"Uncomfortable" experiences in the outdoors...

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:45 pm

Saw THIS thread: http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php/ ... 719.0.html and it had some good stories; anyone else have a good one?

homefront · Post by **homefront** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:31 am

Not a hunting experience, but outdoors nonetheless.

I had just bought a new motorcycle, an '08 Kawasaki KLR650, and was riding it each night into Philadelphia to supervise some overnight construction/remodeling work for a large client. We'd usually wrap up around 2 or 3 in the morning, and I'd cruise up the Schuylkill expressway (rt. 76) to go home.
One night it took me 1/2 hour to travel one mile, due to paving work being done on the highway. My clutch hand was not happy, and I promised myself not to make that mistake again.
The next night I looked at a map, and saw rt. 3 cut through Philly up to Broomall, right at highway 476, otherwise known as "the blue route". Looked like a great way to bypass the construction, and even though I'd never been that way before, I decided to try it, and departed the job at 2:30am.
Before I even got 1 mile I hit a detour, and there were no more signs after the first one. I took a road I figured was parallel to the one I meant to be on and kept going.
Very soon I was unhappy.
The road passed through one of the roughest areas I'd ever seen, and it went on forever. Mile after mile of lights and stop signs, past derelict homes, burnt out cars, prostitutes, and wandering denizens staring at my new motorcycle (with a laptop strapped to the back) as I motored by. Needless to say, I broke a few traffic laws where stop signs were concerned. One traffic light had a couple of homeless looking guys standing in the middle of the intersection directing traffic, each giving conflicting directions. The car in front of me hesitated; I didn't and quickly went around them all.
That's when the unthinkable happened - the bike began to sputter - I was out of gas!
Or so I thought. Had it been a normal workday on any other road, I would have been thinking clearly and switched the tank to reserve and probably made it the rest of the way home, but my state of mind wouldn't get past "Holy cats, now what do I do?"
As the bike died, I put it in neutral, got off and started pushing.
Helmet on, jacket zippered, I was working up quite a sweat jogging alongside the bike (uphill), but I didn't dare stop to get comfortable.
I also didn't dare call my wife to come get me - not to that part of town. I doubt I could have even given someone a good description of where the heck I was. It looked like Nagasaki.
Over the next hill I could see the glow of lights. I remember thinking, "this is probably bad - now I'll really be be exposed.".
Cresting the hill, I jumped on the bike and coasted down, and that's when the miracle happened: the glow came from the lights of a Gulph station, and it was open!
I pulled up to a pump, ran my card, and started pumping. I was peering through my helmet into the tank as it filled, when I got the feeling I wasn't alone. Looking up I saw a youth of maybe 17 or 18 standing right in front of me, and 4 others had formed an arc around me and the bike. I wear earplugs when I ride, so I never heard them approach.
The news from the previous summer flashed through my mind - somewhere in Philly, a kid was shot in the back with a Glock 9mm by thieves who wanted his dirtbike - a green Kawasaki.
I stopped pumping and quickly hung up the nozzle.

"Dat a dirtbike?"

"Yup."

"An you ridin' it on da street?"

"Yup."

"Dat yo laptop?"

I have no idea how the next words came out of my mouth - I do recall thinking that I'd run him down if I had to. Instead, I said, "Yeah, this machine is specially licensed to run on the roads. It's been heavily modified - don't stand near the tailpipe when I hit the starter - a flame shoots out!"
He took a half step and leaned to his left to see the back of my bike.
That was all the space and time I needed.
I punched the starter, popped the clutch and roared past him - he jumped out of the way - there was a brief tug at the back of the bike - I jumped the curb and kept going!

I wasn't armed that night. Now I carry whenever I ride.

cnjarvis · Post by **cnjarvis** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:05 am

I've had one particular person who lives near and hunts a property adjacent to the land I hunt drive by my property, stop and fire a couple of shots in the air while I'm hunting. Presumably as a warning? I can't imagine why though.

I don't think very kindly of that kind of BS.

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:51 am

I was at our cabin in PA a couple years ago on an early spring tip with the
boys.

It was almost dark when I heard a cople ATVs stop out front and shut off thier motors.

Just as I got to the kitchen I see two guys in camo running up the walk to the front door.
I had my .44 in hand and asked what they wanted. They couldn't see the revlver below the window.

Turns out they were just lost and cold and a little scared.
I drew them a quick map back to where they belonged and
told them Not to go running up to peoples doors like that.
That's when they noticed the .44 sticking out of my front pocket.

Off they went.

jb

1886 · Post by **1886** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:28 pm

I went to high school on the Jersey shore. We had some really good deer and waterfowl hunting. We also had a problem with feral dogs. The tourist would loose them, the dogs, purposely and accidentally. Anyway, the dogs would become a menace because they were hungry and had little fear of humans. I had a pack of them tree me twice. I will not comment on the outcome. I recently had a similar situation going out of my garage door one morning. Four dogs met me coming out of the door. One animal was the clear leader. He was provocative and demonstrated little fear. The other three were just kind of hanging around for fun. I just happened to have my revolver on my belt that morning but I was so incensed by the leaders aggression that I forgot about my revolver and picked up a shovel and charged him. He ran off after two of my charges but he went reluctantly, growling the whole way. I have no idea what they wanted except maybe one of the cats. It is amazing the transformation "man's best friend" undergoes when they turn feral. 1886.

buckeyeshooter · Post by **buckeyeshooter** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:34 pm

Was about 10 and playing in the forested section of my familys farm with my friends and brother. It was fall and we were enjoying ourselves. I was standing beside a tree when a shot rang out and the bullet impacted about 4 feet over my head and about 3 feet to my left. My father never found the tresspasser who was tresspassing on our place, probably good for the person whoever it was.

From that day on, the land was posted and access was cut off.

bogus bill · Post by **bogus bill** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:22 pm

What ones to tell? I am old and cant list them all. Haveing had worked a number of years in the NPS and conservation dept many years ago and other jobs in the back country plus hunting as a youth, I have been shot at,(several times) around helicopter crashs, run off by a armed moonshiner, had some people kill a guy near me while I was camping, ran into weirdos, wrestled a gun and arrested the guy, helped accident victims, fell through the ice in a lake, had a couple trees fall on or near me, been around bears unarmed, rattlesnake encounters, two days ago rideing the quad, met some young guys rideing side by side down the roadl head on raceing and was narrowly missed, scared to death climbing the mountains years ago and got myself into terriseing situations, you dont get old without things happening! This tread could go on forever!

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:28 pm

I think I was about 13 or 14 and was hiking one of my normal trail routes in the mountains above Lander WY when I came up on the "swimmin hole" which was unaccountably occupied by a Granola Gal in the alltogher...

She certainly wasn't uncomfortable with it...

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:00 pm

"Messed With" by Mex BrushPickers and Asian 'Shroomers a couple times....nasty people. The BrushPickers were introduced to the 1895GS and my G36 on my belt and the 'Shroomers decided they didn't outrank the SBH I was hunting with.....Never even had to point it at anybody

Even dirtbags have sense sometimes

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:22 pm

Homefront----------------That was good!

I know about where you were and you are a lucky man because those hoodlums/animals don't have a whole lot of respect for life. Bet you won't forget to carry anymore!

As for uncomfortable situations--none that strike my mind as when I "think" I'm entering an uncomfortable situation, I don't wait until the others strike first---good or bad intentions by them, I show 'em I'm nuts. Example--- Last year I had a couple of drunk hillbillies who somewhat demanded to use my cell phone (don't have one) while I was woods loafing out in the middle of nowhere one day upstate and I said, "Sure, you can use it, here it is". I whipped out a 5 and 1/2" SA Colt from under my shoulder.----They took off. Hey, the East makes you this way. --------------Sixgun

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:33 pm

OI,
Do not mean to demean your post, but in my younger days I saw that often enough to where I became comfortable with it.

Old Time Hunter · Post by **Old Time Hunter** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:29 pm

Heck, I have had so many incidents that I thought they were normal...till I discussed them one time with my daughter's counselor. She said that if I thought they were normal, that I must be nuts, therefore all my incidents are abnormal and they must've been "uncomfortable". Like the time my bride and I were camping out in a "wilderness" area back in '75, she climbed out of joint sleeping bag in the middle of the night to relieve herself and apparently I invited a naked woman to climb in and take her place. At least that is how she qualified her anger as she ripped the tent from the stakes and beat me with a stick. Turns out the lady was from a different camp, got up to relieve herself too, just turned left instead of right and climbed in the wrong tent! Our tents were only a couple of hundred yards apart in the forest and she couldn't tell the difference in the 3 am darkness. My wife acted like she calmed down and gave her a blanket, but even ten years after the fact she would ask out of the blue:"I'd still like to know how you found a slut in the woods?"

'Bout eight years after that incident, and there were more in between, we were at a Country Music Jamboree. The bands played until dark or so, but I was tired from too many barely pops (at that time, I had an affinity for beer) and decided to sack out early. The rest of the group, were sitting around the campfire as I settled in. Later, I awoke finding the need to relieve myself, climbed out of the tent, saw the campfire empty, figured it was later than I thought and everyone had sacked out too. Walked around the back of the tent about 10-20 yards, pulled my thingy out, and with a gasp of relief started to empty my bladder. All hell broke loose! darn field stadium lights turned on and there I was standing next to the stage showing 20,000 people how to pee! Apparently the bands just took an hour break or so.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:33 pm

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:33 pm

mescalero1 wrote:OI,
Do not mean to demean your post, but in my younger days I saw that often enough to where I became comfortable with it.

Unless you were hiking with a Preacher... as I was.

Forget hearing the sounds of silence/nature, I spent the weekend hearing about the Evils of Nakedness...

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:35 pm

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:35 am

BlaineG wrote:"Messed With" by Mex BrushPickers and Asian 'Shroomers a couple times....nasty people. The BrushPickers were introduced to the 1895GS and my G36 on my belt and the 'Shroomers decided they didn't outrank the SBH I was hunting with.....Never even had to point it at anybody Even dirtbags have sense sometimes

The thing that worries me in those situations is the aftermath; cowards that have been given a pass are likely to go get a gun and try to drygulch you or call the law and claim you threatened them or shot at them; with the way law enforcement is anymore, they're liable to scramble the national guard helicopters to come looking for "a crazed gunman" (you) based on the word of a coward with a grudge.

For this reason, I prefer that folks don't know I'm armed until it's time they need to know.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:53 am

Don't ask, Don't tell, but be ready to SSS...

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:38 am

Old Ironsights wrote:Don't ask, Don't tell, but be ready to SSS...

OI, my concerns over what discomfort someone else might cause me isn't enough to justify killing them. In this day of cell phones and GPS, if it comes down to something like that, you can always call in the cops. If the cops refuse to come, well, you tried.

If you live in California, where you can't just do what's necessary and go on about your business without being sued, that's your own darn fault and you shoulda planned better.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:54 am

My point is, if "they need to know" then the situation has already devolved to a Life or Death decision... and I plan on winning that decision.

madman4570 · Post by **madman4570** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:42 pm

The problem is you are standing there at this gas station with your bike.These guys come up and ask about your bike?
You are in a "very bad" spot because if they decide they want it and to shoot you even suspecting you are armed "boom" they will just pull up and shoot before you ever clear leather.A lot of these kids now a days wont wait.The guy in the front will step aside after he feels a kick in the heel from the guy in the back which you never saw his piece come out because of the front guy blocking it.(They have it down to a science because of a lot of pratice)
Now If you pull your piece because of just being intimidated prior to them actually doing anything to you, your screwed too.(maybe they are unarmed and were just asking about your bike? Now the brother working at the gas station is witness to you pointing your gun at them?? Good Luck in Philly/where ever with that one! explaining it.
If its just the bike/its insured let em steal it!
Under those certain conditions unless they are unarmed"Very Highly Doubtful" in that area/with that many guys etc.I dont know what is the right answer.
that gun might not help!

homefront · Post by **homefront** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:50 pm

I could care less about the bike or the laptop - I surely wouldn't shoot anyone over stuff like that... go ahead, take it!
It was my LIFE I was worried about, and the wife and daughter I'm lucky enough to still have waiting for me at home. I'm grateful that they still need dad, and that's all the motivation I need to survive.

MikeS. · Post by **MikeS.** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:46 pm

Back in the 70s and 80s and maybe still the Hell's Angels would have a big get together at Bass Lake in the Sierra foothills, Memorial day weekend I think it was.

Being a dumb butt teenager me and some buddies decided to go and check them out 1 time. Boy that was a mistake.

Noah Zark · Post by **Noah Zark** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:53 pm

Don't anyone laugh. I think folks here know I'm a pretty reliable straight shooter.

Back in the mid 70s after I transferred from active USMC to USMCR and went to college, I was home for a summer because I couldn't find summer work near the college and got on at a job I had back in high school working for a local logger. Not all the tandems and tri-axle log trucks had Prentice loading booms, and the GMC I drive was one without, so as I waited for the truck to get loaded at a staging yard at the start of some skidder trails, I walked off into the woods to ah, urinate and kill some time. I was walking along a game trail within sight of the loader, my truck, and the staging yard but still in the woods deep enough that I really couldn't make out any of the equipment behind me.

There are some pretty large conglomerate rock boulders in north central PA, as big as houses in some areas and on some hillsides. The game trail went between two such large conglomerate boulders, both were perhaps 12 ft tall. I walked past the boulders maybe eight or 10 yards and the temperature in the woods IMMEDIATELY felt like it dropped 20 degrees as I took two more steps. The hair stood up on my neck and my skin was a mess of goose bumps. There was a faint buzzing, crackling sound like arc welding, and an oily odor something like oil or coal burning, but no smoke that I could see. Maybe like when a fluorescent ballast gives out, but without the burning electrical smell. Hard to describe.

I slammed the brakes on right there, hair standing on edge, heart pounding, with the reptile part of my brain screaming, "RUN!" I took a couple sliding steps backward, listening to the faint buzzing / crackling noise that sounded a bit like an ongoing electrical short, or arc welding.

I was looking forward all around, through the 180 degrees of vision, and caught movement to the left of center, about 20-25 yards ahead at my 11 o'clock. The woods in that area was blurry, almost shimmering like heat off a car hood or blacktop in August, but the blurriness was a section of woods about 12-15 feet wide and maybe as tall or taller, I'm guessing. I stood there for maybe 30 seconds, maybe five minutes, I don't know. The patch of woods at my 11 o'clock continued to waver and shimmer slightly, and the buzz and odor didn't let up. I knew I did NOT want to go near that spot of woods. There were no animal noises whatsover.

After the 30 seconds or five minutes passed the buzz started to fade fairly noticeably, and the blurry shimmery effect seemed to fade with it. When the noise was gone, the woods at 11 o'clock looked just like the rest of the woods in front of me. The woods felt warmer. The gooseflesh feeling went away.

I backed up till I got to the rocks, then backed past them before turning and walking quickly back to the staging yard. The loader operator had four or five more logs to load and I just climbed into the GMC's cab and sat behind the wheel. I wasn't there five seconds and started to shake uncontrollably. I sat there shaking until the loader hit the horn, signalling me to pull ahead and chain up the load. I about fell out of the truck and started laying out the load chains, but the work sorta got me straightened out and the shaking went away. I felt wasted, like after a 20 mile hike with a full ALICE pack, ammo load, two canteens, and M16A1.

I didn't say anything to anyone until about six or eight years ago when I was in a gun shop and some regulars were swapping hunting stories. One of the guys related a story that was identical to my experience. Different location in north central PA woods, but there was no doubt in my mind he saw the same thing I did. None of the guys razzed him, and I said "I saw that too, back in the summer of 1975." One of the other guys said his deceased father told him about seeing the same effect decades earlier.

Noah

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:05 pm

homefront wrote:I could care less about the bike or the laptop - I surely wouldn't shoot anyone over stuff like that... go ahead, take it!
It was my LIFE I was worried about, and the wife and daughter I'm lucky enough to still have waiting for me at home. I'm grateful that they still need dad, and that's all the motivation I need to survive.

Your bike, in this instance, WAS your life. Not being able to get away very well could have brought an end to your life.

madman4570 · Post by **madman4570** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:29 pm

Noah,
Come on now? Being the 70s

Out in the woods wandering aimlessly

buzzing in your ears

Blurred vision

No all kidding aside Noah, that would defintely scare the heck out of anyone! Never know all the strange things going on?

Noah Zark · Post by **Noah Zark** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:51 pm

Madman:

Weren't no 'shrooms picked during my travels down that game path. You missed the "USMC" and "USMCR" part . . .

I've intentionally returned to that spot maybe six times in the past 34 years, and although it's progressively gotten more overgrown, it's the same spot. And I can stand there and it's just another spot in the woods; as if nothing ever happened.

I see you're from PA; this location is close on the border between MCKean and Elk Counties, some east of US219.

Noah

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:13 pm

Noah,
I have a " lost time " incident in the New Mexico desert I still can not
explain and like you, I have been back there numerous times.
The situation will not repeat itself, logic dictates what did happen could not have happened, bit it did.
It is a memory I truely wish I could rid myself of, but it will not go away.

bogus bill · Post by **bogus bill** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:33 pm

Someone mentioned haveing a cell phone and GPS, and not being prone to being so primed to shoot. The wife and I spend a lot of time here in utah on the trails with our 2 seat quad. It is rare when our cell phone actualy works!
On those outer space things: Back in about 1953 in rual wisconsin my aunt and uncle were visiting my folks. My girl cousin and I went sledding. We were about 12 years old. It was a super cold, still, very bright moonlight night. With snow on the ground and bright moon you almost could read a newspaper. A bright light came on in the sky that looked like a secound moon, yet you could see the moon elsewhere! Then it went out just like a flashlight. Then it reappeared in a different part of the sky. It was completely motionless when lit. It would stay lit and motonless for something like 30 secounds at a time, go out and reappear somewhere else. We watched this for maybe 15 minuets!
I lost contact with my cousin for many years. She became a deputy. We both retired about the same time. Our paths crossed again about 9 years ago. I brought up the subject and she remembered the incident exactly as I described it now.

samsi · Post by **samsi** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:25 pm

Noah, I've heard of similar happenings myself, but thankfully haven't experienced one personally. In addition to PA, I've heard of strange things in Oklahoma, northern Arizona and New Mexico as well. I believe there's a Navajo word for them, though I don't recall it at the moment.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:33 pm

There is.

geobru · Post by **geobru** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:47 am

When I was about 15, I spent a week with a buddy and his folks, camped out in the desert along the Columbia River in central Washington. We stayed in a tent about 300 feet from his folk's trailer, and we pretty much came and went as we pleased. Our main armament was recurve bows and we spent the daylight hours ranging in the sagebrush, looking for rabbits, rattlesnakes, or anything else to shoot at.

One day, we were farther away from our camp than usual and jumped a coyote out of a particularly heavy patch of sage. We suspected that he was living there, so we went back early the next morning, with sharpened broadheads, and we still hunted through that patch of sage looking for that coyote. He jumped out of his bed about 15 yards in front of me and I got a good shot at him crossing from left to right, but he turned and ran straight away from me and the arrow passed by him about 4 inches to his right. We both took another shot at about 70 yards as he hightailed it out of there. In our youthful wisdom, we decided that we would go back there that night and try to catch him again.

We left our camp around 2 AM and walked without lights through the familiar part of the hike with the moonlight lighting our way. We were about a mile or so out and were getting into areas that were more unfamiliar to us. We were within about a half mile of our destination, walking quietly in the moonlight, when either a bobcat or a cougar screamed within quarter of a mile!

I think that is the first time I ever had the hair stand up on the back of my neck. We both almost dislocated our fingers turning those flashlights on!

That was the first and last time we ever tried night hunting with a bow and arrow!

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:49 am

mescalero1 wrote:There is.

You tease!

Noah Zark · Post by **Noah Zark** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:50 am

mescalero1 wrote:Noah,
I have a " lost time " incident in the New Mexico desert I still can not
explain and like you, I have been back there numerous times.
The situation will not repeat itself, logic dictates what did happen could not have happened, bit it did.
It is a memory I truely wish I could rid myself of, but it will not go away.

Mesc:

I didn't lose any time, I was gone long enough for the loader operator to lay about a dozen or 14 nice black cherry logs on the GMC tandem I drove that summer, and have only four left to load; I think he had picked up the fifth last log when I got back to the staging yard, I can't recall now.

I have no explanation for what I experienced, and I won't try to speculate. Whatever it was, it's not common, but it apparently happens because other people have seen it.

Noah

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:30 pm

samsi wrote:Noah, I've heard of similar happenings myself, but thankfully haven't experienced one personally. In addition to PA, I've heard of strange things in Oklahoma, northern Arizona and New Mexico as well. I believe there's a Navajo word for them, though I don't recall it at the moment.

Is it,"Peyote"? Thunderbird? Firewater?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:34 pm

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:34 pm

We lived in Arkansas for a year (1970-71)... went up on the Federal land north of Ozark to fish one day.

Came across a guy with his kid... camping out of a VW Beatle. The guy was dressed in GI clothes head to toe and clean cut...Being a kid I noticed everything (or just nosey)... he had a Garand in the back of the beetle.

What really made me take note... he carried a 45 ACP (the guns were not the weird part) but this guy had his fishing pole rigged with a hot 45 ACP round for a sinker. I dont guess I was scared... but nearly forty years later I still wonder what was up with this guy.

Stranges noises and lights in the woods? You betcha. Seen a few things and heard some things we couldnt find tracks for the next day.

Noah Zark · Post by **Noah Zark** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:36 am

Hillbilly wrote: . . . I dont guess I was scared... but nearly forty years later I still wonder what was up with this guy.

Probably just a Marine.

They tend to make do with what they have, and what works.

Semper Fi,

Noah
USMC, USMCR '72-'86

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:41 am

Three uncomfortable Black Bear encounters:

Carrying Fish:
I'd taken a friend of mine into a remote wilderness lake that was about a one mile hike in through the bush. We were fishing for Northern Pike and had a successful afternoon. About 1/3 of the way back along the path, we rounded a curve in the path, and there was a large Black Bear standing on its hind feet looking at me (with a stringer full of fish) and sniffing. My friend who was behind me bolted back down the path, but I'd always been taught since a pre-schooler to never run from an animal. I stood there for a couple seconds hoping the bear would drop down and move off (plan A) and I also formulated plans B, C, and D. Plan B was to start slowly walking backwards away from the bear; plan C was if he started for me, I would very reluctantly lay the fish down on the path as I continued to slowly walk backwards, and plan D was if none of that worked and the bear still came for me, then I'd use my knife on him. As I took the first step backwards, I unsnapped my sheath knife with my free hand. Suddenly the bear dropped down and moved off to the left and kept on going. Uncomfortable moment over.

Swathing hay:
I was swathing hay on my Dad's farm where I grew up in central Manitoba in the middle of a summer afternoon. Suddenly, I saw an adult Black Bear running flat out straight toward me, head-on, about 100 yards straight ahead. I figured he must have just been spooked by something and hadn't noticed my swather making all kinds of racket and commotion as it swathed (a self-propelled Versatile with no cab). However, he continued to run full-bore, straight at me and as he closed in, I could see that he was looking straight at me. He was closing in fast and covered the first 50 yards in only a few seconds. In the next second or so, as he continued to streak toward me, I decided that he was going to attack and I frantically tried to think of a weapon, but all I could think of was a hammer back in the tool box. I decided to use my swather as a weapon, so I raised the reel slightly (the big paddle type thing that goes round and pushes the hay over the cutting bar) so that the bear would be forced to go under the paddle into the cutting bar, and I also raised the cutting bar so it would hit the bear at about the point where its front legs attach to its body and then I pushed the lever full ahead and the two of us charged each other ... a Black Bear going full speed vs. a swather going full speed. By this time, I figured the bear must have lost its mind to be charging something so big and loud as a swather .... it must be completely demented ... raving berserk and if so, I could have a rough time of it if it got through the cutting bar in shape to continue its attack. A couple seconds before impact, the bear suddenly broke off its charge and ran off to the left and continued going. Uncomfortable moment over.

The Bear Den:
I was hunting Whitetail Deer on my Dad's farm where I grew up, until a half hour after sunset, when legal hunting time ends. I started on the walk back to the farmyard, about a mile through bush, when I noticed off to the side a place in the bush where it looked like someone had been raking leaves into a pile. Curious, I walked over to the disturbed area and then noticed a large hole dug under a Quaking Aspen tree. I walked up to the entrance, knelt down, unslung my knapsack with my .45-70 Marlin across my knees, dug out my Maglite, focused the beam on the ground beside me, and then swung the beam into the hole. Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! There was a massive face of a huge Black Bear less than two feet from my crouched knees, staring straight at me! In one smooth motion, I grabbed my knapsack with my left hand as I cocked my 45-70 with my right, and rose to my feet. I accidentally dropped my good leather glove at the entrance, about 1 & 1/2 feet from the huge black face still staring at me. I kept the muzzle of my Marlin pointed straight at his face as I crouched once again and carefully reached out for, and retrieved my glove and then stood up and backed slowly away. Uncomfortable moment over.

Modoc ED · Post by **Modoc ED** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:31 am

The wife and I were fishing at Lilly Lake (right on the CA, OR border) which is pretty remote when a couple of guys drove up a 100-yards or so away and got out of their truck. They started throwing small rocks into the lake and easing toward us making smart-butt comments and waving at the wife and I. I'd finally had enough and pulled my derringer out of the bottom of my tackle box and placed it on top of the tackle box and said to the wife, "I could just as soon shoot the fish as hook em". The two duffuses stopped, changed direction, and headed back to their truck and drove away. Once they left, I went over to my truck and took out my shotgun along with some #4 Buckshot shells and the wife and I continued fishing. We had a nice brook trout dinner that night.

I always carry a gun in my tackle box and a shotgun in my truck. When out and about in the National Forest or in remote areas I have one or the other handy. I've found that the most threatening situations now-a-days involve two-legged animals, not four-legged animals.

When I go down my driveway, I turn left to go to town and turn right to go to the Modoc National Forest the entrance of which is only about a mile and a half from the house. Over the last few years they've found several marijuana farms in the forest and it just makes sense to have a gun with you whenever going out for any reason into the forest or any remote area for that matter.

Malamute · Post by **Malamute** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:54 am

Uncomfortable?

I've slept on an awful lot of rocks, and uneven slopes. And out under the stars at below zero, and in the back of my truck at 30 below. Been woke up many many times by the dog low growling, looking off into the darkness. A quick look with a light with a red filter showed that it was usually a coyote skulking around checking us out. Been rained on a lot of times, and snowed on. It's uncomfortable to not get a bath in a couple weeks or so. I got uncomfortable those several times waking up finding my 1911 under my pillow cocked and unlocked, (one of the many things that turned me off of them). It can be uncomfortable sleeping with a carbine in your bed, (I decided buckhorn sights and anything sharp edged was EVIL) you have to coordinate turning over. Keeps the gun warm and handy out in the hills tho. Brushing your teeth in winter is uncomfortable, smacking the 2 liter bottle against the bumper of the truck or a tree to break up the ice and work out enough unfrozen water to rinse with. Putting your boots on when it's been zero that night is uncomfortable.

bogus bill · Post by **bogus bill** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:08 pm

Okay, here is my bike/camping war story. Back around 1967 I rode harleys. Not part of the chopper crowd but dressers. The girl friend and I went for a ride up the kern river in california out of kernville. I am guessing it was memorial day. We didnt have a tent, just sleeping bags. I had been there before and since many times. For some reason this time it was the most crowded I had ever seen it. You could hardly find a place to pull over along the river. Mostly outlaw type bikers.
I bought gas and noticed the attendent looked mad and serious with a hogleg strapped on. That was unusual in california. We found a spot to sack out. I was aggravated by the hooting and hollering and boomboxs late in the night. Laying out in downtown LA overnight would have been more peacefull! The next morning I had a dead battery on the bike. I pulled it, left the girl friend and started tramping down the road. I noticed a group of armed guys standing with guns about 70 yards from where we had been sacked out. They looked glum, didnt tell me anything and I didnt ask. Then as I walked down the road several police cars and a ambulance went by. Finaly a sheriffs car pulled over and gave me a ride. He told me a guy was kicked unconcious back there, and the deputy was sure he wasnt "going to make it". He said his face was even kicked off! With all the partying going on around us that happened 70 yards away and we never knew it! I no doubt was packing, but didnt have a clue.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 2:37 pm

I was stationed at Ft Irwin, CA back in the mid 90s. I had been out in the desert and was working my way through a narrow draw that a small trail led too from an abandoned mine shaft. Luckily I was alone and was moving quietly. I had worked myself right over the top of a small group of gang members running a METH Lab. I was armed, although only with a .22 LR. I backed out slowly ensuring I watched my trail and let the authorities know. However, they were very up front and stated they would not be going out anytime soon and that they would let their narcotic section know and someone would eventually investigate the lead. I doubt they did, I was never contacted.

lever-4-life · Post by **lever-4-life** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 6:34 pm

The most uncomfortable I have ever been in in the outdoors was on the job. I was working my way through a fairly thick timber plot measuring trees and recording on my clip board as I went. I had one of the the earbuds from my ipod in and was making my way down to the plot line enjoying the early season light rain when I walked into a clearing. (My dad a combat L.R.P. would have kicked my a#$ for that bonehead move right there) Through the mist I began to notice the outlines of plants, Sticky, Green, smells like a skunk plants... I got that feeling where your stomach weighs about a thousand pounds and every thing starts spinning. I pulled back my cruiser vest and unsnapped my glock but still kept it hidden as I tried to sneak to the tree line. Once I made it to the trees I took off like a shot up the hill. It took me about twenty minuets of a full out run to get back to my truck.

bogus bill · Post by **bogus bill** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 6:54 pm

In 1964 I was working in west virginna treating old utility poles. I was following the line through the woods in a remote area. A probable moonshinner that looked like the guy in deliverance met me at a fence with 94 winchester and told me that was far as I was going. I didnt argue the point.

morgan in nm · Post by **morgan in nm** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:30 pm

I remember once when I was young, we(dad, older brother, and me) were dove hunting at on old ranch house that we recieved permission to use. Apparently, the old half fallen down house was being used afterall by some weed growers who weren't too happy about us being there. They fled at the muzzles of shotguns and my dad gathered us up to talk to the rancher who didn't know anything about it. He called the cops but by the time they came out, the plants were gone.

That same year, we were awoke to some strange noises. The dogs were going nuts trying to dig there way under the house. There was no sound at all but about what looked like a couple of miles away, were some strange bright lights hovering in the air. I was watching them with my folks and all of a sudden, they went their seperate ways faster than anything I have ever seen. We all packed in the car and spent the rest of the night in town at a hotel. Later, my grandmother wanted to retire and live at that house which was absolutley in the middle of nowhere near clayton, nm. My grandparents stayed there for 2 months and seen something one night and moved out the next morning. Grandma never said what she had seen but both of them were on there knees praying the whole night. They never set foot on that property again.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:41 pm

madman4570 wrote: If its just the bike/its insured let em steal it!
Under those certain conditions unless they are unarmed"Very Highly Doubtful" in that area/with that many guys etc.I dont know what is the right answer.
that gun might not help!

That's when you wish you had a James Bond dynamite-in-the-gas-tank with remote detonater, so you had the last laugh...

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:59 pm

morgan in nm,
Do you remember what year that was?

madman4570 · Post by **madman4570** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:19 pm

007 rigged Gas Tank w/remote

Right on Doc!!!

morgan in nm · Post by **morgan in nm** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:50 am

mescalero1 wrote:morgan in nm,
Do you remember what year that was?

84; if your talking about the lights.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:33 am

We had "lights" over in my area in 84, just wondering.