Have you ever thought about their maybe being a animal in the woods that may be hunting you?
Here in Kansas i've heard some reports of mountain lions but i've never seen one. Makes you think when you go trailing a deer at night.

What's your plan? I think wearing my pack would be good or better yet the climber.

are u talkin like bigfoot, bears, jaquars, wolfs,....

A few years back i had a bear follow me for about a half hour one day while I was walking to my stand in the afternoon. Not a real cool situation to say the least. I didn't notice him until he was about 60 yards behind me. When I spotted him, he crouched down, exactly like a lion or big cat would. I yelled at him a few times, but he didn't leave. All I had was my bow and that wasn't going to do a lot of good it he decided he was comin. I found the biggest stick I could swing and carried that to my stand. Needless to say, I didn't stick around there too long. I made a big loop back to my truck and hunted the fields that night.

That stand location still gives me the creeps.

I know it would for me too...luckily the worst we have here is MO is coyotes.

I read an article about deer hunters and turkey hunter being attacked while calling in game. The article said the lions don't want to attack but they get confused when the hear a deer or turkey call and see a little movement in the bushes.

I'm all for fair chase but not to the point that I am the hunted.

Only thing I have to worry about in my neck of the woods are the bears,wolves and coyotes.
I have only ever had one run in with a bear before.My dad and I were fishing speckles in northern Quebec and we stumbled upon a bear and her cub,not a real comfortable situation.Dad told me to keep walking and dont look back at her.He told me if you stare at a bear then you are challenging it.We kept walking for about 100 yards down the old trail off the creek and she and her cub turned and walked the other direction.Dad said she thought we were a threat to her cub and thats why she ******ed us out,think I was like 8-9 years old and I was scared S@#tles.

The closest thing like that that happened to me when I was about 16 years old and I was on a trip up in Alaska. We were fishing the Salmon run and out walked momma Griz about 150 yards up stream. That was a oh crap moment. At least there were 10 of us or so but we still high tailed it out of there and hopped in the Kayaks.... With Black bears we would bang pots and they would go away, the big fellas though.. Not risking antagonizing them...

And once in Montana while hiking I saw a cat stalking my dog. I was about 100 yards (west) behind the dog, trying to catch her becasue she had taken off after something and the cat was up top on a ridge line, maybe hundred yards (South) from the dog. Picked up a branch and banged into the tree. Cat saw me and took off. Dog came back finally and again, we left. Never went out in the woods without a large handgun again in Montana. There were quite a few hunters out there who had close encounters of the Grizzly kind. ESP bowhunters.

I was fishing for brown trout in the Provo (UT) river one year and I was fishing with the current (bubble bobber) I put the fish that I had already cought on a line stringer (through the gills type) I had the fish in the water and the sharp end of the stringer in the shore with a rock over it.

I was about 50yds down river in a very shallow and winding area pretty high up. I was only about 20yds in a straight line from my fish. The whole time I was fishing I had the feeling something was watching me, kinda un-nerving. Well I decided to get the heck out of there and I went back to get my fish. Well they were GONE! and all I saw was cougar prints all around. I followed them for about 100 yds and I could tell that he had been on my trail for some time.

I guess I was glad I had cought fish that day or it might have been me he'd gone after. I never went into the back country again without a sidearm after that.

Last deer season I was walking down a logging road covered in snow, about three hours later I came back down that same road and there were bear tracks right in the tracks I had made earlier. We've got cougars around our parts too, I just carry a big knife.