Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) This has puzzled me almost from the start, probably other who have spent a good part of their lives outdoors too. Why is it on so many "camping encounter" reports that the RP upon detecting something amiss outside their tent, DON'T GET OUT & CHECK ON IT! Even when they hear movement, often what they believe to be bipedal, inside their camp, they huddle in their tent, or try to go back to sleep! This utterly baffles me. The camp I select is now my temporary home and thus I set it up defensively & protect it. I detect something amiss, I go out and check thoroughly. If I don't discover who or what caused my spider senses to tingle, at least they/it know I'm alert to the presence. I cannot imagine huddling in my tent if I hear something outside of it, when obviously what is outside must know I'm there. Talk about putting oneself in an indefensible tactical position!... Do they think the intruder is going to just pass them by because they are safe inside a thin nylon structure? I really don't get this. I also wonder how many cheat thnemselves out of a visual monkee encounter? Edited April 21, 2011 by NDT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 i imagine they're scared. not all folks are looking to see or challenge those bumps in the night, especially out in the woods. why go outside the tent and provoke a confrontation with who knows what if it could be avoided? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I agree with you 100% NDT, it has always astounded me that that could occur. I suspect that it's fear of the unknown that rules here. We get the same thing at work, someone calls in and says they heard a noise outside and when asked if they looked out, shined a flashlight or even turned on an outside light, the standard answer is no I was scared. Dude, of what, a noise? I remember when I was a child I would go spend the night with my two great aunts whose property joined ours. When my 85lb 75yoa aunt Jenny heard a noise outside she didn't call the police or even call my dad. She turned on the outside lights, grabbed her 12ga shotgun and an old silver everready flashlight and went outside to check it out. They sure don't make ladies like that anymore. Lord I miss her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterbarber Posted April 21, 2011 Admin Share Posted April 21, 2011 NDT / Mark, The three of us all have LEO backgrounds and training so naturally our confidence level will be significantly higher than the average Joe. Can you guys count the number of times you've had to run after a perp into a woodline, with a high probability that he too was armed? I can't. When you add the hours and hours of tactical training we get, I don't generally worry about my ability to defend myself and/or engage a threat when necessary-I just do it. It becomes a mindset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tracker Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Most would be surprized at the racket raccoons or porkies can make @ 3am but are affraid to investigate And if you think it's a Bf? Muster some courage up and go outside and experience your first encounter. After all when do you expect them to visit, at tea time? And if you believe they are all gentle and timid or you are a skeptic well then here's your big chance to prove old tracker wrong. JMO tracker Edited April 21, 2011 by tracker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 This is true MB, when you add LE training to a type A personality it's a great combination. I'll never understand the mindset of those who will cower inside the house without makeing a noise while potential burglars are outside knocking trying to confirm the residence is unoccupied. Makes no sense. Sorry NDT, didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'm thinking about buying a new tent with windows on all sides so my lazy butt won't have to get up to check things out though. LOl, not really, the wife wouldn't let me leave them open if I had them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 All very true. Sometimes I take it for granted the training & lifestyle guys like us have that carries over. The racoon post made me chuckle. I am pure hell on the coons that try to raid our feeders & coops. Have an illuminated reticle scope on my 17Hummer that makes picking them off in low light a breeze... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I think some folks would rather huddle in their tent and think a bigfoot is walking around them, instead of getting out of the tent and observing the armadillo or raccoon that is really there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I'm thinking about buying a new tent with windows on all sides so my lazy butt won't have to get up to check things out though. My first thought when i read this part gave me a serious chuckle.... It reminded me of those glass sneeze guards over the buffet line.... "Tent w/ windows on all sides" = convenient viewing portal for whatever is outside your tent to peek through and decide if you look delicious enough..! ============ as far as why people cower or go back to sleep... In my case, it would never happen, because when im tired- I could sleep through an earthquake... Im pretty sure I wouldnt be "alerted" until whatever it is takes the first chomp of my leg/arm (hopefully not my neck!)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowBorn Posted April 21, 2011 Moderator Share Posted April 21, 2011 I had my encounter outside my tent once and believe me i wanted to go outside and see what it was that was out there.But I held my ground with my gun in my hand under my pillow.I did not even lock and load because what ever it was that was outside my tent was only two feet from my head and my tent. Yes i was scared out of my wits but I held my ground and I almost held my breath and i also thought that what ever it was could hear my heart beat. What ever it was that was outside my tent was big and i did not want to move a muscle .since i have already saw a bigfoot in this area once.Everyone can say how brave they are or how they will shoot one when they see one now but when it comes down to it,that will never happen.when Dave and Jim came back from the creek that morning and i knew it was safe to come out I was glad that i made the right dicision to stay hidden in the tent .because the rock that we found on that log could have easly busted me open or i could have easly been ripped aprt ,either way that morning I could have been killed.Any training that one has cannot prepare you for the type of encounter that this creature brings.Sure i have had guns pointed at my head been shot at and that does not compare to the encounters that i have had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Some people might think if they start moving and start unzipping the tent whatever it is that they hear will leave. Say you want to observe something, do you run after it with a hatchet in one hand and a rifle in the other letting it know you’re there, or sit quietly and do as much listening and watching as you can. Maybe the person in the tent figures what they’ve got as far as an experience is as good as it gets as long as they don’t scare away whatever it is. Maybe the whole point is to not be tactical or defensive. Can you imagine bird watchers shouting every time they see or hear the bird they are trying to observe? Doesn’t seem productive. Also, maybe what they hear isn’t an intruder. Maybe the person in the tent is the intruder. Maybe an indefensible tactical position is the only way to get a monkey encounter. I will point out one of my own “experiencesâ€. I was awoken at night, in my trailer, by something running into my awning. It made quite a bit of racket. During the next whatever, 15+ minutes, I heard things walking around, sometimes sounded bi-pedal, sometimes it sounded like multiple things, maybe bi-pedal. My trailer was shaken several times, significantly. I laid awake for however long it was, listening (audible observations). After I figured I wasn’t going to hear something new I got up and shone a light outside to find several deer eating cold beans out of my fire pit. I learned a huge amount about how what you would otherwise think you know (what deer sound like) can be different depending on the conditions. At no point did I think I was having a genuine “Bigfoot†experience, because I didn’t know; however, I didn’t dismiss that idea either. But, without information gathering, had I jumped up, tried to run out the aluminum door and around the side of the trailer, what would I have? Probably nothing at all. I can’t imagine the deer would be there by the time the trailer door slammed shut. What I was able to do though was rule out so many things by listening and then seeing what makes the noise. I now know what it sounds like when deer paw (like a bi-ped), or that they will run smack into an awning pole, rub themselves on the tongue of a trailer, etc. and all of those things could easily be mistaken for “Bigfoot†if you want to believe that and don’t see the actual animal. All of those things could have been misinterpreted if I’d have jumped up. Seems better to listen for 15 – 30 minutes and see what evidence is left behind in the morning than to maybe get a glimpse of a shadow or something slightly brownish as it runs through vegetation in the middle of the night. People asked me why I didn’t get up right away, and honestly I can’t imagine a less productive thing I could have done. Sometimes it’s best to observe in my mind. A lot of bow hunters hunt from a tree stand. A lot of duck hunters hunt from a blind. I don’t know if you hunt, but if you do, do you try to stalk or stand hunt? Or, do you run after noises you hear in the brush or woods hoping you’ll see the animal making the noise and still have a chance to shoot it before it runs off? It utterly baffles me that anyone thinks there is a right or wrong way to go about this. BTW, my post is the other side of the coin. I’m not saying it’s the right way to go about anything, and in fact I don’t know that there is anything anyone of us can do to elicit a monkey encounter. Edited to add: You know, I’ll also say this. I’ve woken up during an earthquake and gone back to sleep. No jumping up. I’ve also woken up to something outside my tent multiple times and either gone back to sleep or yelled “shoo†(or something to that effect). I’m 95% sure at one point it was a black bear. Didn’t seem like something to get excited about though and shoo seemed like the easiest way for me to get back to sleep. So, maybe some of those people aren’t huddling in their tent at all, maybe their trying to figure out a way to go back to sleep with something going on outside their tent they couldn’t care less about. Edited April 21, 2011 by Ace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 D*mn it, I have to add something else yet again. I was going to say I doubt most people in their tents are actually fearful, but then started thinking about it. What’s not to be fearful of when encountering what might otherwise be a nine foot chimpanzee? The thing could snap you in two with a hatchet buried in it’s chest and several rounds of 9mm in it’s face. So, maybe people in their tents are actually scared, I don’t know, but maybe I wouldn’t fault them if they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I would stay in the tent , being absolutely still, in case it was a bear or big cat. I don't think bigfoot would occur to me unless I was in an area with a history of sightings or had specifically camped out to wait on him to show up. Either way, isn't that what you are supposed to do in those cases to avoid confrontation or attack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernyahoo Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) I think it would depend on how close the thing is outside my tent whether I would make a move to see what I thought could be bigfoot. If it's right at the zipper, I wouldn't because it could force a physical confrontation. If it is too far out there then I could guess I might not be able to see it clearly and blow the opportunity. Like Ace , I would sit and listen a while, and if It sounded bipedal then I'd pick a time where I knew it was in the open for a good sighting before jumping for the flashlight and the gun, which is another challenge while unzipping the tent all in one motion. Edited April 21, 2011 by southernyahoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FuriousGeorge Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Pretty much everything that stirs outside of the tent will run away when I stick my head out and say "hey, whattayoudoin". I had a small black bear take off at the speed of light. I've never camped in Grizzly territory though, so that might be different. The only time I stayed quiet and cowered in my tent is when I saw a bull moose in the fall (mating season). He was huge, breathing hard and crashing through the brush very close. I knew what it was before I peeked and when I saw the size of him, I froze. I was nervous because he knew we were there and it looked like he was about to cause a fuss. I didn't have a gun, so I stayed quiet and he left. I can almost guarantee if I stuck my head out and said "hey, whattayoudoing" he would have thrashed my camp into dust. My girlfriend slept through the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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