mudtutl

I've had some interesting encounters in the woods, but none as interesting as the cougar I met this past season. I was hunting alone in an an area I am very familiar with at daybreak. AsItopped a hill,50 yards in front of mewas a big Tom cat in full sneak moving right to left. I froze, rifle over my shoulder. At first allI could do isstand there and stare at that cat. I even slowly raised my binocs and got a good look at him, but that kinda freaked me out because he seemed so close. ThenI glanced to my left to see what he was so interested in and there was a fawn looking at me from about 40 yards away. The fawn got spooked and thenthe doe, which I couldn't see, suddenly snorted and busted.I looked back at the cat just as heturned toward me. With the deer crashing away that cat stood up as if to decide whether to chase the deer or check out the two-legged intruder. He looked pissed. But before I could unsling my rifle he turned and was gone in three or four bounds.
I tried to keep hunting and even spotted a nice buck not too far away, butknowing the cat was out there close by gave me the willies.At one point I steppedon a branch buried in the snow and when the other end flew up throwing flakes I about came out of my skin. I decided it was time to pack it in and call it a day.

C. Davis

I have had a few close calls with moccasins and sat down about 4 feet from a timber rattler one gray misty afternoon. They are almost perfectly camouflaged on the wooded floor.

Opening up an old box stand and having a rat leap out and skimmy ear certainly got my blood pumping early one morning.

But the absolute scariest moment I have ever encountered was being caught out in the woods in an intense thunder storm. It came up real quick and the sky got very dark. The wind started gusting, and I had two lightning strikes that that were very close because the thunder sounded like bombs going off right on top of me. That was one day I was glad to get home.

C. Davis

Aught Six

One time Mrs. Six and I were scouting for turkeys, when all of the sudden I heard a crash behind me. I turned around and saw her face down in the mud, having tripped over a large fallen tree. She was shaken up, but fine. Not really that scary a moment, but I was a little panicked until I saw her start to get back up.

chr103yod

I was bow hunting in VT. I had always seen deer in the area I was hunting, but that night there was nothing. I climbed out of my tree just before dark. I got about 50 yrds from my tree and I hear a coyote howl about 200 yrds away where the deer usually come from. I just thought no wonder I didn't see anything. Then I hear a couple more howls and they were close enough to hear them barking and fighting. It sounded like at least 3 or 4 of em. It startled me more than anything. I got to the trail and kept walking out and they howled again closer. After a while I noticed they were walking parallel to me following me yipping and barking. That's when I got scared. All I had was my bow. I knocked an arrow and kept walking. They followed me for a while and lost interest. I never heard them in there again.

buckhunter14

I'm sure glad we don't have snakes to worry aboutin MI. You southerners can keep em'!

C. Davis

I have a father in-law who loves to shoot, and loves collecting guns, but is so terrified of snakes he will not hunt. I am not really fond of snakes, but I learned that the more I learned about snakes, the less I was afraid of them. Sitting down by that timber rattler was pretty careless on my part, and now I always look before I sit. Those timber rattlers are so confident in their camouflage, they just sit there and don't rattle. He probably would have only bit me if I had stepped on him, or leaned over and put my hand on him to geta hanky out of my pocket.

C. Davis

whitetailstalker14

man iv almost craped my pants just thinking about some of these.

whitetailstalker14

ok now this one is strange.

2006HighSierra

Okay where to start...hmm...my latest scare was going to check my traps at about 9pm. been dark a few minutes barely a quarter moon. My best bud was with me and had his nite lite, I just had my mini mag. We where about 1/4 mile from my truck down the little game trail. We where just about to the creek where my first trap was and now we've both spents a large part of our lives in the woods, studying wildlife, watching, etc. We heard a weard cry/whine like noise which sounded like an cow elk in a way but sounded abit like a dog. never heard a dog make that sound though, coyote or otherwise and never heard an elk make a sound like it. I drew my XD-40 fast enough to make the late Wyatt Earp proud. About the time he put the nite lite in the general area somethin' took off haulin' the mail.

When I was about 7 me and my buddy had been exploring some wood on his fathers property. We came up on a tree stump near a field and on the stump was someone's freakin' nose. I cant remember what ever happened and how it got there but I just remember walkin up on it.

Doubled back on a trail before to find some cat tracks right over my Rocky tracks. Again I was ready to lower the Marlin and draw the XD

Baleful Scout

I have walked afield in the middle of the night with my light off and creatures going off all around me.
I have been face to face with almost all North American Species.
I have napped in the wee hours before sunrise with only my daypack under my head and my rifle across my lap.
I have camped under the stars hundreds of nights...

I have beenspooked many times but only truly scared once.

Acouple buddies and myselfwas at the creek. It was around 230am and we decided to cook up a little catfish we had caught.
We needed wood and I knew the area well. I went downstream a little to a dry driftpile I had logged to memory on our way in.
I took a little flashlight with mebut it was in my back pocket.
At firstI smelled something. Like a wet dog andhorrible underarm smell.
Then I seen it.
I am getting chills right now recalling it in my head.
It was around 8 ft tall roughly when it wason its hinds but quickly went to fours like a racoon.
It would stand and move both directions extremly fast and then to all fours.
It had"burning red eyes" in the moonlight.
I never heard a sound except its breathing and was more silent than a chipmunk when moving.
Its breath smelled of "guts".
I instinctivly shinedmy light in its eyes while grabbing my knife as well as starting to move backwards.
It cut out without sound and all I noticed was long "dirty-greyish"hair. At least 4 ft. long hair or so it appeared.
I convinced my buddies to leave that night but we returned the next morning and tracked the creature for two miles.
We smelled it but never seen it.
We found some scat and hairand collected it in a bag.
After testing we learned that it was surviving on 98% bamboo.
We put the scat in a plastic bag and it became contaminated so could put nothing elsecould be written as fact.
This is when I learned you need to store scat in paper if you intend to test...
The hair had no root so could not be used.

Call me crazy I dont care, but its true.

Certain times of the yearI can hear a "Yahoo" usually occuring in segments of 3 for 15 seconds each and have also heard a growl/scream that had to have come from this creature.
I have both these sounds recorded on tape.