The strangest thing I've ever seen in the woods, I saw not too far from where I'm sitting right now in East Texas on our land... a Hyena.

No kidding.

I know this land... we've got 400 acres here, & I've seen coyotes, bobcats, deer, even a very out-of-place (these days) Red Wolf once... all kinds of things over the years, but obviously, this was a first.

I was a kid, and had hunted & played here since I could walk... we knew & know it very well, as it's been in my Family for 80+ years.

So, nothing surprised us... it's our place, after all.

And then one day, while hunting with my Dad & little brother, there about 75 yds in front of us, in about 1" tall grass and facing us, was a friggin' Hyena.

Classic build... long front legs, shorter back legs, a 'mane', big round ears... head at first lowered & then up on a long thick neck as it noticed us and turned to run in the opposite direction and disappeared.

No-one took a shot at it, and we never saw it again.

Where it came from is still unknown... we later found out that miles away, a man that kept various exotic animals had been ordered by the State to have them relocated to a proper place... a zoo, sanctuary... whatever.

Keeping exotics is not unheard-of in this area... my next-door-neighbor (1/2 mile down the road) currently has 2 black bear, wallabies... and various other non-natives.

But instead relocating them, the aforementioned man in a fit of *screw you guys!* released them all... I do know that for years there were tons of sightings of a chicken-killing black panther.

But to my knowledge, we're the only ones that ever saw a Hyena in the East Texas woods.