Weirdest sound or thing you have seen in the woods

I am just curious what the weirdest, animal, sound or thing you guys have seen in the woods. I have heard weird sounds myself like whoops and snarls, but nothing over the top. I did see two bears on trail while I was hiking as a backpacking guide. They ended up following us the entire trip without us knowing (We saw them early in a six day trip). Kinda creepy.

When I was about 12 or 13, sitting on my deer stand opening morning in Eastern Central Texas I heard what turned out to be an elk bugling from a game ranch down the road. I'd never heard that before and it kinda' freaked me out at the time.

Edited to add: Their bugle carries like a coyote call. Sounded like he was in my hip pocket.

Slow drifter I heard that same bugle for the first time while I was camping alone in Northern Arizona. I immediately snuck from my tent into the backseat of my car and locked the doors.
My unusual sound was last year on a dead still morning sitting in my blind. Someone on the neighboring property, which is hundreds of yards away, started their practice on the Cello outside in their yard. It was so eery. Took me a while to figure out the sound.

A mountain lion screaming like a woman right at dark when I was about 13 ...I made tracks straight back to the house.

The hair on my neck just stood up typing this 40+ years later....

About 2 years ago, Me and brother were out night hunting for pigs, we had corn out in a 40 yard by 40 yard clearing , and we were in a tree stand roughly 25 feet up, about 11:30 PM.
About 20 yards behind us we hear footsteps, not like a quadpedal or hooved animal. But like you would hear a human walking , so we readied our weapons,
Looking at my watch it's now 11:38 and we are still hearing movement behind us just lingering in one spot.... But moving closer, I look at my watch again, 11:41PM, foot steps come right underneath us, but off to the right about 5 feet. We are sitting in the stand like statues with our hearts going 300MPH, then comes the stinch. It's not pig stinch, it's like a skunk, shoved up a rotting carcass, the steps proceed around behind the stand and stop again about 15 feet behind us, and we hear breathing, it's not one of us, it's like breathing when your sick, and have gunk in your lungs like raspy breathing.
It's almost midnight now, so 30 minutes of this being circling us, it finally makes its way to the north, which is where Camp creek runs through and provides a good waterway as it is not very deep.
We wasted no time gathering our gear and bolting to his Truck 100 yards away. I bet not even the fastest NFL receiver could have out ran us that night.

what was it? I don't know. At the time I always thought of Bigfoot as a fake figment of imaginations.
After that, I wasn't so cold hearted.

It's also strange to me as we have always found nice healthy tree branches snapped for no apparent reason along trails or near creeks, we also run cows, and there have often been occasions when we go feed, they will look at the tree line and throw their head up like they see something.
And sometimes we'll get over there and they are all spooked and jumpy.
I'm not saying there is a Bigfoot , but I can certainly say I do not doubt it.

I do not go into the woods there now without a rifle, or I always carry Buckshot or Slugs with me if I'm dove hunting.
I can say I was truly scared.

A cougar, which sounds like a woman or child screaming.
One sound I still don't know what it was. It was about 4pm. 2 of us sitting in a crappy blind that had no door or roof. It was very quiet then this sound started. It sounded like someone positioning their lips like sucking thru a straw. It started quiet & slow but gradually (over about 2-3 seconds) got faster & louder. Something similar to a jet breaking the sound barrier by the end of it. It became insanely loud, almost so loud it hurt our ears. Crazy sound.

This thread has great potential....

I'm skeered already!

I once saw a staircase in the middle of nowhere, in nowhere Texas, on the Brazos. Crazy [censored].

Well, since you mentioned sight as well. Not me personally, but on my place and I saw the pictures. A hunting buddy will never go to my place alone again, and never without a handgun.

He was of work and got to his stand well before first light on a Wednesday or maybe.a Thursday. He sat until nearly noon and walked over to pull the card from a game cam, about 40 yards away.

Back at camp, he plugged the card into his laptop and viewed the images. There were a lot of pics of people. I think it was three guys and two girls. The guys had AR-15's and the girls had pistols on their hips. Their faces were so weird. Totally vacant eyes, slack jaws and completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever. The scary part is the pics were taken about 10 minutes before he sat down in his stand. Chances are they were in the woods with him that morning. They probably knew he was there, but he didn't know they were there. I get shivers just remembering the pictures I saw.

https://youtu.be/NrIITDYkr50?t=152
Deeper into the wilderness, the more you'll encounter....

Probably been on some silly grass

The wife and I were pig hunting in a 16 ft tower blind one night. A few hours after dark (11:00ish) we heard the sounds of foot steps coming up the blind stairs, the blind even shook like it would when someone was coming up.
We both immediately turned lights and guns toward the door and out the window next to it, it stopped, nothing was there. We when back to camp right away.
The same night. After settling in the cabin, about 2:30 we here a Ranger (Gator, Mule, whatever) drive right by the cabin. about 10 minutes later it passed again.
Only my brother was out there that weekend and he swore he slept all night and wasn't out and about.
We stay at that ranch 20 weekends a year. We have never had anything happen like that ever again.

That certainly is wierd, but I believe you. I was on a hunting property in East Texas and heard this strange whoop. I kinda looked around and panned with my flashlight and then heard this weird snarl. Like something was saying get out of here. I quickly exited the scene. I could have dismissed the whoop I guess but the fact that they were back to back was weird. Of course I did not see or smell anything. May have been nothing but a hog (Not sure the make a whoop noise though). I am not an expert on Bigfoot, but you should check out the Sasquatch Chronicles podcast. Might make you feel better anyway. Lots of stories from hunters on it. I am not sure if it is legit, but it seems to be.

Never heard that in the woods, but if I did I would probably have to change my drawers! LOL!

I am from Arkansas. People used to say you were never alone in the woods there. Lots of strange folks in the hills. I remember there was a Springfest in Fayetteville and I went. Some of the people from the small towns in the area came out. Man.....some of those folks were just as you described. Probably nice people though

It was the first occasion I was permitted to go deer hunting with my father. I was ten years old. Getting up before sunrise, eating a quick breakfast and walking deep into the woods was something I had dreamed about for a couple of years. My father and I trudged through the foot-deep snow for about a mile. We left the trail, crossed a small creek, and climbed a steep bank near a tree that had fallen years before. My Dad cleared snow from the log and motioned for me to sit down. I watched all of my father's movements from the turn of his head to the shuffling of his feet, moving the snow away from his boots. I followed my father's lead and cleared the snow near my feet.
The woods were quieted by a heavy snowfall and windless morning. The silence was almost frightening, but fear did not come easy in the presence of my father, a man with tremendous internal and physical strength. I felt warm and safe next to him.
I was beginning to daydream when I saw three shadowy figures making their way through the snowy woods. As they got closer I noticed that two were men, one old, one young, and one was a small child. All were poorly dressed in ragged coats and trousers. I looked toward my father and then heard a terrifying "chink-ching". It was a sound I would never forget. Although I have heard it many times since then, the eerie sound of metal hands opening and closing still sends a chill through my body. The "hunters" coming through the woods were three brothers, the two older ones had their hands and forearms "burnt off" when they cut an electrical line on a generator at the coal mines they were attempting to steal copper from. The two older brothers each were missing one hand. They had mechanical hands, really hooks, attached around the elbow. Miraculously, they could still hold a rifle and shoot a deer. My dad knew the brothers and I went to school with the younger one. They were some scary looking dudes, especially to a 10 year old sitting in the dark woods.

Peacocks!

Neighbors where I hunt used to have Guinea Hens, Peacocks, and a Monkey running around.
The Peacocks sound something like a baby screaming, and it was a weird thing to hear in the woods at night the first time.

3 or 4 years ago - sitting in blind on a very still and cloudy morning. This was not an animal sound, but more a mechanical sound from high above. Metallic like a jet engine, but it was not constant, and would fade in and out, but the pulses kept getting louder as it approached and then passed overhead. From the first time I heard it to my east, until it passed and the sound was gone to the west was no more than 30 seconds. I've read and seen videos of TS military projects, and I am convinced this was some type of airplane.

Heard what I thought was an Elephant one morning down in Cass County, turned out to be an Elephant on the property next door (Carnival Animals) Wasn't scared just knew I didn't have a big enough gun ...LOL!!

Makes you wonder what is going on out there. I guess you never saw anything though. What a strange sound. I wonder why the government would make something that sounded like that. Of course if it was a UFO would it make sound at all? I think you are right, sounds like a secret military project of some sort.

I think I posted on another thread of similar topic ... years ago, mid-late 1960s, when i was probably 8-10 years old, my uncle used to take me varmint hunting as coon hides would bring $2 for a good hide without rubs. He took me out west of Lake Buchanan on hwy 29 where it parallels the Llano river. We pulled over on the shoulder and climbed the fence, under the railroad trestle to the banks of the river. We headed west with a dim 6Vdc headlamp and an open sight bolt action 22 of his. We had walked a couple of miles or so in pitch black up the river bed without seeing any eyes when there was the most God awful scream / squall that made the hair on every part of my body stand on end. He stopped dead in his tracks. We heard this noise again and again several times and it sounded really close and really loud. He got really antsy and said we need to get out of here now. We made our way back to the next trestle, back over the fence and then hot footed it back down the side of hwy 29 to his car. I had no clue what was going on but once we got in the car he said it was either a bobcat or mountain lion, and he had no desire to meet up with either in the dark with only that little dim headlight and 22. A few weeks later one of the ranch hands on the Fitzsimons Ranch killed a big male mountain lion and missed a big female not too far from where we were. Not sure that's what we heard or a bobcat, but it really spooked me and him.

I was fixing fence down by the creek and only had a Ruger 22 semi auto pistol on my hip.
I have a 5 wire Barbed wire fence with a 2 wire electric on the inside and was down near the ground clearing weeds off bottom strand of electric fence.
It was about this time of the year so the leaves were on the ground and pretty thick.
I kept hearing something shuffling in the leaves and making a strange noise.
I thought it was an armadillo or something hunting for grubs and went back to work.

I had my back turned away working on fence when it got a little nearer, rustled some leaves and I swear sounded like a deep guttural growl.
This really got my attention and unnerved me completely as I turned around and I still didn't see anything.
I looked around for a few minutes and saw nothing so I turned back around and started working on fence again with my machete all the while wondering what was stalking me.
It got about 10 feet and did the growl again just as I started to turn around.
I was still down on my knees with machete in one hand and Ruger in other when I spun around and came eye to eye with an Emu and for an instant it was a near leg-wetting experience.
Some time later we heard there were some folks in my area that found out they weren't gonna be millionaires raising them and just turned them lose after they lost money.
I only saw 1 or 2 of them a few times before something got them.

Look at some videos of Emus "drumming" and you will know how unnerving that could be if you don't know what it is.

I heard one about 30 yrs. ago. The most eerie scream I have ever heard. Sitting around a fire one night about 9:30. Made the hair on my neck stand up.

I heard one about 30 yrs. ago. The most eerie scream I have ever heard. Sitting around a fire one night about 9:30. Made the hair on my neck stand up. Couple nights later I talked to a neighbor and he lost 2 dogs that night. Both torn up.

I was camping in a small creek bed at 7500 ft in the mountains near Tahoe in California. Laying in the tent just before dawn waiting for the sun to burn off the chill. A screaming noise which starts off quiet and increases in volume and pitch for about 15 seconds echos off the mountain above me. Being CA, the only weapon available is the camp shovel and some lighter fluid. Hiked around that day but found no signs of animals or other people. Next morning, same screaming. I pack it in and head back to the parking area the next afternoon. As I am leaving the park, the maintenance crew emptying the dumpsters drive off....something in the drive train screaming like the sound I heard on the mountain.

My dad talks about that sound when he was a teenager coon hunting. He talked to his dad and he said it was a mountain lion. Circa 1953. I first heard that story around 1980 before grampa passed.

Nope. Id crap myself hearing that in the mid of night

We had a few sika that would make a screaming sound. Guest would come back to camp with eyes wide open thinking they had heard a Bigfoot. It seems any unidentifiable sound is a Bigfoot.

A cougar scream also.....freaked me out the first time I heard one at night!

Another time we were bear hunting in Colorado and had a tent camp at the edge of a wilderness area. A sheepherders camp was a couple hundred yards from us but he was rarely in camp. He had a couple horses hobbled that moved around pretty well which made a very interesting sound, especially at night, but that sound we identified quite easily. We normally slept late in the morning since the bears rarely were moving then but one crisp cold morning my hunting buddy decided to go scouting at first light since we had seen some bears in the area around camp. I stayed snuggled up in my warm mummy bag and went back to sleep not realizing that he left the tent door open. I woke up to the sound of something big moving outside and could tell it was not a hobbled horse. It seemed to be exploring our campsite. I was face down in a tight mummy bag when the sound, along with a strong odor, was right on top of me.....literally. I did not move and could tell that it was big and hairy and smelled awful. I just knew it was a bear that had me pinned down in my sleeping bag and I was going to die! Next thing I knew, to my great relief, was the sheepherders sheep dog on top of me trying to lick my face....

Walking in elk hunting before dawn. Mountain lion screamed. Sounded like it was in my back pocket. On that same trip, we were walking in before daybreak . A herd of bedded elk erupted around us like a covey of quail. I had to go back and change clothes. I had peed my pants.

I agree. I think most people don't get into the woods much and they misidentify anything that does not sound like a dog or a bird. Elk can sound really crazy too.

Sounds like it could have been baby buzzards. The only time I heard them I compared the noise to what a dragon would sound like. I can see how someone could compare it to a jet engine Amazing how loud it was

No way. This sound sounded like it started 500 miles to the west, went over us & sounded 500 miles to the east in maybe 5 seconds from start to finish. What was weirdest was even though I say west & east, the sound surrounded us from top to bottom & left to right. It was just more pronounced from one side to the other..

Maybe someone working on a gas well

Damn! Reading these stories made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Neighbors of ours booked us a tour of Gorman cave at TPWD Colorado State Park for my family and themselves. My neighbor, in his younger days, explored the cave many times. Now you can only take a tour with a TPWD staff. The cave goes a good distance back with small side tunnels breaking off. We track through some low spaces and a small amount of water. We get to the back area and my neighbor reluctantly shows us and the park ranger the graffiti he put there 40+ years ago when it was privately owned, he is now a nature lover and would never do such a thing again. Then the park ranger had us do the normal thing most cave tours do, turn off all the flashlights just to see how dark it is. It was then we hear the loudest growl I have ever heard in my life. All my hair including my pubic hair stood straight up! Try to keep your city wife and children calm in this situation. The flashlights immediately came back on. I locked eyes with the park ranger and we downplayed what we just heard to everyone in the tour group and we calmly and swiftly made our way out of the cave. The park closed the cave after our exit and a group of park rangers went back the next day only finding mountain lion tracks everywhere.

Sir, you have had one horrible run with the kitties in your lifetime!

Wow

Have any of you guys heard anything or seen anything that you could not explain as a cat or a elk?

I've seen a lot of things I can't explain .

Happened again yesterday.....
Feeding the cows on the lease, 17 in total, nearly all of them stopped eating and tossed their heads up,
And looked at the tree line about 60 yards away, may be closer.
the cows who have had calves walked away from the feed trough and went to their calves....
The Bull also started doing his deep bellowing ..... I had my shotgun with me and loaded it with slugs..
Went and looked didn't see anything.

yep, been hunting in Freestone county for several years, our eastern border is the Trinity river, there are a lot of sounds I've heard hunting the bottom that I have no idea what they might have been. Some might be alligators in the duck ponds ...

Y’all didn’t have any lights? How were you going to see pigs?

We had lights on our guns, we were too scared to even think of moving.... We didn't know what was down their, definitely not a deer,pig or K9.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Nothing will wake you up faster then walking to your blind in the dark and suddenly stir up a flock of quail. Never got used to that.

Ever heard ~30 turkey take flight all at once? Almost poo'd my pants!

In 2014 I was Elk hunting in a National Forest in Southern Colorado. I making my way back to camp using a fire lane. Something very big and heavy was keeping pace with me just to my left behind me in the tree line. I'd stop, it would take a step or two and stop. Is still remember to this day, I heard no birds or any other usual natural sounds at that time either. Later that night while in bed, I heard what sounded like someone hitting a tree stump with branch. Thump, thump, thump, pause and did it again. I finally went to sleep... in the truck. The next morning, I woke up to mud smeared all over one side of the tent. I've talked to people up there and have heard theories about what it was. Bugged me ever since. My theory... some drunk idiot was messing with me.

one night I shot a coon up in a big pecan tree along a creek and it got stuck in a Y. I shimmied up the base to the first big limb about 12 feet off the ground and was crawling on up to retrieve my coon ... when WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP all around me, hitting me and air blowing in my face from the flock of turkey that had gone to roost up in that tree. ... it took everything I had in me to stay hooked up on that limb until they all left. finally got up to grab the coon but my hunting buddies were still rolling around on the ground laughing at the show they just witnessed.

Sounds a little like this outfitter experienced in Colorado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXChs3GCp5s Could be a drunk idiot too. Who knows.

I can't even imagine what it would have been like if I stayed in the tent. The .300 WM might have started barking, and I'd be deaf now.

Up in Canada after dark and getting off the stand.. I had a bear follow me out to the road about 1. 1/2 mile. On ocassions he sas close enough to smell him. Once I got to the road I had to wait another hour for the guide to pick me up. I built a very small fire. He continued to circle getting very close at times. When he would cross the trail/road I could get a glimpse of him on ocassions.