scariest moment in the woods
 

What is your scariest moment in the woods ?

Mine was walking to my climber, I had placed in a travel area several years ago- I placed the climber about 300 to 400 yards deep in the woods, I had to walk up a super narrow path to get to my stand - when I finally got there had myself worked up - only to see the seat of my climber tore to shreds - and my fanny pack was missing - things were in disarray - I could clearly make out teeth marks in my seat and quickly climb the tree to wait for daylight - about 30 mins after daylight a 300-400lb bear returned to the scene - watch the bear for about an hour back and forth - finally decide he ruined my deer hunt and decided to leave - made a ton of noise coming down and then had the same narrow walk out - very nerve wracking to say the least

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Mine was when a group of us were going squirrel hunting on a neighbors farm. When we were pulling up to the parking area we saw his big bad stud angus bull we all were familiar with as to not mess with him, hehad gotten out of his pen somehow and standing on the dirt road that goes into the property. We finally had to drive around him as he was not going to move. It was still dark. We proceeded down the road 200 yards to park. We all got out and went our sepeate ways. Once the sun started coming up, I heard this loud snorting huffing sound. I was sure that bull was somewhere close. I decided to head back to the truck until I could see better. Once I got there, the rest of the group slowly trickled back to the truck, all with a look on their faces laughing but concerned. Once it got pretty light out we heard the noise again. This time it was almost on top of us. We looked up and there was a hot air ballon rising up from the other side of the trees. What a bunch of pansies lol.

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Mine would have to be the time i stepped onto my hang-on(32 feet)and it slipped down about a foot or so. Itwasnt the first time i had sat in this stand either. It was a chain on with 2 ratchet straps and all 3 were loose. To this day i am not sure how they became loose. I suspect foul play . That was the one time in my lifeI could have been considered a "TREE HUGGER". I tightened it all back down and sat nervously through that hunt.

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first year deer hunting I am sitting in my stand opening day of gun season and about 10:00 am A shot gun slug hit my tree a foot and a half above my head. I thank god I wasn't standing up at the time. I also quickly evacuated the stand. That is why I am not a big fan of deer drives also!

RE: scariest moment in the woods
 

all great stories! except for livefortherut's! That's crazy and very scary! Holy crap man I'da vaulted outta that stand and ran for the truck.


keep em comin!

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Mine get in tree satand at 5:45am. Settle in finish cup of coffe. When this screeech comes from above. Look up to my supprise there is a bobcat about 15ft above my head. Now I konw why the old man I was hunting with said carry a side arm even in bow season.

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Mine was early one morning last October in Quanah, Tx I was bowhunting this creek bottom whenI hear a hog squeal. Then I heard something make a yelling noise that I had never heard before. It went on for about 10 minutes and then went quite but I got to tell you the sound made my hair stand up on the back of my neck. Anyways, I met up with the guy who was hunting in the direction and he witnessed the attack. He actually saw a mountian lion pounce on one of the biggest hogs in the pack that was under a feeder and the fight was on! He said that big hog put up a fight but it wasn't enough for the lion.

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It was incredably scary and something I hope I or anyone else has to experience. where I live in s.wisconsin alot of "weekend warriors" get there shotguns and sling lead. I've heard more people than I care to count talk about going through 10-20 boxes of slugs in a 9 day season!! All reasons why I prefer to bowhunt!!!

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I got caught/trapped in a tree during a horrendous lightning storm. I stood clamped to the tree holding onto the stand and the tree umbrella I had up. I got soaked and finally got down as the tree whipped to and fro.

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I wasstill hintinginto my stand for an evening archery hunt when something told me to look up as I rounded a corner. And what did I see?

Some moron at full draw in my direction. When he saw me look up he quickly turned and let down his draw. I just stopped and stared at him for a few seconds shaking my head.

Scared the crap out of me that someone can draw without making sure of what the target is. Imagine if he would have accidentally hit his trigger or his fingers slipped?

RE: scariest moment in the woods
 

Alright Dave's post takes the cake. That's just ignorant.

My scariest was having the bottom of my climber slipping out from underneath me and me hanging by my hands off the bottom section 10 feet of the ground. Probably not life threatening, but scared the crap out of me. I learned a lot that day and still to this day avoid climbers if I have another option.

Kel

RE: scariest moment in the woods
 

That is why you tie the 2 parts together!!

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You'd think i'd thought about that before I started, huh? I'm an idiot and I was new to climbing. Never again though.

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I had a tree within 30 yards of the tree I was fall over once.....And it wasn't a small tree either....I can say this for sure.....Trees that fall in the woods DO make noise.

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last season when in the dark in my climber. I had forgot to tie the two sections together and was attempting to move the bottom section with my feet while sitting, sending it 25' to the ground leaving me stranded in the upper section.:eek:

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I'm an avid Pennsylvania archery hunter. I spend alot of time in the woods each year. I hunt many areas but this one area was different.
I'd always get the creeps when I use to archery hunt there. I hunt lots of places but nowhere gives me the uneasy feeling that place does.
I had a weird thing happen there one time. It might have been a bobcat growl at me. I don't know. I've heard a few recordings of bobcats but the didn't sound quite like this. Here's the story.

It was back around 1987. I was archery hunting near some apple trees. I've taken a few does here with a bow in the past.
Just as the sun was setting I heard a rustle in the leaves behind me. I turned slowly and saw three does. I waited for them to work their way in front of me for a shot. It didn't happen. I could still see them but they weren't coming my way. I thought I should stay until they work their way out of sight. I never liked being in those woods after dark for some reason. I didn't want to spook them when I climbed out of the tree. I hoped to get a shot another day. So I held in that urge to leave.

It was getting quite dark when I started to climb down in my climbing stand. I lowered my bow to the ground and dropped the rope I just went down a notch or 2 when I heard a loud growl. ( it was loud and close. it almost sounded like someone saying " rrrraaaaaaarrrrrrrrr"
I instantly growled back for some reason. I was trying to sound bigger and meaner. I was trying to act unafraid. My first thought was that it was someone messing around. As soon as I growled it growled right back. I could feel the fear swelling inside me. I started to rationalize what it was. It wasn't a person. There is only one dirt road into there and I could see and hear any cars from my tree stand. I could hear the gravel poping whenever any vehicle went up or down that road. None went down since I was there. It wasn't a bear. Growl was too loud and higher pitched.

I did see a bobcat earlier in the week from that stand. I thought that might be what this was but it seemed so loud. It didn't have that nasaly snarl type sound that cats make. I wasn't sure it was a bobcat now. As I was thinking, it growled again. I started climbing higher up the tree. I was scared. It growled again. What ever it was it knew I was there. I thought surely a bobcat would have run when I growled back.

I got out my flashlight. It was really dim. The batteries were dead. As I was trying to shine the light it growled again. I considered spending the night in the tree. I waited a few minutes and weighed my options. It growled again.

I decided to make a run for the truck. I worked the treestand down the tree all the while yelling and screaming " get outta here ....get...get outta here..... go on... get.." I got to the bottom and unhooked the stand grabed my bow and ran. I had the dim flashlight in my mouth, my bow in one hand and the stand in the other. When I got to the truck, i had slobbers running down my neck and was out of breath.

I'm not sure what it was. It was probably the bobcat. The growl was odd. It was like you would be saying rrrrraaaarrrrrrrr. Like if you wanted to scare a little kid, how you would say the growl. The few recordings I've heard of bobcats sounded more like it had a snarl type sound. This didn't sound that way. It was quite different I don't know. What do you guys think? I would think a bobcat would leave the area when it would catch my scent. Why would it answer when I growled back? I've always got the creeps when hunting there.

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I have a list of scariest stuff.

My first experience I consider scary was while putting up a hang-on style stand in a creek bottom in Illinois when I was about 18. I was on my way down from the endeavor, when I slipped and basically free-fell to the ground (approx. 16ft or so). The bad part was one of the tree cranks hooked me in the gut on the way down. I pushed off the tree during the free fall to avoid total pennetration, but I still have a hefty 6" scar from the experience. My grandmother (rest her soul) fixed me up that day, and slapped me in the head I don't know how many times for being an ignorant dingbat kid.

Things went pretty well for quite a few years after that, but I finally had another close encounter when I was about 26 in the state of Montana. Not knowing much about the mountains, I proceeded to elk hunt way out into them in the evenings. One night a low, black cloudy rain front came in about 45 min. before last light. I was way in on a system of logging roads and trails when it hit. No compass. No GPS. I came out of the woods on a logging road which was totally different than the one I had come in on. I ended up just sitting down on a rock on the edge of a huge clear-cut and waiting it out. Two hours later things cleared up enough that I could see some man-made light in one direction. I made for that light, and about two and a half hours later (after sliding down rock chutes on my butt, wading through a.. deep deadfall (I'm 6'-7"), and basically being beat to horse pucky, I made a road I recognized. 5 miles later I was at my truck, on foot, very tired, sore, and completely reeducated on how I was going to go into the mountains next time.

The very next year I was still hunting my way into some elk wallows also during bow season, and ironically in the very same area, when I had an extremely enlightening encounter with a furry friend. I heard an elk squeal on my wallow up ahead about a hundred yards or so. His cows were mewing somewhat excitedly, but no other bull was returning the favor. I thought hey...he he he... I'll just pull out my bugle and give him something to be ticked off about. As soon as I bugled a stiff triple bark came back at me directly from the brush, maybe 25-45 yards away. I thought, hey, what do ya know, there's a bull right there. I bugled again. The bark came back again accompanied by some aggressive stomping. I stood there, bow in my left hand and bugle in my right, wondering what the heck I had just heard. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was facing a bear. Not only was I facing a bear, but my wind was now going directly to it, and it was still there, no quarter! I remembered someone telling me that a griz sow and two cubs had recently been seen twice in this particular drainage. Gulp. I put the bugle up, stowed the bow, pulled the .44 and began backing up. I know you guys want a juicy story, but I got out without actually having to face off the bear. I was scared enough.

I was told that If I wore bells and whistles while hunting, I would run the bears off ahead of me. I was also told that the difference between blackbear and Griz droppings was that Griz droppings have bells and whistles in it. The things you hear when you move to Montana. Whew...!

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livinfortherut what state did this happen in?! sounds a lot like the crazy jerks around here in Iowa. I dont even go out when its shotgun season. scares the daylights out of me. As far as the scariest thing... hmmm i literally had deer surround me one morning walking out to hunt yotes. it was pitch dark and then they all started snorting at me but didnt run away. I had my finger on the safety but like it would have done any good because it was so dark! Ive also had to "talk" a badger out of fighting with me. And by "talk" my rifle "Black Betty" did the talking for me. other than those two ive been pretty fortunate.

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It was my first NM mule deer muzzle loader hunt in the Jicarilla Mountains. I had just left camp for the evening hunt. I walked about 1/4 mile down a hill and across a dirt road to climb over another hill into the land I intended to hunt. I was maybe 150 yards form the road when I heard the exhaust of an old truck moving up the road. I was on public land wearing full natural gear camo with no blaze orange (my own dumb fault). I knew that I could have possibly been mistaken for a NM mulie with the amount of grey I was sporting, so I sat down to wait for the truck to drive by before continuing up the hill. Then the truck came to a stop maybe about another 50 yards further down the road from where I was sitting. After the truck had stopped for about 30 sec the passenger fired a shot out of the window though the sparse timber on the hill side. I could see the entire hill through the open timber and there wasn't a single live animal other than myself on that hill. I heard the bullet as it smacked into a tree about the same elevation as I was sitting. Then I heard the shooter say "it must have been nothing”. After the truck moved off I went back to camp and put on a pair of jeans and a white long-sleeved tee for the rest of that day, and drove into town for an orange hat that night. Let this be a lesson to all public land hunters.

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My elk hunt in the Flat Tops of Colorado in 2005. I was about 1 mile away from my buddies and while they waited for me to meet up with them one said on the walkie-talkie a bear was headed my way. I figured it might be the same one I ran into earlier that afternoon. I shut off my talkie so I could carry my GPS, flashlight, and bow. I figured what good was the radio. It was dark by then and all the way back I started getting more jittery as time went by. About 500 yards from where they waited I heard a loud snap sounding like a limb breaking from behind. I don't know if it was anything or not.....but the hair on my neck stood straight up and I was litterally talking out loud to myself just for comfort and to let anything know that a human was around. I finally was relieved when I saw their lights a while later. Bad enough walking back in the dark by yourself through a strange forest, let alone knowing blackies are in the area.

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In 1987 I was working for an outfitter in MT. About 4 in the morning I had grabbed several halters to head out and gather the horses. The fog was hanging low but yoou could still see faint outlines as i headed out of camp. Figureing the horses were hanging in the meadow near the creek I headed that direction. I spotted the first outline in the dark and headed twards it. When I got approxamately 30 yards from what I thought was a horse feeding in the creek bottom i realized i wasnt hearing a bell, all our horses wore bells. I stopped and quickly changed directions twards the distant bell sounds probably 200 yards to my right.

After catching the horses getting them all saddled it was getting lighter so I headed back to the creek to see what I was previously attempting to halter in the dark. I wasnt that scared at the time but when I got to the creek an saw fresh grizzly tracks all up and down the bank my legs got a little weak.

Of course this gave all in the camp a great excuse to razz me about trying to halter a grizzly for the rest of the season.

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on a fotograph trip crossing a cornfield I stumbled onto a bunch a wild hogs with litter and they decided to make for a run in my direction.
I went in wearing pants and came out wearing shorts and shaved legs...


Second time, I was in Costa Rica, I went on a day long hike to a waterfall
high up in the cloud forest...following the river. A really good place for spotting jaguars.
I arrived at noon and decided to take a swim in the pool under the fall. My girlfriend didn't because she was afraid to slip on the wet rocks.
When I came out I slipped and when I dried my feet found a nice cut from my heel to my toes. Bleeding and cursingI had to climb down the mountain through the forest on one boot, trying to get down before complete darkness engulfed us and what was the trail.

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I went fall turkry hunting with a friend from work. We had set up in the evening where they like to go to roost. I was to walk back to a path and follow it out of the woods, to the truck.Well I sat there till dark hoping to see a bird or hear some fly up for the morning, no birds. I walked out looking for the path. In the dark I must have walked right past it. Now I was lost in the Mark Twain Nat. Forest, about 15,000 acres worth of forest. That was scaaaaaaaary. I knew I had gone too far so I turned around and started looking for the path again. Still couldn't find it in the dark. Really scared now!!! Then I remember the walky talky. I pull it out of my pocket and call my buddy. He answers and asks me why I am not at the truck. He comes back up the trail and whistles to me. I was about 50 yards off the trail. It is a hard feeling to describe, but I did not like being lost!!!

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Few years back wife (now ex) and I with the two boys walked into the woods behind the cabin. All of a sudden I realized that we had gotten turned around and I didn't have a compass with me. To make things worse I had no compass with me and it was a cloudy day. (The cabin is in the middle of thousands of acres of the Lake Superior state forest.)

I stared up at the sky until I thought I saw an area with a slightly brighter glow, told everybody to stand still and started walking towards what I hoped was north. (The road would have been north of where we were.)

I had only taken about six steps when I saw the roof of the utility shed. So easy to get lost in the woods. Never again leaving the cabin without a compass in my pocket.

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This one time at archery camp a girl shoved a arrow with a broad head up her.........:D

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I once stood up while in the stand to have the seat drop to the plat form .That got my heart racing . From then on I always strap it on tight to keep it from coming loose






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It was several years ago on a dark gloomy day in the deer woods. I was sitting against a big hickory tree waiting in hopes of ambushing a whitetail deer. Out of nowhere he attacked me, I was helpless against his teeth and claws. I didnt know what to do. I didnt have a radio and there was no one around to hear my screams for help. The only weapons I had were my bow and a knife, and neither were a threat to him. Let me tell you something that was by far the most ruthless and aggresivefieldmouse I have every crossed paths with. HA HA.

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Looking in my backpack, and noticing I forgot **** paper........LOL!!!!!


I would say whenmy flashlights went dead, in the predawn darkness, and I could hear 2 bears, once the sun came up I saw the cub and mama 75 yards away

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Walking in the woods in the morning (0 dark thirty) and busting up a bunch of quail. You talk about a heart attack!

Getting lost in the "big woods" (so easy to do)

Another one was in the middle of the day....I was scouting along a creek which had some really thick underbrush/undergrowth. I heard some rustling going on and went to check it out. Got really close to it and heard a real low deliberate growl type sound. Grrrrrr. Almost like a dog but I'm pretty confident it wasn't a dog. I bolted.

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I was stalking some deer that were at the end of a long finger of woods right before dark. That's when i noticed a truck drive up on the other side of the woods with no lights on. I then saw 2 guys get out and heard one say "Hey there's one". That's when my life was changed forever. Crack! a rifle shot. Then a tree limb snapped off about 14 inches in front of my face. I thought surely they weren't shooting at me. Then another shot, same result. I ran to the nearest tree and laid behind it while these two idiots emptied their rifles ~15-20 shots in total. The dirt was flying up on both sides of me. They were just missing me by inches. I was mortified, speechless.I waited until they started reloading and ran for the ditch to make my way home. That was definitely not the way I had intended my Christmas eve hunt to go. That was about 10 yrs ago and still to this day I jump when I hear a gunshot.

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That's pretty unreal man! I'd be speechless for a week.

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Was elk hunting in SW Colorado with my brother and a friend in Oct 2004. It was our second night in camp and sometime in the middle of the night I get woke up by my brother telling me to quit hitting the back of the tent. We had a 10x10 tent and with 3 cots in it and our equipment it was tight and all of out cots were jammed up tight against the back wall. I quietly informed him I wasn’t hitting the wall because my arms were tucked inside my sleeping back. Just as I was telling him this little tidbit of information the back wall was hit hard again but this time it hit me on top of the head…not hard but more than enough to get my undivided attention. I gave a loud shout for what ever it was to get out of there and the banging stopped. Next morning some guys camped not far from up asked if we saw the sow bear and her cubs last night…I told them we didn’t see them but she made her presents known. Too close for comfort!

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long time ago.. galaxy far far away.... black bearsowwith two cubscharged me while Ished hunting..she was on me like stink on chit.. she could of rolled me but for what ever reason she stopped about 10 yards in front of me and pounded her paws on the ground and snapped her teeth...

lucky I had my 44 mag, I dug it out and proceded to send one right over her head..she bailed as fast as she had approached...

its happened two more times since then...but that first encounter was a surprise..all three times I havebeen forcedto shoot over those ole bags to get them to leave.. havent had to kill one yet..hope I dont..but would if needed...

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I was walking to my climber one morning in the river bottoms. I was getting close to my stand when I noticed a set of eyes that were looking at me they were about60 yds away. I could not tell what it was because it was still about 45 minutes before it would start breaking daylight. The eyes looked like theywere about3 feet off the ground. I stopped at my climber an looked at the eyes then looked at my climber. I turned my back on it an started up the tree. When it got daylight there was nothing there. I do not know what it was never heard anything.

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Surprised nobody mentioned snakes,

Sure they are not the largest of creatures and don't growl, but I have seen the damage they can do to someone, and I was just glad I was wearing waders when I had a very close encounter with one.

Buddy and I were wood duck hunting in an old, deep slough, where the water was up to our waists. While moving to get in position for the roost, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and a humongous water mocassin was coiled up on a branch not more than 24" from me. He was absolutely in position to strike. I flailed back, whipped my shotgun around and shot as quick as I could causing water, branch and snake parts to fly everywhere. If I had moved another 6" closer, he would almost certainly have latched onto my arm or face. [&:]

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I have to say one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me is walking up on quail and them busting out. Everytime it happens it takes me a while to calm down. I'm always terrified of walking up on skunks in the dark too [8D]. Ive also been setting with my step dad ( I think I was about 8) we were watching 2 bears meander through the woods. They were about 50yds and they did'nt have me scared at all and then all of a sudden a chipmunk jumps down beside me from the branch above and almost scared me to death. We still laugh about that one to this day. As far as being purely terrified and life threatening, ive been blessed not to have any close calls.

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I don't know which one to chose i have a couple and i'm not all that old yet.

i have been lost 3 times,but after walking for awhile either found my dad or a road/place i knew. I would say the time i shot the bear scared me the most....

I was deer hunting a few years ago next to our cow pasture and noticed all the cows were bunched up with the two horse on the egde of the fence. so i decided that i would see what got them so riled,. well i walked out to them and saw a black thing in the far pasture. well i decided "hey yes its my chance to get a bear" (i only had a 30-30 and 4 bullets) well i got to prob 50 yard and relized the bear was alot bigger then i thought and that he had no idea i was their,so resting the gun on a rock wall i shot. well it hit him and he started spinning and rolling on the ground then got up and ran into this small epice of woods. i was sitting their all pleased with myslef when out he came heading toward the stone was i was kneeing at,welll let me tell u i was not sticking around to see if he knew where i was or not,so i booked it towards our herd bull(prob a ton and a half of pissed off beefalo bull) used him as a sheild then walked do to the house. Next day me my dad and my sis and mom go looking for the bear we found good blood for awhile till where he bedded for the night then he stopped bleeding. this year i was him twice over the summer ,he has a limp in his front leg but other then that seems ok,still scared the life out of me though

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Bow hunting on private property during late september. I sat on a ridge over looking a stream about 50 yards away with my back against a pine tree with low hanging branches for cover. I dozed off after about a hour and was woken up by yelling and screaming in the distance then I look up onto the ridge directly across from me and I see 9 does and 2 young bucks run full tilt right at me. I get down on one knee and nock a arrow thinkin a got a great chance then all of the sudden shots ring out. I had branches breakin over my head and could here the bullets whizzin around me so I hit the dirt and gfot behind this little pinetree and started yellin but the shots got closer and closer and after the deer ran past me I looked around the tree to see 3 young boys with rifles pointed twards me. I kept yellin but it didnt matter they just kept shooting for what seemed like a hour. When they finnally stopped to reload I took off to my truck and heard them laughin as I was runnin away.

I got back to my truck and called the police and then the land owner and got 2 of the craziest responses in my life. The police said that I should calm down and that I needed to call the land owner before callin them for help. The land owner said that his son and some of his buddies had graduated the day before and were just blowin off some steam. I couldnt believe that the owner had no care in the world for my safety so I quit hunting on gave him all the crop damage permits back and pulled my tools and my welder of his farm. The old man called me 2 days later askin where I was and I told him to goto hell...

Apart from hangin from a harness after my stand fell from below me this was by far the scariest thing in my huntin ever.