encounters,strange,eerie or unbelievable

hi all,just want to post the above question on the forum its what you have experienced whilst out digging or fossicking,a mate and I were under a very large unlived homestead in the cellar late at night and the noises from up above were somewhat scarey,couldnt get out of there quick enough,cheers hampy.

Whilst kayaking.... although knowing where it leads I had never been in that stretch, so I enter a shallow and narrow stream through a marsh and am heading hopefully for the woods where there might be bottles (mostly I just wanted to know what this area was like--curious bear and all.) It was nice in there. Tall green reeds and Purple Loosestrife towered above me on either side, shooting high for the blue sky smiling down across the land. Green lilies, some in white bloom and others budding at the surface, float on the docile stream as duckweed gathers in the reeds. Beneath me, rotting vegetation runs its dark arms out under a foot below the surface. Around me, birds occasionally dart by to land on the cattails and reeds as they sing their songs happily for all the World to hear.
Then, my soft paddling from a variegated orange kayak with red paddle upsets some creature lurking beneath me. Suddenly I hear the water being torn apart as it opens up and something leaps out of it. Striking me and splashing me with drops of water, it thankfully finds no hold and I feel it glance off my yellow and black life-jacket I had on but not buckled shut. Startled, I lean forward quickly and turn to see whatever had attacked me from the now murky shallows. All that is left to show the event is a very startled kid, a lake plant plastered to my mostly orange kayak, and water splattered across the top of it and me.
Needless to say, I got out of there quite quickly, wondering, "Was it the water snake I had seen last year from the bridge not far from here; or was it a snapping turtle trying to score a meal with it's new trick of flight?" As for that water snake, it was several feet long--asking people I know if I exaggerate, I don't think a one of them would tell you I do-- and is the reason I don't step out into the water under that particular bridge of Black Creek. As I was reaching for a bottle last year it suddenly plows through like a freight train underneath me; although I think it was terrified of me, it made me stick to my kayak if I can help it. I will never enter that creek again, and believe it to have been a snapping turtle.

I think it was sturgeon or one of those chines snake head fish that have taken over lake Michigan .

sunrunner said:

I think it was sturgeon or one of those chines snake head fish that have taken over lake Michigan .

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SunRunner, the water is too shallow and warm to support such a large fish as our Lake Sturgeon-- They are large fish, and adapted to cold water with high D.O. (Dissolved Oxygen) levels. I was in Ecology, so I know much on this topic. Mona Lake is not suitable for most large fish, or any that prefer higher D.O. levels. Lake Sturgeon can and will live in many rivers, but none so warm and shallow as this creek. A higher D.O. comes in moving water that is cold, as cold water holds more oxygen, and moving water mixes it in better. As for the snake-head fish, you mean the Asian Carp--which escaped from where they were held down South during floods and originally used to try and keep polluted waters clean in drainage ponds and such with low D.O.-- that couldn't yet be it. We hardly have the Quagga Mussel (Walk on the shores of Lake Michigan, their little shells are scattered and seem to number as the grains of sand) yet in the area of Mona Lake I was in; and as the Asian Carp have not yet made it far into Lake Michigan (we saw the photograph of a D.N.R. (Department of Natural Resources) officer holding a supposedly caught-in-a-Michigan-river Asian Carp in school one day, but his uniform said Indiana?) it could not have been one of them. It could only have been a turtle, snake, or another Native (perhaps released pet) of Mona Lake.

Last year I was in the woods looking for bottles. I was turning over leaves looking for shards and such and felt like I was being watched. So I looked up and saw a baby deer about 15 feet away. We kinda just stared at each other for a few minutes and the little fella walked right up to me. I reached out to pet it and it got a little spooked and bolted. At a dig site with my brother, he unearthed an old jar and pointed out what he thought was a big night crawler packed in the dirt inside the jar. After digging inside it with a stick, a look of horror came across his face and he sat the jar down and walked away without saying a word. I kicked it over and the dirt as well as a baby copperhead fell out. Scared me to death! Haha. While digging out a hillside dump, I fell from the top and landed on a small tree stump ribs first. Fell about 20 feet and got the tar knocked out of me. Luckily my brother showed up and helped me up. Never go out alone now.

The snake one is hilarious. As for the deer, a little one nearly ran into me not too long ago! And as for falling, how badly hurt were you? I only go out alone.

I thought I cracked a rib or two but I'm not sure. It hurt to move for about 3 days. I'm pretty clumsy so the better coordinated folks could probably survive going out alone lol

Well, please be more careful! It wouldn't do for you to be hurt!