I used to have a 4x4 atv I would rip around the trails near my house. It was no ones property and at the time a lot of kids were riding in there. Unfortunately, some crazy hermit thought those woods were his. They are not, they are public water shed area. I'm sure he hunts all over them though, I see hunting stands everywhere.
My first encounter with this guy was incredible, right out of a movie. But first a little background on this guy. He is a satanic worshiper of sorts, very twisted. He owns about 40 acres, not sure where his property lines are, but these are the forests I grew up exploring as a kid. Anyway, right near his land, about three years ago, and was hiking with my dog, and only found this because so. She ran off, and I had to follow her, and when I caught up to her and looked around, I was surrounded my dozens of various animal carcasses hanging from tree trunks. Some were sectioned and cut up, some were hanging by the neck. There were many white tailed deer, some geese, ducks, a red tailed hawk, a fox, a goat, basically anything this guy could kill. None of the meat was taken. It was all done for fun. Weirdest and sickest thing of all was that there was a stone shrine nearby, decorated with a large iron candle holder and a huge cut off buck head!
So there's the background on this guy, he is not right in the head. So now for the story. I was doubled up on my 400cc yam kodiak with my buddy until we came to a field and i hoped off so he could ride some solo stuff. Long story short, the crazy hermit was hiding in nearby brush with his two german shepards, which I believe he hunts with. My friend tells this story much better, but I remember hearing some barks, and seeing him coming over the berm in the field, topping the quad out at 55 with two big dogs close behind. I dive on the quad while hes coming by at about 15 mph, we now have to take tight, rocky trails off the field to continue our escape.
These german shepards caught up fast! They had to run at least 30 im guessing, and were within feet of my ass, nipping and snarling. Crazy thoughts were running through my head, like are we going to have to fight these ferocious dogs? what if this psyco catches up while we are doing so? These dogs stayed on our asses for, I think, maybe 5 minutes, but it seemed like forever. We had to hit a foot thick downed tree with two 200lb guys on it at 30ish mph, and nothing broke! We flew off that tree trunk, several feet high, and i actually almost ripped his shirt off and ended up with a foot over his shoulder. We were finally able to lose them after that as the trail smoothed out and opened up.
After that I didn't ride my quad for months. I wasn't on his property for that event, but I just felt like this guy attempted murder on my life. I almost considered going to his house with a shot gun, but decided not to because I think he's a little crazier. I couldn't go in those woods anymore, I felt like this guy could be sitting anywhere, watching, and after all, he does have hunting stands hidden everywhere.
The next summer I got the gal back to start riding again, but no where near his side of the forest preserve. I think this guy knew I was only coming back weekends to ride, as I was a college student at the time. I went out one friday afternoon, had a great ride, everything seemed safe. So then I went out again saturday on the exact same trails. This guy knew exactly where I was coming in, watched my tracks, and set a snare for me in the perfect spot. He could tell right where I always drifted it, in this nice big smooth dirt turn. His snare was not wire, but inch thick brown rope tied strongly between two big trees, it blended in very well with the new england leaf litter. His snare came very close to taking me out, it was set perfectly and at the right height. The only reason he didn't get me was because I just changed my oil that morning. I had stopped 100 feet before the snare to check my oil level. Because of that I was only going half speed through that turn, and I had the time to react, and narrowly ducked under the rope. It was so close it actually hit the top of my helmet and went over thankfully.
After that I hoped off, looked around at the surrounding hills. I saw nothing, but was scared absolutely sh*tless. I felt like this guy was watching and waiting for me. After all, he had just set that snare within hours, as I rode through there yesterday.
That was the last straw. I sold my quad shortly after that and haven't gone in those woods since.
