How do you defend yourself against wildlife when hiking or approaching a climb?

Greg Petliski wrote: Theyve killed exactly one human being in North America, ever. I wouldnt worry all that much.

Good to know. Thanks!

FrankPS wrote: I think they want to lick it off the rocks, not drink from the "spigot." But protect your spigot, by any means necessary.

Haha yeah. I haven't heard of one going in direct (pardon that pun on this climbing forum) but they sure are eager to be the first to get your urine once it's out whether or not you've left yet.

This is how to deal with a bear. Like a boss.

youtube.com/watch?v=yJ25xzS…

Backpacking covert mission in a place I wasn't suppose to be. Big male mountain lion spotted by my friend with his flashlight at 9pm. Followed it's eye shine as it inched toward us down a hillside on it's belly. As it was about 60 yards from us, it disappeared around a cliff side and we lost it. That's when our instincts kicked in. We pounded our two beers and dove into our tents. Our thinking was that it wouldn't jump on a tent. If it did I had a big knife. The next morning we discovered paw prints all over our camp and around the tents. Don't think this method would work for a bear though. Cats like to chase and pounce the weak. Bears just like bashing shit for the easy meal.

Cats have killed 22 people in the US and Canada since 1890. Less than half a dozen of those killed have been grown men. Fear of cats may be primal but I'd be more afraid of an infection turning septic after stubbing a toe. Just be happy you got to see one. I've been trying for 15 years.

"2/3 of people that are killed with a gun in the US are killed with a gun they own, usually by someone they know. The most dangerous animals in the backcountry are humans. "

Yeh, it's called suicide. Super relevant.

JoeGaribay wrote:Backpacking covert mission in a place I wasn't suppose to be. Big male mountain lion spotted by my friend with his flashlight at 9pm. Followed it's eye shine as it inched toward us down a hillside on it's belly. As it was about 60 yards from us, it disappeared around a cliff side and we lost it. That's when our instincts kicked in. We pounded our two beers and dove into our tents. Our thinking was that it wouldn't jump on a tent. If it did I had a big knife. The next morning we discovered paw prints all over our camp and around the tents. Don't think this method would work for a bear though. Cats like to chase and pounce the weak. Bears just like bashing shit for the easy meal.

I was backpacking in the Adirondacks probably ten years ago. I set up a camp by Mount Colden outpost as a base to peak bag. One night around 11pm I heard what sounded like a squrriel but with more bass. I unzipped the door to get the squrriel to stop making noise and.. It was a bear! I shined the light over to see its ass and after a couple seconds the bear's head turned around. Yikes! I drove back into my tent. It took like twenty minutes for to have another look. The bear was gone, probably ran. That bear didn't pounce on my tent either.

I have the worst luck with bears. I think they see a big hairy something and assume it's Big Foot or their homie.

How to defend your self against a bear. And save your lunch/trip

How do you defend yourself against wildlife when hiking or approaching a climb?

DEET or netting. Mosquitoes are the deadliest wildlife, no s--t!

cragman2 wrote:Only on MP can a semi lighthearted discussion about protecting oneself from wild animals morph into a heated debate about gun safety in only a few pages......

While I have no statistics to back up my opinion, as an offhanded guess, I'd say Supertopo can give MP a run for its money.

Rick Blair wrote: How do you defend yourself against wildlife when hiking or approaching a climb? DEET or netting. Mosquitoes are the deadliest wildlife, no s--t!

So a few weeks ago, I hiked to Mohawk lake near Breckenridge on a Saturday afternoon. It is a short (if you have an SUV) hike near town that gets tons of traffic on weekends - lots of families. As we were getting ready to drive out, a party of three was heading up, and one of the guys had a gun and a machete on his belt. We chatted with them for a minute and bugs came up - turns out they had plenty of weapons but no bug spray, and the lake has lots of mosquitoes. We let them use our spray.

When I do bring a weapon it's not for Bears.

KevinCO wrote:It happens periodically that a bear will attack someone inside of a tent.

Probably about as often as an idiot keeps food in his tent.

Haha Griptrion!! I think it was on here where I read that this lady said she was worried about bears and she advised to lock all food in the car

Ryan Arnold wrote:... While in med school I was taught that a gun is 50 times more likely to be used to kill or injure a family member than it is to be used in a self defense setting.

So we need more sport climbers with guns...problems solved

Ryan Arnold wrote:Parents looking to defend your family by buying a gun: minnpost.com/second-opinion… While in med school I was taught that a gun is 50 times more likely to be used to kill or injure a family member than it is to be used in a self defense setting.

Relevance?

^^^ Everything is relevant in religiosity, so long as you can use it to your advantage, somehow!
Buying a gun wouldn't make me more likely to commit suicide.
But I will tell you, regardless, that the stat he quoted is wrong as it reads.

Think about it. They are teaching "gun stats" in medical school and the CDC tracks them?
Thats politics, not medicine. So how did it get there? Again, politics.

Please look at this reference again:

Kellermann AL, Reay DT. Protection or peril? An analysis of firearm related deaths in the home. N Engl J Med. 1986;314:1557–1560.

"For every self-defense homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 1.3 accidental deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 37 firearm suicides."

If you are a parent and you have a gun in your home, you're far more likely to experience a tragic use of that firearm by someone in your own family than for it to be used to defend yourself.

I'm not telling anyone what to do or what not to do. I'm also not implying any of you adults will be more likely to commit suicide if you buy a gun. I am suggesting to fellow parents that in the vast majority of cases, owning a gun does not make your family safer.

David Wieder wrote:2/3 of people that are killed with a gun in the US are killed with a gun they own, usually by someone they know.

This is only true if you include suicides. Otherwise it's wildly inaccurate.

Ryan Arnold wrote:Please look at this reference again: Kellermann AL, Reay DT. Protection or peril? An analysis of firearm related deaths in the home. N Engl J Med. 1986;314:1557–1560. "For every self-defense homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 1.3 accidental deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 37 firearm suicides." If you are a parent and you have a gun in your home, you're far more likely to experience a tragic use of that firearm by someone in your own family than for it to be used to defend yourself. I'm not telling anyone what to do or what not to do. I'm also not implying any of you adults will be more likely to commit suicide if you buy a gun. I am suggesting to fellow parents that in the vast majority of cases, owning a gun does not make your family safer.

The problem with this statistic, is it implies that without a gun in the home, every person who would have otherwise shot themselves, would not have committed suicide. Now I imagine this is true for *some* of these people. After all, the proliferation of gas ovens in Britain also showed an increase in suicide rates, because suicide is sometimes a spur of the moment idea, and in these cases, having a form of suicide readily available is key. The statistic also does not say *who* is buying the firearms. It is quite possible that people in high crime areas are more likely to buy a firearm for protection, and the high rate of firearm violence in their home is not the result of their firearm, but of the neighborhood crime rate.