Had a radio collared hunting dog bump into the bottom one night. Gave him a few pets and he ran off into the woods again.
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Had a radio collared hunting dog bump into the bottom one night. Gave him a few pets and he ran off into the woods again.
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Last edited by Moonshiner; 05-19-2020 at 18:33.
The wishbone will never replace the backbone- Will Henry
Had that bump under the hammock in the night - it wasn’t squirrel! The next morning, I looked and looked for tracks. Didn’t see any, but it was definitely not my imagination. Then, much later, I was in a hammock and a gust of wind caused some movement - like whatever I was using for support flexed and sprang back. Amazing but true, that mimicked exactly what I felt when I thought something bumped me in the night.
The most dangerous situation I remember was on Jones Island in the WA San Juans. There’s a herd of resident deer and they are not shy about checking out any food left within reach. There were lots of guy lines for them to tangle in. If one got tangled and panicked, started thrashing about, it wouldn’t have had a happy ending for the person in the hammock.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
Never ran in to me but I have had a lot of night time visitors. Had a huge buck snorting while standing over my dog and I, no tarp, had a spike come into my WH tarp but luckily everything stayed calm and no damage! Foxes, raccoons, squirrels, stray dogs and cats, the woods behind my house become very active after dark. AND, I am glad to say I have never had to deal with any snakes, which would probably give me a heart attack.
Not too many skunks in Uk ,plenty of foxes though that eat through my glow wire guy lines on the tarp
Multiple times.
Once was no big deal. The ponies at Grayson Highlands can be quite friendly.
I was also set up near the base of a 10' cliff on one side and a river on the other. The pack of Coyotes was none to happy with me being there and howled like mad from 15 to 20 feet away. That'll make the short hairs stand on end. A flashlight showed 8 sets of eyes. Person with me slept through it all. No tarps that night, and when I shined my light on my partners hammock... I realize we are just a big amorphous puff-ball, that does not look like anything. Went back to sleep.
The other time I was camping on a fair grounds and as usual there were no trees. So I headed to a corner of the property and found a spot on the wood line where the brush was no too bad. This happens to be the main path for just about every critter to access the fairground fields at night. I must have be disturbed at least three times. Once was deer, another I could tell what it was but heaving panting and a thunder of feet and two of whatever it was did bump me on the bum as they rushed pass. (prob. Raccoons).
This night prompted me to make my portable Tensa Stand. More the inconvenience of finding and the location the spot vs. the animals.
I generally don't pay attention to skunks, opossum or raccoons. However, three animals that bother me when they get under my tarp is 1) Squirrels, 2) Deer, and 3) porcupines.
Squirrels are so darned inquisitive - they will take the time to figure out things that other animals won't. Once in the Adirondacks, I warned my oldest son not to take food into his hammock but he didn't listen. He was taking a nap in his hammock with half a granola bar in the ridgeline organizer. The rest of us watched the squirrel as he tried to figure out how to get into the hammock. When the squirrel finally got in, he couldn't figure out how to get out. This squirrel started bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. My son woke up briefly, showed the squirrel the exit, and immediately went back to sleep, but not before I took the granola bar from him.
As for deer, they're pretty inquisitive too. I awoke one night to something sniffing around my hammock. I even got a bump or two. When I awoke in the morning, I was surprised to find not one set of deer tracks, but multiple deer tracks underneath my tarp. There must have been a whole herd of them under my tarp!
Porcupines also don't give me a warm fuzzy. I was cooking late one night above the Delaware Gap, and this porcupine just came waltzing into my campsite. I yelled at him but he didn't stop coming. Finally I turned on my headlamp and he stopped, then backed about 20 feet away. And there he sat, for the entire evening until I fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, he was still there, staring me down. That's when I realized I was hanging over a game trail - poor porcupine was just trying to take his usual midnight stroll, which I had disturbed.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Err does a naughty exberent cat count he barrels full tilt into me or bounces on top of the hammock at least once a night even though its not a bear its still slightly alarming.
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