I think you're assuming I went down intending to attack him? Nah. I bring bear spray/pepper spray/capsaicin aerosol most times I, as a female not professionally trained in any martial arts, go out alone in a place I probably won't feel safety from being in a crowd (AKA a dirt road only used for logging, hunting (incl. bears, which spray could be helpful if, like in Lincoln woods, there was a human conditioned bear that was too friendly to humans and associated us/me with food), hiking, and drug deals). Multi-tool is more than a knife. It's 16 things that AREN'T a knife (and more if you get creative). And I think you're forgetting that we're in America. I'm not one for every single person owning a gun even if it's for "self-protection"--I'd only think that if I knew there were only like 10 bad guys and everyone else had pure intentions and no one ever had any sort of mental illness or got prone to stress and acted out--but what I'm trying to say is people DO carry weapons around, and if you see someone with anything generally considered a weapon around, I'm willing to bet they will say it's for self-defense, and in most cases, that is true. Every time I go to the woods for more than a few hours I bring the multi-tool and spray. I've never used the spray (although once I almost did with a bear and probably would have if I were not with others), and I have used the multi-tool for fishing, opening bottles, helping someone gut a deer, cooking, and starting fires. So, no, having spray and a multi tool doesn't mean I'm going to attack someone for no reason. Never has and never will. So, no, not concerned about his safety as far as me being a threat to him, and I'm not super concerned about my safety because, well, that's only an issue when I give a shyt which is never, and I don't get how walking by, maybe asking him how it's going and if he needs help or directions is inconveniencing him? It'd be freaking hilarious if I got shot though for walking down a road and people thought I was the bad guy because I had a multi-tool I had no intention of using in the same way no one intends on using a first aid kid on a hike or a spare tire on a road trip or a fire extinguisher in a kitchen.

There are a gazillion reasons he could be there, and it's not like I was 100% set on him being there as a criminal or I wouldn't have checked it out (if I genuinely thought he was burying a body or selling rohypnol to a known rapist or some shyt like that that is a genuine threat, yeah, I WOULD have called the police regardless of where his license plate stated he was from). Maybe he was lost and decided to take a break and decided cleaning his car was a good idea. Maybe he was with the logging company. Maybe he broke down (in which maybe having that multi-tool with a wrench would help him, or having something to help get a good fire going to stay warm while waiting for a ride or tow if it took too long).

Anyway, he's gone, and I'll let you know if in the coming years we have even more problems with wildlife/people encounters because real estate agents (like, supposedly, this guy) think they can pull a Columbus, kill a bunch of flora and push bears, deer, moose, turtles, snakes, birds, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, beavers, toads, newts out to make room for a bunch of people who may not know putting a bird feeder up can lead to a bear associating that backyard with food, maybe realizing the kitchen smells good and it's easy to get through the door... (has happened).

This is a bit of a tangent, but I also want to add that in the past 10 years we've spent $3.1 billion on SAR missions, too many due to, something like a guy in dress shoes deciding a walk in the woods on a chilly day in wetlands is a good idea. That's like 40 years of our education budget if it stays at what it is for 2024. I'm not saying NH-ites aren't being carried out of the woods or down mountains, but more often than not it's the people that don't know that weather is unpredictable because they haven't woken up in a blizzard and had to strip to a sports bra and shorts on their run or hike later that day, or started at a trailhead when it's 75, calm, and sunny, but 90 minutes, 2 miles, and 2000ft up later, it's 35F, 35mph, and pouring AKA death by hypothermia weather. (Does the iPhone weather app for the closest town that too many people use account for this? No. But MWOBS/Mountain-Forecast/weather.gov/the higher summits forecast text line do and non White Mountain regulars don't know about those as often).

I'm not against out-of-staters. But for a little thought experiment let's turn this around and ask how it would look if a hunter was in some business district in a big city in camo/bright orange covered in moose blood? Yeah, maybe he's just handing his brother that works somewhere a steak, but it is going to be a "one of these things doesn't belong here" situation.