Stupidity abounds!! Don't Be Confrontational in the Woods.

I have been doing a fair amount of hiking this summer.  I go out several times a week and walk in the woods between 4 and 6 miles.  I enjoy the woods so much more than doing the neighborhood walk.  Currently my GPS reads 148.64 miles.  I did a reset twice before but thought I would stop doing that.  

My hiking clothes are green so I blend in with the foliage so not as easy to be spotted by the critters.  I do wear either a red or an orange camouflage baseball hat to make myself more visible to people in the woods.  I often times take a camera but with dense foliage it can be hard to see critters in the summer.

This summer I have seen deer, fox, coyote, Baard owls, blue herin, several types of snakes, and lots of other birds.  That is what I enjoy about the woods.  

One fox that I saw was either rabid or had mange so not healthy.  Several weeks later I spotted the skull of a fox along with lots of hair.  Could be the coyotes took care of that one.

I have passed many people on the trails with no issues.  Several were lost and I was able to get them back to where they started.

In one instance, I went for my hike and parked in the main parking lot. 

As I was walking on a dirt road up the hill to one of the trail heads, two ladies were walking down the hill on the road toward me.

One said hello to me and I said hello to them. Then one of the two stopped and said “Someday I’m gonna take that hat from you!” (I was wearing my orange and black camouflage baseball hat). I replied " Oh, is that right.  Do you like it?" and took my hat off.  Then the other lady says "Yeah, I’m gonna shoot YOU!"  I replied “Oh! Well then.” and I kept walking.  Hmm ... Was that a threat?

I guess when they saw me wearing my camo hat, they thought I must be a hunter so it was their duty to be confrontational.  Stupidity abounds!!  My advise when hiking would be to refrain from threatening, or being confrontational to anyone you meet since you don't know anything about that person and how they may react or respond.  There is a time and a place for everything and that is not it.   

At my club, 95% of the members follow the rules and get along.  Then there are the 5% that don't feel the rules apply to them and think their opinions supersede everyone else's.

I assessed these two were part of that 5% and would be a waste of my time and also not the place, to have a debate with these "In your Face" ladies.

I often carry various forms of protection when I hike in the woods.  Is this another reason to do so?