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The Off Grid living thread (Dropping out the rat race)


misteraven

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7 hours ago, Kults said:

'Ms Kornak was able to reach a canister of bear spray, but accidentally sprayed it on herself before she was able to use it to ward off the animal.'

 

LOL

 

Believe it or not this is pretty common for people using mace or the equivalent.  It's something they throw in a bag or leave on a shelf, when the time comes when it's needed they have no idea of the can's positioning and no muscle memory to go with that.  Fear, adrenalin, they just grab and spray and a lot of people mace themselves.  

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^^^ I've heard the same is fairly commonplace with human mace. For it to be an effective self defence tool you have to keep it in hand, and ready before a confrontation. Anything else you run the risk of either macing yourself, or just pissing off your attacker.

 

Hand in my pocket,  finger on the trigger....

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1 hour ago, Mercer said:

^^^ I've heard the same is fairly commonplace with human mace. For it to be an effective self defence tool you have to keep it in hand, and ready before a confrontation. Anything else you run the risk of either macing yourself, or just pissing off your attacker.

 

Hand in my pocket,  finger on the trigger....

Suspect that it’s more a matter of how well a person keeps their head. That and training. Despite the fact that it’s mace and not a firearm, a person should still train. Guessing most people buy mace and then throw it in a bag, not even trying it once to see what spraying it is like. Not surprised when people like that also end up lacing themselves. 

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4 hours ago, Mercer said:

^^^ I've heard the same is fairly commonplace with human mace. For it to be an effective self defence tool you have to keep it in hand, and ready before a confrontation. Anything else you run the risk of either macing yourself, or just pissing off your attacker.

 

Hand in my pocket,  finger on the trigger....

I once had a giant Russian speaking motherfucker flic his cigarette in my face and charge at me. I nailed him with some mace I had in the car.  Man that shit travels and it hit him dead on in the face. Took the fight right out of him and he sat there weeping like a defeated child. It works.

 

Its kind of a bitch move but fuck it, it was that or get my ass savagely beat. 10/10 would spray again.

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I've been maced several times. Sucks, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

 

Worst time was at the B-Boy Summit in San Diego. I was filming a couple cops arresting a kid and saw movement from my peripheral. Assumed it was a cop looking to snatch my camera and when I turned I caught a face full of mace. I know cops carry a type of mace that is more potent than what the rest of us can carry and it was indeed brutal. I didn't see it coming, but assume it was one of those big riot control jugs because it was a big face full. Anyhow, was hard to talk as your throat sort of gets restricted and you definitely can't see much for the first 10 minutes. Takes a solid hour or two for you to sort of go back to normal. As far as regular mace, its much less severe and more just something you don't want to deal with than being debilitating. Besides being a weaker formula, its a much smaller spray pattern and quantity. Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with it as a safety thing and have seen people get a face full of it and only get more pissed off than back off.

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Well since we're talking mace stories...

 

First one was my homie Storm (R.I.P.) a car full of kids rolled up talking shit to him, so he pretended he didn't hear what they said and walked up to them real casual like he was trying to be helpful and give directions or something. Whipped out a can of pepperspray and lit the entire car up real good, got in a few punches through the window as well. None of those kids had any idea what to do, driver was blinded, kids were scared to step out of the car straight into a blind ass beating. It was like watching poetry in slow motion.

 

My own best mace incident was this time I was driving a cab in Denver. I used to get into altercations every day on that job so I always had a can of mace (amongst other things) ready. I get flagged down by an older couple in lodo, AKA lower downtown but they were across this street which was a one way, 3 or 4 lanes wide. I stopped across the street, waited for all the cars to go past so I could cut all the way over to them and scoop up the passengers.

 

As I'm stopped, the cars behind me understandably got mad, and honked/yelled shit as they went around me. When I pulled up to the older couple some dirtbag, who was king of brawny was walking down the sidewalk joined in with yelling shit at me, like the road rage I caused was contagious and he caught a sidewalk strain of it. The older dude (over 60 for sure) said something to him and dude went up to the old guy and shoved him, knocking him down on the sidewalk.

 

I grabbed my mace and jumped out, went around the car and dude was still standing there with a semi stunned look on his face like oh shit, I just fucked up a senior citizen . I blasted him in the grill with mace, and kicked him pretty hard in the chest knocking the wind out of him, and he went down to the ground. I was still on the clock so to speak, and the hustle in me just wanted to get this fare in the ride, so I was trying to help the old dude up and into the back of the car  before anyone showed up and police got involved. I get him up, and started getting him into the car, look back and the dudes wife was standing over the dirtbag dude stomping, and kicking him old lady style while yelling shit in Spanish, it was hilarious. 

 

Me and the old dude grab her, we all got into the taxi and drove off. The older couple was laughing like they loved it. They started saying they'd get their relatives to come back to find that guy and beat his ass some more once they got home. Then they started showing me they had gang tattoos on their hands, telling me stories, and we all eventually started clowning the dude we handled saying he got stomped out by an old lady. Good times.

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On 10/2/2018 at 8:45 PM, Kults said:

Its kind of a bitch move but fuck it,

I can't agree with you on this.  I say if someone is going to fight then they're potentially trying to kill you and that's why there are no rules in a street fight.  Bricks, belt buckles, mace before you beat their ass, etc is all ok in a street fight.

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41 minutes ago, misteraven said:

Damn, this topic sure strayed. 

 

Anyone doing any hunting now that it’s Fall? Been also trying to decide if I should over winter my ducks or just eat them. 

Coyote season is coming up soon for up around here

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So yesterday Fish & Game picked up their traps after two nights of nothing. They'd gotten a call about a bear a few miles away and thought maybe it had moved on as this particular bear has been ranging pretty far. They later confirm its a different bear as they got it on some camera and saw there was no radio collar, so nobody knows where it ventured. Then around 8:30pm I'm going to let my dog out for his last piss of the night, flip on the outside lights as I open the door and catch a huge dark blur about 25 feet in front of the door. Huge thing that spins and charges to the tree line and then sounded like stampede of elephants breaking through the bush. I was calling my wife over to look since she was walking by right behind me just as we hear something huge jump into the river and splash its way across and then more sounds of bushes being rustled.

 

Anyhow, pretty crazy experience. Even knowing we have bears, having a bunch of chickens eaten and having two traps that are the size of a small boat parked in my yard for two days, it was still a bit of a shock. It was fairly dark and had it not been for the extended sound of the thing charging through the bushes and across the river, I would have doubted even really seeing it. We did note that usually if you sweep my pasture with a flash light at night you can see the eye glow of a dozen or more deer bedded down and last night there was none.

 

Also, the thing was so freakin fast! I can honestly say that if it had charged in my direction instead of to the tree line, its very unlikely I could have done anything in time even with a bottle of bear spray and a shotgun about a foot beyond arms reach and a large pocket folder clipped to my pocket. Being honest with myself, even having a holstered gun on my hip probably would not have made a difference unless the thing decided to hesitate for a moment. I think to have gotten a shot off, you'd literally have had to have a shotgun in hand, safety off at the low ready and possibly, you'd have been able to bring it up and fire off a shot. It was that fast and I was that close.

 

In any case, pretty amazing and eye opening experience. Figured I'd keep updating you guys of the latest.

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Congrats on your up close & personal if that was your 1st.  I've had a few now although with Black Bears, awe inspiring to me every time.  Reading a book on bear behavior was extremely helpful for me.  Wildlife Dept around me are nice people, but just not as informative.  Now I at least feel a bit better prepared for those situations as they happen.  Good sign that the bear turned and ran.  Also good you have a sense of where- they leave various fluid trails that they and other bears follow so you might see them back in those areas.  Encourage a trail cam again, they're around $100 and you can catch some interesting stuff.  

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Flash didn't go off so not a great pic but here's one of those surprise bear moments, never ceases to inspire a little fear and a lot of awe/appreciation.  

This was roadside right out my window and the fact was not lost on me that he could easily close the distance to my window before I could put it up.

But, I kind of know him and you can see he spooked and attempted to climb a tree before cracking and crushing his way into the woods.

Shit like this always gets me amped up.

IMG_0294 copy.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congrats on the new path Raven!

 

I've always been a city creature, but now I'm "professionally homeless" as a long haul truck driver living out of my truck. The longer I do this, the more I think that getting a small home or container home on some rural property might be in my future. I've done i15 top to bottom through Montana twice now, and its jaw droppingly beautiful.  There's a rest area in Dillon that was just shockingly quiet and still at  night. No other trucks, no cell signal, 10-15 minutes between traffic on the road and this loud muffled silence. It was great. 

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13 hours ago, Ski Mask said:

Congrats on the new path Raven!

 

I've always been a city creature, but now I'm "professionally homeless" as a long haul truck driver living out of my truck. The longer I do this, the more I think that getting a small home or container home on some rural property might be in my future. I've done i15 top to bottom through Montana twice now, and its jaw droppingly beautiful.  There's a rest area in Dillon that was just shockingly quiet and still at  night. No other trucks, no cell signal, 10-15 minutes between traffic on the road and this loud muffled silence. It was great. 

Thanks man, yeah I suppose it’s not for everyone but then again, I think most just have no clue since they’ve never really had an opportunity to check it out. 

 

Anyhow, if you’re ever passing through again, private message me. If you got time, we’ll grab a coffee or something.

 

——————

 

So out here, we’re getting dialed in for winter. First snow was about two weeks ago and we’re seeing regular dusting at slightly higher elevations. It’s well below freezing at night so there’s a frost layer on everything each morning. Days are nice, at least when the sun is out but it’s definitely starting to dip. I prepped our raised beds for winter this weekend and am scrambling to finish up the last projects before it starts to really snow. Already out most stuff away and also trying to find time to stack up more wood since I’m way behind once again. Anyhow, it’s a ton of work, but soon enough it’ll be super shoot days (sunlight 9:30 - 4:30) and knee - waist deep in snow so plenty of time to just lay around and rest. 

 

Anyone else considering a move towards a more rural existence?

 

Any of you guys already living that life pick up any new knowledge or experience this summer / fall?

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