Scared the heck outa us but it was all ok

[who_dat73]

My brother, his wife and my nephew and myself love to photograph old abandon houses and do what you might call urban fatigue photography.
Well today we found a old abandon farm house got proper permisions and went to shoot some photos. Well my 16 year old nephew wanted to look through the front door and see what he could see but as he stepped up the first two cement steps out front of the house the angrest Im gonna hurt sombody growel came out from under them "now any of you that have heard a badger growel can attest to the sound they make" and those that havn't let me tell you they are a mean tear you up and spit out the pieces critter.Well he headed off the steps doing the cartoon running in mid air and not going anywhere run and his feet didnt hit the ground till probbly 6 feet out from the steps we all took a few steps back at that point and gave the darn thing a wide bearth because these animals can really be visious.
After we shot some photos of the rest of the buildings we came back to the front of the house and tossed a few rocks up in the area to see if it might still be there and we heard the pups of the badger making some noise at that point we decided to leave cuz a badger you dont wanna mess with a momma badger protecting her babys you might as well pull the tail of a pit bull it might be safer.

Moral of the story if you decide to do urban decay/ fatigue photography dont go it alone cuz that could have been me and when I am in the zone I have a tendancy to not hear/see things around me other then the shot I am going for.
I could have walked right up on this thing and had it chew my leg off, and carry mace cant say it would have done much good on a badger but some of the other human type urban varmints will sure think twice after a shot of it.

[WooD]

Sounds like am exciting adventure. When shooting around old buildings in my area, venomous snakes are the biggest threat. Anytime I'm shooting out in the woods/swamp area's or doing night shoots around 2 or 3am, I always keep my other shooting device in my back pocket.

Never needed it yet, but it sure gives a feeling of security.

Glad you guys made it unharmed.

[Laurence]

That's scary. Thank you for the advice. Glad nobody was hurt.

[dcclark]

Always take a buddy any time you're going anywhere abandoned, remote, or in any way dangerous! It's great advice.

Of course, if you're like me, you go out often enough that you sometimes can't find a hiking buddy. I hike deep into the woods and explore abandoned buildings basically every week, so I have a bit of experience. In this case, I recommend:

- ALWAYS bring a flashlight, even if you start out in daylight.
- Bring a walking stick, which not only supports you but also can be used to double-check weak-looking floors/ground and as a weapon in a pinch (But don't use it unless you absolutely have to! Having a weapon can make you want to use it when you have other options -- avoid this!)
- Bring pepper spray, just in case.
- Be loud. Sing, talk loudly, clap your hands. Be big, loud, and obviously human.
- If the wind is blowing towards you, be extra careful and observant, because you may not be as noticeable to animals.
- Wear bright colors, for the human variety of idiots (I'm thinking unobservant hunters) (I have a blaze orangee cap for general use, and both purple and a killer yellow coats. Very unnatural colors.).

This hasn't failed me yet. Good luck!

[AnnetteJ]

I'll pass on a bit of advice I had from a Norwegian who said badgers were actually the most dangerous animal in Norway. He said basically a badger will bite you and hang on til it hears the bone break! So if that happens to you, grab a big stick and snap it and the badger will let go as it thinks it has broken the bone. Personally I'm not sure I'd have the presence of mind to manage that if it happened to me, but there you go...

[who_dat73]

Thanks to all of you that have replyed and hats off to you dcclark for more advice that I hadn't thought of I hope to post a few of the shots on the forum of what I took there if I feel any turned out ok but again thanks for the replys and the worm welcome