Creeps in the Woods

Rick Marchand said:
It is fairly easy for me to make a claim that I thwarted a possible encounter by exuding confidence or aggressiveness or the fact that having a sidearm made the shady characters think twice about messin with me..... but unless you actually sat down and discussed it with them, how do you know any of that factored in?
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This ^^^

If I've been out banging around in the bush for a few days, I defy anyone here to distinguish me from some shady character. (Of course, some here might think that I AM a shady character -- but I won't discuss that right now. :D)

Suppose I'm just looking for the campsite where my buddies are. I drive by yours, slow down to see who's there. Nope, not my buddies. Oh, look, they all have guns. Neat. Then I continue on to the next site, looking for my buddies.

Meanwhile, back at campsite number 1, "Boy oh boy am I glad I was armed. That shady-looking guy just scoped us out, but ran away when he saw our guns."

I wonder how many times these sort of things happen in America every day.
 
Shotgun said:
Also, you're getting arrested until there's enough evidence for you to be released.
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Again, this depends on the state (even city within the state) and the circumstances. At a minimum, if you shoot someone you should expect to be cuffed once the officers arrive. Nothing personal, they're just trying to stay safe.

Something to remember in shootings is that you end up with an adrenaline dump. One side-effect of adrenaline dumps is that people tend to start talking, and they aren't able to stop talking. You do not want to talk to the cops, even if the shoot was entirely justified, until the adrenaline is out of your system and you've got yourself under control. By then, hopefully, you'll have a lawyer to act as a buffer between you and the cops.

Best way to avoid talking to the cops while under the influence of adrenaline is to tell the cops you're feeling sick and light headed from the stress of the situation (might even be true). Get them to send you to the hospital. Much, much better to ride out the adrenaline in a comfy hospital bed than in some smelly interrogation room.
 
grunt soldier said:
not in states that have the castle law sir. if you shoot someone and its justified your protected from civil suits also :) just one more reason to love Indiana :)
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I'm starting to think more and more of moving to Indiana. Great people and great state!
 
bulgron said:
Depends on the state. The class of law commonly known as 'castle doctrine' usually protects you from criminal prosecution if you use force in self defense. Some states also extend that protection to civil liability, so if someone attacks you and you have to hurt them in self defense, they (or their relatives) cannot come back and sue you. Also, some states extend these protections to anywhere you might be, not necessarily in your home or car.

Not all states have castle protection laws. Also, some states don't have any one law you could call 'castle protection' but instead have a series of laws on the books that, taken together, essentially give you those protections.

As always, it's good to know the local laws if you're concerned about self-defense issues. And, yes, you practically need to be a damn lawyer to figure it all out.
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this is correct. in Indiana we have the castle law like you mentioned and i put in bold. we can not be sued if its justifable, they also don't always arrest the guys as has been stated also. just the other day in ohio a guy got jumped at the gas station by two guys all coked out. they were trying to rob him. he was fighting and got in his vehicle. they tried to pull him out. he retrieved his pistol out of the center console and shot one guy 2 times. they didn't arrest him as the video footage clearly showed what was happening and that he was obviously in trouble and afraid for his life. so he defended himself. here is the video for you. now i agree if you do something stupid you will be in trouble but if your truly defending yourself you should be ok

http://www.whiotv.com/video/28315602/index.html
 
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sodak said:
I'm starting to think more and more of moving to Indiana. Great people and great state!
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I really like it here, been here my whole life except my 6 years in the army. very good stuff and a lot of great folks, especially if you get out in the country :) . we definitely are lacking the beautiful scenery that you have but we are very gun friendly. they just passed a bunch of laws on july 1st that got rid of all the county and city laws for guns and made it to where we are allowed to carry in city parks, and all the other good places. they made it illegal for your employers to not allow firearms in the parking lots. a bunch of good stuff.
 
i've read where some states have laws that allow our neighbor to defend you property with lethal force even. there was a case of some dudes cleaning a house out, and the neighbor confronted them over it, antics ensued, and there was gun fire. justifiable apparently.

quite a few videos of people defending against home invasions too.

in my area, it was 4 kids with machetes set out to do some murdering. people at home did not have guns. following week, no gun store had any either. sold out.
 
Bladite said:
i've read where some states have laws that allow our neighbor to defend you property with lethal force even. there was a case of some dudes cleaning a house out, and the neighbor confronted them over it, antics ensued, and there was gun fire. justifiable apparently.
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Literally, only in Texas.

Bladite said:
in my area, it was 4 kids with machetes set out to do some murdering. people at home did not have guns. following week, no gun store had any either. sold out.
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When CA had the LA riots, a bunch of people flocked to the gun stores in the area so they could arm themselves for self-protection. That's when they found out that CA has a 10 day wait (or was it 15 days back then?) on all handgun purchases. Outrage ensued. All the liberals (who love gun laws) couldn't believe that the gun laws were being used to keep THEM from getting a gun.

Suffice to say, in California and similar states, if you wait until you actually need it in order to get it, you've waited too long.
 
Hello folks.

To the OP , very interesting and creepy story. I too think you did a good job , doing what you did.

Having a girl with you , wherever something like that takes place , always makes the situation even more dire in one's mind. I too know that from experience.

Luckily the Good Lord gave me a ( from what I've been told ) a mean looking face and a big stature , couple that with my knack of shaving my head to hide my receeding hairline and some tattoo's , those all play a big part in helping me avoid creeps or others out to bother me and mine.
Like in the animal world my appearance makes me look far meaner than I really am , and has come in handy many times... Heck even the homeless do not bug me for change very often. :D

My soon to be Father in Law and I are of like mind , neither of us will ever be someone's intended victim. I'm no Chuck Norris , I'm no MMA or Karate guy either and I'm sure as heck no Ranger that can cut someone from their gut to their appetite without breaking a sweat , but I also am always working on my sense of awareness and my sense of danger. I know what I am capable of and I'm confident it is enough to get thru life pretty much unmolested , while protecting my family at the same time.

Being in the wilderness is not like it used to be, you never know who or what you run across ! Like a lot of you I would not dream of doing anything outdoors without at least the comfort of a good knife in my pocket. You hear about stories like those Russian kids that were murdering innocents just for fun , you see sick films like Turistas and just know somewhere out there are people who enjoy doing stuff like that to people.... it makes me shudder.. This is a truly sick and yet still beautiful world we dwell in.

The other stories in this thread are interesting too. Fortunately I do not have any woods related stories to share in that vein , what few creepy times I have had transpired in the cities.

Stay safe out there ,and sort of like what Mr T.R. said , walk softly and carry something that comforts you.


Tostig
 
Bladite said:
notes from the females of the species that i'm friend with:

do not approach someone in a manner that makes THEM feel threatened. it doesn't matter what your intent is, it's how the person being approached treats it - they're opinion is the one that matters. so, as the examples i hear:

.
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yeah

My bro and I were in a shopping centre car park , we had taken his tow truck . I watch for out of place people in carparks .. and spotted a girl who was obviously locked out of her car .

The foot stamping , the frustrated half hearted fist on the window , the looking around for miraculous help out nowhere , and repeated lifting the door handle .. I figured it was her car . Theives dont usualy do that ..

Anyway I nudge my bro who was looking at a equally distracting looking girl and he figures yeah what the hell , we can help her out so we head over .

now we are just two guys well over 6" dressed in our usual " just crawled out from under a truck " looking black jeans and tshirts ( hides oil and grease better than white does ya know ) baking a beeline for this little girl on her own standing next to her car that she had locked her keys in ...

she went from looking frustrated worried and upset to looking like sheer panic and full on scared , ready to run like hell .

We stopped way back away from her and explained , thats our tow truck over there , she looked locked out , if she wanted we would unlock her car for her .

She nodded , my bro wanders off to his truck , puts on his fluro vest grabs his kit and wanders back , that vest put her at ease some .. not much tho

when he went to the car to open the door, talking to her the whole time " I usually charge for this but since Im not technically working today .. " , she backed up away to 1/2 along the car in front of hers away from us , when the door was opened , she bolted into the seat and was outa there so fast she almost ran over my bros feet .

now .. from our point of view we were offering help to a girl who was in a bad spot , pretty girl locked out of her car in a rough part of town , like she needs help cos she is stuck ..

from her point of view , she was locked out of her car and two rough ugly looking giants dressed like thugs come right at her ... she is now in danger of bodily harm or worse ...

I think she probably tells the story of how she barely escaped from a couple giants going to do her harm ..
 
Hey Myal, was it Margaret River that you had your encounter? or further south maybe the Blackwood?

I've been to both places and have just decided that its not unwise to pack a tomahawk for the trip
 
Rick Marchand said:
Or... you totally read those situations wrong.

I'm not attacking you, bud... but you got me thinking and that is scarey.:D

It is fairly easy for me to make a claim that I thwarted a possible encounter by exuding confidence or aggressiveness or the fact that having a sidearm made the shady characters think twice about messin with me..... but unless you actually sat down and discussed it with them, how do you know any of that factored in? or if they were even as shady as you thought they were? Folks sharing actual encounters with concrete evidence backing there actions hold more water with me than any preconceived notion that someone has prevented countless incidents with a rocksteady glare or the flash of a holstered pistol. You may have simply succeeded in presented yourself as one of those shady types.

It makes me think of my highschool days and all the girls I approached thinking they were giving me all the right signals... :grumpy::thumbdn::o

Anyway, just personal thoughts

Rick
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Rick, good thoughts. However, my experience is different. Met plenty of good folks in the desert; my initial impressions didn't let me down. You can pick up the vibe that someone wants to talk, be hospitable, they are not going to be a threat, etc., and that indeed turns out to be the case. You have a good visit and everyone is on their way.

On the other hand, when someone shady (and each of us has personal experience on what that means) pulls up in the middle of nowhere, and makes zero effort to send the traditional signals of neighborly behavior, something ain't right. We all would be wise to listen to that sixth sense, be it in the desert or in town. It's something that's honed over time. So far, it's served me well.

PS. Not normally a gun carrier...but this was Southern AZ. Lived in a lot of places, and haven't seen the need to carry anywhere else.
 
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Waldganger said:
Hey Myal, was it Margaret River that you had your encounter? or further south maybe the Blackwood?

I've been to both places and have just decided that its not unwise to pack a tomahawk for the trip
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It was somewhere in vicinity of Toodyay , I think . We were trying out the free camp book when it first was released , so its a few years ago now .
 
devilpig said:
It's sad to say really, but much of the US is going that way too, although at a slower pace. The problem is that the "bad guys" know this and use it to their advantage. They really don't have anything to fear in those places. They know the person they are robbing/assaulting/etc. won't do anything, and they know that the court system will only give them a slap on the hand. There really isn't any incentive for these guys to be decent, productive citizens.

Eventually the system will need a reboot and will collapse in on itself. It will be a self correcting problem.

Sorry if I am straying WAY off topic here.
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I tend to disagree. If you read the stuff the NRA puts out (as I do all the time in "American Rifleman" and "American Hunter"), it would seem that America is slowly stripping away the rights of the gun owners. Because of the effort that the NRA and other organizations/citizens put into the effort for gun freedoms, that is luckily not the case. Wisconsin in fact just passed laws allowing civilian concealed carry. That makes 49 of the 50 states issuing states (leaving Illinois with no carry provisions). The licensing of concealed carry permits is extending the right of a citizen to use a firearm to defend and protect themselves outside of their home.
 
I believe it
I spent some time wandering in the new ( new to me ) Midland shopping centre , it was way more entertaining than going to the zoo
 
michaelmcgo said:
I tend to disagree. If you read the stuff the NRA puts out (as I do all the time in "American Rifleman" and "American Hunter"), it would seem that America is slowly stripping away the rights of the gun owners. Because of the effort that the NRA and other organizations/citizens put into the effort for gun freedoms, that is luckily not the case. Wisconsin in fact just passed laws allowing civilian concealed carry. That makes 49 of the 50 states issuing states (leaving Illinois with no carry provisions). The licensing of concealed carry permits is extending the right of a citizen to use a firearm to defend and protect themselves outside of their home.
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I think we are referring to different issues. The recent pro-gun rights actions/laws/bills/etc. are great. Hopefully it continues and doesn't fizzle out...as these things tend to go in waves, though if you look at the big picture we are still a LONG way from where we should be.

I was more referring to the overall declining state of society. The sense of entitlement to those that in reality don't deserve crap, the increasing number of people who take advantage of the welfare/disability system, less people that are able to be self-sufficient, etc, etc. It all adds up to a perfect storm at some point. Maybe 5 years or 50 years, who knows but it will happen eventually.
 
I've really enjoyed this thread. Maybe enjoyed isn't the proper word... Nobody like the prospect of feeling like their life or that or their loved ones is threatened - especially out where there is nobody to come to your aid.

When I go out into the wilderness to go backpacking and camping, I make sure I have the means of surviving. And surviving is not limited to the ability to make fire, construct a shelter, secure water, and gather food. There are other predators out there and sometimes they come on two legs. If you go out without the means of defending yourself, I think you're foolish. If you do so and others depend on you, then it is inexcusable. You have an obligation to your loved ones to come back safely. And you need to be able to protect them while they are with you.

There are plenty of shady characters out there. And some of them mean real harm - as we read over the course of this thread. In the past, the woods have been considered pretty safe from human criminals. Unfortunately this has changed. You get folks who are growing dope and protecting their fields, petty criminals who are looking to rob people on the hiking trail, and sometimes worse.

I'd far rather look intimidating to someone who has me feeling distinctly uneasy or threatened than try to consider the possibility that we just look bad because we are dirty from several days on the trail. If you are going to approach somebody with benign intent out on the trail / in the wilderness... It is YOUR responsibility to do so in a way that declares your lack of intent to cause them harm. If your behavior gives them the creeps, don't be surprised if they become hostile.

I'm all for being pleasant to people on the trail. I've never had a bad incident. Everyone I've met while out has been great - well a couple were horse's asses, but they were just objectionable, not threatening. However, if I'm going to entertain the presence of someone(s) that I am doubtful about, I'd far rather do it from a position of strength. I'll back away from a hostile encounter as often as I can so long as in doing so I don't place myself or my loved ones in danger by doing so. I don't want to ever find myself scrounging for rocks or a branch for defense from some nut job.
 
Wilderness areas that are accessible by motor vehicles tend to be weirdo magnets.

I've spent many years wandering around various places and never had any real hassles. Being 6'4" and usually having a German Shepherd by my side has probably helped. I had a couple times on back roads late at night on a weekend where I had to ditch people - Got chased by a bunch of punks in a crap car, I was in my 4Runner. Lost them when I took a road that turned into trail and they got stuck. Another time, again in the 4Runner this time with some mods and Swampers, two ATVs were being a bit weird and I lost them after going through about 4 feet of water, I guess it was too deep for them.
 
BigDude said:
Another time, again in the 4Runner this time with some mods and Swampers, two ATVs were being a bit weird and I lost them after going through about 4 feet of water, I guess it was too deep for them.
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That's the way to do it :D
 
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