Weirdest Things Found

[Nuts]

The tent shanking thread got me thinking about the weirdest things found. I have a few. Some scary some not:

1. Walked downwind of a parked vehicle. It wreaked. Assuming someone was living in it and the trash stank. Walked up to the window. With the sun and film it was hard to see in. I shielded my eyes and all but put my face on the window. Directly on the other side was a face straight out of the zombie movies. Crackhead had been dead about 2 weeks according to police. On a side note very little food was consumed for the next 2 days. I couldn't get the smell and vision out of my head
2. In Little Meadows PA I stumbled on a crashed Cessna. Some research found it had been there for a while
3. Circle Alaska-We were about 60 miles in. Climbed a hill to get a vantage point. While sitting there glassing my buddy saw something shiny at his feet. He reached down and picked up an unopened condom pack that had been there sometime. I have found old shell casings and gold mining things. They brought visions of the past and what might have happened in years gone by. But a condom?? Really. As a joke when we got back to camp we slid it in another hunters small bath bag and told nobody. Thought it would be funny. A couple days later we thought of his wife helping him unpack and what that might spark. So we told him and removed it.

 

[Hem]

Buddy of mine parked at a trailhead down in Utah , hiked in for a few days.One other car there. When he came back there was a stench around the car, and blood oozing out the bottom of the door.
Suicide. It was pretty gnarley.
He also stumbled on the scattered remains of a hiker who had been missing for 3-4 years, on another hike.
I was convinced he was going to find Forest Fenns hidden treasure....that kind of guy.
I was fishing Trout Lake once in YNP.
Carried my belly boat up the trail.
At one point I looked down in 10' of water and spied a big 6 pt. Bull elk laying on the bottom.
I found some supplies of the Big Sky mountain men hanging in a tree while bowhunting Burnt Creek back in the mid nineties.

 

[Rainer]

Hunting wise i've never really found anything to interesting. I have stumbled across a few grow ops and a couple meth labs.

 

[Tmbrgost]

I found a couple of things over the years.
While paddle fishing I found a a nice tow rope/ chain combo & a casting rod and reel.
Found a nice dirt bike stashed in the woods along the Yellowstone, reported it & found out it was part of a rash of thefts from a dealership.
I seem to find a knife a year somewhere in the woods.
Found an old mining claim w/ a 2 man hand saw stuck in a tree.

 

[brockel]

Found an industrial size microwave 3 miles from the nearest road. Was to rough to get in there with a 4wheeler too. No idea.

 

[gouch]

When I was in the army, in Germany, I found a body hung up in the brush floating in a river. Turned out he had been missing for eight weeks. Not a sight you soon forget.

Once while scouting for bear, I was walking up a forest road and came across a pile of woman's clothes. A nice blouse and cute little skirt, bra, panties pantyhose, and nice high heel shoes. Like a girl just go home from a date, stripped of her close and threw them on the floor. Only it was in the middle of nowhere. I thought it strange, but I was young and naive, so I let it ride. I wish now I would have reported it to the sheriff.

While working we came across a well-made forest shelter abandoned in the woods. There was a sleeping bag, clothes, cooking gear, survival books and tools. There was also a journal. Reading the journal, the camp had been used from July into November the previous year, by an 18-year-old girl trying to survive in the wild. She would walk and hitch hike into the nearest town, ten miles away, where she worked in a restaurant. The last entry in the Journal she said she had been sick for a week and couldn't get out of her sleeping bag. There was a well worn bear trail nearby with shredded raingear along it like a bear had drug it off, perhaps with a body still inside it. We reported it to law enforcement but never heard anything more.

Also, while working we drove to the top of king mountain. Someone had stacked cairns everywhere. Thousands of them, some as high as six feet or more. It was a wet, foggy, dark day and it was just a creepy sight right out of some fantasy movie.

Another time at work we had to hike a little over a mile into the job site. The first part of the hike was along an old two track that was probably drivable in the summer, but this was February. This was early in the morning and there was about a half inch of snow on the ground, that had fallen the night before. Someone had walked that road just ahead of us. Bear footed. We fallowed those tracks for three quarter of a mile until we had to leave the road. Either one tough or one crazy SOB.

We had to survey the Forest Service property boundary around a 40-acre piece of private that was owned by a couple of witches who used the property for their coven to meet and preform their rituals, and whatever else a bunch of crazy women do when they get together out in the woods. There were pentagrams made out of stone all around, hand carved wooden demon heads hanging everywhere and wooden signs with incantations and curses on anyone who might even think of trespassing. Really creepy place, but at least we had their permission to trespass.

 

[Nuts]

Hunting wise i've never really found anything to interesting. I have stumbled across a few grow ops and a couple meth labs.

Scary stuff. I stumbled on one probably 15 years ago. Racing through your mind. Do I act like I didn't see it, Do I sneak away, do I investigate. I chose to get out of there as quickly and as quietly as possible. Marked the spot and reported it. Avoided it moving forward.

 

[atlas]

I was on a bear hunting trip with @Mountain Mule last may in the Bob we had split up for the day and he found an old hunting rifle laying in the dirt. It had almost been fully covered by dirt over time. Maybe he'll respond with a picture

 

[hank4elk]

Bodies? 1 on a beach, 1 under a bridge post flood, 2 lost hikers.

Worst?
Driving home down HWY 41 came across local rancher standing in the road, staring up the hillside. A huge crater and debris everywhere. Nothing bigger than a shoe. Mark & I were there right after a passenger jet hit. Local LEO's & Calfire soon after. 2 days of interviews. Bad.

Best?
Digging a garden in Oceano back yard,sand. Smoothing a seedbed I hit something metal. Brass/bronze ships nail. Cut head,unused. Found a dozen more. 2 & 3 inches or so.
Took them to CalPoly and asked a history prof. his take. He tested one and said 1600's ship repair nail. British...not Spanish.
Sir Francis Drake plied the CA coast. Repair in Arroyo Grande Creek lagoon? Beached with pine and oak nearby? Pirates Cove 10 miles north...???

 

[Mountain Mule]

I was on a bear hunting trip with @Mountain Mule last may in the Bob we had split up for the day and he found an old hunting rifle laying in the dirt. It had almost been fully covered by dirt over time. Maybe he'll respond with a picture

I would love to know the story behind this rifle. It was 2000+ feet of elevation above the trail on a ridge. If I didnt have a long hike ahead of me for the day I would've taken it out of the woods.

 

[Gr8bawana]

The scope still looks serviceable

 

[2rocky]

Was on a horseback ride at a property owned by the water district where my friend ran cows. We rode past a car parked infront of the gate and I peered in the window of the car and said "Well there's not a dead body in there!" in a joking tone. We discovered the body about 30 feet inside the gate lying on a Remington 870. The tenant sent us on to continue our ride while he went to call the sheriff.

 

[Bighorner]

I was out bow hunting and stopped a knives ridge that had a great view of the drainage below. The ground was covered in shell casing. I picked up a particularly old looking one that turned out to be a spent 45-70 manufactured in 1883. That had been a good ridge for a long time.

 

[Irrelevant]

I would love to know the story behind this rifle. It was 2000+ feet of elevation above the trail on a ridge. If I didnt have a long hike ahead of me for the day I would've taken it out of the woods.
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I bet leupold would warranty the scope and pham could get her looking good in no time. Seriously, someone should go get it next year.

 

[Irrelevant]

Found seven $100 bills while mushrooming, all in the same general area but scattered about. Had been there for at least a few months if not longer. Had to dry them out and exchange them at the bank.

 

[gouch]

I would love to know the story behind this rifle. It was 2000+ feet of elevation above the trail on a ridge. If I didnt have a long hike ahead of me for the day I would've taken it out of the woods.
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This is the oldest gun I ever found in the woods. This picture is shortly after I dug it out of the ashes of my burnt down house, but it had gone through at least one forest fire before I found it.

I really would love to hear the story behind this old relic.

 

[Sheltowee]

Found seven $100 bills while mushrooming, all in the same general area but scattered about. Had been there for at least a few months if not longer. Had to dry them out and exchange them at the bank.

 

[Southern Elk]

Buddy of mine parked at a trailhead down in Utah , hiked in for a few days.One other car there. When he came back there was a stench around the car, and blood oozing out the bottom of the door.
Suicide. It was pretty gnarley.
He also stumbled on the scattered remains of a hiker who had been missing for 3-4 years, on another hike.
I was convinced he was going to find Forest Fenns hidden treasure....that kind of guy.
I was fishing Trout Lake once in YNP.
Carried my belly boat up the trail.
At one point I looked down in 10' of water and spied a big 6 pt. Bull elk laying on the bottom.
I found some supplies of the Big Sky mountain men hanging in a tree while bowhunting Burnt Creek back in the mid nineties.

Don’t ever go hiking with that guy.

 

[2rocky]

I would love to know the story behind this rifle. It was 2000+ feet of elevation above the trail on a ridge. If I didnt have a long hike ahead of me for the day I would've taken it out of the woods.
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Friend of mine found a rifle in a log/ice jam while trapping in Alaska. Long story short, determined it belonged to a young fella who came out to help an old sourdough on a trap line. The Sourdough's proteges had a strange habit of disappearing at the end of the trapping season never to be heard from again....

 

[Hem]

Don’t ever go hiking with that guy.

I have. Good dude.
He met the family of the missing hiker. They were very grateful.