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So today, I proceeded to take a walk with the impending localized rain in southern New England,I was a little bummed because I didn't totally feel like walking in the rain. But seeing as I have a super busy work schedule I wanted to make the most of my weekend. I figured I might as well see what the point hunting prospects looked like today. And proceeded to go for a walk this afternoon. The hunt started out great. I found two broken levanna points quickly, and began to really get into the zone feeling like I'd be in a good spot. The intensity of the rain began to pick up when I was all the way on the other side of a field I have been hunting, which is maybe the size of a few football fields, and for the most part, wide open. I carried on with my hunt thinking this would just be a passing shower... how foolish I was 😂... 5 minutes later I had this impending sense of doom.. like I knew lighting was going to strike nearby. Before I had any chance to act or think lightning struck very very close to me, within 100 yards for sure. It was the most deafening crack I had ever heard, I thought I'd been close to lightning before, but now I know what close truly is!! I saw the bolt out of the corner of my eye, and at that point for me I was in a full sense of fight or flight.. I tried to remain calm, and realized that I needed to get to lower lying terrain and try to find some quick shelter.. being a good 1/4 mile from my car. I ran at a dead sprint, with muck boots on.. and a jacket as well, heading towards lower lying ground with trees. A thought popped through my head that maybe I should try to ride it out in this area with the grove of trees for what little protection they could provide me.. but being half scared to death I continued sprinting on this wood line all the way to my car. I was so winded, but never more relieved to cut a point hunt shortðŸ˜ðŸ˜‚. On that note no arrowhead is worth my quality of life/ life. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?
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Can’t find em sitting on the couch; unless it’s in a field -
That's a pretty close strike PH. I had a similar close call while riding my horse in the state forest. We were heading back to the barn when lightening struck a tree close enough to blow bark and pieces of wood all over us. Needless to say - my horse nearly broke his neck doing the side step and I've never covered soooo much ground is such short time. Sometimes those storms just come up quickly and you really have to be careful. Glad to see you're still with us. By the way - more horses and cows are killed each year while standing under trees for protection from the rain. Trees are like lightening rods, especially the tall pines and oaks.Pickett/Fentress County, Tn - Any day on this side of the grass is a good day. -Chuck- -
Eerie feeling I've been in a few.
one time in a canyon that the force sent me aaginst the wall of the canyon.
another time I heard the thunder before the lighting bolt..
I have seen bolt lighting that rolls on the ground.
I have seen it hit a fence and spark an arc that killed two cows.
I was doing a ground magnetic servey with a ionic charged staff that was 8 feet above the ground and thought that this is the most stupid thing I would ever do so I broke it down and ran.Look to the ground for it holds the past!Comment
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I have been caught in some bad storms on my boat years ago...I also have had it strike about 20 feet in front of me...it sounded like a shotgun blast with my ear right next to the barrel..Comment
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I would have filled my drawers
It is a good thing that you are still around to tell the story.
Bruce
In life there are losers and finders. Which one are you?Comment
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Wow guys , yes Chuck is right PH trees are lightening rods . I have had close calls so I am going to add the weirdest one . We had a lifetime roof that was made to look exactly like monier tile roof BUT it was made out of metal .
My brother was a very avid ham radio operator and was trying to put up an antenna . I said Dave the roof is metal it will be the largest attena ever .
grounded a wire to it and was talking all over the world . We had a really bad lightening storm and when it connected even close you could hear it sizzling like a frying pan .
could see small blue electrical currants sizzling across .
Discovery channel said Tampa Fl . Arizona ( forget town)
and Australia are the worst three in the world . So with that Tom Clark give us your story .
Driving and the largest bolt hit the ocean , hit my breaks and bit the end of my tongue in reaction .
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Sure did and it was terrible, The tree's started swaying! Much more than what I wan't t go into but yep terrible. Yep, get to a low point and not under a tall tree. Hunker down, lightning is serious actually. My Mom was looking out her window and seen 3 horses die that were under a tree.Comment
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I run for cover as soon as I hear thunder. I was once not as afraid as I am now. I had a tree explode just a few feet from me and it felt like my blood boiled. It's an amazing force of nature. Glad you are ok Pointhead!N.C. from the mountains to the seaComment
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Don't think I've ever been caught outright during a thunderstorm. When we were younger, and actually gung-ho for artifact hunting, the wife and I would sometimes hunt in downpours. What the heck, it's only water, right? No more. Gung-ho went by by the wayside long ago, lol....Rhode IslandComment
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Glad to know you made it safely back home. I guess most of us who've spent a great time out of doors have tales to tell about lightning. My sailboat was struck on two different times while docked in a marina. The damage it causes can be extensive and very expensive to repair. It usually takes a few months to get things fixed and you can never be sure you have it all repaired. The types of damages can be really weird, besides all the expected ones to electronics, wiring , etc. I've been at sea during many electrical storms. You don't plan on it but when they crop up and you're a long way off shore you just gotta cross your fingers and tough it out. They are always scary even when the lightning you see is a long way off. The worst one for me I was about 100 miles offshore from Belize heading for the Bay Islands of Honduras on a non stop passage from Cape Meyers, FL and it was daytime with low clouds and there were several strikes within 100 yards of my boat, one must have been even less. When it hit I was looking in that direction and it look like an airburst of an artillery shell. There was an intense flash of light, more like a large burst that exploded over the sea maybe a 100 feet or so. The sound was instantaneous and did not sound at all like thunder that one hears when lightning strikes in the distance. If I hadn't been so intent on sailing the boat in high seas I probably would have freaked out. The guy who was crewing with me was below where I had told him to go. When storms like that come up I had my life raft ready to deploy and my ditch bag ready to toss.Comment
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Great threadComment
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