oh i got a spider story for you, this is from my other thread a while back...enjoy

Well, you know that if you walk down through the woods during the summer time, you are going to see webs and spiders on the trail if you havent been down it in a while. Well, its pretty easy to avoid them if you are walkin, but if you riding, its damn near impossible. Such is the case in the following story.
Me and my buddies were out riding last summer on a trail we hadnt been down in a loooong time. Now, pretty much all of us have a deep fear of spiders and we do all we can to avoid them, including mounting old cb radio antennas on the front of the quads to take down the webs 'fo we hit them. Well, we didnt put them on there this time. It was basically just a ride we decided to take on impulse, we didnt even fully gear up, just helmet and gloves, the rest were plain clothes and tennis shoes. Im wierd about my helmet, I never fasten the strap , but everyone else does. I dont do it unless Im on a bike. Ok, got that mental pic? Just a casual ride down the woods in the summer. About 5 min down the trail, I ended up in front cuz I have the only sport atv of the group and I ride faster than the others. And by the grace of God, I caught a glimps of something up ahead of me. It didnt quite click with me that it was an intact spider web, fully equiped with a spider. I didnt notice till I was right up on it, Im talkin like 5 or 6 ft in front of me. I know that may not seem like its that close, but if you goin about 15 or 20mph through the woods, its damn close. When I saw it I didnt even think I just threw my hands down and laid back so that basically I had my helmet on the grab bar and was looking back at the others. When I did this, my buddy behind me thought I was just messin around and he didnt think about it being a web. He looked up just in time to know he hit a spider and web. This is where the funny stuff is. I viewed most of the following upside down. After the initial contact with the web, nothing but screams followed. Among the screaming was "GEDDIT OFF GEDDIT OFF" "OMG OMG". Somehow amongst all the screaming he managed to hit the brakes and slow down enough, but not completely, to jump off and almost catch his footing. He didnt land it, but he did do a nice roll on the ground. After the roll, he hopped up and proceeded to dance a funky lil sissy jig, scream, rip off his helmet(which wasnt easy cuz of the strap), shirt, and gloves all within about 15 or 20 second time frame. Meanwhile, I, as well as everyone else, were laughin so hard we could harldy see straight. I cant say I would have reacted any differently, but hey, Im not the one that got hit, and thats all that matters. I laughed so hard I almost threw up...thats how funny it was.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Man this is a funny thread, & the spider story is great & well done. Keep em coming. Wish i coulda been there. Regards, Jerico1

 

No...Why...Who told you what?![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

The High Lonesome desert can get awfully spooky sometimes. When you get older like me (age 60) some of your senses aren't as keen. For that reason, I trained my Irish Terrier to ride on my ATV. Now when I'm out there prospecting, I get GREAT warning when things are not as the should be - or is someone comes within a quarter mile of my camp.

Spiders? Did you know that the desert is full of black widow spiders, scorpions, rattlesnakes and big ol' hairy tarantulas? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] What? Are y'all a bunch of sissies?

 

taranculas are the scariest. where out at camp sitting next to the fire and a tarancula comes running through and stops. so we grabbed the gas can and poured it on him and lit it. that thing ran about 100 feet on fire before it stopped and finished burning. I don't think I could run that far on fire.

 

that thing sounds posessed, you sure that wasnt holy water?
I can stand a tarantula, its those little ones that scurry along with the pointed legs that scare the life out of me.

 

yep i knew the feeling , used to hunt lots and carried a hk 91 with a 20 shot clip. every now and then i would come to a dense section of spruce along the cut line i was walking , every thing sounded ,smelled and looked dead wrong. the hair would stand up on the back of my neck. I would think , great place for a grizzly to pull a ambush. Off goes the safety, i often wondered how many shots i could get off before it would run me over. I still get that feeling on the quad, wonder how a old fat fu-- would make out on a 600 lb. machine against a 1000 lb charging bear.
damn , will probably have nightmare after reading this stuff.

 

A while back, i guess about 4 or 5 months ago, we went riding down to some train tracks. Well it was under the tracks. But to get to the tracks, we had to go through what would be described as a catacomb of vines. No joke, there were vines so think you couldnt see through them on BOTH sides AND OVER THE TOP of you...it was freakin spooky. the whole time i kept thinkin "man, something gonna jump out and get me. something always happens to the guys going to the train tracks in the movies" nothing happend, but it was still pretty intimidating. i havent been back to there in a long time, its way off the usual trails we ride.
MAN, the other saturday, when we all went riding, we ended up riding some places we hadnt been to in a long time and we didnt really know where we were and we were moving and all of a sudden my cousin screamed and went flyin past me and almost took out me and my other friend. we get down the trail some more and we stop and were like "Dude, what the freak was that about, you almost plowed us down"...he said he saw two dove hunters about shot us......we hauled a$$ after that...with good reason too, lol

 

You never hear the one that gets you, so don't worry about the noises.

It's kinda funny how I used to just walk through the woods at night without a flashlight, any protection or fear. The worst thing is the darn pickers. Ouch! I remember one time I was walking across a field at night and almost stepped on a woodchuck coming out of it's hole and then a few deer ran down around me. I'd like to get some night vision goggles so I could watch where I'm stepping and not have a light chasing everything away.

The only animals I'm afraid of are the sick ones (rabies) and those that walk on two legs. There are times when you know something is watching you but you just can't see it. If you use all your senses then you have a better chance. Have you ever smelled a deer, bear or maybe a coyote? That's when you know something is really there because you can smell it. Ever smell something similar to how your dogs smells when it is wet? You may never see it but you can smell it. Have you ever heard a bobcat scream out at night while camping? Now that will raise the hair on the back of your neck. We had one that would keep circling our camp screaming almost like a car wreck. It's hard to explain. There is usually a place where you know something must reside. Maybe a deer leg or two, bear hair on a tree, bear scratches up high, deer scrapes, etc... There is a feeling you get every time you go there. You get a primitive feeling that is installed in your dna. Listen to your feelings there is a reason they are there. Something is watching. I got this feeling a few times while walking some trails with my malamute. You just know something is there. Later I figured out that there was a coyote den about a 1/4 of a mile away. When I was riding about a week ago I got the feeling that I was going to see a bear. (Maybe because of the bear tracks) Then a couple miles down the trail a black bear ran right out in front of me. I have to admit that I live for this stuff. Anyone remember that older movie where Robert Redford was a mountain man? This old man told him something like "Watch your top knot." (I think) Well good enough. Watch your top knot! Now if you want to scare me then send me to the city. Now that's scary. Take it easy on the animals and fear man.

Thanks for the spelling correction OL.

 

Coyotechaser,
That was "Watch out for your top knot - meaning "don't let the indians scalp you". [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] and that movie is NOT old , why I was 30 years old when I......... er, never mind.

You're right though: the most dangerous critter in the wilderness by far, is man.