I have been researching a very remote area for about ten years, on private land in the Cascade Mountains, and have come to know several real life 'Mountain Men'. These guys are like no other, very tuff and an extremely private group. They all say the same thing, they are there for a reason, and don't like society in general. It has taken me years & years for these guys to even accept me, and they fear what I do, because it could result in unwanted attention. I have only gained their trust recently, and have convinced them that I would never expose their privacy. One guy mentioned that he leaves scraps out for his adopted 'family', and sees them often. Has anybody else noticed this fear of privacy with some of our country brethren?

Alaska literally drips with folks like that. We call them "end-of-the-roaders".

Indeed, most Alaskans are like that to some degree, including the Huntster. I like to refer to myself as a "cultural refugee".

Most end-of-the-roaders in Alaska are wonderful folks, albeit huffy. But some are downright unstable.

My Dad, who was raised in the bayou during the Depression, told me that there were places deep in the bayou where the folks almost never came out to civilization. They didn't even speak English. Made their own booze and their own music back there.

Didn't need to come out for anything.

Ape Dog, are you in the PNW or Texas?

I have definately been aware of a certain level of mistrust with society in general, but fear? Not to any extreme level. I think society in the US has been undergoing some pretty drastic changes over the last 4 or so decades. If you take it in day by day, in small bites, you hardly notice it. If you are separated from society much of the time, and have to play catch-up periodically, you notice the drift much more. A lot of the changes are not for the better.
BSF

I am in Texas, and do most of my research here, but have a small shack up North in Washington State........and I go there 2 or 3 times a year.

I haven't noticed a "fear" of privacy so much as a craving for privacy.

I had a student from the Ozark Mountain region relay an interesting story last summer.

He was/is a volunteer fireman and was working a forest fire in the mountains. It night and he was by himself in an isolated area monitoring an area for outbreaks when, with his flashlight he caught sight of a man watching him. It clearly was a man (sorry, no bigfoot here...he had clothes and everything) standing behind a tree with his head stuck out to one side watching him. The fireman would move to another spot and the man would follow, but always stay behind a tree. The fireman called out to him and tried to engage him but the man would never answer or do anything bu watch him and occasionally move to another tree. The fireman finally decided that the situation was to creepy for his taste and left to find the main group.

Ape Dog - Man, it must be nice to have the cash to study mountain men in the Cascades and go BF hunting in the Big Thicket of Texas!

The money is in the equipment, and thank god for Ebay! I make several flights in advance for my PNW stuff, and it is never more than $200 round trip from Austin to Seattle.....not too bad at all! As for the research in Texas, that only costs time, the real trick is to work it all around the wife and kids, who think this BF stuff is all crazy. I saw the darn thing though, so I'm hooked.

THATS CRAZY!! No wonder the poor guy got creeped out. Kinda put me in mind of Deliverance. Makes me wonder what percentage of bigfoot reports are nothing more than wildmen living in the woods like this.

Yet another good reason to arm yourself before frolicking in wild places.

One never knows......

A man acting like that in the woods (especially being non-responsive to being hailed), would definately be cause for concern.....
Coulda been an arsonist ! They like to watch their handiwork.......

Lots of wary souls like that in Wyoming too.

In all seriousness, I could totally see me becoming an "end of the roader" so to speak. All it would take would be the loss of my family and I'd be there.

Hell, my wife'd probably join me...actually, we have talked about becomming hermits...hmmmmm...gotta get back to her on that!

Hmm...a professor dropping out of society to become a hermit..where have I heard that before? LOL Seriously, that wouldn't be a bad idea...but, I'd need a DSL connection at least...not sure I could get by without the 'net!

I hear ya bitter......I'd be right there too!

Remind me not to get DesertYeti my mailing address.....

Just call me Una-yeti...

There are quite a number of people in BC who live as hermits or in small groups of men separate from society. In the more remote areas they are actually checked by the police as to their survival once or twice a year but not bothered in any other way. It is sort of interesting because if one looks back at the old files, the same locations seemed to be habited by the same type of "loners" over periods stretching back well over one hundred years.
Makes you wonder what brings people with the same mindset to the same remote place - sometimes thousands of miles from where they were born.

Nothing left to stick around for.

I've mentioned several great hermit opportunities to the wife, and she keeps asking me the same question:

"When and how often would you come back to visit us?"

LOL - Thought about this myself. A mountain top cabin - but need solar power, deep cycle batteries and a sat-downlink for the internet. Been on the BBSing since 76 and on the net (arpanet) since 1979, sure can not do without it now!!!!!

But I agree, sometimes we just get fed up with society and want to run away from it and get back to that primal existance so that we can find ourselves again. That is one of the reasons it is so nice to just get away from it all and spend days or weeks in the woods away from "civilization".

But which is more civilized - a city where you have to watch your P's and Q's and make sure you are not getting on someoneelses toes or just be yourself in the woods.

Just my ramblings.....

Not quite the same angle as a "country hermit": I grew up in the country, lived 20+ years in the "big city", then back to the country in '97. The culture shock upon my return was extreme.
One of the predominant fears among the locals that I noticed, was not a desire for privacy, but a fear that the government was coming to get them. This is among people within 30 minutes of a major metropolitan area.
I have heard over and over and in all seriousness, people in the community speak of losing rights and freedoms, from our leaders in Washington DC and the state capitol.

Sorry if this a little

I thought your name was Nancy?

Don't tell everyone!!!

Ok, Una-Nancy.

Cripes! :doh: