News Been threatened by wildlife?

Interesting article from the Guardian - Round 1, Man vs Bear.

Teaser

(Op-Ed: What if the bear was a south-paw???)

Which begs the questions:
In your adventures have you ever had; a close encounter, felt like prey, had to use evasive maneuvers against the wildlife?
What skills/hardware might one need to possess out-there?
Do you even give it a second thought? (It's their turf and I deserve to be treated as an intruder.)

Careful, they can be deceptive...

Did he happen to weigh the bear....wondering how he/they determined precisely 320 lbs?

Also good to know at 61 you can "hit hard".

Previous comment notwithstanding; I'm sure Rick is far more brave than most and in this case far more lucky.

I'm sure we have all seen big cat paws within the canyon watering holes. I've often thought, maybe foolishly, how comforting it is to know that these cats are solitary and nocturnal.

I thought it was another stupid article from the press.
From a navigational perspective, well,..... you know what the REI/collective experts teach....have a compass and know how to use it. Back it up with a PLB.

Situational awareness, bear bells, bear spray, a knife, and as a last resort, a handgun in grizzly country.

Spot the intruder.


Had this little rascal follow us half way down the canyon a couple weeks back. We finally got away after the 4th rappel.

Do Africanized bees count? Last April our group was going down El Cap in Arizona. Two people went through the tunnel, quickly returning followed by bees. They would bump you to see how you responded, sting if you moved too fast, or crawl under your helmet and string. Have you ever tried rappelling while being bombarded and stung by bees? I was probably best off - I was stung only 3 time. Mike was stung over 20 times and started to have problems with anaphylactic shock. They were still chasing him a quarter mile downstream at the exit. He looked like Pig Pen from the Peanuts cartoon. He took some antihistamine and by the time he got to Globe the scratchy beard and puffiness was better.


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Dean S

Absolutely.

Years ago our group was in Mexico where we had a close encounter with the little devils. We heard an ominous hummmm. The look on our guide's face said it all, even if we didn't understand what he was saying "!abrejas asesinas!"

The first encounter was peaceful, the second... one of our guys didn't fare so well. He was ascending on-rope and got popped several times before he could get off.

Was hiking solo, as I am wont to do, the Sahale Arm up in Cascades NP. Big elevation gains, so earbuds in pumpin EDM, paced breathing, head down, just plowing through the heavy lifting of the hike, not really looking where I'm going. Get beyond the final switchback to the long straight slope, bam, sittin' in the middle of the trail, about a 250lb blackie. Just chillin. 15' from me.

I used to outfit bear hunters in northern MN, grew up with them in my backyard each fall eating mass acorns from our oak groves; so while he caught me off guard, wasn't really afraid - he wasn't being aggressive, just bein' a bear. Had a pretty one sided conversation with him for about a minute. Then he just sauntered off the trail, down the hill, and proceeded to do bear things. As bears are wont to do.

Only thing I'm truly a'feared of in the US are grizzlies. Most other things will leave you alone.

I was drying stuff out at the Ouray Rendezvous last year when it started raining so I threw everything into my car and climbed into the tent since it was about 830pm. Around about 1130 that night I hear a loud crash, in the rush I had missed one of my coolers and left it out. I pop my head out of the tent to see two black cubs messing around with my cooler, and about 5 seconds later momma popped her head up from the far side of the table. I went back to bed and ignored it, but it sure freaked out my friend who was with me.

Back in 1996, I was in a canyon in the upper part of the Swell and had to re-trace my footsteps to climb out. I saw mountain lion footprints following me. They were ontop of my footprints. It totally freaked me out. I never actually saw the mountain lion, though... I'm sure it saw me.

I think thats a neat thing about mountain lions, a little scary though, that you don't see them unless they want you to see them

13 min video about mountain lions here in SoCal.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-mountain-lions-of-los-angeles-2/