Lions, Tigers and Bears

“Hello folks :) Now that I've decided to be a backpacker, some concerns have come up during my recent daytime outings. Animals being the concern of the moment.

It was a beautiful day as I was hiking up the road (7810) to Coplay Lake and decided a nap would be nice. But thoughts of cougars, bears and other animals/predators kept me from doing so.

My question is (so I also have an answer for my children), should I be concerned at that time of day? What about at night? What are the chances and/or safety precautions I need to take to have an anxiety free hike and overnighter? I'm thinking these are concerns that others before me surely had. Any advice, teachings and or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.”

“Mountain lions should be your biggest concern (unless your in Africa or South Asia). They are more active at dusk and night, but are a threat at any time. Not being alone is the best defense. Bears (other than ole griz) is not such a big concern, just don't rub fried chicken on yourself or your clothes before you stretch out in the sun to doze.”

“Animals are way more afraid of you than you are of them. With few exceptions, the only time you ever hear of "animal altercations" is when some touron leaves his food out in the open which attracts an otherwise wild animal. Even in those cases, the animal in question, be it bear, racoon or whatever, is after your sandwich, not you!

There's nothing to be afraid of except two-legged animals, or, the drive to the campground / trailhead!”

“I have never seen anything bigger than squirrel while backpacking (other than wild ponies and deer at Grayson Highlands). I see more wildlife in the middle of my town than I do on the AT or other established trail.”

“Hyway...Hunting Island near BEAUFORT SC...check it out you get the NIGHT OF THE RACCOON FROM HE##.

I have been all over and if you use good practices, bear bags, camp in proper locations...etc you won't have problems.”

“Fear the mice. Out west, fear the marmots. My husband and some friends had a run in with a ballsy one.”

“I was packing in Yellowstone about 20 years ago and had a grizzly encounter. I was using a tarp and it was at night. This huge bear came up and was sniffing me lying on the ground there. I made a few 'what I thought sounded like a badger' thinking the bear wouldnt stick his head in a badger hole. I didnt bother him much. Anyway reluctantly the bear moved off. I was not natural prey to the bear. I think he was just curious. I had my food hung which is a must. And even a bigger must is don't wipe your hands on your shirt or pants. Sleeping in different clothes than you eat in in grizzly, black bear, mountain lion country I highly reccomend. A mother with cubs and a bear near a kill/carcass will attack defending their cubs or carcass. You have much defense against a grizzly. They make bear repellent pepper spray that im sure would work on a mountain lion and others. However, these repellent I believe slow it down not stop it. The grizzlies are watched pretty closesly by the park service. Problem bears are either relocated or destroyed.”

“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/18/MNEIUH4B9.DTL&tsp=1

Those guys at the SF Zoo WERE taunting the tiger that killed.
Darwin in motion.”

“If, and from the little I have read or heard it is most likely probable that they did taunt the tiger, but IF they did, I say the dead kid's family and his two friends owe the people of San Francisco a tiger, and renumeration for the losses conicident with the incident.”

“silly libbies”

“They ain't Republicans ... I'm pretty sure! LOL!”

“Too bad all three were not maulled to death. Thinning the heard”

“oh my”

“Well when they take injured people, suspects or anyone in an "activity" out and one says to the other..."Don't say nothing to no one." I can give you 99.999999999999999999% assurance they are guilty as hell.”

“If you're going to be stupid, you'd better be tough.”

“or be able to run faster than a tiger”

“Or at least (as in this case) run faster than one of the other guys....(LOL)”

“Drunk, High, stupid and evidently well off (driving a BMW)
I wonder if Britney or Lindsay were involved?
last edited: 1/18/08 8:05:23 AM”

“Too bad all three were not maulled to death. Thinning the heard.

Proof, evolution doesn't work. Huckleberry rite again.

That tiger would have eaten them , but they were spiked.
last edited: 1/18/08 8:10:49 AM”

“I agree that these idiots are totally at fault.

One positive thing that may come out of this is that the people running the zoo were also revealed to be idiots, and maybe they will clean up their act. I listened to some of the 911 tapes, and they just couldn't believe a tiger had gotten loose (out of the enclosure that, as it turns out, has a wall that is a few feet too short by current standards). I can understand that if you see some young punks running around screaming that a tiger is loose that it might be just some kids raising hell, but it turned out to be true. They wasted a lot of time not believing the guys - if they had acted appropriately, maybe they could have rescued the injured idiots and not had to shoot the tiger.

I mean, how often does somebody go running around screaming "A TIGER IS LOOSE!!"? Is it a daily occurrence such that everybody just thinks, "Oh, gee, there go some kids crying wolf again...."?”

“Read somewhere that those idiots might get some money out of this. "Oh yeah, we taunted the tigger" if and when they ever fest up..."but it was the zoo's fault....the wall was too low....pay us!!!!"”

“Sorry goobers. Being a stupid minority punk on drugs isn't a capital crime, no matter how much you wish it was.”

“like chris rock said, the tiger didnt go "mad". the tiger went "tiger"”