I used to hunt a lot, I lived for hunting. This experience just about ruined hunting for me though.
We were hunting in the foothills. I had walked up through some fairly dense woods early that morning, hoping to get a few squirrel. It turned out to be a poor hunt so I was attempting to walk out to where my friends and I had parked the truck. I thought it was kinda odd when a cat showed up out of nowhere. He just sort of ran up on me out of the woods. I've always liked cats, so I called him and petted him some. He was friendly enough to let me pet him, so I knew he belonged somewhere. I continued walking down hill. It seems I got somewhat confused about where I came up the hill and as I walked, noticed I was moving sideways and off course every little while. I kept walking on , knowing that when I hit the bottom I could walk out to my friends truck. Also, we had a special way to shoot, a signal, if there was a problem. Suddenly, I walked out of the woods and onto a bald, (a clearing on a hill side).
I thought I must be a little lost, but these balds were not uncommon in the area. They usually represented where a homeplace had been cleared and farmed at one time. I looked around but saw no buildings. I sat down on a rock, opened my pack and got out a can of vienna sausages. I opened the can and fed my feline friend. He ate like he was starved. When we were through, I stood up to get my bearings. I was surprised to see a whole lot of cats running thru the grass towards me. All were meowing, the way hungry cats do just before you feed them. I decided it was time to go on down to the truck. I started walking and the cats moved along with me, meowing. They didn't harass me or get in my way, just sort of followed along. I guess there were about 50 of them. It was pretty unnerving anyway. So I picked up speed, while hoping I wasn't too lost.
At the bottom of the bald, there was an old overgrown road that led on down through the woods and I followed along it. Finally at the bottom of the ridge, I came to a wooden gate across the road. I went through the gate, expecting the cats to follow me, but they stayed inside the gate. I closed the gate. I'll tell you, I wasn't sorry that they stayed inside the gate. At that moment, the cats all turned around and ran back up the old road towards the bald. I looked back up after them, and it seemed I could see an old woman standing at the other end of the road. I could barely make out her features and it wasn't long before she seemed to walk out of sight.
I walked in the direction of the truck and presently came upon the truck and my friends. As we drove away, I told my friends about the cats. Dave, the guy driving remarked that the cats probably belonged to the old woman who lived up on the bald. I remarked that I hadn't seen any houses up there. Dave replied, Oh yeah, she burned up in her cabin about 2 winters ago, they said the chimney must of caught fire. ummm Jake, why are you so white, why you look as if you seen a ghost!
Sorry if this was too long.