Dodgy dealings in the woods..

Why would it be obvious? It's unlikely that you are the only person who uses the woodland and sometimes encounters these dubious individuals. And please keep your dogs under control. The birds and squirrels deserve to live in peace. They are not a facility provided for the entertainment of your pets.

Report to the local police station.

It's probably drugs, the young lads in puffa jackets will be selling and the vulnerable looking ones will be buying - either to sell on, or for themselves. Surprised they bother going into the woods really, must be just a quiet patch they've decided on. It's more brazen where I live and done in the street. Very annoying to get held up by 2 roadmen straddling a side-street while they exchange packages through the window ( nice street, detached houses mostly). Happens everywhere these days.
This case is probably low level as they aren't even using cars. Just ignore it and carry on, seems good enough for the police to.

There is no way that drug dealers are going to go out to the middle of the woods somewhere! They don't even need to leave their own home half the time.

Geocaching?

It could be anything , drugs, cottaging, most likely drugs but who knows ?
However personally unless you are walking two giant hungry wolves I’d probably avoid walking there again

Is there a train yard/ train parking anywhere near that spot? You may have found some graffiti artists sneaking onto the lines to paint the trains or paint the walls alongside the tracks. The clothes fit the demographic. They'd need rucksacks for the spray paint.

Gamekeeper wouldn't be too pleased about his/her pheasants being chased.
Re squirrels, it's actually illegal to allow dogs to ''hunt'' squirrels- the squirrels have to be shot, and then can be retrieved by a dog.

Could they be trainspotters hanging around waiting for trains??

Definitely sounds drug related. There was a group of young males loitering in woods a few miles away here- scooters and bikes, the woods adjacent to a large council estate.

So... you let your dogs chase wildlife /flush pheasants out... or possibly you haven't adequate control over your dogs whilst on someone else's land / in a public area. But you are worried about criminality in the woods? Ironic, no?

It could be cruising? I know a lot about this as I had a bisexual ex who did it when he was younger. Also involves drugs a lot of the time so attracts dealers. Tends to be in built up areas though like Burgess Park and Clapham common in London in wooded areas. They hang around at dusk but things get going after dark.

Drugs are largely delivered by royal mail these days, must be something else🤷🏻‍♀

Do you have a local Facebook community page or neighbourhood watch/chat group you could share this with?

Magic mushroom season ends in early November and psilocybin mushrooms in the uk grow in dung fields (not in woods). You’d see them foraging if it was this, and finding the idea of foragers in while puffa jackets and nice trainers highly amusing.

Drug dealers usually either deliver, or have a safe dry place for buyers to come to, or go somewhere where there is a lot of footfall. They don’t bury valuable stashes in the woods like pirates then stand around the stash waiting for custom.

it’s obviously cottaging, or possible a single or few male prostitute(s) who are using the spot as a rendezvous point.

I definitely think drug pick up point then. Age, clothing and bikes make me think delivery boys. People aren't coming there to buy which is why you see one or two . They're fulfilling orders.

Nah. It's not drugs. Why the fuck would you deal in some random wood? It's cottaging. And of course they don't get covered in mud on their white puffer jackets...

Can you go at a different time of day? Presumably they don't spend the whole day there?

Women have always been frightened of this. It's nothing new unfortunately.

Because most drug dealers aren’t murderers.
If they do murder someone, it’s usually another drug dealer.

It’s extremely rare to be murdered by someone you don’t know.

A lone man in the woods for no reason, is much more of a threat than a man dealing drugs or meeting up with someone for sex.

I don't think this is really a feminist issue. I think a lot of guys would wary in the same situation. I'd say it does sound a bit county lines too. Unlikely the OP would come to any hurt, but far better not to be there in case of a possible police investigation and becoming a witness.

Tell the police. Don't go for a bit. See what happens.

I think it really depends on where you are and where you were brought up. I've spent most of my life rurally and walking through dark quiet places wouldn't worry me in the slightest. My dog when he was alive ran around woods, fields, down riversides and loved it.