Curiosity regarding wilderness encounters

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lifterg

Joined
Dec 15, 2004
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I was just wondering how many of you have had "encounters" with 2 legged predators in wilderness areas.

I live in north central Wisconsin, spend some time in fairly remote areas (fishing, kayaking etc.) other than hunting season, I don't carry firearms. And I've never had a problem.

I understand "better to not need it and have it" but I was curious if the negative encounters were regional, closer to population centers, etc.
 
Bumped into neighbors in the woods, but people here in this rural area are pretty respectful. I did have some vandalism once by somebody I believe was a hunter. I do carry when walking the dog, but that's more for the sake of four legged critters. Don't want my best friend to get hurt.

By four legged critters, I mean black bears or coyotes. And the last thing I want to do is wound either one of them and have them get away. If there was a face off, I think a couple of noisy shots into the ground would scare them away.
 
That sounds pretty close to here.
We also have wolves (heard them but never actually seen them).
The bears and coyotes usually usually stay away from people.
 
The only threatening encounter I ever had with another person was in a very remote region of the CA desert. In my younger years, I used to do some solo exploring out in the middle of nowhere. One trip, I'd gone exploring an area where I'd been told had been some petroglyphs. A pretty remote place, about 40 mi from Barstow, almost all on on poor dirt road. It was the middle of the day, not too hot, when I came upon the place, along with a man in a van, looking as though he'd been camping for a couple days. The man seemed quite vigilant, perhaps thought I'd come to rob him or something. Though he looked like he probably lived in his van and didn't have much worth taking.

So I kept my distance, looking around the dry ravine at the rock walls, where I'd expected to find some petroglyphs. The man walked up closer to me, perhaps overdressed for the weather, hands stuffed inside his jacket, and asked in a rather unwelcoming way if I had any business around the area. I remained friendly and meandered back in the direction I came from. For whatever reason, the guy seemed threatened and I got the feeling he was armed and willing to escalate the situation against my favor. Found my way back to my car and cut that trip short.

I've always wondered about this incident. Was that guy just paranoid or was he involved in some unsavory business? Was he just an old desert rat fed up with being hassled by young punks? Was he involved with taking of artifacts, as a few years later, upon returning to the site, I'd seen had been done at one time in recent years. Doubt I'll ever know.

I've always wondered what might have happened had I decided to stand up to the guy. We were on public land, and I had as much right to be there as anyone. It kind of scares me, years later, if I had been armed, and had a little more bravado, and all the youthful stupidity of the time, how things might have taken a different turn.
 
The only encounters I've ever had were with the guys I went into the woods with in the first place. It seems that testosterone rules some guys more than others and there have been times when I've been pushed into doing things (let's climb that cliff!) which I wouldn't have otherwise done on my own.

I know that my dad stopped hunting in northern Minnesota (this was decades ago) because of the way people were "accidentally" shooting at one another.

Other than that, mostly people look at me with more fear than I look at them.

That said, I haven't pushed very far off trail in California's national forests. I worry about pot growers back in those hills, and I've heard too many stories about boobie traps to not be wary.
 
I notice that when you encounter people in the woods, yours as well as their situational awareness is increased. Code Yellow, I guess. People are friendly for the most part and I have never had a problem. I have been nervous, but that nervousness is usually dispersed after you exchange a few words... weather, what's he trail like?, sights? snakes? animals etc.

I liken 2-legged encounters in the woods to having stuff stored in the back of a pickup truck ("free for prying eyes and the taking"). Usually no problems as there is an unspoken rule. There are always a few bad apples.

Problems happen. You hear of hikers and joggers being killed and so forth. So, it is good to pay attention to all kinds of critters when you are in the woods.
 
Yes.

In the deserts outside of Reno I used to go and hike with my dog (amstaff looks like a pit) and he was leading me by a good 50 yards over ridge when I heard gunshots. I flanked the position with the sun to my back and came upon a couple of teenagers "hunting" turns out that meant sitting around and shooting at whatever came to pass on four legs. We had a congenial discussion as to why they shouldn't shoot at my dog in which we parted quickly and the situation was rectified.
 
bulgron said:
It seems that testosterone rules some guys more than others and there have been times when I've been pushed into doing things (let's climb that cliff!) which I wouldn't have otherwise done on my own.
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In search and rescue as well as my EMT activities we refer to this as "Testosterone poisoning". :D :eek: I have seen it too often.

KR
 
Funny story: In the summer of 2005 my wife is working in the garden and a coyote walks up to about 20 feet from her (second time in our yard in a couple of days); our northern coyotes are big, this guy was about 60 pounds. She had a potato rake in her hands and she was going to take him out. She yelled at him and he walked off; looked back; she yelled at him some more, and he skedaddled. ;)
 
i take an extended camping trip here every year in The Poconos of NE Pa.. In all my years I've never ran into a single person in the woods that was at all threatening. Most are in the bush for the same reasons we are.

I think a man in the woods is one that just about eveyone can agree is a man that can probaly handle himself and shoudn't be messed with.

I sleep well in the woods, I feel safe, comfortable. I can't say the same about leaving the movie theater in the city at 11:30 at night.
 
KTMGUY said:
In all my years I've never ran into a single person in the woods that was at all threatening. Most are in the bush for the same reasons we are.
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:thumbup: I hear you. I'm in Central WI and have camped/hiked in state and nat'l parks many many times. In 99.9% of cases, the worst behavior I've seen is people with a little too much booze under their belts, talkin' and laughin' a little too loud. I can deal with that in a public park. I've been guilty, myself :o

Every single person I've met on a hiking path has been civil, if perhaps a bit reserved, and wished us well. Same for park rangers.

I've seen exactly one almost-fistfight; both guys were just feeling a little too macho. Harsh words were spoken, but no one got hurt. They bumped into each other later that night, shook hands and went their seperate ways peaceably.

If SHTF, I suppose I'd want as big a gun as I can handle and carry. More importantly, I would try my best to law low.
 
I have been known to slip into the brush if I see someone first and just let them pass, I don't go to the wilderness to see anyone much less have a confrontation, I also don't camp in campgrounds or well used areas.

With that said, I have had one scary situation at a remote boat ramp in the middle of the night. Me and my father stayed out on the lake till about 1 in the morning, the ramp we put in is also a camping area and is in the middle of no where. We came back to the ramp to take the boat out and as soon as we got close we saw there was a party going on at the ramp, loud music, bonfire, people yelling and hollering. Dad dropped me off to get the trailor backed into the water and dad was pulling the boat around and lining it up to put it on the trailor, as we were doing this, 4 very rough looking young men made their way over to me, they were very drunk but not beligerant at first. They wanted to talk to me and spread out making me very nervous, I told them politely that I was very busy and had to get my boat loaded and go home, thats when the, F YOU, YOU TO GOOD TO TALK TO US YOU MF
and starting to move towards me. I was wearing a glock 23 under my shirt I moved my shirt and reached my hand back to my pistol one of them said hey man he has a gun, and I told them " look fellas I just want to load my boat and go home" they got pretty friendly and told me they were just messing around and didn't mean nothing.

The whole time this was going on my dad was sitting in the boat waiting on me not knowing any of this was taking place, basicly I was on my own, thank goodness I had my pistol.

I am a firm believer in being armed if it is legal. Chris
 
Usually the trouble ends where the road ends. Trailheads and boat landings are accessable to all sorts-- I like the areas where you need determined feet to get you there. I have learned to really dislike places where unscrupulous "guides" will bring idiots on horseback or by boat. Don't get me wrong, I canoe camp, and have friends who horsepack, but I have run into idiots who are clueless, think money is a substitute for skill, and generally make an unpleasant mess. Three days from the trailhead, I've never had a bad encounter with a backpacker.
 
I have run into homeless encampments, rail riders, and people performing ritual sacrifice (no joke...became one of the first found alters of Satan in OH, and had been used). I have been shot at, chased, and accosted. We have little real old growth left in OH, and few remote areas. I have never had a problem with other hikers. If you have the general feeling a person does not belong...beware.
 
On private property I have come across trespassers, illegal aliens, thieves, game wardens, and poachers. This is the reason I alway carry at minimum a handgun. Most of them I have seen a far distances ( 400 + yards) but still within the range of a good marksman and a rifle. I have snuck up on a few though. I usually just see shoeprints on private property that belong to no one thats supposed to be there. For the most part I follow them and observe. I have confronted some of the trespassers and they turned out to be decent folk and I just let them off with a verbal warning. The illegals usually wont bother you, they just steal food and water out of your camp so I dont bother them unless I catch them in the act of stealing. Poachers get the game warden called on them or get held to the sheriffs dept. arrives. Thieves and poachers run a high risk of being shot. If you can observe them from a safe distance then that is probably your best descision. Try to stay out of harms way. My advice is always be prepared and arm yourself acordingly. Good luck have fun.
 
I carry a spool of monofilament in my BOB. It has many uses, from its intended use for fishing to repairing clothing articles (with a large sewing needle that should be carried anyway) to rigging an early warning wire around your camp. A couple of empty cans full of pebbles make a fair alarm when strung from the line. I string a strand at about shin height all around the camp 50 ' or so out. BE SURE TO TAKE IT WITH YOU when you leave.
 
when out in the boonies, off of a trail, i avoid anyone i come across, unless they look like they know what they are doing. i also prefer that they have a large pack and big heavy boots, with no weapons in easy access if i am going to reveal my self to them. this way i maximize my chances to get away if i need to.
 
I guess the strangest encounter for me was the time I met a wild Apache Indian, or at least that is how he described himself. When I told him that there were no more wild Apaches, he offered to scalp me to prove it. Naturally I declined. Then he handed me a sheet of paper to read. Sure enough, Ray, as he was named in the paper, had been officially declared to be a wild Apache by a Federal Judge in 1942. Actually, a very pissed off Federal Judge. The paper Ray showed me was from his sentencing to five years and a day. He explained to me that things took a turn for the worse when he told the judge to do something to himself that was impossible to do. But Ray was right, in amongst words like "Defiant, Incorigable, Rude, Crude", the Judge had declared Ray to be a Wild Indian, beyond any redemption and hope of civilizing. We sat up that night drinking his pruno, and Ray finally told me the whole story. It seems that he held a very strong belief that a group of people dressed in U.S. Army uniforms had hunted down and killed his grandparents. To Ray, this was reason enough to refuse to wear the U.S. Army uniform. He and quite a few others were granted draft deferral hearings. The others followed the ways of the grandfathers, and for the most part were either set free, or given light sentences for refusing the draft. But Ray never regretted his decission, for he was the only one with a Federal paper declaring him wild, which he considered an honor and homage to his grandparents.

Codger
 
I share my experiences for what they are worth. I have spent my entire life camping in state parks, national forests, and 320 nights with the boy scouts. I have been involved in and close to several very serious incounters. In no particular order we have had our car stolen, our gear stolen, witnessed two women who were armed drive off three drunk teenagers who had loudly declared their intention to rape the ... out of them, spoke to a national forest ranger who had just killed a dobermain that was sic'd on him by its owner with his shove, hiked into a band of cripps running a brothel in a un-used boy scout camp that threated to killed our boys (police arrested them all, the talker was wanted for murder in california, the girls were 14), and upon returning from a hike in Yosemite (1970) learned that two people had been chooped to death (ax) in the very camp grounds we were camped in the same night we were there (we were un-aware at the time, their friends did them in (love triangle or something)). We have also had several uncomfortable situations that were not actually threatening but I felt very glad I was armed. I used to carry a .22. For the last 10 years I have carried a .357. I live in SW Washington, and since this state outlawed cougar hunting we have had 19 attack incidence in just my county and the adjacent county. I refuse to stay home, so I go armed (concealed, most people with me, including my wife, do not know I am armed). I am not parinoid, nor do I choose to be a victum. Forgive my spelling and rambling.
Ron Athay
 
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