strange and scariest things while hunting or fishing NY

[noodle one]

I have had turkeys come out of trees before first light that sounded like they were coming down on my head, but that wasn't bad compare to what happen to me  while I was fishing one summer  for trout, It was a beautiful afternoon and the birds were singing and the sun was high  and not a cloud in the sky. I was working my way down stream though a valley with high mountains on each side when out of no where came the loudous  bang that I have ever heard in my life right over my head and it scaried the the day lights out of me like nothing ever had.. When I pulled myself togetter and looked down the valley I saw two trainer jets not 500 feet above the vally floor a half mile down stream and moving fast. I could just see those pilots having a good laugh about how they scaried the s#&t out of me. I had to climb out and sit down for a few min and check my pants and thank God I didn't have a heart  attack.

[sweet old bill]

I was fishing and a snake came swimming by and I had to make tracks out of the water.

 

But the sound of a pack of coyotes running in the dark as you sit in a natural ground blind waiting for the first sign of daylight is still number 1 on my list.

[noodle one]

I was fishing and a snake came swimming by and I had to make tracks out of the water.

 

But the sound of a pack of coyotes running in the dark as you sit in a natural ground blind waiting for the first sign of daylight is still number 1 on my list.

Yes , those water snakes can be nasty suckers

[growalot]

...Heck there's too many...lol

When young and living in Florida 10miles south of Orlando I was in the swamp and my favorite fishing hole....had the bamboo pole rigged and line in the water...there were two cranes on the opposite shore of the the small water hole...all of a sudden a head comes out of the water and grabs one of the cranes legs and drags it in to and under the water...it was the biggest snapping turtle I had and to the day ever have seen...that was the strangest...I never knew snapping turtles would go after something that big...Stopped swimming in that swamp...

[vizslas]

This one is not scary but curious to say the least. Many nights I would walk out onto the breakwall, past the peacebrige. I was fishing for Walleye. Every trip there seemed to be something to remember, like the night this guy wanted to know exactly where i cought the two five pounders I was carrying out. I told him just where I had cought them, Not. I saw a beaver in the canal, just west of the peace bridge. That was the first encounter of a Beaver in buffalo. Looks like a breeding pair lives around Tonawanda Island, spotted them this past summer from my kayak. The strangest thing I ever saw was what looked to be a dead Lama jammed up into one of the culverts under the peace bridge. This happened around 1995. This thing had to be deer size or bigger. It had to be it was stuck in the culvert, it didnt look like a deer,and it wasnt a dog.

[Pygmy]

One night during deer season I picked up a " 1:00 AM Special"  at the Cameron Hilton, a bar in a cornfield near Cameron, NY.

 

The next morning I woke up in her trailer and got my first good look at her.

 

Scared me so bad I seriously considered adopting a gay lifestyle.

 

Fortunately, I got over it....

Edited December 30, 2013 by Pygmy

[Birdhunter]

Last october, I was almost attacked by an owl. It happened not once, but twice about a week apart and in two different locations about 10 miles from each other.

I was wearing light gloves that were camo, except for the index finger, which was a dark brown for whatever reason. I was up in my treestand and I caught movement slightly off to my right. I look over to see a big owl, eyes lock on me....wings spread...and those huge talons out and ready for action. I waved my arms and made some type of noise and the owl flared off about 10 ft. in front of me. It went up to a nearby branch and stared at me for about 5 minutes before it finally took off. 

I am lucky I didn't fall out of my stand (I did have on a harness) or have a heart attack! That thing was big!

I learned two things from these encounters:

1. the owls must've thought that the brown part of the glove was a mouse or something...I don't wear them anymore in the woods. 

2. My camo pattern must be pretty damn good to fool two different owls!!

[vizslas]

I saw a flying owl in the woods. They can be very large and scary.

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[CharlieNY]

I also had a strange encounter with an owl. I was out rabbit hunting with my beagles one day and they were running a bunny in a thicket along an abandoned railroad line. I positioned myself for a shot in a likely spot for the bunny to cross the line. As the dogs ran the bunny out of the thicket and onto the old railroad line, I raised my 20 ga. to take the shot, when all of a sudden something came into my line of fire. An owl had swooped down and grabbed the bunny. I just stood there in amazement. As he tried to fly away, he only got a few yards above the ground and then dropped the bunny. The bunny was fine and ran off. I pulled the dogs off that rabbit figuring that he deserved the live that day.

[landtracdeerhunter]

The most strangest thing that has ever happen during a hunting season would be some time ago, what I suspected to be a huge meteor fell out of the north sky into Lake Ontario. Lit up everything . Checked with NOAA.several weeks after, never anything mentioned.

Edited December 30, 2013 by landtracdeerhunter

[Uncle Nicky]

Had a white skunk within 3 yards of me, I was on the ground turkey hunting. I didn't want to spook or surprise him, but I had the shotgun up; if I got sprayed, he was getting sprayed also. He finally figured out what the camo blob was & took off running.

Another time I heard a "rock" come whistling through the trees about 30 yards in front of me, a millisecond later I heard the gunshot that sent the rock my way (was up in a treestand).

Once saw what I thought was a coyote sneaking along the ground about 50 yards in front of me on all fours(I was turkey hunting in a tent blind). I looked through the shotgun scope, and the "coyote" was sitting up now, aiming at my jake decoy, if he shot we would have gotten peppered. My friend that was sitting with me went ballistic, came running out of the blind yelling "DON"T SHOOT!! DON'T SHOOT!". I seriously thought he was going to beat the guy, it turned out it was a local teenager whose cousin had gotten permission to hunt the property 3 owners ago.

All in NY.

[NYbuck50]

I put my climber on a tree that a turkey was roosted in in the dark one morning. Didnt realize it until he took off while i was half way up, almost nailed me right in the head.  I dont know who was more scared, me or the bird.

[ants]

Me and two friends were fishing the salmon river. We were 18 or 19 years old. We were wading out and the water started to rise quickly. We made a mad dash for the shore. Me and my one buddy made it but my other friend fell when he was about 5yds. from shore. He kind of got swept into some brush that was hanging out. We grabbed him and pulled him to shore. We had been grabbing at him so frantically, that by the time we got him to shore we had his coat and shirt pulled right up over his head. (seems funny now). We ended up stuck on the wrong side of the river. I forget what month it was but it was cold and we had a pretty long walk back to our car.

[PREDATE]

Being a predator hunter and since I mostly hunt them in the dark, by myself, I don't scare very easy. Here's a true story that happened 3 years ago on our family land that has been in my family since the early 1800's. I was predator hunting one night and ventured out of the fields and into the timber to a ladder stand. It was mid January and there was no snow on the ground. Anyway, I had done some calling from up in the stand and soon heard an animal approaching, a heavy animal with footsteps that sounded like a deer. The footsteps were spaced apart so I knew it wasnt a small animal with a small stride like a raccoon or opossum. I figured either a yote or deer. So the sound came directly towards me and when it got about 25yds away it stopped. I then hit it with my flashlight and there was nothing there. I thought maybe it was just standing behind a tree and I couldn't see it. Nope! After a couple minutes I called a few times and still nothing. I then climbed down with the light shining the whole time. Still nothing. After I walked over to where it was last heard I saw/heard no evidence of anything fleeing. Needless to say I called it a night and started walking back to the house.

[mmkay]

Oddest thing, I ever saw in the woods was when I was hunting a small patch of state land in Putnam county some 20 years ago. I’m 30 feet up a tree watching a trail, when I see two young lovers holding hands and being very affectionate towards each other. As they get directly under my stand, I realize that it’s two dudes.

 

2nd runner up is when I walked to my stand in the dark and stepped on a sleeping coyote.  my 250lbs crushed the poor thing.  it howled and whined for about 1/2 in the dark...never saw it in the day light

[turkeyfeathers]

Buddy was attacked in his treestand last year by a screech owl. Opening day of deer season. I got the text from him and literally laughed out loud in my stand. Dang thing hit him in the head 3x.

 

Watched another friend wading below Scoby hill dam . No felt liners. He was trying to walk and starting to slide sideways, deeper and deeper until he hit the channel. Poof he was under freezing cold water. Good thing  his boots cinched tight and a great swimmer. 

 

Scariest thing to happen to me was snowshoeing in 0 degree weather across a beaver swamp and hit where they had run and ice worn thin under the snow. Up to my chest I went. Not easy crawling out with shoes on. Miles from car. Thank goodness for smartwool socks and gators. 

[skeets716]

Never a big fan of the dark, was walking in to go on morning watch one deer season and got about 150 yds away from the truck when I heard this crashing through the woods to my left in a pine plantation ( I was walking down the edge of it).  Kept getting closer and closer, I just leaned against the nearest tree and braced for...who knows?  A pack of coyotes, 4 in front of me and at least 3 behind come flying by.  I assume they were chasing a deer which was responsible for a lot of the noise.  Turned around, walked back the truck and listened to the morning sports til the light came up.  Yes, I watched deer come out of the woods where I could've been on watch!

[Terry]

My story is one I have heard other people tell and I always wrote it off as bs or a bad misinterpretation of what really happened. It was this last archery season and I hit a doe about an hour before dark. I thought the shot was a hair too far back so I gave it a bit before tracking. Anyways, I found the deer pretty quick after I started, but it was well after dark. So with the help of my headlamp I started gutting her. About half way through I had a coyote start barking and whining at me from about 50 yards away. I thought it probably didn't know I was there so I shined my really bright headlamp towards it and yelled out to it. I went back to my business and it started again, so I yelled at it loudly for the second time. To make a long story short, the coyote continued to make noise and it followed me for the entire 300 yard drag back to my truck. It never got closer than 40-50 yards, but it definitely let me know it was there every few minutes and I did the same. Creepy

Edited December 30, 2013 by troutfisher13111

[Woodjr55]

This year during bow I had to walk down to the far end of the property after dark to pick up my buddy be as he didn't have a flash light. I get to a fallen tree that's in the middle of the path and as I start to cross over it a coyote howls about 15 yards away in the direction I was heading. Scared the crap out of me. Told my buddy good luck he's on his own

[wooly]

A few years ago I was hiking for antlers and making my way through a stand of mature pines. It was raining and I was soaked to the bone. The wind started to pick up  quite a bit, so I started to head out towards a less mature woods. Before I could escape the pines, it started hailing sideways, thundering and lightning, and about a 15 minute spurt of straighline winds started gusting through the pines at 90mph. Visability dropped to ABSOLUTE ZERO and I could hear the treetops snapping off like gunfire all around me..... and close!

I had no idea which way was out, so I hunkered down right where I was, hugged a tree trunk, and said a prayer untill the storm blew through.

I thought for sure I was stuck in a freak tornado and wouldn't make it out alive,lol

[ncountry]

After an evening hunt in the rain, I was a couple miles from the rd. By the time i packed everything up it was getting pretty dark, so I started hoofing it out. Of course I had forgotten my flashlight so all I had was my cell phone.. I was moving right along up this narrow ridge not much wider than 20 yds ,dropping steeply into ravines on both sides. All of a sudden there was a loud woof!! sound right in front of me , maybe 30-40 feet. I stopped in my tracks trying to see what it was . I was sure it was a bear. Wishing I had my shotgun not muzzleloader. As I am shining my cell phone light at the spot trying to see it, I can hear it stomping around and thrashing the ground. Then it made a groan/growl and I saw a flash of white. Sounded exactly like the "death moan or growl " I have heard a few deer make just before expiring. After a few minutes/seconds I decided it was definitely a deer, I took a few steps forward and what ever it was took off the direction I had to walk to get out of there. I actually was not scared/nervous anymore. I walked over to the spot where it was expecting to find blood.. Nothing just some scuffed up ground. Now I was scared again ..lol maybe it was a bear??? Seemed like a long walk out of the woods...

[UpstateNomad90]

This story takes place on Kayuta Lake in Forestport, NY. It was around 2008-2009 after I was fresh out of high school and decided to take a trip out to camp and fish some local lakes and streams. So my buddy and I strapped the canoe on top of the explorer and head out to camp. When we made it to the boat launch parking was a little tight because a guy was sitting in his 1980's ford pickup truck. So I got out and asked if he can pull forward so we can unload the boat. He pulled forward without a problem and as we were getting ready to launch off, he jumped out of his trucking yelling wait wait! So we waited for him and he came over and said, Boys I am telling you to be careful there is pirates out on this lake and they are chasing people! My buddy and I said oh thanks for the heads up, we will keep our eyes open. As we paddle out to where we wanted to fish we determined that the hippie guy had to be on some sort of psychedelic drugs or something. We fished for about 30 minutes when all of a sudden I heard my buddy say OH **** and start paddling like crazy. I looked back and there was a wooden boat that had a pirates flag coming straight for us, so we decided to paddle under a bridge where it couldn't reach us because it was too tall. After laughing and pulling ourselves together we decided to fish the far end of the lake where the boat couldn't reach us. After asking around town there was a group that had a camp on the lake who turned a boat into a wooden pirate ship that liked to go around the lake and harass people. Long story short always trust the hippie people. 

[Hoss315er]

I went out coyote hunting on New Years eve a couple years ago. It was about 8* outside and snow on the ground. I headed up a power line right-away and started up this hill. At the top is a radio tower. Funny, I noticed the tower had a light that was out. I happen to glance again in the direction of the tower and the access road and see headlights in the treetops.

 

I turn off my headlamp and am standing in a field silouhetted by the snow and moon light. I'm roughly the size of bigfoot and might as well left my headlamp on.

 

A truck pulls up in front of the tower about 40yds from me. I can hear guys talking in the cab. I was wondering if they were out calling, too. Then, I thought about the tower access road having a locked gate at the main road. Maybe they were there to replace the light on the tower. The driver stuck a spotlight out the window and started scanning the field. I thought about calling out to them as the light almost fell on me a few different times. If he scanned any further left out his window, he would have cast it on me.

 

But they really did not need the light to see my figure standing there. The light went off and 2 guys got out of the truck. They walked up to the fence that surroned the tower. They turned on a flshlight and I could hear them shaking the lock on the fence enclosure. They walked the entire perimter of the fence line; shining their light into the enclosure. I believe they were "scrappers" looking for wire and metal to steal.

 

Now I think I'm going to have to call 911 and I can't even recall the name of the road to direct the police to find the access road. I thought about sneaking closer to get a plate number. I had my 222 rem. bolt action and wished I had wore my pistol...how had they not seen me yet?

 

They finally returned to the truck and drove away. I approached the fence and saw that there was nothing for them in that pen to steal. After my hunt, I drove over to the road where the locked gate was and could see where they drove through a field to bypass the gate.

 

That was probably the most unsettling experience I've encountered while hunting. Just trying to assess the situation as it was unfolding once I realized they were not there to service the tower or to hunt.

[PWGUNNY]

I was shore fishing on a reservoir in the Catskills years ago with my wife.  We worked our way down the shore a bit and then I noticed something hanging from a branch near my wife.  I walked over and noticed it was a dead snake that was hanging by some monofilament that was tied to it's tail.  The snake was about 4 ft long and it was still dripping blood from it's mouth.  My wife wanted to leave and fish from a different reservoir after that.

 

A few years ago my buddy and I were duck hunting in the bay.  It was a cold, snowy day in January.  We were hunting from my 12' aluminum Jon Boat and we both fired overhead at ducks at the same time.  The motion and the recoil pitched us both out of the boat and into the frigid water.  We managed to scramble our waterlogged bodies back into the boat.  He lost his shotgun in the bay.  We hightailed it back to the boat ramp and got ourselves home to get warm and dry.  We bought a bigger boat after that.

[covert]

One night during deer season I picked up a " 1:00 AM Special"  at the Cameron Hilton, a bar in a cornfield near Cameron, NY.

 

The next morning I woke up in her trailer and got my first good look at her.

 

Scared me so bad I seriously considered adopting a gay lifestyle.

 

Fortunately, I got over it....

 

Could've been worse.  You could've woken up and found that you had adopted a gay lifestyle!