Weirdest trip report 👍🏼 I scared the bajesus out of a Amish family

[Fancy Shoes]

Went Hammock camping on a Amish farm Last night. Been wanting to do a winter trip for a while. This allowed mento not have to backpack out, but be just as far out anyway. Was a good night. About a hour into me laying in the hammock trying to fall asleep, I hear a amish horse and carriage go running by me on this long drive. A few minutes later Joe, the guy who owns the property comes back to where I have set up camp with the other guy. Apparently their family got scared last night because they saw my lights while I was setting up camp, and their dogs just kept barking. I was pretty quiet. Also I was a minimum of a quarter mile a way from their house. Well their family went running out into the woods because they were scared I was going to get them. Even the kids, like 9 years and under went running separate ways into the woods while being barefooted. It was 25 degrees last night. Man..... i apologized and said I should have told the family I had permission to be there, but Joe said “no, I should have gone and told them.” I think it took about 35 minutes for the 2 guys to find all the kids.

I would have thought that the Amish would still be allowed to protect their family with Firearms, because another Amish guy who lives on the same drive took a rifle out when his dog saw people on his property, which is a pretty good story as well.

Anyway, it was a cold nighy, but the -25 degree bag I have from Cabalas works very well. However why the hell am I so scared that coyotes are going to get me?😂 i heard them all night. Only one time have I not been scared of coyotes, and they were only 20 yards away eateing a dead deer carcous, but I think that time amish being scared cause of how funny my fear is. I will have to do a video out there camping one night. Yall would like the area.


The red corcle is where I was camping

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[twentybelow]

Interesting story. Thanks for posting.

Yeah, I live way out in the boonies in the Missouri Ozarks and you can bet that if an unexplained light appears anywhere, folks around here WILL investigate and they WILL be armed when they confront the source. Even without a visible light as provocation, if my dogs bark to alert me that something's amiss, I always go check it out. As for coyotes, there is no reason to fear them. They spooked me when I first moved out here from the suburbs 10 years ago, but now I look forward to and enjoy their nightly yipping. All the ones I've seen were about the size of a mid-weight dog, maybe 30-40 pounds, and not the least bit aggressive. They seem to go well out of their way to avoid human contact.

[Red Cinema]

I don't want to start any hysteria about coyotes, but we had a coyote attack a human here in NJ recently--but what's a coyote these days? Some of them are getting a good bit of dog DNA in 'em and are acting less like song dogs (small, shy as described below) and more like wild dogs (potentially dangerous). Still wildly rare for a coyote or mostly-coyote to cause an adult human any concern, but see the usual warnings for pets and small children when it comes to coyotes. Minor note of amusement: every time I see the word "coyote" I hear it as "ki-yoat" thanks to a fellow grad student I knew back in the early 1990's, guy was from the west and always said it that way. Not sure why it stuck, but it did. . . .

Interesting story. Thanks for posting.

Yeah, I live way out in the boonies in the Missouri Ozarks and you can bet that if an unexplained light appears anywhere, folks around here WILL investigate and they WILL be armed when they confront the source. Even without a visible light as provocation, if my dogs bark to alert me that something's amiss, I always go check it out. As for coyotes, there is no reason to fear them. They spooked me when I first moved out here from the suburbs 10 years ago, but now I look forward to and enjoy their nightly yipping. All the ones I've seen were about the size of a mid-weight dog, maybe 30-40 pounds, and not the least bit aggressive. They seem to go well out of their way to avoid human contact.

[BillyBob58]

Just FIY: Coyotes ( only 2, not a large pack) killed a young lady who was day hiking solo up in Canada about 10 years back. So, maybe worth some caution, rare as such an event is. But around here, dogs kill or maim people regularly enough to be a significant concern. Usually within civilization, but I have seen dog packs roaming the woods. One time a deer ran past me, very close, and a few minutes later here came the dogs chasing the deer, ignored me. Another time a deer ran by in front of me, and hot on it's trail was a coyote, which did glance at me, but kept on after the deer.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/33509516/n.../#.XfEsOet7ns0

[BillyBob58]

Went Hammock camping on a Amish farm Last night. .... I hear a amish horse and carriage go running by me on this long drive. A few minutes later Joe, the guy who owns the property comes back to where I have set up camp with the other guy. Apparently their family got scared last night because they saw my lights while I was setting up camp, and their dogs just kept barking. I was pretty quiet. Also I was a minimum of a quarter mile a way from their house. Well their family went running out into the woods because they were scared I was going to get them. Even the kids, like 9 years and under went running separate ways into the woods while being barefooted. It was 25 degrees last night. Man............

FS, are you saying that they went running from their house into the woods? Or from their carriage into the woods? Either way, sounds like a strange way to react. Even if scared by your light and thinking you were going to get them, wouldn't the normal approach be to simply lock up and stay inside? I guess that's why you say it was "weird"!

[Fancy Shoes]

FS, are you saying that they went running from their house into the woods? Or from their carriage into the woods? Either way, sounds like a strange way to react. Even if scared by your light and thinking you were going to get them, wouldn't the normal approach be to simply lock up and stay inside? I guess that's why you say it was "weird"!

Yes they went from their house to the woods.

[MikekiM]

Curious why you didn't go a little deeper in the woods on either side of the road.. you would have still been plenty close to bail out if needed.. You were right on the road.

[TyRod]

Were you somewhere in Rush County? That’s just south East of me and there are numerous Amish farms and it’s not far from Indianapolis.

[BillyBob58]

Yes they went from their house to the woods.

That's one of the craziest things I have ever heard. You must be one scary fellow, or at least your light is scary.

[BillyBob58]

On your aerial view/map, which house was the one that you scared the occupants out of?