Found?

Jezz · Aug 3, 2012

This isn't found, but strange, happened last year. Me and bro in law were hunting elk a long ways from any trail and in this steep and dark old growth drainage. We were inching along and I grabbed his pack and pointed up. He looks, looks back me and whispers, what? I pointed again... there was this guy peaking just his head around the tree about 50 yds away. I waved and the guy quickly went back behind the tree. We looked at each like WTF. Then he pokes his head around again, he ducks back again. I looked and him and said this guy is making me uncomfortable lets get out of here. I kept tabs on him and every time I would look he would hide. He had no pack, no bow and was wearing blue jeans. So he became "weird blue jean guy". I think he was eating some of those special mushrooms. Could not figure out what or why that guy was in there. More than likely he had a "crop" but we didn't smell any.

I have found all kinds of gear over the years, last year I found a brand new KUIU beanie, was hoping the there would be some guide pants and jacket close by.

Oh I did find a person a few years ago, pouring rain storm, we were sounds asleep in the tent, about 11:30 headlights are shining in our tent, guy yells my friend is overweight and lost can you come out and help me find him? So we grabbed some beers drove to the trailhead while his friend went to try and get cell service to call search and rescue. About an hour later a guy comes stumbling down the trail. We got him in the truck, fed him a few a few beers and took him back to camp. Hell of a search party we are, huh? We left camp for 3 days on a bivy hunt, came back and there was a case of beer on a camp table with a note. Search and Rescue, thanks for the help, the KS boys....GO JAYHAWKS".

theat · Aug 3, 2012

The strangest thing I have found was a log tree house that an outlaw had been living in for several years in a wilderness area outside of Missoula. It was about 20' up in a cluster of large firs. Underneath it he had a dozen drums filled with oatmeal, flour, rice, ect. The tree house was insulated with tarps and blankets and had two small rooms. He had an exercise bike rigged up with magnets to generate electricity to charge his collection of car batteries. There was a small tv and radio rigged up to an antenna he had way up one of the trees. By the time we found it, he had already fled after some of his friends in town that he had pissed off reported him to the police. The forest service was planning to haul his stuff out and burn the tree house so they told us we could have whatever we wanted. We went back and grabbed a couple of his drums and the wood stove. I don't have any pics of it on this computer but I will try and find them when I get home.

Over the years I have found a few weather balloons, binocs, knives, clothing, a spotting scope, and just about anything someone would take into the woods with them. I have also found many pictogragh panels, arrowheads, teepee rings, as well as several buffalo skulls and horns.

This nail clipper was on a ridge at 12,000'

Found a few sheds too

Elkmagnet · Aug 3, 2012

The thing that comes to mind is a 10" black leather makup bag that was tucked in a wash in the foothills when i opened it up it was full of needles and a few oz of crack I think so I spread it around broke the needles and put the bag back just like I found it. #$%& crack heads.

tarheel · Aug 3, 2012

theat said:
Over the years I have found a few weather balloons, binocs, knives, clothing, a spotting scope, and just about anything someone would take into the woods with them. I have also found many pictogragh panels, arrowheads, teepee rings, as well as several buffalo skulls and horns.
View attachment 30912
View attachment 30913

The hieroglyphs are really nice to find. Never did find any, but my wife and I were hiking near Gore Pass in CO years ago and came on a rock outcropping sitting out in the open. Looked like a good spot to rest for awhile, so I sat down on a protrusion about the size, shape and height of a toilet; a natural! While we talked, I noticed quite a lot of black obsidian stone chips between my feet. There was none of this type of stone anywhere near, so I started flipping and digging them out of the soil and started coming up with quite a few imperfect arrowheads which had been discarded when they were no longer salvageable. Seems the arrow maker thought it a pretty good seat too. By the quantity of evidence and how far into the ground it went I'd say that this spot had been used many times for this purpose, and there was probably a village or summer camp nearby. It was kind of a spiritual moment, so I put all the evidence back in it's hole and covered it as best I could. I hope to be able to go back some day for a refresher.

AZ Ron · Aug 3, 2012

Was coues deer hunting in southern AZ in 2009 and while hiking up to the top of a ridge to take a peek down into a bowl, saw a gallon water jug (no surprise, they are all over), but then saw these under the trees beside the jug.

I have no idea how long they were there, but crazy thing was I could have sworn I saw flashlights up high on the mountain I was on early that morning as I was hiking up... I was about 12 miles from the border.

spook12 · Aug 3, 2012

Did you retire on that Ron?

SWMontana1 · Aug 3, 2012

In the winter of 1985 and 1986, my dad and uncle hunted in the Spanish Peaks and found multiple tarps and pulleys tied high up in the trees. They cut one down and it was filled with canned food, camping supplies, clothes, money, and newspaper articles from the Nichols' Mountain Men escapade... There were tarps tied high in all kinds of trees in about a 10 mile radius. They told the authorities about it and they seized all the tarps and pulleys and verified that it was belongings of the Mountain Men, who must have set all of these ration stations up while on the run.... pretty interesting.

tarheel · Aug 3, 2012

AZ Ron said:
Was coues deer hunting in southern AZ in 2009 and while hiking up to the top of a ridge to take a peek down into a bowl, saw a gallon water jug (no surprise, they are all over), but then saw these under the trees beside the jug.
I have no idea how long they were there, but crazy thing was I could have sworn I saw flashlights up high on the mountain I was on early that morning as I was hiking up... I was about 12 miles from the border.

How'd it smoke?

genesis273 · Aug 3, 2012

I need to start a thread titled...."Lost"!
I tend to lose something about every few times I go hunting!

I did find a briefcase full of papers that someone had stolen and dump, but that`s it.

THWAK1 · Aug 3, 2012

DreaminofMT6X6s said:
I never find anything really strange...usually some old car in the middle of the woods a mile from the nearest road, but I do give a lot of stuff out for people looking to find cool equipment. My dads gps, leatherman, rangefinder...all left in the woods out of the kindness of my heart so others can find them. Happy hunting!

Someone probably picked them up in the parking area where you dropped them. I personally know you don't get out of sight of your truck, especially in the big, scary mountains! LOL Now that you are back east, do you even get a chance to leave the blacktop? You were out of sight of your truck in the pic below, but then again, you did have a kick ass guide! LMAO

lumbergreg · Aug 3, 2012

I was archery elk hunting the Cascades in Washington state. Pouring rain so I had on a poncho as I sat a game trail. All of a sudden I heard the rush of movement. I spun around just in time to see a bobcat launch himself into the base of a tree about 15 feet from where I was sitting. When he raised his head, I could clearly see the squirrell in his mouth. He began eating his catch....head first, I could hear the crunching of squirrell skull and bones. He ate the entire squirrell....all but the tail that is. I still have that tail pinned to my pack

sbhooper · Aug 4, 2012

I found one pretty good knife, but the best thing that I ever found was a walkie talkie. I was in a remote canyon hunting elk in northern New Mexico. There were some idiots that were illegally riding their ATVs a couple miles off-road to get to the same area. I figured that I got back at them a little by getting their communication equipment.

goshawk · May 19, 2013

The most interesting thing I found was when I was a kid, hunting up in the breaks. Nearly on top of one of those washed out ridges, I found a very old Spanish style horse bit. A year later, my dad found an old rimfire .44 casing in the same general area. Impossible to tell if they were related, but can sure spin a good tale with speculation. If only these types of things could talk .

schmalts · May 19, 2013

I lose way more than I have ever found that's for sure. I think the coolest find was a Matate.

jerrym · May 19, 2013

All the weird stuff I have seen was while spring black bear hunting. One spring in 2002, I drove forever to get to a gated road. I walked up it about 7 miles and got to the end and found a weird surprise. At the end of the road all the rocks were taken off the road and smoothed out. All the trees were peeled and killed and painted black, there was a pulpit looking deal and several old rusty folding chairs.

On the ground was about 25 melted Barbie doll heads; the Barbie doll bodies were tied in the tree branches above with fishing line. Not thrown up there but tied 20 -25 feet up on little branches.

It was freaking weird. As soon as I got there it got dark, rainy and very windy. It took me about 5 hours to get there and 30 minutes to get back to the truck, and walking out I wasn’t worried about grizzlies even though I saw several fresh tracks.

mtnhntr · May 20, 2013

Strangest thing I have come upon is a memorial to a deceased person located at the 6000' level in a wilderness area of the Olympic Mtns. There was a piece of polished granite with his name on it and engraved with something like "May he rest in peace in hunter's heaven". There were also some beads and a couple bottles of booze.

RUT JUNKEY · May 20, 2013

I was elk hunting with a bow in Colorado and we were miles from anywhere around a spot called Blue Lake. Dad and I were walking along this steep ridge and I looked over and there was a snowmobile! We walked down to it and it was in really good shape, I tried starting it but couldnt get it started and I wasn't packin it out! My dad say's " Hey look around there is a perfectly good snomobile suit around here somewhere" That creeped me out a little and at that point it was time to move on. I found a group of old balloons when I was in high school out rabbit hunting it was from some retirement community in Wisconsin, so, my mom sent them a letter and they sent us one back. . .kind of cool. I also find stuff every year up in the Boundry Waters too. . .lots of canoes get dumped and everything gets wet.

James Riley · Jan 10, 2015

I came across this discussion forum thread while Googling Colorado arrowheads and found all your stories very interesting. I thought I'd share one of my own.

I used to do “gut checks” all the time when I was younger. I'd go into desert or mountain wilderness for a month or so with no food, fire, light, tent, etc. (Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada). When I got older my wife frowned on that activity, especially when I had a son, so the trips tapered off.

Then, on my 50th birthday I got one of those “black” birthday parties, all about death, old age, over the hill, etc. It kind of bothered me. I was feeling pretty depressed, like my best years were gone. The midlife crisis set in on that very day. Right then and there I told my wife I was going to do another gut check before I turned 51.

I wanted to get as far from people as I could get in one of my old haunts near where I grew up bow hunting elk. About the third week out, as far as I could possibly get from a trail in that wilderness, and on a very steep, long, north facing ridge covered with blow-down and dead fall timber, in country I knew no one had been in for, like, ever, stepping from log to log about eight feet off the ground, and feeling like I had finally found some good, lonesome country, my heart sank as I spied a shiny object on the ground below.

I was pissed at my species for having invaded everywhere. This was worse than seeing those stupid satellites going through the stars at night. Well, I figured I'd pack it out and continue with my cynical view of things. As I approached the object, I recognized it as one of those old, deflated, sun-bleached helium balloons that people have at weddings, parties and what not. I felt a little better knowing it had flown in on it's own and that no one had actually dropped it here.

I picked it up, flattened it out, read it, and fell back on my butt. I had to frame it for my Harbor Site (man cave):

Gerald Martin · Jan 10, 2015

I found this petrified tree in a cave close to Yellowstone N.P. while elk hunting. The mountain goats had winter beds at the mouth of the cave.

James Riley · Jan 10, 2015

Gerald Martin said:
I found this petrified tree in a cave close to Yellowstone N.P. while elk hunting. The mountain goats had winter beds at the mouth of the cave.

An old mountain man said those Yellowstone petrified trees had petrified birds singing petrified songs. Any luck?

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