Appalachian Story of a Strange Hunting Encounter

Well, since it's the season for telling some strange and unexplained stories, here's another one. Now this one happened to me about 40 years ago in the Pow Valley region, squirrel hunting. I'd happened to found a little old ridge off of Cumberland Mountain down Pow Valley that I'd been hunting a while. I've hunted it a few times, but I found a special little holler and the squirrels would really turn it up. So before I get into the story, I'd like to bring you up to date. Yes, I've done a lot of hunting over the years. I was born and raised this way. My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and on. This is a tradition in these woods. And being from these mountains and you people from Appalachia, you understand this. This is nothing new. I've done a lot of squirrel hunting. I've done a lot of deer hunting. I've done some coon hunting, a lot of rabbit hunting, just hunting, hunting. And I don't, don't waste no game. Whatever we took, we eat. And we loved it. And it's just our tradition. Now back then, it was a necessity. People hunted to put meat on the table, but it's not that way nowadays. People still put meat on the table. I know I do, but I don't hunt as much as I used to. I love the game. I love to preserve them. I love to watch them. And I love to take pictures of them and share it with everybody. But that being said, I, my back in my younger days, you can see here where I've done a lot of squirrel hunting. This story happens to be around the squirrel hunting. It's a strange encounter. So without saying any more, we'll get into the story. Because I squirrel hunted probably most of my life. Since I was big enough to walk, I was following my dad around these old mountains and these ridges. I had to keep up. Everything looked so, so weird, so new, I could remember. We'd hunt these ridges and we'd walk for a long time. This was just after the, 20 years after the Depression. So they back killed the game out trying to live on them. And there just wasn't much game. So you had to go way back in these mountains to even find squirrels. I hardly ever see a bird flying. They'd eat birds anyway. Well, days change, you know. Now there's more game killed in the road than they are out in the woods. People don't hunt like they used to. There's too many freedoms, too many handouts, too many programs. So they don't need to hunt. I hope they don't come back. Well, anyway, back when I got big enough and older and working on my own, the first shotgun I ever had was an single-shot Harrison Richardson. It was a 12-gauge. I killed a lot of squirrels with it. But as I got older and got me a job back in the old days, I got me a shotgun to work. That old Harrison Richardson, you'd get up in these 800-foot-tall hippies and old squirrels were just like that. You just couldn't bring them down. I'm going to change that. So I got me an old Remington 87, but I got a barrel on it, 30-inch full of choke. Now, it won't get up there and life at you now. You can bring them down out, and I had problems there. There's many times I'd hunt and had to plug in the gun, and I'd slip up on a tree that had eight or ten squirrels in it, tearing it up. I only got three shots. What are you going to do? You won't believe this. Back in my younger days, in my young 20s, I could stick three of these shotgun shells in my mouth, and you know when you shot the first shot, they're going to take off running. So there's always a squirrel out to the south. He's kind of like the guard. You take him out first, and then he doesn't take off running. Well, you get the one furthest way out. When you run out of three shots, I'd load as quick as I could. Them three is in my mouth and I might get a couple. So if I'm lucky some day, which I have been, I can get five squirrels out of a tree. You know, people say, I don't believe none of that crap. Let's dislike this channel like everybody else does. But anyway, I'm telling you the truth. That's just the story about when I hunted. I can show you some pictures here. You can see my younger days. I used to get more glasses. I got to where I shoot more birds out of the top of these trees, and I wore squirrels. It was time to get glasses. I hunted with my in-laws all the time. I'd bring home the squirrels. They were sane hunting. You going to do any squirrel hunting? Oh, they find it sane. They find sane here and there, and I'd be shooting squirrels out. I'd bring the meat home. They'd bring the sane home. That's just the way it was. But I've loved it, so I thought I'd share that little bit with you. Well, I'm going to share a little story with you. Back in my younger days, I hunted a place here. I had a strange account. I never did to this day, figuring out what. But I'll share it. Back about 79, 80, I was hunting a place down in Powell Valley in Franklin County against Cumberland Mountain on them ridges that comes off the mountain. And I was hunting this ridge, and I'd hunted it a few times, but I found this hidden little valley called Plum Forest. And it was about this time of year. I'd done hunting a couple of times and killed a bunch of squirrels down there. Well, one morning I was hunting, and I'd just sit down and listen. You could hear them dropping the cuttings, and you'd ease over to that tree, get your squirrels, and then you'd let things settle down, and you'd go to another tree. Well, in between them trees, I heard something coming through the woods. I mean tearing the woods down. You could hear way off, but you know, you couldn't see. If you're lucky in a clear place, you might see 50 yards in the woods. But where I was at, it was less than that. But I hear something coming through them woods, tearing the woods down. Here comes either a bear or a deer or something, spooked, getting out. He was moving on. Well, I said, well, it might be, I might have to defend myself or something. I got ready, and it kept coming and coming. I could see limbs breaking. I could see limbs moving and everything as it got closer and closer. And when he got about, I don't know, 30 yards from me, I could really see he was breaking limbs off three, four, five foot high, just breaking them off, shaking the limbs running through, through that thick brush. But I never seen nothing. And he kept, he just kept coming toward me. He got down to the thin, probably 10 yards below me, and I could still see it breaking limbs off and old dead trees and shaking them moving, and he just moving on. But I never seen a thing. By my eye, it was invisible. I could see the limbs breaking, limbs are shaking, tearing trees out and everything going through there, and it was moving on. But I never seen a thing. It was like it was just an invisible something going through there, wide open. If it had been a bear or a deer, I would have seen a glimpse of it or something. No, I never did see it. It finally just went right on out of hearing sight, hearing, right on that, through there on that ridge. Things settled down. I've never seen that again in my life, that one time. I never figured out what that was. That was weird. Never encountered nothing like that. That is a weird story that happened to me. Till this day, I can't figure out what that was. I thought I'd share it, but believe it or not. I just wanted the encounters. Over my years of being in Edenwood, it's strange and unexplained. I've had a few more encounters, heard some really weird stuff. Now, man has not got everything explained. These forces in nature that used to be explained, yet to be discovered, they will never be explained. And if people think we're full of bull, we're their foe, because there's things in these mountains that does not want to be seen, and is not going to be seen, and will always be a mystery. So I thought I'd share that little story with you. Now, I come back in these ridges all the time, and there's one special place that I have to cross. And I've noticed this rock here. I call it Hunter's Rock. And why I call it Hunter's Rock? Because it overlooks these big chestnut trees that's over 200 years old. How many people have sat here before me, hundreds of years ago, and watched this game in these trees? How they can get an advantage, get a shot at these squirrels, so they can bring meat home for dinner? How much history is passed in these hills? And I love finding their history. I still do today. And I still love to hunt, but I don't hunt like I used to. I ain't got a heart to shoot this game. I love it. I appreciate it so much. I love to study them and watch them. They're so precious, and I want to preserve them for future generations. So, I hope you enjoyed this little video. I know I love showing stuff like this to you. I love this kind of stuff in the woods. So, I want to appreciate you for listening and watching, and I'll see you next time.