Face it: heading into the woods alone, whether it’s in the early pre-dawn hours or the dimming light of dusk, can be a little nerve-wracking. What scary things have you encountered while sitting alone in your stand or blind? Nothing this scary…
That got us thinking, what would we be most afraid of encountering while waiting quietly for our prey? Here are the five we came up with.
Got anything better?
Being up on the platform and watching the ladder slowly falling away… and I was totally alone.
Betcha I’m not the only one with that story…
đź¤
Holy carp! I’d never even thought about that possibility. That would definitely ruin one’s weekend.
Don’t need no stinkin platforms out here! I see deer everywhere just walking my dog! If I did have a platform, it would be another person, because they scared off all the animals.
“Being up on the platform and watching the ladder slowly falling away… and I was totally alone.”
Totally alone? No cell phone with you?
How did you get down?
Jump?
“What scary things have you encountered while sitting alone in your stand or blind?”
Barred owl coming to sit in the stand with me, 2yrs running…never heard it coming, it was just “THERE”…
Glad to see you know what a Barred Owl is, I get so many hoot Owl stories, a hoot Owl got my” ——-.
“Dibs on the gut pile “
Mountain lion stalking my decoy when hunting from a ground blind, a squirrel ran across my chest while in a tree stand, brown creeper (small bird) got stuck on my mesh face mask while in a tree stand, and several spiders crawling across my glasses while sighting on a nice buck.
Well the last 2 wouldnt be so scary since you are in your tree stand, you most likely have your bow or rifle with you…. problem solved.
And yeah ive had the ladder fall away….. really not fun.
Nobody bungees their ladder to the tree anymore?
Cripes…
I don’t feel anxious or nervous when I’m heading into the woods alone. I feel like I’m going home. Maybe hubris on my part but I feel as tho I can handle the things that nature throws at me.
Went crabbing yesterday and going dove shooting tomorrow. Full retirement rocks.
Dungeoness?
We are plagued with red rock crab up here. Since they are considered an invasive species, there is no season or limit. Delicious!
Red Rock is what we got yesterday. The dungeness were too small to keep.
Red Rocks gots arms like Popeye. Hell of a fight getting them in the bucket. Lots of fun.
Will be trying for dove in the morning.
Never been in a tree stand. The whole idea seems goofy to me, but oh well. I’ve always hunted on my feet, sometimes taking cover behind rocks or trees to make the shot, but never used a blind for anything but hunting ducks and geese. And I never did hunt alone.
The scary things I’ve encountered in the woods and grasslands have mostly been other people, especially those who don’t follow the 4 rules seriously.
“Never been in a tree stand. The whole idea seems goofy to me, but oh well.”
Some game, like hogs especially, tend not to look up for danger…
Ditto.
After seeing some of the injuries hunters have received purely because they were, at one time prior to injury, in a tree stand… I really want no part of going up in a tree stand. I might climb a tree, but I’m not fooling around with a stand widget to stay up there.
Skinwalker.
Seconded.
My ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law with my ex-sisters-in-law.
O.O
A squirrel staring at my lap and wondering if he should eat them right away or save them for winter.
Well, that was just nuts…
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Told you that the walnut tree camo wasn’t a good idea….especially when it relies on leaving your walnuts out in the open to give the appearance of a fruit bearing walnut tree. Also your Game Warden says you are to never wear that particular outfit again nor are you to hunt in the “emperor’s ghillie suit”. His female officers are still in very intense therapy after those two wardrobe choices.
Walking in or out and running up on a turkey that then takes flight. Loud confusing and way too close for comfort
I am only concerned about two events, both happening in the dark:
(1) mountain lion attack
(2) hyper-aggressive buck in rut deciding to gore me
The problem with a mountain lion is their stealth, jumping ability, speed, and claws. My woods-defense “hand cannon” (.44 Magnum revolver) is useless if my first sign of a mountain lion attack is the animal’s impact on my body.
The problem with a deer is you could probably hear them when they were still 50 feet away but you would not see them and they could be skewering you before you have a change to identify what it is.
As for my claim about a deer: I was walking in near total darkness to my tree stand when a deer suddenly bolted. It was so close that I could feel the impact of their hooves on the ground through my feet! Had that buck (and it had to be a BIG HEAVY buck for me to feel the impact of its hooves) run into me it would have been all over for me. That event has me seriously considering walking with a BRIGHT MagLite in hand — and turned on — to and from my hunting locations in total darkness.
I wear a headlight. Leaves both arms free to handle the situation.
“My woods-defense “hand cannon” (.44 Magnum revolver) is useless if my first sign of a mountain lion attack is the animal’s impact on my body.”
That’s what a hunting buddy is for.
Ask JWM…
I don’t have to outrun the bear…….
Hillary Clinton… naked.
“Hillary Clinton…naked.”
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Chris, you are an *evil* man.
*Fist-bump*
*snicker*…
Desperate for content again, I see
My policy towards clowns: aim for center of mass, empty magazine. Repeat as needed.
Now you know why I’m no longer allowed to go to the circus…
game warden, on my land, and me with no deer tag.. . ….. Allah can go to hell and take all his followers with it. Had an incident at a high-school where I live, during national anthem, mussies continued to bounce a basketball, got expelled, now the Make it Right organization all over that principal and school. It’s their country now too, why can’t they respect it? I will probably wind up in jail for assault and battery cause,’their’ pissing me off and I don’t no when to quit( give up)
For me the scariest thing I’ve encountered while hunting was a bullet ricocheting off the tree I was standing next to. It was on our property and no one else had permission to hunt there. Never found out who fired it. Luckily I wasn’t hit and luckier they remain unknown.
Hmmmm, do you have Life Insurance? Married?……..check the Wife
A Hunter in our county was shot and killed by another Hunter who said he was checking his rifle to see if it was loaded.
S
N
A
K
E
nope nope nope
A guy walking his dog without orange as viewed through my scope because it sounded like a deer approaching. The park is closed for hunting unless you are hunting wearing orange and he proceeded to argue with me about ut
1. Another hunter especially a squirrel hunter!
2. A man, woman or child walking in the woods without orange.
3. A large approaching thunderstorm with lightning, (for us southern hunters) with winds blowing.
4. A Deer just out of actual range.
5. A Bear.
Watching a hunter walk up 10yds from my stand 10 minutes before dawn and realizing he wasn’t being an idiot/jerk, he couldn’t see me because I was camo’d really well AND I left my damn blaze orange vest back in the trunk of my car. I’ve never hurried back to my car or made so much noise in my life.
I keep an orange blaze hat in my hunting pack as a just in case now.
This year, I was working outside, nice summer morning. While working on a car frame, I was welding just outside my shop doors, I noticed something behind me. I lifted my welding helmet and turned to see two big horn sheep standing within six feet behind me. They just stood there staring at me. I think they may have been temporarily blinded by the welding arc. They look a lot bigger up close, I backed off and went into my shop. They just walked off into the adjacent orchard. Really concerning to have a large animal like that sneaking up behind you!