass 10 yards in front of me. A split second later a big hawk dropped in but the grouse got away. Another time I was creeping through the timber first thing in the morning and saw a mulie fawn curled up under a tree. I got closer but it didn't move. It was dead, but still warm. I continued on down the game trail and ran right into its mama, coming the other way on the same trail, bleating for her fawn to get up.

A weather balloon in a soybean field.

Uh, where?

What did leo say?

saw a hen turkey launch from the ground and knock a redtail hawk off the top of a 100 foot pine, then fight it in the air for about a minute until the hawk had enough and headed for Montana.
people wise i was sitting at a stop light in Salem Ore on the one nice day of the year. Next to me was a young maiden in a Karmen Ghia convertable. she looked over at me, crossed her arms, pulled her shirt off over her head, tossed it over the seat. had uppity nipples. lost me after about 4 turns!

Back in the 70's sitting up in my climber when here comes a gray fox. Critter gets a little closer and then climbs a tree. Right up the side like a dang squirrel.

Didn't know they could do that, figured I was crazy and never told a soul what I had seen. A year later watching Wild America on tv the show was about foxes and yeah, they climb tree's.

Not the most interesting but true.
I am a Reg. Master Maine Guide, take a few hunters each season that would like to get a deer that dresses over 200# no heart or liver to get into the Me. Big Bucks Club.
Had a fellow in his 20's, set him in a tree stand with natural bait [apples] having seen a big 10 point on camera almost every evening.
His advice from me was [do not leave the stand] he will come in.
I noticed after he left camp his insulin was in a bag on the table, not sure how often he needed it, I grabbed a rifle, the wheeler, headed to the stand, guess what? He wasn't in it, guess what else? The big 10point was standing there looking at me.
What would you have done?
I know what I did, paying customer or not.

Happened all on the same day

I'd taken my lil inflatable canoe and paddled through two ox bows to reach my stand for the evening moose hunt really pretty evening

So I climb 45-50 feet up this tree and begin to call and glass

Out in the willow thickets and meadows I see a few moose but no bulls

Wind picks up fiercely, I'm hanging onto this tree for dear life as trees (mostly poplar/aspen ) are crashing down all around me, wasn't till I got home that I found a twin spruce 90 ft tall had come down on our property

This windstorm only lasted for 45 mins to an hour and things settled right down and I went back to glassing

Saw what I thought were beaver on far side of the back oxbow swimming around turns out to be a muskrat with her kits Saw a cow and calf skirt the back oxbow and go into the one nearest the river

Bout 8:30 ish I climb down and retrieve my canoe and begin to paddle home These dang muskrats swim right for me

When they get within 4-5 feet of my canoe momma and the male kit raise up outa the water past their belly buttons hissing at me

Wtf? I quit paddling and just float watching these goofy fers for minute

About the 4th time they raise up and hiss I lift myself up and hiss back!

Damn they can swim fast! Ok enough of these hijinks sun's setting time to get back to camp.

It's a narrow lead between the two oxbows where your paddling thru grass until it opens up in the other oxbow

At the end of the lead, there's momma moose chewing and watching me

Hmmm where's her calf? Oh there it is about 20 yards further down the bank, good sized calf. As I paddle by it kersplash that sob bails into the water and is swimming like mike phelps headed right for me????

Now I'm all for swimming with bow legged wimmin, but taking a dip with a moose calf at dark in cold sept water ain't my idea of a good time

I put my back into paddling, but took a sec to get up to speed and that damn calf got too close for comfort, and began to make me wonder if I was gonna go for an evening swim

Put some distance between us and the calf tuckered and swam to the other side of the oxbow and came outa the water on an island, momma joined him

As I approached the end of the oxbow I came upon two trumpeter swans with their two immature offspring. The swans raised a helluva racket and the two adults and one juvenile (maybe his first flight ) went airborne but the other was stuck there with me, paddled the boat up to the grass unloaded and turned my boat over and tied it up, dug out my head lamp and put it on as there was barely any light left

Here comes the swan air force dive bombing me as they attempt to reclaim their left behind bird

If they'd have asked I only had a moose tag I wasn't hunting swan

Hike back to camp, at this point it would not have overly surprised me to step over a rattlesnake here in Alaska

Pard is already back in camp and says "damn that windstorm was something else, see anything ?"

Told him pour us a drink, I saw a couple things outa the ordinary

Onna sheep hunt in the Alaskan Range about 13-14 years ago....we hunted for a bit around Nabesna.

There is an old gold mine in the area.

We spotted a nice round mine ? shaft on side of mountain...about 5-600' feet up.
We climbed up to have a look-see. We found the 10-12' diameter shaft full of Bumble Bee Dander, with a few human skeletons in the back,....looking a little further I found a bunch of business cards. They were all used car salesmen.

We got the hell outta there...

We did not have a permit for the Alaskan Bumble Bee.


Now in 2015 on the Innoko ...........

2legit2quit,

Quite a day - That made me chuckle.......

A white weasel of some sort frollicking in the snow by my elk stand years ago, no.

I was watching the bobcat stalk up to the whitetail doe and 2 fawns as I sat in the live oak above them with my recurve Ben Pearson Hunter near Refugio, Texas in the late Sixties before my micro-flight 7(?) with a Ben Pearson Razorhead hit it in the neck at 7 yds., no , I forgot, it was when 

Larry (Buck) Wright and I climbed up in the big mesquite a half hour before daylight on his grandmas ranch on the fence that separated it from the famous O'Conner spread that ran from near Victoria to Refugio and down to near Austwell and Tivoli and Bayside in the gulf Coast. 

We faced the Gulf and bays to the S.East awaiting daybreak and with my bow secured I shut my eyes to rest and hasten the misery of awaiting the experience of screwing up on getting an arrow in the chest of a big brush country buck heading back into the security of the essentially unhunted O'Conner Empire which rivaled the famous King Ranch to the south and west.

As I drifted into slumber brought on by the inability to sleep the Friday night before while getting gear tuned, Larry (Buck Wright) elbowed my left set of ribs and said, "Hey, what is that?" I was pissed as I opened my eyes looking S East toward the bays and Gulf and saw a lighted with 3 bright spots strung out a few degees long and just above the earliest rays of the dawn. I said, "airplane" and resumed my doze. 

A minute or two later Larry elbowed me and retorted, "That ain't no damn airplane, look!" I did and saw the strangest sight a person could imagine.

Coming directly over us were three pale white objects exactly the same color as the moon which was up and hanging in the sky to the west and behind us and in the direction the three flying saucers were headed. They subtended an angle almost as large as the moon and each was trailed by a hazy mist I estimated to be about 5-7 times as long as the objects they were emitted from. They were not perfectly round but were slightly oblong. There was absolutely no sound whatsoever and as they passed over and a little to the left (north) of us and got to about 45 degrees past us and to the west they gently faded out of sight while in plain view.

Later I deduced they had curved bottoms and had no lights we could see other than the reflection back to us from the high, overhead rays of the soon to rise sun to our east. As the objects circumvented the earth to the west, the suns rays were actually blocked from them by the curvature of the earth and they faded from view. 

We looked at each other in amazement and each said, "Did you see that?" at the same time. It took me awhile to figure out what had happened and that earlier my dx of airplane was influenced by the fact that they were low and to the east and the reflection of them to us included their misty trail and the hazy vapor or dust trail each left behind was colored and looked like 3 lights adjoined due to the refraction from them and their trails coming to us through the lower atmosphere, and which is what gives the perception of color to the yellow full moon seen just above the horizon when it comes up full at dusk.

As the predawn gave way to dawn a flock of migrating geese passed over essentially two Neanderthals sat up in a fence line mesquite with bows in hand and neck hair on end, waiting on our previous dream of a dead buck and wondering about the relevancy of our importance in the great scheme of things.

I have told this story to only a handful of people on this earth due to the fear of ridicule some shall spew, but, the OP asked and i told. Besides, I'm getting old and don't give a damn.  

Naysayers can feel free to go back and research the articles from 'The Corpus Christi Caller" Sunday editions of October and research the Sunday news stories of all the airline pilots that reported the sightings of the UFOs passing buy on their early morning flight into and out of Corpus that early Saturday morning a long time ago. Either Oct 1966 or 1965.
I cant remember if i was a junior or a senior in high school at the time.
We had sworn not to tell anyone but by that Saturday afternoon i couldnt stand it and had to tell my mom. She was an RN and i could tell the story had her a bit concerned about her son.

Imagine my relief when she woke me Sunday morning with the Corpus newspaper and headlines of airline pilots reporting having seen UFOs on their early morning flights into Corpus Christi the previous morning.

me too later, but that evening, I was primed for that cocktail!

jag, I know a guy that's a solid citizen in every way.


he claims to have seen a UFO too. but he's cautious about who he tells it to as well, he's taken a lot of ribbin over it.


helluva thing

I'll bet

Pre-dawn waiting for shooting time in a duck marsh.
A small herd of elk enters the marsh and walks right through my duck decoys.
Some of their legs tangle on the decoy cords.
When shooting time comes I an still following the swath they have cut through the reeds and picking up the decoys they dragged out and throwing them back into the water.

Stumbled onto several beavers over the years. For the most part quite attractive ones too. Happens mostly on fishing trips. Something about river rafting makes their clothes fall off.

Best story comes from a backpacking coworker. She and a friend were doing a Seleway/Bitterroot trail mid-week on a hot day and decided to rid themselves of their tops. Rounded a hairpin turn on a rim like trail and ran tits first into a whole troop of Scouts. They decided to tough it out and said all kinds of Instamatics appeared as they passed.

The Scouts though were quite polite and thanked them profusely for making their day.

Had a couple friends of mine while coon hunting one night come across a guy that had been hung by the neck, said it scared the crap out of them. They just happened to stop and take a break so they could listen to the dogs, turned around and he was about ten feet away swinging from a tall branch.

Was fly fishing on the Tongue River near Dayton, Wyoming. I cast an Ausable Wolff dry fly into a riffle when a Phoebe swooped down and picked up the fly and then hovered overhead. It figured out it was a fake and dropped into the riffle where it grabbed it. What would have been perfect if a trout would have taken the dropped fly. Didn't happen, darn.
V

I was fishing a bass tournament on West Branch Reservoir in Ohio and worked back up into a narrow bay. Lo and behold, there's a couple going at it like pornstars up on the shore. They took one look at me, smiled and just went right on bumping uglys.

I was hunting way up high on the mountain above our camp in Pa., and ran across a propellar sitting on the ground. Not a nick on it, and it didn't appear to have fallen off a plane, as the trees around it weren't all busted up, and the blades weren't damaged. How the heck does a prop end up out in the middle of the woods like that?

I used to hunt rabbits in a chunk of strip mine land near our house. Came through this area one night, and then hunted the same area the next day. I come down by a pit lake, right where I'd walked the previous day, and there's a car smoldering there. Looked around, and it appeared pretty obvious that they'd rolled someone down into the lake. I found a Social Security card laying by the lake. Got out of there and called the cops. They found the body. He was tied to the mob, which was very active in that area.

jaguartx, This was before cell phones, so we waited until well after daylight as to not draw any attention when we left. The Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo was underway, so we tracked down a La.State Police officer. Granted, it was quite a few hours after the incident, but he showed no interest! Seemed to be too common in La. at the time. memtb

K9 was male or bitch you think?.. 20's master I don't know...possibly dog was the dominant one..

30 miles from town, in Alaska, me and a buddy anchor our 15' Whaler in a tidal creek and wade up 1/4 mile to catch some salmon.

We return in about 90 minutes and see the Whaler standing on its side in the water. We haul ass to get to it before it flips, we didn't make it.

There we are, in 4 feet of water with a 15' Whaler with a 60hp motor completely upside down. His rifle is on the bottom of the creek and we start casting salmon spoons to retrieve the shiet that's floating downstream.

It was a right good time.

Driving from North Nevada to Idaho to visit my brother with entire family in tow. Late start, late drive, just passed into Oregon on 95 past McDermitt and off to my right, a light pacing my speed about 500 yards away. Looked at the wife and three kids, all asleep. Continued for about a mile and suddenly disappeared. The best way I could describe it was some sort of machine on a wire of some sort, like a zip line, travelling next to me. On the return trip, stopped at the site to see if any type of wire or anything was there and found...nothing. Just desert.

Both of my posts sound like I am some sort of tin foil hat guy, but they both happened. Just couldn't find the explanations.

Shoot, just a couple of months ago, pard and I took a Jon boat down the Carson River to hunt geese and ducks. Beached the craft and started to set up the spread. While still dark, felt a surge in the water, some kind of beaver dam or dike broke loose. Watched as it took the boat off the beach with it. Ran down stream with our waders on for quite a spell to catch that boat...

Had to dig out my deer hunting journal for this one. I'm glad I've written this stuff down over the years or else I'd forget the details by now. Here's the condensed version:
Nov.22, 1997...(back in the days of smoothbore slug guns) sitting on a huge hillside, part of 6000 acres of state land, overlooking a small, flat step in the hillside where deer often travel. About a foot of snow on the ground. Freezing cold. A big doe comes along very slowly, stopping every few feet. I'm just slightly above her at maybe 20 yards. She stops right in front of me. Just as the shot breaks she moves forward and I hit too far back. She didn't go far,(maybe 50 yds.) and fell on a creek bank, I ran over there and it took one more 12 ga. Foster slug to finish things. Then I trudge back through the snow to get my pack and other gear. Stopped to look at the tracks in the snow where the deer was when the first round hit. As I saw the blood stained snow something caught my eye. About 10 feet beyond where the deer stood when it was hit, there was a long straight line in the snow. I looked at the line, the blood, and then back up at my firing point.... EVERYTHING LINED UP... "It can't be", I thought. Went over to where the line started as a small groove in the snow. As it went along it got deeper, then stopped. It had turned into a small tunnel under the snow. Ran my finger through this for a few feet, then I grasped something with my thumb and forefinger. Next thing I know I'm staring in disbelief at the deformed, mushroomed 12 ga. Foster slug that had just penetrated that deer through the liver a few minutes ago. Pretty strange, but cool. Always wondered what are the odds that I could ever see something like that again?... A complete pass through and still recover the projectile.

Snipe (Wilson's or Common, whatever they're calling them these days.) Heard a bunch of times is SE OR and NW NV. Usually at dusk. Seems late in the year for it but that's what comes to mind... More searching will give the details how they display, fly way up and then drop down and IIRC the sound is made in the tail feathers...

Saw a hen woodcock fly off carrying one of her chicks. She set it down a few yards away, came back and picked up and flew off with another.

Scouting for deer 25 years ago, smelled something awful, looked around, found a decomposing body. Never want to experience that again.

Was hunting deer with a Marlin 45-70, 25 years ago, used the rem. 405 ammo, a big fork horn comes down off a ridge, about 60 yrds from me, turns broad side I shoot, Knock it almost down it runs toward me as Im about to shoot again it piles up!, tag it gut it out, go back to where it was standing theres a long line or cut in the six ins. of snow. about 15 yrds therea fist sized snow ball, I pick it up and it breaks up and theres my mushroomed 45-70 bullet! still have it some where! damest thing I ever saw! or heard of till the post above!

Interesting story, Jag! Gotta wonder WTF they were... Area 51 project?

I once saw a pile of bear schitt with a chewed up tuna can in it.

I dont know whose they were or where they were from, Doc, but i know what they were, and that they were scary. A week or two later a friend, Randy Whitley, arrowed a nice buck just before dark and he couldnt find it (damned Bear Razorheads). Larry and I went to help him try to find it after after dark. I dont think either one of us went more than four or five steps without stopping and looking up and about.

I dont know if it hit Larry as it did me, and cant remember if we ever discussed it, but at the time I first realized what they were they were still low and to the east of us. My first feeling was fear that they could be able to detect us and I wondered if they were going to get us or come after us and the thought was what would i do if they came for us. It was initially pretty scary until they had passed over us and then amazement took over. Then when they faded out in front of our eyes while up in the sky, it was like they just became invisible. It was definitely a WTF moment.

Of course, after having time to contemplate and figure it out rationally it seemed ridiculous to have been fearful at the time.

I wish I would have been able to talk to the airline pilots who were coming in to land and those departing Corpus at that time and saw them what their thoughts were.

I wonder if they initially thought about keeping quiet.

I wish I had kept a copy of that Sunday newspaper of that event. I dont know if airport radar also picked them up but Im pretty sure it did.

How's that for strange/interesting/unique?.... I've never heard of that happening to anyone but me until I saw that post. Of course, I've also saved that slug. It's on a shelf in one of the gun safes. Like the saying goes; "what would the odds be on that?".

I shot a doe once with my 50 bmg. Funny that we found it much easier to track the slug after the hit in the brush, as it was cutting stuff along the way to the ground, than it was to find the deer.

Deer never left a drop of blood we could find until we found her.

Would have that slug too, but as it was within an inch or so of ground it went into a big clump of pear cactus, didn't come out the other side. A shame in a way, that would have been neat.

I've found other spent bullets on hunts, but never my own.

i might have known the owner of that plot. I do know late 70's high school classmate ended up at the state prison. Small problem with some cultivation near bagdad.

Or my time on the sheriff's department. Woman turning tricks in the forest by lynx lake, another on a park bench at thumb butte park, or for that matter over the 4th couple actively copulating on the court house square with people walking around.
then there was the hootch dug out of the side of a hill up on spruce mt, and camo'd over in the burn area. I could see movement in the hootch decided vietnam was not that far away for some.
or the pvc pipe irrigation for another grow in the bloody basin area.
then there were the homicides. Woman carved up on thumb butte trail, another killed and disembowelled and burned at alto off iron springs.
Don't want get started on the devil worship stuff.
or The guy that was a foot/panty sniffer. Would sneak into houses and steal soiled panties. We would find them after being washed properly stacked on indian hill. I could go on.
I was raised in prescott too, and still have a house there.

quite special in the arizona sun, particularly in a car. you never forget it.

years ago meeting the caretaker at ruby was quite a trip, never got out of the 60's, UofA hippy retread. Lots of dope in that canyon.

I met a guy once that talked liked he had lots of commonsense.....but said he was a Democrat!!

Strange!

Freaking weird isnt it. A teacher called in to the conservative Joe Pags radio show. She was until after her conversation that day, a fan of his.

She agreed that a five year old who pointed a stick in school and said bang should be expelled. She felt that one day that stick or poptart or finger point could someday "be" a gun and supported a no tolerance gun policy.

Strangely, they never consider that any moslem immigrants could become a terrorist.

JellO smart.

You ever tried flipping a 15' Whaler with a 60hp motor in 3 feet of water?

No but I bet there's swearing and grunting and straining when you do.

Do I win anything?

Nothing like the other stuff here.

One of the best places to find birds around here is on the old sewage lagoons/lake just south of town, now a bird preserve. 15ft of old sh&t overlaid by shallow water made for quite a bizarre ecosystem. Too salty and alkaline for almost all fish it produces a kazillion midge larvae, droves of turtles that eat those larvae, and a couple of big alligators that eat the turtles (presumably).

All those midge larvae and the exposed sludge attracts hordes of migrating shorebirds in spring, as in many thousands.

One morning, mid April I'm doing a bird count for the refuge. First light, heavy mist. Up from the mudflat comes a crow-sized bird flying slowly towards me, heavy deep wingbeats. This mystery bird resolves itself into a big female peregrine falcon. It flies a quarter circle around me, twenty feet up fifty yards out, looking at me curiously. That same lack of fear got a lot of peregrines shotgunned back in the days. Then it flies off with that same steady wingbeat.

Four hours later, clear sunny day, I'm at a low vantage point overlooking the mudflat, possibly 10,000 shorebirds of various sorts and sizes on those flats. Suddenly the whole thing, every bird on the flats, springs into the air. From my left a dark blur angles down and sweeps through the middle of the rising flocks, looks to be somewhere well on the far side of 100 mph. Its a peregrine, prob'ly the same one.

The peregrine swoops up at the far end carried by its momentum and goes into a flat-winged soar. Its a hot day and the falcon rapidly gains height, circling without a wingbeat, higher and higher, disappearing northwards amid the cumulus.

Birdwatcher

i might have known the owner of that plot. I do know late 70's high school classmate ended up at the state prison. Small problem with some cultivation near bagdad.

Or my time on the sheriff's department. Woman turning tricks in the forest by lynx lake, another on a park bench at thumb butte park, or for that matter over the 4th couple actively copulating on the court house square with people walking around.
then there was the hootch dug out of the side of a hill up on spruce mt, and camo'd over in the burn area. I could see movement in the hootch decided vietnam was not that far away for some.
or the pvc pipe irrigation for another grow in the bloody basin area.
then there were the homicides. Woman carved up on thumb butte trail, another killed and disembowelled and burned at alto off iron springs.
Don't want get started on the devil worship stuff.
or The guy that was a foot/panty sniffer. Would sneak into houses and steal soiled panties. We would find them after being washed properly stacked on indian hill. I could go on.
I was raised in prescott too, and still have a house there.

Roninphx,

Our cabin was on spruce mountain on the walker side. I saw some crazy things there and up around Big Bug. Probably lucky I never got hurt or attacked for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Spent many hours riding a dirtbike in very remote areas.

I once saw the mythical black panther. It was down south of Somerset KY, close to the Flat Rock Church.



The Strangest Animal I ever saw

Huey Newton? Bobby Seale?

My partners and I were duck hunting one very warm october morning. We'set out the decoys and had been waiting for about 2 hours in the blind when this 30 something woman in a canoe puts ashore on the little island across from us. My bud is just getting ready to stand up and tell her to GTFO of there when she begins to strip off her clothes and starts to tan herself! Well far be it for us to interfere with that so we sit back and watch until the first flight of mallards comes in to the decoys! She was far enough away to be out of the line of fire so we popped up and let fly! We were treated to 6 drakes and one screaming woman desperately trying to get dressed and into her canoe at the same time.. Short time later the harbor patrol comes by to bust our chops but since my partners dad is the division's captain we all just got a great laugh out of it!

So the obvious question, did you catch any fish? Slept on that "island" more than twice when i was younger. Plenty of specks. Gigged a lot of flounders in the back bay at low tide. Good times.


Clyde

While kayaking a spring flooded grass and timber bottom land, a pard and I saw a small bird of some kind land on the back of a bald eagle and ride it for several wing beats. The bird was harassing the eagle. It was slightly smaller than a sparrow, like a wren of some kind maybe, darting and pecking at the big bird as it flapped along slowly 40 feet above us. Twice the little bird zoomed onto the eagle’s back between its wings, pecked and then held on with its beak and rode the eagle. We were looking up into a fairly bright overcast sky and my eyes could not pick up color details on the small bird. It just looked dark against the clouds.

The 1st successful suicide i wrote up. A young fella sealed off the garage at grandma's house. Hand, face, neck all blackened. Lips dried and curled back to show off what were once whitish teeth.

1st dead-body river pull i was called to. Sheriff Dept. didn't use the rescue-net...used the gaff instead (bad call there). The arm pulled mostly loose at the shoulder (body had been submerged for awhile and was wedged in rocks). Body was badly bloated and I nearly threw up at the smell.

One of 1st homicides i saw reminded me of Tombstone quote, "turn your head into a canoe". Win 30-30 at bad-breath smelling range - entry in front of right ear/below right eye into/through cheekbone. Exit site - top, rear left quadrant of cranial area above/behind left ear.

All were very strange to me....just seemed surreal.

Wildlife strangeness.... i saw a whitetail doe birthing a fawn while trotting across an open field to reach the cover of a small pine-tree stand. The fawns legs were sticking out the does rear-end. I felt terrible for that poor thing.

I love hunting, but am a firm believer in immediate death of the game animal - can't stand to see an animal, any animal, suffer.

My son and I were lucky enough to spot this albino doe years ago while scouting for good bow stands....