Unusual happenings in the forest

[Ron Scott]

A few I recall are: Coming across a B-29 SAC bomber crash site deep in a swamp while cruising timber on the Hiawatha N.F. The crash site of a F-16 fighter plane and finding the remains of the pilot while responding to a forest fire on the Hiawatha N.F. I later assisted the Air force in recovering the body and aircraft remains.

Finding the skeleton of a missing female murder victim against a tree on the Manistee N.F. Finding devil worshippers sacrificing sheep and goats at night at one of our fire tower sites on the Manistee N.F. Finding nudists and topless female canoers on the Manistee N.F. Finding several pot growing sites on the Manistee N.F. and private lands.

Enountering a wild steer on the loose in the Monongahela N.F. Encountering several moonshine stills on the Monongahela N.F. The heart attack death and the body removal of a Sierra Club member from the Cranberry Back Country, Monongahela N.F.

The shoot out between Wexford County Sheriff officers and two bank robbers while I was marking timber on private land in the area that the robbers fled to. I didn't know what was going on while hearing all the shooting until I saw a helicopter overhead with a megaphone clearing the area.

I've seen 3 trees fall in the forest for no reason at all. All were healthy trees. One was an aspen that nearly took me with it. I told of this near miss in another thread.

[sandhills]

Gee I can't believe nothing unusual happens out in the woods  !  So far this is the worst I've encountered and I'm sticking to it  ;D (not counting the little "relieving myself incident in front of a trail cam)

 

[WDH]

DanG Ron, that will be hard to top!

[Jeff]

DanG Ron, that will be hard to top!

How about this?

[WH_Conley]

No need to scare everybody away, Jeff. :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I'll leave this one alone to the experts. 

[petefrom bearswamp]

Holy cow Ron!
What a career you have had.
A friend of mine who spent his career in the USFS found a body stuffed in an outhouse at a remote cabin site once.
He went to take (or leave as George Carlin said) a crap and the smell made him look as it wasn't the odor of  doo-doo.
Other instances I have had is almost stepping on 3 different fawns in the early summer and once watching a red fox emerge from a den in front of me, stretch and then walk off.

[WDH]

I'll leave this one alone to the experts. 

All I know is trees and wood.  I leave the Aliens to the History Channel  .

[JohnW]

Okrafarmer -- That's a good question.  No, I don't recommend running through the Indiana woods in reduced attire in the winter.  I do recommend Winter as a good time to be in the woods.  (I'd probably be slightly interested if some of the previously mentioned things were happening.

Later.

[Ron Scott]

I've experienced two lightning strikes that hit large white pine trees right beside me while being caught during severe thunder storms. One strike was so close that the force knocked me over as the tree exploded with flashes of fire. It was hard hearing for awhile after. Both instances were on the Ottawa N.F.

[Clam77]

Ouch-- I sure don't recommend that in the woods around here, blackberries, tangle vines, dead pine limbs, holly trees, poison ivy. . . . . not to mention fire ants, yellow jackets, mosquitoes, etc.

Now that's the reason Winter is my favorite season -- no poison ivy, no bugs.
[/quote]


:D  Believe me - you can definately get poison ivy in the winter time..   

[clww]

And Black Widow spider bitten, too! >:(
That happened to me January of 2009 while wearing gloves moving firewood.

[JohnW]

Ouch-- I sure don't recommend that in the woods around here, blackberries, tangle vines, dead pine limbs, holly trees, poison ivy. . . . . not to mention fire ants, yellow jackets, mosquitoes, etc.

Now that's the reason Winter is my favorite season -- no poison ivy, no bugs.

:D  Believe me - you can definately get poison ivy in the winter time..
[/quote]

I believe you  -- I've had the experience.  But there's a lot less poison ivy since there's no leaves.

[Ron Scott]

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,49952.msg722191.html#msg722191

[ouachita]

Cruising timber on a 30 acre out tract separated from the main property.  No easy access even though it was next to a well traveled paved road.  Finally entered the tract.  As Patricia and I were walking through the property we started to go around either side of a yupon bush. We jumped up 6 coyotes that had been sleeping on the other side of the bush.  The coyotes hauled, leaving us severely frightened.  One of the coyotes came back, shaking his head, like trying to get the sleep out of his eyes.  He's thinking maybe what spooked him might be his next dinner.  He got within about five feet (that's 60 inches) away from us when he realized that his possible future dinner was two humans. 

Have you ever seen a coyote back petal, turn around and try to go forward at the same time?

Charles Westmoreland CF, RF
Ivan, Arkansas
Conroe, Texas

[TW]

No exceptional finds though I walk a lot in the woodlands around here.
Just ordinary stuff that belong to the forest and the beaches. Remains of an old moonshine still and some small remnants of some long forgotten shipwreck that had drifted ashore. Parts from an old cast iron stove which followed me home on top of a log load. Some ancient stone foundations and stone walls whose existence was unknown.

[submarinesailor]

Have you ever seen a coyote back petal, turn around and try to go forward at the same time?

Charles Westmoreland CF, RF
Ivan, Arkansas
Conroe, Texas

No, but I had a big sow black bear do that.  It was even funnier to watch her trip over a big log as she tried to turn and run at the same time.  A big bear tripping over a log, landing on her face and rolling completely over before she regainned her footing.  She ran about 10 yards, stopped and started turning over rocks, feeding like nothing ever happened.

Bruce

[VT_Forestry]

I find bits and pieces of airplanes all the time, but this one was in the best condition  :D

Not sure if there were any survivors or not...  ;)

[clww]

That one must be from Langley, not Oceana.

[bigred1951]

hello everybody..just thought id drop in and see who all has stories about things they have found while in the woods logging, walking around or doing just what ever. Ive never found nothing much to mount to anything except a couple run down houses here and there and a old water tower and the occasional car or truck . I know of a place that suppose to have an old train back in the woods. Ive heard of people just out walking around and finding moonshine stills, illegal crops and all kinds of things. So lets hear them stories of what you all have found.

[Jeff]

You mlght want to look in on this very recent topic.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,59702.0.html

[JDeere]

That one must be from Langley, not Oceana.

If that isn't a model plane you sure have some huge leaves there.

[Delawhere Jack]

My sister and her husband were about 40 yrds ahead of me on an ATV riding trails through the woods. I come up on them stopped on the trail, they were arguing about what they had just seen. My sister thought it was a guy hunched over riding a bicycle, her husband thought it was an ostrich...... ???

We found what looked like the worlds largest turkey tracks. A couple days later my brother in law talked to the farmer who farms a large part of the property. Turns out that an animal rescue operation a few miles up the road had some emu's that had escaped. He had seem one on his property just a few weeks prior.

Quite an oddity for the Delmarva penninsula........ ;D

They're still out there, and I've heard that they are VERY TASTY!

[Holmes]

A few years ago my wife looked into the woods from the house a saw an Emu.  She took pictures of it and followed it down a trail for a hundred yards then decided to stay away from it.  Turns out it had been spotted all over our area.

[bigred1951]

thank ya for showing me that link