I had an encounter with a spirit of some kind years ago in a dark cedar woods. I was hunting with my long bow on a tree nursery that served as a horse farm during the civil war.
I had found numerous Indian arrow heads along the tilled fields and near the cedar woods that I elected to hunt. The tree I was hunting out of overlooked a couple of well used deer trails.
The woods was very thick and filled with cedars. It was on a Saturday and other duties kept me out of the woods until the afternoon. I was up in my hang on stand by 2:25 pm and
looked forward to the last hour before sundown.I had exclusive rights to hunting this land and had chosen a Walnut along tee a hedgerow as my stand for opening day. I'd scouted this
farm from the previous winter through late summer.
Finally opening day had come and I climbed out of bead at 4:30 am. I had not gotten a lot of sleep but still was pumped to get prepared to head to the farm and my tree stand.
After walking in an hour before daylight, wearing rubber gloves and boots, and laying down a scent trail that I knew was risky this early in the season, I was loosing my focus after 3 hours on stand. I had a grunt call around my neck and "Just for grins", I blew a few grunts on it About a minute later I caught movement to my right. I looked to see a beautiful young basket
rack 8 point bust through a vegetable garden, then run 150 yards across a stubble field, hit my scent trail and end up directly beneath my tree stand. I mentioned that I had lost my focus
a bit. My bow was hanging in the tree. I did my best to grab my bow and draw without being heard or seen The buck detected my movement and looked up. After a brief standoff, the
buck took off nose to the ground along the hedgerow towards the woods. It was remarkable that a buck responded to a scent trail and a grunt that early in the season. It wasn't remarkable that
I missed it with an arrow that landed beside his right front leg.
After getting into my hang on stand in the cedar woods that Saturday afternoon,I was reflecting back on opening day and my bungled shot at a nice buck. It was a very clear day with
very little wind. I was checking out all the areas That I expected deer to move through and had memorized the shooting lanes. A quick check of the time showed that I had about 2 hours until prime time. I was feeling alert and after loosing my focus on opening day, my senses were on wide alert. It seemed like the woods had become dead quiet. I didn't here a bird,squirrel,
or even the slightest rustle of a leaf. I began to feel as if I wasn't alone. I felt as if I was being watched and the woods appeared a lot darker even with plenty of daylight left. I heard a
twig snap and slight suffering of dried leaves on the forest floor. I turned my head slowly in the direction of the sound, and just as I did, I was shoved from behind with tremendous force.
The safety belt was the only thing that kept me from falling to the ground along with my long bow and my cedar arrow.
I cannot say with any degree of certainty what tried to push me out of that tree. It wasn't just the force but It felt like hands on my back a mili-second before the push. And I do mean
push. I spoke with the owner of the farm and inquired about the history of the farm. He informed me about the fact that it was a horse farm during the cival war and most disquieting,
"That the cedar woods was rumored to be old Indian burial grounds". I never told him what happened to me there and to this day, I rarely speak of it. Needless to say, I never hunted that woods again and was very apprehensive while removing my hang on from the tree.
i was on the phone at the time and finished my conversation on the door steps.
