-- Scared in the wilderness - what are/is your stories/story?

[Simply Red]

Good Evening,

I just started what appears to be a really good movie called 'Hold the Dark' - It prompted me to ask CP - what situations, observations or any other 'tions - have you experienced away from civilization in which had you scared for you life?

Animals, weather, devil worshipers? Primarily what I'm looking for is wild animal encounters.

I know we have quite a few in the Pacific NW that post on here. (bears maybe?)

Just wondering if anyone has any interesting stories regarding this...?

I'd love to hear them...

Thanks

[frozenchief]

Originally Posted by Bwana

You know, other than running into a few bears and moose, I have been very lucky. I have been lost a couple times for a short period of time, but always kept my head and got out. Now with GPS, that would be damn near impossible to do.

After a few "what if that had gone another direction" incidents in the mountains, I always go prepared. I would say over kill in some cases. I know when I ATV with some of my friends, I have caught some crap over how loaded up my hard cases are with emergency equipment. The funny thing is, most of those same guys have needed something out of there on one of our adventures at one time or another.

My philosophy is, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, particularly my personal locator beacon. If someone gets really hurt, I can activate it via satellite anywhere in the world and help is on the way. I also take that to Belize every year and bring it along on the fishing trips. Some of those trips can get a little sketchy and some of guides are a little fly by night.

My .500 Smith & Wesson is one other thing I have strapped on at all times if I'm in grizzly bear/moose country, or my 45/70 guide rifle is over my shoulder, both loaded with very hot hard cast rounds.

There was a guide that was killed by two grizzly's a couple of weeks ago. The guides client shot an elk and the guide was cleaning the kill. Two Grizzly's came over the hill and worked over the dude (who ran off) and then killed the guide.

The guide made the fatal mistake of not having his pistol strapped on at the time, or his rifle within arms reach, he should have know better. His pistol was in a pack several yards away. The dude grabbed it but couldn't figure out how to fire the pistol. The dude then made a half hearted attempt of tossing the guide the gun before running off. They found the guides munched up body with a can of bear spray next to him that had been deployed.

That's a prime example of why I don't go up into the mountains with people I don't fully trust. Either my buddy and I are going to both be dead, or the bear is going to be taken out, no one is going to run off. With the guys I ride with, odds are it's going to be the bear.

I know my buddy rockymtnchief will have some good stories, he works outside everyday in the hills and mountains and has shared a few with me.

That was complete chickenshit on behalf of the client. I prefer to fish than hunt but I have been hunting up here several times. Moose or caribou both are large enough that a second person to help clean a downed animal is extremely helpful. Because moose are so large, the usual deal is 2 people go hunting and they split the meat of a moose. Every time I have cleaned an animal, the holder has a gun on his person.

Here's an account involving someone I know from the area where I used to live:

https://thegreatwhitehunter.wordpres...g-bear-attack/

Bwana:

You fly fish in Belize?

[Buehler445]

It's DEFINITELY not mine, but here are some scary assed ****ing wilderness stories. Listen to the whole thing.

[DMAC]

I took my wife to the Indian Peaks Wilderness in the Rockies for a 5 day loop hike. About 3 miles into our day one we decided to take a side trail to a 12K+ lake. It was around 2PM when we hit the side trail thinking we could make it back to the main trail and hit our destined campsite before nightfall.

As we hit the tree line a ****ing hail storm slammed us with damn near zero warning. The only warning I saw was a black cloud coming over the nearest peak. There really wasn't much to work with as far as a good spot to hunker down so I set my tent (MSR Hubba Hubba) on the flattest spot I could.

The rain and hail hit and the temp plummeted to mid 40s while I was still frantically getting the tent up. We got everything in but got fairly wet in the process. I was expecting this hail and rain to only last a few minutes to an hour but it lasted for 13 hours. It was tough to be stuck in a tent for that long and while not really scary...it was ****ing frustrating. It just kept coming.

We finally escaped sopping wet and cold, walking back down mudslide switchbacks. When we got back to the main trail we took an immediate and definite turn back to the trailhead where we cranked the heat and drove straight to a laundry mat.

That night we found a kickass hostel in Grand Lake where we had a new appreciation for simple amenities. We set out again the next day with perfect weather for the rest of our trip.

BTW that MSR Hubba Hubba was a trooper.

[DMAC]

And since you asked for wild animals, I was in Sequoia and was walking down a trail when a large object appeared in the corner of my eye. I turned to see a mama black bear and her two cubs only ten feet from me. She looked pissed. I just kept walking and she did nothing.

Or I battled her to the death with my pointy walking stick.

[suzzer99]

I arrived in Fortuna, far Northern CA, about sundown. Normally I would have spent the night in a motel there. But CA-36 East, which I planned to take the next day, had a road closure starting at 8am. This meant I'd have to get up at like 6 and then what if there's a blockage and I can't make it to the road closure spot by 8?

So I decided to press on and hope to find a place to stay after the road closure spot. Turns out that road is pretty much 100 miles of windy mountainous nothing between Fortuna and Red Bluff. I was taking the turns as fast as possible, but still averaging only about 25 mph. I'm sure it's a gorgeous drive during the day - who knows how many massive drop-offs I was a few feet from. I did see one sketchy-looking bar, but nothing close to a motel.

Finally after about 70 miles, when I was doing everything to keep myself awake - I saw a sign for a campground and pulled in. It was completely empty, except one ratty mid-80s Buick backed in to a corner campsite up against a hill - like pretty much the spot and position you would pick if you were worried about some kind of ambush. There was no tent, and the car had sun shades covering the windshield. It was completely unclear if anyone was inside or not.

I found a campsite near the entrance, turned off my engine and got out to inspect it. No one likes a crowded campsite - but I sure would have welcomed one right there. Even completely empty would have been better than this situation. Am I in weed country? Probably. Meth country? Not sure.

I was trying to decide if I could really even fall asleep in this spot - when my headlights shut off (as they do automatically) - leaving me in utter pitch darkness. I fumbled my way back to the car, and just to freak myself out even further, I imagined what I would do if I felt someone grab me right at that moment. I swear the imagination was so real I almost thought it happened.

I started my car and just got the **** out of there. The adrenaline carried me the last hour to Red Bluff.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

Good Evening,

I just started what appears to be a really good movie called 'Hold the Dark' - It prompted me to ask CP - what situations, observations or any other 'tions - have you experienced away from civilization in which had you scared for you life?

Animals, weather, devil worshipers? Primarily what I'm looking for is wild animal encounters.

I know we have quite a few in the Pacific NW that post on here. (bears maybe?)

Just wondering if anyone has any interesting stories regarding this...?

I'd love to hear them...

Thanks

2008. I was at a lake with some pals. We were staying at a well known hotel in the area and we had rented a boat. I had a little too much, so when getting off of the boat I was expected to help navigate like Magellan and then tie the boat up. Well I was a little too intoxicated to do that effectively so one of my buddies got kind of pissed.

I rolled over off the boat and onto the dock where I slept - okay - passed out for about 20 minutes. I awaken to a police officer poking me with his foot. I looked very confused. He asked me who I was if I had id - I didn't because I was in ****ing board shorts. He wanted to make sure I returned safely to wherever I was supposed to be so I told him where I was staying - I called from the nearby phone and they had no record of me being there. I told him who rented the boat at the nearby boat place - they had no idea what I was talking about. I then called my buddy (must have misdialed) and it said it wasn't a valid number. I started to freak out and honestly at the time thought I had quantum leaped or something - and had an out of body experience and had left my current life and did not exist. Eventually the cop just let me leave so I decided start my new life by venturing into the nearby forest to search for life's meaning.

Luckily my friends were watching this the whole time laughing their ass off on a nearby shoreline and stopped me before I fought a wolf.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

That was complete chickenshit on behalf of the client. I prefer to fish than hunt but I have been hunting up here several times. Moose or caribou both are large enough that a second person to help clean a downed animal is extremely helpful. Because moose are so large, the usual deal is 2 people go hunting and they split the meat of a moose. Every time I have cleaned an animal, the holder has a gun on his person.

Here's an account involving someone I know from the area where I used to live:

https://thegreatwhitehunter.wordpres...g-bear-attack/

Bwana:

You fly fish in Belize?

Good article and some very good lessons in it. My philosophy is, always assume a bear is in the area in that situation. The biggest problem we have around here is the fact that grizzly bear hunting has been banned for decades because they were considered endangered. They are so over populated now it's nuts.

The extremely dangerous situation that has resulted from them not being hunted, is they have no fear of humans. Another undesirable thing that has happened is when they hear a rifle shot, they think of it as a dinner bell. They know if there is a shot that there is going to be a fresh elk or deer and they come running. That's why I'm so cautious after I shoot. You either have your head on a swivel, or you could be dead really quick.

As far a Belize, yes I fish and fly fish over there. Great bone fishing with the fly rods.

[MOhillbilly]

When we were kids we'd turn our lights off and crawl out.of the cave

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

It's DEFINITELY not mine, but here are some scary assed ****ing wilderness stories. Listen to the whole thing.

Thanks I will watch tomorrow - i'm in the middle of a great movie - thanks all of you for sharing - Dmac and others that's some good shit.

[rockymtnchief]

I was hiking a pole line by myself through the woods when I came across a cow with it's throat ripped out. I hiked down the mountain to inform the rancher and he told me it was the 6th one killed, but not eaten, that month.

I hiked back up the mountain and went back to work. About 30 minutes later, I heard a large caliber gun shot and it's target was very close to me. I stayed near a tree until I saw the rancher hike up the mountain. He was watching me hiking and noticed something stalking me. Sure enough, it was the mountain lion that was killing his cattle. He dropped it about 25 yards behind me. I still had six miles of work to do and spent the rest of the day a nervous wreck wondering what else was behind me.

Another time, I was working along side the road when a black bear came flying down the hill straight at me. I had nothing but a wrench and a damn barbed wire fence right behind me. No where to run and nothing to defend myself with. Luckily, it was running away from something and not attacking me. It got about 10 feet from me, suddenly realized I was there and took a sharp right and ran up the mountain. I took a sharp left, climbed the fence and drove back to the office and spent the rest of the day behind a locked door.

Then, around 8 years ago, I went hiking and grabbed the wrong backpack. It had everything I needed except my bear spray and pistol. I cussed myself at the trailhead, but went anyway. I had the wind at my back and yelled every 5 minutes or so to scare any predators off.

After I reached the top of the mountain, it was time to back track on the same trail. I felt pretty confident I scared everything in the valley away so I didn't bother yelling anymore.

About half way down, I came to a big rock and tree that had a narrow gap to hike through. Just as I stepped through it, I found myself 3 feet from a bear that was just as startled as I was. It started huffing and grunting at me and the only words I could get out of my mouth were "shit...shit...shit...shit". Luckily, I stayed cool and said my cuss words in a soft tone and it didn't attack. I stepped back through the passage and hiked back about 100 yards. I hiked down the valley bottom and got on the other ridge and had to blaze a trail. I could see the bear sitting where I last saw it and hiked down hill from it. I eventually got back on the trail knowing that it was now behind, but I was real nervous because I didn't know if it was coming behind me or going the other way.

Fast forward, about a mile down the trail. I see something out of the corner of my eye fly up a tree. I'd spooked a mountain lion up a tree and it was giving me the stink eye, but didn't growl. I wanted to run, but knew that was the worst thing I could do. I ended up walking the last two miles alternating between walking normal and walking backwards to watch if anything was coming up behind me. I felt like I had a "lunch" sign on my back.

Okay...one more. I had to hike another pole line and was warned that there was a mean bull in the area. I saw the bull during the hike and kept an eye on him. About a half hour later, I could here something coming up behind me. When I'd stop, it would stop. When I would walk, I could here it stepping on leaves/twigs/rocks. This went on for about 20 minutes and I was getting pretty worried. I had just started walking again and it finally decided to attack! Three pygmy goats came up behind me and started head-butting my ankles and calves. I ended up scratching and petting them and made some new friends. They had collars so I let them follow me to the truck and I took them back to their owner.

In the last month, in my work truck, I've had a moose run by me at around 10 feet away and a grizzly trot right next to my truck door. It was cool to see, but I was damn glad I was inside the rig.

As far as Bwana...that guy does take a LOT of stuff on ATV trips. I think his gear weighs more than his ATV. Of course, half that weight is beer. He should post the video of him hitting a boulder at 30 mph and all his gear flying into the creek. I've never seen so many sandwich bags filled with electronics in my life!

Sorry...TL/DR

[Bob Dole]

A raccoon ripped open a trash bag next to my house.

The end.

[KS Smitty]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

A raccoon ripped open a trash bag next to my house.

The end.

Ours was 'possums in the camping trash.

We went to the drive-in (yeah this was long ago) and watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original) and The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Afterwards we went out in the country, found a corn field, followed tracks to the center and started making out. Suddenly lots of rustling and stomping around, we left pronto although I'm 99% sure it was just deer, coons and/or possoms having supper.

I grew up with lots of older people, brothers, their friends, friends brothers/sisters and their friends constantly trying to scare us (and succeeding) so lots of lulz scared the shit outta me stories but nothing real like RMC.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by rockymtnchief

I was hiking a pole line by myself through the woods when I came across a cow with it's throat ripped out. I hiked down the mountain to inform the rancher and he told me it was the 6th one killed, but not eaten, that month.

I hiked back up the mountain and went back to work. About 30 minutes later, I heard a large caliber gun shot and it's target was very close to me. I stayed near a tree until I saw the rancher hike up the mountain. He was watching me hiking and noticed something stalking me. Sure enough, it was the mountain lion that was killing his cattle. He dropped it about 25 yards behind me. I still had six miles of work to do and spent the rest of the day a nervous wreck wondering what else was behind me.

Another time, I was working along side the road when a black bear came flying down the hill straight at me. I had nothing but a wrench and a damn barbed wire fence right behind me. No where to run and nothing to defend myself with. Luckily, it was running away from something and not attacking me. It got about 10 feet from me, suddenly realized I was there and took a sharp right and ran up the mountain. I took a sharp left, climbed the fence and drove back to the office and spent the rest of the day behind a locked door.

Then, around 8 years ago, I went hiking and grabbed the wrong backpack. It had everything I needed except my bear spray and pistol. I cussed myself at the trailhead, but went anyway. I had the wind at my back and yelled every 5 minutes or so to scare any predators off.

After I reached the top of the mountain, it was time to back track on the same trail. I felt pretty confident I scared everything in the valley away so I didn't bother yelling anymore.

About half way down, I came to a big rock and tree that had a narrow gap to hike through. Just as I stepped through it, I found myself 3 feet from a bear that was just as startled as I was. It started huffing and grunting at me and the only words I could get out of my mouth were "shit...shit...shit...shit". Luckily, I stayed cool and said my cuss words in a soft tone and it didn't attack. I stepped back through the passage and hiked back about 100 yards. I hiked down the valley bottom and got on the other ridge and had to blaze a trail. I could see the bear sitting where I last saw it and hiked down hill from it. I eventually got back on the trail knowing that it was now behind, but I was real nervous because I didn't know if it was coming behind me or going the other way.

Fast forward, about a mile down the trail. I see something out of the corner of my eye fly up a tree. I'd spooked a mountain lion up a tree and it was giving me the stink eye, but didn't growl. I wanted to run, but knew that was the worst thing I could do. I ended up walking the last two miles alternating between walking normal and walking backwards to watch if anything was coming up behind me. I felt like I had a "lunch" sign on my back.

Okay...one more. I had to hike another pole line and was warned that there was a mean bull in the area. I saw the bull during the hike and kept an eye on him. About a half hour later, I could here something coming up behind me. When I'd stop, it would stop. When I would walk, I could here it stepping on leaves/twigs/rocks. This went on for about 20 minutes and I was getting pretty worried. I had just started walking again and it finally decided to attack! Three pygmy goats came up behind me and started head-butting my ankles and calves. I ended up scratching and petting them and made some new friends. They had collars so I let them follow me to the truck and I took them back to their owner.

In the last month, in my work truck, I've had a moose run by me at around 10 feet away and a grizzly trot right next to my truck door. It was cool to see, but I was damn glad I was inside the rig.

As far as Bwana...that guy does take a LOT of stuff on ATV trips. I think his gear weighs more than his ATV. Of course, half that weight is beer. He should post the video of him hitting a boulder at 30 mph and all his gear flying into the creek. I've never seen so many sandwich bags filled with electronics in my life!

Sorry...TL/DR

Thank you that was great!

[ChiefsFanatic]

I grew up next to Donald Zarda. I am sure that last name is familiar to everyone from KC. My house was a dump, but about a half mile around the corner was Donnie's house.

He had an entire shed as a clubhouse, that had a phone, and TV etc. It's wasn't super posh, but it was more than this poor kid had in his actual house.

The shed backed up to a pasture, with horses roaming free. His parents and sisters were gone, and we had been left alone to goof off. I was 9 and he was 8. Alone. At night.

It was the middle of summer, and we were going back and forth from the house, to his clubhouse, to the pool, and back, doing dumb things kids that age do when left alone. We scared ourselves trying to fry eggs, because we were both afraid of getting burnt.

So, it's pitch black outside, and we decided to go back out to the clubhouse, I forget why, but it seemed important at the time. Anyway, it's dark, and neither one of us will admit to it, but it was scary. So, as we are making our way, the horses started going bananas. I grew up on a farm, so I knew that horses just don't randomly go apeshit for no reason.

So, being an experienced 9 year old ranch hand, I suggested we go see what's wrong with the horses. I was afraid that one of them would run into the barbed wire fence, because a spooked horse isn't a very rational horse. It took a minute, but I convinced him that it needed to be done. So, again, I have experience with horses, and we approach from the better side of the fence.

By 9 years old I could saddle a horse, and cinch it fairly tight. I was also good with bridles, etc. and I had literally spent entire days on my horse, galloping around our pasture, even falling asleep in the saddle, and staying out so late my father had to scour the literal back 40 to find me. But at 9 my parents divorced, the horses were gone, and my mom was broke. It was 1980 and I had some delusion that impressing a rich guy like Donnie's dad would help my mom. Again, I was 9.

So, we approach the corner of the fence where we can get as close as possible to the bezerker horses without being in too much danger. And sure enough, one of the horses was tangled in the fence, and the other 10 were not taking it very well, and they were still spooked by something close to the edge of the woods. Now, I don't care so much about impressing anyone, as I am very worried about the horse. Barbed wire can shred a horse, because from head to toe they are just a huge muscle with a brain. But that brain can't understand why thrashing around doesn't free itself from the situation.

Against his advice, I climbed through the fence, and approached the horse making every reassuring click and pop my little mouth can muster. When you are calm, the horse will be calm. I asked Donnie to shake the feed bucket to draw the other horses away, and I take the snips and start cutting the barbed wire away. I know that I am going to have to twist the wire in some way, after the horse is free, to close the gap in the fence.

It's dark, my adrenaline is pumping hard, and the other horses didn't seem to care about the food. Spooked horses spook horses, and it becomes a cycle, and I say to hell with it, and just go as fast as I can cutting the barbed wire because it was starting to seem like a bad idea to be near this horse and sharp fencing when the crazy train came back around. Donnie climber through the fence to help, and then we hear something in the woods behind us. The horses heard it too, and seemed to be telling me, see I told you something scary is out there.

The poor horse is bleeding, and while it had kind of exhausted itself and given up struggling, this new round of pandemonium re-energized the poor guy. Finally I just yanked the barbed wire, cutting the horse's chest even worse, but I was 9 and my hero adrenaline was quickly becoming scared shirtless adrenaline. Finally, the horse is free, and just in time because whatever was in the woods was getting much closer. It was faster for us to run to the house through the pasture than it was maneuvering back around the fence.

So we take off running. It felt like we had rockets on our shoes. And then, out of nowhere, a couple of men breach the treeline, and it's really dark, but these weren't men who belonged there. We were about two thirds of the way to the house, and when we peaked back, they were running too. We blasted through gate, and by the pool, and into the house. And as we closed the sliding glass door we could see them and they could see us. And it confirmed that they weren't neighbors, and we didn't know them.

We hit the lights, and we're now screaming and crying, terrified, as we ran to a nearby closet, and jumped in and closed the door. Why a closet? It just instinctively seemed like the way to safety, and we didn't even discuss it, we just ended up in the closet. Now we had stopped crying, and started to talk out what we should do next. Then BOOM, BOOM, Boom. They were beating on the sliding glass door. And we couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was definitely laced with anger and bad intentions.

Now there was pounding on the front door too. This made the situation seem much worse. We didn't say it, but I know I was thinking that I wish we hadn't begged his dad to let us stay home alone. Donnie was a great person, with a great heart, but looking back he was kinda spoiled and I don't think his dad said no too often. So, with plan formulated, we just had to be brave enough to make it to the kitchen, which required passing the sliding glass door, and call the older couple who lived on the corner between our two houses.

I don't know how old they were, but they were very nice, and we would stop at their house when we were walking to or from each other's house. The woman always gave us cookies or lemonade, and we thought they would be able to save us if we could only call them. It was about a quarter of a mile from his house to theirs. But we couldn't leave the closet. And we were nervously giving these men back stories, like escaped prisoners, or horse thieves, etc. Finally, the pounding stopped.

I don't know how long we stayed in the closet, but it seemed like a long time. We were finally brave enough to make it to the kitchen and call the neighbors. They told us to run over, and they would watch for us and they assured us that if we weren't there in a couple of minutes they would come get us. I am sure they just thought we were being dumb kids, who had told each other scary stories, and just scared ourselves. I am pretty sure that I had never run that fast in my life.

We made it to their house, and proceeded to tell our story. She cleaned the cuts on my hand, and probably put peroxide on it, but it stung really bad. The old man told me it was brave and stupid at the same time, for me to cut the horse loose. After some cookies and sweet tea or lemonade, Donnie's dad came came home and came and got us. He was pretty dismissive, and I am sure we sounded ridiculous telling the story. We had already added some embellishments to the story, not in order to lie, but our imaginations turned fears into facts. His dad dropped me off at home, as I was originally spending the night, but just couldn't do it after all the terror and the adrenaline dump.

Turns out, those guys had been crossing fields for a while, and had used a .22 rifle to shoot and killed a couple of family dogs, and wounded a horse badly enough it had to be put down. I don't remember if they had stolen anything on their trespassing spree or not, but I didn't sleep for a few months because I kept having nightmares.

It was one of the scariest days of my life. I have actually had nightmares about that night well into adulthood. I think cars driving up and down the nearby road probably scared them off. The lights to the pool were on, so they would have been visible to cars on that side. Not that anyone could have pointed them out to police. At the time I had their faces seared into my brain, and I could relive the moment that our eyes met through the sliding glass door in slow motion. Now, I really can't remember what either of them looked like.

Sadly, Donnie passed away a couple of years ago, in Europe, base jumping off a cliff in a wing suit. He dropped in at the wrong time, and the wind slammed him against the cliff. But he posthumously helped every member of the LGBTQ with this court case.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/n...uit-zarda.html

The world was a better place with him in it.

If you read the entire post, thank you. And to those that didn't, I don't blame you, as it was more like a short story than a bulletin board post/reply.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

[ROYC75]

Delete, duplicate post.