What do your neighbors think of you...really?

tedwca

tedwca

Joined
Dec 10, 2005
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This story made me wonder. Obviously the guy had other issues, but these are the reasons his neighbors found him odd and eccentric. From this description, it sounds like a guy practicing his bushcraft skills. How many people here have caught and eaten squirrels? I'll admit sitting in trees and watching the neighbors is kinda creepy, but the rest could be simply him practising bushcraft skills at home. Now people will take these activities as a red flag for being a kidnapper or serial killer.:eek::confused::confused:

Red Flags in missing Ohio family suspect

"He would actually kill the squirrels and eat them."

Other neighbors described Hoffman's behavior as beyond strange -- sitting in his trees, watching his neighbors, trapping small animals in his yard and lighting fires on his lawn.
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Other neighbors described Hoffman's behavior as beyond strange -- sitting in his trees, watching his neighbors, trapping small animals in his yard and lighting fires on his lawn.
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I guess I am on someone's list then....except for the sitting in trees part...I like to stay on Terra-firma, so I guess I am OK, right?
 
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I live on a corner, and the basement window over my workbench is right at eye level when rounding the corner. I wonder what folks think as they see me holding knives, machetes, axes, etc. up to the light to check their edge.

At least I'm not harvesting squirrels and surveilling and abducting my neighbors.
 
never too sharp said:
I live on a corner, and the basement window over my workbench is right at eye level when rounding the corner. I wonder what folks think as they see me holding knives, machetes, axes, etc. up to the light to check their edge.

At least I'm not harvesting squirrels and surveilling and abducting my neighbors.
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I dunno how it is in other states, but if people saw me trapping squirrels, sitting in trees and lighting fires in the front yard, the cops would have been here real quick.
 
I guess I,m lucky in that sense. I shoot deer out of my garden and hang them in the tree next to it. No neighbors close enough to see or care. Keeps the deer out of the garden too!:D--KV
 
I am known as the man with the big German Shepherd who does Martial Arts in the Garage.

They see me test knives in the back yard--but no one has ever said anything.I have even invited a few to come over and they look at me -smile and say --"no thank you"

People are friendly to me--but you can tell they are just a bit uneasy(Sheeple)
 
I live in suburbia and I practice my outdoor skills in my backyard.

Though I don't trap small animals or spy from trees , my practice includes working out my choppers on downed tree limbs, splitting firewood, batoning, whittling, trimming shrubs with a machete, and practicing firecraft with one stick fires, ferro rods and bowdrills.

Despite all this, I don't think my neighbors make me for a murderous psycho because they all know me and my family well and they know that bushcraft goes hand in hand with our love of the outdoors.

In addition to his prior criminal history and the habits referenced in the article, I presume the suspect in that abduction probably had a threatening creepy persona and overall bad neighbor relations.
 
My place is known alternatively as either the "Critter Farm" or the "Hippie Farm"

As far as guns and bushcraft stuff all my neighbors love the woods and guns so I fit right in.
 
beanbag said:
I live in suburbia and I practice my outdoor skills in my backyard.

Though I don't trap small animals or spy from trees , my practice includes working out my choppers on downed tree limbs, splitting firewood, batoning, whittling, trimming shrubs with a machete, and practicing firecraft with one stick fires, ferro rods and bowdrills.

Despite all this, I don't think my neighbors make me for a murderous psycho because they all know me and my family well and they know that bushcraft goes hand in hand with our love of the outdoors.

.
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That pretty much somes up my scenario; allthough I have been seen making traps, but I don't kill anything around the house. Now if a mouse makes it in the house, it will see a fig 4 deadfall ;)
 
It depends.

The new people that moved in (most notably the German guy that moved in across from me) look at me with some fear. I didn't notice the German guy out in his yard when I went out one day and chopped down a tree that was dangerously close to my foundation with this:
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I look up, and he's standing there with eyes wide and mouth open. When he sees me, he closes his gate real quick. I hold it up and say "Got a new fishing knife!" He says "Yes! Nice!" as he hightails it back inside. :p

The people here that are "native" to the area actually feel sorry for you if you don't have a deer or hog tied up to a tree waiting for butchering a couple of times of year. It's not uncommon (and is perfectly legal) to see people -- men and women -- walk around with sheath knives on their belts.

Killing squirrels in your yard and eating them is seen as simple pest control.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
It depends.The people here that are "native" to the area actually feel sorry for you if you don't have a deer or hog tied up to a tree waiting for butchering a couple of times of year. It's not uncommon (and is perfectly legal) to see people -- men and women -- walk around with sheath knives on their belts.

Killing squirrels in your yard and eating them is seen as simple pest control.
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This sounds like my kind of neighborhood . . . :D
My next door neighbor was out a few weeks ago & saw me practicing with my flint steel. He came over & was in awe that you could start a fire with sparks & PJCB's. He left & 5 minutes later he returned with his wife & made her watch. Seems there was a wager he later told me concerning laundry & dishes for two weeks. . . :)
Be safe.
 
My neighbors aren't "sheeple" or anything, and they know me, and the stuff I'm into. Still...I'm sure seeing me climb upside down along the side of my deck, anchor off and simulate Aussie rappelling across the yard, leave the sprinkler on my tent, and occasionally venture to the back of the lot to chop on brush with a Busse Basic 9 or a big golok might have them thinking my cheese has slid off my cracker.
No telling what they thought when I went through my optics craze, and was out on the deck with tripod mounted binos or spotting scopes looking at everything all the time, and taking pictures through them.
It even sounds kind of weird to me, typing it out.
 
OwenM said:
I'm sure seeing me climb upside down along the side of my deck, anchor off and simulate Aussie rappelling across the yard, leave the sprinkler on my tent, and occasionally venture to the back of the lot to chop on brush with a Busse Basic 9 or a big golok might have them thinking my cheese has slid off my cracker.


Get the aerosol cheese, sticks better & won't slide off . . . :D
I have lived here long enough my neighbors on both sides aren't really surprised any more by what they see me do . .
Be safe.
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My new neighbor thinks I am a bit odd. He can't see me from his house, but when he was mowing his lawn I was chopping up some wood with a knife in my backyard, and he stopped on his mower and was staring at me. I smiled and waved.

He hasn't lived here long enough to see a deer hanging in my yard, but he will in the next 3 weeks. :)
 
People are used to me throwing hawks and loading the truck up to go hunting.
Everyone pretty much leaves us alone and I like that.
Until a storm blows a limb down or snow piles up three feet. Then me and my saws and axes and Kubota tractor becomes the neighborhood's best friend.
Funny how when people need help they become down right sociable...
I'd still rather be one of me then one of them.
 
I'm sure my neighbors think that I'm a nut.

Between open carrying at home and making sharp/pointy objects all day, they probably think I'm about to lose it!
 
Dunno, probably friendly thoughts.

I don't really care what they think, it's more important what I think about them. Most are OK, if not friends, but the coke-head daughter (and her friends) of the lady next door is one I have to be wary of.
 
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