Don't go camping alone.

There are many reasons to use caution when going into unfamiliar places, urban or rural. Solo camping...to think or whatever, is never a good idea, especially in the back country. The is risk of injury, possibility of getting lost, bears, or big cats might find you fair game, or two legged d-bags.

And there are other ... things out there, things that nobody talks about, as others will not believe it.

 

I camp and hike and mountain bike alone a lot.

But I always have either my handgun or my shotgun with me.

They are the best friends anyone can have along.

 

As these are physical manifestations, a gun might be effective.

 

Anywhere on this Earth where you go and anything that you do there has to take into account the threats there.

For example, I would not go anywhere in the Arab world without a platoon of infantry with me and a QRF standing by.

When you go camping, you don't have a platoon of infantry or a QRF at your disposal.

Ergo in bear country you need a 12 gauge slug shotgun. If no bears then a 45ACP or 357 magnum will suffice. And don't forget extra ammo. Where there is one bear there are usually more too. Same with 2 legged predators.

You should also have a satellite phone with you if you are going alone. That way you can call for help and evac from anywhere. If someone else is with you they can always go back and get help.

Since these items each adds weight, you have to take the weight into account for your backpack, if you are backpacking. Obviously in a 4WD you don't have to worry about weight as much.

 

Why not take a good scout dog like Yukon King?









Rin Tin Tin:










or Lassie:









After all, they are not called man's best friend for nothing!

 

Not sure what kind of 'monster' you think is hiding in the woods, ready to kill us. I live right on the edge of a forest wilderness (as in,1200 square miles), and walk into that forest several times a week, often at dusk. I don't take anything more dangerous than a house key, a dodgy android phone, and a medium sized dog. And I'm a small, skinny female. Sometimes I take one or two of my kids. Sometimes I take my husband. Sometimes I take my elderly parents, or even more elderly parents-in-law. Are we risking death at the hands of a secretive 8' hairy hominid?

 

As for the camping and hiking thing, pffft. The entire point of doing that stuff is to be well away from mankind, and the works of mankind.

 

Whaaaaaaat?????

Did you not know that the Snow Man is the friendliest chap in the forest? Why, he is so friendly, that he has been known to:


1) deliver garlic to widows & orphans:






2) share marsh mellows with lonely old campers:







3) cheerfully walk a dog for a neighbor who may be too tired or sickly to do such an undertaking:







4) guard your home against intruders and squatters:








5) that's why loving the Snow Man is patriotic:







Everyone loves Sasquatch - that's why he has such a pretty lady friend:











Ain't she a cutie?


So next time the Snow Man is around, please serve him a well deserved portion of bacon and pancakes ~ he'll love you for it.

 

We usually have organic energy bars for breakfast (we travel too light to be frying up pancakes and bacon). Will Snow Dude be okay with something like that?

 

Why, sure. He has many friends in high places and has been known to indulge in a few burgers, fries, and malts at Mickey D's:

 

Seriously ... is the OP insinuating that Bigfoot lurks in the woods?

I want to know, because I've recently noticed similar 'warnings' and claims around and about. I'm a flaming skeptic (I also think that only skeptics should ever 'research' mythological beasts - believers cannot be trusted), but it strikes me as interesting that the Unknown Hominid is being seen more often than he was in his heyday (the 1970s). Why now? Two possibilities. More people have access to the tropes via internet/phones/cameras, and either imagine things out of boredom, or have an eye to scamming. OR, the creatures' habitats are now so reduced - and humans so legion, that they can't hide as effectively as they once did.

My money would be on the former, for most of the 'sightings' claimed in the US. One quick look at the areas of sightings tells you that almost all of them are either not even in significant wilderness areas with good corridors (for movement/escape), but are sometimes in relatively tiny patches of forest, surrounded by farmland and towns. No large mammal could survive unseen in such locations. It's a no-brainer, really. Outside of the US, though, you do sometimes wonder. After all, other nations have far more extensive and less 'humanised' wilderness areas. Like my neighbour the 1200 square mile forest - in which not a single human being lives. Largish herbivorous mammals are brutally killed in there, from time to time. Whole 'herds' almost wiped out. We have no large carnivores, so how are they dying? And we often hear really really odd 'animal' noises coming from the forest. The dogs in our street go nuts, but we never think anything of it - we just put it down to living on the edge of a forest. Even though we know every animal sound of every variety of animal which lives in that forest, and we don't recognise the really really odd noise which makes dogs go crazy. We just dismiss it as odd, and forget about it 5 minutes later. Even when we hear that odd sound, and 10 minutes later a helicopter comes in really low (like, blow your trees around low) and circles overhead for an hour. At 9pm at night. Even when multiple choppers circle the area for hours at a time for the following three days. Unmarked helicopters.

You never put all of these things together until someone provides the missing link (pun intended). All of these things happen here, and we have never connected them. No reason we should. All can be explained separately. Certain birds are great mimics and make amazing sounds. Wild dogs howl. Foxes say weird stuff. Domestic dogs will bark at anything. Helicopters search for humans .. at night. Helicopters circle over forests during the day to a) search for humans, b) check fire reports, or c) carry tourists. Large herbivorous mammals can be killed brutally by the aforementioned wild dogs (and that was in fact, the official explanation). Etc etc.

 

What? You don't believe in Big Foot {Snow Man}?

You might as well say there is no thing as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunnies, Mother Goose, or Glinda the Good Witch of the South!

 

I cannot imagine carrying any kind of weapon into the wilderness while biking/hiking/camping. In all my years of outdoor pursuits, amongst outdoorsy people, I don't think I've met a single person who carried a weapon.

 

Oddly enough .. no I don't!

I'd love it if unknown critters still had enough wilderness to exist undiscovered and undisturbed by man, but I suspect those days are long gone

 

Just watched this. Sounds like a psychotic breakdown. Text book stuff.

I thought it was going to be interesting :/

 

Ah, but those Good Spirits are out there:











They are celebrated every year on Beltane which generally falls on May 1.

 

I've never understood Pentangle.

 

Really? I always enjoyed their music:







Was always a fan of Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Comus and the like.

 

I like 'em, I just don't understand 'em.

You're an old hippy, aint ya

 

tree hugging is the order of the day!

 

I hiked for miles in deep snow on Saturday.

not a soul around.

if i yelled for help, no one would have heard.

I loved it.

 

you remind me of my all time favorite poem:





Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood
William Cullen Bryant, 1794 - 1878


Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needs
No school of long experience, that the world
Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen
Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares,
To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood
And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade
Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze
That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm
To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here
Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men
And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse
Fell, it is true, upon the unsinning earth,
But not in vengeance. God hath yoked to guilt
Her pale tormentor, misery. Hence, these shades
Are still the abodes of gladness; the thick roof
Of green and stirring branches is alive
And musical with birds, that sing and sport
In wantonness of spirit; while below
The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect,
Chirps merrily. Throngs of insects in the shade
Try their thin wings and dance in the warm beam
That waked them into life. Even the green trees
Partake the deep contentment; as they bend
To the soft winds, the sun from the blue sky
Looks in and sheds a blessing on the scene.
Scarce less the cleft-born wild-flower seems to enjoy
Existence, than the winged plunderer
That sucks its sweets. The massy rocks themselves,
And the old and ponderous trunks of prostrate trees
That lead from knoll to knoll a causey rude
Or bridge the sunken brook, and their dark roots,
With all their earth upon them, twisting high,
Breathe fixed tranquillity. The rivulet
Sends forth glad sounds, and tripping o’er its bed
Of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks,
Seems, with continuous laughter, to rejoice
In its own being. Softly tread the marge,
Lest from her midway perch thou scare the wren
That dips her bill in water. The cool wind,
That stirs the stream in play, shall come to thee,
Like one that loves thee nor will let thee pass
Ungreeted, and shall give its light embrace.

 

I see a lot of black bear tracks and scat, but have never been bothered by a bear, never even saw one, but they are there.

Had a wild hog sprint through camp in the middle of the night chased by a swamp cougar. Have heard coyotes stalk, take down, and eat a hunting dog left in the woods in the middle of the night. Seen fifteen coyotes running together and they knew where my camp was.

I've had a beaver run me off a sandbar by slapping down its tail every couple of minutes relentlessly, never even seen it. Knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep at all, so broke camp when the moon came up, loaded the canoe, paddled all night slow in 25 degrees and then paddled all day. I've had a bobcat want to argue over water rights near dusk and change its mind with a warning shot.

I couldn't get any sleep if I were unarmed. Iron with your hand on it is very comforting when it's remote, just you, nature, quiet, and suddenly you got movement.

 

It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it. Quite euphoric!

 

Again, I cannot imagine. We have some deadly critters here (alot, actually), but for some reason we just don't worry about them enough to want to carry weapons. Most of them can be 'outrun', so I suppose there's that.

I think a lot of this is cultural, more than anything. We do have external dangers (animals, the odd crazy person, etc) in our forests, but we disregard them. That may be foolish, but it's ingrained. We just don't factor it in to our planning. I camp and hike often, and have done so all my life .. yet I've never once considered any risks but pilot error. EG, not taking weather into consideration, inappropriate clothing, badly timed creek jumps, etc.