A Night In The Woods... (page 4)

Justice-One

And some wonder why I go into the woods heavily armed! Holy Jesus, that is a BIG bear!!! Man, it makes me think my M14 is pop gun.

First off, I am not saying that you should not go camping in the woods. I am only addressing the fear part. What you are basically saying is that you conquered your fear. I submit that you have not. Are you still afraid of bears and cougars? It depends on whether or not you have ample protection from them. Is your fear a rational one. Without a weapon, a bear that saw you as a threat or as food would probably win. Does carrying said weaponry with you make you brave? Not in my opinion. You deliberately put yourself in what you claim is harms way just to say you did it. If I were afraid of getting hit by a train but decided that it was a stupid thing to be afraid of because I never walked on tracks that would be irrational. Now imagine I go out of my way to walk on the tracks but I follow certain rules to avoid being hit by a train. Fine. Now imagine that instead of avoiding a front by that train I decide that the train will not stand a chance with me, and so I put something on the tracks (that I had no business being on) that if a train were to come by it would derail. Does that make sense?

This aint got shit to do with your JW father, but explain to me how this sounds like him.

outoftheorg

River you ask if your last post makes any sense?

No it does not.

Large bears are mentioned. In my area we only have black bears and they seldom attack humans. But it has happened. I have had them take a metal can of meat and tear it open with their teeth. A 38 pistol with the correct bullets will usually handle a black bear if it attacks.

If there are Grizzly bears in the area, they will attack humans and they are deadly. This is when I will carry a 357 magnum and if slowly backing away does not calm them down and they charge I will shoot.

Never have a dog in areas where bears are. They have the nasty habit of finding a bear and teasing it until it charges the dog. Then the dog will run back to you for safety and brings the bear with him.

Outoftheorg

mkr32208

a bear that saw you as a threat or as food would probably win

There is no DOUBT that bear would win! You could hit that f*cker with you CAR and it would still win!

FYI this was NOT a hunting trophy this guy works with fish and game and was attacked by that bear and killed it with MANY shots from a 7mm! (I believe that's about the equivalent of a 30.06?) I think if that bear attacked me I would escape simply by the jet power of the sh*t that would launch me all the way back to civilization!

mkr32208

The only way to have dogs in bear country is to have several dogs! 4 or 5 dogs can run off a bear of almost any size! Bear hunters in the ol' west used dogs to corner grizzlies of TERRIFYING size (some furs indicate sizes maybe TWICE the size of that giant above!)

I would think long and hard about going into bear country with a .357 too! That might not stop a big Griz! God they are terrifying animals aren't they!

I would go with the bear mace,,, and a tactical nuke... (Or am I a bit paranoid?)

cognizant dissident

Holy bear crap Justice-One! I went away from this thread for 1/2 an hour and I can't believe the flak you are getting for taking a firearm on a solo camping trip.

OK, to all you posters who have never been camping in the Pacific North West (which is where I really live, not in Nunuvut). This is bear and cougar country. There is a name for people who do not take firearms camping in the deep woods up here. Cat food! Being close to the ocean will not save you! We have had cougars come into campsites near where I live and snatch 6 yr old children from their parents side. It took 6 adults beating it with wood and punching its nose and gouging its eyes to make it drop that kid. They have come into rural school yards and snatched little kids off a playing field. They only found pieces of clothing with hair and blood left from that kid. These are not nice little kitty's. They will eat you if they can! As for bears they will attack you in your tent or in your campsite for your food or if you look the wrong way at them. People have been killed by bears, camping up here. Any body who really knows about camping in deep woods, which by the way can be only 15 minutes from major cities and oceans here, know that you should take a fire arm with you and set up a perimeter and hang your food away from your camp, suspended from trees. Solo camping trips are not about conquering your fear of bears and cougars and the woods. Anybody with any common sense will have a healthy fear (respect) of these beautiful predatory creatures. I love cats too. I think cougars are the most extremely beautiful animals. I would also shoot one if I had to survive. It is not about going out there and hoping you will have an encounter and feeling you conquered an animal. It's about conquering your fear of being alone, surviving on your own, with out another living human being to help you.

I'm not a gun toting freak either. I have never killed an animal. My husband is a hunter/outdoorsmen and I would never let him take my little boy in the woods without some sort of protection and pointing out to me on a map exactly where they will be in case they are not home on time so I know where to send search and rescue. Search and rescue sent out after lost hikers and campers and out of bound skiers who do not know what the hell they are doing is a regular multi-million dollar tax expense out here. Sometimes, if the families are lucky they find their bodies (or bones) in next spring thaw.

I suspect the closest thing some of you have come to really surviving out in the woods alone, is huddled together around the dude ranch campsite, with your pay toilets and showers. Myself, I have never done it alone, because I know enough from having gone with my husband and friends to actually have the sense to be afraid. My husband went alone once and tripped on a slippery rock. He had to hike miles out by himself on a badly sprained ankle. So give Justice a break already! Sheesh!

Glad I got that off my chest.

Cog

uwishufish

A 357 is light artilery. I would prefere a 300 mag.

thecarpenter

Justice-one, sounds like a awesome experience. I'm glad to hear you did it to conquer your fear. Camping outdoors is a fun experience and a great hobby. Being prepared for the unexpected is prudent, forget about what the city-slickers say. I know that conquering your fears is a very life affirming experience and really does empower you, I personally try to challege my fears all the time and it is amazing how much confidence you develop and how much sweeter life becomes. Kudos to you.

riverofdeceit

Actually my post did make sense. Guy goes camping in woods where large bears may pose a threat to him. He is reasonably (rationally) fearful of them. Therefore he gets a bunch of weapons and traps so that he has the advantage. He has removed their threat not his fear of them (which I think is a reasonable thing to do). I too have gone camping where we had a bear (a black bear, not really a predator upon humans), enter our site and raid our cooler. It made it very difficult to sleep for the remainder of our stay as every noise outside of the tent brought about an increased heart rate and a vivid imagination. It wasn't an irrational fear in my opinion. Would a firearm have made me feel safer? Yeah. Would having the firearm that made me feel safer mean I wasn't nervous about camping in the woods? No. If I wasn't afraid I wouldn't need the firearm. Nothing wrong with a rational fear. Nothing wrong with protecting yourself from the rational fear, either. Does carrying a firearm when I go into the woods mean I have conquered my fear of going into the woods? Hell no. It means I have a rational fear of going into the woods unarmed, therefore I have brought along the means to defend myself from the rational fear. That doesn't earn me a medal. It merely evens out the playing field.

outoftheorg

Yeah MKR a 357 magnum is touch and go with a grizzly. One would have to hit the few right places to stop a Grizzly.

They are so few around here that It is not a real worry but there seems to be a slow increase or migration into this area.

A thirty ought six rifle would be ok.

Yes four or five dogs can hold a grizzly off but even then the Griz. may kill one or two.

What I was referring to is it seems to be a habit or just lack of knowledge that people will show up in the forest with one dog in an area where there are bears and never think of what they are doing.

Just camping out is a very peaceful soothing thing for me anyway and add a little fishing and it won't get much better than that.

But nature being what it is and people being what people are, I think it is foolish to go into the forests unprepared where we are far from medical help and virtually no police presence, with out a way to protect ourself from people or animals who can harm us. Especially the young kids or toddlers.

Outoftheorg

A Night In The Woods...

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