Tuesday, August 9, 2016

When i was 20 my girlfriend (ex now) and i decided to take a week long camping trip to some property that belonged to her fathers friend with my Australian cattle dog wrangler and her German Shepard zero. about 4 thousand acre undeveloped ranch in the northeast Texas woods. the plan was to be taken by 4wheeler to a point on the property unknown by us, and then we would hike back to the main gate over the next week. i had a GPS for an emergency but we planned on doing the trip with maps and compass only. we were well equipped for the trip. had enough food for 3 days,(planned to hunt the rest) water for 3 days and water purifying systems. all the necessary camping gear. she had her bolt action .223 and a tarus judge. i had my .22 rifle and my .40cal baby eagle. we arrived at our destination and bid farewell to the friends that dropped us off on the 4wheelers. our first day we mainly wandered around exploring and figuring out our plan. there was a creek running through the property that we could follow and it would get us pretty close to the gate. we had our plan and had done enough exploring so we started setting up camp before dark. our first night was very pleasant for the most part. dinner by the fire with the dogs chit chatting all night till about midnight when we decided to turn in. i woke up around 230 with a strange feeling. i saw wrangler and zero at the door of the tent very tense but not making a sound. i knew right away something was up. both of these dogs were well trained and very loyal and protective of us. i stepped out with a light and the .40 to look around and left the dogs with my gf just in case( shes a deep sleeper). i made my rounds around camp and found nothing, but i couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me. i passed it off as a pack of coyotes and went back to bed trusting the dogs to watch out for us. we woke up the next morning and i told her what had happened. we just blew it off and began our day. well the second night we set up camp near the creek and things got a bit hairy. while sitting around the fire we heard a very strange sound. something I've never hear b4. the dogs began to growl and snarl facing the woods north of us. we quickly drew arms and began to sweep the camp sight. found nothing but the sound persisted around camp. it was like a snarling/gargling/sniffing sound. we didn't sleep that night. no matter how much we looks and checked we could never find the source of the sound and the dogs were restless the whole night. by the third night we were very restless, when night fell we sat by the fire with arms at our sides. we were going to stay up in shifts to keep watch just in case. while i was asleep i heard the dogs go off and when i woke up i saw my gf standing with zero at her feet and her judge drawn. i quickly took arms at her back. something had apparently ran very rapidly behind the tent. she couldn't describe what it was. then it ran by again. i caught a glance under the light of the fire behind us, it was big and very fast. ran on all fours but thats all i made out. it sounded like more than 1 creature this time. they weren't coyotes. to big. and much to fast. heather spotted 1 again behind the tent and fired. we heard the nasty snarl again and wrangler broke away from me and gave chase. i love my dog but didn't dare go after him. i just called and called but he didn't return. we stood there guns drawn for an hour after she had fired. everything was quiet. then we heard rustling. we had our sights on the sound and wrangler came out of the woods. he wasn't hurt, but he had blood on his back. after this we decided to bug out at sunrise. we packed up and started hiking. we were about 2 days hike non stop from the gate and we were ready to do it. the third night we didn't camp. we broke out the headlights and kept going. whatever was in those woods was back. following us but at a greater distance this time. they followed all night. that was one of the most intense hikes ive ever had. we hiked with our guns in front and the dogs in back. whatever was following us wasn't stupid. it stuck to our sides. usually about 40 yards out into the woods always out of sight. we stopped to rest for a few minutes around 4 am. they stopped too... from what we could hear it sounded like maybe 3 things out there. they got closer when we stopped and i thought i saw somthing and fired the .223. i didnt hit anything, probably my mind playing games with me but the shot scared them back to a much greater distance. by sunrise they were gone again. we made it to the gate b4 dark and high tailed it out of there.... we returned the next day on 4wheelers and with several other people to have a look around. we went to the site of our 2nd camp and found a blood trail from whatever the hell heather had hit with the slug shot loaded in the judge. the trail ran for about 200 yards b4 we lost it. we found nothing else and headed back b4 darkness caught us again. we never found out what they were. and no one had any experience like that on the property b4. to this day i try not to talk about it too much because i even have trouble believing it sometimes. i try telling myself they were coyotes with mange or mutated or something but heather never let me believe myself. not too many creatures out there can take a 410 slug and bleed that much without going down, especially not a yote. all i know is that i wont camp on that property anytime soon. - Anonymous   Weird creatures in East Texas