My HORRIBLE luck!!!

[Chesapeake]

So, after my bug in the ear incident a few weeks ago I vowed never to go netless again unless the landscape was a frozen tundra and no insects could possibly be around. Good thing I made this decision. Everyone knows that its not good practice to eat or have food in or around your hammock for the obvious reasons. And even though we don't have bears where I live there's still plenty of other scavenging animals to deal with. So I don't do it. Ill have a drink in a sports bottle outside the hammock, but that's it.

Now, last night around 4am I was sound asleep but started hearing a faint kinda grunting/ snorting noise and felt something bumping up against me right under the shelf of my BB XLC. I knew I didn't have any food with me, but then realized that whatever it was could possibly have been attracted to the smell of the down in my new Incubator I got a few days ago.....And it does have a pretty strong smell just like my burrow did when I got it a few weeks ago. Idk if its from the stuff that makes the down water resistant or if its the natural oils on the down itself, but they both have a distinct odor that's pretty strong at first. The burrow has gotten better from airing it out with use thankfully. Now, since I was still half asleep and worried I was gonna open my eyes to see $300 worth of feathers floating under my tarp, my first reaction was to sit up and turn my light on to see what was out there. Bad idea. VARY BAD idea. As I turned my light on and leaned over to look down and out of the netting that's pulled out on the zip side of the XLC, I was greated with the mouth of one VARY pissed off opossum that was determined to come in and sleep with me. The little hell weasle bit holes in the netting and hammock body by the zipper and was about an inch away from getting the side of my face as well . I instantly yelled at it and it took off into the night , screaming and snorting.

I didn't see any damage so after my heart stopped pounding I fell back to sleep. However, when I got up this morning I noticed the holes it made, the hair and gunk from its mouth matted to the net and stain on the fabric from the same . I'm about to email Warbonnet guy to see how he recommends I fix the holes but does anyone have any ideas? Its a brand new hammock too. Had I been awake all the way when is happened I might not have moved so quickly and startled it. I've only had the hammock for a month and i take great care of my gear because I can't afford to replace things all the time, especially now since I have 3 kids and its almost Xmas and Ive spent my gear budget for the next few years getting my 0° quilt set + the WBBBXLC. But buy once cry once right? So hopefully the damage can be fixed properly but cheaply. At least the rabbid hell creature didn't tear through my UQP and into my UQ!

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[soul embrace]

Man that sucks and scary especially being half asleep. You could use this: http://www.dutchwaregear.com/mcnett-...patch-kit.html for the net. I've used it in my tent and works well. Not sure how to fix the hole in the fabric though

[dakotaross]

"hell weasel" - man, that is appropriate. Kicked one 20 yards in the air once... true story.

[Mogollon Monster]

That would have scared the living crap out of me. Sorry to hear about your rig. You're lucky it wasn't worse.

[Ratdog]

That'll buff right out.

What a great story for a couple of battle scars.

"Tell us again Grandpa, about the great possum attack of 2016"
"Well gather round children, it was cold December night and the moon was full..."


For sure touch base w/ WB as mentioned. The mesh patch kit I've seen in action and works well. I've got some small holes but not ready to patch them just yet. Maybe some tenacious tape on the fabric holes so they don't expand.

Opossum do play dead but not until they put up a little bit of a struggle and bluff some serious aggression. Otherwise they're harmless and incredibly useful as tick control if nothing else. Have a bunch in my woods and am glad of it. Never had any trouble except when the dogs trap them in the yard and corner them against a fence. No biting or fighting, I walk out with a shovel, they get grumpy, then play dead and I hoist them over the fence. They get to scootin' pretty quick. Possum do have a nasty bite but it has to be a pretty doggone unusual circumstance for that to be possible and you just provided the first I've heard. It's no joke as they are known to carry rabies but so do many other critters.

Sorry for you luck w/ the new gear. Everything is new until that first 'incident', mine was a falling branch that punched a hole in some netting.

[NarlocB]

Wow. Critters just love you.

[Burg54]

Sorry to hear about the "hell weasel" (lol) getting to your hammock. I wonder, were you hanging pretty low? Around here they are slow moving, short and squatty. I know they climb but sounds like this sucker was getting at you from the ground.

Anyway, I have had similar holes in my XLC netting and Brandon recommended TearAid to fix. I am sure he will recommend the same for you. It works GREAT and the function is as good as new...but pretty much looks like sh*t and your XLC definitely wont look new anymore. On the bright side now it will have some battle scars/character and a story to tell.

https://www.warbonnetoutdoors.com/pr...tearaid-patch/

https://www.amazon.com/Tear-Aid-Fabr...words=tear+aid

[Dublinlin]

Oh man! That's awful! Good thing he didn't snag YOU with his ice pick teeth!

You need to accessorize your hammock with a large, well trained dog!

I feel for you. I'd be plain sick if something ripped my hammock like that.

[winterbeard]

"Mourning with you, as you mourn.
Ratdog is right, though... You've got a great story, there.
Sometime, 10, 20 years from now, you'll be glad you have some campfire tales to tell, when there's a listening ear....
Remind me sometime, to tell you the one about the raccoon that crawled into my son's bed and bit him on the shoulder.
Regards, Ted



"What's the best gift you can give a kid?
Happily married parents!"

[novasquid]

wow that sucks. my greatest fear is jamming the zipper with the bugnet or hammock body, but never thought a critter could do that kind of damage with you laying in it.

fwiw, i was quoted about $75 a few months ago from warbonnet for them to replace the entire bugnetting of my xlc, in case you want to go down that road.