I seen Wolfdog91 one night fishing

Sure that wasn't ol skunk ape? Lol

I lived in Northern Wisconsin for 30 years in the late 1900s and hunted and trapped the area North of US 2 extensively. During the time I lived there, timber wolves became re -established and I saw tracks become more and more common on the sand roads of the Chequamegon National Forest, saw an odd wolf cross a road from time to time, heard them howl several nights and held one wolf in a coyote trap. Mostly just considered them a curiosity. After I moved to South Dakota I returned to WI each fall to hunt ruffed grouse in the northern part of the Chequamegon National Forest, just south of Lake Superior. One fall in the early 2000s, we had just purchased a young trained female lab that was a bit of a head case. She had been sold twice and returned both times. My wife basically rescued her from the owner/trainer at a reduced price with condition that she could not be returned. She was very abused and fearful but exhibited great skills at hunting and retrieving. To get her into the back seat of my pickup I had to lift her in.

This trip we had hunted several days with some success. My normal technique was to quietly walk isolated sand roads that wind through the forest amid mixed poplar and jack pine stands and follow old overgrown logging roads that loop to former cuttings and back to the more main roads. The area south of Lake Superior has no dwellings and gets very little traffic. On this day, my wife visited friends and the dog and I drove to an area I was very familiar with that once had contained farms and the remains of those farms included some clearings with ancient apple trees which often produced a grouse or two. I parked the truck, took my double, opened the rear door and let the dog out. She had performed well the previous days except she proved to be shy of gun shots. She listened well and generally followed commands. As we walked the sand road that day the popple leaves were raining down and the sun was golden shining through the leaves that remained. The odor of wet leaves on the ground was amazing. Just a few hundred yards down that road we encountered two sets of large canid tracks that had come onto the road from the forest. The edges of the tracks were still crumbling and they had obviously just been made. The dog was curious and smelled the tracks. The two sets of tracks proceeded down the road in the direction we were walking for 50 yards of so and then left the road on the opposite side from which they had entered. I explained to the young lab that several of her ancestors were about and she had better be on the lookout. I thought that I was making a joke. As we walked further along the road the lab began to act nervous and would glance into the woods from time to time. Then she began to stop cold on the road, turn and face into the woods and edge closer to me, she even growled faintly a time or two. I explained to the woods at large that I had two loads in my double and more in my jacket but that did not seem to impress any thing at all. After a couple hundred yards like that, the dog was so glued to my side that she was almost tripping me and she had made me so nervous that I was no longer enjoying the hunt. It was certain by now that we were being tracked as we walked and that the trackers were of great concern to the dog, I decided to retrace our tracks back to the truck. As we walked back the dog would increasingly halt, turn around and growl into the woods. When we got to the truck, I opened her door and she, for the first time, eagerly leaped in. By then I was just about as happy to climb in the front and get the door closed.

In retrospect, I find the experience enjoyable and memorable. By myself, I almost certainly would have just hunted and gone on my way, perhaps with a bird or perhaps not but I would likely not have been aware that the wolves were there also. Or perhaps, without the dog they may just have gone on their way and not tracked us. I explained to her as we drove to a different location that she had managed to convince me that I was not as brave as I had previously thought. It was rather like several children frightening each other in the dark by conjuring up monsters. As a side note, she learned we would not hurt her, that guns were good and that when we had them she would get to hunt and work with us. She became a great friend and she and my wife had many memorable hunts together where she made some outstanding retrieves on pheasants and ducks before she finally passed.

My and my buddy Mike and 2 other guys he knew went hog hunting down in south GA on some farmer’s land he had hunted for years. Me and Mike went to one spot and the other 2 guys went to another. We dropped the tailgate and turned the dogs loose. The field we were hunting was oval shaped and way back in the woods. As we were walking the edge across from the truck on the other side I tapped Mike and pointed back to the truck. We could clearly see a figure standing by the truck with the door open looking inside with a headlamp on his head. He shined in the truck then backed up and scanned the tree tops and poof. Gone! Mike got on the walkie and asked the other 2 guys if either of them were at our truck. They were still a 1/2 mile away hunting a different field. The hair stood up on our necks and we took off running for the truck. When we got there the door was still open and interior light was still on. No person, no new tracks in the sand. The nearest house was miles away. Highly doubt anyone was walking around out there with a headlamp just for kicks. We never could explain it.

Another time that was kinda hairy was me and my buddy Josh were working at my ol man’s house. We drove up the hill to dads house and while we were there I said I was curious if those buzzards were still nesting up in the cluster of boulders like they had been. I was in front of Josh and I walked in between a small boulder and a hickory tree. I heard Josh yell out. I froze! Had no idea what he yelled about. I looked down to my right and literally a foot and a half away from my leg were actual hornets not yellow jackets pouring out of the base of the hickory tree. I yelled to Josh dont move!!! It was too late he got stung 3 times on his forearm and he took off running. I stayed there as still as I could but the more hornets poured out the more nervous I got. I looked off to my left and saw a straight path towards Josh’s truck. I made a mad dash for that truck and made it without one single sting. One of the few times I felt really lucky in my life. What are the chances a guy standing right next to an active hornets nest doesn’t get stung but the guy 10ft back does!! We came back with a can of gas an eliminated the hornets in a rain of fire.

This thread is too good. Hoping this isn’t too quick of a resurrection. It’s been a great late night read.

Danny clifton...that was disturbing to read.


I've found all kinds of odd things in my flashlight beam while checking traps. Underwear way out in woods where it probably shouldn't be, shoes, stuff like that. Found what I think was an old meth lab once, that was disturbing. Called that in.

Also came up on one of my dirthole sets for for coon one very early AM check, and had a really big boar in it. But, it looked like this below. Now, a big boar coon isn't exactly a pushover softy creature to take out. And with trap on only one back foot they can still put up a decent fight with the other three fee plus teeth, right? Was a little unnerving to walk up on in the flashlight beam.

I was a young man, in college and running mink traps any chance I could in the late 1970's to make "real money."
I had a pocket set under a bridge abutment in a creek about 10 foot across that had a very large culvert under a county road about 5 miles outside a town of just a few hundred people.

I slid down the bank, with my hat nite light casting a pretty low beam, but I was used to it, and as I approached where my mink set was, I noticed a big ol steak knife - handle up - sticking outta the water.
Well, I thought, in that low light 5:00 am time frame situation.... "what the Jimmy Dickens? What's this knife sticking up above the water line for and where'd it come from?"

So I grabbed the knife, pulled it up, and CRAPPPPPPP, it's stuck in a body.
And about that time, a bit of a body, (I think it was a younger guy) bobs up a bit in the couple feet of water.
He had been submerged or I just didn't see him.

CRAP! I just grabbed a knife stuck in a dead body and rational thinking took over in a nano second.
Drop the knife.
Yep, I have my gauntlets on. No finger prints on the knife.
Geez. Pull the set (no mink).

Ok, call the authorities!
No wait, do I call?
No cell phones back then of course.

So I drove to town and in the days of phone booths made an anonymous call that there was a dead body at _______ road culvert.

I never ever set that spot again and read in the papers later ( I watched for the news article) that it was a drug dealer who'd been killed by another druggie buddy and his body dumped.

I got a bigger headlamp after that.

Blessings,
Mark

My ex-wife with a rifle

Wow, that would get the heart rate up.

Bed of small copperhead snakes between my feet.

I would call this more strange than scary. I used to own some land in northern MN that we used for deer hunting. One of the guys had built a deer stand that bordered state land. It was about 3/4 of a mile from any road. He set up a camera several weeks before opening of deer season to see if any deer were moving through by his stand. When he checked the camera several days later there was a photo of a man walking through at 3:00AM. That was weird! What was he doing that far off any road at that time?

African Lion Next door neighbor had two and they were loose the small one was declawed and fangs removed but the mother was fully equipped .

I was bowhunting in Colorado at about 13,000 ft in September.
I saw a cloud moving in so headed towards the trees for protection.
It started hailing and then the lightning came.
It felt like it was right over my head. I ditched my metal bow and laid on the ground.
Went on for about 20 minutes. Not fun.

That reminded me of hiking in New Mexico with Boy Scouts. We were at the top of a mountain when a storm developed very quickly all around us. We were among the clouds and the thunder was level with us. We were on our way down and really hurried up. 12,500', no trees.

The Mark June story would be tough to top.

I once ran into 2 Californians walking around looking for land to buy and relocate to.

Heard a noise behind my deer stand one afternoon, and turned just in time to see my mother- in- law "backlit" by the sun, "relieving herself" in a small woods opening...Still carry the mental scars, Lol.

Me and a buddy where out gigging frogs, his girlfriends younger brother was on the bank. We seen quite a few little gators, my buddy thought it would be a good idea to grab a couple “to relocate”. So we had a cooler between us with a bunch of gigged frogs and 3 baby gators just a squawking. Tell the boy to shine the light behind us. Sure as crap 4 sets of eyes behind us and one coming in hot!! We were about mid thigh deep, no running from that. I saw my buddy jump out of the water and walk like Jesus. I stuck out the gig and let mommy hit it full speed in the snout. Gave me enough time to make it to the bank. 20 years later my buddy still swears that he had to save my life lol. I’ve saved him twice from gator attacks, including on jumping on a 6fter. God bless him, in his head he always thinks he’s the one saving me. But he always gives me credit for saving his life when I talked him out of his first engagement lol.

Nothing really scary, but got startled a few times...

Pretty sure I was still trapping out of a car at the time. Had to park on a two track that ran alongside the creek I had set along... It got too rough to drive all the way in. Carrying all my gear in a pack basket with my .22 rifle in the crooks of both elbows across my chest. Traps were checked and I'm walking back to the car... Trudging is more accurate... Don't remember if I had caught anything. All of a sudden to my left a coyote busts out of the brush along a fence line. He is hauling too... He sees me and tries to stop. He starts skidding. He gets stopped, looks at me, and takes off in the direction of my car. This all happened in the space of 2, maybe 3, seconds. He skidded quite a ways before he got stopped... I could have reached out and tapped him on the head with my rifle barrel. I cursed myself for not taking a shot at him. But it happened so fast I was just stunned by it. Not scary, just startled me... Also a "what the heck just occurred?" type of thing.

Another time I was making a set along a treeline. I had dug the bed and was trying to get the trap settled in. There was a high spot somewhere and the trap was rocking... So I just balled up my fist and gave the dirt a few punches. It made a decent thumping sound. As I went to grab the trap I got a few "reply" thumps to the ones I had just made.

I was like, "What the heck was that?" And jumped up...

A buck busts out of the treeline a short distance away and takes off across the field. Guess he thought he was having a showdown with another buck until I jumped up. Pretty comical after I realized what had happened... But the reply thumps creeped me out for a second there. The strangest part is my buddy Jake was with me. He was leaning against a tree and we were talking while I made the set... And that buck still came that close.

Mike