Those of you from northern Michigan have probably heard the ' legend of the dogman' on the local radio stations. I heard it for the first time back in 1997. I must say I was petrified of going outside. Literally. That and after the first time I saw the first Jurassic Park.

Almost every night for 730 days in Vietnam.[]

OK .... OK.... there was the time I was bowhunting in the Adirondacks. I started down from my tree and had a half dozen coyotes I didn' t know were there start to howling. They were spread out in a semi-circle around me in the dark not more than 40 or 50 yards away. I went back up the few feet I had come down in record time. No radios in those days so I lit a smoke, coughed, talked to my imaginary friend in a loud crazy voice, took a leak, dug out my flashlight and shined the light all over the woods and tried it again. My brother had told me that afternoon when I went in that another bowhunter had gotten chased back to his truck by them the week before when he had shot a deer. I kept talking like a crazy guy all the way to my truck. My head was on a swivel and I had the light working overtime.

Then there was the time in the rain about an hour before daylight I almost got ran over by a moose in a hemlock swamp. I thought for sure it was the bugger coming to get me. In retrospect, my brother had walked in a paralleling grown over logging road about 400 yards from the one I took. I was down wind. He must have spooked the critter and it just came my way. It sounded like the whole woods was coming down with breaking limbs and junk. We found his tracks at daylight about 10 yards from where I coward behind a 6 inch tree. They' d been seeing a couple bears and the moose in the area. I thought they were all after me.

I was scared one time when I had to take down my stand with my buddy and cross a creek in waders. The creek was up and we only had one pair of waders. So we had to take turns going across. Well, after I took the stands and bows across, about 100 yards away from where we was hunting a pack of coyotes had started up howling and fighting. My buddy was freaking out and so was I. My buddy and i started to toss the boots and waders to eachother when he threw the boot to me and it fell into the frigid, rapid, moving creek[:@]. Well i am running along shore scared of the yotes coming and i have to fish for the boot with one wader on and no boot on the other foot. I finally got it and we got out of there and just down the road we thought they had downed a deer and we fighting over it. I don' t care, one coyote is not scary, but about 12-16 of the suckers are a little scary.

I was two years ago because on the backside of my property, near where I hunt mostly, we had some occurances of what appeared to satanic worship.

There' s a big tree up there with multiple trunks that spread out and make a beautiful canopy. In the early fall someone(s) were coming up there and clearing away the leaves and debris under this tree into a nearly perfect circle, down to the bare dirt, and using the leaves and stuff to build up a little border on the circle' s perimeter. There were runes and stuff traced into the dirt, melted wax drippings and incense sticks at the four cardinal directions along the outside of the circle. I Called the police and they came out and told me that the area has a history of demonic worship and to call them if any sacrifices start showing up. I asked, " What type of sacrifices?" expecting the worse- of course. " Oh, usually cats and rats and such" , he replied with a smile. I think he was looking for a reaction from me when he mentioned scarifices without saying what type.[>:]

Anyway, hunting season opened with this stuff still happening and I was a bit nervous to the point that I carried a little billy club with me in case these folks were hopped up on some sort of drugs while doing their thing. I' m not naive enough to think that my bow is much of a weapon in the dark with no arrow nocked when someone steps out from behind a tree just a few feet away. I also began to think seriously about some sort of night vision apparatus, but figured I would get busted with that in the woods while hunting.

Bowseason I get a little leary in the dark. Rifle season I feel fine.

No can' t scare me, I' am married and an Ex-Marine so I know what real fear is, and I left her home.

Ya know, I was when I first started hunting a few years ago... but since then it' s just gotten less and less to where I don' t hardly care anymore. As for the animals... well that' s a different story. I was afraid of the unkown, the animals are different. I was sitting next to a blood trail I was following and I had to coyotes come trotting out from downwind of the blood. They didn' t know left from right for the blood trail, I just assume they smelt it. Well when I reached for my gun, they saw movement and must have thought I was the injured thing. They charged me. Shot one the other took off, but it was kinda freaky []

the animals in the woods dont really scare me, im a little paranoid about getting jabbed by an atnler or gnawed on by a badger or squirrle or something, even a pack of coyotes are really going to have to work hard to get a brother down. i played soccer for well over 14 years and i have very strong legs. after i punt 5 or 6 of them mother f$#@ers into the trees with a nice solid stiff ankle supporting hunting boot, the yelping will detur the others. i swear i could kill one with one shot to the rib cage.

there was one time i was really scared, but it wasnt in the woods. it was in the ocean. i used to lobster hunt out in san diego. i would snorkle for them at night with a diving light anywhere from 20 yards to 300 yards off the shore. one night the strap on my mask snapped so i had to rig it, which made it uneven and i had a weight belt that was way to heavy for the wet suit i was wearing. on the way out i was fine because just as soon as i put my head in the water i caught a fat lobster. so i was all pumped up. i got out around an island and it started getting pretty deep, way to deep to get a breath, snatch a lobster and the re-surface and the current was really strong on the other side of the island. so i started back and as i started back, everytime i took a breath, my mask would suck into my face becasue the strap was uneven. i couldnt take it off and adjsut the knot i tied inthe pitch black, then i started to really feel the weight of my belt. all this about 200-250 yards off shore. i couldnt use my snorkle and mask, the current was having its way with me, my belt was about 15lbs too heavy, i was a good distance from the shore in about 30 foot of water and i was starting to panic. i flipped over on my back and let the ocean push me back in, the only thing i could do was paddle my feet, thank god i had flippers on. this went on for what seemed like forever, but i looked back over my shoulder and i was still a LONG distance away form the shore. it was as if i had absolutley no propulsion once my mask malfunctioned. and while i was swimming on my back, the weight belt basically just dragged my waist area through the water, if you could imagine the instamatic bed and the position when your back is up and your feet are up, but your waist is down. thats how i was positioned in the water. so my fins were about 3 foot long, im six foot tall, and when i turned i felt my fin hit something. it was a rock! it was the ocen floor! i could just barely touch the ocean floor! inbetween each wave, it was just shallow enough for me to tip toe on my fins, the the next set would roll through and my head was submerged again. by this time i was so tired i was just trying to walk on the tips of my fins just to keep my head out of the water and maybe bop over the the waves that roll through, but that damn weight belt was making it so hard. so i finally made it to the shore, i was so tired i just collapsed on the beach!. i finally caught my breath. walked up the hill and drove home. i told my friend about the story, he is an experienced diver. he said, " why didnt you just realease your wieght belt?" duh! that was scary!

LOL, so true.

I live in maryland and there really isnt anything that could hurt you but for some reason my mind starts whirring when i leave my car and step into the woods. I know its kinda stupid but i cant help it. What seems to help me is what someone mentioned above and that was to stay focused on what i' m doing and not think about it. I am only admitting it cause its the internet...i would call my buddy a pu$$y for saying this [:-]!

I hunt behind my housde quite frequently and I have come across quite a few campsites from the bums that live out there. You would never believe it by seeing the woods. One time i was up in my stand calling deer during the rut last year and some old guy pops out of the woods onto this deer trail looking for the source of the noise! He would take a couple of sdteps in one direction - stop and cock his head to the side listening then turn around and do the same thing thing in the other direction. How many of you guys can say that? I am probably the only guy you know who knows how to call bums out in broad daylight!

What i have been doing is bringing my 9mm out in the woods with me. I know this may be dumb if the warden shows up or the police but I feel better having it. You never know if the bums are all sitting around the fire at nigh plotting to get my a$$ the next time i come walking through! Maybe they want to pawn my bow or something. My neighbor frequents these same woods and one morning he is out early and finds some dude hanging from a tree from his neck. Police say it was probably suicide but hey-you knever know what goes on. Also if some rabid fox comes after me i could just pop em.