Scariest experience or encounter in the woods or on the water

[BigVal]

4 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

My buddy and i were fishing in lake erie ,just killing time til it got dark out when a storm rolled through and turned that lake upside down ! I'm not a huge boat guy and it scared the crap out of me being out there in those waves. I remember when we rolled off a wave ,it was a wall of water completely around us . That fact that he didn't seemed too concerned was what kept me in check.  

Right to add to my story, now 8 years later it's the norm be get into those situations on Erie,still can't say I enjoy it though. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

On the way back from a New Brunswick bear hunt my buddy fell asleep and hit the guard rail going 70+, in my wifes brand new Honda Pilot. $7,500 damage. If we had hit the butt end of the guard rail it would have cut the car in half. I drove 15 hours there and 7 hours back, let him drive and in under five minutes the car is wrecked lol

[turkeyfeathers]

Sadly there are probably members or would have been members that can’t answer this question as things became less fortunate for them. Sounds like most of us are lucky to be answering this thread. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

5 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Sadly there are probably members or would have been members that can’t answer this question as things became less fortunate for them. Sounds like most of us are lucky to be answering this thread. 

More beer for us (ducks lightning bolt)

[Jeremy K]

10 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Sadly there are probably members or would have been members that can’t answer this question as things became less fortunate for them. Sounds like most of us are lucky to be answering this thread. 

I pray my son doesn't find out the stupid things his father did growing up.

[fasteddie]

After I retired from working 35 years at Xerox , I reverted back to my childhood days and started shooting woodchucks for farmers in Walworth . I wasn't familiar with muck or muck farms . So one day I was out in a big field and shot a couple chucks and was heading to the next field . There was a ditch and the closest crossing was 1/2 mile away . I was too lazy to go to the crossing and the ditch looked almost dry . I could see raccoon tracks and figured it was okay to cross over . I climbed down and took a step . My leg sunk quick and the momentum caused me to fall foreward . Instinct had me reach out my arms and I was able to get my 223 on the opposite bank . I grabbed some brush and pulled . Pulled it right out of the ground . I tried to pull my legs with no luck . I sank up to my thighs in the thick muddy stuff . 

So , here I was 4' lower than the field . No cell phone and the closest house was over 1/2 mile away . I started to panic and calmed myself down . I grabbed the back of my jeans leg and pulled . Then I did the other side It took me about 25 - 30 minutes to get free and my heart was pounding like mad . I was pooped . I cleaned my jeans off as best I could and headed home .

A couple years later I told the farmer about it . The old fart just laughed . 

[Marion]

That really is scary Wooly.  Glad everything turned out OK!
Not as scary as wooly's experience, but while I was working for the Rocky Mountain Fur trading Company, we were attacked by native americans, forcing me and my crew to move down the grand river in SD.  Was then attacked by a Grizzly and left for dead.  But I made may way back to Fort Kiowa in adverse conditions to later chase Fitzgerald to Nebraska.  Quite an experience but all worked out in the end. 
Obviously living vicariously.  I once sank knee deep in muck.

Tom Hardy is that you?

You Can't Beat My Meat!!!

[Robhuntandfish]

Prob the common denominator for most of us here is young  and stupid days....

Back in the day trout fishing would look at a ravine and think....I can slide down that and a couple of those trees will slow me down.... And then do it and fish for miles up a trout stream all day with nothing except fishing gear.

Nowadays I look at a stream from the road and think....I dunno, will have to get over that guard rail and it's kinda chilly out.....maybe next time...it's almost lunch time....

Edited March 1, 2018 by Robhuntandfish

[Pygmy]

Ruby Ann Potlikker and I were out picking berries one time...Ruby Ann is a BIG local girl ( from Cameron)....

She said she needed a little privacy and went down over a bank in the bushes...

I was busy picking berries and happened to round a corner in the brush just as Ruby Ann was watering down a pine cone...

Looked like a grizzly bear with it's head cut off...

I've never been able to pick berries since..

[Lawdwaz]

Water is a common theme here......

My stories will have to wait but do also have “h2o” background.  Stay tuned!

[jjb4900]

13 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Ruby Ann Potlikker and I were out picking berries one time...Ruby Ann is a BIG local girl ( from Cameron)....

She said she needed a little privacy and went down over a bank in the bushes...

I was busy picking berries and happened to round a corner in the brush just as Ruby Ann was watering down a pine cone...

Looked like a grizzly bear with it's head cut off...

I've never been able to pick berries since..

hahahaha....that's a classic!

[wolc123]

About 40 years ago, I had a mishap on my way back home from checking my muskrat traps.  I took a shortcut thru a building lot, where fresh snow covered thin ice over a recently excavated basement hole.  I was on my dad's snowmobile (1971 Moto-ski zepher 399) pulling a sled loaded with gear.    I broke thru and the water was up to my neck while standing on the seat.   I managed to crawl out and quickly ran towards home, about 300 yards away.   There was a 4 foot deep creek in my way and being already soaked, I ran thru it rather than running another 100 yards out of my way to get to the bridge.   The air temperature was in the 20's and my body was numb below the neck.   It feels very strange running when you can not feel your legs.    Nobody was home when I got to the house and I went in the shower and took off the frozen clothes.  I remember a lot of pain when the feeling came back into my limbs.  Dad was a little pissed when he got home from work and I told him where his snowmobile was.    We grabbed a few chains and drove his truck back there and yanked it out.   It still worked ok after we dried it out.       

Edited March 1, 2018 by wolc123

[BizCT]

I got a ton. Cocaine, cops, Arizona, killer bees, illegal immigrants, native Indians in British Columbia, etc. Would rather talk than type. Anyone want to get a beer?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Larry]

Ok hey it was back in the 80’s while on a duck hunting trip up in Dexter NY. I picked up this girl in a bar and I found later her name was Lucy Rotten Crotch ouch!

[Steuben Jerry]

Mid 1980's on Lake Ontario, first powerboat I owned, an old '72 Starcraft 16 ft fiberglass with a 140 mercruiser decked out with riggers. Ran out to about 300 FOW in front of Point Breeze doing some Springtime trolling with my fishing bud on the fringe of a group of charter boats on a windless day. It was a dinky boat to  take out that far, but the lake was dead flat, close-in brown trout fishing was slow, and we were in our 20s and clueless.

After a few hours of putt putting along, a pretty thick fog set up. Eventually you couldn't see 20 ft in front of you. I was maybe a 2 year boater at the time and was getting kind of nervous. There was no such thing as GPS at the time, and I certainly couldn't afford a Loran. So we just turned south and trolled toward the NY shore. No biggie, but still kind of nervous. As a relative novice I'd been out in mildly foggy days, but never had been out in pea soup before. I could always see other boats those times, but that day I couldn't see or hear anything. Just trolling blind in the fog.

Well, it must have been the end of the trolling day because we hear engines throttling up and getting closer. I'm thinking WTF, they can't see us! Pulling back into Oak Orchard Creek Iater I could see they had radar on the bridges, but I wasn't thinking that at the time. You couldn't see 30 ft in front of you and 30+ foot boats are zooming around, racing all around us toward port. Every five minutes or so, it would sound like one was bearing down right at us. We just kept trolling and told each other to be ready to jump overboard at any second. We must've said 3000 words to each other in 30 seconds. 

Obviously nothing at all happened, no close calls, nothing at all to talk about except what stupid puzzys we were. 

To this day I'm a wuss going on the water if there's fog involved.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Steuben Jerry

[REDNECK4LIFE32]

Was ice fishing lake champlain a couple years ago with my brother in lawand his brother. We had just finished fishing and headed of the ice they were ahead of me and went across a press crack. Me pulling the shanty went over next thing I know I hear a crack and there I am up to my chest and sinking when I see my brother in law turn back and lunge to grab my hand. Got out and instantaneously frozen and stiff. Walked to the vehicle and strip and cranked the heat. Everything turned out alright but things could have been worse. Thank god he likes me and doesn't hate me other wise id be swimming with the fishes. Still love ice fishing but have a lot more respect for the lake and am more cautious

[Robhuntandfish]

8 hours ago, REDNECK4LIFE32 said:

Was ice fishing lake champlain a couple years ago with my brother in lawand his brother. We had just finished fishing and headed of the ice they were ahead of me and went across a press crack. Me pulling the shanty went over next thing I know I hear a crack and there I am up to my chest and sinking when I see my brother in law turn back and lunge to grab my hand. Got out and instantaneously frozen and stiff. Walked to the vehicle and strip and cranked the heat. Everything turned out alright but things could have been worse. Thank god he likes me and doesn't hate me other wise id be swimming with the fishes. Still love ice fishing but have a lot more respect for the lake and am more cautious

thus the reasons fat guys like me dont ice fish or sit on wicker  - both are death traps! 

[Daveboone]

I am going to borrow one of my best friends experiences....

He was duck hunting up near Lake Ontario in the late sixties, was very excited to be trying out his new Ithaca 12 pump. 

He dropped a duck and left the blind to wade over to get it, and slipped down an underwater embankment well over his head, with his feet burying into mud. Luckily he still was holding onto his shotgun, and pushed it butt first into the mud as far as he could which enabled him to pull out of his waders, and thrash out of the water. HIs shotgun is still there, and it was the last time he ever went duck hunting! It makes you wonder how many other unfortunate duck hunters may have disappeared without a trace over the years.

[Water Rat]

I fell thru the ice up to my neck beaver trapping one time. The scary part was that I dropped a live 330 (pole set) at my feet when I went thru. I thought for sure that I was going to set it off with my foot as I scrambled back onto the ice.

[MPHunter]

Not dangerous but the most scared I have ever been on the water. I was trolling for trout in the middle of Upper Saranac Lake. I heard an airplane but didn't think much of it as that is not unusual until two fighter jets went right over me flying down the lake! I damn near jumped out of the boat! It felt like they were only a couple hundred feet off the water but I'm sure they were higher. It was amazing how they weren't very loud until they passed over me and then it was like an explosion. This was back in the early nineties when Plattsburgh AFB was still in operation. 

[turkeyfeathers]

47 minutes ago, Water Rat said:

I fell thru the ice up to my neck beaver trapping one time. The scary part was that I dropped a live 330 (pole set) at my feet when I went thru. I thought for sure that I was going to set it off with my foot as I scrambled back onto the ice.

I fell through the ice muskrat trapping 30 years ago   Nice thick snow covered ice BUT the beavers had the ice worn thin from the run and constantly swimming under it. Only went waist deep but it was scary enough   So soaked and single digit temps made for a long walk home   On snow shoes to boot which didn't make climbing out of the water very easy.  Skinned out 2 muskrats and wore them fur side in for gloves as mine were soaked  Gotta say first experience with Smartwool socks and been a fan ever since. Feet never got cold. The rest of me did except my toasty muskrat gloved hands

[wooly]

Here's a couple more that happened years apart but are kinda related to each other that involved gas and fire instead.

Not really hunting or fishing related, but who doesn't enjoy an exciting back woods bon fire story....

 

Back when I was maybe 10-12 years old, me and my buddy headed down to the same creek I mentioned in my original post for a little shore line camping excursion. We were loaded up with everything we could steal from our parents to get us through the day. Lunch, snacks, tarps, lighters, sleeping bags, and a little gas in a plastic can to get the party started.

 

We picked out a rocky burm along the creek to set up our camp. All that work had made us hungry so it was time to start cookin'. We gathered some wood and attempted to get a fire rolling. Almost according to plan as we hoped, neither one of us were having much luck igniting the smoldering stick pile for any length of time with a lighter alone, so it was time to break out the flammables we knew would come in handy at some point.

There wasn't much gas left in the can... maybe a few cups at most, but I was certain that would be all we needed. I took the can over to our wood pile and began to dowse the sticks. Seconds after I started, I must have hit a hot ember and flames shot up the stream of fuel, down the spout, and into the can leaving me holding a ball of fire. Naturally being young and dumb, my first and only reaction was to toss the entire can into the creek so that's exactly what I did.

 

When the can hit the water, and all its light density flaming contents poured out onto the surface, those few cups of gas dispersed on top of the water igniting the entire creek on fire for a 20yd stretch just like in the movies. The current was carrying the fire down stream and panic set in as it ignited the brush along the edge and spread into the woods around us. We both took off like the two scared little school boys that we were. Stopping to look back, my buddy who was a boy scout at the time decided to go back and try to extinguish the raging inferno by throwing rocks at it. I couldn't believe what the crazy bastard was doing, but it appeared to be working so I j eventually joined him. Together we managed to put the fire out and avoided the wrath of our fathers had they ever found out about what we were doing out there when they let us out alone. I thought for sure we were gonna burn the entire town to the ground!

 

 10-15 years later now and I'm about 22-25 years old. Fire involved once again. Me and another buddy a few years younger than me have plans to hook up with a couple gals at one of their parents houses while they are on vacation. Nothing special on the agenda for the night but some movies, some drinking, and a bonfire back in the woods off the backyard after dark.

 

Another one of those stubborn stick pile situations that didn't want to ignite, but this time I wasn't in charge of fire starting duty. As I'm off to the side with my gal, I see my buddy coming back from the garage with a 5 gallon metal gas can. By the time it registered with me what he was about to do from my previous experience years earlier, but it was already too late. All I managed to get out of my mouth was "Brian, I don't think that's a good......." KAAAAAAAAABBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! 

 

Like someone had dropped a bomb, an explosion erupted that shook the entire neighborhood. When I looked back all I saw was my buddy running away from us across a grassy opening screaming his head off, engulfed in flames. Without thinking about it, I chased him down and tackled him in the grass extinguishing his body which was covered in flames by that time.. The metal can was blown to smithereans sending shrapnel shards into his  barely conscious carcass at that point. He was covered in blood and the smell of burnt clothes, flesh, and hair was the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled in my life. We got him loaded up to take him to the hospital. He was in shock, and now joking and laughing while peeling giant flaps of skin and hair off his face, head, arms, and neck. His GF tried to keep him calm and wrapped in towels and blankets on the back seat so he would stop picking at himself. Eventually he made a full recovery, although he looked like quite the monster for some time after that. Today you would never guess he had suffered such severe burns back then, but he spent a lot of time with his specialists to get him fixed up and looking normal again through multiple skin grafts and surgeries. A few years later he married the gal he was with that night, and today they live happily ever after with 3 little trouble makers of their own to keep an eye on,lol

 

 

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

One time a friend and I were dousing a little surfboard with gas and lighting it before sending it out onto a pond. Well he leaned to close and poof, no eyebrows. I hatched the perfect plan, just go home and tell your parents you lit the grill after leaving the lid closed and it flared up. Who would ever doubt that?? Well within five minutes of leaving him my mother gets a call, he went home and told the truth like a freakin idiot. Never rob a bank with Brian Keegan is all I have to say. Kid folded faster than Superman on laundry day

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, turkeyfeathers said:

I fell through the ice muskrat trapping 30 years ago   Nice thick snow covered ice BUT the beavers had the ice worn thin from the run and constantly swimming under it. Only went waist deep but it was scary enough   So soaked and single digit temps made for a long walk home   On snow shoes to boot which didn't make climbing out of the water very easy.  Skinned out 2 muskrats and wore them fur side in for gloves as mine were soaked  Gotta say first experience with Smartwool socks and been a fan ever since. Feet never got cold. The rest of me did except my toasty muskrat gloved hands

Not that's mountain man right there!  Damn.

[Merlot]

Going on 30 years ago, but I remember deer shotgun opener and 35 MPH winds, but we went out anyway, Well, we get into our stands with the winds still blowing, but did not give it much notice. Later, the winds picked up to about 45-50 mph with rain and lightning....we all got nervous and hightailed it out of there. Branches breaking , trees falling...very scary.