Heads Up - Sketchy Man By The Dog Pound

[mkm]

Just wanted to put a quick note on the board about a sketchy encounter I had by the Dog Pound. Last Friday at 1pm I was heading back from the stream when an old white pickup truck was slowly rolling down Range Road 50 (4km west of Bottrel) towards me. Upon seeing me the white male driving the truck put it in park (middle of the road), jumped out of the truck, and approached me. First thing I noticed was the 30 inch knife he had hanging from his belt, then it was the handgun necklace around his neck. He approached me pretty quick and kept looking down at my hand that was on my wading belt next to my bear spray. Right away he noted that he didn’t know anything about fishing but my rod/reel looked expensive. Every time I would step back from the guy he would once again move closer. His posture was very threating, he seemed slightly agitated, and he kept touching the handle of his knife. Finally the awkward encounter ended when a car came driving towards us. He quickly jumped in his truck and left without saying much.

 

After the man drove a few hundred meters down the road he pulled over and let the car pass, then pulled a u-turn and proceeded to park his truck behind my car. Upon seeing him turn around I pulled the cap off my bear spray and pulled out my fishing knife, placing them both in the back of my car where I could easily grab them. This time around the man spoke about random things like how much money he makes; how his daughter is sick but he thinks the treatments aren’t going to work; how expensive everything is. I kind of felt like the guy was thinking of robbing me but was trying to convince himself one way or the other. Lucky for me his phone rang and he walked back to his truck to take the call. The man became extremely agitated with the person on the phone and kept screaming “you F*cking idiot”. I quickly jumped out of my gear, through it in my car, and drove away.

Still 3 days after I feel anxious about this encounter. I have gone over it in my head and cannot find a good reason for why this guy would have made such an effort to approach me. I had considered dropping by the Cochrane RCMP but as nothing happened I didn’t know if they would take me seriously.

 

Other info for your reference:

White male – approx. 35 years old – approx. 5’11” – medium build – medium length shaggy blonde/brown hair – wearing a necklace with a large handgun charm.

 

Driving an old white 2 door pickup truck (either Ford or Chevy) with a beat-up motor bike (chopper) in the back.

 

The man had made reference to having summered at the “Triple Diamond” camp ground but this year they had given his spot away as he could only be there for 2 months. The man recently got a job somewhere between Cochrane and Sundre where he’s making $36/hour (really weird to tell a stranger!).

 

This could have easily gone the wrong way so make sure you stay safe!

[Flytyer]

Report it, maybe some one has reported something similar. It's actions of not reporting that "makes crime pay". If this has happened to more people and they reported it they would at least look in to it. License plate number or partial? Give the mounties all you can remember

[bigbowtrout]

I was only trying to see what fly's you had on.

 

 

Scary stuff. I still would have called it in to the RCMP even if he never did anything. He might have had contact with others that didn't end well like yours did. 30" knive is good enough for a call.

[Flyfisher]

Sounds less like robbery behavior and more like someone possibly not quite mentally stable undergoing major stress due to overwhelming circumstances.

[Flytyer]

Sounds less like robbery behavior and more like someone possibly not quite mentally stable undergoing major stress due to overwhelming circumstances.

Reminds of the young fellow that was hacked up on a Greyhound bus a few years back by some one supposedly that was unstable. No need for anyone to be carrying a machete in these parts.

 

The incident should be reported as you never know what a stranger is capable of

[Frenchie]

Scary!

Better take the risk of not being taken seriously by the RCMP than having someone else having the same scare if not worst.

May be he's just a weirdo who wants to chat, or maybe you were lucky this time!

[SilverDoctor]

Sounds like an encounter that could have turned nasty. You did the right thing by leaving. I would report it through.

[Muffin]

That is a pretty creepy/scary story.

 

Thanks for the heads up/sharing.

[murray]

Your heads up to us is a very good thing. Much appreciated. Like the others have said, report it, they have cars up and down all the roads and with your description, they might very well find this guy. You will have done us all a favour.

 

Murray

 

 

[greatbigdiddy]

sounds to me like MKM the OP had a great day on the pound and wants to scare the rest of us away for the summer and keep all those nice browns to himself .... I kid I kid ..... seriously a scary story though thanks for the heads up ... it reminded me of a scary encounter I had after dark one night when leaving the bow at Mkinnon flats. I had stayed out really late as the bows were rising to the adams in the moonlight ... when I finally got back to the lot there was a guy in a pick up hanging out came over started talking he seemed a little off ... my spidy senses were tingling but I chatted he started giving me all these weird details about his past and jobs and financial stuff a lot like the OPs encounter I still wasn't to worried until I saw him holding what looked like an electrical cord or black strap or something and it seemed like he was trying to keep it outta my view so I got a little nervous and wanted to get outta there so I told him I would show him some photos of my catch I through my rod in the back still at full length jumped in vest and net still on started my car and pulled out my camera and pretended the batteries were dead and quickly said wow its later than I thought wifes gonna be pissed have a good night ... he did not say goodbye just stood there with a weird smile ... creepy I booted it up out of the valley and drove all the way to 22x before I got out and took off my vest and folded my rod .... could have been harmless but the weird stories and the cord were enough to creep me out ... I often wondered if I escaped some serious incedent that night .... thanks for posting MKM

[jpinkster]

The more of these stories I hear the happier I am that I rarely fish alone. It's nice to have a few buddies around.

[Nachako]

I'm glad that I only have to deal with grizzly bears . Their more predictable

 

[WyomingGeorge]

Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "If you wanna' look thin, hang out with fat people!"

 

By which I mean, all of us clean-shaven, mild-mannered, harmless looking schlepps might need to add in a little bit of creep for those unforeseen eyeball-to-eyeball sessions with the really weird:

--don't shave for three to five days before any planned fishing outing

--wear old shirts and scruffy waders

--have a hunting knife on one hip and bear spray on the other. There are bears everywhere now

--drive a big-ass diesel truck, loud, keep dirty, have a front plate from a rugged U.S. state (Louisiana, say)

--when the weirdo says something weird, reply with something even weirder and try to adopt a lunatic expression (for some of us, this comes naturally)

 

All bs aside, if you're out late at night, wear a headlamp when you head back to the parking lot. If someone strange approaches, a bright beam of LEDs right in their eyes is pretty intimidating and gives you a big advantage, masking your movements while allowing you to observe anything the creep does, as well as ruining his night vision for a few critical seconds if you need to jump in your vehicle and turn on the engine.

[Muffin]

Good tip on the light George and funny for the rest of it.

[FlyFishingEMT]

Pack a Mossberg 500 12g pistol grip on your pack and no one will bother you.

[WyomingGeorge]

I should have added, or watch a few episodes of "Justified" and dress up like any of the numerous extras who get bumped off along the way. That might require getting some fake tats, like barbed wire around your neck.

[Weedy1]

[Weedy1]

Seriously though, I would contact http://www.triplediamondrvpark.com/ and see if they had any issues with this guy then decide the route to take.

[WyomingGeorge]

Hey mkm: Sorry this devolved into joking after what was surely an intimidating encounter.

 

For what it's worth, I would have called it in to police and supplied every detail I could remember. If the cops didn't take me seriously, shame on them. But for all we know, this was a character who is "known to police", as the euphemism has it, and it would have been one more useful piece of the puzzle for them.

[Fishscape]

Scary. Local RCMP might now the individual in question.

 

I keep bear spray on my belt, in my pack, or with me in my tent all the time now for protection. It's more for humans than bears, though I hope I will never have to use it. Incidentally, I have used it on a black bear in the Yukon that was aggressive and it really works, although the range can be less than 3 m or so, depending on wind. Black bears much scarier than grizzlies. After many summers in the bush, never had trouble with a griz.

[mcleod52]

Glad you managed to get out of there. I'd of been on 911 in a hurry. Down here in the US lots of folks pack revolvers just for this reason. Some of the remote areas here are frequented by tweekers making their brew.

 

Stew