MYSTERIES FROM THE HUNT

 As the air cools, colors change, and the leaves begin to fall, this time of year reminds us of the unexplained strangest things we have heard and seen while hunting. In the spirit of Halloween, we have comprised a handful of short stories about the truly unexplained.

When spending time in the woods, we have all heard deer, elk, coyotes, and the eerie sound of a fox mating call. A setup from this is the exhilarating midnight sound of a howling wolf pack a mere 30 yards from the tent. 

If it couldn’t get more exciting than this, some of you may have experienced a heart-stopping bear charge or a bear grunt and growl at the tent while you're lying in it. Or the midnight distant sound of footsteps in the crusty snow as you hear it pass, then suddenly turn back and come straight for the small single-man tent.

The thing about these heart-pounding encounters above is that they can all be explained. The following is what cannot!   

Attacked by a Crazy Man - Strange

In the early morning hours, while bow hunting in North Western Colorado public lands, my wife and I were glassing a lower meadow from an elevated mesa, preparing for our day hunt. We noticed a man without a shirt, red pants, and tennis shoes coming up another trail to our right. 

An hour later, the man was coming straight at us, screaming “Get Out” from about 30 yards away; it was startling to hear this on a calm, quiet morning; I hollered back, “This is public land.”

I realize he’s not in his right mind as he begins picking up rocks and commences throwing them at us. We honestly didn’t know what to do! I stood in front of my wife, and we both backed away. So here we are, bobbing and weaving from the crazy man’s poor aim. I felt for my sidearm, thinking, am I going to have to draw my gun? 

As we sidestep his flying rocks, coming close but not making contact. To our relief, he turns and walks away. Yes, nerve-racking, to say the least. We were still on high alert as we backed out of the area.  

The Thumping Sound at 2:30 am - Strange

I was on a solo hunt near Leadville, Colorado, packed with gear for my seven-day hunt. As usual, I set up camp early the day before the opening of deer and elk season. As daylight faded, I snuggled into my sleeping bag, looking forward to the morning's hunt.  

At around 2:30, I woke to a thumping sound about 20 yards from my tent. I quietly pulled the sleeping bag back from my ears to determine what and where the sound was coming from. 

Now, mind you, I have spent many hours, days, and years sleeping amongst deer, elk, and all of the other critters of the woods, and this sound was not familiar. 

Of course, I thought of a deer or elk rubbing or fighting to a stomping hoof, a bear pulling apart a rotten tree, or breaking a branch—nothing seemed to make sense. Being a baseball player's father, it sounded more like a baseball bat being struck against a tree. I thought this was someone pranking me, but how and why at this early morning hour, being three miles away from a main road or even near any other camp?  

This pounding sound went on periodically for about 20 minutes. Yes, I was disturbed by what I didn’t know. To this day, and with countless more hunts under my belt, I truly cannot explain what I heard that early morning.  

Camped Near a Cemetery - Creepy

On my late-day Utah arrival, I was miles deep on a solo hunt, on a back road, looking for a place to set camp. Being in my truck, with plenty of room in the camper shell, I felt no need to set up my tent. I just pulled out my cooler and laid out a quilt dinner. As I sat there, looking around through the trees, I noticed the remains of an extremely weathered, well-aged farmhouse. I thought, cool, I'll check it out after dinner. 

By now, the sun had long set. Not thinking much of it, I walked over, with a flashlight in hand, looking through what was left of the front door and working my way through the non-existent back door. A familiar setting came over me. 

Now this was the year when the Blair Witch Project movie made its big debut. Although I am not a big fan of these types of movies, I just happened to watch this one!

Standing inside, the eerie shadows from my flashlight gave me a whole different feeling. Now I’m thinking I should probably get ready for tomorrow’s hunt. I decided it would be best to walk around the outside of the house and back to my truck. I noticed a small lopsided headstone under a tree as I stepped from the porch. 

Curiosity got the best of me. I walked over to the tree and quickly noticed three other headstones. I could barely read one; it mentioned a soldier and dated 1921.

Needless to say, it was a long walk back to the truck and an even longer night.  

Devils Head Lions - Scary 

The hunters moon of October, not far outside the Denver metro area. My young son and I set off for a weekend hunt. 

Opening day came, and we found ourselves driving miles distance from camp. We

hunted an area overlooking a large grass meadow. Seeing a few doe, we decided to stay until the last hour of daylight, hoping to see a buck.  

As we begin our long journey back to camp, I come around one of the many sharp turns. I noticed 15 to 20 people mulling around their vehicles parked along the side of the dirt road. 

As they watch us pass, I think this is odd. Not only is it almost 10 o’clock at night, but this is quite a drive from town. None of them appear to be hunters with typical fluorescent orange or daypacks. 

The next day, I couldn’t help but think of what we saw. We both agreed to go back to the area and see if the cars were still there. As we near, the cars are not there. We park to have a look around. I noticed an inconspicuous trailhead on the opposite side of the road from where the strange people stood. 

We decided to hunt our way down the trail, unsure what we would find. About 100 yards in, a strange feeling comes over me when my son in a questionable tone, Dad, what’s that? I quickly turned, to my surprise and amazement, I saw what appeared to be a bright golden-colored statue! And it looking right at us. As we approached we realize it’s a statue of a lion.

I was a little worried because I didn’t know what we would find. Because all of this was more than just strange. Yes, it was getting scary!

We took pictures and video of the extremely strange, eerie sight and have now completely forgotten about our hunt. I turn to my son and ask if he wants to keep going. Him being just as curious, says yes. 

As we head down about a half mile, we notice another lion statue! As before, we mull this over, take pictures and videos, and continue on. A short distance from here, we find a couple of rock campfire rings. If this wasn’t downright weird enough, we see yet another golden-colored lion perched in the middle of the largest, still-hot fire ring.    

Twenty years have passed since this strange find. Strangely, videos and pictures can no longer be found. So for this blog, we ventured back, looking for what we had seen so many years ago. To this day, the golden lions still remain!         

Strange Sound In The Sky

On a twenty-eight-day float hunt south of the Brooks Range in Alaska, three of us are on two rafts, my son Ted and a good friend Troy and I, Ted Sr. Our hunt begins, as they always do on a typical float hunt, for moose, fishing, and general camp life. 

As we head down the river, we decide to make camp in an area with good moose hunting conditions. For the next seven days, we saw plenty of moose but nothing of legal size, so we decided to move on. 

A week passes, we have a moose down, and we are headed downriver on a full day of floating and rowing. This is so we don’t miss our plane pick-up, and so we don’t lose the meat to spoilage. 

One day, we float during the last couple of hours of daylight, looking for a good, level camp area. We find a great spot overlooking the river, allowing us to see downriver for a few hundred yards and a near mile upriver. This area is on a big sand and rock shore, with plenty of viewing of both sides of the river.

We begin our typical camp setup procedure by tying off the rafts, setting up the tent, gathering firewood, and setting up a meat pole for the moose quarters.

Ted Jr. and I are at the meat pole, and Troy is about 25 yards away. He’s busy filtering water for dinner. It’s around 9 p.m., and the sky is calm, clear, and still very bright out. 

Ted Jr. and I were standing near where the sand turns to grass and willows. We were in the process of gathering moose tenderloins for dinner. We suddenly heard a very strange sound, so much so that we froze in place, being sure not to shuffle the rocks and sand underfoot to hear this sound clearly. 

Looking at Ted Jr. I can see him looking above and behind me, as though he’s seeing what's making the strange sound as seems to slowly pass heading up the river. Looking at his moving eyes, thinking he can see whatever was making the strange noise, I slowly turn as the sound seems to be right behind me. 

With my feet planted, I slowly turn my upper body to see the object. To my bewilderment, I see nothing. This strange sound was just above the river in clear skies; we could clearly hear it overhead, unobstructed by clouds or trees. We should have seen it, yet we saw nothing. 

As the sound fades heading upriver, Ted Jr. and I make our way to Troy. He stands at the raft, still looking at the sky, trying to see what made the noise. He turns to us as we approach him; I ask him if he has seen it! He quietly says no! 

The sound we heard seemed like it would have come from a large machine, this soft whirling sound yet loud, distinct, and constant. Within the whirling/turning sound was a faint mechanical clanking sound with a soft metal-against-metal tone.

This left us bewildered because the sound was so clear. We could follow the sound as it passed. Being at the river, Troy said it was as though it was right above the water, about thirty feet. But he couldn’t see anything as it passed.     

Because of our remote location, clear sky, windless evening, and perfect light conditions, the propelling of all is the strange sound in the sky. 

There is more to be said of these sights and encounters; the stories have been condensed for time and space in this blog. These are true mysteries from the hunt that cannot be explained.