What is the creepiest/spooking thing you came across in the turkey woods...

[guesswho]

We drive by this place on my U.P. MI hunts, well I can't even explain this and even just typing this out gives me the chills. I stopped the truck and took this picture of this old, abandoned farmhouse. Nobody has ever been there in the 30+ years...

You be the judge CAF


MK M GOBL

Resembles Loretta Lynn's old home place in Kentucky.  They have the same set-up. 

[silent tom]

Creepiest thing I've ever ran across is the hunting public guys. 

That long haired dude is real strange.

[GobbleNut]

I haven't had anything happen, or seen anything, that would match some of the stuff above, but the stories of "critter encounters" did remind me of an incident many years ago.  I was hunting mule deer in one of our desert mountain ranges and was walking along a relatively open hillside covered with assorted knee to waist-high brush.  I was slipping along, scanning for deer on the open hillsides, when two mountain lions sprang up out of the brush about ten feet in front of me. 

Now, they didn't want anything to do with me, and high-tailed it down the slope into a shallow draw below me and disappeared. I watched for them to reappear on the other side of the draw, and when they didn't come out, I decided I would walk down to see where they had gone.  I slipped into the draw below where they had gone out of sight and started walking up the bottom, mostly just curious as to how they had managed to vanish without me seeing them again.  Note: I was well-armed with my deer rifle and was not concerned that they might come after me.

As I moved up the draw, I noticed a small, cave-like depression in the side with some overhanging brush maybe ten yards in front of me, and there were the two lions hunkering down in the depression staring back at me.  They were both fully grown lions, but I could tell by looking at them that they were youngsters.  Anyway, we just stared at each other for a few moments and I decided I better leave them alone, so I turned to walk back down the draw. 

I took a few steps away, going around a slight bend in the draw, and there was momma lion coming up the draw towards me about ten yards away.  We saw each other about the same instant and she immediately turned and bounded out of sight.  To this day, that is probably the coolest experience I have ever had in my hunting lifetime, and I always wonder what might have happened if I had not turned to leave when I did and momma had come around the corner with me so close to her babies.  I suspect it could have gotten exciting... 

[28roper]

I have had one good scare in archery season and another creepy but ultimately cool experience in the turkey woods.

2015 - Hunting a public river island during the rut, I started my hike in about 2 hours before first light to get set up. I had my bow in hand and a climbing stand on my back and had about 300 yards of busting through thick cover to get towards a big stand of hardwoods that always has good sign.  I had about 15 yards of brush left to get through when all hell broke loose and deer started running past me from the direction I was heading.  I no sooner took two more steps and heard claws scratching up a tree directly in front of me, followed by an awful cry 20 foot up the tree.  In my state of confusion I stood still and was soon greeted by the jaw popping and growling of a presumably momma black bear on the ground no more than 20 yards in front of me.  Retreating a few steps to a tree, I nocked an arrow and drew my bow and waited (I had a bear tag for the season).  A few tense minutes in the pitch black went by before the cub came down and they bolted past me...I've carried my pistol every time archery hunting since then.

2021 - Hunting deep in the woods of Southern Virginia my buddy and I had roosted a gobbler the night before and snuck in tight the next morning.  We ultimately did not get a shot that morning, but he continued to roost in the vicinity for the next 2 days and stayed just out of range each time.  Getting in there in the dark each morning we never noticed it, but right behind us was a family burial plot from the mid 1800's to early 1900, probably a total of 15 head stones.  I hunted that longbeard for 5 days and never got him but have been left wondering if the Parker family of Southern VA kept him protected from me.  Really neat to see the place they picked to lay their family to rest.

[dublelung]

Not spooky or while turkey hunting but I found a Remington 1187 in about 2" of water in the Mississippi Delta a few years ago. Couldn't make out all the serial numbers but listed it on several forums and facebook without locating the owner so I had it restored. I've never hunted with it but think it would be cool to kill a gobbler with it.

[J.D. Shellnut]

I have three and these are not embellished one bit. Make sure you don't skip reading the third incident because it is about as out there as it can get.

1.  The first one was in 1988, and we were deer hunting (sorry no turkey hunting) up in the mountains in a pretty remote area, and it was my father and myself and we had gotten back to the truck on the WMA gun hunt we were participating in and were headed out back to a main road. About halfway out (and it was well after dark by then), we came upon a black hearse backed up into a parking spot on the dirt road and there were folks walking all around the hearse and out in the road dressed in all black from head to foot. They all had on some type of black robes. Even had something black over their faces. Needless to say, my father who was driving put a little extra weight on the accelerator and we got on by them as fast as possible. Still can see that in my mind very vividly even to this day.

2.  About ten years ago, I was hunting the same WMA up in the mountains by myself and was up in a canyon rim and found a series of garbage bags with pieces of clothes and it sparked my curiosity and I got to looking around and found a man's wallet with driver's license, hunting license and money, etc. in it. Well of course, I could not help but think that I had found a murder scene where someone had dumped a dead body in garbage bags and coyotes or something had found the site and tore things up. So I came home and contacted the game warden and gave him the wallet (no phone service up at the site where I found the wallet), and he eventually got back to me and said that the guy was alive and well and that he was very grateful that I had found his wallet so he could get his money back. The game warden also was very concerned about the man's well being before running him down, but turns out the story from the other hunter was that he was tracking a deer and had lost his wallet and had looked and looked for it to no avail. Still wonder about the garbage bags and clothes, but maybe that being in the same place was just a coincidence as we have had some tornadoes and that stuff could have blown in from far away with high winds.

3.  I saved the best one for last and God as my witness this is the truth. About fifteen years ago, one of my good buddies who I trust with my life was hunting the same WMA, and had drove up to the very top of the mountain way before daylight (he was hunting alone that day) and had just parked his truck and gotten out to gather his stuff to walk out the ridge. Keep in mind before I finish the story that there was only one road going in and out and that he had just driven the entire length of that road and seen no one. That is a key fact to grasp about how weird this is fixing to get. But anyway, he had just parked and gotten out and was gathering his stuff when he heard someone walking up the gravel road and the sound was getting closer and closer. Needless to say, he had not seen anyone on that road on the way up the mountain, so he was very fixated on the sound as it approached. Well, out of the dark (the light from the truck cab kinda gave some ambient light as the sound got real close) appears this man who is very elderly and is dressed in dress clothes with dress shoes and what my friend said looked like a dark members only jacket came walking right by him on the road and walked right by him. My friend said hello and good morning and yet the man never did say a word but instead walked right by him and up the road and out of sight and was gone just like that. Keep in mind that this is about 4:30 in the morning and it is about 30 degrees outside and this man was not on the road anywhere when my friend drove in. Needless to say, my friend was very apprehensive to even hunt that morning, but he eventually did go onto into the woods where he intended to hunt.

NOW - this is where it really gets interesting. Without my friend saying a single word about this to another friend who was a big coon hunter,  - a few years later - this coon hunter one day told an odd story about an elderly man dressed in similar fashion who suddenly appeared on the very top of the mtn on a ridge in heavy timber well off of the road one night (very close to where my friend had the original sighting) about 3:00 a.m. and wallked by and once again the man did not say a word or answer the coon hunter - but instead just walked on by him and out of sight into the middle of the night. The coon hunter was very shaken by the sight to say the least. Think about it, what kind of deal is this where an old man is in dress clothes and is walking around in the high elevations of the mtn in the wee hours of the morning with no light or nothing and does not even speak when spoken to?? Now - here is the thing, my friend encountered a third man who saw basically the same thing about a mile down the mtn from the first two sightings and his story was very similar to the first two. I guess the next question is this - do you believe in ghosts? I would have said no, but just don't know because this is a true story and it is hard for me to believe an actual man could be hanging out like that in such an elderly state and dressed so wrong for the elements and yet be among the living. Anyway, we still talk about that often and we eventually named the man "Members only man."

Great story. You mind at least telling what state? And yes, I believe in ghosts. I've seen and heard way too many stories.

This is in North Georgia. There is so much to consider about what happened. Imagine taking an elderly man from an assisted living place and having them go and climb around on the mtn. Maybe that example is too extreme as some elderly men are pretty active, but this area is very steep terrain, so physically this just does not seem like something an elderly person would be doing - especially in the middle of the night and the individual was just not dressed right for the low temps regardless of age. Whoever or whatever it was, it happened, but it defies human logic. My buddy did not tell about this event for several years because it bothered him and he thought folks would think he was out of it, but eventually did after the other hunter who was coon hunting told about seeing what sounded like the same man under similar if not even more bizarre conditions. After that, a third person as said earlier, saw and also described the same type event about a mile or so down the mtn from the other two sightings.

Coopers creek wma???

[reflexl]

Several years ago I was deer hunting and had shot a buck. I was about a 1/2 mile from my Scout. I went and got the Scout and loaded the deer. This is open fields and fence rows. There was no one near me. I hopped up in the driver's seat and shut the door. Before I could get it started I glance in the mirror and  there was a very tall man walking up behind me. I looked in the driver's side mirror and realized he was getting pretty close. I could see him vividly.  He was about 6' 6" tall. He was wearing a pale yellow sweater and a tie. Dressed very nicely.  I opened the door to get out and speak to him and when I looked back he was gone. I looked  all over as there wasn't anywhere to hide but he was no where to be found. I picked up my son at the other end of the farm and we went back and searched for him but he was gone without a trace.