Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst way to be woke up

My long-time hunting partner Joe (who died today)and I were camping above timberline at the head of Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, MT the night before sheep opener about 25 years ago. We took a tiny lightweight two-man tent. Sometime about 4 am I had a terrible dream about a polar bear that had me in a bear hug and was squeezing the air out of me. I finally fought through the dream and woke up to find two feet of snow on a collapsed tent that was slowly suffocating me. I woke Joe up and we were able to push the snow and tent off and get out of it. It was a cold, wet next 20 minutes trying to get the tent back up and get back in the sleeping bags to await the dawn.

about the 3rd time a freakin grizzly knocked over my two tripods and meat pole to get to caribou quarters and hides, I was in the mood to fire at, instead of over or under at the blamed thing.

but it was a guided hunt and one of our clients was the commander of the state trooper academy in Sitka, great guy, but didn't want to put him in that position by just killing a rogue bear with a huge appetite


it was hilarious really, other guide was sleeping in the cook tent so I had a tent to myself over by the clients tent. The second trip in for the bear she circled around and as she padded by their tent they called out softly "Randy are you walking around?" Nope I'm in my bag, "BEAR, BEAR they yelled out" one of the guys a local doc and a very good friend now, said it was years before he could sleep in a tent comfortably after that episode, but trust me, we floated the Sheenjek together one year and he'd gotten over it, that boy did some serious sleeping, but he's one of the hardest working men I've ever met, long, long hours at work for over 25 years. He also purchased himself a .454 Casull after that trip.

but the good part was after the 2nd trip in, and mind you, we'd killed 3 caribou that day, I butchered them all and hauled the majority of them in, plus rowing all day and then cutting wood and making tripods and meat poles I was a tuckered pup. Well after the second episode, righting the tripods rehanging the quarters still there, the other guide decided to put a lantern out on the island we were camped by to keep the bear at bay.

you know how when you do shadows on the wall for kids how big the shadow looks? well when that bear came in for the 3rd time and walked between the lantern and the square walled cook tent my fellow guide was sleeping in, he looked HUGE (I guess)

ole Bus started screaming and hollering bear, and we climbed out of the bag once again, just about the time I was drifting off again. He screamed so much he lost his voice, lol, told me to come in the tent with him and he'd make coffee and tell me his life story, several different ways if needed.

fing bear, I was soooo tired


anyway, back to the original topic, while I've enjoyed this thread immensely, I'd say hands down for any of us with kids, the wakeup call that some parents get late on a weekend from a trooper letting you know there's been an accident is THE very worst way to be woken up. The rest of our stories are a PITA and funny later, but those calls that some parents get, will never bring joy to them or anyone else when they recall them.

Toss up. Either: 0200 and a seriously excited person yelling "Gas, Gas, Gas, this is no drill" during Desert Storm. By the time my eyes were open I had my mask on and cleared and my protective hood down. Was 0600 when we got the all clear. Sadaam had launched a Scud and the targeted site was unknown but the launch site had known stocks of the non-existent WMD.

Or, it was 1966 as a teenager camping on the Cimarron River at Horse Thief Canyon with a bud. When the last embers were popping as the fire died and long gaps got longer between words of our conversation we drifted further and further toward sleep. Just as Morpheus pulled us down that last slope, about 75-80 yards up the canyon (we checked that next morning) a cougar screamed, loudly. Every hair on my body stood on end, the first time I realized that phrase was true. It was either a cougar or a woman being murdered horribly (cougar). In VERY few minutes we had that fire licking the sandstone overhang 6-8 feet above us and had our shotguns on our laps as we sat back to back waiting for daylight. Still get shivers when I really think about it.

Waking up to the claxon signalling an incoming a Nuclear EAM while stationed in the command center of a Pershing II nuclear missile site...........if that doesn't jump start your heart!

Leighton,
Sure would like the rest of the story!
Boat sinking sucks!

John

Very sorry to hear of your mothers passing.

You were a good boy to take care of her.

Travis won't take that trash talk'in lying down you know!

Sorry to hear of your friends Passing.

Surprise sex.....................









































When you're in a male only dorm.

A few years ago I watched my sisters poodle. That plucking little bitch took a dump by my side of the bed, then wakes me up at 0200. Reluctantly I get up only to step in it. Then I hopped to the bathroom, cussing to clean my foot.

That plucking little bitch went one step further, she stuffed a red cotton pony under my pillow the night before.

Now I am a dog lover but that poodle was the devil and needed killin.

I'd take that over a real-life fire alarm..

One night (actually 3 or 4, come to think of it...) the old dog got to feeling bad, so he hopped up in the bed looking for help or sympathy, and I woke up with him standing between me and Mrs. Tree, dry-heaving beside my face.

Getting to the age where there are no bad ways to wake up, just some better than others!

I was 12 when my mother woke me up just after midnight and told me my dad was dead, I talked to him at 4:30 pm and he said he would see us in the morning.

Aint that the truth!! I'm to the point, if I wake up alive in the morning I consider myself a winner for the day.

Bud, I am sorry to hear that. That has to be far worse than anything I have ever experienced.

You've never experienced it.

I was maybe 15 canoeing the Bowron Lake chain with my family and some friends. My brother and I shared a smaller 2 person tent and we were jolted awake by a heavy breathing outside our tent early one morning. We both hoped it was dad screwing with us, but we knew it wasnt..

"It" snuffed around the tent a bit then actually tried to "climb" onto the tent by our feet. I'll never forget the weight of his paw as it came down on my ankle, me too paralized to move.

Our friend heard the commotion and shood the black bear away, saying it was a smaller one, We never saw it but I sweasr that bastard weighed 1100 pounds!

Scary, but pales compared to some of these stories..

#3--Ugly is no surprise to this crew