Unattended hammocks left hanging are discourage if not disallowed at some sites, to keep animals from becoming entangled. Can’t say I’ve heard such a story though.
Unattended hammocks left hanging are discourage if not disallowed at some sites, to keep animals from becoming entangled. Can’t say I’ve heard such a story though.
Kangaroo eh? I hung above an echidna's burrow one night on the Overland Track in Tasmania. It was on the edge of Lake St Clair, and I saw a platypus swimming in the lake that evening.
All true. Just trying to one-up you re Australiana
Tasmania - one of my favorite places for sure!
While I've not had anything bump/brush me, while I'm in my hammock (knock on wood), I am noticing a common theme in some of the posts regarding that.
I absolutely do make it a point NOT to hang my hammock across trails/footpaths/game trails/funnel points. Same with food sources (i.e. fruit trees or vines) and single water sources, and if there is an area that it's obvious that animals congregate.
willin'
Being a noob, I only have 3 1/2 hangs under my belt, but in that time i have had 1 camel, 1 oryx, and 4 longhorns bumping around the hammock. Keep in mind that I live on an exotic animal ranch. Both the camel and oryx were looking for their pop tarts and were bottle raised The longhorns know that people = feed time. I do stay away from the areas where the bison and zebra like to hang out as they are the only ones that make me nervous. Also terrified of the deadly coralheadedwaterrattlers that we have in Central Texas.
Something poked me in the back once...I had these thoughts of a skunk or something ornery in mind so I laid there still and quite hoping it would just go away.
Circa 1974. My then girlfriend, now wife, and I were camping in the Shining Rock area. Still in college and broke, all we had were 2 ponchos that could be snapped together to make a tent with no ends. In the middle of the night I felt something crawl on top of me and perch on my shoulder. I carefully pulled my sleeping bag over my head and wiggled gently.
The animal crawled off of me and started gnawing on my pack to get to our food. I got my flash light and discovered 2 skunks tearing into our food. Woke my wife and we retreated a relatively safe distance away until they left. Fortunately, they did not spray us. Ran into a wildlife guy on our way out. He said it happened often and people were rarely sprayed.
Last night I was in my hammock in the yard with my head towards the woods. Something came out and started sniffing right next to my ear. It sounded like it could be somewhere between a raccoon and a large dog. I looked left and right but it must have been right behind me and was gone by the time I could look. I'm thinking it may have been a coyote since it was fairly close to a chicken coop.
Got the bump from below two times that I can remember.. never figured out what it was. Heard one of them crinkling the cuben ground sheet once.
Another time I heard something get hung up in one of my guylines.. that 'twang' sound the guyline makes when you trip over it. Never figured that one out either.
Sqidmark and I Unknowing hung smack dead in the middle of a game trail after setting up in the dark on an AT section hike in PA. Woke up to a rather pissed off buck buggling at me from within half dozen paces.
Yes, my pack weighs 70lbs, but it's all light weight gear....
Bob's brother-in-law
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