Monday, Dec 08, 2014 at 12:11
I really don't understand why people sleep right on the ground if there's an opportunity to sleep off it. I've never slept on the ground since Army days - when we had no choice.
Every crawling insect under the sun, and even snakes, move around on the ground at night.
Centipedes and scorpions enjoy roaming at night, particularly in desert country. Numerous people have related stories to me about being bitten by crawlies at night when sleeping on the ground.
My old man used to relate a story to us about being bitten in his swag when working in the Murchison in the 1930's - whereby he promptly found a huge centipede had crawled into his swag.
If you kept an infra-red camera on you during the night, you'd probably be appalled at the amount of wildlife crawling around you, examining you, and even trying to climb into bed with you, when you sleep on the ground.
Dogs are attracted to warmth, to lights, to food smells, and to new activity in their vicinity (turn over and expose a big area of fresh soil, such as you do with a dozer, and dogs will come from kms away to play in it).
Dogs are very curious and want to
check out all the new stuff that has just arrived in "their" territory - such as you, your camping stuff, and your vehicle.
Dogs are very good at reading subtle body language and movements, that humans are not so good at.
Dog have personalities, the same as humans. You get relatively passive dogs, and you get aggressive dogs.
It's the aggressive ones that have little fear of humans until you demonstrate you're equally aggressive - by body language, by body movements, and by taking up a weapon.
Fire, very loud noises, and stinging sprays is what makes dogs turn tail, no aggressive dog will hang around if you're wielding fire, making loud noises, or spraying out a stinging spray.
So even just a cap gun will deter a dog who is advancing on you threateningly, or picking up a stick that has flames attached to it.
A water pistol full of Tabasco sauce solution, sprayed in a dogs face, stings their sensitive parts such as their mouth and eyes, and makes them back off.
A can of pepper spray is ideal, but it's illegal to possess the stuff in most states now.
Bottom line is - it's relatively rare for wild dogs to attack adult humans, unless they're in a pack, feel cornered or threatened, or are trying to protect their
young.
In Joes case, it's quite likely he was too close to a dingos den where there were pups, and the dingoes were aggressive because they were simply protecting their
young.
AnswerID:
542708
Follow Up By: Bob Y. - Qld - Tuesday, Dec 09, 2014 at 08:50
Tuesday, Dec 09, 2014 at 08:50
Ron,
I always camped on the ground in my swag, with few worries, until we moved to Inland Taipan country, on the Diamantina.
Most, if not all swag incursions were while I was in the
Kimberley, and as I recall all these were while working on Auvergne station, between the Victoria and East Baines Rivers. One Bandi-Bandi, 2 centipedes and a few spiders. One of the centipede visits is worth telling later, in a blog!
We were camped at a
bore in 1974 on
Rockhampton Downs, mustering in the area that was reduced considerably by all the flood waters, from that massive wet.
Camped in a good, clear area, no fire risk and one would assume, quite wrongly in this case, no worry about snakes. We had all hit the swags, and the boys were playing cards till much later.
Young Toby, who was only one to have his mozzie net erected, crawled into the swag, and the next thing........
Holy &$@$&@$ bleep , there's a etc snake in my etc swag, and he etc near bit me, holy etc hell!!! And so on, and so on. Toby survived, but the King Brown did not, overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers, rocks and shovels, albeit all thrown from a discreet distance.
I later measured the deceased, as thick as my forearm, and I'd reckon maybe 9 feet long.... A huge specimen. A
young bloke got bitten by a similar sized snake on the Cooper many years later, and it took him months to recover completely.
Bob
FollowupID:
829284
Follow Up By: Member - Odog - Tuesday, Dec 09, 2014 at 08:56
Tuesday, Dec 09, 2014 at 08:56
Hey Ron
Just a note on the Tabasco sause thing, my staffy had a bit of a chew on anything stage when younger, thought I'd fix her up, got the Tabasco sauce out, and small paint brush, went around painting all the corners of the out door setting, the back deck, her kennel, where ever she had a chew.. When I turned around I found her following me, licking it off... When I held out the brush, she licked it clean... Loved it!
Cheers Odog
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FollowupID:
829285