There’s nothing more peaceful than spending some time in nature: hiking across a gorgeous mountain, camping next to a clear blue lake and waking up to the sounds of birds chirping alongside the sunrise. The scent of the great outdoors is invigorating! But no matter how well prepared you are for the elements, there will always be some inherent dangers associated with being in the wild…
Outdoorsmen on Reddit have recently been detailing terrifying encounters they’ve had in nature, so we’ve gathered some of their most unsettling stories below. We hope this list won’t deter you from going on that camping trip you’ve been looking forward to, but it may serve as a friendly reminder to always be aware of your surroundings when in the woods.
#1
Grizzly bear chasing a moose through the middle of our camp. Turns out you can fit about 10 full sized middle aged adults into a kevlar canoe in about .05 seconds.
Image credits: talkytalkerson
#2
Was hiking a medium grade trail with my then 4 year old. About 3 miles in they are tired and want me to carry them. Managed to get another half a mile down the 10 mile loop when suddenly a chill went down my back. The woods went really quiet too.
I told my kiddo I was ready to go home and we’d finish the whole loop another day. Set them on my shoulders and had my head on a swivel. I definitely broke my personal record for walking time getting out.
Found out via local Facebook group a couple days later than a mama mountain Lion and her cub had been spotted by loggers not very far from that area. I never saw a thing, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t see me. It was just a very unsettling feeling.
Image credits: Altril2010
#3
I was packing supplies into a shelter on the Long Trail. I was ten or eleven. I got 10 bucks for it each time I did it. I am coming back out and I hear a dog barking. I think
“cool. Someone is hiking with their dog.’
Then I hear another dog bark and another and another until there were about 20 different voices and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go stiff. They could not have been much more than a couple hundred yards away.
I knew there was no way to avoid or outrun them so I climbed the hearest pine tree I could get to. I was up about 20 feet when this pack of wild dogs arrived and proceeded to circle the tree, occasionally following my scent up the tree trunk. Then they decided to try and wait me out (?). Only one person knew I was packing in and he wasn’t going to be home until 10:30 at night.
So we waited.
All I had was a buck knife and a wrist rocket.
So I made the wait as painful as possible. When I ran out of rocks, I used pine cones. Small green ones. I may have peed on them a few times too.
It was dark when they decided to leave.
I walked home after collecting a handful of stones.
Met my dad on the road going home.
NEVER so glad to crawl into bed.
Image credits: Tyrigoth
#4
When I was like 14 I was hunting deer with my dad and heard a weird sizzle. I heard 2 more and my dad screamed at me to get down. It was the sound of another hunter shooting in our direction. He hadn’t seen us despite the orange. I will never forget that sound. It’s a very different experience being on the other end of the bullet.
Image credits: Post-Scarcity-Pal
#5
When i was 10 or 11, I was sitting at the top of a burm alone overlooking a beautiful valley, I must have sat there for a few minutes in the tall grass soaking it up, I panned my head to the left slowly and roughly 75 meters away, I could see the ears, eyes and snout of a cougar sitting in the grass, looking right back at me. I darted back to safety as fast as I could, but when I got there I realized that the cougar didn’t give chase, it must have just been soaking up the scenery as well.
Image credits: KibblesNBitxhes
#6
Walking from the dam to my house. Stumbled onto a litter of wild pigs and momma was not impressed. Chased me for about 2kilometers through the trees and waited at the bottom of one that I climbed for over an hour.
Image credits: Euphoric-Use7282
#7
Man I don’t even go out that often but the one time I do I found a severed ear on a hiking path
Image credits: hausenbergerdorff
#8
Slipped and tumbled backwards head over heels down a rock face. There was about a twenty foot drop after that but I got wedged in between a tree and the rock face. Ended up walking away with just a couple bruises.
Another time in the Sierra Nevadas I fell through a hole that was covered in snow. My rifle stopped me from falling straight through and I yelled for help. When I was getting pulled out all I saw was a black hole beneath me that covered in snow again. No idea how deep it was or if anyone would have heard me if I just poofed through the snow into a crevasse.
Image credits: COCKBLOKALYPSE
#9
Bullets whizzing over my head. Some smooth brains were target shooting in the middle of an established hiking trail. Wasn’t a one off experience either!
Image credits: _old_relic_
#10
1. Shot a buck with my bow right at last light. Fell within sight and immediately a pack of coyotes started howling. I’m not really scared of yotes so I got down and guarded my deer while someone else went to get a fourwheeler. I figured they’d keep their distance, but they ended up howling and circling me close enough that I could see their shadows in the dark for a good 45 minutes until the fourwheeler arrived. They probably weren’t more than 20 feet from me at times.
2. Had a bear climb up into my treestand with me. Came within 2 or 3 inches of boots and started sniffing them. He wasn’t scared of me at all, but eventually he got down and walked away. Met him in the dark on my way out too.
Image credits: Ok_Button1932
#11
A man walking his dog – naked
Image credits: angelicdollface
#12
Face to face with a cougar while making my way to the deer stand. I had to check my drawers afterwards.
Image credits: otcconan
#13
I was on a month-long canoeing trip though the sub-arctic tundra. I was looking for a good place to set up my tent, I hadn’t realized I had just accidently stumbled within 10 meters or so of a massive Caribou bull and two cows
We all just stared at each other for a minute or so, then they ran off.
Image credits: Drach88
#14
We were on a two family camping trip and one by one everyone was coming down with a stomach flu. It didn’t get to me until the last day we were there. We were out shooting at targets when it hit me. Hard. Obviously no bathroom where we were so had to make due with a log. Floodgates opened and diarrhea everywhere. Then I felt a sharp pain in my leg. Then another one. I stood up, and realized I’d sat on a log with a wasp’s nest in it. Got stung 5-6 times in addition to having the runs and later throwing up too.
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Image credits: scottwax
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