Security & Camping alone

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

Someone knocked on my camper late, late Saturday night so I turned off the light, looked out the curtains and no one was there. And yes, I was wide awake. There was 3 knocks so I know someone was there. (unless raccoons can knock).

Funny story: About ten years ago (before I met my husband), I was living in a little cabin in the woods, by myself. Well, like a fool, I loved the raccoons, and fed them dog food, every night. They told all of their friends and neighbors to come to my house at sunset, for a dog food feast...there were a bunch of them.

Well, one evening I got busy and didn't get out to feed them. I had a wooden locking door and a screen door that was latched with a hook. I heard someone knocking on my screen door. So, I opened the wooden door and there was a raccoon standing on the bottom ledge of the screen door, with his front paws on the middle ledge, and he was trying to open that screen door (but it was latched).

I laughed myself silly at the thought of a raccoon knocking on my door, telling me that I was way past due, for dinner time.

I eventually quit feeding the little critters, because of reasons that would make another thread. Don't ever feed raccoons!

I'll bet it was raccoons that were knocking on my camper! Those little varmits are smart...and sneaky. They will take food right out of your hand while you are still eating eat! Little thieves.

 

[elocs]

Since all of my camping and traveling will be alone I thought this would be an interesting thread, and it is. I can appreciate the difference regarding personal security between men and women, but much of what I have read seems to be about fear. I wonder how some can even gather the nerve to leave home with all of the dangers out there, real and perceived, from either animals or humans.

I believe in having common sense and situational awareness when traveling or camping. I refuse to live my life in fear and although I am a guy I believe I would have the same philosophy if I were a female. I believe that any of us are in far, far more danger of being killed or injured as a result of driving on the highways and Interstates than we are of any camping mishap or crime.

If we are prepared and smart, and use common sense we should be as OK as we can be. There is no way to prepare against any and every eventuality and there is risk in life. But I couldn't enjoy traveling or camping alone if I had to sleep with a gun and mace by my side and be afraid of of animals that may be around me. Rational fear is good and healthy, irrational fear is paralyzing and doesn't lend itself to happy living much less camping.

 

[Hiker Chick]

I refuse to live my life in fear and although I am a guy I believe I would have the same philosophy if I were a female.

I believe if I were a man I would never have worried about being raped. Or had an inkling of what it's like to be attacked at night walking home from work by a guy in a ski mask and worry not about your wallet but about being dragged into the nearby dark alley.

Unless I was a guy who had ever been imprisoned and wasn't the biggest, baddest dude on the cell block.

It's entirely responsible for women to be concerned about and take steps to increase their personal security -- at home, on the road, in the city and in the woods. That said, I feel and am in fact safer camping in the well-policed campgrounds I frequent than living in this city.

And as you point out, safer camping than driving (especially around people who insist on talking on their cell phones while driving).

The only scares I've had while camping have been related to skunks.

I don't live in fear and haven't noticed anyone in this thread appearing to live in fear. But I don't live in denial, either. I have deadbolts at home, a security system and other means of defense. Violent crimes happen, often to women, and it's nearly always men committing them.

What women who harbor fear of camping solo should be aware of is that, statistically, women are in more danger from men they know than strangers.

So when not camping, keep the bear spray on the nightstand at home.

Next to the super-bright Surefire flashlight and Lancome moisturizing cream.

 

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

[/quote]

So when not camping, keep the bear spray on the nightstand at home.

Next to the super-bright Surefire flashlight and Lancome moisturizing cream, which sits right next to the .45!


[/quote]

 

[Hiker Chick]

So when not camping, keep the bear spray on the nightstand at home.

Next to the super-bright Surefire flashlight and Lancome moisturizing cream, which sits right next to the .45!

I need to move across the river to Virginia so I can truly express my NRA self.

 

[Hiker Chick]

Speaking of the NRA and personal security. Ladies, and gents, you should look into this NRA personal security program that has nothing to do with guns. The NRA "Refuse to be a Victim" program.

http://www.nrahq.org/RTBAV/

I was in the inaugural program in the 90s and credit it with the ski-masked attacker incident not being worse than it was.

And I owe thanks to the brave and good-hearted fellow I'd passed in the previous block who was suspicious about someone who appeared to be stalking me. He and some other guys who heard me yelling (Refuse to be a Victim taught me to yell "Fire! Fire!" when being attacked in that manner) came to my rescue (unfortunately the perp was not apprehended).


Home Security
Personal Security
Automobile Security
Workplace Security
Technological Security

Improve your personal safety strategies with NRA's Refuse To Be A Victim® Program.

Experts agree that the single most important step toward ensuring your personal safety is making the decision to refuse to be a victim. That means that you must have an overall personal safety strategy in place before you need it.

Through a three to four hour seminar (shorter presentations are available) called Refuse To Be A Victim®, you can learn the personal safety tips and techniques you need to avoid dangerous situations and avoid becoming a victim.

Hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials across the country have implemented Refuse To Be A Victim® into their crime prevention and community policing initiatives.

 

[Female]

I refuse to live my life in fear and although I am a guy I believe I would have the same philosophy if I were a female.

I believe if I were a man I would never have worried about being raped.

I was soooooo thinking that!

Hiker chick -

I was born and raised in DC and never thought of it as a dangerous place until I moved away. Of course it depends on what part of DC you're talking about. We lived in NW which is (or was) relatively safe. We moved back to the area from 1989 to 2000 but lived in Silver Spring, MD then but just a few miles from DC.

Our favorite camping spot up there is in western MD. Rocky Gap State Park - have you been there? They have great hiking trails up the moutain where you can see the remains of the original landowner's homestead. Of course you would definately want to carry some bear spray!

 

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

Speaking of the NRA and personal security. Ladies, and gents, you should look into this NRA personal security program that has nothing to do with guns. The NRA "Refuse to be a Victim" program.

http://www.nrahq.org/RTBAV/

I was in the inaugural program in the 90s and credit it with the ski-masked attacker incident not being worse than it was.

And I owe thanks to the brave and good-hearted fellow I'd passed in the previous block who was suspicious about someone who appeared to be stalking me. He and some other guys who heard me yelling (Refuse to be a Victim taught me to yell "Fire! Fire!" when being attacked in that manner) came to my rescue (unfortunately the perp was not apprehended).


Home Security
Personal Security
Automobile Security
Workplace Security
Technological Security

Improve your personal safety strategies with NRA's Refuse To Be A Victim® Program.

Experts agree that the single most important step toward ensuring your personal safety is making the decision to refuse to be a victim. That means that you must have an overall personal safety strategy in place before you need it.

Through a three to four hour seminar (shorter presentations are available) called Refuse To Be A Victim®, you can learn the personal safety tips and techniques you need to avoid dangerous situations and avoid becoming a victim.

Hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials across the country have implemented Refuse To Be A Victim® into their crime prevention and community policing initiatives.

I've said this before on here and I'll say it again -- there are times when a lady should not act like a lady and doing that could save your life. I've been in 2 situations that could have turned out bad. But, I always "think ahead" and am mentally prepared for "what if". I'm too hungry for lunch right now to go into detail but I will later.

Now, Hiker Chick, we (or me anyway) want to hear about what happened with your bad experiences.

 

[Hiker Chick]

Now, Hiker Chick, we (or me anyway) want to hear about what happened with your bad experiences.

\

I was walking home from work at 7:00p on a Friday evening in November. Well lit street, heavily trafficked with cars and pedestrians. I was carrying a purse and an unopened package -- birthday gift my sister had mailed to my office.

Per a Refuse to be a Victim instruction, I'd long been in the habit by this point of walking with my purse adjacent to the fence-side of the sidewalk (a community of row houses, typical of the city's older neighborhoods).

Carrying your purse next to a wall or fence makes it a little harder for purse snatchers.

I passed two groups of pedestrians going the opposite direction.

Was three blocks from home, turned left at the next corner, onto a quieter, shorter street. I'm on the left side of the street.

About 40 feet down the street I hear running footsteps coming up fast behind me. I turn to my left to look behind and to my horror a man, approximately 6-feet tall, wearing a ski mask and with his jacket hood up is bearing down on me, fast.

I think, or say - not sure: "Oh my God..."

If you've ever been in a car that's sliding out of control about to crash off the road, then that would approximate the "Oh my God" that was going through my mind.

I brace myself, pulling my purse up to my chest and hunch over the fence in front of a rowhouse. Unbeknownst to me until later, the birthday box flew into the yard.

He tackles me. I stay on my feet (years of co-ed football may have helped). He's behind me, grabbing me, I can't get away. We're two homes away from a dark alley.

Per Refuse to be a Victim, I'm not screaming. Instead I'm concentrating solely on yelling as loud as I could -- looking up at the upper windows of the homes I'm in front of.

"Fire!" "Fire!" "Fire!" gets people's attention, especially in high-density housing.

Quicker than it seemed at the time, the guy who had been suspicious on the previous block that I was being stalked by the perp comes running around the corner (he tells me later that the perp had been walking in the street on the other side of the parked cars -- a few cars behind me).

And some other guys come running out of the rowhouses.

The perp took off running down the street.

My cell phone was in my pocket, next to pepper spray. I called 911 and Metro police and another police force (there are many here) were on scene pronto. But too late, the perp was gone.

I was seemingly fine. That night my back was sore from being tackled. The next day I was at a restaurant and started having a flashback.

Fortunately, I was scheduled in the next week to leave the country for a month. New Zealand. A nicer antidote to DC could not be imagined.

But some guy came running up behind me in Christchurch and about gave me a heart attack.

So joggers announce yourself if you're approaching a woman. Some of us aren't going to assume you're a jogger.

P.S. I opened the birthday gift box from my sister later that night. Among the contents: The Bible.

 

[Hiker Chick]

Our favorite camping spot up there is in western MD. Rocky Gap State Park - have you been there? They have great hiking trails up the moutain where you can see the remains of the original landowner's homestead. Of course you would definately want to carry some bear spray!

I have not camped there but have heard about it. Probably beautiful right now with the leaves changing.

I carry Bear Spray everywhere.

Everywhere.

 

[iplay10us2]

Glad to hear yelling "Fire" worked. I have always heard to do that instead of "Help".

Sometimes screaming/yelling and acting aggressive when the attacker leasts expects it can be helpful, too. Years ago, I walked in on someone burglarizing my house, and when I finally realized it and saw the guy, I was so PO'd that I yelled "get the _____out, mother______ because I was so freaking mad! I also thought I could take the guy (turned out to be a 16yr old kid), but then I saw the gun, and my brain kicked into gear and I got out of the house. The police said my screaming and aggressiveness probably scared him enough into not pulling the trigger right away and that is what gave me time to get out of there. I do remember thinking that if he didn't have that gun, I would have most likely grabbed him and tried to beat the crap out of him because I was so mad (also very scared). Adrenaline is a funny thing.

 

[Miriam C.]

I refuse to live my life in fear and although I am a guy I believe I would have the same philosophy if I were a female.

I believe if I were a man I would never have worried about being raped.

I was soooooo thinking that!

!

Hate to say it but the gangs these days don't seem to care if they rape a girl or man. Just too many screwballs out. However---wonder if I can remember to yell FIRE instead of a few choice words.....

 

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

Hicker Chick, what a horrible experience. You were damn lucky to get out of that without serious injury and even luckier to have guardian angels come to your rescue. I don't know how you can still live in that city. I know every city has problems but D.C. is pretty rough. You did everything right -- thanks for sharing that.

 

[Hiker Chick]

Interesting article on women and guns.


http://cbs2chicago.com/local/women.hand ... 74866.html

Oct 27, 2009 10:21 pm US/Central

Number Of Women Buying Handguns Increasing


"According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, about 48 percent of people taking their first handgun seminars this year happen to be women."

"A National Shooting Sports Foundation survey found that the top two reasons women seek firearms training are for personal protection and target practice.

At Illinois Gun Works, the owners say they've seen a 40 percent increase recently in the numbers of women looking to take classes, and that the number of women coming in to purchase guns is rising, too."

 

[Eunice-TNT]

[quote Adrenaline is a funny thing.[/quote]

I was in the grocery store very early one morning to get treats for my staff. When I came out I saw two men (boys) in my car. They grabbed my briefcase and some other stuff and jumped in a car and started to take off. I ran after them yelling. Believe it or not they stopped! I just kept saying PUT IT BACK, PUT IT BACK and they did. The police said that was a really dumb thing to do. but as said; adrenaline is a funny thing

 

[rebapuck]

My uncle gave me a lenght of pipe to carry when walking from the parking lot to work at 4am. I carried it in plain sight. You would not believe the number of MEN who suggested I carry it down by my leg so it wouldn't be seen.

HUH?

 

[Hiker Chick]

[quote Adrenaline is a funny thing.

I was in the grocery store very early one morning to get treats for my staff. When I came out I saw two men (boys) in my car. They grabbed my briefcase and some other stuff and jumped in a car and started to take off. I ran after them yelling. Believe it or not they stopped! I just kept saying PUT IT BACK, PUT IT BACK and they did. The police said that was a really dumb thing to do. but as said; adrenaline is a funny thing[/quote]


Wow -- stopping their getaway car!

Maybe you sounded like their mother.

 

[Female]

My uncle gave me a lenght of pipe to carry when walking from the parking lot to work at 4am. I carried it in plain sight. You would not believe the number of MEN who suggested I carry it down by my leg so it wouldn't be seen.

HUH?

When I was a teenager my dad gave me a billy club to carry from my car to our apartment when I got home late at night. After a certain hour the there were no close spaces so I always had to walk a little ways. He suggested that I keep a good grib on it and swing it around in plain site which I did. Never had a problem.

 

[rebapuck]

That's what I did. But these guys wanted me to hide it so I could surprise the would-be attacker.

Men are from Mars.

 

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

I've have a few chilling experiences and only one where I had to show a weapon. In 1992 when I lived in Augusta, GA I owned an in-home typing service. Normally I would go and pick up the work in a neutral place but for some reason I let this man come to my home to bring me the resume he needed typed up. In my office I always kept my gun, a .45 sitting right on my desk, next to me but not in plain site. I also kept a human paper target that I used for target practice on the wall. Makes for a really nice conversation piece.

When I met this man, I didn't get any bad vibes but I thought he was a little too friendly in a "manish" way. Still, no bad vibes. As we continued talking about how he wanted his resume to look, out of the blue he said "You know, a pretty little thing like you should be careful about letting strangers into your home". Bad vibe, bad vibe, bad vibe!!! The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I probably turned a whiter shade of white but I calmly turned to him (praying he couldn't see the fear in my eyes) and said, "Well, what strangers don't know is that I carry a loaded gun on me at all times and I have no fear of using it". I didn't take my eyes off of his and never cracked a smile...and he knew I was dead serious. I told him I think I had everything I needed and I would call him when it was ready. He stood up, gave me a weird smile and walked out the door.

Honestly, he scared the crap out of me just with the way he said what he said. I let my husband meet him to exchange the work and money and I never heard from him again.

Another time in California, I had a stange man follow me up to my hotel room but I was already in defense mode by the time he got there. The door was locked and he couldn't get in and I wouldn't open it. When the hotel maintenance man went to the parking lot to ask what the guy wanted, the man jumped in his truck and rolled his tires out of there. The hotel clerk called me and said they were going to move me to another room.

Once in a Wal-Mart parking lot, my daughter-n-law and I were walking to my SUV late one night and a man was following behind us. I told her to stop walking, hold her purse tucked in front of her and to turn around and look at the man straight in his face, which we both did at the same time. The man shook his head, started snickering and walked away from us. Now, you tell me...was he up to no good and knew we called his bluff or was I just being paranoid?

I used to be a more trusting person but I now look at people with a different perspective. I've never been a timid person and won't back down...well, except for a bear. That's a different story...I no longer know you if it's me, you and a bear! (Sorry buddies)