The Strange And Unexplainable

[Glenn]

3 hours ago, GRiver said:

I stood up and I think the bear was like “oh crap a human is in here too”. He turned and heading for the door, big paws spinning on the floor.

I've encountered dozens of black bears and that's been my experience.  Big fraidy cats!

 

I've also been way too close for comfort with brown bears. You don't want them to know you're they're.  You do not want to mess with them!

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Glenn said:

I've encountered dozens of black bears and that's been my experience.  Big fraidy cats!

 

I've also been way too close for comfort with brown bears. You don't want them to know you're they're.  You do not want to mess with them!

Black bears are the wimps of the bear world.

 

Brown bears include specific sub-species like the Grizzly and Kodiak - that should tell you something

[TnRiver46]

18 minutes ago, Glenn said:

I've encountered dozens of black bears and that's been my experience.  Big fraidy cats!

 

I've also been way too close for comfort with brown bears. You don't want them to know you're they're.  You do not want to mess with them!

Well clearly brown ones are meaner than black ones. But the attitude the black ones are friendly cute and cuddly has caused a bunch of people to get way too close and get injured or killed. I just cited a few examples of a black bear biting someone to death, a black bear trying to bite someone to death, and a black bear chasing someone and that’s just the limited experience of one person in their 30s. Just because dozens of them have ran away it doesn’t mean they all will

 

 

14 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Black bears are the wimps of the bear world.

 

Brown bears include specific sub-species like the Grizzly and Kodiak - that should tell you something

You can come to TN and go 12 rounds with one and then call it a wimp 

[Mobasser]

There are quite a few black bears in South Mo. I've heard of guys standing and waving they're arms and they run off. But, as has been said, ANY bear with cubs is dangerous. If mama sees you as a threat to her cubs, she'll charge you and mean business.

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

But, as has been said, ANY bear with cubs is dangerous. If mama sees you as a threat to her cubs, she'll charge you and mean business.

ANY mother protecting her young is more dangerous than anything else in the world.

[Mobasser]

33 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Well clearly brown ones are meaner than black ones. But the attitude the black ones are friendly cute and cuddly has caused a bunch of people to get way too close and get injured or killed. I just cited a few examples of a black bear biting someone to death, a black bear trying to bite someone to death, and a black bear chasing someone and that’s just the limited experience of one person in their 30s. Just because dozens of them have ran away it doesn’t mean they all will

 

 

You can come to TN and go 12 rounds with one and then call it a wimp 

Sometimes I think what might happen is that guys don't see the cubs. You might see a large black bear, and the cubs could be out of sight, in brush etc, so they approach the bear. Bad move! I've also heard of blacks bears becoming aggressive if you get near they're food source, but am.not sure about that. I do know that if you get between a brown bear and his food source, especially a recent kill, your in trouble.

[TnRiver46]

20 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

There are quite a few black bears in South Mo. I've heard of guys standing and waving they're arms and they run off. But, as has been said, ANY bear with cubs is dangerous. If mama sees you as a threat to her cubs, she'll charge you and mean business.

 

9 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

ANY mother protecting her young is more dangerous than anything else in the world.

The one that killed a camper most recently was a male 

 

moral of the story, whatever assumptions you have, the bear doesn’t know them. They call it wildlife for a reason, they don’t read the books or the fishing forum 

[Mobasser]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

The one that killed a camper most recently was a male 

 

moral of the story, whatever assumptions you have, the bear doesn’t know them. They call it wildlife for a reason, they don’t read the books or the fishing forum 

This is true. We should never assume that all of them are docile.

[GRiver]

10 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

ANY mother protecting her young is more dangerous than anything else in the world.

You are right… I’d rather grab a chainsaw running wide open by the wrong end, than get between a mother and her young. 
Human mothers too!

[Mobasser]

I'm sure there's a logical explanation for what I heard in the woods while I was fishing years ago. I've never been afraid of much. I can watch a scary movie and go straight to bed.  Nor have I ever been superstitious about any old legends. I can look back and laugh about it now, but, at the time, it wasn't very funny, and, my intuition told me to get out of there.

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I'm sure there's a logical explanation for what I heard in the woods while I was fishing years ago. I've never been afraid of much. I can watch a scary movie and go straight to bed.  Nor have I ever been superstitious about any old legends. I can look back and laugh about it now, but, at the time, it wasn't very funny, and, my intuition told me to get out of there.

That intuition is what keeps a lot of people alive. There’s a reason people are scared of spooky noises, standing on the edge of a cliff, or lions tigers and bears 

[N Florida Mike]

3 hours ago, GaryH said:

fishing the Oklawaha river.

I have had several incidents there.

I think nearly  every time I fished it I had some kind of motor trouble( ( Which is the wierdest thing) One time we conked out several miles downstream from our camp. Night fell. At some point dozens ( if not hundreds) of Barred owls began hooting. All calls, variations and pitches. I have never heard anything like it  since…

Another time we were fishing there, hadn’t seen anyone for hours, total peace and quiet reigning except for the slight sound of water rippling down the river… Suddenly….

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!

A fighter jet flew over us at tree top level!!! hey -  Words can’t describe the experience…

[Mobasser]

I watched an old film clip of a black bear that had been in a circus for years. They were going through his normal act, and something triggered him out of control. He tore up his handler pretty good before they stopped him. There's no way to know what set him off, but he almost killed a guy before they got him under control.

[GaryH]

2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

I have had several incidents there.

I think nearly  every time I fished it I had some kind of motor trouble( ( Which is the wierdest thing) One time we conked out several miles downstream from our camp.

We always put in at Nelson’s fish camp. The river reminds you of being on the Amazon. Remote and quiet.

[Mobasser]

The only other strange experience I had while night fishing involved another person. I was fishing the same spot around the old dock, and decided to walk down the bank and cast. I probably walked about 40 or 50 yards, and didn't catch anything.            I started walking back to my truck, which was parked near the dock. I was reaching for my keys and heard someone say" catchin anything"? It startled me. I could barely see what looked like an old guy sitting on the rock wall which was near the parking area. I said" what's your name, do you live around here"? No response. He just sat there looking at me. I layed my rod in the truck, got in, and took off.                    The next morning, I got up early, and my wife said we needed some milk for breakfast. I took off to town for a gallon of milk, and saw an older guy hitch hiking on the road to town. Of course I didn't pick him up.                     In all my night trips to this spot, I had never ever seen another person there. How he got there, and especially, how he got off the main road and down to the lake, I'll never know. I'd never seen him before, and have never seen him since. When he first startled me, I almost confronted him. I was mad because he didn't say anything, and didn't identify himself. Now, I'm glad I didn't confront him. Sometimes it's best to just mind your own business.        

The only other strange experience I had while night fishing involved another person. I was fishing the same spot around the old dock, and decided to walk down the bank and cast. I probably walked about 40 or 50 yards, and didn't catch anything.            I started walking back to my truck, which was parked near the dock. I was reaching for my keys and heard someone say" catchin anything"? It startled me. I could barely see what looked like an old guy sitting on the rock wall which was near the parking area. I said" what's your name, do you live around here"? No response. He just sat there looking at me. I layed my rod in the truck, got in, and took off.                    The next morning, I got up early, and my wife said we needed some milk for breakfast. I took off to town for a gallon of milk, and saw an older guy hitch hiking on the road to town. Of course I didn't pick him up.                     In all my night trips to this spot, I had never ever seen another person there. How he got there, and especially, how he got off the main road and down to the lake, I'll never know. I'd never seen him before, and have never seen him since. When he first startled me, I almost confronted him. I was mad because he didn't say anything, and didn't identify himself. Now, I'm glad I didn't confront him. Sometimes it's best to just mind your own business.        

[N Florida Mike]

I had something similar to that happen to me. I was fishing one of the urban fish management areas in Jax. It is an area that is fairly large and has 2 ponds, a big one and small one. It has woods in and around it and is eerie at night, especially because a lot of drugs, prostitution and perverts tended to use it . It wasn’t always that way, and I had fished it for years before all the crazy stuff started happening.Went over there once with the kids to fish,  and a drunk guy was coming out of the water with nothing on but his underwear , and the same day at the far side of the lake a car was parked and shaking from the occupants activities inside. Needless to say I was angry, especially with my pre teen kids giggling and asking me what was going on in there. Another time I went there and met 2 officers coming out of the woods who were arresting a couple for lewd and lascivious behaviour in broad daylight. Enough stuff  finally happened there to cause the city to lock the gate leading into it at night. There was a FWC officer that lived there with his family that I was friends with.  He trusted me to the point that , if I was there when he locked up, he would let me stay and catfish, and dummy lock the gate. When I left , I would really lock the gate.

When I was there alone or with my son,  I was kind of  nervous the whole time, especially after this happened:

I was loading  my J boat up by myself after dark , and was pushing it up into the truck bed. A voice nearby said” Need any help ?” I nearly jumped out of my shoes. I had no idea anyone was there. After the initial shock, I asked him where he lived. He said “ In the woods” 

That was a fairly common response in my area back then, meaning you lived in the country. I said , Where at? He said “ IN THE WOODS”, and pointed to the woods nearby . I said Oh , THOSE WOODS” 
It was a fairly chilly evening and I offered to buy him some food or get him a blanket. He declined and went down in the woods for the evening. Never saw him again., but I was always looking over my shoulder after that, and always carried, and wore a large knife on my belt…

[TnRiver46]

I forgot I have a few strange experiences while night fishing. I don’t night fish much so I guess they slipped my mind. One involved a bird, yes that’s right a bird in the middle of the night. I was trying to skip a jig up under a row of docks that had some lights on them. Surely lights would help me see to fish! I was concentrating on where the light met the water, trying to skip it a time or two before it went under the dock and hopefully kept skipping. I guess this tunnel visions compounded by a lack of sunshine caused me to look over a few things, like a giant bird. One of my casts was way too high and didn’t skip at all, just slammed into a dock board. The noise was pretty loud in the dead quiet, and unbeknownst to me a Muscovy duck was sitting on top of that dock. The noise scared the duck, causing it to launch off the dock and fly right through my Jon boat on its way to safety. I thought a helicopter dropped an atom bomb on me. In case you’ve never seen a Muscovy duck, here’s how cute they are 

 

the other was just how creepy it can be when something approaches you silently. Fishing in a cove one night, a monstrous chunk of foam just drifted up to me at a snails pace. The lag in time as it approached , not knowing what it was, allowed my imagination to run wild 

 

I also saw some pirate ships go through a lock one night but that was explained by the Nina and pinta replicas making their way from city to city along the river for people to tour. We didn’t even want to tell people we saw pirate ships for fear of sounding insane, then I saw them on the morning news………

[Zcoker]

I've ran into all kinds of crazy stuff night fishing on the ocean for sharks but if we are speaking about bass fishing, I haven't really ran into anything that crazy out in the Everglades at night except for curious gators. They come up close when they hear the lure hittin the water. They sometimes grab a lure.  The fight can be brutal until the break-off! The gators are actually easier to deal with at night (in my opinion) because any light makes their eyes glow bright red. One quick scan with the flashlight or headlight will expose all of them, which can be all over the place lol. 

[Swamp Girl]

I also once heard the screams of a dying animal one night. 

 

Another night, my brother and I were fishing a river mouth in northwestern Ontario when a giant pike came out of the water like a Polaris missile. It was beyond anything we imagined and rather than cast, we started our engine and went back to our camp.

 

During daytime, I was alone on a wilderness lake and I heard something massive coming through the forest. So many branches were breaking. I fled, even though I was safe in a boat. 

[Tackleholic]

Three which come to mind.  In a boat alone on a dark night, Hayward Wisc.;  kept hearing a soft splash, splash.  Finally hit a spotlight and there was a bear about 3 feet away, must have smelled my Walleye.

Sleeping alone in the woods, in a WW2 Jungle Hammock, a Bobcat screamed, sounded like it was right next to me.

Bank fishing late at night, two Racoons got into a fight;  sounded like people were being murdered.