Scariest thing to happen to you IN your hammock...

**backpacker** · 11-04-2014, 19:31

Originally Posted by Meerkat

Thinking about being back in a tent!

lol......No not the tent

**Demeter** · 11-04-2014, 20:14

Widow makers. Once I get to camp, I am sometimes too tired to make sound judgements about hammock placement.

My friends and family give me a hard time about getting eaten by bears and the like, but i say that's what ear plugs and a buff over the eyes a for: I may get eaten, but I won't get scared by what I don't see and hear, and I will die content and happy in the woods!

**Tacoma96** · 11-04-2014, 20:17

A 8 inch in diameter tree branch falling close to my hammock at night. Very loud when it hits the ground. Very windy that night also.

**Woolman** · 11-04-2014, 20:23

Hanging with a friend one night and we hear crashing in the bush around us coming from every side. Next I heard a yelp from one side, then a bark from the other, then more crashing sound as a couple of coyotes ran off. I guess they were circling us to pick up the scent, once they found out we were humans they left.

**Catashep** · 11-04-2014, 20:27

I had 2 choices for set-up locations very close to one another...chose the right one. Just before dawn I heard a deer hoofing it toward me and just past my head on the other side of the tree I was strapped to ... then a second .... then a third. I assume they saw my hammock. I then heard a smaller animal with a much lighter foot pass right under my head. I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if I was hit by a deer in full stride but I guess they are smarter than that.

**Chard** · 11-04-2014, 20:36

Waking up in the middle of the night and smelling a really strong, foul, dirty, sweaty dog smell and then hearing/feeling something twanging once on one of my shockcord tarp tie-outs in passing. No sound, just stench and the twang. I'm assuming it was a bear, but who knows...

**Whiskeyjack** · 11-04-2014, 20:41

Being woken up in the middle of the night to one of the kids calling out. Tried to get out of bed and had something covering me keeping me in. After a few seconds of panic I remembered we were camping and I was in the hammock.

**IRONFISH45** · 11-04-2014, 20:56

Originally Posted by Chard

Waking up in the middle of the night and smelling a really strong, foul, dirty, sweaty dog smell and then hearing/feeling something twanging once on one of my shockcord tarp tie-outs in passing. No sound, just stench and the twang. I'm assuming it was a bear, but who knows...

Maybe a fellow camper?

Most of my scary incidents happened in tents. We were invaded by Ricky Racoon and what seemed like hundreds of family members. We were setting up camp after dark, we could hear Ricky and group a few feet away down in the creek. I think they were having a racoon party, lots of noise. Big racoons, babies, the whole gang was there. As we started to set up camp the racoons started to come up the bank and investigate us. then they started getting way too close, not cute anymore. downright aggressive, mom, dad, babies, aunts and uncles. Lots of racoons. I finally went over and took the dogs out of the vehicle (they were on a leash) in an instant the gang was gone.

I always liked racoons, until that experience. There were dozens of them, I managed to get some photographs before they started invading us, all that shows are dozens or red eyes. Kind of funny typing about the experience, ah, being surrounded by Ricky Racoon and gang, not funny while in the middle. We have a lot of Rabies in wild animals here.

My bear stories are about bears and my home in B.C. I am amazed at how intelligent bears are, they sure tricked me a couple of times. Now I am initiated and know they can be very tricky.

**IRONFISH45** · 11-04-2014, 21:09

Originally Posted by grannypat

When the very large, healthy-looking tree that I was tied too fell over in the middle of the night.

This same thing happened to my daughter last month. We were camping along the Oregon Coast, rugged area. We were in an Old Growth area, the forest floor is spongy, she set up using trees that looked healthy, lots of leaves fresh growth, all looked excellent until she went to climb in her hammock, the two trees came together, the one tree started to uproot, my daughter ended up sleeping on the ground that night. In the morning light we decided the tree was moving toward the creek, the creek had undercut the ground under the tree and the roots had lost their grip, the weight of the hammock, my daughter and the movement all worked against the tree being stable. The tree was okay, it did not come down at that time, but if she had slept in her hammock tied to that tree I think it would have come down.

No, it was not a skinny tiny tree, it was tall maybe 8 inches around or maybe more. In the future in that area we are going to shake and pull on our straps a lot harder before we set up.

**cougarmeat** · 11-05-2014, 13:07

I was hammock camping with my girlfriend a few years ago. As we passed through a small town on the way to the camp site, we stopped for some coffee and reading the local paper, I saw that a person suspected of being a serial killer had escaped from jail. The description said he had lost a hand in an accident an just had a hook prosthesis. We set up camp, had a nice meal, some wine and retired to our separate hammock. A few hours later, when it was pitch dark, my friend came over and said she was cold and wanted to share my hammock. I told her that though it was a "double" that meant it was a larger size, not that it was meant for two people at once. An argument ensued as she wanted to "share my warmth" and I wanted to protect my hammock. Finally, in disgust, we hastily packed everything up and drove off in the car. When I got home an started unpacking the gear, I found a hook caught in the whoopie sling.