Bears, and guns while camping or hiking (Orange, Berkeley: living in, move)

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by jaijai

Same here (or i should say me neither) ... in northern New England, Idaho, the southwest and California.
When, in Idaho specifically, i'm hiking with my dog in areas where it's likely that bears are around, i just make a bit of noise now and then so as not to startle a momma with cubs.
I do admit to being quite paranoid about mountain lions. That's the only better thing about the northeast woods for one like me who has a phobia ... no mountain lions.

True. But they do have man-eating blackflies and mosquitoes
(I used to live in Maine -- barely escaped with my hide -- although the place is so marvelous, it's almost worth the May thru August assault)

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

I believe there have been exactly 2 instances of humans killed by mountain lions since CA became a state.

Verified Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans in California (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/attacks.html - broken link)

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Verified Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans in California (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/attacks.html - broken link)

Two or 16, I guess it only really matters if you're one of them. Two-legged critters are far more worrisome.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

True. But they do have man-eating blackflies and mosquitoes
(I used to live in Maine -- barely escaped with my hide -- although the place is so marvelous, it's almost worth the May thru August assault)

Oh yeah.
I spent a lot of time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as a child.
June was the really bad month if i'm remembering correctly.
We kids (us kids?) were always covered in black fly bite scabs from head to toe.
No Off for us .. yucko.
Although the smell of Woodsman and Cutters bug repellent (which we'd be forced to use on occasion) brings me right back to that time. Yummmmm.

[Cali BassMan]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Two or 16, I guess it only really matters if you're one of them. Two-legged critters are far more worrisome.

AS one who spends a good bit of time in the Mountains, Lakes, Hills and Hollars of the Golden State, I would agree that the reason to carry in the back country is the 2 legged animals that filter out of our cities into the back country..
Cats have killed 16 in 100 years, but the human murder rate is what 3 a day?

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

AS one who spends a good bit of time in the Mountains, Lakes, Hills and Hollars of the Golden State, I would agree that the reason to carry in the back country is the 2 legged animals that filter out of our cities into the back country..
Cats have killed 16 in 100 years, but the human murder rate is what 3 a day?

While i agree that the two legged ones are potentially treacherous, i've also, in all my years of hiking / camping, never encountered a rapist, murderer, thief, etc.. (knock on wood).

[Fontucky]

I counted 6. Don't know where 16 came from.

[BlackShoe]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

There are some folks here that have talked about carrying weapons in the woods for protection from critters.

Twisting statistics to fit an agenda? Most of us know that the risk from two legged predators is far greater than is the risk from four legged ones. That said, there is still risk, remote though it may be. Black bears are not harmless, cute, cuddly, shy animals. Want to twist some numbers? Far more humans have been killed in North America by black bears than by grizzlies. Reason is because black bear interactions with people are quite common due to the much wider distribution of the animal, while grizzly distribution is limited, as are contacts with humans. Of course dogs kill more people than wild animals, there are thousands of interactions between dogs and humans for each interaction between a person and a wild predator.

www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/bear/bear_incidents.html

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Verified Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans in California (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/attacks.html - broken link)

Thank you sir, I stand corrected, I knew it was less than ten, I was in a hurry when I posted.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by jaijai

Oh yeah.
I spent a lot of time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as a child.
June was the really bad month if i'm remembering correctly.
We kids (us kids?) were always covered in black fly bite scabs from head to toe.
No Off for us .. yucko.
Although the smell of Woodsman and Cutters bug repellent (which we'd be forced to use on occasion) brings me right back to that time. Yummmmm.

I have hiked the White Mountains extensively ... Mt. Washington at least three times up the bad side. All said, though, the black flies get worse the further north you go (Maine).

Yes, blackflies are usually a very late April, at the earliest, hatch -- most typically mid-May thru June ... then they graciously give way to the mosquitoes. Thoughtful bunch, spreading the terror until early / mid-August ... then: heaven on earth, like even California can't match, until about mid-Nov.