We need more channels like this I believe. Just laid back story telling. Nothing too fancy or trying too hard. Just sharing knowledge and experience. Very refreshing.
Live just across the mountain from Powell valley south fork of pound the way a crow flies hunted all my life have heard and seen many unexplained things myself enjoyed your story
Being a kid in the 80s and 90s, I grew up listening to stories of tougher times from my grandparents. They lived through the depression, WW2 and everything else. When I got married, I grew very close to my wife’s grandfather and I think he looked at me like his own grandson. They all seemed so different than people now. They were raised in a different time. They are all gone now and I miss the stories. Thank you.
Great story brother! I had a strange experience one night while backpacking with 2 friends in Giles county Va. Something stalked around our camp til sunrise but we never saw it! It would sound like it was laughing at times then talking at times. A few times it charged our tent and threw limbs and small rocks at the tent. We were terrified to say the least. I ran across an old game warden once while hiking and told him about our experience. All he said was and with A straight face, is that there are things in these mountains that if the average person knew what was out here they would never come back! He refused to explain any further. It was clear to me that the old timer had some strange things happen to him as well. Keep up the great work.
I've got an old single shot 16 gauge H&R shotgun my daddy gave me in 1979. I was a female in the Navy living alone in Ocean View, Norfolk, VA. One night somebody came in my backdoor. All I had was a hammer and a cat that couldn't bark. I tore out the front door and ran two blocks to an open store in my flannel nightgown. I called my friend who was on a ship at NOB and he came off that ship carrying his shoes and half dressed. If you've been in the Navy you know that ain't how you leave a ship. He made it to that store in less than 15 minutes. I was so stupid back then. I don't know why I didn't call the police. Anyway I called my daddy and told him what happened and he said as soon as you can get home I've got something for you. That old shotgun has never left my bedside from California to Virginia and home to Georgia and she's never not loaded. I sure miss my daddy.
Your daddy would have done better to leave you a pistol. That's just my opinion but a single barrel shotgun isn't the best available option for self defense. That said, we have to work with what we got.... I'd have cut the stock down and the barrel....but that's just me. You do you. I'm glad you're okay. Take care.
Donnie, the part of Appalachia I love the most is what we always referred to as the “woods.” We played in them and explored everything including old forgotten cemeteries.. Once found an old Civil War headstone with the name Rufus McComas on it, with several field stones scattered about. Many years later went back with a friend, and a tree had grown up through the tombstone and busted it. His little cast iron fencing was gone. I never hunted, but most men I knew did. There is no fragrance quite like the fragrance of perhaps hundreds of years of leaves falling and making rich loamy soil, and the trees add a freshness. Yes, there are unexplained that go beyond what our five senses can comprehend. I had a Norwegian Elkhound named Smokey who would trot through the woods with me. Never right at my side, but off several feet to the side. Keep telling your stories, and keep showing us your adventures deep in the forests of Appalachia. I love them.
I've an elkhound in Scotland they say here that the lands so old that there's not a loch,river,hill or glen without at least one body lain in it however they are mostly man made as this lands been fought over since long before the Romans. Plenty of ghosts but alas no predators bigger than man
I have seen and heard things in these mountains of southern WV that deify explanation. It is just part of being mountain born, folks who have not lived and roamed these ridges and hollers cannot understand. I enjoy your channel, keep up the great work.
Eerie tale, Donnie! No telling what it was you saw. Hunting for food is becoming a lost art...one day, it might be necessary again. How many, I wonder, will be ready?💖
@@donnielaws7020 country boy here in southern Oregon, born and raised on 40 acres on a hill.......it's a part of me as much as I am a part of it.....my mom and dad's ashes are spread here and one day mine will too. We're a dying breed sir. I'm guessing you had a Sabe' encounter.....anyways have a good weekend
"How many people have set here 200 years ago" ... I live in the NE Georgia mountains and wander around the Trackrock area. The Trail of Tears passed thru here. There's the ruins of an old Cherokee (or earlier) settlement here. Many a time I've asked myself that same question - gives one a great respect for the people that were here before us. Thanks, Donnie.
The Trail of Tears also passed through what is now called the Ozarks, here in Missouri, and into eastern Kansas-right through where Louisburg now sets, just south of Kansas City. I have had ancestors here in Missouri as well as Louisburg Kansas. Both Grandma and Grandpa Thomas moved there in the late 1800s-Grandma from Leland Illinois, Grandpa from Goose Creek Kentucky. He told me about travelling through Texas in a wagon train & having to circle the wagons because they were attacked by Indians. I don't know which tribe.
Me and my dad were out deer hunting, the sun still had not risen and somethings huge started walking towards us and it was breaking large sticks and branches this thing was hugh . It started walking from say 40 yards and continued to approach us till it got about less than ten yards away from us, we were scared so we loaded one in the chamber and this animal stopped and we listened a couple minutes later it started walking again we away from us this time tho and despite it only being ten yards away and both of us having flashlights we never seen what it was. We figured it was either a bear or a Bigfoot either way it was flat out scary to have something that big so close to us yet never seen a thing
@@donnielaws7020 I've not told that story to anyone, but hearing your near identical story made me want to tell mine... small world take care my friend
I love your stories and your voice when you tell them . It is perfect. I was raised here in. Tennessee. I love these stories. It reminds me of my childhood. But grandma on my mom's side was half Cherokee. I loved listening to her tell stories. We did not live in the smokies. But we were poor. She cooked and heated on wood stove. We lived in a 2 room house that had barn wood on it snow came through the crakers no electricity no running water. It was a hard life. But a great life
the indian mix happened because most euro settlers brought few women companions with them . unfortunately , sometimes indian men were slaughtered and their women were left to survive with the men available .
Why is it Always Cherokee? There were lots more Chickasaw and Shawnee and others. But whites always claim Cherokee blood. When real Cherokee's hear that line, they just roll their eyes and laugh.
i appreciated your story!, back in 1999, i was teaching sunday school adult class in tallapoosa county alabama, i had a fellow member tell about his brother in law and that mans best friend. and this took place about the same time as your experience. this man and his friend had leased some land to hunt in south elmore county..they had spent time and energy establishing food plots and improving the hunting area. one afternoon, one guy, experienced the same thing, except it was walking..he was in a tree stand overlooking a food plot, there were about 5 does feeding in it, the grass and such was about knee high, and he was hoping for a buck. then he heard whatever it was walking in the leaves, but he could see nothing, other than a limb break, here and there. it kept coming toward him, when it reached the food plot, the deer were looking toward the sounds, then whatever it was walked across the food plot, he said the grass was parting as if a man was walking through it and the deer were following all this with their eyes. he said once on the other side of the food plot, you could hear the leaves crunch as it walked away, a limb breaking here n there, once it was gone, the deer resumed eating, till he came down out of the tree., they ran off, he was so shook, by the experience, he got his stuff and headed back to their truck, and when he told his partner, they left..even though, they had money vested, they never went back, it spooked them so bad. guy this happened to, was well known as honest, a straight up type of guy.....so. i guess there is no telling, whats out in the deep woods
This brings back memories! About the same time, though I think it's '78 or '79, we had moved to little town in south central PA that was a couple miles from the lower Susquehanna. That summer, my buddy and I would go hiking all along the railroad tracks that led deeper into the woods and fields, splitting off to explore creeks and hollows, and more than once we felt like we weren't alone and that whatever "it" was, it wasn't human. We don't have bears, wolves, or big cats, so we joked that it was Bigfoot. Fast forward a couple months and we're having one of the coldest, snowiest winters in memory. Near the far end of where we'd hike, a family reported that they'd heard strange sounds, their chicken coop had been torn open, and when they finally went out to look (when it was light - they weren't stupid!) there was a lingering stench and large - much larger than human size - footprints. Over the next couple weeks several other places reported similar events and my buddy and I...we knew what had been watching us that summer was likely what did this. Southern York county is a strange place and has a long history of odd events.
@@donnielaws7020 My pleasure! Even to this day, when my friend who shared those hikes and I get together we always talk about it. There's more to the woods and wilds than we realize and we're just seeing the surface.
I believe it!! I think most of us that come up in the mountains know there are things no man can explain in them. It feels like old magic and souls that never left, in some places . Great story Donnie👍👍
I'm from Kentucky and I've had some strange encounters over the years out in the woods. I heard tales from folks growing up and wasn't so sure about them, but after having a few incidents myself I don't dismiss anything. Years ago, while working for one of my wife's relatives I talked to a fellow that was helping us house tobacco and he asked where I lived. When I told him he shook his head and said, "I don't like that holler you live in". I asked why and he said that while squirrel hunting there he encountered what he called, "a hairy man". I ride a mountain bike for exercise and on every nice day I'm riding up and down the "holler". In April of this year as I reached the head of the hollow and topped a little hill I saw something big and black standing out in a field past a cabin that sets there. The fellow that owns the property keeps things in good shape and the yard mowed and the fields bush hogged. This black shape was standing about 300 yards away from me and about 100 yards past the cabin. I stopped the bike and looked at it for over a minute, it never moved. I could see a big head, square shoulders and daylight from its knees to its feet, but none between the arms and body. It was perfectly still and after thinking things over I figured it was a silhouette target the owner had placed in the field to shoot at. I hopped back on the bike, rode on down to the gate of the property, got a quick drink and started for home. Where the gate is I was unable to see out in the field where the target was setting. When I got back to the top of the little hill I looked back at the field and the "target" was gone. A couple days later I was on another ride and the owner and some friends were mowing and working on the yard, I rode up and asked them if they'd ever seen anything odd while staying there and they insisted they hadn't. One said I'd probably saw his deer feeder which sets another 300 yards past where I saw the "target'. Another one told me I just saw a black bear, I have seen bears in that spot before, but they were down on all fours. When black bears stand up they're wedge shaped with no shoulders visible, on top of that they have a blaze face. What I saw had a big round head, square shoulders and was quite big and all black. I've had other incidents over the years including an unnerving experience where something big and on two feet followed me out of the woods one night. Strange howls, whoops and something that comes around on occasion that makes the dogs go under the house and not come out for days, even to eat.
Dang... I'd have to get two or three buddies & WELL ARMED hand guns & LONG guns & scout that area day & night with the best coon hunting lights there is for a few days just to see if I could see or hear something... WOW!!!!! thanks for sharing
I just wanted to say how much i am enjoying your channel. Its a beautiful place that you live and the stories you share are a joy to listen too as well.
I appreciate you, Donnie, and I appreciate your videos on such a wide variety of subjects. I especially like the ones on the unexplained. I, myself have seen or heard some strange things in these mountains of Va. where I grew up. There was a place on my Grandmothers land that every time I went through there, it was like it would get sort of dark, the wind would stop blowing, no animal or bird sounds...it was almost like you were in a vacuum of sorts...it was a very creepy feeling and I would always hurry out of there. I used to make rabbit box traps and set them all over that place...well, on more than one occasion I would have something follow me through those woods, but I would never see so much as a leaf move, but you could hear those footsteps flanking you on one side or the other at about 25 to 30 feet away. Once I'd get back out to the old main road, whatever it was would turn around and walk back down through the woods. I've heard that more than once. I'd catch a few rabbits here and there, but never could the first one where I experienced that strange, dark place with no sound. My Grandma lived back in those hills alone with the closest neighbor about 3 miles away...she always talked about a creature she called "Old Shiney Eyes". She said that whatever it was would come near her house every night just after dark and walk just inside the tree line, watching the house. She said that whatever it was never bothered anything, but just watched. She said that she felt like it knew she was alone and was looking out for her and maybe keeping her safe from other things...she was never afraid of it. She said that she would see those eyes shining like lanterns in the edge of the woods, walking back and forth. I feel like what I experienced was maybe the same thing, or maybe something similar. Whatever it was never tried to harm me, but just gave me a strange feeling...I guess that was because it was something that I couldn't explain. There are many things out there that are unexplainable, but that is just the way it is supposed to be. We as human beings aren't supposed to know everything, God never intended on that...maybe we will never know...maybe after we pass on, God will tell us all about it. Until next time, my friend, thank you for the videos and sharing your life experiences...especially the ones on strange things and ghosts...I've seen a few of those as well.
Those things in the woods that you can't hear see but no there there are not good they are evil evil creatures and the reason I say that. I watch this Bigfoot show all the time and the people have experienced these things and they heard and seen things that are not of this world and one of the men he was on Bigfoot Odyssey told what happened to him. I've known this man watching him for 6 years and he was an honest man and I'm telling you these things planned on killing him and they said they planned on killing his friend that was in the woods with him. I do not believe this man is crazy I believe every word he says and he said if God hadn't intervened with this he would be dead
This story vaguely reminds me of several incidents that happened to me in the woods (more like swamps I guess, very thin line between the two down here lol) in southeastern NC. This particular day I had gone out squirrel hunting with my blowgun. It was already late so I took a guess at how much light I had left and I took off. This is important to the story because due to prior experiences with the same "thing" I generally had a rule about not being anywhere near the woods after dark. So anyway, I got sidetracked watching this one squirrel that was just out of range and apparently lost track of time. Eventually it left and I was cutting it kind of close to sundown so I decided I'd walk up the trail one last time before I left. So I started up this trail and the further I walked the more I noticed that it had become unnervingly silent. More silent than it should have been at this time. And that's when I started to feel like I was being watched. I reacted to this by getting very quiet and stopping to check my surroundings a few times but all seemed fine so for some stupid reason I kept going lol. I honestly don't know why I did this. I figure that maybe I'd just shrugged it off as my paranoia acting up on account of how dark the woods had gotten. Makes sense I guess. Whatever the reason I continued on despite the fact that I had red flags going up all over the place. So I make it maybe another 15 or 20 feet up the trail and I stop dead in my tracks when what feels like a bolt of electricity runs up my spine and into the back of my head. I didn't feel safe at all anymore. I'd say I felt more like a hunted animal. So I turned and started walking very casually down the trail. I say "casually" because something told me that if I panicked and ran it would attack. I didn't want it to know that I was aware of it. now I wasn't exactly deep in the woods. Probably less than 100 ft from the treeline. I walked up until I was maybe 40 feet from the entrance and the whole time it felt like something was closing in on me. It literally felt like my head was starting to vibrate and the urge to panic got stronger and stronger until I knew that if I didn't leave that area I was going to die. So I darted the rest of the way down that path like a bat out of hell and jumped clean across the brier patch at the entrance. I ran another 15 feet or so, turned and slung that blowgun up at the trail and waited but nothing ever came out. And before anyone starts making jokes, yes, that's literally all I had to defend my with lol
@@donnielaws7020 No trouble at all. I love trading stories. I've got some scarier ones if your interested. Never was certain exactly what it was but it's been after me since I was 12. We always thought it was a raven mocker. Anyway, great story. Speaking of which, it just hit me but I've heard a VERY similar story from someone from UP around Michigan who also has a UA-cam channel. He basically told that exact same story. I've heard similar stories from several tribes as well. I'll see if I can find for you. If I do I'll post the link here.
I couldn't find it. I think the channel was deleted. In his story he described it like an "invisible cow" that charged up onto the road out of the woods and crossed a few feet ahead of him. Anyway, take care, Mr Laws. Looking forward to your next video.
Same exact experience here in Texas back in late 90's on our deer lease.. It sounded like an elephant running through trees breaking limbs but didn't see anything. There were 4 of us that witnessed this and we all looked at each other in shock and disbelief.
Experienced it last summer at dusk here on my property in Western New York. I was on the phone sitting on the front patio. It scared me so badly that I ran into the house and locked the door.
This is just like my father experience, something chasing him and his friend in the forest long time ago , to this day he dont know what it was and it sounded like an elephant running through the trees too
The wind can do that and as it picks up heavily at the top of trees. Breaks limbs and gives off a howl of sorts or animal type sounds as it shifts speeds over branches and each limb giving its own sound. Like blowing over your beer bottle at different levels of liquid. But who knows, there could be an 8' elephant swinging from branch to branch like a monkey in hopes to finding a forever home or 🐘 y'all keep running away 😭
I am new to the channel I'm irish although I'm in England now, I love the music the nature the stories that you tell your kind voice and respect for the good things in life. Thank you for putting a smile upon me
Now I've seen ya, and you showed me your 870 12 GA with 30" full choke barrel, I subscribed! I'm 68 and grew up huntin in the Missouri woods. Yes we live in a spiritual world. God is a spirit the Bible says. Now we see darkly through a glass, but one day we shall see clear. I'm like you don't really want to hurt animals anymore.
Welcome aboard my friend. I still love the hunt, but I don't have the heart as a young man to take their life. I would rather shot them with a camera and share their beauty. Should I need to eat that would not be a problem at all. Thanks for sharing my friend. God Bless.
There's a lot of things that we haven't discovered yet, to discount what we don't understand is foolish. I appreciate the way you presented the story, you didn't attempt to explain it you only told what happened. Thank you for sharing your experience.
It’s so good of you Mr.Donnie to tell these stories, I was born ‘88 on the Westbank of New Orleans, and long as I can remember my pops and I hunted and fished. It’s a dying art nowadays and it’s makes me sad. My daddy has an old mint wingmaster 870 just like that, told me he picked it up around ‘84 . ain’t nothing smoother than them older 870 wingmasters Anyways we’ve spent a lot of time in the wilds and bayous of Louisiana and Mississippi, and there is definitely some strange things afoot out there on them back lands. Even heard stories of witches hiding out and practicing witchcraft deep in the swamps. I’m hoping to move my wife and I out to your neck of the woods in Seersville, Tn. ( I think that’s how the township is spelled) in the next 10 years or so, I always loved the peace and serene wilderness out there. I’ve made many a hunting trips out there and fell in love with it. Sorry to run on. Keep up the great work sir, and god bless! 🇺🇸
I've seen and experienced a lot of strange things in the mountains and woods of east TN. Most I've kept to myself because I know most people wouldn't believe me. I think some people are "gifted" these experiences and encounters.
My pops had same one too used to shoot it at Turkey shoots it was the first gun I ever shot at about 5 or 6 won a smoked ham at Turkey shoot that day down at the gun club. At least pops had me take the last shot and told me that I won but that didn't matter to me all that I cared about is the fact that I got to let one loose
No disbelief from this city dweller. After seeing my own eerie event, I would never discount another persons experience. Some parts of the woods just carry an eerie feeling.
Donnie, I live in the west central highlands of Virginia, about 100 miles west of Charlottesville. I've hunted all my life as well. Here in our mountains, abutting the great Alleghany Front, I've heard strange things just as you have. One night two years ago while returning to my truck after a successful coon hunt, I heard the strangest howling/wailing sound I've ever heard. It was so alarming that my two hounds made a beeline for me and heeled all the way to the truck. In my 50 years as a night hunter, I've heard wildcats, coyotes, birds of prey roosting in nearby trees, bears roaring during mid-summer mating season, and possibly even a panther or two. But what I heard that night was different. The howl resonated from the depths of a creature with tremendous lung capacity, much like the sound of a bellowing bull. These vast Appalachians hold a lot of mysteries yet unsolved.
My name is Kerry. I'm hoping you would like to tell me more about your story. I live in va and I'm trying to put together a compilation book of strange stories from va. If you want to contact me please by all means reply here and we will get in contact. I hope to hear from you.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate you bringing these kind of videos to the World. Just hearing you talk reminds me of some of the best people I've been so lucky to ever met and learned from in my life and of times that have so quickly come and gone. I was born and currently live in the very top of Kentucky but I grew up in East Tennessee wandering thru those beloved Appalachians and that's where my heart stays. So these videos are invaluable to me, as I live in a perpetual state of being homesick. Thank You so much for your time & effort, and your willingness to share!
I’m from Queensland Australia.. and I stumbled upon this channel whilst looking for National park disappearances.. I’m glad I did though I really enjoy your story’s and your accent is awesome 🙂🙂
Thank you for your wonderful narrations that you share we us. I could listen all day long. Your stories with all their facts and history of the Appalachian mountains are the perfect way to end a hard day. There are lots of things we don’t know about these mountains and what’s in them. People don’t realize just how vast these mountains are yet today. Looking forward to the next video , take care and my God bless.
I started squirrel hunting at 9 1/2 years old. My Father had taken me hunting numerous times to teach me woodscraft, hunting ethics and learning to keep a mental map of where you were. This included hill country and swamp areas. He also cautioned me that there 'were places that don't feel right; just back on out of those', and to keep amind to where you are stepping, even unto your very next step, after pausing during a hunt (snakes under logs, old wells openings, abandoned wire fencing, trip hazards, etc.). That 'next step' consideration saved me a number of times. As a matter of course, I started carrying a mid size bowie knife in a covered case, which became a constant companion. Anything that a 22 or shotgun didn't stop, would have to deal with that. I too have heard some strange sounds and commotions over the years in the woods, and chose to set my back against a good piece of cover, checked the wind, and let whatever is was come to me as I waited. Most of the time nothing appeared, though on others feral dogs, a runway cow, foraging racoons, a large black bear and a group of men carying supplies for a stihl came forward.
@@suenetteedwards5965 Your are quite correct! That stihl group threatened me until I told them who my Father was, and that great harm would come to them if they did anything to me -- they knew this to be absolutely true, and promptly left me alone!
Donnie I'm 10/years your senior and really enjoy your channel. I could smell that Squirrel gravy. Thanks for the memories. I feed squirrels in my yard now.
Donnie I do believe you I am 59 years old and when I was young we went hunting every time we had a chance I have seen a few strange things my self I just always keep them to myself I really enjoy your videos
Found your channel just last week and I love it. I am from Eastern Kentucky and my father was a coon turned Fox hunter. Like you he discovered he wanted to preserve nature, not kill it for the sake of killing. He got into American Fox hunting to chase game, not kill it. I regret that I do not Fox hunt myself because I would very much like for my young son to experience it. It is one of those childhood memories that an adult yearns to relive but never can. By the way, I still have my father's 870 Wingmaster although it is a 20 gauge. It was one of his favorite shotguns as well.
I just wanted to say this was a lovely video and story. You lived the life I always dreamed of. I grew up in the mountains of Arizona, my papa was never a big hunter, but nature and the woods just always intrigued me so much. I kind of taught myself to hunt small game when we would go camping, it wasn’t until a few years ago I started hunting big game. But I think it’s so amazing how vast this country and terrain is. I went on a trip through Missouri and Tennessee last year for the first time and I was so shocked by how different the forests are over there than in Arizona. Our woods are so dry and dark until you go super high up and find the meadows. My town is half thick forest, and half shrubby desert. It used to make for good coyote hunting but now just about every acre of land within 10 miles is private property. Times have changed, it makes me sad. The woods are definitely a special place with lots of secrets and stories no matter where in the world you are. Thank you for sharing this.
What part of the mountains do you live? I grew up in Phoenix. My parents worked with the missionaries on the reservation in the White Mountains and Peridot and Cibecue. Also up Apache Trail, Payson, and Mogollon Rim area. Globe, Miami, pretty much everywhere in central and Eastern Arizona, lol. Mogollon Rim is where the home movie of the female Yeti was shot. I was surprised too, when I moved to Missouri, how different the woods are. Instead of pine, they're mostly Oak, Hickory, Black Walnut, Maple, Dogwood, Cedar. There are pines, of course, but mostly in the highest elevations, which aren't very high compared to Arizona. It's still beautiful here, so much prettier than the desert of Southern Arizona. Wow, talk about rambling...
Hello Mr Donnie! Squirrel hunter here too! I live on the biggest mountain in Arkansas. I was bow hunting once many years ago on Halloween of all days. I was about to climb down as it had gotten dark when I heard "laughing". Sounded exactly like a small child except kind of menacing almost evil and not very loud. I could tell it was coming down the deer trail I was watching. Man I thought it was Chucky the evil doll I was gonna stick an arrow in him lol. When it finally came into view it was a pair of grey foxes! I'll never forget that experience!
I love these stories. There are so many things that can't be explained. My mom and dad are gone but they had a few stories like this. So fascinating. I'm glad whatever it was was in a hurry ti get where it was going! Would have been really really bad if the brush had quit moving right in front of you! Lol
I really enjoy listening to all your videos. It's great that folks still like to share and talk about the history of past generations. So much can be learned from listening to these stories.
That is unreal and I could just imagine trying to make sense of what you are seeing and not seeing at the same time. I spent a lot of my younger years up north working but would be sent down to Arjay KY to stay with my mamaw & papaw just as soon as school let out. They had 100 acres and a creek to play in and I loved it. I remember sitting on the porch at night and hearing all kinds of noises coming from those mountains.
Donnie, I really enjoyed this video! My dad grew up in South Louisiana near Thibodaux (Labadieville, LA) and hunted all of his life. He spoke fluent Cajun French. He was born in May of 1936 and passed away in June of 2011 at the age of 75. We had his single shot H&R 12 gauge shotgun, which his dad had given him, standing up next to his fishing poles, paddle, crawfish trap, fishing vest and rubber boots at the foot of his casket for his funeral. He loved the outdoors. I called him the original Swamp King (well before Troy Landry claimed that title on Swamp People). His dad would give him just so many .22 bullets to go hunting with as a kid growing up in the 40's, the youngest child of 11 total. Daddy said PaPere (as we called my grandfather) would whoop him if he didn't come back with as many squirrels and/or rabbits as he had spent shells! I have so many fond memories of hunting with him and so many memories of his tales of hunting the swamps and sugar cane fields of South Louisiana. I used that single shot on more than one occasion, but my favorite was the time he put me in the back of his pick up truck (yes, in the bed, and yes, illegal as all get out!) and drove on the "headlands" (dirt and gravel roads that criss cross the sugar cane fields). We were looking for dove. We were driving along one big block of cane that had already been harvested and huge covey of dove took off. I raised up and let that old H&R bark, firing it's one shot from about 50 yards across the field. When the dust and feathers cleared, I jumped out of the bed of the truck, ran over across the field and starting picking up birds. I had shot 9 in one shot! I think I was shooting 7-1/2 high power 2-3/4 shells. My dad couldn't believe his eyes! He was so proud. I also remember our squirrel hunts very well. He would drop me off at his favorite spot in the swamp on a ridge just off the main road and he would leave to go to another spot. He taught me what to look for and how to spot the squirrels coming in. He set me up on an old tree (hackberry, I think) with my back to the hundreds of acres of swamps behind me, but facing a huge live oak that the squirrels would come to every morning to feast on its plentiful acorns. Without fail, you'd hear them coming in from behind you and all you had to do was wait for the shot, like a sniper with a shotgun! I was using his old single shot .410 then. He had a nice Remington 1100 20 gauge with modified choke (back when you did't have choke tubes) that he liked to use in those days. We always came back with our limit. I had to laugh and rewind the video when you mentioned a plug in your gun and only having 3 shots. I scrolled back to the beginning of the video and watched you shuck 4 shots out of that beautiful 870. I think the old 1100 went without its plug more often than with it! My momma gave it to me after he passed and I cherish it, although now I use it mostly for trap shooting now. I'm 49 now and I wish I had spent more time with him after I moved away from home to South Alabama. There's so many things I want to talk to him about and would love to have filmed some of our hunts, had we had the money to buy a camera back then! He even had his share of mysterious encounters. I loved hearing him talk about the time he heard what he called a panther hollering while he was out in the swamp running crawfish cages. It kept getting closer and closer from the sound of it, so daddy left it some catfish heads on a log and high-tailed it out there. He didn't go back in to check his cages for about 3 days and didn't hear again. Them catfish heads were all gone though! There's another story he never told me, relayed to me by my retired Air Force major brother in law about them two seeing an upright walking swamp ape of some type when they were fishing along a canal one day. Daddy never did tell me about it, but my brother in law is not the type to just make stuff up, so I'm inclined to believe him. Plus, someone else fishing in the same area said they saw the same critter one day, too. But that's all a story for another day. Thanks for the video! Liked and Subscribed!
Donnie, another good one! This old world is filled with more things that we don’t see, than the things we do see! So many secrets , that do not want to be found out. I can only imagine what was going through your mind at the time. I also have had things like that happen, and it’s so shocking, that most of the time you don’t have time to be scared, until you mull it around a while, after the fact. Then, is when you really think about what just happened to you, and it can really give you the goosebumps! It’s so puzzling , to know what you just heard or felt, and lived through, to talk about it, but you couldn’t see it at all! Really looking forward to more of these stories!! It’s that spooky time of year!, but I’ll gladly listen to them any time of year!
Donnie, my mom loved squirrel and rabbit, my brother and his friends would go squirrel and rabbit hunting when me and my sister was younger , my brother and his friends would bring back 6 and 7 squirrel and or rabbit and me and my sister would cry lol . but we was raised in city , thank God mom wouldn't make us eat them beautiful animals lol . i love your stories Donnie.
Love your stories. I have encountered many mountain lions, rattle snakes, and bear. I've been in place the over all feel of it will make the hair stand on end. I believe you.
Thanks for the story and the video. You are correct. We think we have all the answers, but there are many things that we cannot explain. You and Tipper are certainly keeping me entertained!
I have been watching other channels and I have listened to the people explain exactly what you saw. A being that moves through the forest is seen and then disappears into nothing. I haven't seen what you saw but on 11 October 2003, I saw a Saucer appear in the sky over the City of Auburn, CA hover and discharge "angel hair" then begin flying and disappear north of Auburn into the sky. So, I do believe that you saw a being breaking limbs from trees and it probably looked like a mirage. There is a monsterous evil on this world; may Our Lord Jesus bless you and keep you and your family safe all the days of your lives.
I enjoyed your story Donnie getting to see you tell it not just hearing you tell it. I don't get to hunt like I use to but like you when I was old enough I would be following my dad through the woods squirrel hunting. That's what he started me out with then it went on to other game like deer. It brings back great memories of the times I spent with him I miss those days as I miss him. He was a great outdoorsman and l learned a lot from him. 🐿🦌🎣🐟
I really appreciate you sharing your experiences, I've had some unexplained experience myself in the woods. I only wish I was still physically able to get around like I used to, I really love the woods and I really love your storys. Thank you for bringing back memories for me
Donnie we appreciate you too. I’m closing in on 67 and I’m a 6th generation Texan. At 10yo I was given my first shotgun. A .410 3 round bolt action. I hunted game to put food on the table. My dad was a Korean War vet who had undiagnosed PTSD who passed away in ‘83 at 55. Just like you I loved being in the woods by myself and you are so right when you say that there are things that we and other people have heard but didn’t see. But my claim to fame regarding you and I hunting squirrels high up in the trees was I did drop two in one shot because they were deep in the process of making little squirrels. My mom made squirrel dumplings for dinner. Best meal I ever had at that time. Please keep telling us your experiences. It makes me feel so content and brings a smile since, like others, I’ve lost both of them. Take care brother and I hope you and your family have a blessed new year!
Just listened to your channel and I really enjoyed it. I'm 70 years old and have experienced some of what you have. My health won't allow me to anymore. I've owned the same guns you have so that made this time with you special because of the memories it brought back for me. I love reading and hearing hunting stories and for that matter any dealing with the outdoors. Keep up the good work and God bless.
Great story!!! I’m so happy that you had a change of heart ❤️ about the wild life. Like you said when people kill to much wild it becomes scarce and possibly extinct. I don’t know exactly what area my daughter I go visit her often moved to the Cumberland gap area she lives in Middlesboro Kentucky I know that’s close by Pineville but I think that’s totally the opposite way I’m not sure. Anyways blessings and I love your stories. I love history as well. My father was born in West Virginia and we had right on the Ohio River and we have a lot of stories because my uncle used to hunt and I remember going there as a child And you would see the game that he had in the backyard hanging on the clothes pin to bleed out deer mostly. Anyways blessings to you all
It was for sure a Sasquatch and they can manage to be unseen. I heard hundreds of stories about Sasquatch and sometimes from dogman. Thoses creatures are able to do things which are above our imaginations. Many greetings! 😎👍🇦🇹⛷🏔🛶🥨🍺💙🐺
I got a true story for you: September 21, 1986, when leaving to go celebrate a girl's 21st birthday, I looked up at Mt. Sī (pronounced like sigh) in western Washington state. It was a beautiful crystal blue sky day, except for one thing: a ring of white smoke encircled the entire mountain, with a line of smoke going from the circle into the mouth of the Snoqualmie chief's face formed in the outline of the mountain. There were other people there, & I pointed it out to them. As we stood there and watched, the chief/mountain inhaled that entire ring of smoke!! Immediately after that, the evergreen trees within a bare Y about 2/3rds of the way down the mountain started waivering, like something BIG coming down that mountain! One word popped into my mind:: WENDIGO!! It's a Native American legendary spirit, reportedly malevolent in nature. I don't know for certain if that's what it was, but if so, I'm sure glad it wasn't any of us it was after!!!
Thanks for sharing an intimate story telling.I totally believe this situation you had.Too many folks over the years have experienced this very same scenario.KEEP THEM STORIES ACOMIN.WE LOVE EM🌟
I hope you are reading your posts, because I wanted to let you know I really enjoy your videos. I was also raised in the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains and have many interesting stories. I’d be happy to share them with you if you’re ever interested. Meanwhile, keep up the great work. God bless you, always.
I enjoyed your story, I can relate to it, I grew up in south east Ky, it's true about it being hunted out but during the 70's a lot of game was released there, I can also relate to enjoy the woods and watching the animals, I feel the most alive in the woods and on the water
Thank you for sharing this account with us in a video. Many people choose to tell their stories through text on sites like Reddit and it makes it so much harder to distinguish what is real and fake. But I believe your story without a doubt in my mind.
I have been watching your videos for a while now and enjoy them so much. Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Tennessee and beyond, I love this kind of stuff!
I had to rewind 4 times u said something I haven't heard since I was 10 or 11 my aunt in south Ga told me I could play in the woods out back. but I had to stay in " Hearing Sight " that's so funny never heard anyone else say that !! Your stories are great Mr Law !!! Keep going!!!
Thanks for the hunting story Mr. Laws. I greatly appreciate you and the lore you're passing on to the world. Down here in the Canebreak of Alabama, we had groves and groves of pecan, oak, and fig trees that the squirrels grew fat on. I was raised up on the farm to hunt squirrels with a lever action Marlin .22 and a break back .410... both with iron sights. I'd grab one of the guns and a pocket full of shells every morning when I went out to bring the cows up to the barn for milking and come back with a brace of plump Greys. Grampa used to fry them up in bacon grease in a big old cast iron skillet and make gravy with the drippings to pour over our hominy grits. Those were the best breakfasts of my youth.
@@donnielaws7020 LOL, you got that right, my friend. Dad and my Grampa's didn't believe in hunting game with a scope. They called it "cheating" ... and wondered why you'd waste money on piece of glass that in most cases cost more than the gun itself.
Something cloaked itself while running past you, probably a wood booger 👣 my friend Heather still loves squirrel 🍽️🐿️ even though she lives in a city now. When I was a little girl, I cried watching a sheep get harvested and dressed, it made me sad watching my Uncles. And when they'd hunt, they'd divide the meat with their sister's and we'd have a freezer full of game, and I just didn't like eating it! One time my daddy made me stay at the table until I ate and I wouldn't and it got late and he saved it for my plate the next day. Ahhh, fond memories ☺️ Thank you for sharing your stories, your channel is so interesting and fun for me, I like hearing the spooky things in the hollars & woods! ❤️
Once I was deer hunting in a stand an hour or so from my home in N. Florida. I heard something coming directly behind my stand. Coming slow. I didnt want to turn for fear of scaring it off. It got slowly closer and closer . Finally , it was right behind me. I clicked the safety off , and quickly turned and aimed at where I thought it would be… And I saw nothing….. But a dang armadillo!!😡
Love the story Donnie! I know this is going to sound crazy but I've heard sasquatch can cloak there selves, make there selves invisible. I don't know just a thought!
I experienced something similar this year deer hunting here in NC. It was past shooting light and I was preparing to get out of the tree. Heard something coming through the woods breaking limbs and making all kinds of noise. Turned my head lamp from the green light to the bright LED to see if it was a big deer or a bear as it was within yards of the tree. Could here it walking but never saw a thing, no eyes glowing, no nothing. Whatever it was continued on through the woods past me. Not gonna lie, it was kinda creepy, especially now after hearing your story.
I can remember growing up in Reliance TN. My dad use to hunt alot when the season's were right, and I was one of those little girl s that 5hought if Daddy went somewhere I had to go to.,😊I spent more time looking for buckeye's than being quiet so Daddy could hunt and many times I would wake up and he'd already be gone cause I guess I made too much noise for him to catch anything 😆but I remember those days being the happiest days of my life... He always said if you carried a buckeye I. Your pocket it would bring you good luck, and I was collecting everyone I could find...that's one one of my stories from back I. The day..thanks for sharing your stories with us..🙏☮️💕
Who else can set and listen to Mr. Laws all day tell his stories ? I could listen to you from sun up til sun down sir . I've told you before sir , that you remind me so much of my Great Uncle Herley . I would set and talk to him for hours and hours. Thank you sir. God bless . Much love from Alabama
I had a similar event happen to me when I was a young teenager. Footsteps in the grass coming toward me, yet as I backed away, so did the footsteps! The grass was literally bending like someone's weight was walking straight at me. Truth.
Something I've always wondered is why sometimes out in the woods you'll see one limb or branch or plant moving? I've seen it a bunch of times. No wind, no critters, nothing else around it moving...but that one spot will start shaking around like crazy! Thought maybe it's some kind of bugs or something but I never see any. Always wondered about that. I'm sure as a hunter and explorer you've seen it...Any idea what causes that?
I don’t think I’ve seen it , not that I can remember . But I’ve seen recent videos of it and it’s most definitely bizarre . I’m curious to know if you’ve ever gotten a “feeling” when you saw it ? Like , have you sensed some sort of intelligence aware that you were seeing it ? If so , was it neutral , negative or positive ? Thanks Cassie .
@@lisacolbert5987 funny you should ask as every time this happens my mind instantly goes back to something someone once told me about forest spirits....guardians or elementals of the forest. I always feel deeply connected to the land when I'm out in nature so I've wondered if it could be something letting me know it's there. Especially since I can never seem to find a logical explanation for it's occurrence
I have an old H&R from late 40's maybe early 50's iirc that was grandad's groundhog/garden favorite ,it's in 410 full choke (choked barrel,they didn't have interchange choke tubes then that I know of) and I kid you not because of the length of the barrel and the way it tapers down it keeps a pattern further down range better than any modern choke tube 410 (my wife has alot of 410's ) and that ol H&R has been a phenomenal single shot since grandad ordered it from I think he said a JCPenney's catalog to today, I don't use it much but when I take notion to it still does the job. It looks identical to the picture you showed but in 410
Thank you for this Donnie, love your channel, genuine and real. Something like this happened to me and some friends once back in 1986 in Alabama. We were camping next to a lake when out of the blue something came running out of the woods towards us. It ran around our campsite, breaking limbs kicking up leaves etc. We got our flashlights and shined them towards the noise but it always remained just out of sight. I could barely see the leaves on the ground being kicked up just in the peripherie of my light but never could see it.. Everytime we moved towards it it would move away. What surprised us was how much of a noisy ruckus it was making. After a few minutes some of my friends became so terrified that they started packing up and leaving..we soon followed suit and high tailed it outta there. To this day we have no idea what that was. One of my friends father's told us later he had a strange encounter in that same area when he was a kid. I haven't experienced anything like that since..yup there is some strange stuff out there in those woods...
I live in Harlan Ky in the Appalachia’s and I have hunted these mountains here for forty three years. I’ve had strange things happen. I live right up against Blanton Forest one of the oldest growth forest in Ky!
I don’t know where to start, most of what I experienced ended up being animals but a few of those experiences were close calls. Close calls meaning bad things almost happened to us. My father , brother and I camped out in an old Native American cave where people used to dig for arrow heads! But we where sleeping up against the cave and had our fire in front of us and luckily had a big Rottweiler we raised from birth, but we had at least four huge bobcats circle us all night, the fire and our dog was the only thing that saved us that night. I have a ton more stories involving close calls with bears, rattlesnakes, coyotes, marijuana growers, Satan worshipers and the list goes on and on! The Harlan county mountains can be very dangerous. I’m sure this isn’t the only place that these things happen.
@@donnielaws7020 I wouldn’t have rambled on if someone hadn’t asked. I have to say I think I could just tell all my stories where my brother or myself almost died it’d go viral!
Thank you Donnie! That same thing happened to me in Virginia about the same time 80 or 81 along the Blue Ridge Mt. Something came barreling though the woods from right to left in front of me shaking bushes and small tree limbs and I never saw it. Not even when it went by me less than 20 feet in front. When I left my stand I walked over to where the bush and rustling moved .....no tracks but overturned leaves.
I’ve lived in eastern Kentucky my whole life and spent a big part of it in the woods. There have been a few times I’ve seen or heard things that most people wouldn’t believe.
Hey Donnie , caught this video late but it sure was great gotta love the old hunting stories. It's much appreciated to hear about our mountains and the traditions of our home . Again thank you for your time and effort you put out for us . 👍
This may sound crazy to some people, but that’s not something I’m worried about. I would say that what you encountered may have been a cloaked Sasquatch. They have been seen disappearing right in front of people and also to tear through a forest like that. Many mountain people will tell of seeing “boogers” if they think you can be trusted not to laugh at them. Of course, that’s not the only thing it could have been…🐝🤗❤️
That was a interesting story indeed, these days I'm a bit nervous about the woods especially hiking by myself which is a no, no. What I believe you encountered in them woods was what many researchers call "A Cloaked Bigfoot" There are a number of UA-cam video's that actually show these creatures cloaked.
Donnie I know you're telling the truth about reloading your shotgun so quickly. I have a whole house full of H&R shotguns, at least one in every gauge they make. My son had a 12 gauge that he was determined to use to take out a den full of foxes that lived on our property. He came in from school one day and set off with his 12 ga shotgun and some shells. It wasn't long before I heard bang, bang, bang in close order. I got up from where I was reading only to greet him running down the driveway. He had killed 3 kits that were playing around the mouth of their den. I was just glad he got them before they bot any more of our chickens. I couldn't believe he could shoot a single shot shotgun that fast but he did. Thank you for your stories.
Such an excellent story teller experience. I couldnt leave. I imagined that I was there in that forest, sitting on some rock just listening. Continue to flourish in your future posts.
Great story. All the talk about squirrel hunting brought back good memories of when I went squirrel hunting with my Daddy. I sure do miss him a lot. Again, great story and thank you for posting it.
We need more channels like this I believe. Just laid back story telling. Nothing too fancy or trying too hard. Just sharing knowledge and experience. Very refreshing.
I appreciate that my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed. Verry interesting content.
@@357bullfrog9 Thank you.
Live just across the mountain from Powell valley south fork of pound the way a crow flies hunted all my life have heard and seen many unexplained things myself enjoyed your story
@@jimmiebowman8461 your right close to Jenkins I bet
Being a kid in the 80s and 90s, I grew up listening to stories of tougher times from my grandparents. They lived through the depression, WW2 and everything else. When I got married, I grew very close to my wife’s grandfather and I think he looked at me like his own grandson.
They all seemed so different than people now. They were raised in a different time. They are all gone now and I miss the stories.
Thank you.
Your very welcome my friend. I know just how you feel. I to miss our elders and their dear stories of our past history. Thanks so much for sharing.
I too miss those older people and their stories . And their hospitality. 🙏✝️💕
Great story brother! I had a strange experience one night while backpacking with 2 friends in Giles county Va. Something stalked around our camp til sunrise but we never saw it! It would sound like it was laughing at times then talking at times. A few times it charged our tent and threw limbs and small rocks at the tent. We were terrified to say the least. I ran across an old game warden once while hiking and told him about our experience. All he said was and with A straight face, is that there are things in these mountains that if the average person knew what was out here they would never come back! He refused to explain any further. It was clear to me that the old timer had some strange things happen to him as well. Keep up the great work.
WOW, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Yes sir , and it's the truth too. Us people that have seen something that isn't supposed to exist know that for a fact.
Bigfoot
The movie Predator comes to mine they love to show you what they can do
Laughing? Sure sounds like it was a person trying to scare you. No other animals but humans laugh
I've got an old single shot 16 gauge H&R shotgun my daddy gave me in 1979. I was a female in the Navy living alone in Ocean View, Norfolk, VA. One night somebody came in my backdoor. All I had was a hammer and a cat that couldn't bark. I tore out the front door and ran two blocks to an open store in my flannel nightgown. I called my friend who was on a ship at NOB and he came off that ship carrying his shoes and half dressed. If you've been in the Navy you know that ain't how you leave a ship. He made it to that store in less than 15 minutes. I was so stupid back then. I don't know why I didn't call the police. Anyway I called my daddy and told him what happened and he said as soon as you can get home I've got something for you. That old shotgun has never left my bedside from California to Virginia and home to Georgia and she's never not loaded. I sure miss my daddy.
Thanks for sharing friend.
I imagine you do!! I miss mine too.
😢😁✝️💕
Your daddy would have done better to leave you a pistol. That's just my opinion but a single barrel shotgun isn't the best available option for self defense. That said, we have to work with what we got.... I'd have cut the stock down and the barrel....but that's just me. You do you. I'm glad you're okay. Take care.
Amen!
Donnie, the part of Appalachia I love the most is what we always referred to as the “woods.” We played in them and explored everything including old forgotten cemeteries.. Once found an old Civil War headstone with the name Rufus McComas on it, with several field stones scattered about. Many years later went back with a friend, and a tree had grown up through the tombstone and busted it. His little cast iron fencing was gone. I never hunted, but most men I knew did. There is no fragrance quite like the fragrance of perhaps hundreds of years of leaves falling and making rich loamy soil, and the trees add a freshness. Yes, there are unexplained that go beyond what our five senses can comprehend. I had a Norwegian Elkhound named Smokey who would trot through the woods with me. Never right at my side, but off several feet to the side. Keep telling your stories, and keep showing us your adventures deep in the forests of Appalachia. I love them.
WOW. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I've an elkhound in Scotland they say here that the lands so old that there's not a loch,river,hill or glen without at least one body lain in it however they are mostly man made as this lands been fought over since long before the Romans. Plenty of ghosts but alas no predators bigger than man
@@mykhhh4994 WOW, Thanks for sharing.
@@mykhhh4994 Scotland like England is so full of history and a beautiful place! Patricia Gambino Harrington
I have seen and heard things in these mountains of southern WV that deify explanation. It is just part of being mountain born, folks who have not lived and roamed these ridges and hollers cannot understand. I enjoy your channel, keep up the great work.
Your so right my friend. Thank you.
Would love a chance to roam those beautiful eastern mountains someday, as I am a western born, southern Oregonian....have a great weekend
Kenny I'm in southern WV too and have hunted all my life. And you're right. If you ain't lived it you have no idea!
The flat landers do not understand how dangerous these mountains can be ,
Lemme hear some stories
Eerie tale, Donnie! No telling what it was you saw. Hunting for food is becoming a lost art...one day, it might be necessary again. How many, I wonder, will be ready?💖
Not very many outside of these mountains and hills. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 country boy here in southern Oregon, born and raised on 40 acres on a hill.......it's a part of me as much as I am a part of it.....my mom and dad's ashes are spread here and one day mine will too. We're a dying breed sir. I'm guessing you had a Sabe' encounter.....anyways have a good weekend
It's never stopped being necessary.
My family will be ready
@@ItzzGlistennn I like the way old waylon put it best,one day the mountain might get us but the law never will!
"How many people have set here 200 years ago" ... I live in the NE Georgia mountains and wander around the Trackrock area. The Trail of Tears passed thru here. There's the ruins of an old Cherokee (or earlier) settlement here. Many a time I've asked myself that same question - gives one a great respect for the people that were here before us. Thanks, Donnie.
They deserve great respect my friend. Your very welcome.
I believe every word of your story Donnie
@@randynau931 Thank you friend.
@@randynau931
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The Trail of Tears also passed through what is now called the Ozarks, here in Missouri, and into eastern Kansas-right through where Louisburg now sets, just south of Kansas City. I have had ancestors here in Missouri as well as Louisburg Kansas. Both Grandma and Grandpa Thomas moved there in the late 1800s-Grandma from Leland Illinois, Grandpa from Goose Creek Kentucky. He told me about travelling through Texas in a wagon train & having to circle the wagons because they were attacked by Indians. I don't know which tribe.
Such a great story-teller . I almost don’t like to use the term “story” because it may imply that it’s fiction . I believe him 100% .
Thank you my friend. Thanks for sharing.
No way. He has stories about witches and green eyes and aliens. No way.
Me and my dad were out deer hunting, the sun still had not risen and somethings huge started walking towards us and it was breaking large sticks and branches this thing was hugh . It started walking from say 40 yards and continued to approach us till it got about less than ten yards away from us, we were scared so we loaded one in the chamber and this animal stopped and we listened a couple minutes later it started walking again we away from us this time tho and despite it only being ten yards away and both of us having flashlights we never seen what it was. We figured it was either a bear or a Bigfoot either way it was flat out scary to have something that big so close to us yet never seen a thing
@@larryroberts6113 WOW, I know the feeling, So glad you kept your cool my friend. You was glad to see daylight I bet. Thanks for sharing.
@@donnielaws7020 I've not told that story to anyone, but hearing your near identical story made me want to tell mine... small world take care my friend
Thank you Mr. Donnie for sharing your life with us. You are a master at storytelling!
You are very welcome
That’s the God honest truth, Amen 🙏🏽 there’s no place I’d rather be than in these Appalachian mountains ♥️
@@EVERGLOW828 Me to. Thank you.
I believe you. I just wanted to say, you still hunt. You just traded in your shot gun for cameras and we love what you shoot.
Thank you. I just love to see them in the wild and share them for future generations. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I see...never...LOL!
I love your stories and your voice when you tell them . It is perfect. I was raised here in. Tennessee. I love these stories. It reminds me of my childhood. But grandma on my mom's side was half Cherokee. I loved listening to her tell stories. We did not live in the smokies. But we were poor. She cooked and heated on wood stove. We lived in a 2 room house that had barn wood on it snow came through the crakers no electricity no running water. It was a hard life. But a great life
Thanks for sharing your bit of history my friend.
the indian mix happened because most euro settlers brought few women companions with them . unfortunately , sometimes indian men were slaughtered and their women were left to survive with the men available .
Why is it Always Cherokee? There were lots more Chickasaw and Shawnee and others. But whites always claim Cherokee blood. When real Cherokee's hear that line, they just roll their eyes and laugh.
i appreciated your story!, back in 1999, i was teaching sunday school adult class in tallapoosa county alabama, i had a fellow member tell about his brother in law and that mans best friend. and this took place about the same time as your experience. this man and his friend had leased some land to hunt in south elmore county..they had spent time and energy establishing food plots and improving the hunting area. one afternoon, one guy, experienced the same thing, except it was walking..he was in a tree stand overlooking a food plot, there were about 5 does feeding in it, the grass and such was about knee high, and he was hoping for a buck. then he heard whatever it was walking in the leaves, but he could see nothing, other than a limb break, here and there. it kept coming toward him, when it reached the food plot, the deer were looking toward the sounds, then whatever it was walked across the food plot, he said the grass was parting as if a man was walking through it and the deer were following all this with their eyes. he said once on the other side of the food plot, you could hear the leaves crunch as it walked away, a limb breaking here n there, once it was gone, the deer resumed eating, till he came down out of the tree., they ran off, he was so shook, by the experience, he got his stuff and headed back to their truck, and when he told his partner, they left..even though, they had money vested, they never went back, it spooked them so bad. guy this happened to, was well known as honest, a straight up type of guy.....so. i guess there is no telling, whats out in the deep woods
WOW, good story. You just never know what's out there my friend. Thanks for sharing.
@@donnielaws7020 Exactly right you never know what you'll come across deep in the woods!
If it didn’t spook the deer it was harmless.. a will-o-the-wisp perhaps?
This brings back memories! About the same time, though I think it's '78 or '79, we had moved to little town in south central PA that was a couple miles from the lower Susquehanna. That summer, my buddy and I would go hiking all along the railroad tracks that led deeper into the woods and fields, splitting off to explore creeks and hollows, and more than once we felt like we weren't alone and that whatever "it" was, it wasn't human. We don't have bears, wolves, or big cats, so we joked that it was Bigfoot.
Fast forward a couple months and we're having one of the coldest, snowiest winters in memory. Near the far end of where we'd hike, a family reported that they'd heard strange sounds, their chicken coop had been torn open, and when they finally went out to look (when it was light - they weren't stupid!) there was a lingering stench and large - much larger than human size - footprints. Over the next couple weeks several other places reported similar events and my buddy and I...we knew what had been watching us that summer was likely what did this.
Southern York county is a strange place and has a long history of odd events.
Wow, good story. Thanks so much for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 My pleasure! Even to this day, when my friend who shared those hikes and I get together we always talk about it. There's more to the woods and wilds than we realize and we're just seeing the surface.
Bigfoot
I believe it!! I think most of us that come up in the mountains know there are things no man can explain in them. It feels like old magic and souls that never left, in some places . Great story Donnie👍👍
Well said! Thanks for sharing my friend.
You are exactly right. Old magic… and some of it we will never know.🤗❤️🐝
Yep you nailed it...its primal in nature..make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
I'm from Kentucky and I've had some strange encounters over the years out in the woods. I heard tales from folks growing up and wasn't so sure about them, but after having a few incidents myself I don't dismiss anything.
Years ago, while working for one of my wife's relatives I talked to a fellow that was helping us house tobacco and he asked where I lived. When I told him he shook his head and said, "I don't like that holler you live in". I asked why and he said that while squirrel hunting there he encountered what he called, "a hairy man". I ride a mountain bike for exercise and on every nice day I'm riding up and down the "holler". In April of this year as I reached the head of the hollow and topped a little hill I saw something big and black standing out in a field past a cabin that sets there. The fellow that owns the property keeps things in good shape and the yard mowed and the fields bush hogged.
This black shape was standing about 300 yards away from me and about 100 yards past the cabin. I stopped the bike and looked at it for over a minute, it never moved. I could see a big head, square shoulders and daylight from its knees to its feet, but none between the arms and body. It was perfectly still and after thinking things over I figured it was a silhouette target the owner had placed in the field to shoot at. I hopped back on the bike, rode on down to the gate of the property, got a quick drink and started for home. Where the gate is I was unable to see out in the field where the target was setting.
When I got back to the top of the little hill I looked back at the field and the "target" was gone. A couple days later I was on another ride and the owner and some friends were mowing and working on the yard, I rode up and asked them if they'd ever seen anything odd while staying there and they insisted they hadn't. One said I'd probably saw his deer feeder which sets another 300 yards past where I saw the "target'. Another one told me I just saw a black bear, I have seen bears in that spot before, but they were down on all fours. When black bears stand up they're wedge shaped with no shoulders visible, on top of that they have a blaze face. What I saw had a big round head, square shoulders and was quite big and all black.
I've had other incidents over the years including an unnerving experience where something big and on two feet followed me out of the woods one night. Strange howls, whoops and something that comes around on occasion that makes the dogs go under the house and not come out for days, even to eat.
WOW, Great story my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Dang... I'd have to get two or three buddies & WELL ARMED hand guns & LONG guns & scout that area day & night with the best coon hunting lights there is for a few days just to see if I could see or hear something... WOW!!!!! thanks for sharing
@@steemerxaxon1643 Never seen it again after years of hunting it.
300 yards is a long way to see what you said you saw,, hard to believe
@@wakeup6910 30 yards not 300. Where did you you get 300 yards from my friend. I never said that.
I just wanted to say how much i am enjoying your channel. Its a beautiful place that you live and the stories you share are a joy to listen too as well.
Thank you so much my friend.
I appreciate you, Donnie, and I appreciate your videos on such a wide variety of subjects. I especially like the ones on the unexplained. I, myself have seen or heard some strange things in these mountains of Va. where I grew up. There was a place on my Grandmothers land that every time I went through there, it was like it would get sort of dark, the wind would stop blowing, no animal or bird sounds...it was almost like you were in a vacuum of sorts...it was a very creepy feeling and I would always hurry out of there. I used to make rabbit box traps and set them all over that place...well, on more than one occasion I would have something follow me through those woods, but I would never see so much as a leaf move, but you could hear those footsteps flanking you on one side or the other at about 25 to 30 feet away. Once I'd get back out to the old main road, whatever it was would turn around and walk back down through the woods. I've heard that more than once. I'd catch a few rabbits here and there, but never could the first one where I experienced that strange, dark place with no sound. My Grandma lived back in those hills alone with the closest neighbor about 3 miles away...she always talked about a creature she called "Old Shiney Eyes". She said that whatever it was would come near her house every night just after dark and walk just inside the tree line, watching the house. She said that whatever it was never bothered anything, but just watched. She said that she felt like it knew she was alone and was looking out for her and maybe keeping her safe from other things...she was never afraid of it. She said that she would see those eyes shining like lanterns in the edge of the woods, walking back and forth. I feel like what I experienced was maybe the same thing, or maybe something similar. Whatever it was never tried to harm me, but just gave me a strange feeling...I guess that was because it was something that I couldn't explain.
There are many things out there that are unexplainable, but that is just the way it is supposed to be. We as human beings aren't supposed to know everything, God never intended on that...maybe we will never know...maybe after we pass on, God will tell us all about it. Until next time, my friend, thank you for the videos and sharing your life experiences...especially the ones on strange things and ghosts...I've seen a few of those as well.
WOW, What a great story my friend. Thanks so much for sharing it.
I have heard of Sasquatch escorting people from the woods and watching houses too. It’s possible it was them.🐝❤️🤗
Those things in the woods that you can't hear see but no there there are not good they are evil evil creatures and the reason I say that. I watch this Bigfoot show all the time and the people have experienced these things and they heard and seen things that are not of this world and one of the men he was on Bigfoot Odyssey told what happened to him. I've known this man watching him for 6 years and he was an honest man and I'm telling you these things planned on killing him and they said they planned on killing his friend that was in the woods with him. I do not believe this man is crazy I believe every word he says and he said if God hadn't intervened with this he would be dead
Incredible story!
@@johnhartley4721 Thank you.
This story vaguely reminds me of several incidents that happened to me in the woods (more like swamps I guess, very thin line between the two down here lol) in southeastern NC.
This particular day I had gone out squirrel hunting with my blowgun. It was already late so I took a guess at how much light I had left and I took off. This is important to the story because due to prior experiences with the same "thing" I generally had a rule about not being anywhere near the woods after dark. So anyway, I got sidetracked watching this one squirrel that was just out of range and apparently lost track of time. Eventually it left and I was cutting it kind of close to sundown so I decided I'd walk up the trail one last time before I left. So I started up this trail and the further I walked the more I noticed that it had become unnervingly silent. More silent than it should have been at this time. And that's when I started to feel like I was being watched. I reacted to this by getting very quiet and stopping to check my surroundings a few times but all seemed fine so for some stupid reason I kept going lol. I honestly don't know why I did this. I figure that maybe I'd just shrugged it off as my paranoia acting up on account of how dark the woods had gotten. Makes sense I guess. Whatever the reason I continued on despite the fact that I had red flags going up all over the place. So I make it maybe another 15 or 20 feet up the trail and I stop dead in my tracks when what feels like a bolt of electricity runs up my spine and into the back of my head. I didn't feel safe at all anymore. I'd say I felt more like a hunted animal. So I turned and started walking very casually down the trail. I say "casually" because something told me that if I panicked and ran it would attack. I didn't want it to know that I was aware of it. now I wasn't exactly deep in the woods. Probably less than 100 ft from the treeline. I walked up until I was maybe 40 feet from the entrance and the whole time it felt like something was closing in on me. It literally felt like my head was starting to vibrate and the urge to panic got stronger and stronger until I knew that if I didn't leave that area I was going to die. So I darted the rest of the way down that path like a bat out of hell and jumped clean across the brier patch at the entrance. I ran another 15 feet or so, turned and slung that blowgun up at the trail and waited but nothing ever came out.
And before anyone starts making jokes, yes, that's literally all I had to defend my with lol
WOW, That was strange. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 No trouble at all. I love trading stories. I've got some scarier ones if your interested. Never was certain exactly what it was but it's been after me since I was 12. We always thought it was a raven mocker.
Anyway, great story. Speaking of which, it just hit me but I've heard a VERY similar story from someone from UP around Michigan who also has a UA-cam channel. He basically told that exact same story. I've heard similar stories from several tribes as well. I'll see if I can find for you. If I do I'll post the link here.
@@aaronengland8289 Thanks for sharing my friend.
I couldn't find it. I think the channel was deleted. In his story he described it like an "invisible cow" that charged up onto the road out of the woods and crossed a few feet ahead of him. Anyway, take care, Mr Laws. Looking forward to your next video.
@@aaronengland8289 You to my friend.
Same exact experience here in Texas back in late 90's on our deer lease.. It sounded like an elephant running through trees breaking limbs but didn't see anything. There were 4 of us that witnessed this and we all looked at each other in shock and disbelief.
WOW, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Experienced it last summer at dusk here on my property in Western New York. I was on the phone sitting on the front patio. It scared me so badly that I ran into the house and locked the door.
This is just like my father experience, something chasing him and his friend in the forest long time ago , to this day he dont know what it was and it sounded like an elephant running through the trees too
The wind can do that and as it picks up heavily at the top of trees. Breaks limbs and gives off a howl of sorts or animal type sounds as it shifts speeds over branches and each limb giving its own sound. Like blowing over your beer bottle at different levels of liquid. But who knows, there could be an 8' elephant swinging from branch to branch like a monkey in hopes to finding a forever home or 🐘 y'all keep running away 😭
@@ryanmendenhall7121 Thanks for sharing my friend.
I am new to the channel I'm irish although I'm in England now, I love the music the nature the stories that you tell your kind voice and respect for the good things in life. Thank you for putting a smile upon me
Awesome, thank you! Welcome aboard my friend. You are very welcome.
Now I've seen ya, and you showed me your 870 12 GA with 30" full choke barrel, I subscribed! I'm 68 and grew up huntin in the Missouri woods. Yes we live in a spiritual world. God is a spirit the Bible says. Now we see darkly through a glass, but one day we shall see clear. I'm like you don't really want to hurt animals anymore.
Welcome aboard my friend. I still love the hunt, but I don't have the heart as a young man to take their life. I would rather shot them with a camera and share their beauty. Should I need to eat that would not be a problem at all. Thanks for sharing my friend. God Bless.
There's a lot of things that we haven't discovered yet, to discount what we don't understand is foolish. I appreciate the way you presented the story, you didn't attempt to explain it you only told what happened. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Your welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
It’s so good of you Mr.Donnie to tell these stories, I was born ‘88 on the Westbank of New Orleans, and long as I can remember my pops and I hunted and fished. It’s a dying art nowadays and it’s makes me sad. My daddy has an old mint wingmaster 870 just like that, told me he picked it up around ‘84 . ain’t nothing smoother than them older 870 wingmasters Anyways we’ve spent a lot of time in the wilds and bayous of Louisiana and Mississippi, and there is definitely some strange things afoot out there on them back lands. Even heard stories of witches hiding out and practicing witchcraft deep in the swamps. I’m hoping to move my wife and I out to your neck of the woods in Seersville, Tn. ( I think that’s how the township is spelled) in the next 10 years or so, I always loved the peace and serene wilderness out there. I’ve made many a hunting trips out there and fell in love with it. Sorry to run on. Keep up the great work sir, and god bless! 🇺🇸
Your so welcome. Thanks for sharing your story my friend.
I love hearing your stories. They remind me so much of my grandmother and her family. Thank you, Sir.
You are very welcome
I've seen and experienced a lot of strange things in the mountains and woods of east TN. Most I've kept to myself because I know most people wouldn't believe me. I think some people are "gifted" these experiences and encounters.
Thanks for sharing my friend.
I agree they are a gift of wonder
Loved this hunting story. My Dad had the same 870. He used to squirrel hunt and go to shooting matches. He was also a coal miner and a fox hunter.
We would have been great friends. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 You're welcome and I've thought the same thing as I've watched your videos.
Yep as soon as I heard him chambering those rounds I knew it was an 870. Hahahaha
My pops had same one too used to shoot it at Turkey shoots it was the first gun I ever shot at about 5 or 6 won a smoked ham at Turkey shoot that day down at the gun club. At least pops had me take the last shot and told me that I won but that didn't matter to me all that I cared about is the fact that I got to let one loose
@@roscoep.coltraine6344 Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie just stumbled on your channel. Man do I appreciate your stories. I could sit by a campfire with you and listen for hours. Thank you
Thanks and welcome aboard my friend. Please do enjoy the channel.
Great video Donnie! Your story gave me goosebumps 😀I love thinking about who set on those rocks over the years.
Thank you. You and me both! I would say just old hunters from way back looking supper.
and you seem more like my mom's family
No disbelief from this city dweller. After seeing my own eerie event, I would never discount another persons experience. Some parts of the woods just carry an eerie feeling.
Thanks for sharing my friend.
@Sandra lane please share your story with us. Please.
Donnie, I live in the west central highlands of Virginia, about 100 miles west of Charlottesville. I've hunted all my life as well. Here in our mountains, abutting the great Alleghany Front, I've heard strange things just as you have. One night two years ago while returning to my truck after a successful coon hunt, I heard the strangest howling/wailing sound I've ever heard. It was so alarming that my two hounds made a beeline for me and heeled all the way to the truck. In my 50 years as a night hunter, I've heard wildcats, coyotes, birds of prey roosting in nearby trees, bears roaring during mid-summer mating season, and possibly even a panther or two. But what I heard that night was different. The howl resonated from the depths of a creature with tremendous lung capacity, much like the sound of a bellowing bull. These vast Appalachians hold a lot of mysteries yet unsolved.
Wow. I do agree my friend. Thanks for sharing.
My name is Kerry. I'm hoping you would like to tell me more about your story. I live in va and I'm trying to put together a compilation book of strange stories from va. If you want to contact me please by all means reply here and we will get in contact. I hope to hear from you.
@@tiphall6939 Wow. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate you bringing these kind of videos to the World. Just hearing you talk reminds me of some of the best people I've been so lucky to ever met and learned from in my life and of times that have so quickly come and gone. I was born and currently live in the very top of Kentucky but I grew up in East Tennessee wandering thru those beloved Appalachians and that's where my heart stays. So these videos are invaluable to me, as I live in a perpetual state of being homesick. Thank You so much for your time & effort, and your willingness to share!
Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing this my friend.
What a heart you have for the mountains and the history there!! Thank you for sharing their history!!
Your are so very welcome my friend.
I’m from Queensland Australia.. and I stumbled upon this channel whilst looking for National park disappearances.. I’m glad I did though I really enjoy your story’s and your accent is awesome 🙂🙂
Awesome! Thank you friend. Welcome aboard. Please do enjoy the channel videos. Thank you.
Much better with seeing you tell the story. Thanks for that.it was so nice to “meet” you!
Same here my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your wonderful narrations that you share we us. I could listen all day long. Your stories with all their facts and history of the Appalachian mountains are the perfect way to end a hard day. There are lots of things we don’t know about these mountains and what’s in them. People don’t realize just how vast these mountains are yet today. Looking forward to the next video , take care and my God bless.
Wow, thank you. Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Best video yet too many hunters have had experiences like this, love to hear it in your own words
Wow, thanks!
Can’t wait for next video
I started squirrel hunting at 9 1/2 years old. My Father had taken me hunting numerous times to teach me woodscraft, hunting ethics and learning to keep a mental map of where you were. This included hill country and swamp areas. He also cautioned me that there 'were places that don't feel right; just back on out of those', and to keep amind to where you are stepping, even unto your very next step, after pausing during a hunt (snakes under logs, old wells openings, abandoned wire fencing, trip hazards, etc.). That 'next step' consideration saved me a number of times. As a matter of course, I started carrying a mid size bowie knife in a covered case, which became a constant companion. Anything that a 22 or shotgun didn't stop, would have to deal with that. I too have heard some strange sounds and commotions over the years in the woods, and chose to set my back against a good piece of cover, checked the wind, and let whatever is was come to me as I waited. Most of the time nothing appeared, though on others feral dogs, a runway cow, foraging racoons, a large black bear and a group of men carying supplies for a stihl came forward.
Thanks for sharing you story my friend.
The men carrying the stihl supplies would be the most dangerous of the group IMHO.
@@suenetteedwards5965 Your are quite correct! That stihl group threatened me until I told them who my Father was, and that great harm would come to them if they did anything to me -- they knew this to be absolutely true, and promptly left me alone!
@@johnshields9110 Stihl like the chainsaw?
Donnie I'm 10/years your senior and really enjoy your channel. I could smell that Squirrel gravy. Thanks for the memories. I feed squirrels in my yard now.
I appreciate that. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie I do believe you I am 59 years old and when I was young we went hunting every time we had a chance I have seen a few strange things my self I just always keep them to myself I really enjoy your videos
I understand my friend. Thanks so much for sharing this.
You high integrity and appreciation for your home gives us all solid leadership. Thanks for your channel and all you share.
I appreciate that! Your so welcome my friend.
Thank you Donnie... We really do need more channels like this, such a joy to watch take care of yourself
Your welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Found your channel just last week and I love it. I am from Eastern Kentucky and my father was a coon turned Fox hunter. Like you he discovered he wanted to preserve nature, not kill it for the sake of killing. He got into American Fox hunting to chase game, not kill it. I regret that I do not Fox hunt myself because I would very much like for my young son to experience it. It is one of those childhood memories that an adult yearns to relive but never can. By the way, I still have my father's 870 Wingmaster although it is a 20 gauge. It was one of his favorite shotguns as well.
Welcome my friend. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I just wanted to say this was a lovely video and story. You lived the life I always dreamed of. I grew up in the mountains of Arizona, my papa was never a big hunter, but nature and the woods just always intrigued me so much. I kind of taught myself to hunt small game when we would go camping, it wasn’t until a few years ago I started hunting big game. But I think it’s so amazing how vast this country and terrain is. I went on a trip through Missouri and Tennessee last year for the first time and I was so shocked by how different the forests are over there than in Arizona. Our woods are so dry and dark until you go super high up and find the meadows. My town is half thick forest, and half shrubby desert. It used to make for good coyote hunting but now just about every acre of land within 10 miles is private property. Times have changed, it makes me sad. The woods are definitely a special place with lots of secrets and stories no matter where in the world you are. Thank you for sharing this.
Your so welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
What part of the mountains do you live? I grew up in Phoenix. My parents worked with the missionaries on the reservation in the White Mountains and Peridot and Cibecue. Also up Apache Trail, Payson, and Mogollon Rim area. Globe, Miami, pretty much everywhere in central and Eastern Arizona, lol. Mogollon Rim is where the home movie of the female Yeti was shot. I was surprised too, when I moved to Missouri, how different the woods are. Instead of pine, they're mostly Oak, Hickory, Black Walnut, Maple, Dogwood, Cedar. There are pines, of course, but mostly in the highest elevations, which aren't very high compared to Arizona. It's still beautiful here, so much prettier than the desert of Southern Arizona. Wow, talk about rambling...
Hello Mr Donnie! Squirrel hunter here too! I live on the biggest mountain in Arkansas. I was bow hunting once many years ago on Halloween of all days. I was about to climb down as it had gotten dark when I heard "laughing". Sounded exactly like a small child except kind of menacing almost evil and not very loud. I could tell it was coming down the deer trail I was watching. Man I thought it was Chucky the evil doll I was gonna stick an arrow in him lol. When it finally came into view it was a pair of grey foxes! I'll never forget that experience!
😂 Thanks for sharing my friend.
I love these stories. There are so many things that can't be explained. My mom and dad are gone but they had a few stories like this. So fascinating. I'm glad whatever it was was in a hurry ti get where it was going! Would have been really really bad if the brush had quit moving right in front of you! Lol
Thank you. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I really enjoy listening to all your videos. It's great that folks still like to share and talk about the history of past generations. So much can be learned from listening to these stories.
Thanks for sharing my friend.
That is unreal and I could just imagine trying to make sense of what you are seeing and not seeing at the same time. I spent a lot of my younger years up north working but would be sent down to Arjay KY to stay with my mamaw & papaw just as soon as school let out. They had 100 acres and a creek to play in and I loved it. I remember sitting on the porch at night and hearing all kinds of noises coming from those mountains.
Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie, I really enjoyed this video! My dad grew up in South Louisiana near Thibodaux (Labadieville, LA) and hunted all of his life. He spoke fluent Cajun French. He was born in May of 1936 and passed away in June of 2011 at the age of 75. We had his single shot H&R 12 gauge shotgun, which his dad had given him, standing up next to his fishing poles, paddle, crawfish trap, fishing vest and rubber boots at the foot of his casket for his funeral. He loved the outdoors. I called him the original Swamp King (well before Troy Landry claimed that title on Swamp People). His dad would give him just so many .22 bullets to go hunting with as a kid growing up in the 40's, the youngest child of 11 total. Daddy said PaPere (as we called my grandfather) would whoop him if he didn't come back with as many squirrels and/or rabbits as he had spent shells! I have so many fond memories of hunting with him and so many memories of his tales of hunting the swamps and sugar cane fields of South Louisiana. I used that single shot on more than one occasion, but my favorite was the time he put me in the back of his pick up truck (yes, in the bed, and yes, illegal as all get out!) and drove on the "headlands" (dirt and gravel roads that criss cross the sugar cane fields). We were looking for dove. We were driving along one big block of cane that had already been harvested and huge covey of dove took off. I raised up and let that old H&R bark, firing it's one shot from about 50 yards across the field. When the dust and feathers cleared, I jumped out of the bed of the truck, ran over across the field and starting picking up birds. I had shot 9 in one shot! I think I was shooting 7-1/2 high power 2-3/4 shells. My dad couldn't believe his eyes! He was so proud. I also remember our squirrel hunts very well. He would drop me off at his favorite spot in the swamp on a ridge just off the main road and he would leave to go to another spot. He taught me what to look for and how to spot the squirrels coming in. He set me up on an old tree (hackberry, I think) with my back to the hundreds of acres of swamps behind me, but facing a huge live oak that the squirrels would come to every morning to feast on its plentiful acorns. Without fail, you'd hear them coming in from behind you and all you had to do was wait for the shot, like a sniper with a shotgun! I was using his old single shot .410 then. He had a nice Remington 1100 20 gauge with modified choke (back when you did't have choke tubes) that he liked to use in those days. We always came back with our limit. I had to laugh and rewind the video when you mentioned a plug in your gun and only having 3 shots. I scrolled back to the beginning of the video and watched you shuck 4 shots out of that beautiful 870. I think the old 1100 went without its plug more often than with it! My momma gave it to me after he passed and I cherish it, although now I use it mostly for trap shooting now. I'm 49 now and I wish I had spent more time with him after I moved away from home to South Alabama. There's so many things I want to talk to him about and would love to have filmed some of our hunts, had we had the money to buy a camera back then! He even had his share of mysterious encounters. I loved hearing him talk about the time he heard what he called a panther hollering while he was out in the swamp running crawfish cages. It kept getting closer and closer from the sound of it, so daddy left it some catfish heads on a log and high-tailed it out there. He didn't go back in to check his cages for about 3 days and didn't hear again. Them catfish heads were all gone though! There's another story he never told me, relayed to me by my retired Air Force major brother in law about them two seeing an upright walking swamp ape of some type when they were fishing along a canal one day. Daddy never did tell me about it, but my brother in law is not the type to just make stuff up, so I'm inclined to believe him. Plus, someone else fishing in the same area said they saw the same critter one day, too. But that's all a story for another day. Thanks for the video! Liked and Subscribed!
WOW! what a story my friend. Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie, another good one! This old world is filled with more things that we don’t see, than the things we do see! So many secrets , that do not want to be found out. I can only imagine what was going through your mind at the time. I also have had things like that happen, and it’s so shocking, that most of the time you don’t have time to be scared, until you mull it around a while, after the fact. Then, is when you really think about what just happened to you, and it can really give you the goosebumps! It’s so puzzling , to know what you just heard or felt, and lived through, to talk about it, but you couldn’t see it at all! Really looking forward to more of these stories!! It’s that spooky time of year!, but I’ll gladly listen to them any time of year!
Thank you. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie, my mom loved squirrel and rabbit, my brother and his friends would go squirrel and rabbit hunting when me and my sister was younger , my brother and his friends would bring back 6 and 7 squirrel and or rabbit and me and my sister would cry lol . but we was raised in city , thank God mom wouldn't make us eat them beautiful animals lol . i love your stories Donnie.
Thanks you. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Donnie really love hearing your stories. Especially them ones about the things out there that just can’t be explained. Take care God Bless ya. Peace
Thank you and thanks for sharing my friend.
Love your stories. I have encountered many mountain lions, rattle snakes, and bear. I've been in place the over all feel of it will make the hair stand on end. I believe you.
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing my friend.
I'm from Australia and I love you're videos they are truly amazing I have never heard of these amazing stories before and now I'm hooked thank you
Thank you friend. Your very welcome. God bless you.
Thanks for the story and the video. You are correct. We think we have all the answers, but there are many things that we cannot explain. You and Tipper are certainly keeping me entertained!
Why thank you friend, Tipper is such a great person.
I have been watching other channels and I have listened to the people explain exactly what you saw. A being that moves through the forest is seen and then disappears into nothing. I haven't seen what you saw but on 11 October 2003, I saw a Saucer appear in the sky over the City of Auburn, CA hover and discharge "angel hair" then begin flying and disappear north of Auburn into the sky. So, I do believe that you saw a being breaking limbs from trees and it probably looked like a mirage. There is a monsterous evil on this world; may Our Lord Jesus bless you and keep you and your family safe all the days of your lives.
WOW, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Amen ! 🙏✝️💕
I enjoyed your story Donnie getting to see you tell it not just hearing you tell it. I don't get to hunt like I use to but like you when I was old enough I would be following my dad through the woods squirrel hunting. That's what he started me out with then it went on to other game like deer. It brings back great memories of the times I spent with him I miss those days as I miss him. He was a great outdoorsman and l learned a lot from him. 🐿🦌🎣🐟
Thanks for sharing this my friend. Thank you.
I really appreciate you sharing your experiences, I've had some unexplained experience myself in the woods. I only wish I was still physically able to get around like I used to, I really love the woods and I really love your storys. Thank you for bringing back memories for me
Your very welcome my friend Please take care.
Sasquatch?
You could write about it for others to enjoy!
Donnie we appreciate you too. I’m closing in on 67 and I’m a 6th generation Texan. At 10yo I was given my first shotgun. A .410 3 round bolt action. I hunted game to put food on the table. My dad was a Korean War vet who had undiagnosed PTSD who passed away in ‘83 at 55. Just like you I loved being in the woods by myself and you are so right when you say that there are things that we and other people have heard but didn’t see. But my claim to fame regarding you and I hunting squirrels high up in the trees was I did drop two in one shot because they were deep in the process of making little squirrels. My mom made squirrel dumplings for dinner. Best meal I ever had at that time. Please keep telling us your experiences. It makes me feel so content and brings a smile since, like others, I’ve lost both of them. Take care brother and I hope you and your family have a blessed new year!
Awesome friend. Your the same as me with your story. Thank so much for sharing it. God Bless.
Loved your story James!!
I just love listening to all of the stories on this channel. It never gets old .thanks for all of your hard work. Killbuck Ohio
Your welcome my friend.
Thanks for telling us about this interesting encounter. I'd love to hear more of your experiences in the woods.
Your welcome. You will my friend.
Just listened to your channel and I really enjoyed it. I'm 70 years old and have experienced some of what you have. My health won't allow me to anymore. I've owned the same guns you have so that made this time with you special because of the memories it brought back for me. I love reading and hearing hunting stories and for that matter any dealing with the outdoors. Keep up the good work and God bless.
Thank you friend. God bless.
Great story!!! I’m so happy that you had a change of heart ❤️ about the wild life. Like you said when people kill to much wild it becomes scarce and possibly extinct. I don’t know exactly what area my daughter I go visit her often moved to the Cumberland gap area she lives in Middlesboro Kentucky I know that’s close by Pineville but I think that’s totally the opposite way I’m not sure. Anyways blessings and I love your stories. I love history as well. My father was born in West Virginia and we had right on the Ohio River and we have a lot of stories because my uncle used to hunt and I remember going there as a child And you would see the game that he had in the backyard hanging on the clothes pin to bleed out deer mostly. Anyways blessings to you all
Thank you. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Another great story Donnie. I could sit and listen to you telling stories all day! You have so muck knowledge of “these ole mountains.’
Thank you friend.
Donnie.. I have a pic you might be interested in concerning this video. How can I send it to you?
One can just hear your love for this place in every word you speak. It's like the land itself is your family. Absolutely beautiful.
Wow, thank you
It was for sure a Sasquatch and they can manage to be unseen. I heard hundreds of stories about Sasquatch and sometimes from dogman. Thoses creatures are able to do things which are above our imaginations. Many greetings! 😎👍🇦🇹⛷🏔🛶🥨🍺💙🐺
I agree 100% Thanks for sharing my friend.
Yep
There are some Bigfoot’s out there that are extraterrestrial
I got a true story for you:
September 21, 1986, when leaving to go celebrate a girl's 21st birthday, I looked up at Mt. Sī (pronounced like sigh) in western Washington state. It was a beautiful crystal blue sky day, except for one thing: a ring of white smoke encircled the entire mountain, with a line of smoke going from the circle into the mouth of the Snoqualmie chief's face formed in the outline of the mountain. There were other people there, & I pointed it out to them.
As we stood there and watched, the chief/mountain inhaled that entire ring of smoke!! Immediately after that, the evergreen trees within a bare Y about 2/3rds of the way down the mountain started waivering, like something BIG coming down that mountain! One word popped into my mind:: WENDIGO!! It's a Native American legendary spirit, reportedly malevolent in nature. I don't know for certain if that's what it was, but if so, I'm sure glad it wasn't any of us it was after!!!
Wow, Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 no problem. I've had a lot of very strange things happen in my life, too.
@@graceisamazing5493 Thanks for sharing my friend.
Hunting is part of tradition in my family. Just got my first squirrel dog!! Mountain cur named tanner. It's on this season!!!
Great, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Another great video Mr Donnie. Ain't no telling what that was you seen. Thanks for sharing my friend
You bet my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing an intimate story telling.I totally believe this situation you had.Too many folks over the years have experienced this very same scenario.KEEP THEM STORIES ACOMIN.WE LOVE EM🌟
I appreciate that friend. Thanks for sharing.
I hope you are reading your posts, because I wanted to let you know I really enjoy your videos. I was also raised in the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains and have many interesting stories. I’d be happy to share them with you if you’re ever interested.
Meanwhile, keep up the great work.
God bless you, always.
Wow, Your welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I enjoyed your story, I can relate to it, I grew up in south east Ky, it's true about it being hunted out but during the 70's a lot of game was released there, I can also relate to enjoy the woods and watching the animals, I feel the most alive in the woods and on the water
Thanks for sharing my friend.
Thank you for sharing this account with us in a video. Many people choose to tell their stories through text on sites like Reddit and it makes it so much harder to distinguish what is real and fake. But I believe your story without a doubt in my mind.
Thank you friend.
I have been watching your videos for a while now and enjoy them so much. Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Tennessee and beyond, I love this kind of stuff!
Your welcome. Thanks for watching my friend. Thanks for sharing.
I had to rewind 4 times u said something I haven't heard since I was 10 or 11 my aunt in south Ga told me I could play in the woods out back. but I had to stay in " Hearing Sight " that's so funny never heard anyone else say that !! Your stories are great Mr Law !!! Keep going!!!
Thank you. Will do my friend.
Thanks for the hunting story Mr. Laws. I greatly appreciate you and the lore you're passing on to the world.
Down here in the Canebreak of Alabama, we had groves and groves of pecan, oak, and fig trees that the squirrels grew fat on. I was raised up on the farm to hunt squirrels with a lever action Marlin .22 and a break back .410... both with iron sights. I'd grab one of the guns and a pocket full of shells every morning when I went out to bring the cows up to the barn for milking and come back with a brace of plump Greys. Grampa used to fry them up in bacon grease in a big old cast iron skillet and make gravy with the drippings to pour over our hominy grits. Those were the best breakfasts of my youth.
Great, Hunting squirrels with a 22 is a skill set. It hones your shooting skills. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 LOL, you got that right, my friend. Dad and my Grampa's didn't believe in hunting game with a scope. They called it "cheating" ... and wondered why you'd waste money on piece of glass that in most cases cost more than the gun itself.
@@Necron-ez2cc I agree, but when you get older you will love the scope my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 Preach Brother!!! At this stage of the game I love a pair of reading glasses! LOL
@@Necron-ez2cc I know the feeling.
Something cloaked itself while running past you, probably a wood booger 👣
my friend Heather still loves squirrel 🍽️🐿️ even though she lives in a city now.
When I was a little girl, I cried watching a sheep get harvested and dressed, it made me sad watching my Uncles. And when they'd hunt, they'd divide the meat with their sister's and we'd have a freezer full of game, and I just didn't like eating it!
One time my daddy made me stay at the table until I ate and I wouldn't and it got late and he saved it for my plate the next day.
Ahhh, fond memories ☺️
Thank you for sharing your stories, your channel is so interesting and fun for me, I like hearing the spooky things in the hollars & woods!
❤️
Your welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Once I was deer hunting in a stand an hour or so from my home in N. Florida. I heard something coming directly behind my stand. Coming slow. I didnt want to turn for fear of scaring it off. It got slowly closer and closer . Finally , it was right behind me. I clicked the safety off , and quickly turned and aimed at where I thought it would be… And I saw nothing…..
But a dang armadillo!!😡
😀Thanks for sharing my friend.
Lol 😆
Thanks for sharing your stories and your beautiful country and woods you are truly blessed to live where you do . Jim
Your welcome friend. Thank you very much!
This is my favorite channel. Lord how I miss Barnshe holler Pike CO Kentucky. Thank You..
Awesome! Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Love the story Donnie!
I know this is going to sound crazy but I've heard sasquatch can cloak there selves, make there selves invisible. I don't know just a thought!
Interesting! I didn't see it at all. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I heard same thing!! And that it sounds like a lot of birds chirping at once! This at night too
I experienced something similar this year deer hunting here in NC. It was past shooting light and I was preparing to get out of the tree. Heard something coming through the woods breaking limbs and making all kinds of noise. Turned my head lamp from the green light to the bright LED to see if it was a big deer or a bear as it was within yards of the tree. Could here it walking but never saw a thing, no eyes glowing, no nothing. Whatever it was continued on through the woods past me. Not gonna lie, it was kinda creepy, especially now after hearing your story.
WOW. Thanks for sharing.
I can remember growing up in Reliance TN. My dad use to hunt alot when the season's were right, and I was one of those little girl s that 5hought if Daddy went somewhere I had to go to.,😊I spent more time looking for buckeye's than being quiet so Daddy could hunt and many times I would wake up and he'd already be gone cause I guess I made too much noise for him to catch anything 😆but I remember those days being the happiest days of my life... He always said if you carried a buckeye I. Your pocket it would bring you good luck, and I was collecting everyone I could find...that's one one of my stories from back I. The day..thanks for sharing your stories with us..🙏☮️💕
Your welcome. Great story my friend, Thanks for sharing.
I carried one for many years too🐝❤️🤗
How sweet your dad really ? For you going with him enjoying your best of times together ? An the buck eyes never for get memories. So so preacious.
@@lespoole8527 Thank you.
We appreciate you sharing your great stories and videos!!! Please never stop!
I appreciate that my friend. Thank you.
Who else can set and listen to Mr. Laws all day tell his stories ? I could listen to you from sun up til sun down sir . I've told you before sir , that you remind me so much of my Great Uncle Herley . I would set and talk to him for hours and hours. Thank you sir. God bless . Much love from Alabama
WOW, Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I had a similar event happen to me when I was a young teenager. Footsteps in the grass coming toward me, yet as I backed away, so did the footsteps! The grass was literally bending like someone's weight was walking straight at me. Truth.
Wow, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Something I've always wondered is why sometimes out in the woods you'll see one limb or branch or plant moving? I've seen it a bunch of times. No wind, no critters, nothing else around it moving...but that one spot will start shaking around like crazy! Thought maybe it's some kind of bugs or something but I never see any. Always wondered about that. I'm sure as a hunter and explorer you've seen it...Any idea what causes that?
Could be a small animal feeding on something there. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I don’t think I’ve seen it , not that I can remember . But I’ve seen recent videos of it and it’s most definitely bizarre . I’m curious to know if you’ve ever gotten a “feeling” when you saw it ? Like , have you sensed some sort of intelligence aware that you were seeing it ? If so , was it neutral , negative or positive ? Thanks Cassie .
I've seen the same thing,so know your not alone just can't explain it.
@@lisacolbert5987 funny you should ask as every time this happens my mind instantly goes back to something someone once told me about forest spirits....guardians or elementals of the forest. I always feel deeply connected to the land when I'm out in nature so I've wondered if it could be something letting me know it's there. Especially since I can never seem to find a logical explanation for it's occurrence
I too have witnessed that happening.
I have an old H&R from late 40's maybe early 50's iirc that was grandad's groundhog/garden favorite ,it's in 410 full choke (choked barrel,they didn't have interchange choke tubes then that I know of) and I kid you not because of the length of the barrel and the way it tapers down it keeps a pattern further down range better than any modern choke tube 410 (my wife has alot of 410's ) and that ol H&R has been a phenomenal single shot since grandad ordered it from I think he said a JCPenney's catalog to today, I don't use it much but when I take notion to it still does the job. It looks identical to the picture you showed but in 410
Wow, Thanks for sharing my friend.
Does your wife have a Springfield 410 pump? I have one and wouldn't trade it for nothing. Those that see it think it is a 20 gauge at first.
@@ejwa12 Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@ejwa12 No actually,no Springfield 410 or Springfield shotgun at all for that matter
Thank you for this Donnie, love your channel, genuine and real. Something like this happened to me and some friends once back in 1986 in Alabama. We were camping next to a lake when out of the blue something came running out of the woods towards us. It ran around our campsite, breaking limbs kicking up leaves etc. We got our flashlights and shined them towards the noise but it always remained just out of sight. I could barely see the leaves on the ground being kicked up just in the peripherie of my light but never could see it.. Everytime we moved towards it it would move away. What surprised us was how much of a noisy ruckus it was making. After a few minutes some of my friends became so terrified that they started packing up and leaving..we soon followed suit and high tailed it outta there. To this day we have no idea what that was. One of my friends father's told us later he had a strange encounter in that same area when he was a kid. I haven't experienced anything like that since..yup there is some strange stuff out there in those woods...
WOW, Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Great story Donnie. I’m so glad I found your channel! I love history. I love your voice and the beautiful mountains in this part of our country. ✌️❤️
Awesome my friend. Thank you so much for sharing this my friend. God bless you.
I live in Harlan Ky in the Appalachia’s and I have hunted these mountains here for forty three years. I’ve had strange things happen. I live right up against Blanton Forest one of the oldest growth forest in Ky!
Thanks for sharing my friend.
@Chris brown please tell us your story, I would love to hear it please.
I don’t know where to start, most of what I experienced ended up being animals but a few of those experiences were close calls. Close calls meaning bad things almost happened to us. My father , brother and I camped out in an old Native American cave where people used to dig for arrow heads! But we where sleeping up against the cave and had our fire in front of us and luckily had a big Rottweiler we raised from birth, but we had at least four huge bobcats circle us all night, the fire and our dog was the only thing that saved us that night. I have a ton more stories involving close calls with bears, rattlesnakes, coyotes, marijuana growers, Satan worshipers and the list goes on and on! The Harlan county mountains can be very dangerous. I’m sure this isn’t the only place that these things happen.
@@Chrisbreezy1979 Wow. You did have some close calls. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 I wouldn’t have rambled on if someone hadn’t asked. I have to say I think I could just tell all my stories where my brother or myself almost died it’d go viral!
Thank you Donnie! That same thing happened to me in Virginia about the same time 80 or 81 along the Blue Ridge Mt. Something came barreling though the woods from right to left in front of me shaking bushes and small tree limbs and I never saw it. Not even when it went by me less than 20 feet in front. When I left my stand I walked over to where the bush and rustling moved .....no tracks but overturned leaves.
Wow, Thanks for sharing my friend.
It's true. There's spirits in those woods. Just because it isn't visible doesn't mean it isn't there.
I’ve lived in eastern Kentucky my whole life and spent a big part of it in the woods. There have been a few times I’ve seen or heard things that most people wouldn’t believe.
I truly believe you friend.
@Ricky Henry please tell us your story. Please
Hey Donnie , caught this video late but it sure was great gotta love the old hunting stories.
It's much appreciated to hear about our mountains and the traditions of our home .
Again thank you for your time and effort you put out for us . 👍
Your very welcome. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I absolutely love you!!! Always looking forward to your next video
Hope you realize how much you are loved. So thankful to have found you.😍
Thank you so much for them kind words my friend. Thanks for sharing.
This may sound crazy to some people, but that’s not something I’m worried about. I would say that what you encountered may have been a cloaked Sasquatch. They have been seen disappearing right in front of people and also to tear through a forest like that. Many mountain people will tell of seeing “boogers” if they think you can be trusted not to laugh at them.
Of course, that’s not the only thing it could have been…🐝🤗❤️
I kinda think that to. What ever it was I could not see it. Thanks for sharing my friend.
@@donnielaws7020 You’re welcome🐝🤗❤️
My thoughts exactly!
@@meleanvalenzuela1564 🤗
That's a good sinceable explanation from Deborah !
That was a interesting story indeed, these days I'm a bit nervous about the woods especially hiking by myself which is a no, no. What I believe you encountered in them woods was what many researchers call "A Cloaked Bigfoot" There are a number of UA-cam video's that actually show these creatures cloaked.
Only at night do I get nervous my friend. Thanks for sharing friend.
Donnie I know you're telling the truth about reloading your shotgun so quickly. I have a whole house full of H&R shotguns, at least one in every gauge they make. My son had a 12 gauge that he was determined to use to take out a den full of foxes that lived on our property. He came in from school one day and set off with his 12 ga shotgun and some shells. It wasn't long before I heard bang, bang, bang in close order. I got up from where I was reading only to greet him running down the driveway. He had killed 3 kits that were playing around the mouth of their den. I was just glad he got them before they bot any more of our chickens. I couldn't believe he could shoot a single shot shotgun that fast but he did. Thank you for your stories.
WOW, Thank for sharing my friend.
Such an excellent story teller experience. I couldnt leave. I imagined that I was there in that forest, sitting on some rock just listening. Continue to flourish in your future posts.
Wow, Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Great story. All the talk about squirrel hunting brought back good memories of when I went squirrel hunting with my Daddy. I sure do miss him a lot. Again, great story and thank you for posting it.
Awesome my friend. I know the feeling. Thanks so much for sharing your memories. God bless you. Your very welcome.