I know it's never a good idea to camp on the 4th, but this no-hookups CG is so pretty with big spaces. And cheap. I guess cheap is what attracts this:Late yesterday an Excursion towing a fright of a 20' beat-up old trailer shows up and parks right across from me. The truck doors opened and out came more people than I thought could fit in there. Husband (late 20s), wife, kid, kid, kid, kid.. maybe another kid, brother, uncle. Who knows, several adults and maybe 6 kids. And two dogs. And, of course, out comes the cheap open frame generator. Who didn't see that coming?At 10pm sharp I was pleasantly surprised that all my neighbors turned off their loud generators. Everyone had a loud one. And then, around 11pm, the campers from hell fired up their generator! No kidding. Loud.. loud as hell, and it sounded like he was trying to run his a/c. I thought maybe it was going to blow up it was working so hard. Now what to do? This CG has no host, or at least not one I wanted to bother at 11:30pm. I figured it's best to not say anything, because if these folks are crazy enough to do this, I better be careful. The d amn thing finally got shut off at 12:15am. Excellent.This morning while packing up to leave, one of their dogs comes over to my site and starts growling at me. Yep, they let their dogs run loose. They also washed their dishes in the community water spigot.The husband came over to chat with me this morning about my truck as I was preparing to leave. I politely asked about his running the generator until after midnight. "Oh.. was it that late? I didn't check my watch. We were just trying to cool it off in there." Uh huh. Of course you didn't know what time it was. No fireworks are allowed, but since most rules were being broken I didn't want to stick around to find out. It's good to be home.

Unleashed dog approaches me in my campsite growling I try to discourage them with lots of noise and a stout stick held in my left hand poking and hitting...usually works 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I shoot it. Now let's hear from the dog lovers who have never been bit by strange and aggressive dog.

Before I got to the part about him coming over to chat, I thought "of course they're running that generator - with all those people and dogs in there it's got to be hot as hell!" :)You know rule number one (no camping at a campground on holiday weekends). In my region, I have found these other policies helpful:don't stay at campgrounds within 2 hours of a large populated area in high season;don't stay at campgrounds, with any 2 or more of the following, in high season: more than 45 campsites; showers and flush toilets; boat ramps and motorized boats allowed; general stores; playgrounds; ATV trails So far, off-season is fine with most places.

Years ago I lived in a modest subdivision that some local teens decided to start hanging out in front of my house until early AM hours blasting their boombox. I tried asking for it to be turned down and was told where I could go, as well as what they could do. Over the next two weeks they hung out out there and had the worst luck, 11 Boomboxes had their speakers blow out, It was amazing, what you could do with a bb pistol. Now, how do we find a similarily subtle manner to address genny's?

I avoid camping over holidays. Since I'm retired I can go the other days. I understand that is not an option for those still working.

Lwiddis wrote:Unleashed dog approaches me in my campsite growling I try to discourage them with lots of noise and a stout stick held in my left hand poking and hitting...usually works 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I shoot it. Now let's hear from the dog lovers who have never been bit by strange and aggressive dog.Just what we need two fruitcakes having a shootout in the campground.

Campers from hell | Good Sam Community

97 Replies

gbopp
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
toedtoes wrote:
You know rule number one (no camping at a campground on holiday weekends).

And if you have questions about the other rules, always refer to rule #1. It eliminates any uncertanity about the other rules.

The 'Big Three' summer holiday weekends are amateur nights. If you're looking for entertainment (good or bad), go to a CG. Otherwise, stay home or boondock. :)
toedtoes
Explorer III
Jul 01, 2017
Lwiddis wrote:
Unleashed dog approaches me in my campsite growling I try to discourage them with lots of noise and a stout stick held in my left hand poking and hitting...usually works 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I shoot it. Now let's hear from the dog lovers who have never been bit by strange and aggressive dog.

Even as a non-gun person, I can agree with your first and last parts. The making a lot of noise can get the attention of someone who can get the dog before something happens (if you make the right noises - calm, deep voiced, and authoritative - not shrieking, etc.). The stout stick held in your hand provides you with a simple tool to block an attack if the dog goes for it. The gun - that's for the "if it doesn't work

But, if the dog is just standing there growling, then poking and hitting it with a stick is going to make it attack. Any chance of the dog not attacking you is gone at that point.

Other things to do (or not do) are standing still, not kicking, not making sudden movements, not making threatening movements, etc. Staring the dog down is only a good idea if you have enough dog knowledge to understand THAT dog - with some dogs, staring it down will have it slinking away; with others, it will cause them to attack. If in doubt, stand tall, arms close to your body, with your eyes averted to the left or right (don't drop your eyes down) - that creates a neutral pose.

(I'm hoping I misinterpreted your post and you mean that you would poke and hit the dog with the stick IF it tried to attack you and not just because it was standing there growling.)
colliehauler
Explorer III
Jul 01, 2017
Lwiddis wrote:
Unleashed dog approaches me in my campsite growling I try to discourage them with lots of noise and a stout stick held in my left hand poking and hitting...usually works 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I shoot it. Now let's hear from the dog lovers who have never been bit by strange and aggressive dog.
Just what we need two fruitcakes having a shootout in the campground.
colliehauler
Explorer III
Jul 01, 2017
I avoid camping over holidays. Since I'm retired I can go the other days. I understand that is not an option for those still working.
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
Years ago I lived in a modest subdivision that some local teens decided to start hanging out in front of my house until early AM hours blasting their boombox. I tried asking for it to be turned down and was told where I could go, as well as what they could do.
Over the next two weeks they hung out out there and had the worst luck, 11 Boomboxes had their speakers blow out, It was amazing, what you could do with a bb pistol.
Now, how do we find a similarily subtle manner to address genny's?
toedtoes
Explorer III
Jul 01, 2017
Before I got to the part about him coming over to chat, I thought "of course they're running that generator - with all those people and dogs in there it's got to be hot as hell!" :)

You know rule number one (no camping at a campground on holiday weekends). In my region, I have found these other policies helpful:

don't stay at campgrounds within 2 hours of a large populated area in high season;
don't stay at campgrounds, with any 2 or more of the following, in high season:
more than 45 campsites;
showers and flush toilets;
boat ramps and motorized boats allowed;
general stores;
playgrounds;
ATV trails

So far, off-season is fine with most places.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2017
Unleashed dog approaches me in my campsite growling I try to discourage them with lots of noise and a stout stick held in my left hand poking and hitting...usually works 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I shoot it. Now let's hear from the dog lovers who have never been bit by strange and aggressive dog.

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Campers from hell

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