*repost in case was supposed to be a reply to this comment* I was comforted by a wild Ermine while I lay in the snow crying and cradling a broken wrist and it was the best, most magical outdoor experience Ive ever had. Went snowboarding in Colorado for the first time, and had the best time of my life falling down. last day of the trip I fell really hard way high up the mountain & snapped my wrist so bad I had to lay there while Dad went down to get a medic to sled me down (lame I know). I was laying there trying to not puke or cry too loud and little puff of snow caught my eye as an Ermine poked its head up over a pile of snow a few feet away from me, then came even closer to sniff my ankle so close his whiskers touched me, stood up in the meerkat pose and looked right at me for a long moment and then disappeared back the way he came. I was so entranced and focused on one of favorite creatures on the planet I totally forgot my snapped wrist and how horrible it hurt for the whole encounter.
Also not sure if we were supposed to post that just in the comments or specifically under this comment. Just in case, here it is again: When I was a teenager, me and two friends were out in the local woods. We used to hike there frequently, so we saw animals all the time, mostly deer. One time, we saw what looked like a dog to us at first, staring at us, then turn around and walk away. Turns out that was a wolf, which we thought didn't exist in the area of Germany we were in. Fast forward two months, the local news wrote about a pack of wolves being spotted in the area, making me and my friends the first ones to have spotted said wolf pack.
I'm not sure if an interaction with a domestic animal counts as an outdoor experience, but anyway, here's my story. One day I was peacefully sitting near a grazing goat in a village (her name was Martusia by the way, and she was a beautiful black-and-white goat). I was sitting on a small stool near the goat reading a language book but I needed to go away for a couple of minutes only to find out that... the goat started eating my book 🙈 📖😂 I was shocked and tried to take the book away from her but was unsuccessful, maybe because I was too afraid of the horns. I started to scream and run around to get the attention of adults to the fact that the goat was eating my book (I was 10 years old back then). Actually, I don't remember how did the story end, I think some villagers were passing by and saw this situation, and it was very funny 🤣. I don't know if I could find that old book now, it might be still somewhere in the house where I was living but one thing will always remain clear for me: GOATS CAN EAT BOOKS. A lot of time passed since that day. I am now a teacher and I've heard countless jokes about students telling their teachers that they couldn't do homework because their doggie ate it and I am yet to hear someone telling me even as a joke that they didn't do their homework because a GOAT ate their book. 🐐 Thank you guys for this great podcast, it always makes my day ❤️🧡💛🥰💚💙💜
31:13 - Me and the marmot - It was early summer, the air laced with nature's essence of the most graceful choreography that one could witness as seasons pass for the mountains to slowly awaken from beneath their wintery blankets. There I sat upon a rock on the side of the trail as I wondered who it was emerging from under the rock next door. It was Mr. Marmot, who then began ferociously arguing with his grumpy ground squirrel old neighbor in what became one of the most adorable scuffles of uneventful noisy banter that nature has to offer. As the little fuzzy teddy bear tussle continued on, the occupants upstairs decided to move out so in the most delectable way came down two little baby black bears from high up in the canopy who were happily escorted away by their clearly indifferent awaiting mother eager to find some peace and quiet. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, the Grand Tetons.
Growing up in South Africa, I've had the privilege of having access to many wildlife reserves and since an early age I have been at least once a year as my family love it and its by far my favourite holiday/vacation to go on. I have had many incredible sightings and experiences but the one that probably sticks out for me was when we went to Hluhluwe/Umfolozi game reserve in Zululand in the middle of the South African summer. It was the middle of the day and the temperature was sitting at about 45 degrees celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and we were driving around, not really expecting to see anything as it was so hot but we decided to stop at a look out point which overlooked a bend in the umfolozi river. Much to our surprise, on the left of the bend was a whole pride of lions about 15-20 strong that were lying in the river trying to cool down as it was so unbearably hot and this was incredible, its very rare to see lions just parking off in the water but what made this sighting even more unbelievable was on the right of the bend, out of sight of the pride of lions was a mother cheetah and her two cubs. The lions and cheetah had no idea that either was just around the corner and we sat and watched them for ages, a truly incredible outdoor moment!
Went fishing with my dad when I was about 10. While looking for crawfish I found an unusually large and unique looking one for the area. My dad brushed me off about it, flash forward to freshman year of college our biology teacher shows us a link to a new crawfish species discovered locally that was identical to what I saw years before, thanks dad…
Dude I found the same thing here in California at a mountain lake and I took it home just because it was so big . It lived for a little bit but it eventually died in the tank
I feel like there may be 1 King Daddy Crayfish per area because I have a similar experience. Thing was freakishly huge. Little less serious than a lobster but obviously a crayfish
@@eugenehatin.420 possibly, but this one was found along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. If you search “giant crayfish species found in Tennessee” you’ll see a result for a Smithsonian link that has a picture. Picture was identical to what I had seen years prior.
Like a mini lobster yes up near pointe au baril Ontario we’d catch finger king crate fish for days then once day I find the husk of one like 6 or 7 inches long and heavy built
My dad ,his best friend and my 12 year old self got dropped off to go fishing at a very historically great and illegal to fish at farm pond in western Oklahoma. After an hour or so of fishing illegally, we noticed a car come and go multiple times after dusk on the other side of the property. Soon after a police helicopter and sirens from police cars came and we ran and hid in the woods under brush. We made our way down 5 miles of dirt roads diving into ditches when speeding cop cars came. When we reached a convenience store to use a pay phone to get a ride out, we end up hearing that 2 inmates had escaped a prison just west of us and they were on their trail in our area lol
Out door moment Won a hunting competition for biggest red stag back in 2016. Couldnt find a bullet hole but there was a graze. The bullet grazed it broke a rib just right and the rib stabbed the heart. Keep up the good vibes lads
I got my face ripped off from a pit bull, could see my teeth and bone from below my eye to my lower jaw bone and my lower jaw was snapped. The shock definitely kicks in and I was only 6-7. I made it back in the house and everyone looked at me in absolute horror. I had no idea in the moment how bad it was, couldn’t feel it at all. Even asked the emts if they could get the stuff off my face in the ambulance and they laughed in disbelief that I was still conscious . I almost bled to death and spent a month in children’s hospital. Long story short…adrenaline and shock is a hell of a drug.
1. Bald eagle 2.zebra 3.hippo 4.elk 5.mountain lion 6.shoebill crane 7.orca 8.cheetah 9.samurai chatter or sped up sound byte of a person (or both) got 7.5/9 kinda?
Forrest is going to be Attacked by cannibal tribe In Papua New Guinea loses an arm and as he escapes at sea he's bite by a shark. A pod dolphin comes to his rescue. All caught on camera
When I was 16, my father took me out to remote Alaska to forage and survive. We stumbled upon a crashed site of an Airforce fighter jet and soon called resources to help us. Got notified we were allowed to take anything from the exterior of the crash site, including doors and emblems. Now, 10 years later, my father is now gone due to cancer. I have the emblems of the F1 Jet and now something to cherish forever as the trip could never be replicated again.
Rented a canoe for the first time with my mother right after breaking my tailbone. First of all, the strength disparity between us made us zigzag while going through the canals, resulting in us spending 90% of the time in the reeds. Back to the tailbone, we sat on wooden sticks and when we arrived to the camp site I physically couldn’t get out of the canoe anymore. We spent the night under the stars. Loved every second of it!
Hey Forrest! Hope all is well, this was a great pod! Just wanted to drop some of my info on spotted hyenas. So, spotted hyenas live in fission-fusion societies and form the largest and most complex social groups of any terrestrial carnivoran. It's very similar to cercopithecine primates in that their ranks are heritage-based. Spotted hyenas are matrilineal and matrilocal, meaning females pass the ranks to their offspring and females stay with their natal clans. When a male spotted hyena matures, he can choose to stay with his natal clan or become an immigrant and join a new clan. When a male remains within his natal clan, he will rank above any females his mother is above. However, immigrants have no allies to inherit a rank from and start out at the bottom. Slowly, he may be able to rise above other immigrants by befriending higher ranked hyenas. Being that it is a fission-fusion society though, definitely do spend the majority of their time alone and do much of their hunting solo too. This is likely since lower-ranked hyenas will have to wait their turn for the higher-ranking individuals to finish eating their fill if they choose not to tolerate other members. Feeding frenzies can get quite intense, and every last bit can be devoured very quickly by a group of hyenas. When hunting alone though, they'll mostly target things ranging from the size of a Thomson's gazelle to a blue wildebeest, whereas for things zebra sized or larger they'll usually be hunting in groups. So spotted hyenas definitely can be quite "solitary" in the sense that they spend a lot of time alone, they do usually belong to complex clans which can number anywhere from 6 to 130, so they aren't all coming in separately. Usually, one will start whooping and that hyena's clanmates will recognize that individual's signature whoop. However, the description of them largely scavenging and mainly only hunting small prey would be quite accurate for striped and brown hyenas (as for their social structure, they're mainly monogamous but sometimes older daughters will stay back to rear cubs. They do most of their scavenging/hunting alone too)- spotted hyenas are a true apex predator though. You were also right about them being extremely intelligent, because they are on par with baboons in that regard and have outcompeted chimpanzees in some problem solving tests. Love these podcasts and all the work you do! If anyone out there wants to learn more about spotted hyenas, I highly recommend checking out the Ngorongoro Hyena Project, Mara Hyena Project, and Zambia Carnivore Programme for the most up-to-date information as these are field research groups.
After I had dropped out of college, unsure of what career path I want to take, I went elk hunting in Colorado with my dad. Sitting on a mountainside in the Rocky’s watching the mountains come alive as the sun came up, seeing the deer and elk appear from the trees to feed made me realize how much I truly love nature. This pushed me to go back to college to finish my criminal justice and wildlife biology degrees so I can join the California department of fish and wildlife to help protect the world and wildlife as I have come to love it in hopes that it will still be here long after I’m gone and my grandchildren can love it as much as I did.
Growing up in South Africa, I've had the privilege of having access to many wildlife reserves and since an early age I have been at least once a year as my family love it and its by far my favourite holiday/vacation to go on. I have had many incredible sightings and experiences but the one that probably sticks out for me was when we went to Hluhluwe/Umfolozi game reserve in Zululand in the middle of the South African summer. It was the middle of the day and the temperature was sitting at about 45 degrees celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and we were driving around, not really expecting to see anything as it was so hot but we decided to stop at a look out point which overlooked a bend in the umfolozi river. Much to our surprise, on the left of the bend was a whole pride of lions about 15-20 strong that were lying in the river trying to cool down as it was so unbearably hot and this was incredible, its very rare to see lions just parking off in the water but what made this sighting even more unbelievable was on the right of the bend, out of sight of the pride of lions was a mother cheetah and her two cubs. The lions and cheetah had no idea that either was just around the corner and we sat and watched them for ages, a truly incredible outdoor moment!
My dad and I went on a trip to Montana when I was around 15 years old. Both he and I love fishing, so when we were heading to Yellowstone, we decided to stop and try our luck on the Yellowstone River. We spent a couple hours there without getting a bite, but right as we were about to pack up, I saw a fish in the small channel between the sandbar we were on and the shore. I quickly ditched the rod and went bear mode on it. Lo and behold I ended up landing a 20+ inch rainbow trout with my hands.
This last June, I was a hiking guide in RMNP in Colorado and was leading a family to Mills Lake. To set the scene, the mountains and landscape were still covered in snow and the sky was a brilliant clear blue with a strong wind blowing clouds across the mountains. When we reached the lake, we sat for over an hour and watched as a rainbow of ice crystals (circumhorizontal arc) slowly spread across the sky in front of us, eventually creating what I can only describe as the closest thing I've ever seen to the aurora borealis. Even though I knew what it was, it was so majestic and magical we couldn't leave even as a snow storm was brewing in front of us, eventually forcing us to leave the lake. I took a ton of pictures (and will provide them if asked) but they don't do the phenomenon justice.
When I was 12 my dad, my uncle, and I were processing an elk in the woods of NW Colorado that my dad had killed during archery. We had a large black bear charge us and for the next hour he would not leave us alone. Having only fillet and boning knives to defend ourselves, we got big and got loud we even threw a leg bone out to him and the rib cage but nothing worked. He just grabbed them walked twenty feet back laid down and gnawed on the bones just facing us. It never left even after we finished and circled our way out of there. There a lot more detail to it but 6 sentences😂
I was comforted and helped by a wild Ermine while I lay in the snow crying and cradling a broken wrist and it was the best, most magical outdoor experience Ive ever had. Went snowboarding in Colorado for the first time, and had the best time of my life falling down. last day of the trip I fell really hard way high up the mountain & snapped my wrist so bad I had to lay there while Dad went down to get a medic to sled me down (lame I know). I was laying there trying to not puke or cry too loud and little puff of snow caught my eye as an Ermine poked its head up over a pile of snow a few feet away from me, then came even closer to sniff my ankle so close his whiskers touched me, stood up in the meerkat pose and looked right at me for a long moment and then disappeared back the way he came. I was so entranced and focused on one of favorite creatures on the planet I totally forgot my snapped wrist and how horrible it hurt for the whole encounter.
Not lame. Anyone who would call u lame for that probably hasnt experienced real pain. Staying alone injured on a mountain top isnt exactly a calming experience for most either if u were willing to lay there waiting for help im willing to bet the pain probably warranted it. Fck other ppls opinions who knows u may have saved your wrist by making that decision
My favorite outdoor moment has to be when I climbed Uncompahgre Peak in the Uncompahgre National Forest, CO when I was 13 or 14. I was with my scout troop up until we got separated on the hiking trail because they kept stopping to take breathers and breaks and every time they did I decided to keep trekking forward. I beat the second person in my group to the top of the peak by 45 minutes and my father by about 2 hours! I almost ran out of water along the way but luckily I had caught up to an older couple and their dog that was literally about to pour out one of their extra Nalgene bottles full of Gatorade due to the extra weight just as i approached. If I had stopped with my troop and not pressed on, I never would have caught up with them and when I finally reached the top, not only did it truly feel like a life accomplishment, but I also got the experience of standing atop a 14,321’ peak all by myself and that is absolutely a moment I will never forget.
When I was a child we used to go play deep in the woods. We would always hear what he thought was the jungle sounds. Would go tell the parents and neighbors parents. Of course they didn't believe us. We were exaggerating or mishearing or lying. Finally proved it to them. Turns out a lady had personal zoo. She had cpl monkeys some other primates, a tiger, panthers, few other. She was keeping them hidden in these crazy covered enclosures. They were all rescued in the end.
20:12 Thats an Elk I think...or a Caribou. I wonder if I'll get one right! 23:37 I'm goin with a dolphin! That was a fun game, I got one and was close on a couple!!
Twelve year old me was hiking in Arizona. I saw the tail and hind leg of a larger lizard sticking out from under a rock. Being an animal nerd I couched down to look under the rock and see what it was. Another hiker asked if it it was a Gila monster, i said it didn’t have enough osteoderms. He looked at me like I had two heads. For the animal if the weak i think its a pangolin
39:15 the moment Forest Galante said the baotw had scales I thought "Pangolin":. How is it these guys couldn't guess it and they have been all over the world interacting with animals!
My best friend and I take a few girls for hike behind campsite. Find trail that took several miles out of the way. Gone for several hours. My mom called park rangers to find us. Also there was a tornado.
I booked a tiny salty shack in a tiny Costa Rica town. Town is empty because a hurricane was coming in, I got the shack very very cheap. I made the most of it and walked the empty beach while is saw the hurricane slowly come in. Giant waves crashing next to and to my surprise I see a little yellow and black snake like animal wash up on the beach! MY FIRST WILD YELLOW-BELLIED SEASNAKE LAYING ON THE BEACH WAITING FOR ME TO FIND IT! 🐍
I was working as a zip-line instructor over this summer and we were done with the day and while coming down the tower and getting ready to get on the zip truck, a co worker (girl) almost stepped on a 5 foot rat snake that was stuck on a grass Matt. She started yelling to kill it and some guys were getting ready to, until I told them there’s no way I was going to let that happen and that I would grab it and free it (I have never in my life handled a snake, but I’ve seen Forrest do it a gazillion times, so I felt confident). I got down on the floor grabbed the rat snake by the back of its head, cut out part of the netting using a Swiss knife; however there was still netting wrapped tightly around the back of the head (neck area of snakes had necks). Right when everything seemed good I let my hand a little loose to maneuver the snakes head and it got loose and my friends started yelling well you tried at least it’s not that badly stuck anymore. Knowing that the snake would still be impacted by the netting I darted for the bushes grabbed the snake, almost got bit twice but I didn’t care because I knew he was just scared, and eventually after 4 mins of trying I finally was able to cut the rest of the net off and let it go into the bushes (everyone called me snake boy for the rest of the day).
I live in Arkansas which is where the normally mentioned cryptid, ozark howler, lives. I was about 14 walking back from the deer stand when I saw what I thought was some kind of cryptid animal because I had been watching too much “lost tapes” on animal planet. Thing scared the shit out of me because I’d seen just about every animal in those woods and it was hobbling no less than 20 feet in front of me. Turns out it was a damn three legged black bear barely out of its cub phase. It hobbled around like a learning how to walk and we actually got a bunch of pictures of her.
In 2017, I watched the total solar eclipse in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming. At around 1:30 PM, when totality hit all the birds and bugs in the forest went wild making noise. My school's research facility campsite was near a creek and since the trees and vegetation felt like they were experiencing nighttime without sun, they started taking in less water. So, all the excess water caused the water level of the creek to rise over a foot! It felt like a flash flood and was wild!!!
I was gonna buy an Arc but they're already out of stock, so I guess I'll have to share my story! Three years ago I ventured out into the arctic tundra in the very north of Sweden (the area is known as Finnmark). I packed light and went on a biiig hike for nearly 15 hours. Once at my destination I caught and ate an arctic char (on dry fly ofcourse). Late in the evening, but still bright as day since the sun never sets in this part of the world in July, a small pod of reindeer passed right by my tent - as if I wasn't even there. A couple of hours later just as the sun hit it's lowest point before starting to rise again a Wolverine came right on the trail following the reindeer, stopped for a bit to eat the scraps from the fish I caught, and then carried on following the reindeer - probably looking for a bigger meal.
I was checking an elk carcass with a net launcher, and trail camera setup in Montana. Insisted on driving up to it pre dawn because the guy I was with is from Kentucky and doesn't understand bears. In the trail camera you see a giant Grizzly then 27 seconds later you see me with my bear spray out. We didnt see it though, and very much to my objection Steo insisted on finding the 3/4 eaten elk and dragging it back to the set. Most scared I've ever been. As soon as I saw the fresh elk was disappeared I knew it was a big Griz...
Two years ago, I was working for a consulting company in Kenora Ontario with my mom doing boreal breeding bird and fish surveys. Three weeks into the work my mother and I had to survey this ATV trail that was about 2.5km one way in and the same back. We did the surveys no problem but something was distantly following us and, on the way back we saw 5 (4-5-week-old) stashed black baby wolves in the middle of the trail. Since the pups were stashed, we were worried about the adults (which is what was following us) so we scared the pups off the trail. While looking at the forest edge for the adults, we didn’t see the light gray coloured pup laying on the sand we were walking on and we stepped on the pup’s tail which jumped up, yelped, and ran between us into the forest.
I was hunting in a remote part of Central California which held in alleged elk herd that I had never seen. It was before dawn a few hours and as I crested a ridge I felt the presence of several incredibly large beings in front of me. In the absolute blackness I couldn't make out exactly what they were so I held perfectly still waiting for Dawn to break. To see the sunrise over there Dewey antlers was just incredible.
It was my first time fishing for tuna offshore and we left the dock at 2:30 AM. An incredibly clear night with a full moon and bright stars gave way to the most brilliant sunrise I’ve ever seen. Just as the sun broke the horizon, we started seeing birds and then more dolphins than we could count. Along with the dolphins swimming in our wake we started seeing humpback whales cruising around much faster than I realized whales could swim. We started seeing tuna feeding and the entire surface of the ocean as far as we could see was alive with fish and birds and mammals.
My favorite outdoor moment: Outside of John Day Oregon in the high desert, I was deployed for 2 weeks to fight a wildfire with my hand crew during a massive heat wave in 2015. The temperatures were at least 105 during the day and the kicker was we were put on night shift which means attempting to sleep during the day outside, where there is no shade. Every shift we were more and more sleep deprived so when we started hearing strange sounds every night it didn’t take long for the jokes about it being Bigfoot to turn into semi real worries. One night my squad of 5 and I were driving in our truck through the forest to meet with the rest of our crew when something large darted across in front of us just out of view of the headlights, so we stopped the truck and we fell silent. Shining our headlamps out the window we see a pair of eyes not too far from the truck go from 3 feet above the ground to about 15, a truck of allegedly tough Wildland fire fighters screamed like little girls, then the eyes continued to rise and the bird that the eyes belonged to flew away.
While i still vote Peter's battle royal creature he got cheated a bit, nile crocs have been found in the everglades and so have reticulated pythons. For the battle royal myself I'd have tried to go retic body with the same mosquito head but for limbs the spotted lanternfly, those lil buggers are SO QUICK and agile I've lost sight of them after they were already under my foot thats how fast they can sometimes be and while they don't fly they jump and glide and I've seen them go easily over 10 feet when jumping from just a few feet off the ground and they can climb pretty much anything except glass. Imagine that little few inch insect jump when 20 feet or over sized animal
I was honored to participate in the Highschool Marine Biology Program aboard the Research Vessel of the Shedd Aquarium of chicago appropriately named the R.V. Coral Reef II. After three weeks preparing we spent a week traversing the Bahamas and its incredible habitats such as sea grass beds, sand flats, Coral reef and mangrove estuaries. We saw the culture, the people, the land, and all the life in the water, I even visited Shark Lab! On the last night we went for a night snorkel; and our guide was able to convince us to turn off our waterproof flashlights... atop the abyss itself! I found myself bathed in ethereal light, the stars reflected from the water in a way that made the horizon disappear, and the bioluminescent plankton in the water gleamed with the brilliance of fireworks, but in the palm of my hand.
On safari in Tanzania driving around when I saw the haunch of a lioness stalking in a gully. Our guide said no it's just a rock but i said I was sure that it was a lion stalking, low and behold we wait and on the other side of the gulley a lioness crawls up where there are a bunch of Thompson gazelle just over the top of the gulley. Much to our amazement the lone lioness picks out a baby gazel around 10 meters in front of it and charges it, it felt like the chase lasted an age but must have only lasted around 5 seconds. The gazelle's were all running and doing their alarm call, the baby zig and zagged and managed to out turn the lioness, we were all left speechless in amazement.
My favorite outdoor moment: When I was a kid, my dad worked 6 days a week, eleven hours a day. This made little time for us to "get out" together outdoors, but on those special spring and Indian summer days when the tourists were gone and the daylight lasted longer I would wait for those words "hurry up and finish your dinner, and we'll go fishing until it gets dark". I know you asked for a moment, but forty-five, fifty years later it has become a single memory, my favorite childhood memory. My dad teaching me how to set up my rod and reel, seeing if I could cast as far as him, a great offshore breeze and the beautiful Pacific sunsets. Thanks for the opportunity. Marv
The first time I took my son on a goose hunt is my favorite outdoor memory. He was 8 at the time, and I wanted to share my love of the outdoors with him. Seeing him get excited when we had two dozen geese circling overhead was perfect. He burst from the blind to go pick up birds when it was safe, struggling with the geese as large as him. He comes on every hunt now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Back in high school I was climbing a small but snowing mountain. Being from the ocean side of the Cascades in Oregon, we were unfamiliar with snow. We both almost fell off cliffs a few times. When we finally got to the top we were looking for the sign at the top of the mountain that had the peak name and elevation, but we never found it. We later realized we were standing five feet above it on the eight feet of snow on the exposed peak.
My favorite moment was seeing reindeer in the wild while hiking and the eating lunch by a crash site with a beautiful view. As a then 16 year old hiking for the second time, i had to be pulled away from the reindeers by my family
On an early summer morning in a State Park, I was down by the lake's edge fishing for anything that could bite. A rustling about 10 feet away caught my attention. This brown mass emerged and started coming my way, it was a beaver. Without a care in the world, the beaver came up alongside me and started to graze. Never before had I seen one this close, it is a memory I will never forget.
Sentence one starts here and this outdoor story happened recently. Roughly 3 weekends ago I drove 4 hours from Rhode Island to New Hampshire to hike Mount Washington as a solo mission. I arrived to the parking lot at 8am and began to hike the most dangerous trail called the Huntington Ravine with very little practice and preparation. After about 2 hours into the hike my legs were cramping like a woman during that time of the month but I continued the path up the trail to the summit and eventually made it after 4 hours. This was the most difficult adventure I’ve done in my life and at the summit realized I love nature, challenges and I want to continue to explore but need that Leatherman Arc, much love!
While hunting in Central Maine around 2007 my father and I were using a 4wheeler to get to camp. A fresh powdery snow had fallen that morning, so every tree, bird, etc stuck out. When passing a field driving the tree line a large cat jumped across our path, its body took up the entire trail and as it pounced away into the trees. The Mountain Lions tail alone took up so much space it was surreal to me at the time in preschool/kindergarten. That tail and tan feline are forever seared into my head.
I've heard so many stories like that in maine. Me and everyone I know born and raised hunt. They keep claiming there's no mountain lions there, but bs they are there. I don't even go fishing in the brooks and rivers anymore without atleast a pistol on my side.
My favorite outdoor moment: My son and I loved walking in the woods. We would explore daily and I would teach him the name of every living thing that I knew. He retained it all like a sponge and made me very proud. His name was Blaze, he was 20 years old and he died almost 2 years ago due to covid complications. I miss him and love him more than you can possibly imagine.
Walking down the Chehalis western trail in Olympia washington with my girl. Some guy with ALL the Lance Armstrong fancy bike gear on flies past us and as he says "MAKE WAY FOR PEOPLE CHRIST!". Hits the cross walk and the truck coming up and him apply heavy brakes. He flips off the truck and gets about 30 feet shaking his head. GIANT 4X4 blacktail deer jumps onto the trail from a horse path and before that deer could move a muscle on the pavement WHACK!!!!
I knew the bald eagle sound instantly. I live in Washington and it's the sound of summer on Anderson Island. I was close on the zebra - I thought maybe an antelope, definitely something on the Serengeti... I recognized the elk, but couldn't remember why. And the mountain lion was definitely just bigfoot 🤷♀️ Oh, and for Edwin's sound I was like "is that a Brostener?"
Speaking of invasive, the Nile crocodile has been found in Florida since the 2000's. They're even listed on FWC's list of non-native crocodilianss. That's crazy!
Ugh, stop with the mosquitoes. I'm having flashbacks to when I was stationed in Florida. I was at MacDill and every day for PT I would bathe in Off and it wouldn't matter. I had a legit panic attack once I was being eaten so bad. 😢 Also learned that you shouldn't wear wired headphones with Off. The plastic would like melt and my skin would turn black wherever they touched.
So obviously Forrest has never used or heard of Gerber multi-tools.........they been doing one handed opening since like 1990.....and it's easier than he showed!😂😂😂😂😂 Plus a warranty Fer life of the tool not just first owner.
2014ish, USS Peleliu swim call a couple days from Guam. You jump from the aircraft elevator (30 or so feet up) and swim to the back of the ship and into the well deck. Perfect visibility that seemed like hundreds of feet. Made the mistake of of looking down after I had jumped in. Could see really far down and you just see the water just go from light blue, to dark blue to black. The open ocean is terrifying.
Not favorite story but leatherman related. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training and Survival school, we had to survive with what was only on our persons and pack. I used my leatherman to create makeshift tools such as an axe, fishing rod and hunting traps. Also created a beautiful A-frame shelter which I named the cuddle cottage (have pictures). And finally I used my beloved leatherman to gut my first and unfulfilling catch which was a small lizard and despite what people say, they do not taste like chicken. (Side note Spotify only allows 200 characters.)
2020 late February! My class from Sweden last year of school was in hoedspruit game reserve. Halfway trough the trip we went on a night drive. Pitch black outside in a Jeep with 8 Swedes and a guide. A bull African elephant pops up on the road in front of us. Mock charged us… and I have never felt the feeling of death being so close, like I am f*cked!!!
Surfing and spearfishing trip in 150km (93 miles) up a dirt track in remote Western Australia, two mates and I shore launched a 4.85m (16ft) boat and a storm came in while we were out spearing. We couldn’t make it back to shore, so had to travel 40 nautical miles (46miles, 74km) to tie off to an offshore welding boat for safety and we traded our fish for fuel to get back to the nearest protected beach launch. Next day I got my car stuck in a Salt Lake and had to run 7km (4.5miles) through the desert to a dirt road to get help pulling it out. Day after I had run out of food, so I went to the station (ranch) owner and asked for a sheep to kill for food and he said yes but you need to catch it yourself, not sure if that’s legal. Walked around until I found a flock of sheep and ran after one, killing it with my own Leatherman, cooking it on a campfire, best meal of my life.
Spotted hyenas being solitary and only hunting small game? Seriously?! They live in pretty large groups and hunt wildebeest, zebras and antelopes. I mean, that should be common knowledge for a supposed animal expert from Zimbabwe.
It's my birthday Tuesday and i remember when i was a young boy we used to go fishing at a place called The Ledge !! The final 50-100m is an pothole ridden crater filled cloff top with a 30°-40° pitch that ends with an over 100m straight drop into deep dark rough bottomless ocean . Take the Goats Track by foot and use the rope to absail down the one section of cliff where there is some ocean level massive rocks that can be fished from under constant watch as waves and rip tides can easily drag you out to sea !! I still remember the Amazing , absolutely massive and beautifully camaflaged CuttleFish we were able to sight fish !!!
In the Summer of 2010 i went with my brother and Father to go 4 wheeling in Marble, CO. Was also a homage trip because the beginning of that summer, memorial day infact, my childhood dog of 13yo died and we went to spread sum of her ashes. We all took the 3 mile hike to a crystal clear lake to toast a beer and spread our Brandy’s ashes on the beach of that Lake. We Stayed a good 5 days, tooling around in my dads Chevy Silverado and visited the famous Crystal Waterfall mill thats in so many pictures. Even saw a poor Jeep Cherokee that had slid down a very steep gravel embankment about 250ft down the slope.
Night hiking with my brother in Hong Kong in September 2016. We’re ten minutes into the hike, still eye level with the 20th story of nearby apartment buildings. Pitch black jungle leaves, stars, apartment lights, and our phone flashlights are all we see. We’re walking and talking, when out of nowhere, my brothers arm hits me hard across the chest. He stopped my in my tracks, and likely saved my life, because 6 inches below my foot was a many banded krait.
Peter really should’ve went with an eangles wings and grasping talons, that combined with the muscular strength of the Caiman and the bloodsucking ability would literally let him just pick up and fly away with you while sucking your blood
Best story I have was in 2010 I weant to Costa Rica with My family for 4 weeks, abandoned them for 4 days climbed a volcano fished by hand climbed trees and when I got back to my family I Tarzan jumped 100 feet through the air
Live in UK so we do a thing called duke of Edinburgh award when you're a teenager, so I was 16 snuck from camp with friends to go to the pub, got drunk, snuck back to camp, but crossed a field with a Bull that wasn't happy to see us. Issue 10 minutes of us laughing our arses off
Paddle boarding on the puget sound just off Alki point. Clear sky, Rainier out and overlooking the sound. Two Orcas just 200 yards off the nose of my board. One breaches at least 10 feet in the air. Me turning around and hauling for the shore as fast as I could possibly paddle 😂
Fishing with my uncle+grandpa off Durban.It is mid day.Just cast and my uncle shouts "the moon is out!".Look back to see my grandpa trying to sh*t,his knee is bad so he can't squat.We die laughing.
NO in SE TEXAS WE been having the striped ones and regular and So Cali mosquitos is not even 5% as bad as out here and I’m in Port Arthur not middle of the Everglades TRUTH
One time I was spear fishing with my family. My father was holding all of the fish (2 mangrove snapper, 2 hogfish)on a stringer on his weight belt. I looked behind me at my father and there was a 10ft nurse shark eating the snapper off of my dads weight belt. He quickly unhooked his belt and we left the fish luckily unharmed.
Forest big fan of your stuff from Western Australia ik you have strong love for the Tasmanian tiger but I would really like if you could just put sometime into looking the reports, sighting and evidence behind big cats throughout Australia, in south west wa were I’m from 1970-2000 over 3000 sheep were lost to no fog related killings, and being from south west WA a dog is the only animal we know of down this way which could cause such but even at that the report specific states lost or killed by a non dog or canine animal, over east in Victoria about 10 years or so back a farmer found a sheep carcass up in gumtree on his property, there’s a lot more to it but I just wanted to bring it to your attention as I know it has potential
Oh I have fucked up wilderness stories for days…my favorite is when I was 8-9 years old and out on the boat fishing with my grandpa and all of a sudden he starts reeling in the poles and tells me we gotta go reel em in quick and I am confused but doing what I am told and we get to going across the lake really fast when he just cuts the motor off and stands up…then says we ain’t going to make it and drops his pants hangs his ass over the side of the boat and shits right there in the middle of a very popular lake with boats all around in every direction 😳😳😳can’t believe the cops weren’t waiting on us when we got back to the landing
I put a bait block out in northern MI for deer hunting and cover it in this Apple juice. Was headed to my stand and there was a large black bear (350lbs ish) eating it about 40 yards from me. He sees me, runs off away from my stand so I go to the stand. Well he circled around and is now under my stand about 30 feet from me and I’m between him and his food. I grab my knife (didn’t have my pistol), clip on to my bow and start to draw back and then he took off running and I went back to the cabin.
So basically I joined the Army a few years ago and went to basic training, we were running around the barracks. I was with a battle buddy and we see these two squirrels literally playing with each other like a few feet away from us. NO JOKE, this falcon came and swooped one of them up and flys away. The other squirrel is literally chasing after the bird and squealing. we were shocked.
My first night ever being being in Costa Rica my friend and I set up camp just off the beach on the edge of the jungle. It was pouring rain and we were fully unprepared and forced to huddle under a tiny tarp providing only minimal rain cover if we cuddled way too close for comfort. Somehow we managed to fall asleep but we’re quickly awakened to the most ungodly and spine tingly roars emanating from the darkness in every direction. We were certain we were going to be devoured by crocodiles or some unknown beast by nights end. Feeling death was imminent and barely sleeping a wink that night, dawn broke, we were still alive, and we were quickly introduced to the amazing and quite harmless (unless you are opposed to poop being flung at you ) Costa Rican howler monkey
Hiking half dome first week of May with 4ft of snow. Reaching the top of the switchbacks of Vernal falls I saw a black bear making a b line up the mountain straight for us. He saw us paused and left. Made it to the top with my 9x6 linoleum floor stuffed in my backpack and breakdanced battled at the top of half dome with my crew member.
At 15 years old, during a 12km boardwalk portage in algonquin parc in ontario I was balls deep along the boardwalk guiding a younger camper. I was carrying our fiberglass canoe with a pack on the front and pack on the back with the younger camper ahead of me on the 45cm boardwalk all the while keeping an eye on him and on the board under foot over the marsh. He stopped ahead while i encouraged him to continue but he just stood and stared at what I soon caught sight of which was a new, baby moose. He began to panic as i carefully set down the canoe and to my dismay, my worst fear was realized as what follows always intently, always dilegently but his mother, standing at 6'4" I was large for a biped however she at 8' to the head was the largest of the deer family and the largest land animal on the continent and the boards under me quaked a she charged. I screamed to run as I stripped my packs like a boss and picked up the camper 'navy sealing' my way through the marsh along the 18" boards until we caught up to our crew with the mother cow no longer in sight.
Was on a boat excursion whale watching. Saw a black bird like any other. Got on my binoculars found they were puffins. Got extatic sinc it was probably my top 1 bird I wished to see.
Favourite outdoor moment was taking photos of what appears to be Thylacinus Potens bouncing on 2 legs doing bipedal hops. Little blurry but still good moment in the Aussie bush.
