4 Insane Outdoor Videos, 3 Lessons for Outdoorsmen
Some outdoorsmen actively seek out danger. Others just seem to attract it. These are their stories…
YouTube is glutted with hunting, hiking, extreme rock climbing, and mountain biking videos, most of which are really only there to give you a few seconds’ thrill before the next video starts auto-rolling–but not these four. These brief-but-thrilling vids offer object lessons for the alert outdoorsman; after all, even if you’re already aware on an intellectual level that these things can and do happen, there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself to really drive the moral of the story home…
1. Yes, Virginia, Black Bears Can Charge
What I love about this one is that it’s the perfect setup: We have two alert, intelligent hunters here who have been caught out in the open with a very large black bear. The canon on black bears is, of course, that they’re not terribly aggressive and that you can usually get them to shove off by yelling at them. The key word there, of course, is “usually.” Watch to see what happens next…
2. Wu-Tang Clan? Ha! Cape Buffalo Ain’t Nothing to F With
The Cape Buffalo is not a predator; it has no fangs or claws, and it cannot climb trees with a 400-pound gazelle in its mouth. None of that means that this massive pile of muscle, bone, and bad attitude doesn’t deserve its spot in the “Big Five” African dangerous-game animals, right there with lions, leopards, rhinoceri, and elephants. As this video proves, wounding one is one of the most dangerous things any outdoorsman can do. (It also proves that filming in vertical mode is really irritating to the viewer, but it’s still a great video.)
3. Rock Climbing While Mountain Biking is Possible (But You’re Not Right in the Head)
Some of us love to hang by a single knuckle from the sheer face of a cliff at the summit of a 500-yard drop. Some of us love to grab our mountain bikes and see just how extreme a trail we can run it on. Some of us want to do them both at the same time–and this guy proves that yes, it’s possible. However, when even the mountain sheep are nope-ing out of whatever insanity you have going on, that’s how you know you’re not right in the head. I suppose that there isn’t really a “lesson” to be learned here–but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this video (and the sheep’s “you’re on your own, buddy” moment)!
4. Flash Floods Should Scare You More Than They Probably Do
About five years ago, a sudden storm in Utah resulted in a massive flash flood that killed seven people in Zion National Park. Although experienced outdoorsmen know the dangers of flash floods, watching how quickly it happens and how helpless humans are against millions of tons of rushing water and debris is a sobering experience. Personally, I would rather deal with all three of the above scenarios at once than this one. Take a deep breath, remember that the cameraman did survive, and watch…
What’s the most terrifying thing you ever faced in the outdoors? Tell us in the comments–your story might be featured in a future article!
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Who is the dumbasssss who though it was smart to take a puppy on a cape buffalo hunt!? Secondly, it amazes me when I see hunters who will kneel out in the open with an animal like a lion or cape buffalo charging. You should always try to put an obstacle between you and the animal, like one of those small trees, which will cause the animal to have to deviate, giving you a better opportunity to shoot it while you’re not being directly in their path!
Honestly. Numerous ‘charges’ have taken place to only have the bear VEER OFF at the last second, a bluff charge. There’s NO WAY to know when that’ll take place..only the bear decides. That being said, in THIS case…I’m still not sure “I” would have killed the bear when the first shot/SOUND of the rifle going off could…”COULD” send him back the other direction. Who knows? The guy says that his ONLY choice was to “kill the bear or somebody was going to get badly injured..? Nah, it’s a roll of the dice.
That bear charged because that idiot was challenging him in his territory. If these two numbnuts had ignored him and just stood their ground, the bear likely wouldn’t have charged.
“What kind of a degenerate would antagonize a bear to charge”
Typical comment by someone totally ignorant of wildlife and the outdoors!
Many years ago, I was picking Huckleberries in North Idaho. Suddenly I smelled something unusual. 10 feet from me on the other side of the berry patch A Grizzly reared up to look around. I don’t know what the bear did after that because I was to busy making like a track star.
What kind of a degenerate would antagonize a bear to charge?
Making yourself bigger, by raising your arms, kicking dirt up and making noises are all common ways of scaring off bears. Unfortunately, it didn’t work with this blackie.
BTW, calling someone names, in this situation, really says a lot more about you than your target.
Agreed. And they work…WHEN they work. This guy wasn’t scaring off any bear,,,he was PISSING it off.
Mark H, You’re exactly right! There is a huge difference between “challenging” a bear and trying to make yourself appear to be something he doesn’t understand nor want to mess with. Firing the rifle easily turned the bear and scared it off, yet these two morons decided to kill the bear and had to go after it to do so. That bear was no threat. Anyone who thinks that just because a bear shows aggression needs to be killed, is a fool.
Ugonzo, this fool wasn’t trying to warn the bear off, he was making moves that were a direct “challenge” to the bear which caused him to try to protect hi territory. When the rifle fired, the bear fled, yet these two morons decided to kill it, when it was their ignorance that caused him to attack.