for those only in rural america

[strong eagle]

so went to a good gym only 12 miles from me. i like to drive very rural home after a good work out. 3 miles from my house as rural as i can poss. get i came to a very rural corner and guess what, three large round bales fell off of a truck and totally blocked the road. what to do, make a new road around them through the ditch as every one else did and just let it be what it is. only you guys and gals who live in real rural america understand this, its rural, and we make due like no city person can ever think about unless they come to live in rural america. i have a new neighbor who is most likely a close relative of the female vet who live 1/2 mile from me. she is about 35 years old and runs past my place at about 6 each morning. along side her is a dog that looks like a giant pit bull. do i thinks she is dumb, NOOOOO. that dog would eat a mountain lion  alive or any stupid pervert if they came near her.  WELCOME TO RURAL AMERICA. we live at 4000 ft above sea level and all we worry about is lions that can eat us out here. i have a good small ruger for that and she has the dog from hell who would die for her. PLEASE ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS A THING TO ADD ABOUT LIVING IN THE OUT BACK, AMERICA OR OTHER WISE,TELL US ABOUT IT SO WE CAN ALL SHARE WITH THOSE WHO DONT. MAYBE WE CAN GET THEM OUT HERE ALSO. ALSO REMEMBER, BULL SHITTER DONT HAVE TO LIE, THEY SOMETIMES LIVE A FULL LIFE A LONG TIME.

 

[Buck Conner1]

Well, from one bullshitter to another bullshitter. I used to live 13 miles from Estes Park Colorado (Teddy Roosevelt's base camp when hunting in the Rockies). We lived at 7,500 feet above sea level, lived on the family farm homesteaded in the late 1860's (300 acres with only 80 acres under plow). Our next door neighbor had 10,000 acres that we had use of for riding our horses, checked his fences weekly for the permission to trespass. At least every other week I repaired down wire that the elk had run through (a herd of 100 plus animals) usually being chased by mountain lions. Have had mountain lions in the winter hide in the hay piles and would hold tight when loading hay off the hay stack (didn't know they were there until you would catch one out of the corner of your eye running away from the stack). 

That's about as close as you can get to having messy drawers. 

Our closest neighbor was just a half mile away and once in a while would see the cats running, then look at the hay pile and see our truck and knew what happened. 

 

[Jim Friedly]

Live on central Vancouver island....about 15 minutes drive from where  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC did thei study on COUGAR/MTN.LION thickest concentration anywhere in north America.........
SURPRISE   most are spotted in the ''city of NANAIMO'' ocean waterfront city a couple miles south ......the mounted police call local schools to report cats in the area.......same with black bears   which you see EVERY where around the island......was up island last week to my daughters home (one of them) on QUADRA ISLAND ...the  wolf pack arrived early to get their fall deer.......small mule deer we call BLACKTAILS..... lots of hiking/jogging trails....''THEY'' the joggers, carry walking sticks....the cougars are usually interested on little dogs on leashes...NOT the joggers........I worry more about elk or deer during the RUT  than the  big tooth beasties..!!!!!!

 

[exMember]

Most of them are gentle giants. Big over sized lovers actually lol. While bear hunting this year, I was in some thick stuff and caught myself always looking behind me or with my back to a tree.

 

[strong eagle]

what i understand is your mountain lions on your island are the most aggressive and nasty of that kind any wheres. as i get older i think i have had enough of very rural america. if i can keep this body and spirit together a while longer i think a quiet town house on a dead end street in rapid city s.dak or some village like it is going to be where i want to live. maybe even bermidji minn. no more giant lawns or gardens. done all that for years and years, dont walk as good as i used to. thanks guys for your input, i like reading about what you do or have done.

 

[RonRC]

I have a different rural living experience. My brother and I were born in a big city. Then, we moved to a small, "truck farming" town in Southern New Jersey. We lived next to a tomato farm and there was a watermelon farm nearby.
Our house was tiny, but we did have about an acre around it. If we crossed the tomato farm, we would be in the woods.
There was a vacant lot close to us where we played baseball. We oriented the playing field such that home runs would force us into the tomato field to look for the ball. We came back, sometimes with the ball and always, during growing season, with a big tomato in our hands. We ate those tomatoes like apples.
There were between 1000 and 2000 families in the town. The main street was shut down for Christmas and Halloween parades. It was an atmosphere like I imagined to be before WWI.
Ron

 

[Jim Friedly]

Except for  POCATELLO Idaho(Foothills) and Kitchener south west Ontario....I have lived away from 
cities......Where I live on central Vancouver island,its a couple miles  to the town.....CABELAS and COSTCO  are about 2 miles away but the bush starts on the east side of the lake......70 miles of mountains to the open pacific ocean.........
              a couple hours NORTH  up island is where a couple seasons of that  t.v. show ALONE was filmed......
I don't know if our cougar are more aggressive than anywhere else    BUT   our big black bear  known to be a separate sub species called  CAVE BEAR......the males ARE very aggressive....but for all the time I spend in the mountains and river valleys, I have experienced  only 2  charges...one a bluff that ended about 25 yards and he walked away into a river.....the 2nd......at less than 20 yards ended with an old bear down......he started his charge  on a logging road,in a clearcut over a mile wide,in the open.at least 200 yards away.......I shouted,yelled, fired 2 rounds in front of him.......he was old but healthy.......I can only figure he was having a really bad day..........I have stepped off river trails and logging roads to let bears and even bears with cubs pass......I'm sorry I had to shoot the old bear.....
        I do enjoy living around wildlife........after spending so much time around them, if one decides I would make a tasty meal.......well,it beats dying in some hospital bed or a rest home....

 

[strong eagle]

ive heard that about your bears also. this is what ive learned about bears over the years. when black bears charge you they most likely wont stop charging. when grizzly bears charge you they can break off a lot from the charge. black bears dont. a female bear with cubs is the worst of all. again your mountain lions are the worst of the worst. they are afraid of nothing and will attack. ive looked at your island many a time from the U.S. but never took the ferry their. should have. your island is a very wet part of the world. love the sea food up where you are.

 

[Jim Friedly]

STRONG EAGLE,
                              We have some grizzly on the east side of the island,CAMPBELLRIVER northwards....
there was one on QUADRA island where my daughter has a house a year ago......not common.....the griz swim across from the mainland....some places its less than 1/2 mile.......

      I know 3 people who mixed it up with Grizzly.........one up near PRINCE GEORGE,my  pistol shooting partner.....they had a moose down,bear came out of no where.....a single round from his .284 model 88 which I now own, the next was a fellow I commercial fished with.... 2 of them ,moose hunting, one dressing out moose, my friend BUTCH went to get the ATV and trailer a mile or so away.....came back and found friend out cold and covered in dirt......loaded guy in trailer and left area.......guy who was mauled said he never saw or heard a thing.......last was last fall...up near  CASSIER MOUNTAINS....my old boss and 2 other guys I hunted with were AGAIN,bloody moose hunting.... one went for a pee and I guess the bear watching them from a bed by a river   just knocked him around.......no bites but lots of bruises  then mr. bear walked away......

   So,2   points......1) watch for bear when moose hunting
                            2) really watch for bear when moose hunting........
I often wonder how many times grizzly rough up hunters but never re[port it.
now that the MORONS tree huggers,,, running the province have banned GRIZZLY HUNTING   ..of course our native people can kill them for ceremonial purposes......they can also take a certain amount of BALD EAGLES  for their wings and legs for the above reasons........
      some things are just plain wrong.......imho     we had almost 3 months of no rain this summer and temps over 100degrees......the monsoons will be here soon  lol

 

[Jack Ryan]

Live in the country and DRIVE to a gym?

I just ride my bicycle to town and back. 8miles in, 8 miles back and I still have my gym money in my pocket.

 

[strong eagle]

i can see your point but this gym is small and very very well thought out with smooth cable machines. as to riding a bike. i have a old very well made stationary bike that i work the heck out of a couple times a week. if i stopped all other forms of working out and rode the bike one hour every day it would not be a bad thing. at the gym, 4 days a week im strength training 3 high school boys and i dont want to dissapoint them. the 14 year old did last thursday a 6 inch leg press of 1150 lbs. we call him steamroller as that is how he does in on the foot ball field. the other two are bronk breaking cow wrestling cowboys and they say they are getting better at it. we have only been training together since when school started and they are all ready buying new shirts and jeans as they are growing out of them. they show up every morning and they work hard. its a lot of fun to direct them. it keeps them off of drug and ect. they are committed to this.

 

[Okie Hog]

i've seen three or four  cougars in my lifetime.   About 12 years ago i was tracking a wounded hog in a wide gully.   Sitting 15-20 yards away on the  rim was a large male cougar.   The animal was switching his tail and licking his face.  i put  a muzzleloader bullet in the animals chest. 

The OK wildlife folks were very protective of their cougars.   A very valuable stud horse was badly mauled by a large cougar.  The horse raiser called the OWDC.   The man was threatened with jail should he  harm that cougar.  He was informed that  the cougars had tracking collars. 

This and other incidents got the OK legislature involved.   It is now legal to kill cougars that threaten humans or livestock.

 

[strong eagle]

their is getting more and more of them every wheres. three to five miles from my place 5 were seen on a trail cam. one of them was shot by a rancher as it went after his chickens. they show no fear. they are even coming to the edge of our small local town.

 

[Okie Hog]

Recently a 16 year old WA girl arrowed a cougar that was very close to her little brother.


https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/world/teen-fires-arrow-at-cougar-saving-life-of-her-6-year-old-brother/ar-BBNpzca

 

[strong eagle]

that little gal is cool under stress. she needs to become a ER nurse or dr. maybe even join the military.

 

[Rick N Bama1]

Live in the country and DRIVE to a gym?

I just ride my bicycle to town and back. 8miles in, 8 miles back and I still have my gym money in my pocket.

I live in the country as well and drive to a gym 3 mornings a week.  My fees are $12 and change a month at our Planet Fitness.  My Insurance pays for the fitness center, while I pay for the "Black Card" which I use for the recumbent hydro massage area. 

I used to ride a bike about 5 miles a day years ago when my back & knees weren't so worn out.  Now there's no way I could do that.