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Fieldcraft creatures encountered on a stalk

Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Great thread! I have enjoyed it. And useful as well! The most useful info so far: dont trust any of those habitat maps back on page 2.
I too can attest to the fact that black widows and recluses are common in the central part of VA, real common.

Snakes never worry me, unless I happen to be sharing the same body of water, but bees and spiders...different story.

They aren't exotic or exactly instil fear in man, but you really dont want to crawl over a hidden nest of ..

Bumblebees
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cpt.creedmoor</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: drewbie</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lowlight</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ya, Snakes more than once, but never with any issue, although there was this one unruly Habu in Oki he was giving it an effort. I was put down twice by spiders, having adverse negative reactions, and I know other people who have been hit by them at one time or another, including a nice banana spider bite to the face... as well I have run into yellow jackets that decided my camouflage wasn't nearly good enough. Never had an issue with ants, but I was never in a heavy ant area.. spiders are far more common and can wreck your day.

it happens and it sucks, but you deal with it. </div></div>

Banana spider? you got bit by this?

Fig.%201.jpg



Damn, I was thinking about <span style="text-decoration: underline">trying</span> to become a sniper (note the emphasis on trying...), but I'm having second thoughts about that. </div></div>



<span style="font-size: 26pt"><span style="color: #FF0000">FUCK THAT!</span> <span style="color: #FF0000"> </span> </span>

I am scared to death of spiders, I would rather be hit with another bullet, as that bastard! </div></div>

I second that motion
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

was working in my shop one nice november day and felt something on my right leg. i sorta scratched it and went on my way. couple days i had this big red spot with a black center just below my right knee cap. it was a brown recluse bite, went to the er, doc. cut it open and took out 4 blood clots abt 3" long. gave me some keflex?, sent me home. two days later i could hardley breath and weak as hell. my doughter took me back, it was thanksgiving day and i got out of the hospital on dec 19. that was in 2006, to this day i still am having problems with my kidneys and liver. blood preasure is all screwed up. still have dlood clots in both legs and one lung. and other problems from that one bite. i have had four tia's that has messed with my spelling and other body functions. i cant stand and shoot offhand anymore, so now i lay on a big blanket with a big can of bug spray.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Brown Recluse/"Fiddlebacks" are nasty suckers. They can be right in your house. We had them in Newark NJ, and I had to train my Scouts to recognize them. A lt of teh kids came from the projects. Luckily, the locale did not support really big ones (fiddlebacks, that is...).
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Brown Recluse Spiders we have here. Bad ass shit. Woman down the street got bit by one ,didn't know what bit her. Lay in bed two days,big swollen up ass and damn near died. Docs cut part of her buttcocks off. I take this with the up most importants. Get your a First Aide Kit made for the Brown Recluses Spider. Go to www.BrownRecluses.com $ 19.96 a kit. A bite from this spider causes the flesh to rot and it spresds like the Flesh Eating Disease. Serois stuff,gents!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

A friend of my,ex-ranger went to Moab,Utah for a car show. Went to the portable outhouse and took a number 2 . Bit on the tip of his dick. Stated itching and burning,went the hospital right away. Doctor looked at it and told him its a Brown Recuse spider bit. Took his scapel and whitted a peices of his throbbing dick off,that's how seriou this spider is. Needless to say,he's real wary of sticking his dick into dark holes!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

DAMN!!!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Harold Dale</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A friend of my,ex-ranger went to Moab,Utah for a car show. Went to the portable outhouse and took a number 2 . Bit on the tip of his dick. Stated itching and burning,went the hospital right away. Doctor looked at it and told him its a Brown Recuse spider bit. Took his scapel and whitted a peices of his throbbing dick off,that's how seriou this spider is. Needless to say,he's real wary of sticking his dick into dark holes! </div></div>
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Cottonmouth crawled across buddys leg next to me on recon patrol one night and a killer possum charged us another time.
Scorpions and any bug that bites.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Seroius stuff, click on the website,there's a video that outlines the danger of the Brown Recluse Spider. Mexican Match,sorry for your state of health,but this about par along the lines of stories I've hear of people being bitten. Not only the kit,which I would use immeditiy and get to the doctor right now, But they offer spider traps too. I 'd think I rather be bitten by a Black Widow instead of a Brown Recuse Spider. If I remember right,The Brown Recuse Spider builts a funnel-like web,very wide opening at the top and tapering in at the botton,usually he'd find a hole in the ground,that's his trademark. Glad to point this out,fellows. Stay safe.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

We have here in the 4 corners area a small lizard which we call The Mountain Bloomer.Native Americans call hin " Thunder Lizard". About 8-12 inches tall,bright colors of lime green with an extremly bright yellow head,absutely stunning. This creature pound for pound is unequal for aggressive,bravery. Throw a couple of rocks at him and this will provoke an attack. Will run up your pants legs ,up over your head. They are supposely posions.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Wow Greg, you never cease to amaze me. I think you guys will be chilling out with Keith Richards and cockroaches come Armageddon... Staph is a nasty little bug and has only gotten worse the last few years. Hospitals are producing very nasty, dangerous, potent little creatures. Yay modern medicine...
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Glad to hear that she got past it Greg. Celia is such a fantastic name and I can see that you think so as well. I would not worry too much about the dreams though, I too have been kidnapped by a troll and held hostage on a large tanker at sea.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

In 'Nam, we had antiaircraft units. There were no hostile aircraft in 'Nam.

Personally, I think they were there for the bugs.

Personally, I think the intimidation worked and is probably one of the main reasons I am alive today.

You can get used to incoming fire, but those bugs...

Greg

 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

yeah I think the fireants and centipedes will be the worst. living here in Texas I've seen some tarantulas. they dont bother you as much as the spiders do. tiny little centipedes im not sure if they're heavily poisonous or not.


I think this helps people to understand why you wear BDUs always out there. ripstop FTW. get rid of the damn bugs if you can help it and keep your pants tucked into your boots and your undershirts tucked into your belt for a reason. lol.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Few years ago, we had a safely meeting class concerning first aide. Was mention that oil field pipe trucked in from lower Texas,down around the Mexican border area. That a particular snake from Mexico crawl into one of the oil field pipe and trnsported to Farmington,New Mexico. This snake colors were black and white,hauls ass,and is 5 times deadly than a typical rattler snakein the 4 corners area. Does any body know of this snake ?
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Man, not a sniper story, but pretty damn funny.

Me, my Pa (grandpa), and Dad were out walking around with our rifles, and then pa ran up to us..."MAN, HEY COME OVER HERE AND LOOK AT THIS!"

Heck, I just thought it was a skeleton or somethin' then he lifted up a piece of ply, and under that was a spider the size of a fuckin' baby!

HOLY SHIT!!!

Rifle up about to tear a .45 caliber hole in that bitch, then pa told me not to skoosh it, or go kill it, then Dad told me not to go near it.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

I had a homeless guy that I liked in my old patrol sector get bit by a brown recluse. Man alive, those things are rough. Aaron refused to go to the doctor about it, and every night when I'd see him, I'd offer him a ride to the hospital. Over a period of a month or so, I watched that bite go from a small sore on his side to a massively infected crater that you could've easily fit a softball into. Needless to say, one nightly visit found him dead. You could smell that bite from 10 paces. It was one of those smells that you never forget.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

I have spent enough time in Central and South America to absolutely F***in hate monkey's. Every one of those damn things on this planet should be dead as far as I am concerned.

When I was in High School I knew some people that lived on a farm. They told me that there was some strange activity going on in the evenings around the chicken house and the livestock.
Nothing had been killed but the dogs would act really weird and go crazy. After enough occurences had happened they thought that they could have seen a Cougar in the darkness. This was in an area that was at least 250 miles from the mountains on prairie land. So it was quite odd for such a thing to be true.
All this started happening just before deer season. I knew of a large buck on their land that I was watching pre-season so I got permission to hunt it. I also told them that I would look for sign of what they might possibly be seeing in the evenings on their land. I assumed that it was probably a Lynx (this was in Western Canada).
My 2nd outing still-hunting for my buck on their land turned out being an interesting scenario. My 1st outing did not show me any sign of what might be lurking around the area. So I tried entering into the bucks area that he beds down in from a different direction mainly because of a shift in wind direction from the previous day. After getting into my early dusk still hunt I started getting some weird feeling that something was trailing me. I continued working my way into the direction intended for my buck but I also started taking glances behind me more often. I was in a quite heavily forested area of mature deciduous trees with fairly heavy undergrowth working my way across the side of a large ravine. Every once in a while I thought I would hear something behind me kind. I had a fairly stiff steady breeze blowing in my face so I did not take it too serious. Then I started realizing that these very slight sounds that I could barely hear behind me with the breeze blowing all of a sudden clicked in my head that some damn thing was still-hunting me? It was taking advantage of the environmental conditions just like I was looking for my buck. I started taking more concern about what was behind me than what I was hunting for in front of me. When I got into a good location for me to crouch down behind some taller undergrowth and do a 180 and watch behind me for a while I did. After a little time passed low and behold laying in the low undergrowth there was a Cougar and the damn thing was no more than 30 feet from me. I knew that I did not dare turn my back on it. Cougars typically like to take their prey from behind and like to take them by the back of the neck. Usually when confronted face to face they will turn around and haul ass. So going on what bit I knew about them I stayed face to face with it and stood up and shot the rifle off. It turned its ass around and ran like hell.
Needless to say I told my friend about the encounter and that it was definitely a Cougar that they saw. I phoned DNR that same day and warned them that it was prowling around the farmyard at night and there was a chance that the farmer might put it down if he needed to. The Cougar ended up getting into his livestock a couple evenings later. He released his dogs on it. The Cougar killed 2 of the 5 dogs. But the farmer ended up shooting the Cougar.
I ended up getting my buck a few days later after the Cougar was taken down. I often wonder if that damn Cougar was really hunting me and if he would have launched on me.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I absolutely F***in hate monkey's more than anything on this planet!!!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

He was hunting you! With thick brush and trees, and under growth, the cougar is in his best hunting enviorment. You did the best thing by facing him and firing off a shot. If possible,get to open ground. Flat open ground cougars don't like. Sure feels funny when a predators is hunting you instead of the other way around!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Yes, the Brown Reluse is serious business! Generally,if one can,capture alive if possible the insect or animal that bit you. Go on the website I posted above for more information. The way I understand the bite is the doctor cuts beyound the infected area,it must be cut out. Its not the Flesh Eating Disease,but runs along pralled to it!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

cougars can jump pretty close to 30 feet. great stories guys, great pictures. i have no real horror stories. ticks from walking the dogs in the woods. certain times of the year is what i call web season. cant walk in the woods with out a long stick held in front of you to catch the webs. either that or do the lkittle girl sissy dance that you do when you take a web to the face. i have had spider bites. i whole bunch last year for some reason. starts like a little whitehead pimple. then gets bigger and deeper. had one on my arm had a knot under the skin about quarter size around. i kept popping and squeezing (hurt like hell, but its gotta come out) it and nasty puss would squirt out. eventually i took a razor to it and lanced it open to get out all the puss and wash with alcohol. enough people saying go to hospital and a few pictures like have been posted on here i went to ER, but it had already been receeding under my care. told the nurse what i did, they said thats what they would have done. shot of antibiotics, script of pills and a tetnus shot that hurt worse and for longer than the spider bite and i was on my way home. had a few more oner the year, did the same. ewwwwww!i think the venom, being the spiders way to digest their prey from the inside out and allow them to sip the fluid out, continues to eat the flesh if left to fester. gotta get it out
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Whats worse than a scorpion? A scorpion with kids!

scorpion02kirkhart.jpg


But yeah, spiders and cobras are pushovers. Crossing alligator infested swamps gets my andrenaline flowing much quicker..
Pitfall%21_Coverart.png
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

If your stalking on Pendleton expect to run into rattlesnakes. The funniest thing I can remember though was a buddy from my platoon that almost got stepped on by a buffalo as he was setting up in his FFP when we were going through SSBC. If anybody is on Pendleton this was at the ASP stalk site so watch out.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

now im not current or retired military but i thought id get my piece in. these "friendly" little quarter sized buggers are called "barn" spiders
BarnSpider.jpg
and lets not forget the ever cuddly american porcupine
Porcupine-BioDome.jpg
had a run in with a few of these during a mule deer hunt in the ND badlands a few years back. they dont take to kindly to having their tree disturbed.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

I've seen an Epi pen mentioned on here several times, I'm no Dr. but know two that are close personal friends of the family. My Fiance is highly allergic to bees and we have been told this. The pen only buys you time to get something like benedryl in your system. We have been told that Benedryl is only half of what you need when stung by something you are allergic to. Evidently your stomach gives off histimines too, and a dose of 150mg of Zantac should be taken with the Benedryl.

I am no sniper, but have spend all my 31 years in the woods hunting/scouting. The worst that I have encountered is ticks. I was putting up treestands on a new lease in August one year and managed to contract Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted tick fever at the same time. It put me out of action for 6 months, the sickest I have ever been. That has been 7 years ago and I still have circulation problems in my extremeties. I was too "macho" to take the proper precautions for ticks and it cost me. Now I DO NOT go out in any warm weather without chemical repellant and a tick barrier like underarmour or (go ahead and laugh) pantyhose. It is gay as hell, but by God it works.

On another note, me and a buddy got into predator hunting a few years back, and quickly learned that here in SC, your best chances of killing coyotes was at night. We would go into a hardwood bottom on a moonlit night, run the call for a bit and turn it off to listen for something coming through the leaves, then hit it with the light. One day after we hunted the previous night, me and my fiance were walking the dirt road just behind where we had been hunting and found some large cat tracks that were verified by SCDNR as something in the mountain lion size family of cats, not a bobcat.
track8a.jpg

track1.jpg

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Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

i had intell on a house that was supposed to be cooking meth very close to my home. So for about 2 weeks i would go and sit about 90 yards from thier back shed and watch this place for 3-4 hrs at a time. well i was sitting against a tree with my spotting scope set up and out of the corner of my eye i see something white moving towards me. My first thought was its a tennis shoe so. I slide my glock out and watch as this white thing continues to get closer. when it reaches about 5 foot from me i notice it is a skunk. that thing was within an inch of my boots. never did find anything good but it was fun
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

This is the correct "Banana Spider" that lives on Okinawa. Their official name is Golden-Silk-Orb-Weaver. I hated doing night patrols in the NTA and walking into their huge webs...you just knew those damn things were sitting in the middle and more than likely now on your chest or head!
720480.jpg
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Forty-One</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't have time to tell the entire story now.

sqrslc.jpg
</div></div>

Let me guess: drug-related (lithium, chlorpromazine, or amiodarone)/induced linear IgA bullous dermatoses; probably lithium related paroxysmal rhinorrhea. I have seen pseudoporphyria cutanea tarda (prompted by alcohol) produce blisters (bullae) and that hyperpigmentation, never seen them that big.
Given the silly grin and the rhinorrhea, lithium induced-linear IgA my final bet.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: COfox</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This is the correct "Banana Spider" that lives on Okinawa. Their official name is Golden-Silk-Orb-Weaver. I hated doing night patrols in the NTA and walking into their huge webs...you just knew those damn things were sitting in the middle and more than likely now on your chest or head!
720480.jpg
</div></div>

No way that shit is real.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jimmy2Times</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: COfox</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This is the correct "Banana Spider" that lives on Okinawa. Their official name is Golden-Silk-Orb-Weaver. I hated doing night patrols in the NTA and walking into their huge webs...you just knew those damn things were sitting in the middle and more than likely now on your chest or head!
720480.jpg
</div></div>

No way that shit is real. </div></div>

No. It's real. They are big enough to hit with a paintball, and still leave pieces behind. All over Okinawa.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Hrm....ticks,wolf spiders, various snakes, feral cats and dogs, leeches, a Doctor who thought he owned the forest, and what my father called a velvet ant. Quite a few stories about each of them but the best would have to be a few water moccasin that hung around the bank we'd plink from, I grew up reading about Carlos Hathcock and others and would slink towards the little rise as stealthy as possible and terrorize various targets and what few animals were deemed pests and was therefor allowed to cull. Somewhere along the line we got a few water moccasins in the lake that would take it personally that I was nearby and not terrifyed of them and would go out of their way to try and drive me off. Since I hadn't been given premission to shoot them and I didn't want to catch them, even then I knew they were poison, I went to the house and got my remote controlled toy boat. The snakes would eventually try to drive it away and I'd bump it into them or watches them run from it.
Not sure if that counts as a stalk but that tall grass was a jungle to me back then. An aside: If anyone has seen a velvent ant speak up, those things hurt like crazy and I swear they can squeak!
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Doing night nav in SERE school, all the groups had a starting point with an instructor showing us a quick glimpse of the map then off we went. After it was over the instructors had us all gather around in front of the headlights of the humvee. They had a sidewinder on the ground. They said it was 6 inches from my feet at the starting point. Just lovely.

Centipedes (big suckers) in the caves on Iwo Jima would fall on you when walking through them.

Black widow spiders in Cali.

Cobras, pythons, bamboo vipers, boas, you name it, it was in the P.I. Monkeys could be the worst. Don't throw shit back at them. Best part was when the newbies would arrive. We would make them take the trash out at night. The monkeys would get into the dumpsters. When they opened the dumpsters to dump the trash the monkeys would jump out. Scare the shit outta ya.

Brown tree snake outside our front door in Guam. Wife bout left the island that day. Buddy had one in his kitchen sink and called the neighbor lady to come kill it.

All kinds of spiders and snakes in an Australian field we stayed at in tents.

I like Iowa, dang it gets cold here but we don't have half the shit other places have. Copperheads in southern Iowa and Timber rattlers a couple other places.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Met this guy who is a boyscout leader and was taking his troop out to teach something like snake handling in Folsom, CA and the first snake they came across was a rattle snake. So as he is trying to inform his troop on how to handle the snake he gets bit. Luckily for him he had cell service, and a CHP helicopter was flying in the area so they life flighted him to the hospital. He had a good sense of humor about it but it was a few months after it happened, he is still a boyscout leader and still handles snakes...
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

All of these big creautres/insects and animals are all pretty avoidable... One thing that has gotten me many times on lots of different occasions is the damn thing called a "Bumblee bee/Wasp's/Hornets".
I have stepped on many nests while out by myself in the woods or in the sage... They scare the shit out of me.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Snake encounters aren't too bad but I'm not real fond of spiders. I generally reduce them at every opportunity available. A couple of weeks ago a few friends and I were doing a training exercise and it was hooter than hell. I had been at my FFP for about an hour waiting on a green light when a water moccasin (cottonmouth) found it's way out of the shade into the only bright sun spot only about 2 feet beyond the muzzle. I just let him lay although my buddy wanted to piss it but we were still waiting so he had to hold off. Got a green light and sent it in to the target. Well apparently those little fuckers don't like an ass full of muzzle blast from a 338LM and went ape shit on the brake. I though it was funny but he didn't. He made the mistake of hanging around till we were cleared to get up. The snake didn't live to tell his side.....
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

In Australia are where some of the worst animals on the planet live.
Story One
Sitting in a fighting hole had a 8' or 9' king brown slide between me and the guy sitting next to me. he was a brother that had turned pale white for abut 3 hours. The coreman tried to kill it w/an e-tool,he screwed the pooch and only cut about a foot of it's tail off. That snake chased him around untill it died of blood loss. We put the snake under our LT ruck so when we left the area the LT sh@t his pant's when he saw the snake.
Two
After about 14 days in the bush we were waiting on the ride out.The XO gave us the ok to admin camp under the stars. So we picked a spot under some trees. It was dusk when we started camp so as night fell the trees came alive with Fliying Foxes.If you know what they are or the noise that they make it is the most god awfull sound i have heard. I have never seen men so scared
in my life.
Three
My platoon coreman was a Heavy black guy that look like Sherman Clmup from the Eddie Murphy move. One night we where on patrol and he ran in to a spider web and got bit on both of his lips. They swelled up so big that his top lip was toucking his nose and his bottom lip was touching his chin. I wish i had a pic. of it.
Four
Fire ants are bad sh$t i will agree with all you on that, but Aus. has some ants that make fire ant look like pussies. They are called Jack Jummper. These Fu#$ker will hunt you!The bite is like you hit your thumb with a sledgehammer.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Couple years back, my partner and I were on a stalk at an old military installation. The area we were in was former base housing and had been fenced off for demo. We of course had permission from the base CO to be in there running excercises.

Anyway, somehow wires got crossed between the command and the base PD and the PD never got word that we were operating in there. Long story, longer, the PD does a spot-check and sees our rig parked inside the gates, up a couple blocks from the target location where our opfor guys are milling around, armed with Fx-rigged Sig's and face masks.

When the PD opened the gate and came flying up the road, we hit the deck (we were ghillied up) and settled into some low shrubs just off the roadway as they flew passed us. Well, they spooked four deer that subsequently ran across the road and literally trampled us. My spotter and I almost couldn't help but laugh our asses off at the obsurdity of it all. Literally....trampled by a small herd of deer. Hurt like hell. Never forget that.

As a sidenote, after a few tense moments, things were settled with the PD. They put our role-players at gun-point until the TL could get down there and fill'em in. Not so funny at the time, but makes for a good story now. My spotter and I were about 40yds south under some trees watching everything unfold.

When the TL told the coppers, "Yeah, our snipers are out here somewhere, too...I'm sure they're watching and laughing right about now" all of a sudden they decided it was time to go.

Like I said, not so funny at the time, but funny as hell now.
 
Re: creatures encountered on a stalk

Almost forgot this one, if yor buddy ever gets a lizard in his ghillie it make for a funny ass show. A buddy and I went coyote hunting in a grassy field and we staged up under a tree mainly for shade. A lizard jumped down on the back of his head and when he tried to catch it,... It dug in! Funny shit for a couple minutes and they parted ways. Wish I had a video of that one