Strange things found in the woods

[FireArm]

This wasn't so much 'found' as just weird.

When I was 18, I was camping along the LNF Santiam with my girlfriend and her church group. Late at night, after everyone had settled in for bed, I woke up to the "wump wump wump" of helicopters coming up the canyon. The sound got very, very loud so I poked my head out and looked up. The helos buzzed us overhead, just barely above the tree tops, all blacked out. I'm guessing these were boys from the National Guard base in Salem doing night op training. They flew up the canyon, and a few minutes later came blasting back down the canyon, still running dark.

.

Same thing happened to me in the Molalla River corridor we were really far out in the woods off the road aways and at 2am we got a fly over it circled twice continued out til we couldnt hear it then came back 20 mins later to just pass by, we were shooting all night. But they have to either be military or Lifeflight but lifeflight goes to accidents and then to a hospital. so it wasnt lifeflight. I dont like military fly overs at night.

 

[mkwerx]

Last winter while fishing with my nephew on the Trask, we found a perfectly intact door to a late 80's/early 90's Honda Civic. Glass was fine, window roller was fine. Hinges looked fine. Door panel wasn't busted up. It was just sitting beneath a tree at the bottom of a steep bank about 30' from the river's edge. No sign of the rest of the car.

Last summer while fishing/camping up on the LNF again, we took a drive up Opal Creek to see what we could see and maybe find a new fishin' hole. Came across what had to be a cat/dog grave, or someone's weird shrine. There were little ceramic figurines and freshly planted flowers in a rough circle on a small dirt flat along a steep trail leading down to the creek from the road. We took some pix and left it be.

 

[Kevatc]

Many years ago I was camping with a friend in the area of Marion Forks and while hiking we came across several stone covered mounds (in the appropriate dimensions) and one was crudely marked. It was not like a cemetery but just a few random graves along the trail.

I didn't happen to find this as I had a friend mark it on a map for me but he directed to me a grave sight of a horse theif who had been hanged and buried. On the tree at the grave which had posts and rope around it was the carved "headstone" so to speak. You could kind of make out a name and the date was early 1900s.

 

[jimwsea]

I was in my car, cruising around the dirt roads way back in the Sultan Basin (off Hwy 2 in Washington). I came up behind a tall, gangly guy walking down the middle of the road with with six-shooters on each hip. Jeans, cowboy hat, boots, no shirt. In my rear view mirror, looked like he was either practicing for a part in a western movie or re-living an experience from a past life.

The road I was on dead-ended, so I had to turn around. I was then that I thought about any possible danger. He was still walking on the road looking for Marshal Dillon. I just nodded as I passed him and he nodded back. Bye.

 

[pete97501]

I was returning from a squirrel shoot near Bonanza and decided to stop by the Beer Distibutor in Klamath Falls for some discounted suds. I parked in the lot along side the building, look out in the back and saw what looked like a fully clothed body floating in a little pond, arms out and face down. Alarmed, I went to the worker inside and notified the worker. He told me "Naw, it's just a dummy". That calmed my nerves. About a week later there was a bit on the news about finding a missing man in a pond behind the beer distributor in K-falls. Apparently he had wandered off without his medications, ending up in the pond. I stopped into the Medford beer distributor and told them that the worker had thought it was a dummy, I said "whos the dummy now".

 

[Bon Sauvage]

A 3" spear point of perfectly knapped chert.

 

[RVTECH]

I was quad riding East of LaPine near a place called Wickiup Springs and I found this. I caught it out of the corner of my eye and at first thought it was a skeleton but on my way back I took a closer look and noticed it was an old plaster fake deer like a yard ornament. I have no idea as to why it was there other than being used as a target or possibly someones idea of a coyote decoy. It was near a place that has been used as a campsite for many years.

 

[Mr. Ben]

Father in law recently found a ruger 22/45 in the woods. Took it to the police and they cleared it. It now belongs to me

 

[rcorello]

Here is one thing that I recall, back in Arizona while scouting/camping next to a lake about 20 nudists about half guys/girls came walking thought our camp. We had several boy scouts and family with us. All we could do is laugh at them as they continued to walk by, it was the talk of camp for the rest of the trip, and we still make jokes about it today.

 

[pinecenega]

Pole dancing in Wyoming - YouTube

 

[sheepdip]

 

[jkent26]

Hej: Sorry guys...TYPO Please change the "48" to a "42"

Actuall#s are: 42.1699597N and 119.7968969W

Now I find the correction...you know how F-ing lost I got!

 

[tahoe2]

Early 70's when I was an 11yr old boy hunting jack rabbit's in the Mojave Desert (Southern, CA) with my dad, we found
the remains of a couple old jeeps (chassis and wheels) and 20-30 .50 cal BMG rounds and some 20mm rounds, fired brass and slugs.
Turns out we were hunting in an old abandoned WWII aircraft practice range, that was several miles from Edwards Air Force Base.

 

[Triplebuckshot]

Growing up in Northern Idaho in a super small town, we spent lots of time in the woods.

There is an area called West Dennis that in the 80's was still considered pretty remote. It bordered the Indian Reservation on one side and was NF and Private Logging Company land for the rest of it. We loved hunting elk and deer back there. My uncle pretty much raised me and this was his favorite spot in the world to go.

I walked one ridgeline and he and a friend walked in on a finger that branched into two ridgelines about 2 miles in. Plan was to meet back at the pickup in about 6-8 hours. I walked in about 2 miles and sat down to just listen and watch an area with my bino's for an hour or so. Well as most hunting trips turn into a big nap session for me, I decided to not change my MO and promptly fell asleep. I must have been out around 1.5 hours or so (later confirmed by the time). I woke up with every single nerve on HIGH ALERT. I sat there and calmed myself and then I noticed the smell. I can not even begin to describe it properly at this time, but it is NOT a normal smell of the woods. At this time I had killed or been part of harvesting every known animal in the Clearwater National Forest. We sustained our families on the game we harvested. I have spent countless hours in the woods both alone and in parties, by this time in my life (I was 17).

Just as I am considering WTF is up, 3 consecutive shots ring out roughly from the pickup parking area. This is our standard signal to return to the pickup as someone has something down or needs to leave (emergency, etc etc). I return with 2 consecutive shots into an old stump nearby to let everyone know where I am and that I am on my way. I am walking out and catch that smell twice more. Wind is the same as when I walked in, but I do realize swirling winds can do funny things with scents and humans have terrible sniffers. I did NOT smell it on the way in.

I get to the pickup to find a rifle trained on me, by my uncle. I am like WTF and then I notice, he is white as the background on this webboard! He taught me BRM and safety and even when I later went in the Army I have never been taught safety in a more paramount manner than my Uncle teaching me in my early days.

His buddy is in a kneeling position with his rifle to his shoulder pulling what I now realize is rear security. At the time I was like "what are these jokesters up to?" My uncle seeing it was me lowered his weapon and yelled for me to hustle. Now I am worried, here is one of the most accomplished mountian men I know freaking out. I break into a jog for the last 150 -200 yards and get to the pickup.

They barely wait for me to get there and they jump in stuffing me in the middle. Then I notice the pickup is running and they are both sitting with thier side arms drawn. My uncle drives like a mad man all the way out, slamming into a stump on the way and denting the hell out of the rear quarter of his pride and joy (1985 Dodge Pickup, hey everyone has a right to dream). They don't say a word except "Anything?" "Nope."

We get back to the hardball and the finally start to relax. By the time we get to my uncles they have relaxed enough to talk. We go out into his "shop" and stoke up the fire.

My uncle and his bud recount this portion of the story as follows.

They were walking in and just as they got to the branch in the finger they smell something, thinking it might be an elk they hunker down in a makeshift hide and wait. My uncles buddy was the first to see it, movement about 75 yards out and FAST movement. They think it is an elk moving downwind. My uncle decides to just chirp a cow call to see if it will stop. Not only does it stop, it stands up. It then starts screaming in what they describe as a distressed woman wailing. Now we have run dogs on bears and cougars so neither of these guys in unfamiliar with the sounds either of those animals makes. They are pretty freaked out they say, it just feels weird. The animal moves off into the woods and they decide it is best to just leave the area. As soon as they stand up to leave 50 yards on the OTHER side of them the brush explodes with sticks being smashed into trees, the wailing sounds from 2 seperate voices/animals. They say F that and start booking it out. As they round a corner on the skid road about 20 yards on the uphill side two very large rocks (they say neither of them could have picked up the rocks) get rolled forcefully onto the trail behind them. Then the wailing starts again 2 voices one on the uphill side one on the downhill side. Either the animals are matching their movement or there are a lot more of them than the original 2, because the brush is pretty thick in this area and it would be hard to match a guys pace on a skid trail while walking off trail in the woods.

They break into a pretty healthy jog, now. They get to the pickup clearing and immediately smell that smell again. My uncle decides to send off the 3 rounds in hopes of calling me back and hopefully to scare off whatever it is that is harassing them. He hears my two return shots and is happy to hear that I am only a couple miles away. They hunker down behind the doors of the pickup, scared to death. They smell the smell one more time and it is right before they spot me walking down my own skid trail to the pickup.

To this day neither my uncle nor his best friend will go back to West Dennis. I don't either by shear respect and awe for this story. These guys would not tell anyone else the story for fear of being called crazy, stupid, naive or worse liars. But I would put my reputation on my uncle without hesitation. Why would he willingly stop hunting his favorite spot that is full of game and beauty?

I never really could place that smell until I was in St. Louis with my two boys. We walked into the large primate exhibit they have and BOOM there it was. I am saying that I am so sure the smell I smelled was primate. Specifically it smelled like the Gorillas the most.

I don't know WTF any of that means, but it scared the crap out of 2 grown men and by defacto one teenager.

 

[KONE KILLER]

I was out fishing on the Washougal one day when I saw some smaller trees on the near bank rocking and moving pretty good. I half expected a dozer to come blazing through. Never did though, I let out a loud 'WTF is going on?!?!' it quite, and I heard what sounded like a giant getting kicked in the gonads. It sounded like someone talking and yelling, but it was jibberish, and just crazy talk.

I kinda shrugged it off and kept fishing, keeping an eye on the woods as well as my buddy up stream that was clueless to the entire show...

We met back at the truck, and I asked him about it. He didnt hear or see anything.... Only after sitting there thinking about what animals might make this noise did I think it could of been a squatch. The only other thing was a bear, and it would of had to of been a DAMN big black bear to be rocking the trees like it was!!

 

[mjbskwim]

Well at least it took 7 pages to start the Sasquatch yammering.

 

[theguncrank]

Well, since the "sasquatch yammering" has begun , I might as well share what happened to me one wet fall day in the late '90s... Believe it or don't; I care not.

I was out to the first Gunners Lake to fish for trout, and if that went too well or too poorly, to scout elk. Gunners Lakes are pretty much the outback of Columbia County, off of the Scappoose-Vernonia Highway. Somewhere up in the tops of the hills, you'll start seeing gravel logging roads branching off from the paved road. One of these is Gunners Lake Mainline.

After a couple of hours in the drizzle I had landed only one little fish, which was promptly released. I grew restless enough to drive over the ridge to the area I wanted to scout. The area was down a logging road, and there was a landing at the near end of a valley, with standing timber about halfway up on one hillside. The other hillside, less steep, had been clear-cut a few seasons past, but there had been some opportunistic re-growth. I parked, grabbed the pocket binoculars out of the glove-box, and got out of the car.

I managed to take about four steps away from the car, and froze. What I thought had been merely an old stump about 50 feet in front of me had stood up and turned around to face me. It was not a bear. Neither of us moved or made a sound, but just stood there staring at each other and breathing clouds of steam into the air. I caught a smell like a sick, wet dog that had thrown up on itself. I think we were both just waiting for the other to leave, so after what seemed like five minutes (really seconds) of stare-down, I backed up toward the car and opened the door. I detected movement out of the corner of my eye, and when I looked back, he was gone. I hadn't heard the noise of his movement, but my heart was beating pretty loudly in my ears. I had no gun, no camera, only the binoculars, which I had squeezed so hard they had broken at the hinge.

I have thought of carrying a camera in the woods, and in this digital age, I think an unobtrusive little gadget may find its way into my kit soon.

More recently, I have heard a sound so foreign to my ears that it made my blood run cold and the hair on my neck stand up. The only way I could think to describe it is thus: imagine the sound of a screaming gorilla being run through a wood chipper. I am familiar with the sounds made by the known wildlife in this region, and this is not the cry of something like a bear or mountain lion.

That about covers it. I'll just try to let the old guy have his space, and I'll go about my merry way, hoping he returns the favor.

 

[KONE KILLER]

How about a blue heron up at about 10,000 feet?? Always thought they were a low land kind of bird.

 

[Knarf]

In the late '80's, like somewhere around '86-'88, my hunting/shooting buddy and I ran across an apparent satanic ritual site in the hills up Ford Mill Rd outside of Lacomb, OR.

It was on the side of a landing that plenty of folks used for shooting. On the hill above the backstop, a tree had some internal organs hanging in it, there were burnt internal organs on a stump, and there was a goat head on the ground not far from the stump. I assume the internal organs were from the body that the goat head belonged to; I don't recall seeing the body.

That was a bit freaky. I'll have to query my buddy to see what he remembers of that event.

 

[sandman1212]

Wow, Great Stories! I just remembered being out at a place called Santosh slough about 30 years ago to go fishing with a friend and their Dad. As we rounded a corner there were about 20 paper wrapped packages, when we opened one up, it was filled with beaver parts. I am not sure what kind of weird wacko would chop up a bunch of animals, wrap them up in freezer paper and dump them, but it wasn't going to be me to find out. we left and called the ODFW to let them figure it out.