Scariest thzing you’ve experienced?

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Mountain lion screaming 20 yards from me on my way to my whitetail stand.

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[maninthemaze]

My earliest memories of hunting with my dad, around 8 or 10, always included him preaching about keeping your finger out of the trigger guard and off the trigger. Maybe the breakover 4-10 that I carried while squirrel hunting didn't have a safety. I don't remember ever having to click it off before shooting. Anyways, while walking through the woods staring into the tree tops for squirrels, I tripped. I landed on my stomach with the 4-10 underneath of me. I was squeezing the trigger guard and stock, and the barrel was pointed right at my father. Right then and there, I realized why your finger doesn't go into the trigger guard until your ready to pull the trigger.

I swear, the older I get, the smarter my father was.

Just my 2 cents and worth the price charged.

 

[EastMT]

On a summer ATV ride up by Chicken, AK and it was so nice out we decided to camp nearly at the top of this peak, maybe 100 ft lower.

That night an infamous interior thunder storm hit, an I swear lightning hit every rock within 1/4 mile of us, you could feel it in the air, every hit just took the breath out of you.


"If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

 

[orionthehunter1]

Tearing my Achilles in a scree field working my way over to a buck I had shot. Worst 2.5 mile packout of my life.

 

[svivian]

I was 15 and decided to go elk hunting during second season after school up an area my buddy suggested. I got out of the truck and walked a ways and cut some elk tracks in the snow and followed them for about two miles or so. I saw a group of does and snuck around them to not bust any elk that might be in there. After I passed them about 400 yards up I could hear them running through the brush. I watched them run right past me about 80 yards away and then heard an awful groan and scream as a mountain lion took one to the ground. I high tailed it out of there gun loaded and safety off. As I was half jogging back out I looked down and saw mountain lion tracks in my boot prints. The bastard had followed me almost a mile up the trail. Luckily those deer were there and looked tastier.

 

[tttoadman]

Packing my first elk when I was 14. I got lost with a full pack of meat. I ended up paralleling the trail climbing over poles for 2 miles like an idiot. I just kept going down hill like Dad always said. We hunted in a big funnel basin. It is funny how we freak out when we are young.

2012: My brother and I went to Steens Mtn to go scouting. Trying to save time, I routed a path on my GPS at home that I thought would put us in a great spot for first light. We hiked the path until it got so skinny we couldn't really go any further. Add that when you shined the light off the side, you couldn't see anything. fast forward to day break. We woke up to find that both of us were sleeping on a 15ft wide spire that dropped straight off about 400ft on both sides. I realize how stupid that was, but opening your eye to a view like that is pretty awesome.

2016: Packing elk out at night. We heard some crashing. We were all excited thinking we may see some elk run by. Then we realized it was a rockfall coming down. By the time I figured out to duck and move, a rock the size of a grapefruit flew about 5 ft in front of me chest high so fast I could barely see it. Even if I lived, we figured my brother would have to go about 100ft down a cliff to get the Inreach to send for help. We picked up the pace a little to get out of that area.

 

[tttoadman]

Can't forget Dad. Us kids were too young to hunt. My Dad got lost in eastern OR when it was about 8 deg. He found his way back the next day. Dads survival gear: flashlight that usually didn't work, a candy bar, cotton gloves, a heavy jacket, fire starter. He started a fire and sat out in the cold that night nursing a little fire. He was the toughest guy I ever new. Mom wasn't even with us. My brother and I about 6 and 8 sat there all night by ourselves and the dog.

 

[twall13]

My scariest experience was probably as an 11 year old when my dad took my brother and me to Alaska with one of my uncles on a fishing trip. Awesome trip. We chartered a small float plane to take us back in to a more remote area. The outfitter provided us a small aluminum boat and we found a nice bay to fish. A few of us had caught our limit when a young brown bear came out of the think brush to the smell of our fish. We all hopped in the boat as he literally swam after us. Soon after starting off the motor died so we began paddling frantically as he chased us. The motor was probably only out for 30 seconds or so but as a young boy it felt like much longer. That bear swan after us for a good 400 yards before turning back.

We later returned to the bay as the fishing was great. Our friendly bear was gone and my uncle got out to fish from closer to shore. We fished for a bit and suddenly there were three Cubs on the bank. Almost immediately there Mom walked out on the other side of the boat (and my uncle) from her Cubs. Probably 25 only yards away. My uncle made a beeline for the boat, tripped and filled his waders up with water but we dragged him into the boat. I feared the motor wouldn't start again but luckily it did and we made it out of there safely. We didn't return to that particular bay to fish again. I'm not sure why but momma bear didn't seem to consider us a threat or my uncle would have been a goner. I should probably point out that we didn't have any bear spray it firearms with us. Stupid move looking back but as an 11 year old I couldn't have been expected to know better. It never really got life threatening but given the circumstances it could have been bad.

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[FlyGuy]

15 years ago at Thanksgiving diner my 1st cousin said she needed someone to go on a hike with her for an Outdoor Living Elective assignment. I volunteered and a couple days later we're exploring the Confederate Battlegrounds and hiking trails in the Port Hudson State Park and Historic Site back home in Louisiana.

It was also opening weekend of WT rifle season, and a "doe day".

We are 3 miles in when I suddenly hear a rifle crack from VERY close by. It was UNBELIEVABLY loud. Shit-your-pants loud. I'm a bit stunned and confused at that moment. I'm thinking "There's no hunting allowed inside the park. What is going on?" Thankfully I had my full attention focused in the direction of where the shot came from as I tried to get my head around what was going on when it happened again.

You've probably heard of people talking about instances where "time slows down". Well, this one is mine.

I instantly knew exactly what was happening - that they were shooting AT ME! The next instance I saw the vapor trail of the (30-06) bullet screaming towards me at about shin level. I later learned that it had clipped an 8" tree about 30-40 yards in front of me which mushroomed it but also probably slowed it down just enough for me to get a glimpse of it coming and pushing/disturbing air. The 1st Matrix movie had come out a couple years before this and I swear it looked just like that scene. My reaction was exactly like when you were a kid playing pitch-&-catch but you got distracted by something and then looked up to see a baseball humming right at you. I did a jump spin move turning my hips 90 degrees as I tried to get my legs out of the bullet path.

I almost made it.

Ironically, it only felt like someone had hit me with a gently tossed a small bean bag or maybe a quick blast of compressed air. But it looked like someone took an ice cream scoop across the front/side of my lower left leg. Miraculously, I had moved just enough that the bullet did not touch any bone. It had missed bone by less than a millimeter. Dr's later told me that if the bullet had impacted that bone and shattered it that would have bled out long before they'd found me.

Now for the really scary part.

I knew this hunter (poacher) was close (It was later measured to be 75 yards) so my cousin and I started yelling and screaming at the guy to stop shooting, waving out arms, etc. I called him a few choice names and told him we were coming out as I started walking towards him. I knew I was in trouble even though I couldn't feel any pain yet, so my plan at that point was to walk straight to him and beat the ever living shit out of him. Then make him drive me to the hospital.

I'd made it about 10-15 yards when it struck me that I hadn't heard him yell back to us or acknowledged us in any way. I stopped to listen and called out again. "Hey"-BOOM. He answered me with another shot. Then 2 more behind it as we literally ran for our lives. We could hear the bullets making "tick-tick-tick" sounds as they zipped through the woods hitting tiny limbs and leaves and brush all around us. It was such an unusual sound to hear. I can still hear it in my head plain as day. Tick-tick-tick.

We sprinted to create some distance before he could reload and then settled into a jog for a minute or two until the adrenalin faded. Then I collapsed and started going into shock. Even though we all had cell phones back then we weren't in the habit yet of taking them with us everywhere we went. I also wasn't carrying a firearm of any kind, not sure if they were even allowed inside the park. But Hell, it was only a 6-8 mile Day Hike! What could possibly go wrong?

Laying there under a big live oak tree beside the trail with about 90 minutes of daylight left was actually the very 1st point at which I recall being afraid. After accidentally trying to kill me, This guy had then INTENTIONALLY tried to kill me. I knew we hadn't gotten far enough away from him but I couldn't go any further. I laid there getting sicker and sicker and kept my eyes on our backtrail waiting for this guy to show up and try to finish us off. It was like a real life horror movie was about to unfold at any second. That helpless feeling was the scariest thing I've ever experienced in the woods. When the paramedics and park rangers found us just after sunset (some other hikers had heard all the shooting and yelling and called it in) my BP was 60/40 and my pulse was 38. I didn't hunt big game again for almost 10 years after that.

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[ethan]

Holy Shiite!! Did they ever find the guy that shot you?

 

[FlyGuy]

Holy Shiite!! Did they ever find the guy that shot you?

Yeah. I never met him but he was a dirt bag. Smart enough to pick-up and dispose of 3 of the 5 shell casings off the ground though. Stuck with his story that he was shooting at a 6 pt. Didn't know anything at all about any hikers getting shot. GW gave him a few citations but that was about it.

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[huntaholic123]

15 years ago at Thanksgiving diner my 1st cousin said she needed someone to go on a hike with her for an Outdoor Living Elective assignment. I volunteered and a couple days later we're exploring the Confederate Battlegrounds and hiking trails in the Port Hudson State Park and Historic Site back home in Louisiana.

It was also opening weekend of WT rifle season, and a "doe day".

We are 3 miles in when I suddenly hear a rifle crack from VERY close by. It was UNBELIEVABLY loud. Shit-your-pants loud. I'm a bit stunned and confused at that moment. I'm thinking "There's no hunting allowed inside the park. What is going on?" Thankfully I had my full attention focused in the direction of where the shot came from as I tried to get my head around what was going on when it happened again.

You've probably heard of people talking about instances where "time slows down". Well, this one is mine.

I instantly knew exactly what was happening - that they were shooting AT ME! The next instance I saw the vapor trail of the (30-06) bullet screaming towards me at about shin level. I later learned that it had clipped an 8" tree about 30-40 yards in front of me which mushroomed it but also probably slowed it down just enough for me to get a glimpse of it coming and pushing/disturbing air. The 1st Matrix movie had come out a couple years before this and I swear it looked just like that scene. My reaction was exactly like when you were a kid playing pitch-&-catch but you got distracted by something and then looked up to see a baseball humming right at you. I did a jump spin move turning my hips 90 degrees as I tried to get my legs out of the bullet path.

I almost made it.

Ironically, it only felt like someone had hit me with a gently tossed a small bean bag or maybe a quick blast of compressed air. But it looked like someone took an ice cream scoop across the front/side of my lower left leg. Miraculously, I had moved just enough that the bullet did not touch any bone. It had missed bone by less than a millimeter. Dr's later told me that if the bullet had impacted that bone and shattered it that would have bled out long before they'd found me.

Now for the really scary part.

I knew this hunter (poacher) was close (It was later measured to be 75 yards) so my cousin and I started yelling and screaming at the guy to stop shooting, waving out arms, etc. I called him a few choice names and told him we were coming out as I started walking towards him. I knew I was in trouble even though I couldn't feel any pain yet, so my plan at that point was to walk straight to him and beat the ever living shit out of him. Then make him drive me to the hospital.

I'd made it about 10-15 yards when it struck me that I hadn't heard him yell back to us or acknowledged us in any way. I stopped to listen and called out again. "Hey"-BOOM. He answered me with another shot. Then 2 more behind it as we literally ran for our lives. We could hear the bullets making "tick-tick-tick" sounds as they zipped through the woods hitting tiny limbs and leaves and brush all around us. It was such an unusual sound to hear. I can still hear it in my head plain as day. Tick-tick-tick.

We sprinted to create some distance before he could reload and then settled into a jog for a minute or two until the adrenalin faded. Then I collapsed and started going into shock. Even though we all had cell phones back then we weren't in the habit yet of taking them with us everywhere we went. I also wasn't carrying a firearm of any kind, not sure if they were even allowed inside the park. But Hell, it was only a 6-8 mile Day Hike! What could possibly go wrong?

Laying there under a big live oak tree beside the trail with about 90 minutes of daylight left was actually the very 1st point at which I recall being afraid. After accidentally trying to kill me, This guy had then INTENTIONALLY tried to kill me. I knew we hadn't gotten far enough away from him but I couldn't go any further. I laid there getting sicker and sicker and kept my eyes on our backtrail waiting for this guy to show up and try to finish us off. It was like a real life horror movie was about to unfold at any second. That helpless feeling was the scariest thing I've ever experienced in the woods. When the paramedics and park rangers found us just after sunset (some other hikers had heard all the shooting and yelling and called it in) my BP was 60/40 and my pulse was 38. I didn't hunt big game again for almost 10 years after that.

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That is by far one of the craziest hunting stories I have ever heard. Would really like to hear the rest of the details. Did they catch the shooter? Hopefully they did and prosecuted him to the full extent of the law. Could have been much worse. Lucky guy

 

[Northernpiker]

Hard to top FlyGuy's but...last fall I returned home from bowhunting and my wife was standing in the doorway with my new Swaro BTX in her hands and I'll never forget that look in her eyes...I'll tell you I was scared.
I don't have any good stories to tell.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

FlyGuy that was terrifying to read. Much less live. WOW.

 

[Hall256]

If my wife stumbled across this thread I could kiss my solo trips good by...LOL.

Great stories, some crazy stuff happens when you're a few miles back.

For me, the one that has always stuck with me, probably due to my age, was hearing a pack wolves tearing in to an elk at night just outside of our camp. Hearing that elk "scream" as it was being ripped apart made for a tense night of sleep.

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[FlyGuy]

That is by far one of the craziest hunting stories I have ever heard. Would really like to hear the rest of the details. Did they catch the shooter? Hopefully they did and prosecuted him to the full extent of the law. Could have been much worse. Lucky guy

Pretty boring after that. He never showed up again to take care of the witnesses to his crime, though I believe that if he'd had any more ammo on him he would have looked around for us a little while longer.

Thank God he was a terrible marksman. I suspect he might have been drinking. The first shot should have killed me DRT. The second shot should have at LEAST taken my lower leg, if not killed me. It damn near killed me anyway.

I'm sure there are plenty of Vets on here that have a lot more experience with being shot or shot at, but it was the sickest I've ever felt in my life. The most extremely intense nausea you can possibly imagine. It just got more and more overwhelming and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

My cousin was keeping pressure on my leg with her sweater and when I would pass out she'd keep waking me up. I just remember being so mad at her everytime she'd shake me awake b/c the miserable nausea would come back and all I wanted to do was fade back out where it didn't hurt. I don't know if she actually kept me alive or not. I didn't think I was dying, but i had no idea how low my vitals were either until they told me afterwards. I honestly had gotten to a point that I didn't care anymore and was pleading with her not to wake me up again. The poor girl was young and had not spent any time in the woods before this hike, now it's getting dark while she's trying to prevent me from bleeding out. She was completely traumatised and she was absolutely convinced i was going to die if she didn't keep me awake, not to mention that she was scared to death of being alone in the woods in the dark - with a potential armed maniac coming back to finish things. It was a pretty intense situation. This went on for about an hour or so. Then the rangers and paramedics found us and I woke up in a hospital bed.

I wanted him charged with attempted murder but it never went anywhere. The GW didn't believe me at first but he called me a few weeks later to let me know that he was convinced that it went down exactly like I'd said. He said he was now certain that when the guy realized what he'd done that he just decided to keep shooting to make it all go away. Never offered help or even went to look for a body. Just walked out to the HWY and waited for the GW to show up. But, as much as he belived that he said he couldn't prove any of it in court and the DA wasn't interested in going for a bigger charge. Internet wasn't so big back then so it was impossible for me to track what was happening. His case went to court and he pleaded no contest to the hunting inside the park charges, but the case was tried in another Parish and it was already over when I heard about it and that was that.

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[FlyGuy]

Hard to top FlyGuy's but...last fall I returned home from bowhunting and my wife was standing in the doorway with my new Swaro BTX in her hands and I'll never forget that look in her eyes...I'll tell you I was scared.
I don't have any good stories to tell.

Now that is funny! Hits pretty close to home too!

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[frankrb3]

Every Grouse Ever!

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Wow flyguy just wow...

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[Broomd]

FlyGuy that was terrifying to read. Much less live. WOW.

Damn straight, good lord.....