most dangerous experience?

[smokeythecat]

Was detecting once and a bear came within 10 feet, snorted and ran off.

 

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[Limitool]

Was detecting once and a bear came within 10 feet, snorted and ran off.

Ha ha ha.... Fooled ya! That was me and I didn't snort either... And you'd run also if you were smart!

 

[TooManyHobbies]

The only one I can think of at the moment, I was duck hunting a small pond just downstream of a larger one. I had to drag the canoe downstream to it because the water was pretty low. After getting the dekes set up, I heard some distant thunder. It wasn't close and I wasn't worried. Within minutes, the storm was on me. High winds and torrential rain. I paddled my butt off to retrieve my dekes and head back upstream. The water coming out of the upper pond was a flash flood. What was barely ankle deep on the way down, was waist deep and really moving on the way back. I wasn't really worried about the water level, but that lightning was right on top of me and really scared the heck out of me.

 

[BARKER]

Hi; One day back in the 70's I was detecting the bottom of a beach in the Carribean. When I go diving I usually have 3 - 4 guys with me and we all carried CO2 Bang sticks just in case. Well on the bottom there was coral and on the coral are these tiny little 1/2" fish. they would swim up to you and then duck back in the coral. Well have you ever gotten the feeling something ain't right ?? I got that feeling. I started looking around and the first thing I noticed was there ere no tiny fish around. I looked around more and noticed that all of my friends were no where to be seen except for their bubbles. So I started looking around and at about 160 Degrees from my front point I saw a giant shadow. It was a full grown Great White Shark. Luckily he was just passing through but my heart was in my mouth.!!! We cleared that water in 1.2ms. We got dang lucky he was not at our position. The Boat Master figured him to be about 15 - 20 FEET long. He would have used us for toothpicks.!!! I'll never forget it for sure. Good Hunting and keep your heads up ok. PEACE:RONB

 

[TerryC]

After reading all these post, I think I'll stay home today and pull Mr. Blanket over my head. After reading the "Sail Boat" things? I also think I'm the type of guy that should stick to a row boat in a very small inland lake.

Actually, Sprailroad, sailboats are the safest on the water. Bluewater boats are MADE to survive storms. One of the last resorts is to "heave to" (look it up) and wait out the storm. The big boats can take more punishment than a human body. ╦╦Ç

 

[Mackaydon]

Single tank dive to below 200 feet Palacar Reef off Cozumel.
Stayed on bottom one minute; then realized I was in trouble.
If I had stayed another minute, the 'rapture of the deep' may have caught me.
Followed my bubbles up to mandatory stop at ten feet.
Glad to get back into the boat, but to have 200 feet of vertical viz was a unique visual experience; felt like I was floating in space.
Don't try it; it's too dangerous. But I was much younger and with a much greater lack of intelligence at the time.
Don........

 

[huntsman53]

Besides being charged twice while Bow Hunting by Black Bear Sows with Cubs both of which stopped within 20 feet from where I stood my ground and having a Sow and her' Cubs walk within 5 feet of me, I guess getting lost on a mountain plateau covered with Mountain Laurel, rocks, cliffs, a thick forest and snow while late fall Turkey Hunting. I had never hunted this location which was 25,000 acres owned by CSX Railroad and was hunting with a friend and his friend. We started hunting just after daylight, I got separated from them around Noon while trying to locate the Old Boss Hen of a flock of Turkeys and walked into a Laurel thicket from hell at close to 1:00 PM. It took me til around 4:00 PM to find my way out of the Laurel thicket and by that time, we were in a full blown blizzard with the temperature at 10 degrees Fahrenheit and 25 to 35 mph winds. Once I got out of the Laurel thicket by climbing down a cliff, I started walking, looking for tracks and/or a logging road. I finally located a logging road and walked it until I saw some light in the distance and kept walking until I came out of the forest in the community of Douglas, West Virginia at 9:00 PM. I had walked 5 straight hours after coming out of the Laurel thicket and looked like a snowman when I knocked on the door of the home of an elderly couple. The sheer sight of me covered with ice and snow from head to to toe, nearly scared them to death. It took til 2:00 AM the next morning for myself and a Game Warden to locate my friend and his friend who were looking for me. We had to walk 3 miles back to Douglas with the temperature now at 10 degrees below zero in nearly 2 feet of snow but less winds because the Game Warden drove the Jeep off a logging road trying to turn around. When we finally found my friend and his friend, they said that they had tracked me for more than 5 miles through a foot and a half of snow before giving up and coming out to get food, water, hot coffee and reinforcements. It was on their second trip to get reinforcements and they were on their way back in from the Douglas side of the forest, that we saw them and got them stopped. My friend was frantic by the time we found them and having a bad heart, he nearly had a heart attack. I told him that he should not have worried so much as I had put a plan in place in case I could not find my way out of the forest that night. About 2 miles before getting to the Douglas community, I found an extremely large Douglas Fir Tree surrounded by a lot of big boulders which had a perfect cave-like protected area underneath it. My plan was to go back to that tree, build a fire and bed and hold up there until morning. I had a shotgun and plenty of shotgun shells to shoot a squirrel and cook it if needed.


Frank

 

[sprailroad]

TerryC, The sailboats are fine, I was talking about ME, I think the "pucker factor" would have been to the 9th degree to such that I may have simply disappeared.

 

[mxtman2]

We had a 34 foot sailboat and were going to go from Sackets Harbor (Lake Ontario) south-west to Oswego and then motor down the canals to Cayuga Lake. In order to save time in Oswego we had the mast dropped onto crutches before we left. The mast weighed about 700 lbs.

Weather forecast was for clear with a small chance of rain late in the day. We headed out at 6:00AM.

By 8:00AM the wind had picked up to about 20 mph and a small craft advisory was issued. It got worse. The "seas" got to be 10 foot (20 ft between crest and trough) and we were burying the front third of the boat if we tried to head into them (going from the west). If we tried to head across them we rolled too much. So I was trying to nose into them and surf down the backsides (in a 16,000 pound boat with zero flotation). That's when the mast started to work loose in the wood crutches We were at least four hours from land in any direction. We eventually gave up and tried to run mostly with the wind - calling for marinas that could take our draft. The wind was now about 35 mph and coming the length of Lake Ontario at us and bring the waves with it. A woman who was with us slipped in the companionway and smashed her head on the stainless steel rub rail. At that point I contacted the Coast Guard to let them know we were out in it and, while not abandoning ship I wanted them aware of our route and to check in occasionally (God Bless the Coast Guard). The south-east of Ontario (Mexico Bay) is relatively shallow and few marinas had a five foot or better channel. We finally contacted Selkirk on the Salmon River and they said: "when you get to the rock jetties gun it." We were "gunned" at seven knots already. Seeing waves splash halfway up to the 40 ft Selkirk Lighthouse we entered the channel with rip-rap rocks on either side and timed it to surf down one of the waves as it entered the channel. There were two dozen people lining the floodwall that had been watching us or heard the VHF calls.

For eight hours I had been terrified and afraid for not only my life but my wife's and two guests. I was black and blue from my navel to my chin from smashing into the binnacle and wheel while steering.

I've had closer brushes with death (car and motorcycle accidents) but I've never been so afraid for so long a time. Sure gave us confidence in that boat, however. We got beat up but the boat did fine.

Great story Charlie! So well written I felt the excitement like I was there.
After reading yours and also Terry's adventure, I realize I got nothing! Except that time....nope, never mind. I got nothing!

 

[TerryC]

My cutter rig. VERY capable on open oceans. I am a heavy weather sailor. I LOVE it when the stanchion bottoms are in the water. ╦╦Ç

 

[RustyGold]

Here's mine.. you can still breath in the white water when you stupidly paddle out in double overhead size waves!

 

[d2]

We had a 34 foot sailboat and were going to go from Sackets Harbor (Lake Ontario) south-west to Oswego and then motor down the canals to Cayuga Lake. In order to save time in Oswego we had the mast dropped onto crutches before we left. The mast weighed about 700 lbs.

Weather forecast was for clear with a small chance of rain late in the day. We headed out at 6:00AM.

By 8:00AM the wind had picked up to about 20 mph and a small craft advisory was issued. It got worse. The "seas" got to be 10 foot (20 ft between crest and trough) and we were burying the front third of the boat if we tried to head into them (going from the west). If we tried to head across them we rolled too much. So I was trying to nose into them and surf down the backsides (in a 16,000 pound boat with zero flotation). That's when the mast started to work loose in the wood crutches We were at least four hours from land in any direction. We eventually gave up and tried to run mostly with the wind - calling for marinas that could take our draft. The wind was now about 35 mph and coming the length of Lake Ontario at us and bring the waves with it. A woman who was with us slipped in the companionway and smashed her head on the stainless steel rub rail. At that point I contacted the Coast Guard to let them know we were out in it and, while not abandoning ship I wanted them aware of our route and to check in occasionally (God Bless the Coast Guard). The south-east of Ontario (Mexico Bay) is relatively shallow and few marinas had a five foot or better channel. We finally contacted Selkirk on the Salmon River and they said: "when you get to the rock jetties gun it." We were "gunned" at seven knots already. Seeing waves splash halfway up to the 40 ft Selkirk Lighthouse we entered the channel with rip-rap rocks on either side and timed it to surf down one of the waves as it entered the channel. There were two dozen people lining the floodwall that had been watching us or heard the VHF calls.

For eight hours I had been terrified and afraid for not only my life but my wife's and two guests. I was black and blue from my navel to my chin from smashing into the binnacle and wheel while steering.

I've had closer brushes with death (car and motorcycle accidents) but I've never been so afraid for so long a time. Sure gave us confidence in that boat, however. We got beat up but the boat did fine.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?...d2

 

[chub]

Well mine sounds lame after hearing those.
I was detecting a tot lot at dusk, i'm the only one there. I looked up and across the grass field a guy is walking toward me cradling a shot gun across his arms.

After a few quick calculations....i figured i wasn't going to be able to out run bullets, so the plan was to wait till he got close enough then clock him with my detector if i had to.
He was checking to make sure i wasn't a drug dealer and I was hoping he wasn't a crazy loon!

....a detector may not be the best weapon to take to a gun fight, unless the manufactures have added weaponized upgrades!

Sent from my VS810PP using Tapatalk

Ever heard of a *sniper* coil ? You could have taken him out from 500 yards....

Chub

 

[chub]

Was hiking with a detector, backpack with water and tissues. Alone, walking up a mountain. Ran into two unsavoury *natives* (cable thieves) coming down the mountain from a telecomunications tower pangas (machetes) in hand. I saw them, they saw me. Long story short, I had several hundred yards headstart and outran /outsmarted them. Felt fear for the first time in years. Had cuts and scratches all over from running through the bush.
NEVER hiked again without self protection!! Two against one...generally meth heads that steal copper cable... You think you can take dudes like this out when you imagine this situation. Made me re think.

Moral of this story - BEWARE OF THE PERSON WITH NOTHING TO LOSE

Chub

 

[boogeyman]

I was 14 and just learning to dive. Was 20 or 30 feet, felt a poke in the ribs behind my arm. Thinking it was the guy teaching me poking me to look at something cool I see a blue shark just turning away from me. The shark was probably 4 or 5 foot, but my eyes made him big enough to make Jaws look like a minnow! All training & sane thoughts left my head & I shot for the top. I get to the boat & everyone's laughing their butts off! Then the remarks "Didn't know you were related to Jesus." "Been walking on water long?" "You scream like a girl!" For years I had to live with the remarks. Whenever I thought it had died one of them would pop off in a bar "Hey Jesus wanna go for a swim? Er ahhhh walk? Oh! my wetsuit had never been warmer than that day! (you divers know what I mean!)

Another young rookie scare. Used to go exploring mines with this old boy, and he always carried a 3/4" pipe 8' long under his arm. You'd ask him why & all he'd say is "just in case" I probably made one of the dumbest moves ever! Went exploring alone. NOPE! No buddy, nobody up top. But I had my pipe. Sure as all get out, broke through some dry rotted boards and caught myself on my pipe. Seemed like forever trying to shimmy across and to the side of the shaft. Lesson learned! Take buddies & your pipe!

These stories make you sit down and realize you don't even know the name of the angels we have riding herd over us.............