Perhaps nothing is more scary than the thought of being attacked in the wilderness by an angry large animal. A ramaging moose during rutting season or a protective mother bear can be mortal to the hiker, hunter, camper. While in the northern woods those animals exist, dangerous encounters with them are very rare. Yet, there is a plethora of discussions as to what is needed to protect oneself in situations as such. This post therefore hopes to sharpen my own concept as to what constitutes adequate preparations for this. Furthermore, I hope to memorize the actions experts from books and magazines expound in preparation for such encounters and perhaps this would be my greatest tool.
The idea that an offensive weapon such as a 12 gauge shotgun to be carried on person for the encounter seems logical at a certain level, but a firearm can weigh quite a few pounds and takes some skill to use especially in non-ideal situations. Even a sidearm takes up space. In remote places where the danger is ever present, such as in certain areas of Alaska, it makes alot of sense. For the majority of the states (I suppose alot of countries), it is so rare that carrying this stuff constitutes more a danger to oneself than to the animal. Even with firearms safety courses, self inflicted injury is way more common than injury from a wild animal. So, if the decision is to carry or not carry, I'd go with the odds.
This leads to the second creature that poses a threat to the outdoorsman, and that is another human being. Being shot by another person is much more likely to occur than being mauled by a bear, wolf, or moose. One can wear bright clothing, make lots of noise, and that may help to a degree. However, even the color red is associated with turkeys and reflex shooting by hunters at bandannas and the like has resulted in injury to the outdoorsman in the past. It makes sense therefore to wear blaze orange just as the DNR recommends during hunting season regardless of whether you are a hunter or not. Better yet, stay away from hunting grounds during this time, especially if you hear guns going off every few minutes which is not that unusual during deer season. A thought... if people are are such a danger to the outdoorsman, maybe we should wear bullet proof vest instead of carrying weapons to protect against wild animals when venturing out. Statistics certainly tells us we should. Just kidding.
The human being is not always the most logical creature, and that is to be accepted. We are governed by a set of values and morals that hopefully would lead us to do the right thing. We all have certain biases though and misconceptions that lead us to do strange things. However, if it doesn't harm anyone or anything, then why not? It may even help in that rare circumstance. If I was going into bear country, bringing bear spray makes alot of sense to me. You don't have to be super accurate, it works fairly well, and it gives me a sense of comfort that is very important. When I see scratch marks on trees nine feet up and paw prints the size of my head, these things do weigh on me. Wolves have been introduced back in my region of the country. I am bigger than any wolf, but my children are not. Maybe a stout walking stick would be helpful especially if you were to run into a pack. Certainly a stick has other good uses as well. As far as moose, I've never seen one in the wild unfortunately, but I'll take Les Stroud's lead in this situation and run away. They're suppose to have poor eyesight.
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