So back in july my father passed away who was one of my very few hunting buddies and my mentor. This is my first season hunting without him and I gotta say it's wierd. But me and him always used to always hunt in the same areas.. we would end up going in together and coming out together usually. But now that I'm hunting alone I can't help getting real spooked when the sun goes down or before it comes up and im heading to my stand. I know there is really nothing to fear but still this overwhelming sense of fear always consumes me. Like the other night it was prime hunting time and I heard a pack of coyotes waking up about 200 yards away from me maybe closer or maybe further.. and I just got up out of my stand and left cause I didn't wanna get caught out in the dark and then the morning after I didn't even wanna go back into that stand until first light I know this is irrational and it doesen't stop me from hunting.. but it makes it VERY uncomfortable.. any tips on overcoming this fear of the woods when they are dark or words of advice???
***BONUS POINTS**** Describe your scariest experience in the woods!!! or creepiest time.
I have no answer for how you overcome the fear, but I will send my condolances and prayers up for you!
Hope you find a way to beat it!
Bisch
I tell my grandson everything is the same as in the daylight,it has helped him,he is a lot less tense now walking in.Oh and I got him a super bright headlamp.
Simple make yourself spend time in the woods alone at night. The only way to overcome fear is to confront it.
Sorry for your loss. I'm sure more people get spooked in the woods at night than are likely to admit. You live in Canada, so its not as if there's "nothing" to be worried about, but yes the odds are heavily in your favor. I refuse to carry a pistol or gun when I hunt. But then again, I don't have bears or cougars to worry about. Coyotes can bite, but itd have to be some seriously hard times for them to worry about trying to eat me. Pigs worry me, but only because they're idiots and all idiots worry me. I don't much like the woods after dark, but due to hunting and my career, I can't avoid it. 1) Just remember that you're an apex predator and that animals in your path live and die at your choosing. 2) Don't bum rush in or out. A lot of nocturnal problems arise from people just moving too fast. They get lost, run into things, and stumble up on critters that may just decide that knocking you down is the fastest and safest solution to their current dilemma. I hunt evenings more than anything and its about a slow 10 minute walk out to my truck in most cases. It get darker in the woods faster than the fields so its rarely "dark" when I head out. Dusky rather. If its getting dark in the woods I cant shoot for crap in low light and I dang sure cant tell if a buck is QDMA standards so I sneak out and I'm in the fields around late twighlight. I've remarked before about the guys out west and up north in grizzly and cat country strolling back to their spike camp in a 3 mile walk at night. I likely aint got them stones...
Don't know exactly what it is you fear is it the unknown or encountering critters in the dark?
FYI most of those critters are way more afraid of you than you should be of them.
Best of luck working this out.
Bonus-scariest. I was was about 16 and knew how to get to these really cool bluffsover looking the Missouri River. It was about a half a mile through the woods and you had to go at night since you were trespassing (also that meant no flashlights ect). My buddies and I would bring girls and such up there because the the moon over the river set the mood really well. One night with just myself and a young lady we heard this horrifying scream. It was a sound I knew was not human but, have never heard before. It was mountain a mountain lion below our bluff. Lol talk about a mood killer!
Creepiest-out in a section of public land hunting squirrels. As is my habit I like to get to a promising spot about an 30 minutes to an hour before first light. As the sun started rising the action started quick. I tagged two grays. When I went to get the further one he was laying next to an old grave stone. When I looked around there were seven total right where I was sitting.
P.S. Fear of the dark is natural and normal. It's a gift passed down from our ancient ancestors when things that go bump in the night can and would eat you. Again only way to over come is to confront.
Yeah it's not so much the unknown I'm afraid of.. I just have way to big of an imagination and it has always been a blessing and a curse for me. I just think of the worst scenarios sometimes
My scariest trip afield was when I was about 16. Nobody in my family hunted, so pretty much from the beginning, I hunted alone. One morning I was running late, and it was almost light. I walked between a sow and her litter. One of the pigs squealed, which brought Mama on the run right at me. Thankfully, as a young guy, I was quick and agile, so up a tree I went. She stood at the bottom of the tree popping her jaws for a few minutes before she and her litter wandered off. I was a tad late getting to the stand that morning.
You hit on the solution. Instead of imagining the worst...imagine the best.
After all, I'd bet in all those trips in and out of dark woods the worst never happened?
I take great joy in walking in the woods in the dark as long as my eyes are protected. Nothing better than a "moon shadow" morning about an hour before dawn. Embrace the beauty and solace of such times and be thankful for them.
Now, all this advice is coming from a fellow who can't bring himself close enough to a spider to step on it!
I used to hunt GMA land a lot by myself, I would arrive very early to help reserve my spot. I would stand around waiting a while before going into the woods, your mind can play games with you in those situations.
Odds are when your father was there It wasn't as quiet, and you didn't have time to think about stuff. It's just different for you now.
Yeah it's mostly my mind playing tricks on me I have to learn how to control my mind!! Like one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books called Dune:
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Easier said than done.. hah
Your "big imagination" brought back a story from a couple years back when I was bear hunting in NW Ontario.
I was the farthest hunter out,so I had the truck and picked up 2 other hunters on my way back out. On one night, after picking up the 2nd guy,we headed for our 3rd.
Upon arriving at his pick up spot, we noticed that he had an arrow loaded on his bow. ( in Ontario you are supposed to have your bow in a case ).
#3 asks if we just heard what he had heard. Being in a moving truck with windows up, we had not heard anything. I asked what it was and he told me it sounded like a man being mauled by a bear!
I asked him how he knew what that sounded like and he said, "I HAVE AN IMAGINATION "!!!!!
Good times and greater laughs!
Good luck, shoot straight and God bless,
Rodd
Also dude if you a a public land hunter being in good with the dark is a major advantage. You are actually not even the slightest bit alone. There are a lot of folks scared of the woods in the dark. It can get you in when others stay back.
I know where your coming from, I hunted black bears in main and was the last gut to be picked up. On one night anther guy shot a bear and it was real late when I was picked up and it was quite unnerving with all the sounds and my own imagination.
I think I know how you feel, to a point. I am afraid of very little in the woods during the day, I can handle most of what comes my way, one way or another, but at night, I can't see it to do something about it.
I guess you have to think a bit and convince yourself. Really, there are only a few things that go bump in the night. Worst ones up there ( not counting made up stuff) would be a wolf or a bear ( or plurals of either), maybe a mama moose.
It is really very doubtful that any of the above is gonna come after you.
Maybe do like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor did in that movie when they were in jail, strutted around and said stuff like " uh huh, that's right, we bad " ! so all the bears and wolves can hear you and leave you alone. :bigsmyl:
ChuckC
I have been on over forty canoe trips into Quetico. We have had bears around camp, in camp, on portage trails, they never scared me. One day portaging through a thick portage trail from one no name lake to another, on a thick willow covered trail, a mama moose decided to stand her ground. I I had a twenty foot wenonah Minnesota III on my shoulders and was fighting with it in the tangles, when I got clear of them the trail had large rocks and tricky footing. Then slump the canoe hit something, I had a little trouble believing my eyes for a second, moose legs. I dropped the canoe and bolted back the moose trotted about twenty across a clear grass bog. Then spun and charged straight at me. I honestly do not remember anything from then until I was at the landing area of the prior lake. My wife said I was white and I said,"Is there a moose behind me?" I do not remember saying that either.
We don't really have much to worry about around here, some coyotes and maybe a big cat. I always carry a knife on my side and I'll be dammed if something is going to get me without a fight. But I always think of the positive things and never let my mind wonder. The human mind is a lot scarier than anything you will encounter out in the timber, if anything was to happen you just have to keep a calm mind and not freak. Even though your dad is not there physically I bet he is there spiritually!!!
The scariest encounter I ever had, happed when I was walking into my stand one morning and I had something following me. When I was walking I heard it following me, when I would stop it would stop. It stayed about twenty yards behind me from what I could figure. I was using a climber at the time and when I got to my stand I could have won gold for how fast I climbed the tree. I still don't know what it was but it freaked me out a bit!
Wow ! These are so some good stories and great pieces of advice !! Nice to hear I am not alone in this as well !! Thanks for the kind words !
My condolences on the loss of your dad. That's a bummer for sure. I have lots of stories but I'll give you the funniest.
I have a friend who is insanely afraid of the dark and I've know this for a while to the point where I can mess with him. Well we had never hunted together he always hunted in NY and I always in NJ. we had permission on a big plot of land that was very productive. And where he hunted in NY was not productive at all. So I offered to take him out there for a Saturday hunt we got there early (dark) and started to our stands, I barely ever used a flashlight if I did I covered most of the light with my fingers. Just to see the trails. Well we're about 100 yards from his stand and you can hear something running at us through the dry November leaves and he damn near jumped in my arms screaming like a little kid!
I can get spooked when I'm in the woods in the dark, but I fight through it. I just remind myself that it would extremely rare indeed to be attacked by the kinds of animals that live in my part of the country. I also remind myself that I'm prepared to meet God, and I have nothing to fear.
A couple of years ago I was walking out after several hours in a great hiding spot, and I evidently spooked a coyote that had gotten close without realizing I was there. He suddenly started yipping and yowling to indicate to all the other 'yotes in the area that there was a stranger in the woods. It completely freaked me out! I got over it though, and was just walking back from that stand last weekend, remembering that story, and laughing at myself for being so scared!
I have always been just as comfortable in the woods at night as in the day. I go in way early and usually stay way late. I've even pulled all nighters just sitting or sleeping on the ground without any light or fire just so I wouldnt spook any game coming in in the dark. ( my younger days ) getting to old for that stuff now. I guess I just always knew that I'm at the top of the food chain and everything in the woods is afraid of me almost always wants to get as far away as possible.
But on the other hand when I see another person in the woods I'll try my best not to be seen. I'll duck and hide or whatever I can to not make me presence known. Now, Does that make any sense? :dunno:
I too have a scary imagination.Mostly monsters, oh, and vampires. Man I hate vampires. Vampires suck.
Seriously; Most normal people not only don't want to go in the woods at night, most will NOT!!
You on the other hand acually want to go to the dark woods. The fact that it creeps you out and you do it any way, makes you brave. Your the man.
Pray for strength and courage and wisdom and patience.
Take your father with you. something of his. A watch ,compass, knife shirt ect.
Do not watch "the blair witch project" for any reason. Ever. No good can come of it.
Good luck, God bless,
Scott
I can relate to years of looking forward to walking back in , in the dark, with my dad or one of my brothers and understand how your Dad's passing would be very real when it comes time to walk in. As I've aged, the things I imagine have been replaced by the real possibilities..a hard fall, stepping in a hole and twisting a knee or ankle, heart attack ,etc.
It wont make any difference for this hunting season, but I recommend to every woodsman a ritual described by Aldo Leopold in 'Sand County Almanac': get up around 2:45 AM on a morning in the midst of the spring songbird migration, make a pot of coffee, put on appropriate clothes then take your pot of coffee, your coffee mug and nothing else out to the edge of the woods and sit quietly and experience the dark woods coming alive around you. We are apex predators and, after tens of millions of years of evolution, we hunt and experience the world primarily with our vision, whereas most of the other critters rely more on smell, hearing, even temperature sense. Deer tend to bed down and recharge their batteries while the sun is brightest.
Creepiest: the sound of a horse moving through the woods nearby in the absolute dark.
Coolest: the absolute silence with which a barn owl glided in and landed on a limb 4 feet in front of my face in the pre-dawn darkness.
I know I definitely pick up my pace a little more as the darkness is coming on, trying to get back to camp or the vehicle. I get a little more spooky too.
One of my most unnerving times in the dark woods was a couple of years ago. I was hunting a Wildlife Management area that I was unfamiliar with. I went in further in the evening exploring, wondering what was around the next turn. I knew i could follow the river back up to the parking area. The river does a chain of tight Ox-bows here and my route back was not direct. The brush got thick and it got dark. Water, Walls of Brush with some tunnels and pathways though it. At some point in the last of the fading light in the middle of one of these paths, I came across the remains of a whitetail mostly consumed.
It is dark now and my head lamp is on exaggerating the shadows in the peripheral vision. In a couple of spots I had to get down and crawl, but always I had one hand on my bow and using my other hand to part the brush. So there I was in the thick of it with twenty feet of visibility at best and I realized that if I needed to move even if it was to unholster a can of bear spray, it was not likely to happen. The Image of the signage at the parking area is at the forefront of my thoughts and the remains of the whitetail is a couple of bends behind me.
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I was starting to get a little panicky, not well oriented to the land to begin with and then the darkness, the winding tight ox-bows, and the brush. I had to take a few deep grounding breaths a couple of times and work myself away from the river. Things opened up and I could start to move again. I finally cut a vehicle path that would bring me to the parking area and there was my vehicle and the signage warning of bear potential again.
Would have to say the worst I've been spooked was when walking a cattail marsh to a blind. A great blue heron at arms reach taking off cause I spooked it.Sounds just like I imagine a pterodactyl would... Dunno who was more spooked me or the bird
I hunt remote areas of the Adirondack Mountain range alone quite often. Darker than the inside of a cow up there. No one for miles will ever hear ya scream..
Do what I do, I just go about my business up there...coyotes, wolves, Bears...they are more concerned about getting out of your way, than getting in it. If it settles in your head that there are unknown things that are going to get you, you will never overcome your fear.
The Mountain Men, and Old Adirondack Guides were always known for talking out loud to themselves in remote camps at nite, to keep the Windigo at bay..Its only darkness, daylite will come soon enough.
My best friend lost his father 3 years ago. His father was a close friend to me as well. He actually died of a heart attack tracking a wounded black bear. It took my friend that entire season and then into the next before he could go out alone. Time will help bud.
Reminds me, my wife and I were watching one of the survival reality shows a while back. Guy had a bear come into camp. He was saying stuff like "hey bear". My wife says is that what you say if a bear comes up? I told her I didn't think it mattered what you said to a bear as bears don't speak English.
Jakeemt- trespassing? Matty- NJ? Well, 600 lb black bears come to mind....lots of 600 lb black bears actually.
I read a book a long time ago by Carl Sagan called "Dragons in Eden". Long story short it was a behavioral look at the human animal based on research in the 60's.
There are THREE base fears we are all born with. (I guess they studied orphan babies... Kind of twisted but hey, it was the 60's)
1) Reptiles (thus the books title)
2) Falling
3) DARK
Its programmed into you... You just never confronted it because you always had the safety of your father. Its' brave of you to post on a mostly male, macho forum about it. I hope this helps others that aren't so forthright.
I think we all have twinges of it... its just a matter of how much we have overcome it.
Not usually bothered by it, as I have been turkey hunting for a loooong time...walking in without flashlights and getting stabbed in the face by more limbs than I can count, just to get in close to a roosted bird...that'll chase the thoughts out of your head just by repetition.
The scariest thing I ever experienced with a bear hunt in Ontario years and years ago- I was the farthest guy out on the trail- maybe 2 hour wait for him to get to me by an Argo...and I just couldn't take the bugs any longer so thought I'd get a start walking back toward them...well, I kept hearing something moving along with me as I stepped along, and it would stop whenever I stopped. Weird huh? Then I thought- that's gotta be a bear shadowing me... so I picked up the pace....still there, and stopping when I stopped. Weird, huh?
So then I took 3 steps and turned around- and WHAM! My light hit it- my safety strap was dragging along the ground. Sheesh!
I've struggled with this when I was younger as well. This may sound kind of dumb but this is the way I got over it. If the good lord wants me, he's going to take me.
This may sound kind of corny but when I get that "skin crawling feeling up the back of my neck" I just stop and think about those that have gone before me and their protective spirit around me. Don't really get that feeling hunting the woods here in KS but I have on the solo walks out of woods in Ontario or walking back to camp in Colorado at night.
If I lived somewhere with grizzly bears or predatory cats, I might be scared, but without that I can only express sympathy for your loss. I have a depredation permit for hogs, so I do alot of hog hunting at night. Sometimes I am out all night, and have had boars fighting in the dark 5-10 yards from me. Very exciting, but all you think about is hoping to get a shot opportunity. Maybe going on a night-time hog hunt somewhere that it is legal might help you to get over your fears.
QuoteOriginally posted by bear bowman:
I've struggled with this when I was younger as well. This may sound kind of dumb but this is the way I got over it. If the good lord wants me, he's going to take me.
I think everybody gets the creeps now and then, but this is a good reminder. I tend to talk to the Lord and I believe he listens. If you believe, your never alone!
Honestly, I am way more scared of people than animals. Walking a street at night freaks me out a bit, even my own neighborhood sometimes. Definitely in the city.
But make sure you understand what's going on. You lost a loved one. Grieve him. I'm betting he'll keep you safe. If he doesn't, He will.
I was walking back from a meadow on a trail in CO to camp about 2 miles away. Lots of bears and some cougars in the area. I prefer no light so I just talked out loud, mostly saying "Hey Bear, Hey Kitty, I got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it". Little did they know all I had was my selfbow and a knife :) Fooled them though. It was a very long 2 mile walk.
The cattle out west scare me more than wild animals. Those things are just plain stupid and unpredictable.
I did about get killed by a rutting buck at night one time in KY. He must have thought I was a rival. I felt a bit like a bullfighter dodging his charge...OLE.
Take care.
I am way more on edge in the evenings when the sun has set...not sure why. Not really scared or anything, just more uneasy, knowing that there's 14 hours of darkness ahead. Mornings I know end shortly.
I never use lights when I am walking in. That causes my imagination to see things in the shadows ad ruins my night vision (which I believe I have more of than average). Unless it is a new moon or fairly thick woods...I can see just about everything without aid of lights. And this does help ease anything in the back of my mind.
Two stories come to mind...first was duck hunting by myself in Arkansas after it froze real solid in the woods. About an 1" of ice...just enough to walk on if you eased along slowly, but if you hurried you'd break through into knee-deep water. So get to my spot about 2 hours before light and settle in for a snooze. I wake up about 30 minutes later to the sound of lots scratchy footsteps on the ice. And I mean lots, and in every direction!!! Then all of a sudden, this pack of coyotes break out in unison yelping all around me. They were just out of eyesight in the dark, so maybe 30-40 ft? I had no option but to sit up and enjoy after I figures it out...I could not get out of there even if I needed to...their weight, spread out on four paws, meant they weren't about to break through the ice at all.
I'm glad I didn't bring my dog that morning because of the cold water...that could have turned out different!
Second, real quick, was 2 deer seasons ago. It got cold early and snowed enough to cover the ground and stick around. I was walking back to my spot about a mile down a peninsula on the Wisconsin River in northern WI. The walk is easy, down an old logging road to an old logging platform...the last 1/4 mile or so of the trail turns into one lane through thick sapling pines that cover everything but about 18" of path that winds through them...So, I'm heading up to this spot and stop to cool down and just enjoy the scenery of snow in the woods around me. Beautiful sight in the half-moon and no clouds. As I pick up my pack, I see the shadow of a depression in the trail I'm on....it's a fresh bear print, about 8" long, and heading the way I am...I keep walking and notice that about every 10-20 yds, the bear tracks stop and turns 90° on the trail like it's looking back at something (me!!), and then continue....all the way into the thick pines I have to walk through!!!
I slowly easy my way through the pines with my knife drawn...and don't find tracks on the other end!!! I'm on high alert now! I'm at the opening and just as I step out around the last pine to cross the opening....HOLY CRAAAAAAAP!!! Damn grouse flushes right in my face!!!!
I wasn't the only one in that hunting party to have bears in front of them that morning...my father-in-law followed his set of tracks right to the half-frozen river..tracks went out the water and disappeared.
I've read all of these and there's lots of funny laugh out loud ones. Grouse in the face. Pterodactyls. Blair witch project!
QuoteOriginally posted by Ray Hammond:
Jakeemt- trespassing?
Lol yep. In those days rules and common sense took a back seat to tomcatting ;) . I learned a lot of hard lessons in those days.
P.S. guys there is a very cool thread called something like weird encounters or strange stories or some such running on this forum and it is a great read. Some of it down right cracks me up! If I remember right one poor was in his stand at night and kept swearing he heard someone saying his name right behind him. Turns out he had butt dialed a family member on his cell phone lol!!
P.S.S. I hate saying stuff like this over the internet but, I really am sorry about your pops. hang in there partner.
I manage to spook myself more when I'm sitting on the couch than anywhere else. You see I'm a nut for Bigfoot programs and let my imagination run wild. (not the program with the 4 idiots)
Thing is when I go hunting I never give it a second thought.
Consider it lucky or not so lucky but I spent a year in a far off place back in the sixties where the nights lasted forever and were blacker than black... and there were many very real hurtful things in it.
Not much phases me these days.
There was one time in Wyoming, though. I was walking into my hunting area early, early one morning. The trail was long and steep to where I was going and I wanted to be there at first light.
As the trail dropped into a small drainage I thought I could see something moving above the willows just ahead.
I never carried a light in those days so I just stood and watched while the short hairs on the back of my neck went erect.
At first I couldn't tell if my imagination was working over time or the sixties were catching up with me.
In a moment I knew I was seeing something big that appeared to change shape and was a very light color if not white. It just floated above the top of the willows well above my head.
To late to stop the stomach knotting and sphincter clenching, I finally recognized the rack of a rather large Shiras moose as he swooped off through the brush, his huge, black body invisible in the darkness.
Then there was the time a low growl close by in tiger country caused me concern. But that's another story.
So Charlie, there were a bunch of other Charlie's out there in the dark. Damn good reason to be spooked. Never experienced that as I got sent to Korea in '65. Glad you got back and hoping it was in one piece. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Most of the time I find walking in the dark exhilarating, especially on full moon nights. I always imagine that some guy, out hunting just like me, walked the same path 10,000 years ago and I am walking in his foot steps.
One time I did get a little nervous; My late wife hunted with me for years, I would put her tree stand on a tree for her with instructions to come down at dark so I could pack her stand for the trip home.
On night I went to pick her up and she was still up the tree. " Why didn't you get down?" I asked, "there is something out there and I am not getting down" she said, to which I replied, "nonsense, come on down".
About that time something about 40 yards away cut loose with the most ear splitting, blood curdling wailing scream I have ever heard. "I told you" she said.
I have heard bobcats scream, bears growl and panthers roar but have never heard anything like this. Every hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up.
The next time it screamed it had moved to about 50 yards away, then 75, 100, and finally on the far ridge.
My wife got down and we beat feet to the truck.
I have two friends who swear they have encountered a large, hairy, bipedial creature in this area on separate occasions so who knows.
One word.....Glock...
On our farm we have yotes too, I have been caught back in the woods after dark with them close by; it was quite unsettling.
In Georgia if you have a carry permit then you are permitted to carry a pistol with you during bow season. Not sure how things are in Canada.
QuoteOriginally posted by DDawg:
.... Not sure how things are in Canada.
In Canada, carrying a sidearm while TRAPPING is legal ONLY if you are granted an "authorization to carry". Even persons that reside way out in the wilderness must apply for and be granted permission by the government to carry pistol...regular citizens are even more restricted.
Back on topic, there are lots of good "do you guys get spooked in the dark" threads around the internet....one such from Michigan is a classic with tons of tales and stories...if you are so inclined to search for and read such things.
:campfire:
not hunting related but bow related and the reason i joined tradgang (first time i held a trad bow), so here goes.
me and a couple of friends of mine went angling for mahseeer (tor species) in south india. the river was the dividing line between the village/ habitation and Nagarhole tiger reserve. we were just guys and two of us had some field time behind us so we decided to camp next to the river side in a basic shelter (hut) rather than motor down to the angling spot.
had a great day of angling and as the best fishing is generally at night we decided to fish on. now bear in mind that we are on the river side out of the electric wire fence which is there to keep jumbos at bay and were bbq'ing meat.
we called it a day when i flashed a light on the river to find two reflective eyes at water level closing in on our location - Croc!
south india is pretty hot and sultry so we decided to sleep under a veranda rather than a tent. one of us 3 decided not play safe and get in the tent. late at night he gets tired of the heat and plonks down close by - got tired of him waking us up at every noise and when he finally nodded off i gave him a slight jab in the leg with a knife. must have scared every animal within 10 kms with his yell !
i like the night as long as i am armed (with my 12g SXS and slugs) and for the rest i believe in what a poster said earlier- if its my time the gods will gather me!
p.s - another reason for liking the dark is that my wife walks a whole lot faster at night than during the day and i dont have to slow down much if at all
I'm a rational guy and usually have no problem walking in the woods before daylight or after sunset. But I used to walk into one spot really early and every time id get this funny feeling when I reached this one spot on the trail. Never saw or heard anything out of the ordinary but id just feel nervous for no reason! I'm sure it was nothing but who knows?
There is one group of young hunters that hunt one public land that I do not like. They are bullies, they take extreme long shots when deer are out in the fields and sit in their tree stands and take shots after legal hours. Their excuse when they lose a deer is always 'I couldn't see through my peep sight'. The one with smokers cough came up behind us when we were walking out, coming on fast. The area coyotes were letting their presence be known that night. When one sounded off up the hill, the kid yelled in a fearful voice with lots of cuss words. We stopped and turned out our lights, then another one howled on the other side, the kid yelled again and came running. When he came by us on the tractor lane, I said "who are you yelling at?" He screamed and stumbled and panicked, When we turned our lights back on, he said "those yotes will get ya."