As I was walking to my stand in the dark this morning I thought about this and it would make for a good topic of conversation. I'm not afraid to admit I'm afraid of what I can't see. So every time I walk to the deer blind I get the creeps. If something rustles in the grass, my pace picks up. If a covey of quail blows up in front of me no amount of scent lock spray in the world is going to cover up what's in my pants. If I hit a spider web the hunt is over. I decide in a split millisecond which is closer the truck or the blind and I run to it screaming like a little girl.

So how about everyone else or am I the only one?

Hibbie Jibbies single choice
	Everytime I walk to the stand
	Sometimes
	Creatures bow as I walk by so no I don't
	Never have though about it
Votes accepted starting: 10/13/12 09:56 PM
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Not so much in the morning, but walking back to the truck in the afternoon with coyotes howling. Sends chills up my spine.

yup all the time

All right.....that's it

I'm more worried about a skunk spraying me. But this morning, I stepped right over a sneaky snake.....it was not a rattler but it definitely woke me up.

Anyone like to share their stories? It could be therapeutic.

I get the hibbie jibbies walking into a crowded city. Not in the woods. Last time I was in a major city I was wondering who was going to rob me beyond the next corner.

I'm fine once I get to the blind....even just a ground blind. But I do often wonder what could be watching me. I'm mostly worried about mountain lions and skunks.

Hilarious

I use to get a little freaked out walking to/from the stand in the dark, but then I turned 12 yrs old and ever since then nothing...

my buddies dad owned a place in vanderpool that was very creepy.

when you'd come through the gate, you would get creeped out. was actually a stagecoach route that went through there back in the 1800's.

anyway, it was a very odd place, not a lot of wildlife, just a wierd place.

anyway, we never said anything about it or really talked about it.

one day we had a big shindig, and when we were leaving the next day, one of the girls that was with us, blurted out "this ranch gives me the creeps"

something about the place was off....really off

I used to not be like this till two seasons ago, started walking to my blind, no light, half asleep and walked right into a group of baby pigs accidentally stepped on one it screamed then heard the brush moving and loud deep grunts I ran as fast as I could to the tower blind with the mamma right on my tail waited till I could see she and the piglets still around I shot her and then as many babies as I could!

Another time it snowed I walked to my stand hunted the morning and left on the way out I noticed paw prints following my foot prints in the snow and my camera showed me walking by then 10 min later a mountain lion on my trail nose to the ground

Last year while walking to my stand, I ran right into a skunk and even slightly kicked him. I was using my red light....we both backed up very slowly and I let him go his way.

The next morning I used my white light!

When bowhunting I do feel more vulnerable than when gun hunting but its part of the excitement.I dont worry about much except for skunks but I had a porcupine on a trail that lead into the trail that I was walking one evening and I gave it the right of way.Another time I was headed out on a bowhunt one morning and realized something was moving behind me as I moved along with no light on.If I sped up so did it,slowed down so did it,so I finaly shined my flashlight behind me and the rope that I take to pull my bow into the stand had slipped out of my pocket and was about to get me.I laughed out loud,called myself a dumb azz and was glad to get out of there with my life.

I think it's more of a natural animal instinct to be a little worriesome. We use all of our senses in conjunction with one another, take one away and thats what happens. Dosent help hearing/reading about mountain lion or black bear rumors or sightings either. Even though chances are they're not even close to youtr are or if they are they're long gone before your boots leave the truck. The thaughts linger in the back of some minds. I personally try to be very attentive on the way to my stand paying carefull attention to try not to fall or trip...dont wanna give nothing the opportunity...re-reading this it seems I may be a touch paranoid, but nothing too bad.

Only things I usually worry about are snakes and someone walking around in the dark with a loaded gun and the hibbie jibbies.

I don't walk into the woods scared but have had an owl scare me out of my skin.

Not when walking to the stand, but i do when i open it! Afraid of what critter might be in there.

cold weather, no snakes to worry about, cant wait for that...years ago at my lease near Hondo, I got into my tower blind thru a bottom hatch....was very surprised by a very large owl that was already there, that thing was huge, still cant figure how I didnt fall out of that stand, I let the owl do his exit before I climbed back in, but a few minutes later he tried to get back in again....it was a long time till daylight.

When fear comes in to play those superhuman abilities tend to show themselves. So, it had better be a bad "mofo" if it grabs hold of me in the dark. Things are going to get ugly quick! And, if I can't win with the fight mode the flight mode is ready roll.

This happened to one of my hunting partners during a hunt last fall here in Florida. There are four bears living on the property, also located in an area of many panthers, and of course, snakes.

Yes, sometimes I get the willies going to and from the stands.

http://s738.photobucket.com/albums/xx26/WakkoSS/?action=view&current=RugBearTreeStand.mp4

Hey what are you doing there?

After my trip to Montana and walking around in grizzly bear country in the dark, nothing scares me here in Texas any more...

On my last lease I didn't maind walking in the dark till my buddy told me he had a mountain lion on his game cam. After that any noise I heard I assumed it was that damned lion after my rear. Hoping to not have that feeling at our current lease.

Always hell I can't see good as it is but in pitch black I might as well have a white cane. Spider web and I will scream like a 5th old little girl

I am 58, over the years killed many a good buck in the middle of the morning, even noon when everyone else is at camp. I dont care to sit it the dark for an hour waiting for light, sometimes I dont leave camp til light, even park my jeep or 4 wheeler near blind, I just aint one to sit for too too long (in the dark anyway) but I will hunt most of the day.

I'd rather the slight risk of spooking something with a small red or white flash light well before first light than to run face first into a black widow or brown recluse web or running across a coiled up rattler in the short grass on the path. A hunt without seeing anything is still better than the alternative and loaded pants.

This had my laughing so hard I cried

I used to get nervous but now I figure since nothings attacked me for the last 20 years odds are I'm safe, doesnt bother me much now (at least not in the hill country). One exception though, when I go to our place in West Texas. We are less than 20 miles from the border and have plenty of drug smugglers that come through, a few illegals but mostly drugs in that rough country. I know they will be packing more heat than I will be and that area does make me nervous, I hate the blue quail while walking in the dark!

Was walking back one night in the dark with no light about half a mile to the truck. Every step of the way I had that feeling that something was following me. Every few minutes I would stop and every now and then I would hear the faintest leaf crack or grass smash down. There was no wind so it was obvious what I heard. Then I would start walking again and the soft steps would start up again. Ever so quiet a short ways behind me. Wanted to get a light on it but forgot it in the truck.
Never really been scared till that moment. Had my gun off my shoulder and ready if whatever it was decided I was dinner. Made it back with whatever it was following me the whole way. Besides that I like walking in the dark. Use to hate it as a kid though.

X2 LOL

When I take my girl friend hunting she gets so scared and clings to me like we are walking through a haunted house... It's so intense it makes me nervous as crap lol....she hates the dark... The one thing that really worries me is if I run into someone else.... Especially when I used to hunt on a 200,000 acre ranch in Colorado city.... Always was scared there was some crazies out there living off the land lol and m lions too

I was coming out of the woods in the middle of the afternoon after hunting all morning. I was following the same path that I used in the dark. When I started walking through the opening in a dead fall that I had to go through, I happened to glance down and see a 3 foot copper head all coiled up. I usually don't bother to kill snakes, but I put an arrow in his head. I can't imagine how many times I had walked past it in the dark.

This just might make you walk a little faster....

http://www.stancourtney.com/sounds/bigfoot/2006.04.04_Illinois_Howl_01.mp3

I listen to coyotes all night, love the sound, also sometimes got hogs fighting just yards from camp house,if they wake me up, I go outside, fire off couple rounds from my pistol, usually runs them offf and I can go back to sleep. I can sometimes shine the light and see lots of eyes, my part of Texas is full of hogs (northern Karnes county)

Got a friend thats scared to death to walk to the stand in the dark. I think he was hunting in Coleman one time walking to the stand and turned his flashlight on and he was literally face to face with a solid black cow scared the crap out of him. It didnt help also that there was a rumor about some lions that got out in the area either. Now he waits to almost daylight to walk in to his stand.

I don't at where I'm currently hunting. But there are times when I feel a breeze and a chill runs down my spine and I do get a wierd feeling. Now when I was younger and hinted at my uncles ranch I was never freaked out persay but there were times I wished I was already in the blind or back in the truck.

The scariest thing that has happend to me I thought was when my uncle snuck up and got in the blind with me and I didn't know it. It was light out but just barely. That guy could sneak up on a deer while walking through dead leaves!!! He is a master of camo and really an excellent hunter!

well, i don't feel like such a wuss anymore...

i hate raccoon's

I've had armadillos scare me to death. They're so loud!!!

I hate those little birds that sit in the scrub trees along the trail I take to and from my stand. They're always dead quiet till you walk right up next to them then...BAM! They'll all flush like a covey of quail, chirping and making all kinds of racket.

I know that's right I thought I was the only 1 there was a little scared of the dark. My DAD would drop me off like a half mile from my blind I still haven't forgive him for that :)::::::

I'm about 6 foot and 250 lbs. I carry a sharp scabbard knife, a pistol, and a rifle that can blow a hole in almost anything or be used as a club at close quarters. I always figured, except for the cows size, I was the biggest, strongest and most deadly thing in the pasture and the booggers had better watch out for me. (I have not hunted in bear country)

I bet you still have your v card.

The last time I went out to the stand, for some reason started thinking about a movie I had watch a few days earlier.
Anyone seen 28 Days Later?

Ok as I'm reading this I'm freaking out my beat buddy cause I'm laughing so hard. I don't have a man card to give but I would if I had one. This topic got me thinking, I absolutely get the creeps walking to my stand in the dark, even with a gun in my hand. Once I'm there I'm ok. Odd tho, is the fact that I will clear a building in the dark, chase a turd into the woods without even blinking in the dark and make traffic stops, alone, on a dark desolate road and never think "hmm doing this gives me the creeps" lol. Maybe I should start my day off before I go hunting and get on my radio and say "154 show me out clearing the property....enrt to my stand" lmao

In early morning or late evening darkness, I am petrified until I reach the safety of my stand or my vehicle. To make matters worse, I can't hear anything. Nothing. Completely deaf.

Oh wow. I'm guessing your head is on a swivel with a good flash light.....

Have you always been deaf?

Lost my hearing at age two, parents realized I was deaf four years later. That entire time, they thought I had some kind of learning disability because I wouldn't listen; they were afraid I was retarded. Here's what I don't get... it took THEM four years to figure I was deaf and they thought I was slow!?!?

Been wearing hearing aids since six - 36 years. Only had sign language interpreters in college. Since then, American Sign Language (ASL) is my preferred language.

I know the feeling sorta! I didn't find out till I took my first drivin test that I was legally blind in one eye. Explains why I always had to sit in front row at school

Not meaning to pump up you scardycats....but look at this pic taken off a game cam.

We're safe billy bob

one thing i always leave back at the cabin is my Jack Links Beef Jertky

It can get a little harry at times. Trying to be quite, quick, and at least on the walk in keeping the light off. The coyotes howling and I know there are some BIG freak-in bore hogs around not to mention snakes. I try not to think about it to much or it can get to you. Thinking about getting in the stand and the hunt to follow keeps me focused. But walking out can be just as bad if not worse.

I have laughed since I read the title of the post! Glad to hear I'm not the only one! I hunt my friends place and I usually park at a break in the trees then walk. To me that is the worse part because I walk over a bridge that dips into a dry creek, woods all around with land at different levels, feels like a great place for an ambush! I sometimes carry a .40 carbine for the walk just in case I run into a hog and the use of the flashlight on it. One of the last days of last season I was coming up the bridge and heard a deep grunt from something big! I hit the light but saw nothing. I turned the light off and listened for a second.few second later I bigger sound of movement followed by a louder snort. I hit the light and see a massive body and two huge eyes! My only thought was " feet don't fail me now! I turned and went into a dead sprint carbine in one hand rifle in the other. I get to the truck, do a " dukes of hazard" slide over the hood and get into the truck. Once in the truck I gathered my wits and decided to purse the beast. Once my headlights hit it I laughed till I cried. My buddy had gone ahead and moved his cows!

Never thought too much about it!

....but I still carry my 5,000,000 candle power light along with my pot lid and wooden spoon. Make enough noise & nothing will bother you!

Usually I make plenty of noise when I trip & fall on the way to the stand......Wonder if deer know what @#$%%&+# means?

I get the hibbie jibbies when I'm sitting in the blind and you can really hear every single noise. While I'm walking, not so much. My hunting rifle is slung, my 1911 is holstered, but my AR15 is at the ready.

I'm usually in the blind all night ambushing hogs. Once the sun comes up, it's lights out for me.

Bunch of chickens. Bagock.

Several years ago I walked face first into a huge garden spider, on the way to my stand. Anyone, & I mean anyone within 3 miles would have heard what they probably thought was a 12 yr. old girl screaming out in the woods!!!!!

I HATE spider webs.

Stay off the moors, stick to the roads, beware of the moon lads.

years of coon hunting at night has made me fearless in the dark but open the door to the tower blind in the dark and have an owl come out right at you would scare the sh@t out of anyone including me, took a little while to get over that one and I make sure it is closed up every night when I go in

this is why when i do get a deer blind it will be sealed air tight. i think i'd take the owl over a spider. at least i know the owl is there.

I always step on the ladder and shake the blind and spook the owl out..... Then when it flies out and lands on a tree 20 yards away and stares at me I like taking their eggs and slowly dropping them one by one from the blind, they love it when you do that

lol, sicko

this one came in during the night, I had hunted there the evening before and left the windows open. It did not go back out through the windows, it flogged me pretty good getting out of there and I am just lucky I held on and didnt fall 12' to the ground

Maybe when i was younger, I always carry the .44 on the hip no matter what! loaded with 300grns hollows!
The best is having a great horned owl about your tree or blind early or late evening! Now thats "Call of the Wild!"

never have the hibbie jibbies from the dark or animals. once this summer I was up at my land in Kansas and it was 10pm when I was checking my game cams. one camera is about 300 yard walk from my truck. I started getting the hibbie jibbies out there by myself and no other humans for miles. it is thick forest area now 100 year old big trees and vines. I never thought much about it before, but when I got the hibbie jibbies I started thinking about 100 years ago when it was cold mine land. every foot of the land was strip mined, I just wonder how many people died working the land? The family we bought it from had owned it since the coal company, I actually met the daughter of original owner who is now 85 years old. She talked about swimming in the old strip pits as a kid. You just get the feeling there is over 100 years of stories on that land, I just don’t know what they are!

Walking? Naw, Im moving. Now when get settled in the blind.
I sometimes feel "Hem'd-up".

Oh man that is great! Glad to see most everyone else is a little jumpy and imaginative on the way in.

Hands down, scariest thing to happen is bumping a covey of quail in the dark.

Definitely a good use for night vision goggles...if any of you guys who never get the hibbie jibbies still have a pair of them sitting around send them by way since you don't need them.

On a serious note I usually take my machette with me to knock down the spider webs and and make me at least feel like I have a fighting chance if I can't get the pistol out in a hurry.

That bear would have smelled me the second he started climbing! I get the jebbies walking to the stand in the morning.... can't wait till Im 12' off the ground and the sun comes up

Hope the GWs don't see this.....

Saw some huge fresh mountain lion tracks in the road walking back from blind..........Kind of scary walking to the stand after that!

I seen some Kitty tracks yesterday In cass county on my land I put up a cam & maybe in a cpl weeks ill go check it....Its way back there in the woods I wouldnt walk back there at night even with a Flash light.

The worst is having to cross through a tight area on the trail. There's a couple of places on the ranch where the trees make a get real thick and form a canopy over the trail. One of my biggest scares was walking to a blind one morning and coming through one of these pinch points which crosses down a steep grade through a creek bottom. It had rained the night before and the embankment was slick. I'm trying to not get attacked by whatever monster is lurking in the brush and I feel one of my feet slip, then the next one and down I go face first into the dirt. My gun was slung over my shoulder and it went flying into the dirt. I hit the ground so hard that a wall of turkeys roosting above me gave out shock gobbles from the loud sound. I jumped up as quick as I fell ready to fight the Sasquatch that was about to eat me since I was vulnerable. Spun my flashlight all the way around me to make sure I was ok, then looked at my gun barrel that was plugged an inch deep with mud. That's when I felt really vulnerable, so I grabbed the biggest knife I could and made my way back to the truck to grab my back up rifle. I was on edge the rest of the morning.

fabulous thread... thanks for starting it

X2

Just Glad Im not the only chicken sht

A long time ago when I started bow hunting I went to a friends place that said I could hunt and I put a stand up in a big oak tree. I usually walk in the dark with nothing to guide me but instincts and I made it up in the tree that first opening morning. As it got lighter I heard sounds in the tree above me and it scared the badookie out of me......then as it got light I had picked the tree that the local turkeys roost in and they were clucking is all. My buddies got a good laugh out of that one!!!!

Hunting down by Laredo scared me several years ago as had a group of people come walking right by me as I was set up ready to bow hunt on my buddies 5K acres. I could have reached out and grabbed them from my set-up that morning.

That's how I feel...When I have my .270 in my arms ,I'm not scared of anything.

I always have my .45 ready.. Once a lease member of mine was going to the feeder to get some corn on the ground when a pack of coyotes surrounded him. He didnt have a gun and had to quickly run back to the stand and change his shorts.

I saw a black bear in red River county while in stand.Other than that the only other thing to worry bout IMO is when out West I do think about mountain lions.Thing is even with a pistol in your hands the lions gunna be bitin your neck from behind before you figure out what the hells goin on.If that dousnt worry you just a tad your more of a man than me.

The only time I have been creeped out was when I thought I was following Dad to the stand but he seemed to have walked to far passed it. I asked him where he was going and when he answered he was behind me. I have no Idea who iwas following it was just me and my Dad and there is no livestock on my place. It looked like an persons outline so I thought it was my father. The other thing is my place is about 3/4 of a mile from a big cat rehab center. Right about daybreak you can here those cats roar and if the wind is right they sound like they are real close. I hope they never escape.

When I first started bow hunting in 95, my brother and I had a small lease near Karnak in East Texas. I was sitting on a 10' ladder stand when a mountain lion screamed between where I was hunting and my brother's stand on the ridge that ran between us. Every hair on my body stood up and goose bumps the size of grapefruit. Glad I got my CHL in 96.

Not to bad more of just causious....killed 3 copperheads walking down a road to my stand the other morning...other than that it aint bad...i do got one stand that i got sitting on the edge of a lake thats infested with gators...gota walk a good 200yrds down a trail right next to the lake...only bad durring bow season usually...that hisssing noise will make your hair stand up lol

because you needed a CHL to carry a handgun while hunting?

You do during bow season.

good to know, I guess in Texas that is mainly just October though.

Last week I had to go back to camp and break down my pop up camper. Was hoping to get it done before dark. I can do it with my eyes closed but it got dark before I got there. Grab my flash light and proceed to break every thing down. Wasn't 5 minutes before I start hearing monsters all around me. Shine my flash light around and start catching glimpses of orange eyes staring at me. Got the truck started and headlights shining on the camper now and a pistol in the back of my jeans. Eyes keep getting closer. Go back to the truck and now I'm breaking down the camper with a flash light in my mouth, pistol in the back of my jeans, and a 12 ga with 000 buck shot slung over my shoulder. Working one handed now, I thought I'd never get out of there. Hand to even check the back seat before I left to make sure no monsters snuck into the truck.

It really only bothers me during bow season. Open season I have my gun so no fear. It also helps when I'm not out there completely alone.

I usually just try and make it to my stand as quickly as I can using the moonlight and the outline of the trees as my guide. One morning a couple of seasons ago I had just got dropped off and started my usual routine of walking to my stand, it is about 1/4 of a mile from the drop off point to my bow stand. This morning was different to say the least. I got within about 300 yards of my blind when I heard what sounded like a group of people were talking near my stand! This sounded like people Men/Women voices were sitting around a camp fire out in the middle of the woods. We hunt on about 700 acres and there are NO other hunters within a few miles radius. As I got closer I heard brush popping and it the voices stopped. I made it to my stand and checked the area all around my stand for human activity, Nothing. After the sun came up and I was done with the hunt I walked the perimiter of my stand checking for any other signs, nothing. This was by far the creepiest encounter I had ever had walking to my stand. I asked the land owner if any other hunters were near us, he said we are the only hunters within miles of his place. Pretty creepy!

A few years ago, my wife and I had a Pig charge us walking to the blind in the dark. It was gun season, and I had my rifle and a side arm. There was NO WAY I could have pulled my pistol and got a shot off. It all just happened to quick. The hog made a 90 degree turn into the bushes about 20 feet in front of us. Now when we walk to and from the blind in the dark, I carry my pistol in my hand. During bow season, not being able to carry a gun has been a problem. My wife doesn't do archery. So I get her an archery stamp every year now. She carries my bow and I "Pig Hunt" until we get to my gun blind, I set the pistol inside the door and take the bow and we walk to the bow blind. Then, I'm bow hunting.

lol, God help Texas if hunters from another state see this thread...

LOL

skunks and meth heads.


The guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Leatherface) on meth

Nothing there in tha dark....that ain't there in the light....

not sure i agree with that..... i see WAY more stuff at night than i do in the day. it is amazing how many monsters i can see when it is dark.

Hunting Colorado a few years back north of Eagle off of the Colorado river. On horse back after dark going down old jeep trail next to a small stream letting the horse have his head toward camp when I heard something rustle the brush up hill fairly close to us. I had ridden cutting horses in my younger years and glad of it,or I would have been on the ground. Talk about it nearly running down both legs. It could have been a deer, bear,lion or elk.I know I made it a point to get out of the high country a little earlier the rest of the hunt.

In 2007 I watched a very large mountain lion follow my trail leading to my blind just before the sun came up. Every time I walk to and from my blind in the dark, I do it quickly and use either a red or green light. The broom weed was waist high that year and it is waist high this year. I have been extra careful this year so far because you can't see what lurks under the broom weed......

Get a CHL and you can still take your side arm with you.

I have always wondered about this. My buddies and I have tried to decide what we thought we could handle in hand to paw combat. Mountain loins and bears and massive hogs and we are gonners. Yotes though, I think I could take one down, possibly two. After that I am toast. Wonder if another thread on this might be fun.

As a kid in FL, we hunted 15' ladder stands over feeders in the middle of our swamps. One morning, my Dad climbed into his stand well before daylight. He thought he kept hearing something above him, but couldn't be sure. As the sun began to rise and the feeder went off, a sow & some of her progeny made their way in to eat. About that time, Dad heard a loud noise above him & looked up to see an airborne bobcat taking a leap at the piglets from about 18' up. Said it scared him a little, but was a neat enough experience that he was glad to have seen it.

Nothing better than that first walk in the dark with as much light discipline as possible on the new lease....not gonna lie, I got spooked by a quail flying off this am, they just make some good noise when flying off and I was already off my normal path because stupid me made te path too close to the feeder...nothing like a new moon to really make things dark outside!

Once I hear those coyotes getting closer, I start walking faster. Its worse in the mornings in my area. I have had them follow me through the brush.

[quote=Layemdown1983]I usually just try and make it to my stand as quickly as I can using the moonlight and the outline of the trees as my guide. One morning a couple of seasons ago I had just got dropped off and started my usual routine of walking to my stand, it is about 1/4 of a mile from the drop off point to my bow stand. This morning was different to say the least. I got within about 300 yards of my blind when I heard what sounded like a group of people were talking near my stand! This sounded like people Men/Women voices were sitting around a camp fire out in the middle of the woods. We hunt on about 700 acres and there are NO other hunters within a few miles radius. As I got closer I heard brush popping and it the voices stopped. I made it to my stand and checked the area all around my stand for human activity, Nothing. After the sun came up and I was done with the hunt I walked the perimiter of my stand checking for any other signs, nothing. This was by far the creepiest encounter I had ever had walking to my stand. I asked the land owner if any other hunters were near us, he said we are the only hunters within miles of his place. Pretty creepy!

Wish I hadnt read this.
Thats creepy right there.quote]

I dont really get spooked up in West Texas because I feel like I can see forever with no trees. However where I grew up east of Marshall, we hunted all along Caddo and points in between Marshall and Jefferson. Out there moon or no moon, its completely pitch black under all them Pines. Plus the wind gets buffered by the trees so when somethings moves in the pitch black, it aint the wind blowing anything around.

The most spooked i got was hunting right up near the north end of Caddo and to get to the stands we needed hip highs on. While walking through the water I heard something hit the water and coming splashing right at me. I couldnt see anything so I was in a moment of Oh F, oh F, oh F and then ahhh lets get some when a wood duck came skittering in on me. I just stood there thankful to still be alive from the monster wood duck that just about beat my a$$!

I have never thought about it as an adult...but I've had a lot of fun at my wife's expense. We had a mountain lion on the ranch some year's ago. I would drop her off about a 1/4 mile from her stand....and watch her hesitation getting out of the truck. Gun loaded...shoulders up around her ears because anyone who knows mountain lions knows they attack by biting the neck. ;-) Then watching her walking down the road like Elmer Fudd...classic.

Now as a kid I once had an experience that stuck with me for a long time. I use to sneak out with a friend and go spot lighting for rabbits...one night I'm walking back through the woods from my friends house to mine...it's a good 2 mile trek but even in the moonless night I knew the woods well. So one night about 2am I'm walking back with my trusty .22 and heard a large branch break to the left of me. I froze in my tracks and swung my fashlight towards to noise...a pair of eyes reflected back in the darkness...some 10' off the ground some 50 yards through the trees.

Although I was only 13 I thought "heck its a owl"...suddenly the eyes disappeared...another ground noise. My scanning pace quickened at the same rate as my heart. The eyes are back...roughly same height but now 30 yards to the left. My mind is racing...how can that be an owl?!? I instantly went into Rambo mode...firing as quickly as I could squeeze the trigger. The click was my signal to run Forest run...and I did all the way to the house! I didn't go rabbit hunting for a year!

Big Foot?

Heck yes...and a few years later the movie Legend of Bigfoot came out...with stories of sightings in nearby Arkansas...I was convinced of my own sighting after that bonafied documentary!!! ;-)

p.s. one of the best threads on the Forum this year!!!

I think my Stand Traversing Paranoia (medical term for the hibbie jibbies) started when I was 11 or 12. It was one of the first times my dad let me hunt by myself in southeast Texas. He dropped me off on a corned road that went up hill, where I set curled up in a ball behind a dirt pile. I had on a black and white coat and from the back probably looked pretty small. At that time I wasn't scared of much so the thought had never crossed my mind. My attention was mostly looking straight ahead up the corned road and occasionally looking back to make sure no pigs or deer were crossing behind me. I had the trusty old mini 14 laid down across the dirt pile and had been sitting there for about an hour. I looked back behind me like I had done several times before and this time noticed something on the right side of the road in the bar ditch looking at me. It was real low to the ground and was just crouched there. I studied it for a couple of seconds and had not yet moved, when I saw a paw come forward out of the crouch. Then another and another. I had seen this before from one of our barn cats stalking a mouse. It dawned on me this was a CAT and I was it's mouse. When I figured out I was about to be in a world of hurt I turned completely around to try to get a shot off at it. When I exposed the full length of my body and it saw more than black and white little ball it figured out I wasn't the mouse it was looking for. In two leaps it was out of sight into the woods with the last thing I saw being a long tail attached to a big gray body. It took a few minutes for it all to sink in what had just transpired and I had no idea what to do next. Do i fire shots in the air? Do I go looking for my stalker? I finally decided the best thing to do was to go to the truck and wait for dad to get done with his hunt. The only bad thing was I had to walk right past where the cat went into the woods. My gun was loaded and ready for action as I moved ever so carefully down the road to the truck. I had the most eerie feeling that entire walk that he was still close in the trees watching me deciding if I was worth the trouble of a meal. I got to the truck and locked all the doors and stayed there until dad came back. He didn't believe me until a few years later when he saw a cat jump out in the road in front of him while he was driving. I'm pretty sure that's the root of my fears and I often wonder if I would be here today typing this story had I not checked my back trail for game every so often that day. Or if they would have found me buried under a pile of brush and leaves somewhere for a few more meals.

I don't get the hibbie jibbies very often but flushing birds does make me jump. I have flushed coveys of quail, numerous song birds, and even turkeys but they only pail in comparrison to the time I had a rattlesnake rattle at me in total darkness. That went to a level way past the hibbie jibbies. That may just have been the biggest dose of adrenalin ever. I bet I jumped 20 feet followed by a 3 second forty and I didn't have any idea where I was going but I was moving! I bet that snake told that story to his buddies until the day he died!

read the thread and I am laughing histerically sitting here in my hotel in AZ...that has happended to me many times...spiders are my cryptonite...walking to one of our stands when the sorghum was really thick, heard pigs grunting really close...no amount of scent block covers up my reaction...

I can assure you of this, there is a difference between the hibbie jibbies and experiencing a lion stalking you. I don't know how or why but you have a feeling that can not accurately be described when it is dark and you are being watch by a lion.

oxymoron? This is too funny. Made me smile.

Dusk creeps me out way more than dawn. I carry my Judge loaded with alternating PDX and bird shot at all times so I'm ready for a cougar or a snake push come to shove. I'm more worried about a damn hog running up on me; they aren't afraid of anything out in West Texas.

He would spit me out cause i would taste like S***, me no likey Lions

I also hunt in Cass County and recently got this pic. That cat is about 15-20 yards in front of my stand.

The almighty hunter humbled by a spider. Wait til a cicada or flying roach gets in hte stand with you. lol

That is a large Bob! Almost looks like he is a mixed cat? Have any of you heard of a Bob cat and a Mountain lion maiting?

big bobcat!

Never worry about bobcats... never had one get even a little agressive... this is about the only thing that can hurt you

I don't get the hibbie jibbies, but I do get the walkin' farts.

get worse than that lol

Nothing better than to jump a covey of bobwhites before daylight to get the blood pumping

Nothing more fun than walking into 20-30 javis to wake you up