Strange finds/experiences in the outdoors?

[n5lyc]

I was about 15 or so, squirrell hunting, walked up on a 410/22 over under leaning against a tree, way out in the woods.

I called out, no one came, I waited in the general area until close to dark,
Retrieved the weapon, ran an ad in the local paper, "found, shotgun in woods in infield area, call to identify." Got no response..

Gave it to my nephew years later..


Another time, a group of us were playing paintball, ran across a BNSF service truck in the boonies, stripped and burned, called the police, they wrote it up, next week, it was gone..

[BumbleBug]

Well, I'm sure this is not too exciting, but a lot of Texas hunters, including myself, arrowhead hunt when we are scouting or resting between hunts. I'm pretty bad at it, but manage to find a few. The best time to look is right after a rain. You might think you can "pick" a spot clean, but there always seems to be more!



...bug

[Keg]

Cool Bug!

I was out scouting our riverbottom lease once and came upon some large rock formations in the yaupon thickets....There was a couple small caves....
I talked to the landowner next to us..and he said there were caves on his side too..with native american writing in them....I hope to get to see em....

[new_camper]

If you get to be friends with a farmer who still does conventional tillage instead of no till, you can find lots of arrowheads that way.

[bamaranger]

As a kid, I used to hunt quite a bit along a mainline RR. One morning while rabbit hunting I found a big Caterpillar 'dozer had come off a flat car and taken out one on the mains and a junction to a plant. I ran all the way home, shotgun and two beagles, to call that in. They already knew.

The RR was pretty good hunting,...... and I found other stuff that had come from trains. Once an entire crate of stainless steel pitchers, that we gave away as gifts that Christmas. Another time a small crate of small RR type flares (6" or so)and some "torpedoes", crush sensitive explosives with lead bands that could be attached to the rails and detonated by a passing trains wheels that served as a warning for trouble ahead.

I like finding shed antlers and have a 5 gallon bucket full of them. One is a dandy and came off a B&C class buck in the Ouachita's in AR. I never saw that buck in two seasons.

Old moonshine sites are a dime a dozen in my area, and any wooded draw with water in it is a good candidate for where an old still used to be. All show signs of having been blasted or axed by LE. Typically there will be old cans and bottles about, some tin for the boiler, the really old sites will only show piles of rocks where the fires were built. Very common.

If hunting is slow, I can't resist scuffing about in a bluff shelter and have found some isolated ones that likely held many artifacts if excavated. These are all on state land and digging same is prohibited. Some boot scuffing turned up two dandy tiny bird points at one site in particular. That land was private and has sold, and I cannot get back in there. I don't know if the rich out of town doctor knows of the site or not, I'm not going to tell him. I've found points at stream crossings/glades, but I am not a dedicated arrowhead guy.

I've found a bunch of modern stuff, lost by other hunters. Two walkie talkies, two sets Stony Point shooting sticks, one cheap folding knife (stuck in the ground at a deer kill), a bunch of grunt calls, a few turkey mouth calls. This spring I found a dandy AA Pelican flashlight at a parking area, buried up in mud. Still worked with the same batteries.

Found a guys bow once. He'd killed a deer the evening before, put the bow on the roof of his truck, loaded the deer and drove off. I knew the guy, recognized the bow. He hadn't missed it yet.

[Mausermolt]

Be careful posting those arrowheads. i worked for the USFS archaeological crew and if you get caught with authentic artifacts its a 250K$ fine. im pretty sure thats a federal law also. but only applies if the artifacts were found on Gov't land. if its on private land, its technically the property owners property. That being said ive found some really awesome sites, one is a sandy hill that is totally covered in spear points, bird points, mortar and pestle, grinding stones, you name it. every time the wind blows something new gets uncovered but i leave all the artifacts because its on Gov't land

[chewie146]

2 weeks ago, I was hiking on forest land up what is called Water Canyon, and just as I reached the trail head, I head a loud crashing coming through the trees. I though a branch had let go and I backed off. It was a squirrel, stripped completely from the shoulders up. I looked up, not sure what to expect, and hoping it was something unusual, but it was just a red-tailed hawk that I had rudely scared out of his lunch. He hopped to the next tree and eyeballed me for a while.

[BumbleBug]

I hunt private ranches pretty much 100% of the time in Texas. I usually show my really good arrowheads to the land owners & nobody considers it a big deal. A buddy of mine found a pristine 4" arrowhead & he thought it was probably very valuable. He took it to the Archaeological Dept at a local university. They gave him a frown & told him to take it back & put down exactly where he found it. I'm sure he did just that!

...bug

[Art Eatman]

Given the activities of museum and archaeological people in the late 1800s and early 1900s, I don't doubt the claim that there are more Indian artifacts in boxes in the basements of NYC museums, other museums in the area and in university archaeological departments than in the entire rest of the U.S.

As near as I can tell from reading, there is little archaeological value to surface finds of dart points, spear points and arrowheads.

[silvrjeepr]

I used to hunt some woods that butt up to an old private runway in Meridian, MS. Long story short it was a slow day in the stand and some plane was making all kinds of racket flying by low and loud. I grabbed my stuff and headed out. As I stuck my head out of the brush by the runway clearing, I saw a P51 mustang heading directly towards me at about treetop level heavy on the throttle. He pulled vertical before reaching me, and I got goose bumps watching that plane disappear straight up into the clouds. Later I found out the runway owner was a WWII plane fanatic and was able to check out his hangar and F4U corsair.

[cnimrod]

most interesting experience in upstate NY was being on stand and being propositioned by a young lady practicing the world's oldest profession

[budd]

When I was stationed at Camp Le Jeune at the Naval Hospital there I was paddling along the New River with a friend. We heard a couple of screams so we landed the boat and went to help. We found a young teenage couple half naked on a blanket screaming and trying to get dressed (at least the girl was) It seems that the couple placed thier balnket too near the river and after the boy had his pants off he got bitten by Mr Copperhead very high on his theigh. He was scared and in pain, the girl was scared of the snake and screaming and trying to dress and the snake was pretty good size, angry, and coiled ready for another bite if those two would not go. We got the kids to our boat and our car and took them to the hospital where we were stationed. This was 1971 so no cell-phones or things like that available so we race to the hospital as fast as we could drawing the attention of several MPs for speeding.
At the time it was serious, but afterwards me and McBride
laughed about it and had a few beers at the E-Club and reveled in the retelling of the Adventure.

J.Budd

[BuckRub]

One time visiting kin in Nacadoches, Texas I found a stihl that was still being used making moonshine whiskey. Forgot to tell ya it wast uncles. Lol. He make whiskey up until he passed.

[60hp3850fps]

It was probably around 1980 and I was duck hunting in the marsh areas and creeks that flowed into the Raritan Bay in NJ. I was motoring up one of the creeks and I saw something that looked like a waving white flag...as I got closer I realized it was a sea gull .. apparently the gull was standing on the piling that had a large split in it. the gull fell into the crack and his leg was wedged tight and he broke its leg. I brought him home (not and easy task) and my wife and I put a splint on it, after a few weeks of R&R I released him.
He flew strong and hard ....never saw him again. : "Johnathan the Seagull"

[dogrunner]

Caribou hunting off the Denali Hwy not too far west of the Susitna Rvr in the mid '60's. Buddy & I spotted several good racks & decided to try to head 'em off. We took off at about 45 degree angles figuring if they turned one way or another we'd get a shot. I cleared the ditch on one side of the roadway and felt something smash underfoot.....paid it no mind & continued that attempt....Buddy scored, plus found a good bleached grizzly skull....on the way back to our rig I found what I'd jumped on and smashed.........a 3/4 full case of old deteriorating dynamite that had apparently been lost by the construction crew when that road was cut........needless to say I left it where it lay!

[TMW89]

I guess I don't have anything to top ufo's, just some unique animal experiences while on stand. A couple baby foxes playing around underneath my stand. Or a momma doe and her baby grazing in front of me, then seeing them snap their heads over to my left, when I looked I saw a beautiful coyote come busting out of the bean field toward them. The deer had too much of a head start to be caught.
Also three young bucks fighting each other only 15 yds away from me. Nothing crazy, but just plain cool experiences I thought.

[new_camper]

I saw a squirrel and a crow get in a fight once. The crow had just taken off from the ground as the squirrel was running towards it, the squirrel jumped and caught the crow by the legs. He then proceeded to yank the crow back down to the ground and then beat the crap out of him. I almost died laughing.

[arch308]

I saw a herd of gobblers run off a small bobcat once. They spotted him on the trail and just headed his way. He trotted off a ways, stopped and peed. Then walked away. I had to laugh.
I watched another young bobcat stalk across a field and jump at something in the tall grass at the edge of the field only to discover there was nothing there. He looked around like "whaaaat" then walked away into the grass. Another good giggle.

[AL45]

My cousin and I flushed a pheasant near an old abandoned house and watched in amusement as it flew into the side of the house. Before we could get to it, it stood up, shook his head, and ran around to the back of the house. It was as if we were in an Elmer Fudd cartoon. We did get that wascal though.

[Geezerbiker]

I've found a few old homesteads in places that they didn't seem to belong. One on Mt Scott just outside of Portland, OR had an old apple orchard where on of the limbs of the tree had been pulled down into the ground to produce a new tree. The limb that connected the old and new trees was about 10" in diameter. It looked like the homestead had been abandoned abruptly. There was some rotten wood on the ground that looked like it could have been the remains of a cabin. This place is gone now. That whole forest was bulldozed for houses...

I ran across another old homestead in the Gales Creek area of Oregon and the only thing still standing was the outhouse. It looked pretty rickety so I didn't get to close.

I thought I saw a UFO once out in the area near Yakima, WA but I was told that it was a satellite and you could see them on any clear night about that time...

Tony

[Brian Pfleuger]

If any of you guys are wandering around Gunnison National Forest near Aspen Leaf Reservoir, I have a friend who lost a Matthew's bow in some Oak Brush last elk season.

[Pathfinder45]

....... I stumbled across the remains of the Steamboat mine in southern Oregon. There were numerous mine shafts, a cabin an old garage and a nearly complete stamp mill.

[tahunua001]

not really firearms related but last fall in one of my regular hunting spots I ran accross a horse drawn hose reel for firefighting. what it's doing dumped down in a draw I don't know and I must have walked by it 30 times as a teenager and never noticed it until now... odd to say the least.

[22-rimfire]

Interesting things I have found hunting or out tramping around:
Old Mine openings
Carbide lamps
old rail beds with the trolly tracks intact with spikes and so forth
foundations for old homesteads or old buildings from many years ago
graves
Indian arrowheads, grinding stones, and misc. pieces of pottery
bobcat kitten
ginsing (never been a ginsing hunter/gatherer)
stolen rifle
ammunition
knives
old car bodies (pre-1950)
saw mill stuff
well kept springs out in the middle of no where
remains of stills

[Mausermolt]

ill add one more just to keep this one going.
found a Colt 1911 7 rnd Stainless magazine full of ammo while tromping around in the forest. i just happened ot be carrying my 1911 so i slapped her in, racked the slide (the ammo wasnt corroded by any means so i felt ok shooting it) BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. still have the mag