In your lifetime, have you ever had the heeby-jeebies about a place you were fishing or a person who was near? In aggregate, I've slept for months in the wilderness, often alone, so I know how noisy the woods can be at night when most of the critters are moving. I'm not talking about being unsettled by the normal nighttime noise, which can take a night to adjust, but rather a particular noise or anything else that wasn't normal. 

I was fishing the back end of a wooded cove with a fellow member @BassnChris on Wilson Lake, and we came upon a shrine/memorial/sacrifice looking thing built in the shallow water. It was straight out of the bayou swamplands.  It had a voodoo vibe to it.  

 

There was nobody around, and no way to access it other than by boat.

 

We didn't stick around long.

Good story, Glenn!

It took me awhile to find it, but here's a picture of it:

 

Out at night and there is NO noise.....heebie jeebie time!

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

Out at night and there is NO noise.....heebie jeebie time!

 

Heck, yeah, it's supposed to be noisy at night! 

 

I would've scooted too, Glenn.

I was fishing as an observer in a tournament.  We went way up river into AR where a dude was fishing accompanied by his dog.  He and my angler had an unfriendly conversation then my guy pulled out a spook and proceeded to fish.  I didn’t cast because I was interested in what was going to happen.

 

My guy made a couple of more casts then the other dude leaned down and came up with a rifle.  He proceeded to blow that spook out of the water.

 

Talk about Heeby-Jeebies I had some and couldn’t wait to be gone.

Yikes, Jig Man! 

In 2012 I was walking to my deer stand in the darkness on opening morning and about halfway there, I heard wolves howling in the distance.

 

As I got closer to my stand, I heard them howling again. Much closer. That sent a heebee jeeby shiver up my spine.

 

Normally I take my time climbing into my stand for safety reasons. That morning I climbed into my stand faster than I ever have. Scurried 30 feet up like a ring tailed lemur.

 

Never heard them again.

 

Documented attacks of wolves on people are almost non existent but the thought of encountering a hungry pack of wolves in the northern MN darkness sent my blood pressure soaring.

8 hours ago, Glenn said:

It took me awhile to find it, but here's a picture of it:

 

 

Clear cut evidence of bigfoot! Ha!

22 minutes ago, gim said:

Scurried 30 feet up like a ring tailed lemur.

 

Video, please!

 

Seriously, darkness + BIG canines would have turned me into a lemur too.

 

My heeby-jeebies moment was lingering too late on my pond and walking through my woods in complete darkness in the rain. Nothing happened, but the path through my woods is serpentine and I didn't know its turns like I do know. I was still wearing glasses and they were water-streaked, so it was really hard to see and the rain was pounding, so it was really hard to hear. I normally go slowly through the woods so that I won't be surprised by an animal or person, but I was spooked because I couldn't see nor hear and so I hurried and that wasn't a good thing. I've never stayed out that late again at my pond. If I ever build there, I'd like to install lights on my path so that I could fish late. 

 

Whether I'm right or wrong, I think I'm more likely to encounter a bad guy in the woods in the early night than the early morning. My experience with criminals is that they're pretty lazy and unlikely to rise at four a.m., but they're quite comfy with neer-do-welling at 10:00 p.m. So, I always feel safer in the dark of morning than the dark of night. 

@gim  Great story!

I've got a deer hunting heeby-jeebie story too.  My very first bow hunting trip into the woods many years ago.  I was so anxious to go hunting I got up at 3am and headed into a wooded creek bottom.  I had no tree stand so I leaned up against a big oak.  It was pitch black.  There was a pool of rainwater next to the tree.  I could hear the normal night sounds, night birds, frogs peeping, the squeal of a dying rabbit in the jaws of a fox in the distance.  Then, no sounds at all!  Then I could hear branches breaking and leaves crunching in the dark.  I started to shake.  It sounded like there was a man walking toward me!  Getting closer.  I was really shaking now.  The foot steps stopped just 30 feet away on the other side of this pool of water!  I peeked around the tree and in the gray light there was a buck drinking from the pool. I ducked back behind the tree, scared to death!  I could hear him slurping.  I could hear the water drops falling off his lips back into the pool.  I was shaking so bad and could hardly breathe, no way could I draw the bow.  He turned and crunched back up the hill.  I was a bowl full of jello!  Heeby-Jeebie x 100!

Take the shot, Al, take the shot! I was camped in upper Minnesota in a field and one night, I heard a snorting outside my tent. I feared it was a bear, but a peek revealed it was a deer. Another night, again and again, some critter kept tripping on the guy lines of my tent. Yet another night, a lightning strike melted my guy lines. 

My worst experience of bad sites happened on Cumberland Island, Georgia back in the late 1970's when I was a teenage boy scout going on a camping trip with my troop.

 

Back then the land was all private. Today it is a national forest. We went to this location because one of our troop's scout leaders was a Dr. Hilliard I think his name was who instituted the golfing merit badge into the boy scouts organization.

 

He and his family had land and a house on Cumberland Island near the old Carnegie Dungeness burned down mansion on Southern end of the island.

 

We set up camp as normal and had no issues until late in the night past midnight. It was raining and dark. We boy scouts were beginning to get miserable as we tried to sleep in the pouring rain.

 

And somewhere in those darkest hours of the night we started hearing noises in the woods. Loud branches breaking all around us. It scared us. We did not know what it was and hoped maybe it was some of the wild horses roaming the island. But whatever it was came into our camp and all heck broke loose. Scouts and troop leaders were out of their tents almost in a panic. Well OK, some were panicking.

 

It turned out to be a large family of wild pigs foraging around our campsite, and then moved into our campsite making all sorts of noises scaring the heck out of us boys and even our troop leaders. Some of those hogs were quite large and very dangerous. Troop leaders rounded us scouts up and marched us out of those woods then and there a short distance of maybe a mile to the house of Dr. Hilliard where we finished out the night "camping" inside the house.

 

I tell ya it can be very unsettling to be deep in dense woods in dead of night when the woods come alive with the sounds of heavy animals breaking branches like twigs all around the campsite. Your worst fears come alive.

 

Troop leaders got us out of there to hopefully prevent any scouts from being attacked by large wild hogs. Their tusks can cut you to pieces quickly.

 

I wish I could see an over view video of what happened in that campsite on that night. I bet it looked hilarious even though it was a serious event. Scouts and leaders running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, and wild pigs scurrying around and in the campsite. It was a mad scene at first. Fear running rampant for sure. The rain definitely did not help. And the fact our campsite did not have any lighting of any kind so it was pitch black darkness as this all unfolded.

 

I think all of us scouts were very pleased to wake up to sunshine inside a safe warm house on that morning. And I don't think our troop ever went there again.

 

Just been spooked a few times, shad fishing solo on the Delaware river over 30 years ago.

Waded about 20 yards off the bank casting darts for shad, out of the corner of my eye I see something. Turn around and I think man that's a big dog, well it's a good size black bear.

At this time bears were very rare in New Jersey, well the next thing is the bear gets in the river and starts swimming across real close to me. I can't really move to quick in the river current and I think maybe if he gets too close I can poke him in the eye with my rod .

Thankfully he just swam across paying no attention to me.

Another time solo camping on the Delaware river sitting around my campfire after a day of fishing.

I'm in that zone where I'm just one with the universe, something made me look off to my side and put my headlamp on and there's the biggest raccoon I've ever seen just waddling up to me, made my heart skip a few beats as I just shooed him off.

I solo camp a couple times a year on the Delaware river, my wife is not too happy about me being out there alone, she's worried about bears as they are around up there.

I tell I'm more afraid of things that walk on 2 feet, not 4.

3 minutes ago, herder said:

I tell I'm more afraid of things that walk on 2 feet, not 4.

 

Me too. I've been close enough to looming moose and waddling bear to have touched them with my fishing rod, but people are the greater danger, which is why I feel pretty comfy in the wilderness: few people!

About 10 years ago I was fishing a pond on property that belonged to my relatives.  On one side was a crop field and on the other side was forest.  I was fishing the forest side, and started hearing whistling coming from behind me.  It lasted a few seconds and stopped.  A few minutes later it started again.  This happened 3 or 4 times, so I picked up my stuff and started moving to the other side of the pond.  About half way around the whistling started again, but this time I realized it was coming from the holes drilled out in spool of the spinning reel.  I felt kind of dumb, but at the same time very relieved.

Good one, @Bankbeater!

 

For those of you who don't walk through the woods or camp in them to fish lonesome lakes, feel free to share stories of creepy things or people at the parking lots of ramps.

 

One thing that wasn't creepy, but curious, was when I camped on a wilderness island and every time I returned to my camp, items had been moved. Nothing was taken, but items of different sizes were in different places. I had a beloved can of salted pecans, so when I left for good, I opened it and poured the pecans into a pile as an offering, for I never felt my visitor was malicious. 

 

39 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Their tusks can cut you to pieces quickly.

 

Indeed. I lived on a pig farm. Some boars are surely, dangerous beasts. 

"Take the shot, Al, take the shot!"

Katie, I was shaking so bad I would not have been able to hit a barn if I was in it!

 

"I'm more afraid of things that walk on 2 feet, not 4."

Herder, Man is the most dangerous animal.

My "2nd" scariest event happened Walleye fishing alone at night in Wisconsin's Flambeau Flowage.  A bear, smelling my fish, swam out and tried to climb in the boat with me.  The night was so dark I did not know what was happening until my spotlight shined in his eyes;  I was lucky he let go when the motor started on the first pull.

 

My scariest event of all time happened one night when I was fishing on a gravel bar and fell asleep.  Two racoons began fighting about 30 feet from me;  that was 60-65 years ago, and to this day I have never heard such blood curdling screams, not even in Nam.

When I was about 15 I was camping out and fishing my way down a local creek. (Remember, I was a country boy in a very rural area, so a teenager camping out by his self for several days was not really uncommon) One night I was sitting at my campsite on the river bank....it was one of those moonless nights when the darkness is so thick you could wear it like a coat. No wind, and only the sound of a few insects and the running water in the creek. I did not have a fire...I was just enjoying the night and relaxing before turning in. All of a sudden I could hear heavy breathing and some light scuffing noises, but could not see a thing or pinpoint where it was coming from. I sat there listening for what seemed like forever with my anxiety lever climbing out of sight. Then I could no longer hear the breathing or shuffling sounds, and I started to relax a little. All of a sudden the most blood curling howl I had ever heard happened about 6 feet away from me. My mind was racing....Bigfoot? An axe murder going on?The death throes of some tortured creature?..my overactive teenage imagination was in hyper-drive. I was sweating but chilled to the bone. I was shaking like I was strapped into one of those paint mixing machines. My hair was standing on end and I had goosebumps the size of small hills, and I could barely breath. Then something moved closer to me...I was sure I was about to die a horrible death....and I saw it....it was a coyote that was just walking along. It passed by me no more than 2 feet away and walked off into the underbrush. After I regained my composer and checked to make sure I didn't have to change my underwear, I hurriedly built a fire. At that point I could laugh about it, but my laughter MAY have sounded a bit hysterical.

Other then the odd noises that get you when by yourself out in the dark I had some sort of snake trying to get in the canoe, darn thing was lifting it’s head up near high enough to get over the gunwales. All I could think about was what the hell do I do if it gets in.

You know what's worse that a boxful of snakes? 

 

A box that was SUPPOSED to be full of snakes!

A b-b-bear trying to climb aboard your boat??? Sir, you win the Internet.

 

You write well, @Kirtley Howe.

I made a post about this at one time. Bank fishing at night. There was a large wooded area behind me, and I kept hearing something coming through the woods and it sounded like it was getting closer.                                                     I turned on my headlight, grabbed my stuff and got out of there pretty quickly. I never knew what it was. I think my imagination got the best of me.