Another post got me to post this: Like some of you I have hunted a lot. Not tooting my horn but it would probably amaze me to know the number of days. Between turkey and deer hunting I have spent a lot of time walking in the dark in the morning and evening (always trap in daylight). I carry a flash light but rarely use it. Your eyes will adjust to the dark and I know where I am going. The flashlight has saved me from walking right into a skunk a few times. Twice in all my years I have had a sense that something else is out there with me, watching. Not really scared just a sense that I need to watch out as something is out there. As humans we lived in the wild for thousands of years and developed senses for survival. Hunt enough and you will see animals sense that you are there although they can not possibly know you are around. Have always wondered what it was. Coyote or bobcat and your body just senses a predator watching/tracking you? Something else? Anyone else care to share a story? The amazing things you experience when in the great outdoors.

Had that feeling more than a few times. Most human races and our instincts and thousand(s) of years removed from living in the wilds and having to worry about predators, but the instinct is still there. As a kid I was scared to walk out in the dark, but I find peace in it nowadays. Most of my trap checks are in the dark, as I work a regular job, full-time. I enjoy checking traps in the dark, although weekend checks when I get to do it in the daytime are pretty nice too.

I have had that happen before; the first time and most distinct feeling was when I was hunting and there was a trail branching off of the one I was on. As I got closer to the branching off trail I KNEW there was a critter on the trail. It was weird. I looked and sure enough there was a rabbit there. I didn't shoot it cuz I was just like, "ok that's weird". And that was a few years ago when there weren't hardly any rabbits on our property. It's kind of hard to describe but it was a really strange feeling. The weird part wasn't the rabbit being there, it was the feeling that made it so strange.
I've had it happen since then too

I was looking for snare locations on the edge of a corn field when I noticed the 2 missed rows of corn in the middle of the field that did not have any fluffy snow on a few standing stalks in that row. It bothered me why so I backed up and walked the 20 yards over to it to check it out.

A Canada goose busted out of the stalks and surprised me not the jackrabbit I was thinking would be in there. I still wonder why such a little thing got my attention like that.

Everybody has it but have been taught it’s wrong to use it.

I love walking through the woods at night. Something happens to sound in the dark as well. Can’t explain it but it happens.

Your body is in tune with nature

I believe it can tell you a lot of things

Some ignore it or don't understand it

I think as outdoorsmen we are more in tune with it than city folks

Definitely an outdoors person can spot game that indoor folks struggle or never see it’s a real difference.

I used to always check my traps in the dark. What a peaceful way to spend the morning. I get them same feeling at time also. Really wakes you up when a coyote cuts loose a stone throw away with no warning.

Why I don’t stare at game animals. You can feel when something is focused on you and they most certainly can too.

Same as well.
Have had many other times when you know something is out there but not a threat. One time in particular it was just a constant feeling that I needed to keep a watch out (although it was dark) and didn't go away until I was almost home.

Setting foothold traps in the dark freaks me out. There’s something about being hunched over and focusing on the ground and not paying attention to what’s around you, and then you get this feeling like something is about to jump out at you.

We are descendants of those who ran when they sensed something was not right
Not the ones who stood around trying to figure out what it was

lol

Its called instinct , just like looking down the barrel of a gun even you know its not loaded you get that feeling anyway. its the the mind telling you to be ready and be alert.

They know when they are being watched, even secondhand watching. lol

I was setting traps at the end of the line one eavning on a deer lease.not quite dark but almost.i usually always have a pistol with me but left it in the truck.truck was only about 40 yards away but if a bear or lion was on me fast it might as well been 40 miles.got a feeling like you describe and then realized my pistol was in the truck.finished the set pretty fast and didnt run to the truck but didnt waste much time getting there lol.about a week later I was talking with one of the lease members and he proceeds to show me pictures of lion that has been hanging around his feeder which was a stones throw away from that last set I was making! A little while back there was a man in northern arkansas attacked by a black bear while on his tractor.he died at the hospital

Good size one

Here we go

Don't know what happened on that first pic

Old coon is thinking, " This isn't going to be good."

You’re a 50 year old man. You grew up in the outdoors and know them like you know yourself. It’s dark as heck as you’re walking to the truck. You know there’s no such thing as the Bogeyman, buttttttttt! I think I walk a bit faster!!

I had that feeling one time in a tree stand 20 feet up 30 minutes after I was settled in.
Sun was low in the sky.
I had the unmistakable feeling that I was being watched. Hard.
I had a good view of my surroundings being on the edge of an ag field, but couldn't see anything.
After a while, I had the notion to look up for some reason.
There, about 10 feet higher was a great horned owl staring right back at me. He must have whispered in on me as only they can do, and landed right above me.
It must have been about the time I started wondering what was watching me.
That owl just sat there just like me, looking over that field, waiting for prey to meet its demise, via swift and blinding violence.

my main farm i trap is about 2000 acres. i know it after a few years like the back of my hand.

there is place there that i rarely go in. its prolly an area of about 20 acres in a holler along side a creek.
everytime ive been in that area i get a feeling i cant explain. its just a feeling like i should get out of there.

last season i was checking traps and a tree was down on my route so i had to go through that holler to get to the rest of my line.
as soon as i hit that holler the feeling hit me again. i wasnt even thinking about it but it hit me.

might just be me but something in that area is strange.

There's two areas on my farm I really like. They are completely surrounded by the rest of my farm, but not quite at the bottom of the broken cup shape. They are peaceful and I sort of feel like I want to sleep there. The one is a straight line mound, likely made by Native Americans. Moles dig pottery shards out of it sometimes. The other spot is lined up with it, but on the other side of a fence and some trees from it. Diane and I have talked about putting a little A frame shelter down there. I call the first area my living room. When we have company, we frequently hang out and eat down there. Everyone seems to like that spot. It's pleasantly peaceful and pretty.

If you talk on the mound, it sounds like you are right outside our back window, which is hundreds of yards away. It has interesting acoustics.

Keith

I was sneaking through a big chunk of public ground deer hunting when nature called. I found a likely spot and took care of business. While performing my task I kind of felt like I wasn't alone, and hurried up a bit. While pulling up my pants I noticed the trail camera. It was in an odd spot, in a little patch of immature balsams with no obvious path or trail to cover. Anyway, someone got some interesting pictures of me out there.

I'm certain that I provided strangeness for someone else in the outdoors.
I was scouting some property and spotted a trail camera on property where it was not supposed to be,
I hadn't gotten close enough to it to set it off , so I snuck in behind it, stripped down to nothing but a face mask and boots, and strolled right in front of the camera with my best Patterson-Gimlin blurry Big Foot long step saunter and and famous look back.
Never heard tell from anybody about it, but the camera sure did get gone real quick like.
I'll bet that ole boy still wakes up in a cold sweat at night from time to time.

lol

Truth