Are You Ever Afraid To Tent?

[Cory]

only thing i ever worry about is other people

 

[campclose]

Not usually, when I go to the tent I'm usually so dog tired that I fall right asleep. I make sure the fire is stoked so that would keep the wild animals away. I love tent camping!

 

[ponderosa]

Not usually, when I go to the tent I'm usually so dog tired that I fall right asleep. I make sure the fire is stoked so that would keep the wild animals away. I love tent camping!

Hmmm, I generally make sure the fire is dead out before retiring to the tent. Going to the tent for the night with a stoked up fire sounds like a recipe for disaster...please don't try that here in the west which is a tinderbox for most of the summer and fall.

 

[Pathfinder1]

dinosaur;
Amazing! You know they say that 98% of a chimpanzee's DNA is exactly like human DNA. I'd be willing to bet that the guy who posted that blog is closer to 99%.




Hi...


Many chuckles...thanks...!! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[ejdixon]

Sometimes when I tent, I can hear every little sound. I can hear coyotes off in the distance and twigs crackling. I have one eye opened all night long. I worry about a wild animal approaching the tent and trying to get in. Are you ever afraid to camp in a tent and what do you do to calm your fears?

I admit that I still do get a little bit nervous whenever I go camping alone. Sticking some earphones and listen to some music to sleep helps.

 

[TroyS]

Hmmm, I generally make sure the fire is dead out before retiring to the tent. Going to the tent for the night with a stoked up fire sounds like a recipe for disaster...please don't try that here in the west which is a tinderbox for most of the summer and fall.

That's quite interesting, ponderosa. I've seen quite a lot of these TV shows where the host would often leave a fire burning through the night so that they would stay warm and keep the animals away at the same time. I even saw this episode of Man, Woman, Wild where they did not make any shelter. Instead, they built these two huge bonfires and slept beside them. Is this wrong?

 

[Grandpa]

Nothing wrong with sleeping next to a fire if you don't mind burn holes in that new sleeping bag. If you stay far enough away from the fire to protect your bag and tent, then it doesn't protect you from any marauding animal. A little gust of wind during the night, a hot spark goes flying, and you wake up in the middle of a forest fire. I don't like a fire burning at night either. Except.....I do like a fire in the winter with a leanto when the air is cold enough the spark can't keep its heat long enough to spread but the radiant heat from the fire reflects into the leanto and helps keep you warm.

Bottom line, keep food scraps and other food odors out of the tent and the animals will leave you alone. Use a fire responsibly to protect the forest, your gear and yourself.

 

[RandySki]

Nah, never been afraid of the noises that are heard when I go camping. It's just the sound of nature and I enjoy it. My father-in-law, just to be on the safe side, packs a 44 magnum but usually I just carry a knife.

 

[Theosus]

Hmmm, I generally make sure the fire is dead out before retiring to the tent. Going to the tent for the night with a stoked up fire sounds like a recipe for disaster...please don't try that here in the west which is a tinderbox for most of the summer and fall.

Last group I went with tried to make sure the fire was out. My hammock was closest to the fire among the group of widely spread tents. Someone mentioned the fire catching up again, and someone else said, "we'll hear you screaming first if the fire gets loose".

The moral is: don't be the closest one to the fire ring.

 

[Dana]

Night sounds in woods

Hard for a city bred person to get used to the quiet and unidentifiable sounds.
Have you tried to listen to music softly until you can fall asleep?

 

[Mudder]

Last time I went camping, I set up a tent down by the river just outside of town. I'm 6ft tall and about 160lbs and had two times of being spooked that night.

1) There was an owl hooting across the river. At first I thought it was somebody poaching illegally with an owl call because it sounded so fake. It sounded so fake! I later realized it was a real owl because of the placement of the hoot later on (no human could've walked that fast).

2) I heard some twigs and branches breaking heavily over the hill about 50yrds away. I live in Iowa, and we don't get bear or moose. We do get mountain lion though. I'd rather go find out what it was, than wondering, so I grabbed my machete and LED headlamp, exit the tent, and headed up the hill to see what was spooking me, for self assurance. If it was a person in the woods, I'd like to know about it. Turns out to be a decent size buck deer (still not something to mess with during mating season). He had traveled another 100yrds by the time I got up the hill, but I figured it was him breaking all those twigs with his hooves by the time I saw him. He ended up running off after he saw me.

Another thing... I heard the sound of something that a cow would kind of make basically later on. I couldn't figure it out. I'm not a deer hunter, so I don't know the sound that a male buck makes. I'm assuming it was that same buck or another. We don't have any wild hogs or wild cattle or moose or bear running around in central Iowa, so it must've been a buck.

Woke up the next morning, had a coffee in my chair by the fire, and an opossum wandered in about 10ft from me! It obviously didn't see me, so I stood up and stomped on the ground with my feet and it ran up the hill (slowly as opossums do). I'm paranoid of a rabid opossum or raccoon, but rabies usually runs more rapid in the cities. I feel safe having my machete by my side And soon, a .25 Benjamin Marauder PCP air gun

Was an interesting campout, for sure

 

[Backroad Joe]

Further from population the safer i feel. I often travel alone and usually only use a tent if the weather demands it. Had bears in camp numerous times, but the food was properly stowed.

The worst scare I ever had was when camping with the wife and two kids as guests on private land behind a locked gate. At about 2 AM I hear at least two vehicles approach, headlight hit the tent then they drove off. Those were some tense moments.

I did have memorable night in the Mojave Desert once. Camped about 100 yards from
the railroad tracks. Main line out of the Southwest with several trains during the night. Strange how in the still of the night you can feel the approaching train as a vibration long before you can even hear it. Like 20 minutes before. I had this dream that my tent is pitched right on the railroad tracks and the zipper is stuck! Woke up to the sound of the train whistle. And I mean wide awake! It's good for a laugh now.

 

[AK Hunter]

Sometimes when I tent, I can hear every little sound. I can hear coyotes off in the distance and twigs crackling. I have one eye opened all night long. I worry about a wild animal approaching the tent and trying to get in. Are you ever afraid to camp in a tent and what do you do to calm your fears?

HaHaHa Hell No!
To calm my fears (if I ever have any) I reach down & lay my hang on the S&W .40 by my side.
Never had to use it so far, I came close once when camping on a party beach a rowdy drunk fell over my tent. Yes fell over it, he was running so fast in the dark that he hit the tent, fell down, & the tent popped back up rolling him down the other side. I drawled back & punched him through the tent. The next morning it was easy to tell who it was he had a fat lip & the side of his face was swollen. I asked him about it & he said he was sorry he was just drunk. I patted the bulge at my side & told him "you don't know how close you came to getting shot" all he could say is "oh man I'm sorry & I won't do it again!" I told him that I thought I was being attacked & I was ready to defend my self in any way needed.

 

[Dana]

We forget how noisy urban areas are - some urbanites can't stand the quiet! Get out in the countryside and even bird movements in bushes and leaves seem loud. You can almost hear yourself think!

 

[hikeorbike]

I always tent in designated campgrounds rather than on my own in the middle of the wilderness, so the proximity of other people and the availability of safety staff puts me at ease. If I ever saw a bear come into camp, though, I might freak out!

 

[ponderosa]

I always tent in designated campgrounds rather than on my own in the middle of the wilderness, so the proximity of other people and the availability of safety staff puts me at ease. If I ever saw a bear come into camp, though, I might freak out!

It is the proximity of other people that makes me uneasy in campgrounds, and one of the reasons I seek out the middle of the wilderness.:tinysmile_twink_t:

 

[Theosus]

We forget how noisy urban areas are - some urbanites can't stand the quiet! Get out in the countryside and even bird movements in bushes and leaves seem loud. You can almost hear yourself think!

I was walking a trail last week and put my pole into the ground a little hard on the edge of the trail. It must have struck a shallow rock or something because it vibrated the shaft. The vibrations back and forth rustled the leaves and I thought for SURE I was about to be struck by a rattlesnake. I must have jumped four feet in the air and sideways (with a full pack on no less) before I figured out what it was.

Sometimes the quiet is astounding. I went for a walk today. 90 degrees and MUGGY after storms last night. I was the only one in the area (judging by the number of spider webs I removed from the path with my face) and it was dead quiet except for the occasional lizard running by or animal noise. freaky quiet.

 

[ppine]

The sounds in the woods are very much like the ones in my rural neighborhood- coyotes, owls, quail, etc. At home there are more sounds from dogs and horses, and donkeys unless I am camped near someone's pack string.

I agree about being wary of humans. The posts here vary a lot with regard to large predators. Some have iirational fear, some are oblivious (and wear earphones), some have respect and pay attention. I like the latter approach.

 

[Shahbaj]

I also fear of an owl at night, when I'm alone.

 

[CabinFreak]

I have a bad habit of wearing earplugs(to bed) when camping,so I guess all my fears(if any)are drowned out.