Critter attacks in camp

[ndbwhunter]

Never had any issues in camp, other than some strange noises that wake you up (and sometimes keep you up). Only real scare I've had was hiking back to the truck well after dark one night. During the hike out, I kept seeing eyes off the side of the trail. I made it about 3 miles and was maybe 1/4 mile from the truck when I saw they eyes again, but this time they stopped. Turned my light on high and here sits a mountain lion 25ft away ready to pounce. Grabbed the pistol and yelled a few times before firing a warning shot directly in front of it. The cat never moved! Two more shots and it still hadn't moved. We had a stare down for what seemed like 5 minutes (probably only a minute) before it finally turned and walked away.

 

[GotDraw?]

@adrock456

Agree, I took a nap in the middle of the day and a mouse ate a hole in my camelback hose, drained my camelback bladder and I too was pissed. Thankfully, I cut the hose shorter and it still worked for that trip.

I no longer leave my pack on the ground anywhere for very long...
JL

Filtered water and filled my water bladder one night for the pack out in the morning. All night a mouse kept scratching on the tent so I would wake up and slap the tent to scare it off. Well I just left my bladder laying on a rock beside the tent and when I awoke the mouse had chewed a hole in my bladder and drained all of my water. Man I was pissed.

 

[ethan]

Heard something pretty large come through camp last fall on an elk hunt. Was tired so we didn’t get up to investigate as it seemed to just pass through. The next day we came back to camp a little after noon and while grabbing a bite the likely culprit paid us another visit.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Backpacking through New Zealand once and was awoken in the middle of the night by an unknown creature 'hissing' right next to my tent. The cadence was similar to a person laughing but sounded like hissing and was quite loud. The next morning a local deer hunter walked right through our camp and we started chatting, i told him the story and he had a pretty good laugh and told me it was a possum. Scared me pretty bad at the time though.

Had a bear in my camp at night 2 years in a row at the same backcountry lake on the Wind River Indian Res.

 

[bowieknife50]

Had wolves come into the campground in the UP once. We heard them work their way in from a long way off. Once we remembered the rifles were in the truck and nobody else was in the campground the tent got pretty cold and uncomfortable in a hurry.


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[Crippledsledge64]

Had wolves come into the campground in the UP once. We heard them work their way in from a long way off. Once we remembered the rifles were in the truck and nobody else was in the campground the tent got pretty cold and uncomfortable in a hurry.


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Brother had similar experience in Delta Co. walking out to blind and had wolves howling about 50 yards off the trail. Makes the hair on your neck stand up. Not quite a in camp experience but still.

 

[tdhanses]

Bears are so quiet, I think this happens more often than people really want to know. I have been woke up by bears twice in my life, but will look for tracks (can be really hard to find without snow or soft ground) around camp, and often find tracks within about 15- 20 yards of camp.....usually circling.

I usually tell people who think every little noise in the night......just has to be a bear...…... not to worry, bears are almost always nearly silent. lol

Had one sniff the tent last summer, actually bumped my head that was up against the side of the tent and that's what woke me up. It took off as soon as I moved. Was camped with my little girls that night...….never told them a thing. lol

I have to agree, have had a few come in at night and even when they slowly run off you can barely hear the pads of their feet. Had a bear step on the corner of the tent a few years ago, thought the earth was falling as it move me and my pad quickly down. Heard him run off, asked my buddy if he felt that and he thought it was a tremor. We laughed and went back to sleep.

 

[SHoug07]

A couple years ago on my first ever hunting trip I had a bear tearing up a stump next to my hammock. Was having a crazy dream from the noise but when I woke up it didn't stop. Turned on my headlamp and that thing took off like a bat out of hell. It was a good welcome to hunting and being solo.
Since then just the occasional mouse trying to get in the tent, and blood sucking mosquitoes.

 

[MadDawg]

Woke up to a western spotted skunk in the wall tent one night.
When your flashlight shines on something and its small and black and white, there is no mistaking what it is

That tent got real small, real quick.

Edit:
Did you know the western spotted skunk does 'handstands' when its gonna spray?

Dude I bet no animals busted you because of scent

 

[Texizona]

One night in the AZ mountains, I had a mule deer hanging in a tree next to the tent where my Brother in law and I slept. The area has high concentration of mountain lions and bears. During the night, we hear rustling in the leaves getting closer and closer. We were convinced it was a mtn lion or a bear. We get prepared for battle, but when we jump out of the tent and shine the flashlights, we see it was only a couple of voles in the leaves. It's amazing how your mind can trick you when it's dark.

 

[Phaseolus]

In the bottom of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison the ringtail cats are a huge problem. They will stop at nothing to get at your food. Little bastards are great climbers and can shimmy down the rope holding the food bag. Once awoke to my brother shining his light on the hanging food bag which was spinning slighly with three or four of the little turds working on it.

 

[Fatcamp]

Does a rabid, ravenous, , mangy, half bald pack rat count. I would rather be in between a cow moose and her bawling calves then face that thing again. It tried to take my 15 yr old sons leg off,, but in the end he gave it a stick beatin

Too funny. From a young age I teach my kids what a "whackin stick" is. Show them how to judge it's construction, pick a good one, and carry it around. I really feel like some day it may do them some good.

As to the thread, I don't have any good stories. Normal Coons in camp and coyotes a little close, but nothing like you guys.

 

[ODB]

Bushbabies....

 

[AKDoc]

Last September I did a 7-day pack-raft float and fly-fished a very remote river in Western Alaska. Didn't see another person for that entire time, but the river was loaded with grizzlies...saw 11 in the first ten miles. We camped on gravel bars and extended shorelines to be out in the open.

My friend who was with me snored like a freight train, and we were sharing a 4-man SO. I reluctantly had to use ear plugs to get any sleep at all. On the third night I had put my earplugs in and was settling back to fall asleep, thinking of the excellent fishing we were having, when I faintly heard an animal dramatically screeching in distress. I took out my earplugs, and the screeching was super loud and close. It eventually stopped, but it drove home the point that I was an idiot for using those earplugs because I would never hear a bear until he crunched my skull. I shit-canned the earplugs and eventually fell asleep.

At first light the very next morning my friend was cranking the snoring, but the pattern had varied, which woke me up. In between every snore there was a very loud huffing sound coming from right outside the tent, and it was CLOSE. As a long-time Alaskan hunter and outdoor guy, I recognized that huffing was a grizzly. I grabbed my pistol, got out of my bag, stood up, and unzipped the tipi door from the top. As I looked out the door there was a grizzly who was squared off directly at the tent, huffing away at me....just 15 steps away (I stepped it off later that morning). As I pointed the pistol at him for maybe three seconds and repeatedly said to get out of here, he just kept huffing and then he charged me. Fortunately it was a bluff charge, and he stopped at 8 steps. I was in the motor sequence to begin to shoot him, but he stopped, so instead I shot a round at the ground in front of him, which didn't immediately seem to phase him at all as he kept huffing at me. I was sighting the pistol on center mass and starting to pull back the trigger when he turned and ran into the brush, where he ran back and forth huffing for a bit and then vanished.

It looked like a three or four year old grizzly...essentially an adolescent, who are the worse ones to come into camp second only to a sow and cubs. I've shot enough bears hunting for them, so it ended well for the bear and me. I thanked my guardian angel for the screeching animal the night before because I would have been wearing earplugs, and that bear, I think, was coming to the snoring of my friend and super jacked-up that we were in his fishing area...who knows how that would have ended.

 

[ndbwhunter]

I've never had a close encounter with a bear (black or grizzly) so I'm not sure how I would react in that situation. At what point is a person justified to start shooting? I would have a hard time not shooting anything that's within pistol range simply because of their speed and unpredictable nature. I'm sure there are quite a few encounters like this that go unreported each year just to avoid the hassle of dealing with wardens and investigations.

Has anyone ever experienced something like this? How do you prove that the animal was shot in self defense?

 

[AK Troutbum]

I've never had a close encounter with a bear (black or grizzly) so I'm not sure how I would react in that situation. At what point is a person justified to start shooting? I would have a hard time not shooting anything that's within pistol range simply because of their speed and unpredictable nature. I'm sure there are quite a few encounters like this that go unreported each year just to avoid the hassle of dealing with wardens and investigations.

Has anyone ever experienced something like this? How do you prove that the animal was shot in self defense?

I think that if it’s killed in camp that automatically makes it justifiable. When we kill the two on Kodiak, it just so happened that the pilot flew in that day to pick us up, while we were skinning out the bears. As soon as he landed, he immediately got out with a camera bag and started walking around the camp taking pictures of where the bears had fallen in relation to the rest of our camp, tents, etc. These pictures were used in our defense when we got back to town and met up with the troopers to fill out the paperwork for a DLP killing. It was still a bit of a PITA but everything worked out okay. Not many people go on hunts without some sort of camera to document the trip, and if something like this were to occur in your camp, it’s easy enough to take a picture (having a picture of an animal down in camp, that’s obviously way too big to move, is pretty good proof). Although, exactly how much grief a particular trooper gives you, obviously depends on the trooper.

I totally agree though, I’m sure there are many bears killed in defense of life and property, that are never reported.


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[nodakian]

I was camping with my brothers and cousin and the pack rats overran us. Chewed on our gear and sleeping pads while we were on them. We were young and not so smart, so some we attempted spot lighting and shooting. A lot of rounds and rough language went down range. One brother shot a hole in his pack. We finally gave up and retreated to the truck, one brother and my cousin in front, my other bro and me in the truck bed. I about beat my bro to death trying to smash a rat that ran between us while we laid there shoulder to shoulder. We finally got some sleep, and in the morning we found the damned things chewed more gear, including my fishing rod that was in the truck bed with us. Fortunately they didn’t chew on the truck wiring.

I now carry shot shells for my pistol for those devils.

 

[Blacktail_Packer]

We had a successful weekend at deer camp and the skinning party ran longer than normal. Sometime around 2am the beagles started baying pretty hard. We were all a little confused at the dogs carrying on especially with there level of excitement and not calming down after a few hollers to quiet down. They were close to camp but beyond the ring of the fires light. Josh and I were the youngest and the first to spring into action and we found the 3 young beagles had a young rattler bayed up at the base of a scrub oak. I grabbed my 10/22 and coaxed the dogs back and dispatched the snake with a barrage of .22 fire. (I’de never tried shooting point blank through a scope but it’s awkward)

I’ve gotten into yelling matches with foxes that’ll hang in the oaks just outside of our camp and bark/cry for an hour or 2 usually starting around midnight.

Before we built or skinning room we used a 2x4 nailed as high as I could reach between 2 oaks. On a routine after hours buck check I saw a medium sized 4 legged fast moving ball of fur turn and run back into the woods away from my hanging buck. Still unsure what that one was.

We had a bear get into our camp kitchen and break open every single thing in the pantry then proceed to roll in it in the middle of the kitchen floor.

On a backpacking trip in Kauai I woke up to both hogs and goats within whacking stick distance.

And as far as the monster pack rats I’ve never personally had a run in but I stumble into there nests while beating the brush quite often and if there nest size is any indication I have no desire to tangle with those dry ground beavers

 

[MuleyFever]

Found a spider in my tent. Had to burn it down.

 

[Beendare]

In all my years... ive never shot a varmint in camp. We had a brownie just outside our tent one night on Kodiak...but he bolted.

I did have mongooses dashing over my bag one night on Kauai- i only grabbed 2. ( (kidding)



My buddy shot a polar bear that ripped a 4’ gash in their bedsheet tent narrowly missing he and his buddy.Northwest territories. The best part of the story: the guide hadnt been giving them the time of day up until that point... in fact he didnt appear to speak english. After that he was a chatterbox, very thankful......taking them to the good spots.

All of my mice/ shrew stories are pretty tame compared to some of the stories ive heard.

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