Moose was also my first thought.

Another possibility: were you camping with friends who knew this was your first time camping? It’s not unknown for new campers to be “initiated” their first night out. (It might be helpful to know that the bag limit on snipe is 5, at least in Ohio. Your chances of limiting out are very slim.)

My most memorable such incident involved some brand new Scouts. The trop went to summer camp, and they were assigned a campsite near the edge of the property, on the other side of the fence from a pasture full of cows. About an hour after they were all snug in their tents, I saw some of our older Scouts headed into the woods, circling around the camp to the fence. All of a sudden they came running through the camp, mooing at the top of their lungs and ringing a big cowbell. Never will forget the chaos that followed...