Posted on 03/21/2016 11:27:56 AM PDT by w1n1
Bear hunting this drainage while off-duty, CDFW fisheries biologist Tim Hovey's most valuable possession turned out not to be the rifle slung on his pack, but his quick wits and the .357 (below) holstered on his side during an encounter with three shady characters.
This time I'd be hiking for pleasure, and with a bear tag in my pocket I wasn’t going to be counting frogs. With over 2 miles of hiking ahead of me, I loaded my pack with my game-processing gear, some water and called it good. I strapped my rifle to the outside of the pack, locked up the truck and headed out.
Since I frequently hunt alone, as long as I stay within my own limitations, I'm never apprehensive when hiking the back hills. I have a firm respect for the wildlife and I’m never afraid when I head out to hunt. Before the end of that day, I’d be served another example of how man is really the only animal that I need to be leery of when I’m by myself in the woods.
I WAS MAKING good time while hiking up the dry riverbed and was maybe a quarter of a mile from the tributary when I spotted movement up ahead of me. The old man was looking down into a portion of the wetted creek and slowly moving my way. He had a bucket strung up on a shovel, resting the handle on his shoulder as he walked.
Seeing someone in this lower section of the river wasn't terribly unusual. What did startle me was something that I wasn't expecting: The old man was naked. I moved to the other side of the creek as I approached and we exchanged pleasantries. He wanted to know what I was hunting for and I decided to leave his activities a mystery. Just before I continued, he mentioned that I'd probably run into three other hikers he had seen earlier moving upstream. About 30 minutes after running into the mysterious naked man, I found the bear tributary. During the hike I had seen several sets of footprints in the dry sand of the main river. However, the tracks hadn't been left by hiking boots – they looked more like slip-on tennis shoes, certainly not the footwear for hiking the back country. Read the rest of the story here.
Hike Armed.
Another one of many millions of armed self-defense contacts that happen each year where a shot isn’t fired.
Just the bad guys knowing one is armed is normally enough to stop criminal activity.
Big Horn Sheep??? I thought they all died of blue tongue.
Amazing if this was California that he was not arrested for multiple heinous felonies.
Never go into the woods...or the streets...without packing.
He works for gubment.
He’s a state employee. He’s not a game warden. But I bet he knows more than a few.
Always.
Surprising what being armed can do for you. In my case it was my two big dogs (the smaller an 85 lb. Pitador and the larger a 110 Lb. Great Dane) and the .357 revolver I didn’t have to pull out of my glove compartment.
It was about 7:30 at night and I had gone to my local Petco. I pulled up in the parking lot and first noticed I was next to a beaten up old car that looked like someone had been living in it. Then I looked to my right and saw another one with three or four white guys in it who looked like they’d just gotten out of jail or were getting ready to do something that would land them there. Being concerned about what they might do to me or my vehicle after I left it, I decided to give them a little warning. With the lights on in the vehicle, I first rolled the window on the front seat passenger’s side down, giving them a good look at the Pitador and a dirty look that said “Don’t try what you’re thinking of.” Then I rolled the back seat window down to give them a good look at the Dane. That was all it took. First they drove off about 100 feet. Then they stopped briefly and exited the lot entirely, never to be seen again.
Given how they acted and responded to me and my dogs (a legitimate Petco customer probably would have come up to the vehicle and asked to pet them), I suspect I prevented a rape or some other crime.
100% of the time!
Oh, yeah. There are monsters in the woods and most of them walk on two legs.
Live Armed.
He better, as his description of how his .357 was hidden by his shirt constituted a concealed weapon.
Bump
Might not mean much. NorCal is a different place than SoCal.
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