>>689024Grew up in rural north Louisiana... I mean rural. Was about 40 miles of dirt roads around and lots of old deer camps no one used anymore. Most the cabins or camps were falling in and had trees growing out of them, made for some awesome exploring when you found em. So out following some game trails in a huge acreage, lots of fields and hardwoods with little underbrush considering how bad that can get around there.... Bird, squirrels yada yada, plenty of noise and I'm moving pretty fast just carrying a .22. Suddenly crush a smalll branch on a step and realize how loud it is. Stop and listen and there is fuck nothing making a sound. Its early summer and there's usually at least a random woodpecker in the distance.... I I can't spot any recognizable path or landmark or anything, just a darker thicket directly up off to my right. Idk why, that feeling just hit me. I froze up... Took minutes I swear before I clicked the safety off on the old ruger, still don't hear anything other than my weight barely shifting on the leaves.... The hairs on my back and my neck have begun to change places with each other and I can't identify what it is. I look in both directions to my side and finally get the nerve to look back. Nothing. Just shadows from the clouds sailing by. I finally just noped out and took off at a fast walk through the woods to my left (i was kind of paralleling an old logging road) after about 5 minutes of walking (ok I was jogging by this point) I spotted some birds in the trees and started picking up noises (other than my feet destroying any leaves and limbs in my path) I finally calmed down when I reached one of the little creeks I recognized and got some water and stopped to breath. I've been in some quiet places since then. Been camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting for 20 years since then. Never experienced dead silence like that again nor has anything ever unnerved me quite so much.
