First night in hammock, freaked out by sound in woods.

[Obiecamper]

I finally got my REI quarter done. My wife knew that I wanted to try hammock camping this year and purchased it months ago a gave it to me yesterday for my birthday. I knew. One night I was on REIs site and seen that it was marked way down and I had a 20% off coupon. I was about to pull the trigger and she told me not to.

I definitely needed to do a test hang. I have two weeks of scout camp and one week of family camp coming up.
I have a couple of acres in my back yard that I call the campground so my boy and I set it up. I was looking forward to a long slumber.
So...at 1:30am, a half hour ago I was startled awake by a sound. It sounded like an release of air out of a tire but deeper. I thought at first it was coming from the county garage that is about 100 yards from my property. Some times they work late at night.

I heard this sound probably six times and it had me spooked. I used my phone flash light to try to see what it was. Nothing.The lighting bugs are crazy thick right now. It looks like a fireworks show... but I saw two lights next to each other not blinking. They moved together and bounced up and down a few times. Are those eyes I thought?What the hell is that I thought? Freaked out and half a sleep I wiggled around on my sleeping pad thinking the noise scare it away. Nope I heard it a few more times but closer. I shinned my light thru the bug net again. Nothing but lightning bugs.

So I pull up YouTube on my phone and search "snort in the woods" and open a video of a deer snorting. That's it. Thats the noise. So...I think hanging here I'm going to get mauled by a 10 point buck. Then I heard it again. Still closer. Freaked out more I let out a war cry. Agggghhhhhh...
Can't believe it...will try to go back to sleep. Will give you my report in morning. It's not secure here in sector seven.

[sidneyhornblower]

Almost certainly a deer. Did you hear him stomp the ground too? They often do that if they're alarmed.

[Marmaduke]

Ohio? Definitely a deer. We have more deer than people here.

[Baka Dasai]

Definitely a bear. Maybe a cougar. I'd never go outside again.

[cmoulder]

Maybe next time you'll hear THIS!

First time I heard it I was more than a bit rattled. I've spent a fair amount of time in the woods over the years and had not heard it until a few years ago in Harriman State Park, NY. Heard it one time since, and even knowing what it was it still creeped me out a little.

[Dlrocm]

you'll hear some crazy stuff in the woods. it's all part of the experience! I wear earplugs or try to camp near moving water when possible.

a buddy of mine swears he heard sasquatch once.

[ChrisJHC]

Imagine being woken in the middle of the night by this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7sa9evuRvLM

And you thought koala were cuddly, cute little things!

[Shrewd]

Haha, at first it was hard for me to sleep out there too. I came to love it, though.

I remember someone telling me back on trail that a deers eyes will reflect white but a bears were red.

This was no doubt from someone who had used his red light mode on his headlamp, of course. Anyway I heard some weird noises and got out to look/have a pee and looked up and sure enough saw red eyes and flipped my light off as I continued to pee.
The 2 seconds of darkness while I held the button to power on the full white light seemed quite a bit longer than normal, but it came on and illuminated a small fawn.

Relief and embarrassment flooded through me as my bladder continued emptying itself

[HandyRandy]

Never a dull night in the woods! You did good. First rule of survival is when you run into a predator, pull out your smartphone and google what to do! Works every time ))

Folks tend to feel a bit more exposed in a hammock vs a tent at first, but it’ll pass.

[PlusOne]

Welcome to the woods. I don't panic unless I hear people talking around me, lol.
CMoulder, that sound kept me awake many nights growing up, especially after watching those glorious horror movies from the 80s and 90s.