Author Topic: Strange things you have seen while hunting (Read 3906 times)

wareagleguy · « **on:** January 13, 2003, 03:47:30 AM »

I was wondering what odd things you have seen while hunting.

The wildest thing I have seen was an animal that I have never seen before. I hunt in north Alabama on both public and private lands. While hunting on Thomas Wildlife Management Area I had a critter walk by me that had not idea what it was. This was in the late 80s around 1988. It looked like a cat but with a head and face of a ferret. Slightly long body but the tail was black and white striped and it was longer than its body.

I told several people about it over the years including game biologist and always got those, "you must have been smoking something" looks.

I was watching a show on TVA about North American wildlife and there it was!! The animal comes from Texas and is called the Ringtail Cat. A little critter that hunts at night. The show said that it's from the Mexico area but I know there is at least one in Alabama. I guess it came to Alabama with the Armadillo.

markc · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2003, 05:23:29 AM »

I grew up hunting in E. Texas Piney Woods and when we began hunting out in W. Texas I was told by the old timers to never enter my box blind without knocking on the door out loud before entering. i asked why figuring they were jsut pulling my leg. Ringtail cats, was their answer. Ringtail what? I ignored them for a couple of seasons, never saw a thing. Then one time, before the deer season began I was climbing up the ladder to open the door to my elevated blind. Swung the door open and saw something hairy and stripped jump up into the open window. Bout scared me to death, I jumped off the ladder back down to the ground. I circled my blind and in the front window was a large ring tailed cat looking down at me. What a wierd looking animal. he just refused to give up the blind. he had taken it over and would not leave without a fight. Sorrow for him, but he eventually lost that fight. I never entered the blind again without knocking on the door first.
markc :-D

denvas · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2003, 11:50:18 AM »

I dont know if this qualifies as odd or not but it was exciting. About 4 years ago I was hunting down in Mexico, north of Tampico by about 75 kilometers. We were down filming a show for Todays Hunter on the Outdoor Channel. (Unfortunately it is off the air now.) The ranch consisted of about 75,000 hectares (185,325 acres) and was huge. The terrain there is a mixture of desert and jungle. The rancher had cut 40 yard wide senderos or right of ways every 400 yards east to west and north to south. So the ranch had foliage in squares that were 400 yards long and 400 yards wide. At each intersection he had pushed the dirt brush from the intersecting senderos in to 4 mounds at one corner of the intersection. These mounds provided a good place to sit and watch for animals. During a tour of the ranch the day before the rancher had pointed out a corn feeder that he had hung up a tree about 80 yards from where my cameraman and I would be hiding among the mounds of dirt and brush. This was the old style feeder that had a stick coming out of the bottom that the deer had to push to the side so that the corn would fall out of the bottom. There was a lot of deer and javelina tracks around the feeder so the prospects of seeing deer was encouraging. (Because of the difficulty and expense of taking firearms into Mexico, the rancher had offered to let us use his rifles. Mine was a turn of the 20th century unidentifiable bolt action in .30-06. The scope that was mounted on this rifle was cracked 4 power that rattled in its rings. The previous day I had spent over 4 hours shimming the rings to tighten them up enough to hold the scope from slipping. Then I did the best I could to sight the rifle in with the mixed lot of ammo he had available. I finally found 20 rounds that looked the same and would print within 3 inches at 100 yards. I decided to limit my shots to that range or less. Anyway you now have an idea of what I had to hunt with. The shows host was first given a Winchester .22 magnum to hunt deer with but the rancher finally secured a Winchester Model 94 in .30-30 that was so rusted it took a couple of more hours to clean it enough to insure that it was shootable. So now you have a rough idea of the rifles we had.) Early the next morning, about 5:00 am the rancher drove us out to the stand and set up a couple of chars for us to sit in. Everything was going just fine until about 5:14, about 30 minutes before sunrise. That is when we heard some heavy breathing from the other side of the nearest mound that was between us and the closet square of foliage. My cameraman glanced at me in the dim light of false dawn with eyes so wide as to be almost comical. We both slowly turned toward the sound of the breathing. He later told me that I was gripping the aged rifle so tight that my knuckles were turning white. Then we heard a loud hu-hu-huuuuu! It sounded like someone coughing on the other side of the mound. But when I stood up to check it out there wasnt anyone or anything to be seen. As the sun came up we both settled down as 3 does slowly fed their way across the sendero towards the feeder. Then just as they neared the feeder we heard this horrendous scream and a loud hu-hu-huuuuu as this huge jaguar jumped out of the bushes and landed on the back of the biggest doe. During the melee that followed the big female lowered her head and crunched the neck of the hapless doe. Then as the dust settled she placed a large paw on the doe and then while looking right out our hiding spot, she let loose with another of her ear shattering screams and hu-hu-huuuuus, almost as if to say Yeah I know you are there but this doe is mine unless you want to come out and fight for her! After a slight pause she picked the doe up in her mouth and turned to drag her off in the bushes. We were both so shaken that I had forgot to raise my rifle in case she charged and my cameraman had forgotten to film the whole event. Later when the truck came to pick us up I walked around the other side of the mound and there in the dirt, less then 10 feet from where we had been sitting, were the tell-tale prints of the jaguar!

huntsman · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2003, 03:21:47 PM »

Brdavis,

The critter you referred to is in fact the ringtail (not, as often erroneously referred to, a ringtail "cat"), Bassariscus astutus. Its closest commonly-known relative is the raccoon. According to my references, its range spans the southwestern United States from East Texas to southwestern Oregon. They are, however, sometimes kept as pets and are common in zoos. You may very well have seen an escaped captive animal. It is possible, but quite unlikely, that you saw an accidental; that is, an animal that has strayed naturally from its normal species range.

My "strange" site wasn't as strange as it was nerve-wracking. My father sat against a tree trunk opposite me the very first time he took me hunting at age 13. Trying to remain quiet and calm so as not to scare away any deer, I watched a coral snake (poisonous) crawl between him and the tree he was backed up against without saying a word. It was a very tense couple of minutes until the reptile finally slid by and disappeared. I told him afterward what I had seen. He said it was probably a good thing he hadn't known it was there, because he probably would have moved, making it more likely to strike. :shock:

Graybeard · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2003, 07:31:20 PM »

I can think of a couple that sorta tie for my most strange encounters. The first was here in Bama. I was sitting in my treestand in the CWMA in a pine tree that has come to be known as the Nine Pine. For the reason see my stories in the Campfire Tales Page.

Anyway I was sitting there minding my business waiting for a deer to come along when a hear a lot of gunfire from in front of me and to my right. I assume someone is shooting at a running deer and missing. I get ready. Soon I see something black and white running up hills and down heading my way. A dog I think? Nope not a dog! As it grew closer and slowed to a walk I could see it was a goat. A black and white feral goat. Now in TX that might not have been a big deal but in Bama goats don't run around loose.

The other was in FL on a game farm. They had pea fowl running around loose. First time I heard and saw them was a bit of a surprise.

GB

volshooter · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2003, 07:52:13 AM »

I won't tell the wierdest one but the most remarkable thing I've seen is a squirrel falling out of a tree. The dazed and confused look on that tree rat's face will be forever. He finally collected his faculities and remounted his tree.
Rick

[/quote]even the best make mistakes

bullet maker · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:07:59 PM »

Will, OK. I don`t know if to tell this or not, cause most of you`all, probably heard about these things, and think people are nuts, if they claim to see them. But on the other hand, maybe some of you`all have seen one also. So here goes.
This deer season, 2003, (Rifle season that is), I was in my tower stand, which is about 15 ft high and completly wraped around with canvass, with shooting windows. About 50 yards away is my deer feeder, which goes off 30 minutes after sunrise, and 30 minutes before sundown. It was a very clear, chilly day, temperature about 30 degress with 30 M.P.H. southern wind. It was the 8th day of the 9 day hunt, and I passed up on 2 little bucks earlier in the season ans wanted a wall-hanger. Well nothing had moved all day. It was getting late and the feeder went off, and I had 30 more minutes that I would be able to see anything. Visability was down to about 65 yards, when a tall hairy black monkey (about 7ft tall) covered in about 3inch hair come walking by. It looked more like a man, with arms swinging as it walked by at about 40yds from me. He never looked my way, just looked straight ahead and keep on walking towards the east.
I stayed in the stand pretty shook up as to what it could have been. Wasn`t no bear, cause we ain`t got none in this part of the state, and I`ve never seen one walk on two legs.
Well it got dark now and I stayed longer hoping it would come back my way. It looked like a young black college basketball player with long langy arms and legs, covered all over with 3 inch hair. I forgot to add that earlier.Anyhow as I was sitting there in the stand and it`s dark now, a very loud scream-holler just to my west about 20 yds. It shook me up so bad I didn`t want to see it then. I climbed down as fast as I could, and ran home, which the house is about 250 yds from this spot.
Don`t know what is was, don`t know if there was more than just the one I saw, cause it was going in a different direction than the one that hollered at me. It could have circled me, the wind was at my back, which would have been blowing towards him. I don`t know?
I didn`t go back to that spot again the rest of deer season, and didn`t see any untill the last 3 day`s of a special doe hunt we got, which was 2 weeks after I saw the wildman.
That` the truth
bullet maker :eek:

volshooter · « **Reply #7 on:** January 16, 2003, 01:10:20 AM »

That's okay BULLET MAKER I seen me a large cat (over 100 pounds) here in east TN once and showed the tracks to my hunting partner. (they have been killed out here for a long time)
I once seen a running dog sized varmit what weren't no dog, during muzzle loader season. It was so startling that I couldn't even raise my gun. I was not going to mention it to my hunting partner that day until he came to me very shaken telling me about "something he seen that he could not identify" It was never identified.
There are still some strange things living in some of these hills.
Rick

bullet maker · « **Reply #8 on:** January 16, 2003, 03:47:00 AM »

Yea, I know what you mean. You know us hunters are out in the woods, more than the average guy is, except for maybe a die hard fisherman, so we are naturaly going to see more different species than what people think there is out there. Here in my parts of the country, Northeastern Oklahoma, I`ve reported seeing Mt, lions for about the past 14 years. Nobody believed me, except a few local fishermen, that seen them to down by the lake, about 2 miles from where I live. The game department said they were peoples pet`s that they probably got tired of feeding and let them go. Well, maybe, but if that`s the case, I`ve seen about 7 different ones, since I been here in this part of the country, and I`ve lived here l5 years now. This year there was so many sightings, that the game department finally said we do indeed have Mt. lions. And everytime they come around, the deer hunting goes to pot.
The wildman I seen though, well, that was no Mt. lion. The jury is still out on that one. My mind could have been playing tricks on me, except that scream , holler, that it did later, I had never in my life heard that before in my life. Back in the spring, I was running my trot line, and came upon some very large human, shaped foot tracks which I cast, once I went back to the house to get the stuff, to mix up and pour in the tracks. The plaster cast, set on my fireplace today, they measure 18 inches and have five toes. :eek:

wareagleguy · « **Reply #9 on:** January 17, 2003, 09:09:13 AM »

Bullet,
I think Shack was down your way playing basketball. :lol:

bullet maker · « **Reply #10 on:** January 17, 2003, 09:35:37 AM »

Someone tell old Shack, next time he`s out walking through the woods, during deer season, to wear his safety orange. :-D

volshooter · « **Reply #11 on:** January 19, 2003, 08:54:01 AM »

I know some day the guys who own the acreage next to dad's will have a "bodacious" story to tell some day. Dad crossed pheasant's and game chickens and turned some of them loose.

Funny looking critters with a errie crow. Tasty though.
Rick

freddogs · « **Reply #12 on:** January 19, 2003, 11:44:32 AM »

:bird: Had a black and white turkey duck fly in while a friend and I where pheasant huntin. The dog retreives them too.

bullet maker · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2003, 11:59:05 AM »

O.K., what did it taste like? :-)

huntsman · « **Reply #14 on:** January 19, 2003, 12:10:57 PM »

Okie-dokie, boys!

We need some of you half-injun types that spurn civilization to contribute a story or two about the craziest thing that ever happened on a snipe hunt.

Then there's the one my great uncle Jethro told all the time about the jackalope that chased off all the deer out of the back 400 for three years running until he met his end totalling a Mac semi on the mill creek road.

Keep 'em coming

!

TCShooter · « **Reply #15 on:** January 20, 2003, 03:07:35 PM »

While this may not be new to others it was a first for me. Had the pleasure of watching a pure white weasel "play" about 40yrds from me. Watched it for about 20 minutes. Another time I had a mallard duck that flew past me and landed on a tree branch about 30 feet off the ground, never saw one in a tree before!

Hud · « **Reply #16 on:** January 20, 2003, 06:01:46 PM »

I was on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming and had already shot my buck so I was hunting with my camera. The day was really foggy and I was on a mountain side in scattered juniper 4 to 10 ft high.

I sensed that something was close, so I squatted down and looked around real good. Then about 30 ft away I spotted a great big eye in a clump of juniper. It looked like a cottontails eye but 20 time larger. I watched it, but couldn't make out what it was through the fog, but I knew it was alive. After about 5 minutes I moved a little bit and then it moved.

A cow elk it was. She stood up. Then from behind her a bull elk jumped over the top of her back and landed right in front of me. He had steam coming out of his nose and the whole bit. His antlers, I think, went all the way back to Chicago! The two elk twirled and disapeared into the fog. I never even got a shot with my camera.

We raise a few emus. I butchered one out in front of the house and hung it up. The carcass weighed around 50 lbs I suppose. That night something grabbed it and hauled it 20ft straight up a large elm tree, in our yard, and stuck it in the first branch. The trunk of the tree is about 2 feet in diameter. It had snowed that night so no tracks. It was partially eaten, but nothing ever came back for the rest of it.

Hud

volshooter · « **Reply #17 on:** January 21, 2003, 02:01:09 AM »

A bull elk jumping at me from 30 feet would brown the drawers of most. come on now, a little skid perhaps? I would have.
Once when hunting Cherokee National forrest on the TN/NC line I was hanging my stand at daylight and had just got 3' off the ground with my feet strapped to my stand, on my way up, and a good size hog busted out from under a spruce tree less than 20 ' from me. It was a good size sow that either choose to hide hoping I'd go away or just sleeping. She ran past/under me squealing and snorting, I had nothing to do but stand there with my teeth in my mouth, yep...browned em.
Rick

I am CAL......... · « **Reply #18 on:** January 21, 2003, 04:31:53 PM »

Well guys I have one to add.About 30 yrs.ago while deer hunting I was walking in a stand of scattered pines and broom straw.The trees were about 30ft. tall and sorta scattered around.The place looked like an abondoned field from long time back.As I was walking along I came upon a pine tree that had a perfect circle around it at about 10ft.out from the trunk.The circle was more of a path about 20ins.wide and was down to the dirt.It was as if something went around that tree and swept every thing out down to the dirt.There were no tracks in the path since the last rain.After studying this a while I walked farther and found another tree the same way.This was very strange it seemed to me.I showed it to different ones who were hunting with me.No one seemed to be very interested and we continued on our way.Time went on and me and my family years later moved back to my home town which as the crow flies would be some 40 miles to the east.Some 10 years later while turkey hunting one spring I walked up on the same scene.A circle made all the way around a pine tree,some 10ft.from the trunk.I was some 40 miles from the first place too. This locality was identical to the first too.Sage and scattered pines.Nobody has been able to tell me what did this and why.Maybe somebody on the forum has seen this and knows what it is and why it was done.These circles were perfect in every respect too.I don't think they could have been more preciest if you tied a rope to the tree very loose and made a circle walking around the tree. I am CAL.....

Dezertyote · « **Reply #19 on:** January 26, 2003, 12:03:22 PM »

:roll: Well let me see...where do I start... Just like ol' bulletmaker and volshooter have claimed, by george there are strange critters out there!!!
For me it all started back in the very early 60s. I was at that age were I was just a little to young to go deer hunting, but could just about taste it.
Well there were stories that were going around here in the hills of Vermont, about an animal that they called (side hill Croncher) Well this critter so-they say, the front and back legs on one side of it are considerable shorter than the other 2 legs. Which can vary from either right or left side. They claim it helps it walk in more comfort on the sides of the hills here, but truly limits its direction in which it can travel either clockwise or counter clockwise around the mts. Well being a young fella and just wanting so bad to go out and hunt one down, but not old enough. So I did the next best thing, on weekends I'd go down to Cummings Hardware store in Chester Depot.Well you see Ol' Mr. (Marvin) Cummings
was the only place around that was a check-in and weigh-in place for deer. There used to be a small porch out on the side where the grain scales were. There'd be me and a couple of my freinds that were in the same situation (to young to hunt). Well we'd sit there and waited for some lucky hunter to bring in one of them Cronchers. There sure were a lot of deer being reported, but ON Cronchers. We'd see a car with a deer strap on the trunk and open the door and holler to Marvin, here comes another one Marvin. Yea see back then there were'nt nearly as many trucks, and Hunters would strap them down on the trucks and some times on top of the roof of their cars. Well this one time we were sittin there, and down the road aways we could see this car coming. Sure enough there was something straped to the roof, and it sure wasn't the color of a deer. Well we opened the door and give Marvin a yell and then jumped down off the porch to get our first look at a Croncher. Well us boys started giggling and laughing till Marvin told us to get back up on the porch and be quiet. Ol Marvin told him that he wouldn't be able to report and weigh the critter that was straped to his roof, but told the hunter that Ol' Mr. (Leroy) Aldrich our area game warden would be able to help him out. Well we were still giggling when Leroy showed up. Leroy ask the fella where he shot that thing and wanted him to take him there. And as that car with Conneticut licence plates and some poor farmers GOAT straped to the roof drove off leading Ol' Leroy to the kill sight, we couldn't stop laughing. :lol:
Wasn't but the next weekend we were sitting there on Croncher watch, and a car from New Jersey with a huge spike horn straped to the trunk pulled up to get checked in and weighed, well Marvin had to get Leroy again. Leroy was interested in where this fella had shot this nice looking
gernsey cow. Us kids just couldn't figger how a seasoned hunter could bag such trophy's :eek: We stayed on Croncher watch down at Cummmings Hardware store till we were old enough to take to the woods after a Croncher on are own. Theres still reports coming in of Croncher sighting to this day, kinda like the famed (Champie) the lockness of lake Champlain.
The Goat & Cow I swear happened as far as the Croncher, well the beast still remains a mystery waiting to be solved...

And Da's Da Twuth :oops:

volshooter · « **Reply #20 on:** January 26, 2003, 05:06:03 PM »

We had a 68 year old hunter kill a small bull elk this year (it did have horns). He mistook it for a white tail. They are gonna burn his ass for it since we don't have an elk season. He killed it several counties from it's release point. He also has to pay for the cost of the restocked elk. But in his defense as soon as he realized his mistake he sent his hunting buddy to fetch the game warden.
Rick

Skeezix · « **Reply #21 on:** January 26, 2003, 08:21:54 PM »

Cal, I don't know where you saw those circles around those trees, but I'm from the northwest Alabama/northeast Mississippi area and I've heard old folks talk about those circles and they call them "Witch Dances". I have some Choctaw Indian friends in NE Miss and a couple of them know about those circles too. They say that's where evil spirits play and avoid areas where they find them. There is even a "Witch Dance" park on the Natchez Trace Parkway about 35 miles or so below Tupelo, and on a sign in the park, they talk about those circles.

And Bullet Maker, I have a very good friend that lives near the lake near Chelsea, OK, and he has told me of seeing the same monkeys around on the east and north side of that lake, and he knows other folks that have seen them too. He has some casts of footprints that are 22" long. And there are reports of the same thing all over NE Miss. I know several folks that have seen "wildmen" or "apemen" in that area and especially in the John Bell Williams Management area along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. I've heard some ungodly screams and hollers at night down in there.

I've had two bad encounters in the boonies while deer hunting. The first happened in Lauderdale County Management Area near Waterloo, Alabama, while I was muzzleloader hunting in 1978 or 79. I was hunting up in the northwest part of the area near a place called Shepherd Hollow. I was easing along very slowly and quietly when I started hearing heavy, gutteral breathing coming from some thick brush just ahead of me. I raised up my binoculars and peered ahead but couldn't see anything. It sounded to me like it might have been a deer that had been shot through the throat and that it was having trouble breathing because of blood in its lungs. I eased forward very slowly and suddenly the heavy breathing changed into a low, threatening growl unlike anything I'd ever heard before, and I could tell that whatever was making the sound was BIG. I really did almost load my drawers. I eased my binoculars back up and was peering into the brush again and I started to make out blood on some leaves and saplings. Then I discovered two menacing yellow eyes looking straight at me. I like to have died right there. Then I made out the rest of a face and then head and then body. It was a full grown cougar crouched facing towards me about 75 ft in front of me, and it had been eating a doe that was laying dead in front of it. I could see the end of its tail twitching and could tell it was pissed that I had invaded its space. I VERY slowly started backing away and raised my muzzleloader slowly. It stayed where it was and when I was about 100 yards or so away, I turned tail and opened up a large can of GONE.

The other incident happened just south of there in Colbert County just west of Thomas Management Area (now called Freedom Hills) where Mr. Davis saw the ringtail cat. In about 1993, my best friend and I had just come back to my truck about 30 minutes after dark from hunting, and there was a bright moon already up. There was 5 year-old cutover to the north of us and fresh cutover to the south of us. We were on top of a ridge and could see really good all around us. My friend wanted to try a new varmint call to see if he could call in some coyotes, so we climbed up in the bed of the truck so we could see even better and he then started calling. Immediately we heard something start loudly crashing through the brush down the hill to the north of us. We whirled around and looked and, to our horror, we could see something dark and huge tearing thru the brush heading straight towards us. It was leaving a wake thru the brush and weeds like the velociraptors on Jurassic Park when they attacked those guys in that field of tall grass. It was about 150 yards away and closing incredibly fast. Our gut reaction was to pile in the truck as fast as possible. The passenger side door was towards where it was coming from. I was frantically trying to get the keys in the ignition and crank the truck when something huge and black blasted out of the cutover and ran right into the door and window on the other side of the truck hard enough to rock the truck. My friend started screaming and yelling in pure terror and jumped and climbed over on top of me. I was trying to push him offa me and crank the truck while this thing was hitting the side of the truck and had its face right against the window. Just as I got the truck cranked and in gear it screamed at us so loud that the sound vibrated our chests. I floor-boarded it and drove like a madman outta there. When I finally got so that I could talk again, I said "What the f*** was THAT??!!!!!" My friend said he didn't know, maybe a pissed-off bear or something. We've never figured out what it was and have asked several game wardens about it, but were afraid to talk about it at the camphouse. And we dang sure never went back over there varmint calling. A year or two later, we had another guy in the club come in all wild-eyed and shaking one night and he had been in the exact same area and something had gotten after him and chased him outta the woods. We still ain't figured it out. :eek:

Skeezix
_____
Only accurate rifles are interesting.

wareagleguy · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2003, 08:36:31 AM »

Skeezix,
sure looks like you and I have hunted the same grounds! I've been in a hunting club in Waterloo for several years. We lost it last year to the Alabama Forever Wild program.

I've hunted in Shepard Hollow many a day!

I am CAL......... · « **Reply #23 on:** January 27, 2003, 02:39:19 PM »

Hello Skeezix

, I really do appreciate your comments about the circles around the trees. I wish I really knew what put them there. I am in the southern part of Georgia. As I stated I have seen them in two different localities being some 40 or so miles apart.The thing that impressed me the most was how precision the circles were. They were perfectly round and at an equal distance from the tree all the way around. Thanks again for your reply,I am CAL.....

Graybeard · « **Reply #24 on:** January 27, 2003, 06:59:13 PM »

You guys sure do hunt in more interesting places than me. Can't honestly say I've ever seen anything I just couldn't identify when out hunting. Now some things I DIDN'T see might have seen ME! Dunno.

I have heard some real strange sounds I couldn't identify. One is a sound I call my "creature". I still haven't a clue what makes the sound. The sound has a sorta catlike and also kinda bird like quality to it. Not quite like either. I first heard this sound with the past 6-8 years I guess it has been. Prior to that I'd never heard it before even tho I've roamed the woods in this part of Bama all my almost 58 years.

Don't think there is a bird in the area I can't identify by the sounds it makes or at least not unless it is one that has moved in within this time period and I've just not yet seen it. Few cats around but am just about 100% sure it is not a cat.

I've heard it on mornings warm enough for a t-shirt and on mornings so cold the leaves crunched under foot from the ice from the rain the night before. Once under just that condition ice on the lives so nothing could move without me hearing it moving on the leaves I heard the sound not 50 yards from me in a fairly open woods area. Hardly any brush low and only large hardwoods. Way too cold for an insect or any kinda cold blooded critter to be out and about. Had to be warm blooded to be out in that. I saw nothing and I heard no movement on the leaves. No birds flew from the area. After a short while the sound stopped as it always does.

Other days I've heard it on a hill on one side of me and then moments later somewhere else hundreds of yards away. A bird might could move that far that fast but nothing on the ground could and I heard no ground movement anyway. Might have been different ones not the same tho.

Once in SW GA I was hunting with Rick Brown at his club and heard the sounds of my creature. I also this time heard something clearly moving around in the leaves just behind a screen of brush not 25 yards away. Yet I never saw it and it just stopped making the sound after five minutes or so. No bird flew away and nothing ran away as the ground was dry and the leaves noisly.

The sound if you can judge by volume sounds to me like it might come from a creature bigger than a squirrel or rabbit. It has a sound not totally unlike I've heard a coon make but with far far greater volume than I've ever heard and the sound isn't the same. It isn't the same as ANY sound I've ever heard and could identify the critter in fact.

So what mystery creature roams the woods of AL, GA and MS all three states I've heard it in? Bets the heck outta me.

GB

volshooter · « **Reply #25 on:** January 28, 2003, 04:59:28 PM »

I forgot one, dad crossed pheasants with game chickens and turned some loose. They don't look exactly like either and sound like something pre-historic. Cain't wait for some of the local hunters to tell the tale of the bird from 10,000 BC.
Rick

prusch · « **Reply #26 on:** February 13, 2003, 11:47:22 AM »

Well this is not all that exciting but it's one of the more unusual things I've seen in the woods. A number of years ago we had one of our snowy Wisconsin deer seasons. There was about 2 feet of snow for opening day. I was sitting on a hill in a fairly heavily wooded section. As it got light I noticed some tracks in the snow below me. It was about 18" wide and rounded like someone dragged a beach ball in the snow. After a bit I went and looked at it but as i said all I saw was a rounded impression in the snow. That night at camp over cocktails the topic came up as some of the other guys had seen the track too. (Thank goodness)The next morning I was back in the same area and saw something moving along the ground. It moved slowly in the snow and was dark colored. I got my binocs out and looked at about a 30 pound porcupine plowing it's way through the snow. The snow was so soft that his foot prints were covered by his tail dragging through the snow. Now some of you may have run across this before but it was a first for me. I'd seen porkies before but never in deep snow like this. This answered the track question but the week wasn't over. After I saw that first one they seemed to be everywhere. One of the guys was walking down a narrow trail and had to step off as one was walking to him and never stopped. I don't know if they have a cyclic population like grouse or what but we must have seen at least 75 porkies over the course of the 9 day season.

alpini · « **Reply #27 on:** February 15, 2003, 05:56:40 AM »

Seen a deer and a mountain lion have a wrestling match.
About 6 years ago on a bow hunt, late September I was sleeping in the back of my Scout. I woke up out a deep sleep with the vehicle rocking back and forth. It was a full moon out so I could see pretty well.
The first thing I heard when I opened my eyes was mad cat noises and a buck snorting, I sat up and looked out of the back tailgate and saw a small buck and a smaller cat facing off. The cat lunged for the deer's upper head or neck and the deer ducked at the same time. The deer then ducked under a fence that was parallel to where I was camped and the cat just blew off the hunt right then and there walking away slowly, sounding really pissed.
I sat there a minute or two pondering and then realized what happened. I looked around for my knife or my arrows and they were way out of reach so I closed the tailgate and window thinking the cat might jump in here with me.
Clayton
I got up the next morning and checked the tracks. The deer ran headlong into the side of my vehicle and ran toward the back of it with the cat following behind. The cat picked up on the deer about 25 feet away.
I still kind of wonder if the deer ran into my vehicle on purpose knowing the cat would fear humans or maybe buy a few seconds of time.

Hud · « **Reply #28 on:** February 16, 2003, 05:40:18 AM »

This was back in the days before Voyagers Nat. Park, Boundry Waters Canoe Area, and protected wolves.
I was hunting somewhere north of Ely MN on a homemade snowmachine.
I had shot a deer, 5 grouse, and 10 snowshoe rabbits. I had done really well as game was scarce that year. I was on my way home when the snowmachine quit on me. So I packed the rabbits and grouse inside the deer stomach and started dragging.

Anyway as I was dragging the deer a pack of six hungry wolves hit the blood trail and fell in behind me. So I started throw rabbits and grouse out along the trail to apease them and slow them down. The wolves scarfed up all the grouse and rabbits and kept on coming.

As it was getting dark I was getting a little bit nervous so I decided to sacrifice my nice buck. This I hoped would give me time to get home in the dark. They finnished off the deer in record time and kept on comming.

Now I was really scared as I only had a few cartridges left. As they got closer I turned and sat down in the snow and took aim at the lead wolf. I dropped it right in its tracks. The other wolves were still so hungry that they started to eat on the one I'd shot. Then they started after me again.

I kept this up untill there was only one wolf left and I was out of shells.

As this last huge wolf approuched I backed up against a large pine tree and drew my knife. He snarled and drew closer. Just as I thought he was about to leap, he fell over in the snow gave a few kicks and died right there in front of me.

At first I though I'd must of hit him with one of my shots, but then after looking him over I realized he had died of a belly ache after eating 5 grouse, 10 rabbits, one deer and five other wolves!

Hud :wink:

Border · « **Reply #29 on:** February 24, 2003, 05:03:01 AM »

My strangest sighting,and there have been alot, occured in the early 80's.My buddy and I were out coonhunting with our hounds.Lots of weird things happen when you are coonhunting at night but this is one of the best.We were in southern NH in a cornfield.The dogs were out hunting.Off in the distance we saw a light in the air.It whizzed towards us so fast you wouldnt believe it.Not a sound out of it.It hovered for a few seconds and did some erratic moves up and down.It buzzed right over the tree tops without any noise whatsoever.We were going nuts.Half scared to death of this UFO.It flew low over the cornfield at a very fast speed.we saw a couple cars on the tar road slow and stop,they must have been watching it too.Finally the thing shot off like a rocket until it was out of sight.It looked about as big as a small plane but it sure wasnt !!!
We grabbed the dogs and headed home.We were just flabbergatsed at what we had seen.
The next day when I got home from work my buddy was calling on the phone."Look at the front page today' was all he was saying.There in big bold print was the headline "What Was It ?" Apparently we werent the only ones that had seen it.The article stated there were numerous calls to the police stations in the area about the UFO.At the time Pease Air Force Base was located close by.This was a SAC base that was always rumoured to have nuclear weapons(now pretty much known to be true since the base has closed) and also be an experiemental base for new aircraft and weapons.the paper said the Air Force had no comment about the UFO.
We never did figure out what it was but at least people believed us when we told them what we had seen !!!Without the newspaper article I wouldnt even have mentioned it to anyone.