If you're afraid of the dark...don't camp!

Well....I think it's about that time. :)

I enjoy the night sky and only use outside lighting during mealtime. I turn off all outside lights otherwise. Occasionally I camp with people who like some light on and seem to be uncomfortable in the dark.

In southern CA, sometimes the campgrounds themselves have excessive lighting or are located in a populated area with few stars visible.

I don't particularily like carry a gun. In the woods or wilds of course I have one and needed it a time or two. During bow season I like having a gun for backup. I had two wolves chasing two does chase them right in front of me and the wolves were headed directly for my lap. I use be fair with a bow but I held my shot and they turned following the doe that was still running. The second one laid down in the brush behind me along the power line. I didn't shoot her. I am thankful the wolves didn't come into my lap. They ran by only a few feet away.
If I think I might need one well.... like the time of the home invasion and I couldn't reach the new .44 Ruger I placed too fa under the bed.

Guns came into the thread becaused they were the only thing missing!!! I prefer my AP-9 to a Mac 10, but that's just me. Here in SoCal, there have been fatalities, and we've personally had warnings that cougars were sited in-camp from the rangers. Now consider that back east, during deer season, as middle-schoolers we could carry our shotguns on the school bus for the 25-minute trip and leave them at school until an after-school hunt, and get a ride back home on the high-school bus: How times have changed in the good old USA! If you were out for a week or so you could make up your work - whitetails aren't just tasty, but back in south 'Jersey you either dug clams or worked at the boatworks, so meat in the freezer was a Blessing from God! Me, I was more interested in the $2 cash I got for every muskrat I trapped in the swamp before school at sunrise - PM me for recipes. I camp to be home...
Kudos to Jake, you're my kind of neighbor! :)

When the bear is chewing on your leg, or the mountain lion chewing on your liver, or the rabid skunk or raccoon bites you, or you field dress a rabbit for dinner with a cut on your hand and get rabbit fever, it is a little late to think "Well, darn, maybe ol' Mowermech was right after all..."

If ANY of the above happens, I sure as spit ain't gonna be thinking about YOU! :B Besides, I don't field dress 'nuttin-that's what they make HUSBAND's for! I'm so durn ornery those critters ain't coming anywhere near me! :E

No, but either one would go GREAT with mashed potatoes and brown gravy!

My comments were geared towards the "NO FEAR" crowd, to show that there can be a LOT to fear which has nothing to do with humans.
A wild critter that does its own thing, and avoids my campsite, has nothing to fear from me, and I don't fear it.
BUT, if that critter is rabid, and half crazed because of it, I don't want it around, and I certainly will defend myself against it, no matter WHAT size it is!
Or, if the critter is dangerous, in and of itself, like bears or mountain lions or wolves, then a defensive posture is definitely indicated.
As I have said many times, "When seconds count, help is only minutes (or hours) away!" If you are going to camp in remote sites, you better be prepared to take care of yourself! True, you may never have to, but that ONE TIME...
When the bear is chewing on your leg, or the mountain lion chewing on your liver, or the rabid skunk or raccoon bites you, or you field dress a rabbit for dinner with a cut on your hand and get rabbit fever, it is a little late to think "Well, darn, maybe ol' Mowermech was right after all..."

This conjured up an image of a dude blowing a tick away with a MAC-10

LOL! My thoughts exactly. Sounds like Mowermech should start his OWN thread about fears! I think I'd title it "If You're Afraid of CRITTERS Why Camp in the Woods"!

Sheesh, Mowermech. You gonna blow away Bambi or Bugs Bunny every time you see them?

hershey wrote:

dave17352 wrote:

Cloud Dancer wrote:
My wife and I are not fans of campfires. Whenever we are asked to be tolerant,.....we leave.
We also don't like bright lights at our campsite. We have "black-out" curtains in our bedroom. We like dark and quiet and cool, for sleeping.

Do you mean people come and ask you if you will tolerate a campfire in a area that allows campfires. I have never heard of that. Nobody has ever asked me.:h

Nor have I ever been asked. If asked, I'd certainly respond with a please don't light a campfire anywhere around my RV. I have to live in this box and it stinks up the place...it isn't a weekend thing twice a year.

what do you mean when you say "I have to live in this box and it stinks up the place" who is forcing you to live in the box?

We were camped on beach about 20 miles north of Tulum, Yucatan last winter. We have party lights on outside that can change colors or blink. We left them on for a few hours after dark when we walked the beach. Our great neighbors from Ontario had issues. He had a slight form of petite mal and the blinking gave him headaches and blue lights got her depressed. We left the lights at yellow and everyone was happy.

This is the only commercial RV site where we have spent time as we generally boondock with no one else around. We don't use outside lights except for chores as it annoys the moose.
Reed and Elaine Cundiff

noplace2 wrote:

the ticks that carry Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

This conjured up an image of a dude blowing a tick away with a MAC-10

"What happened? Why is there a big hole in the side of the neighbor's camper?"

"Well...there was this tick...."