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lindylair
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Camped on Murdoch lake in the Q back in the mid 70s. Just got settled into the tent when we heard an owl swooping down and capturing what we assume was a rabbit, just a few feet from our tent. Horrific screaming like a baby for 30 seconds, then quiet. Even though we knew what it was, a bit unsettling. Never forget it.
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Pinetree
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lindylair: "Camped on Murdoch lake in the Q back in the mid 70s. Just got settled into the tent when we heard an owl swooping down and capturing what we assume was a rabbit, just a few feet from our tent. Horrific screaming like a baby for 30 seconds, then quiet. Even though we knew what it was, a bit unsettling. Never forget it. "
That is a terrible scream
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HighnDry
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nctry: "TomT: "Paging Wally13...... Time to dust off that old story. :)"
I always thought wally13 was taller than three feet.
I just remember one night my old dog Bernice woke me up with some growling. I just told her don’t worry about it, and fell back asleep. Come morning we were greeted with a big bear turd near our tent."
Hahaha! That made me laugh--the wally13 comment, not the bear-by-the-tent incident. I've never heard wally13 tell the story of his mystery encounter. I have had those enormous hares in Quetico run past my tent at night. Scared the living-daylights out of me!
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BoxofRain
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On a solo camping trip in the Five Ponds Wilderness Area in the Adirondacks with my dog Bessie I had a guy on a bicycle come through my campsite riding right over my tent lines. Very weird and disturbing until a chorus line of woodland creatures seamed to be very angry with me. Fox, raccoon, skunk, bear, moose all yelling and carrying on like wild animals....when Bessie bumped my sleeping bag and woke me up I thought I was having a heart attack, I had to go outside and make sure it wasn't real. I think you have very intents dreams when camping...pun fun
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TomT
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Paging Wally13...... Time to dust off that old story. :)
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giddyup
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A1t2o, which trail camera did you get? I’m interested in one, also.
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tbellrichard
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It's been a while since I've read some unexplained encounter stories. Anything from recent trips? I still think about the three foot hairy man seen from the "thunder-box" story now and again...
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missmolly
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That's a good story, Doc.
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HistoryDoc
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During my October trip last year I was camped on Lake Polly, first campsite after the portage in from Kawasachong. In the morning I was at the fire grate when a rabbit came racing through the camp. A minute or so later it came running back the way it came. Then it came back a third time right past me down to the water's edge where there was a large boulder. It tucked up under the boulder. I was looking for what had spooked it and saw a large sinewy brown shape just outside the campsite in some blowdown. Looked to be a martin, or something similar. The rabbit stayed behind the boulder from about 9 to nearly 4. Then it came up by the tarp and got under a log for another hour. It finally left about 5. The bunny clearly had less fear of me than what was after it.
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nctry
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TomT: "Paging Wally13...... Time to dust off that old story. :)"
I always thought wally13 was taller than three feet.
I just remember one night my old dog Bernice woke me up with some growling. I just told her don’t worry about it, and fell back asleep. Come morning we were greeted with a big bear turd near our tent.
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Savage Voyageur
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Only bump in the night I had was on Lake 4. I was in my hammock during a thunderstorm and something rubbed the side of my hammock at two in the morning. That was not a good nights sleep. I just stayed awake thinking what animal could it have been under my tarp. I ruled out a moose and Sasquatch right away. Hahahahaha
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GutRooster
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missmolly: " Here's another fun one, Mr. Rooster. "
Strange right? Fun to imagine what's out there. Less fun when you're laying in your tent. The mind is a strange thing
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GutRooster
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Savage Voyageur: "My brother and I were backpacking on Isle Royal and a moose walked right into our camp and stomped on the ground. Pitch dark and thinking any second he’s going to stampede our tent. Nothing more happened, hard to fall back to sleep. "
That's an actual scary story. Man, you would have been screwed up. Isle Royal backpacking trip sounds amazing
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missmolly
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I had a moose swim out to my island. I heard it swimming and wondered what it was. Then I heard its hooves clomping on the rock and wondered what it was. I even heard the water dripping onto the rock. So, I took a peek and shined my light on a moose. I gave it a blast with my air horn and it retreated. The problem was my island was too damn small to share.
The most curious event was the strobe-like lights in parallel rows flashing primes and then flashing too fast to discern a pattern. This event lasted several minutes and there was no noise. My partner was an Arctic paddler who felt no fear, but when I told him I was going to illuminate the source, for the first and only time in our time together, I heard fear in his voice. I still regret not shining a light on it.
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GutRooster
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These are great. Keep it going guys. Strobe lights sound bizarre. I would be excited to hear his stories of the Arctic as well
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Savage Voyageur
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My brother and I were backpacking on Isle Royal and a moose walked right into our camp and stomped on the ground. Pitch dark and thinking any second he’s going to stampede our tent. Nothing more happened, hard to fall back to sleep.
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johndku
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Had about a 2 foot tall hare "thump, thump, thumping" it's leg's in our camp one night, took us about 15 minutes to figure out what the heck it was. I think it was PO's that we were camped near it's den.
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WHendrix
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I was on a solo trip to Upper Priest Lake in the Idaho panhandle a few years ago when I had more than a bump in the night experience. This is Grizzly country, so one is always a bit more alert than usual. I awoke hearing footsteps and then came the thundering sound of an entire herd of elk just a few feet from my tent.
It got my attention.
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missmolly
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Mr. Hendrix, that reminds me of a deer snorting right outside my tent. Another night, a porcupine kept circling my tent and plucking my guy lines. However, the greatest night terror is a raccoon. They are fearless and relentless and they will, one way or another, eat your food.
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deerfoot
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One more reason to regret being almost completely deaf - w/o my hearing devices on my head I hear almost nothing. I have to rely on tent mates to sound the alarm. And when they do, I usually just go back to sleep.
Years ago camping on Mountain Lk in the Sylvania Wilderness Area in the UP with my daughter, she woke me with fear in her voice stating she heard something just outside the tent breathing deeply. So I crawled out with my light and saw nothing. Her concern was probably heightened because when we setup camp the previous afternoon we cleared away a variety of deer leg bones which had been thoroughly chewed.
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WHendrix
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I have often had restless nights caused by wildlife. One other time on Upper Priest Lake a whole flock of geese decided to camp for the night in a bay near my campsite and they were whooping off and on all night. Another night when camped on and island in the Snake River Canyon just downstream from from Lewiston Idaho a bunch of very large carp, some probably weighing more than my canoe, were jumping all night in the channel between my and the mainland.
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GutRooster
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WHendrix: "I was on a solo trip to Upper Priest Lake in the Idaho panhandle a few years ago when I had more than a bump in the night experience. This is Grizzly country, so one is always a bit more alert than usual. I awoke hearing footsteps and then came the thundering sound of an entire herd of elk just a few feet from my tent.
It got my attention."
I've had elk come through camp in Montana. Large animals and night with reduced visibility, yikes. Combine that with wondering what moved them your way...
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Chuckles
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While tenting in Mongolia, my wife and I set up in the only shade there was, a little patch of bushes near a stream. In the middle of the night, a herd of wild horses passed through the bushes. None actually hit the tent fabric but dozens hit our guylines which didn't extend far from the tent. We laid there cowering, expecting to be trampled any minute.
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GutRooster
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Thanks everyone for the responses. These were great
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moosedoggie
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1JimD: " Great stories !
A Trail camera could solve some of those Mysteries !
"
But isn't it a lot more fun to let them stay mysteries?
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A1t2o
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This is why I got a small game cam to setup in camp. Half curiosity, half caution. I want to know what is coming into my campsite.
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merlyn
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When I was very young my dad and I canoed and camped on a river in northern Wisconsin. That night well after we had gone to bed I was awakened by a rapid "thump, thump, thump" sound. I thought dad was having a heart attack! First time I heard a ruffed grouse.
Had a momma moose with two babies tear up the guy lines and collapse one side on our tent on Mowe lake just outside the BWCA. Her only reaction to three humans was to put her babies out in front of her as she ambled along. Scared the crap out of us, she was maybe only 15 feet away when we piled out of the tent.
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GutRooster
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A1t2o: "This is why I got a small game cam to setup in camp. Half curiosity, half caution. I want to know what is coming into my campsite."
Any cool pics?
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Cricket67
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Back in the late 80's a friend and I decided we were going to fish Mille Lacs, tenting it at Father Hennepin SP. We were in a classic canvas A frame when in the middle of the night I awake to a rustling noise. I look across and see my friend sleeping away...with a skunk about 6 inches from his face lick some wrappers from whatever we had been snacking on before bed. The skunk wondered around for what seems like an hour, but was probably more like 10 inutes or so. At one point he walked over next to me and gave me a couple of sniffs before finally leaving the tent.
That's when I started insisting on zippered tents!
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MagicPaddler
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Twice I have been laying in my hammock and heard a moose walk by.
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missmolly
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Mr, Rooster, you'll probably enjoy this.
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Stumpy
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pretty wild thread... love it
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missmolly
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Here's another fun one, Mr. Rooster.
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A1t2o
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GutRooster: "A1t2o: "This is why I got a small game cam to setup in camp. Half curiosity, half caution. I want to know what is coming into my campsite."
Any cool pics?"
Not yet, I just got it last year and didn't go camping due to covid.
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Wally13
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I posted this on a bwca.com "Weird Lights in the BWCA " thread back on 3/19/13.
It was a weird encounter and I rarely tell the story since most folks will think I am crazy.
A group of 8 of us that included my 3 brothers, and my Dad were on our way to McKenzie bay off Kawnipi to basecamp for a week. We were coming in via Agnes Lake. On day 2 we were travelling into Bird Lake in early afternoon when we saw a bright burning light about the size of a football in the air about 6 ft. in the air down the portage trail approximately 100 feet away. It was burning like a sparkler you waved around as a kid on 4th of July. Everyone saw it. We put on our packs and canoes and proceeded on portage to Anubis Lake. Well, the burning light ball went right down the path with us but would never let us get within more than 100 to 150 feet of it. It was the nuts.
We all thought that what we were seeing was an optical illusion of some sort. When we reached the end of the portage, the light just stayed out on the lake. We all turned around and proceeded to get the rest of our gear as we double portage. The burning light followed us right back to where we landed. And it stayed in front of us again all the way to where we left our canoes at the end of the portage.
We all couldn't believe it. We paddled into Bird and proceeded on to McVicar and on to McKenzie Bay. This damn light just followed us the whole way. We couldn't believe that this light was following us. heck it was with us right out in the middle of Kawnipi Lake. When we were getting set up on an island site at McKenzie Bay we all just pretended that the light wasn't there. We finished supper and darn if the light was gone. Never saw it disappear. It was just gone. Hallaleuia... After a few cocktails around a campfire we hit the sack . We were all relieved that this light had decided to leave us alone. We all fell a sleep as we were all dead tired .
My youngest brother gets up in the middle of the night to relieve himself. Well, wouldn't you believe it ... the burning light is showing itself down by the shoreline where we had tied up our canoes. He woke us all up to point out that the light was back. We all got up and sure enough it was back.
We decided it best to all go back to sleep as we were all exhausted. When we woke up the light was gone. Never saw it again.
When we got back to Prairie Portage I went up to the Canadian Ranger Station and told old Ranger Quetico Mike about our strange encounter and asked if he had heard any stories from other paddlers in the Q that saw a burning light like the one we saw. He said yes, that over the years he has heard several stories like mine about seeing a burning light about the size of a football. In fact, he has heard stories about other strange lights in the woods.
My 3 brothers and Dad from Connecticut never made another trip into Quetico. But on family get togethers, the burning light story comes up from time to time. I have gone to the Q eighteen times since then and have never seen that burning light.
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TomT
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Wally13: "I posted this on a bwca.com "Weird Lights in the BWCA " thread back on 3/19/13.
It was a weird encounter and I rarely tell the story since most folks will think I am crazy.
"
There's been a lot of conversation in the last few years about UFO's. What you describe has been seen numerous times all over the world for many years. My best guess is it's an AI "probe" from somewhere else.
Sounds like a looney statement but you've got to do a deep dive on the subject to come up with a conclusion like that. There's a really powerful new movie on streaming Amazon (cheap to rent) called "Phenomenon". Highly recommended viewing!
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1JimD
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Great stories !
A Trail camera could solve some of those Mysteries !
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A1t2o
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moosedoggie: "1JimD: " Great stories !
A Trail camera could solve some of those Mysteries !
"
But isn't it a lot more fun to let them stay mysteries?"
Personally, I think it is more fun to show people what was sniffing around outside your tent instead of them thinking that you are telling tall tales.
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LindenTree
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One time my wife and were camping in the Pryor Mtn's of Montana.
I got out of my tent to take a Pee and saw a red and green suspended lights dancing around the tent around 3-4 feet off the ground and around 25 feet away from me. I looked at them for quite some time (Probably a couple minutes) then went back to the tent with the lights still shining. I did not mention it to my wife since I figured she would think I was nuts.
A couple days later while continuing on our camping trip the subject got mentioned. It turns out that she saw the same lights that night on one of her pee breaks, and didn't mention it to me because she thought I would think she was crazy.
I used to work for the nearby USFS district firefighting and did a few wildfires in the Pryor's. I knew the story of the Little People of the Pryor Mtn's and how the Crow tribe would not camp in those mountains because of the spiritual amazingly strong dwarfs.
Little people of the Pryor mtns
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MikeinMpls
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I hear critters all the time, but I've never had encounters like many have posted. Though it's not exactly true, I've always said that the smallest critters make the most noise at night. There's all kinds of scurrying about. It's kind of cute.
During a solo last July, I had a mouse on the peak of my tent, under the fly. Just sitting there. I am sure he was later responsible for the small hole chewed in my tent, adjacent a gear loft, where I had stupidly put a chocolate bar wrapper. I knew better, so I deserved it.
We once had a weasel steal our water bottle that had remnants of Tang in it. That made a lot of noise in the middle of the night.
But no moose or bears or wolves in my camp...as far as I know!
Mike
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awbrown
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One time while camping on West Bear Lake in Sylvania, I had a fisher chase a squirrel into my open tent. He chased that squirrel around the tent about 3 or 4 turns before exiting as I scrambled to get out of the way.
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trstuck
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Not exactly a mysterious/scary story, but last summer on Ashub I lost my MSR pot scrubber after the 1st night. Couldn't figure out what happened until we started noticing how many and how aggressive the mice were around the kitchen - even running over our feet. My best guess was that they hauled it off into the nearby bushes while we slept. We found it, somewhat chewed up in those bushes when packing up to leave a few days later.
Also had a snowshoe hare restart my heart on a midnight biffy run during the same trip, and some curious sniffing around the tent on another night.
And, still on the same trip, while day-tripping to Jordan, both my daughter and I noticed a strong, wet, musky smell just a couple rods down the trail to Jordan from Cattyman. I've never been close enough to smell one, but my first impression was 'that's what a moose would smell like'. Never saw anything, and a couple hours later on the way back the scent was gone.
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carmike
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One time a friend and I got to listen to a pine marten chase and (we believe) finally catch a red squirrel. Not pleasant...
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Duckman
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trstuck: "Not exactly a mysterious/scary story, but last summer on Ashub I lost my MSR pot scrubber after the 1st night. Couldn't figure out what happened until we started noticing how many and how aggressive the mice were around the kitchen - even running over our feet. My best guess was that they hauled it off into the nearby bushes while we slept. We found it, somewhat chewed up in those bushes when packing up to leave a few days later.
Also had a snowshoe hare restart my heart on a midnight biffy run during the same trip, and some curious sniffing around the tent on another night.
And, still on the same trip, while day-tripping to Jordan, both my daughter and I noticed a strong, wet, musky smell just a couple rods down the trail to Jordan from Cattyman. I've never been close enough to smell one, but my first impression was 'that's what a moose would smell like'. Never saw anything, and a couple hours later on the way back the scent was gone."
I’m convinced those hares know they can mess with our heads and terrorize us in our tents on purpose for the fun of it.
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Pinetree
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trstuck: "Not exactly a mysterious/scary story, but last summer on Ashub I lost my MSR pot scrubber after the 1st night. Couldn't figure out what happened until we started noticing how many and how aggressive the mice were around the kitchen - even running over our feet. My best guess was that they hauled it off into the nearby bushes while we slept. We found it, somewhat chewed up in those bushes when packing up to leave a few days later.
Also had a snowshoe hare restart my heart on a midnight biffy run during the same trip, and some curious sniffing around the tent on another night.
And, still on the same trip, while day-tripping to Jordan, both my daughter and I noticed a strong, wet, musky smell just a couple rods down the trail to Jordan from Cattyman. I've never been close enough to smell one, but my first impression was 'that's what a moose would smell like'. Never saw anything, and a couple hours later on the way back the scent was gone."
Beaver with their castors glands the males will leave a very strong musk smell.
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deepdish71
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On a solo kayak trip in northern Wisconsin I had quite a terrifying night that I will never forget. After dark I crawled into my small single wall tent and started reading by the light of a small battery powered lantern. There was no wind, the woods were perfectly silent. Suddenly something brushed up against the tent wall which was only about a foot away from my face. I kind of panicked and froze for a moment before calling out and making some noise to scare away whatever beast was out there. I didn’t hear anything run away. I grabbed my flashlight and revolver, as quickly as I could open the tent door zipper I surveyed the area and saw no trace of anything. Pure adrenaline and panic, plus that gut wrenching feeling where you are hot and cold at the same time slowly subsided and I crawled back into the tent. Not being able to sleep after being wound up, continued reading. A few minutes later the same thing brushed up against the tent and this time I immediately busted out of the tent, gun and flashlight in hand seeking to find the animal that was going bump in the night. Nothing was there. Even more shaken than before I went back into the tent, continued to read, and was on red alert. A few minutes had passed and the rubbing continued. Out of my mind I was able to shine my flashlight out of the screen along the side of the tent under the overhang and I got a glimpse of the ferocious beast that had been tormenting me for the past hour. The animal was drawn to my reading light and would slide along the tent wall trying to get to it. I was haunted this night by a moth.
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Stumpy
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Great stories.
I have a few to add, but not at 1:30 AM.
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MikeinMpls
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deepdish71: "On a solo kayak trip in northern Wisconsin I had quite a terrifying night that I will never forget. After dark I crawled into my small single wall tent and started reading by the light of a small battery powered lantern. There was no wind, the woods were perfectly silent. Suddenly something brushed up against the tent wall which was only about a foot away from my face. I kind of panicked and froze for a moment before calling out and making some noise to scare away whatever beast was out there. I didn’t hear anything run away. I grabbed my flashlight and revolver, as quickly as I could open the tent door zipper I surveyed the area and saw no trace of anything. Pure adrenaline and panic, plus that gut wrenching feeling where you are hot and cold at the same time slowly subsided and I crawled back into the tent. Not being able to sleep after being wound up, continued reading. A few minutes later the same thing brushed up against the tent and this time I immediately busted out of the tent, gun and flashlight in hand seeking to find the animal that was going bump in the night. Nothing was there. Even more shaken than before I went back into the tent, continued to read, and was on red alert. A few minutes had passed and the rubbing continued. Out of my mind I was able to shine my flashlight out of the screen along the side of the tent under the overhang and I got a glimpse of the ferocious beast that had been tormenting me for the past hour. The animal was drawn to my reading light and would slide along the tent wall trying to get to it. I was haunted this night by a moth."
They're little, but loud!
Mike
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LindenTree
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One time while living in Alaska a friend of mine and his 7 yo son came over to visit me. They tented in my yard the night before we were to go on a overnight paddle trip. I told him before he set up the tent that I had seen a big black bear hanging around my cabin the last few days and to be careful. He was from Denali National Park and did to seemed too concerned.
(In Alaska we take black bears as seriously as grizzley/brown bears, they are not like the black bears of our park areas in the L-48, and can be very unpredictable).
Sometime during the night while they were sleeping my buddy woke up to something sniffing and touching his head through the tent wall. He wound back with his fist and arm and gave it a good solid punch. He thought he hit it in the nose, and said that he heard the bruin crashing and thrashing/running back into the woods. His boy never woke up, we did not mention it to him out of concern that we would scare him on our upcoming camping/canoeing trip.
Since I worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the time and was staying in a government guard station, I reported the incident to dispatch. The bear must have been torked off, because the next day it went to the nearby campground about 1 mile away and began to give the campers a lot of problems. The bear settled down after a few days and we did not have to dispatch it.
The three years that I lived alone at this guard station, 6.5 miles from my nearest neighbor, there were three people mauled by bears within 5 miles of my residence.
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A1t2o
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giddyup: "A1t2o, which trail camera did you get? I’m interested in one, also. "
I just got a cheap one off Amazon. I wasn't looking for anything special just something light and with fewer batteries.
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Pinetree
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A1t2o: "giddyup: "A1t2o, which trail camera did you get? I’m interested in one, also. "
I just got a cheap one off Amazon. I wasn't looking for anything special just something light and with fewer batteries. "
I have many different brands, but GardePro A3 Trail Camera (2020) at $59.00 now on Amazon is as good as $150.00 priced ones for at least still pictures. I have not tried the video.
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