Thinking About Bears and Cougars

[Kendall Clement]

Rick!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry, man! But, your description of your encounter has tears rolling down my face!!! LOL LOL LOL I am crying, dude!!!!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

[Rick Cheehy]

If you wann know a better one: a few monthe later I decided it would be an awesome idea to carry my bear-spray in my front hip pocket. We were hiking in GSMNP and we scared a BIG old Black Bear. He charged across the cove away from us, bu toward where we had to go. So I walked a few miles with the spray in hand, the coast was clear, I put the spray back in my pocket…. A few miles later we took a rest and chatted with some other hikers. I went to put my pack back on, hoisted it to my hip, SSSSFFFFFFFT. yup, I blew off the pepper spray in my pocket. If you've never had the pleasure of having red-hot, concentrated cyan peppers on your skin, trust me, it's not a lot of fun. If the nozzel had been pointed a few more inches left……

[Kendall Clement]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, dude! You need to take this stuff on the road!!! LOL LOL LOL

[Russell Swanson]

This is utter nonsense. Worrying about bears, mountain lions, snakes, scorpions, spiders, rabid vermin, rogue moose, random back country serial killers, lightning strikes, avalanches, et cetera pretty much does one thing and one thing only- it keeps people from enjoying the great outdoors. How many bear and cougar attacks will their be in the back country this year? Less than a dozen maybe? Single digits? Out of how many millions of people hiking?

My wife and I were just hanging out with some friends and when the topic of our backpacking trips came up, the first thing they wanted to know was how we could enjoy ourselves when going outside and walking around for a few days is so darn dangerous. In fact, I've had to answer this question so many times that frankly I am sick of discussing it. It's just flat-out ignorance; an extension of ever-expanding societal paranoia. One of our friends admitted to getting scared hiking down a trail in a local state park, almost within the city limits of Baltimore. And I dare say her admission doesn't make her unique.

Truth of the matter is this- do you see that list of terrors in the first paragraph? I have no hard facts to support this but I would wager my entire ultralight gear rack that one drive to the trail head is statistically much more dangerous than all of these things combined over a lifetime. How many people let the fear of dying in an automobile crash stop them from driving to the mall? Yet, this would be much more justifiable than worrying about forest critters. In my mind, the most realistic threat to hikers in the States is barely even mentioned in backpacking circles- ticks bearing Lyme disease.

Practice common sense, follow the advice about food management presented in some of the other posts, turn off those insipid 'When Animals Attack' shows on TV, and have fun on your hike. Just don't tailgate that eighteen wheeler you're following in the rain on your way out there.

[Charles Grier]

Russell, your commentary is right on target. I also have to spend a lot more time than I like explaining to non-hiking acquaintances that the hiking dangers they see and hear about on TV is largely BS; even then, they don't believe me.

[Zack Karas]

Russell, if you wouldn't mind, could you contact my mother-in-law and discuss with her just how not-dangerous backpacking is? My wife and I can't convince her that we're not going to end up as bear droppings.

On a second note, this posting was stopped with the error message "possible profanity detected: 'fEcEs'" Isn't that the best, non-offensive way to describe it?

[Stephen Barber]

I don't know, Russell, I think I'd be scared walking in a park in Baltimore! ;-)

[David Olsen]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/sep/04/cougar-attacks-5-year-old-hiking-in-stevens-county/

So Russell, would you take you kids hiking on this trail
this week?

[Russell Swanson]

Stephen- Haha true. Good old Charm City can be a challenging front-country environment. But my friend was referring to the 'creepy feeling' she had when the path got a little narrow and all she could hear was the birds. Silly me, that's why I go out there!

David- Ok, would I be freaked if this happened to me? Certainly. Would I react irrationally and become an overprotective safety-monger for the next decade and never feel comfortable hiking again? Quite possible. But are you going to color my (fact-based) opinion with this isolated incident? Absolutely not.

I know it's hard to miss because its almost at the end of the report, but did you read this?

'The last reported cougar attack in Washington occurred last year in Douglas County, Fish and Wildlife officials said. Since record-keeping began, 18 cougar attacks have been confirmed in the state, including one fatality in 1924 in Okanogan County'

Those are the only pieces of information in the story that I would use in forming my opinion on the matter. This is exactly the thing that I am talking about. If I read about some unfortunate but extremely rare incident 3000 miles away, am I doing myself justice by allowing myself to be fearful of the outdoors? Shouldn't I pay attention to the facts and not let myself succumb to overreaction induced by a (unintentionally) sensationalist media article?

[Tad Englund]

I'm with Russell on this one- I did read the whole story when this came out- something else happened this weekend- they caught a cougar in Discovery park in the city of Seattle, the actual city, I had a bear in my yard waste last month and I live in the suburbs. A Coyote ran through the yard a couple of months ago, I could go on-
I am not any more nervous to go into my back yard then into the wilds- I have seen more "dangerous" wildlife in my own yard then anytime in the wild (except Alaska) so why should I be afraid in the mountains?

[Ryan Tucker]

i have often thought we live in a nation of fear mongering. the weather channel is the greatest example. people only watch the weather with intent when they believe it to be dangerous or serious. i lived on the shores of the carolina coast for five years and watched the weather channel turn everything into a potentially life threatening scenario. my favorite example were the constant reminders to stock up on water followed by a commercial from aqua-fina or something…of course, sometimes the storms were life threatening. so common sense and smart decisions are important.

i believe the dangers of the wild are similar. some things are life threatening, common sense and smart decision making helps a lot. but i try to remind myself not to live in fear.

i admit i sleep less well when my wife and daughter are along for a trip. so fear does affect us all.

[Dale Wambaugh]

You won't see most of the cougars around you. This is the second time in my memory that a cougar has been found in a Seattle city park that is just a few miles north of the city center. We've had a number of black bear sightings too. Keep in mind that these large animals are crossing 20+ miles of suburban towns in a county with a population of nearly 2 million and a three county metropolitan population of 3.5 million!

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/09/07/wildlife_officials_capture_cougar_in_seattle_park/

[Tom Caldwell]

There's getting to be more of them in the Missouri and Arkansas.

[Rick Cheehy]

I was attacked by a cougar in the suburbs of Ft. Worth when I was 16. I was selling candy bars to raise funds for marching band. Billy's mom answered the door and invited me in for some lemonade, and the she asked me if I liked soccer and then she….she…

[Luke Schmidt]

Tom,
I hadn't heard much about mountain lions in the Ozarks. Whats up with that, I'd heard they might be moving down the Missiouri/Missisippi valley.

[David Lutz]

Well played, Rick!

[Miguel Arboleda]

I am the OP and have been reading the responses with interest and humor. I guess I should have known that there wasn't going to be any consensus about this topic. What I've gotten out of all that you all have said boils down to two things:

1) Don't worry so much

2) Have a sense of humor about it

That said, you have to remember that most of the North American back country is unfamiliar to me and plunking myself down in the middle of black bear and cougar country for the first time without knowing much about what to expect, tends to affect your imagination. How many of you confident walkers here who have never been in a tropical rainforest in Borneo or out on a trek in the Serengeti would know the first thing to fear or do right now as you read this? Don't you think that in the initial period as you get to know these unfamiliar landscapes that you'd be quite anxious? Statistics are all very fine, but when you are moving about in a place you've never even seen before a lot more goes on in your head than pure facts. It's what you don't know that gets to you, no?

[Ashley Brown]

When I hiked alone in Alaska (without bear spray, bells or whatnot) I was pretty freaked out by sounds during the night and early morning. Damn marmots! They got me every time. I only saw one bear, from quite a distance, but I was convinced they were snooping around my tent every night! I would hear a sound and then lie deathly still, frozen in place in case it was interested in the sound. I kept envisaging that it might treat me like my cat treats a moving object which is under a piece of fabric… pounce!!

So yeah, I know what you're talking about. In hindsight I would have preferred a tent with a 360 degree view so I could actually see that it was just a marmot after all…

[Rick Cheehy]

Thank you sir. I was proud of that 'un.

[Kendall Clement]

Thanks, Rick. That was indeed fun. :)

[Worth Donaldson]

So correct, getting a consensus is next to impossible. When preparing for a trip into polar bear country I received all sorts of emotional opinions but no consensus.

This was probably the best advice I received.
“The Elders say bears can be dangerous, but don’t be too afraid most won’t bother people. Bears are an important part of Inuit culture, treat them with respect.”

My thoughts, do what ever makes you feel comfortable. It is you, not them that is going into bear country.

[Peter Rattenbury]

Hi Guys, this is one of my first posts on BPL…

there's an animal lurking out there which….

…is a silent killer.

Sneaks up on you without warning.
Reduces the strongest men [ and women ] to invalids
Strikes at random, any time night or day, wet or fine, low and high altitudes….

Yes, HYPOTHERMIA! That's the real killer. I don't live in bear country [ the only bears in Australia live in zoos] and I shall take due care when I walk the JMT next year. But my biggest concern will be hypothermia…

PJay.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Protection from cougars is easy, just take the mule with you.

http://www.blackbearheaven.com/horse-kills-cougar.htm

[Russell Swanson]

@Miguel- Taking a backpacking trip to the Serengeti would be definite cause for concern. Lions do definitely kill people in the African bush. And won't hesitate to do so. As would, I suspect, Hyenas, Hippos, wild dogs, and other big cats. While you would probably not have an incident, I don't think any animal expert would state that you have safety in any degree approaching that of the wilder parts of America or Canada. North America may be unfamiliar, but you absolutely should place your faith in statistical information. If you are looking to answer a question assuage concerns, what better place to look than cold, hard fact? Then, you do know and it won't get you.

@Reginald, re: consensus/emotional opinion- As I hope I have made clear, my responses are not emotional opinion but rather a decision formed by reviewing the evidence at hand and allowing that to form my thoughts. If dozens of hikers were killed every year by carnivores then I would think differently but this simple isn't the case. Man has long since eliminated almost all of the threat to himself in North America's 'wild' places, to the extent that the largest threat to himself is simply that- himself. As another poster started to acknowledge by addressing the issue of hypothermia, poor planning, impaired judgment, and lack of proper planning are far more likely to cause injury or fatality than is wildlife.

[David Olsen]

"Ok, would I be freaked if this happened to me? Certainly. Would I react irrationally and become an overprotective safety-monger for the next decade and never feel comfortable hiking again? Quite possible. But are you going to color my (fact-based) opinion with this isolated incident? Absolutely not."

Not the point, just that safety is related to the hazards of
a given area. Driving is more dangerous on certain roads,
some wild lands are more dangerous than others too.

[Author]

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