BLooDTRaCKeR
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Anyone have a good lightning story? I’ll be honest, lightning is the one thing that’ll keep me back at camp (now that I’ve had a few really close calls with the lightning demons).
I was hunting elk about 10 years ago or so. I was about 5 miles from camp, on foot, when over the top of this mountain came “the death cloud.”
Those of you not familiar with this cloud....it is almost black and rushes in with little time to think....especially when you are just off the top of said mountain that blocks your view of valley on the other side.
At first, lightning was arcing across the sky laterally. I was in with limited visibility. I got the feeling that I needed to put the 300 RUM lightning rod down and walk away from it. So I did. I sat down on a fallen tree and just waited for things to settle down. After about 30 seconds of sitting, I started feeling thousands of pin pricks all over me as the static electricity became thick!
Before I could think of what to do, I heard a loud whistle and then a BOOM! In that split second, I had managed to curl up into the fetal position UNDER the fallen tree. As I looked around, I quickly learned that a tree had exploded right next to my gun, which was about 15 feet from me. There were tree splinters everywhere.
After the encounter and lightning storm moving further away, I wasted no time heading back to camp to change my soiled clothes!
The pic is from the next day. I went back when it was clear and free of any further risks to assess the damage and relive the close call!
I am sure some of you have some good ones to share. Let’s hear em!
I was hunting elk about 10 years ago or so. I was about 5 miles from camp, on foot, when over the top of this mountain came “the death cloud.”
Those of you not familiar with this cloud....it is almost black and rushes in with little time to think....especially when you are just off the top of said mountain that blocks your view of valley on the other side.
At first, lightning was arcing across the sky laterally. I was in with limited visibility. I got the feeling that I needed to put the 300 RUM lightning rod down and walk away from it. So I did. I sat down on a fallen tree and just waited for things to settle down. After about 30 seconds of sitting, I started feeling thousands of pin pricks all over me as the static electricity became thick!
Before I could think of what to do, I heard a loud whistle and then a BOOM! In that split second, I had managed to curl up into the fetal position UNDER the fallen tree. As I looked around, I quickly learned that a tree had exploded right next to my gun, which was about 15 feet from me. There were tree splinters everywhere.
After the encounter and lightning storm moving further away, I wasted no time heading back to camp to change my soiled clothes!
The pic is from the next day. I went back when it was clear and free of any further risks to assess the damage and relive the close call!
I am sure some of you have some good ones to share. Let’s hear em!