What's the scariest thing you've encountered in the dark either walking to the stand or out of the stand. For me, I walked up on a sow black bear and two cubs. Just turned around and made a different path to the stand
I walked up on a guy who was, uh, working on getting some hairy palms. In the daylight. That was sorta scary.... mostly because he tried to follow me and make small talk after he put his junk away. In the dark, I could hear something rustling in the leaves behind me as I was walking out of the woods one night. It was right behind me. I stopped. It stopped. I'd walk, it would follow. Finally I turned on my flashlight and whirled around..... it was my bow rope. Scariest four legged critter I've walked up on in the dark... a skunk.
Just climbed out of treestand and was walking to the pick up and I met a big boar hog face to face at about 5 yards.I was sure glad he ran back where he came from.
I have two... Once on the way to my stand in the pitch dark I stepped right in the middle of a covey of quail. When they flushed I thought I had soiled my pants! The second was while climbing a tree with my climber (no hand climber, just hugging the tree). Reached around the tree when I was about 15 feet up and my hand went right into a hole on the back side of the tree...it was occupied...a squirrel ran all the way up to my elbow before beating a hasty retreat. Nearly soiled my pants yet again. Let's not even discuss the time I actually soiled my pants
I came out of my stand at night and started my walk to the truck after about 40 feet of walking i heard something so i turned shined my headlamp and flashlight in the direction of the noise and saw 4 sets of glowing eyes about 30 yards away and almost crapped myself so i turned walked real fast about 100 yards to the truck got in turned the truck faceing the direction with my high beams and 4 yotes were following me out. Another i was walking to my stand early morning just taking it in and minding my own being quiet i got about 100 yards into the woods had about another 60 or so yards to go so i walk right past this bush and outta no were i hear the craziest noise ever and i actually fall on my butt it startled me so much i scared a turkey that must had been in the bush or next to it and it didnt hear or see me till i was on top of it it scared the crap outta me.
One of mine was when I was in my stand an hr before daybreak and fell asleep and about fell out of my stand when a doe came up behind me on the hill and blew at me Bowhunt Madness
HOLSTEIN BULL I was walking out to my stand in the dark, along the neighbor's fence line, when I could hear their Holstein bull snorting and running at me. He blew thru 4 strands of barbed wire fence like it wasn't even there, just a few feet ahead of me. Fortunately, my stand was just another 30 yards and I didn't take the time to tie off my equipment or to my life line either. Lets hear them! MOBU
I stay in the stand till it is black dark. Couple years back i put doe sent out while hunting one evening trying to lure in a buck. The yotes started yelping bout 30 min before dark down the hollow. The scent must of attracted the pack cause they worked their way up the hollow then back toward me. By the time it got dark i had yelping yotes all around me. My hunting buddy called me on the radio and asked how close were they said he thought they had to be on that ridge i said i was climbing on. Let him know the closest was bout 22 ft straight down. I let him know that as soon as i felt safe i was getting down and coming out so if he heard something breaking bushes coming out and screaming like a little girl dont shoot its just me. Lol. Finally got down took a unknown route ("short cut") back to truck. Hard fast walk trot lol. Open up the truck door and my buddy asked if i was alright. By the look on his face i could tell something was wrong. I said yes just wore out due to getting hung up in that big saw brier thicket. He started laughing and i asked him what was so funny? He replied back that it looks as you lost a pint of blood on your face and neck, thought you got to close to those yotes but it must of been those saw briars. All the time i thought it was just sweat rolling due to hurrying out of there. Sorry its a long but thats how that hunt went.
You kid about a squatch until you actually see something that resembles one...maybe it was my imagination maybe it wasn't but many years ago it scared the sh** out of me. I don't worry about anything now. We walked up on a bear in the dark last year. It was way more afraid of us then we were of it. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk
I climbed up to get in my stand once on a new moon well before daylight only to grab another hunters boot on the platform. He screamed then I scream. Yes, it was my stand on private ground. I had a few choice words for him.
Whenever I get the chance, I turn my head lamp off while sneaking to my stand for morning hunts before sunlight. One time I made my way from my car, crossed a creek, turned my head lamp off and proceeded to walk the rest of the 100 yards with just moonlight to my stand. I got to the base of my tree and started to tie off my bow and pack when a doe about 5 feet away blew at me and thundered off. It startled me so bad I could hardly climb into my stand and settle in, I had no idea she was there. I also had another encounter with some guys i thought were trespassers. I was up in my tree when a pickup comes rolling down the dirt road near the clearing I was hunting. I heard them get out of the truck and decided to let them know I was there by yelling "HEY! I'm hunting here". It was that exact moment they both pulled out their pistols and a shotgun, looked in my direction and said "Oh yeah? Who the F are you?". I thought i was a dead man for about 5 seconds until they informed me they were the landowner's cousins and were just there to target shoot. They apologized for disrupting my hunt and let me target shoot with them for a while. But within that 5 second span, I thought I was going a goner.
I few years ago I was sitting in my stand in the dark and had a owl land on my hand. I about s@!$ and peed my pants and the same time. When I took my glove off it left a scratch on my hand from the talons. Another time when I was walking to my stand in the morning I had about 20 head of cattle come trotting towards me and one was leaping in the air. I took off as fast as I could.
Before first light, ground sit, I had turned off the light a few minutes earlier so my eyes were still adjusting, pack of 4 dogs within 20 yds. ~Bill
I told this story before but a buddy shot a deer on the edge of Lake Moultry SC and we couldn't find it. I saw eyes out in the water and thought it was the deer. I stripped down and began walking out to get the deer... it started moving... then went under... it was a gator... very much alive and me... very much butt naked and standing in the water.
