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Thread: Going Solo?

  1. #141
    Senior Member bgraybackpacker's Avatar
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    Personally not everyone should carry. We could end up with shot hikers. I agree with Eliteoomph's sentiments about enforcing your will onto wildlife and agree that for the most part you will be able to control through your actions the behavior of said animals. I have been through encounters with black bears and coyotes with these attitudes in mind and have never stood down. I do not agree with other sentiments of taking dogs that are not 100% trained to act without instruction from their master, that includes making any sounds. These types of animals and their actions can only encourage an otherwise curious animal to attack what they view as possible prey. With smart skills and backpacking you can avoid these situations without the need for additional firepower.

  2. #142
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    Tents are way freakier, you can't see anything from a tent. Bears fear dogs, even small ones, that is why hunters use dogs. There is even a video on youtube of a house cat chasing a black bear. lol

  3. #143
    Senior Member Eliteoomph's Avatar
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    lol maybe I should add, "Do not try this at home".

  4. #144
    Senior Member bhinson's Avatar
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    Thinking of a solo hang this weekend if I can
    Not sure yet what if any thing is going on
    It will be my first in my hammock

  5. #145
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    When I go on a solo trip in the sierras, which is usually for a week, I spend alot of time cleaning up illegal fire rings, picking up trash ect: keep busy. I have plenty of time to fly fish, and go when I want and do what I want, which is the special thing about going it alone. Of course I'm extra careful about crossing rivers and streams, there's no one there to help if things go wrong. I cherish these times, helps clear the mind.

  6. #146
    Senior Member TinaLouise's Avatar
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    I'm not sure if this topic is more about "going solo" or "being able to withstand the dark"?? I would say that it doesn't matter, the end product is that you want to be able to sleep at night and get up the next day and get on with your day. Next week I'm heading out with a group of brand new boy scouts for a week long trip at Summer Camp. So far at our weekly meetings, their parents are more worried than the boys. You'd think we were taking these new scouts out for a week on the AT. So us two adults that are taking these scouts are having to calm down the parents that there wont be any axe murders or whatever other fears they seem to see coming at us while we're there at Summer Camp. We have done this before!! And the biggest probem we have will be nite time when the scouts head to bed. We always put them two to a tent. And it's a given that at about 2am, one of them will have an "encounter" with a rabid, overgrown, hairy spider!!! Which will dissapear when we get up and shine a flashlight into their tent. Amazingly this same spider will return as soon as we go back to bed. We adult scout leaders have found that if the scout conviences his parent that he needs to go home, he has a much smaller chance of remaining a scout. The scouts that over come their fears and get through this first week of camping (and being away from home) have a much higher percentage of becoming an Eagle.
    As the scout progress's through our different camping trips, I've seen them personally mature practicly over night. But our first night with them has to be positive. No matter that we know there's not a scout eatting spider in their tent, we still get up and investigate.
    It's all about mental fear and how you handle it. If there's actual real things out there, like bears, we're teaching leave no trace and hanging all smellables. But those are more advanced trips than our first Summer Camp type trip.

    Start with more "fear" managable type trips and proceed from that.
    If the back yard is to scarry, hang on the porch if you have one. Check out camp grounds and find one you're comfortable with. If you need company, find someone to go with you. Get a dog!! As you get comfortable camping in more safe locations, then start going further. Either hike futher from your vehical, or camp in the back yard. Start with small steps.

    Something that helps me to sleep on trips where I know there are wild animals about at night is to hang "bear bells" onto my tarp. Of course this backfired one night when the winds really REALLY picked up and my tarp was wildly flapping and the bells were ringing and clanging all night. I slept right through it because I figured nothing would be coming anywhere near all the racket my tarp was making. But boy did I hear complaints from other people that were camped around me. They were not to happy that my tarp kept them up all night.

    With the new scouts, we wear them out during the day with all the activities that they are doing. By bed time, they are ready for sleep. Just gotta get through that first night and it gets easier each night after that.

    TinaLouise

  7. #147
    Member burleyolebear's Avatar
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    For me to make suggestions about how to not be nervous in the woods would be like a duck making suggestions on how to not be nervous in the water. It's in my nature to seek solitude in the trees. I'm a natural born introvert with a love of the deep forest. Solo is my preferred way to camp. It's people who make me nervous. Think of it like this: You're a human, which means you're at the top of every food chain. You are the most dangerous animal in the woods. Not because of strength or stealth, but because of intellect tools. Go and be the super predator, fear nothing without thumbs...

  8. #148
    Senior Member raiffnuke's Avatar
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    Go and be the super predator, fear nothing without thumbs...
    I like that saying...I might have to use it from time to time....

  9. #149
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    Quote Originally Posted by burleyolebear View Post
    For me to make suggestions about how to not be nervous in the woods would be like a duck making suggestions on how to not be nervous in the water. It's in my nature to seek solitude in the trees. I'm a natural born introvert with a love of the deep forest. Solo is my preferred way to camp. It's people who make me nervous. Think of it like this: You're a human, which means you're at the top of every food chain. You are the most dangerous animal in the woods. Not because of strength or stealth, but because of intellect tools. Go and be the super predator, fear nothing without thumbs...
    What a great perspective, I think this attitude serves a whole lot better than a firearm.
    “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
    ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

  10. #150
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    Quote Originally Posted by canoebie View Post
    What a great perspective, I think this attitude serves a whole lot better than a firearm.
    True in all cases for a start point (the proper use of a mind being our most effective defense) and while all should be free to be sans a firearm, if they desire, the opposite is also true. After all what is the point of having opposable thumbs and then volunteering (or worse, being forced ) to reduce our ability to use any tools to accomplish the job? If this tool allows a more mentally peaceful time in the hammock it matters not if the tool was actually used or not. The firearm being nothing more than a tool after all...

    Leave the gun at home or in the gun store but don't expect all of us to embrace the philosophy. We fret over the ability of our fellow man to use one with discretion and then blythely hop into our cars and drive among packs of the same folk. I have seen plenty of misuse (and the opposite) of both and the car is by far the most dangerous. Both are projectiles...think about it.

    Putting away the soap box now.

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