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Creature you'd most like to avoid on a trail

Creature you'd most like to avoid on a trail

  • Bear

    Votes: 50 44.2%
  • Moose

    Votes: 37 32.7%
  • Mountain Lion (Cougar), Bobcat

    Votes: 66 58.4%
  • Rattle Snake

    Votes: 31 27.4%
  • Farm Animal

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Skunk

    Votes: 19 16.8%
  • Wolf

    Votes: 11 9.7%
  • Coyote

    Votes: 9 8.0%
  • Bugs (mosquitos, ticks, and other tiny nuisance)

    Votes: 20 17.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 15 13.3%

  • Total voters
    113

Tricia

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With the discussions we've been having about Bear, Moose and Cougar attacks, I wonder; which animal or other species are you the most anxious about bumping into on a trail, whether you're skiing, hiking, mountain biking or camping.
*You are allowed 5 selections in this vote.
Reference threads:
Two mountain bikers attacked by cougar
Moose charges cyclists in Alaska
Bear Mauling and other Bear Stories
And just because farm animals haven't been discussed yet, check out this video of Candide Thovex being charged by a cow
 
Last edited:

Fishbowl

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I've been skunked twice.

The only other animal potentially more annoying is an off leash dog when I am hiking with my GSD.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I've been skunked twice.

The only other animal potentially more annoying is an off leash dog when I am hiking with my GSD.
Funny, I actually thought about having stray dog as an option.
 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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Where I camp in the Unitas, last year a guy with a trail cam showed me a few pictures of a black bear sow and two cubs. I know where he had it, and I go back to that water hole a lot on foot. I hike quite a bit with my German Shepard, and I really didn't need that information. I suppose I did, but now the wife makes me take a pistol. I was happy just taking a walkie talkie before.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I never imagined this, but a Monkey Attack
 

Eric267

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Around here I would say mountain lion. Luckily we don't usually have them in the Tahoe basin since there are really no dear. If you head just a few miles outside of Truckee they run the deer migration path from the valleys around Reno up towords Plumas county.

Grizzly if we're talking North America

I guess if your not used to them coyotes seem scary. They are all fur only weighing 35-40 lbs on average. You mostly just have to worry if you have a smaller dog that's off leash during a confrontation. Lots of stories around here of coyotes grabbing puppies and taking off with them right in front of owners.

Funny, I actually thought about having stray dog as an option.

Definitely the most scared I've ever been of an animal was wild street dogs down in Guatemala and Mexico.

My ex had a sister that was living down in Lake Atalin, Gt a few miles up on the hill away from the town of Panajitchel. As if walking home from the bars late at night wasn't sketchy enough there were crazy amounts of wild dogs that would come out of the hills in the middle of the night to scavenge for food. I have no doubt if those things attacked you and drew blood pack mentality would take over and they would rip you to shreads.

The packs of wild pit bulls down in Tijuana and Roserito are pretty scary also.
 

Bad Bob

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Wasp nests would rank up there too. Even the bears will steer clear of those.
Bad mosquitoes are another, they are thought to be a main reason that caribou migrate.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Okay, no one was voting Kangaroo, which I put in place for our friends from down under, so I changed that selection to bugs, covering mosquitos, ticks, and other such things.

Flawed poll - no option for other humans

Beyond that midges and other bugs by far.
How about you use the "other" option for "other" humans. ;)
 

coskigirl

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Funny, I actually thought about having stray dog as an option.

I never would have thought this would be an issue for me until last Friday. I was riding with my dad in front of me and my sister behind when a large brown dog came flying toward me with no owners in sight. When I first sensed the movement I thought it was a bear cub. He started galloping along side us until we came around a bend and found its owners. If I’d been alone I probably would have had words with the owners.
 

JeffB

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Around here, I would say human is the animal I least like to encounter. Most people are great, but at least once per year, on the AT or connecting trails in the Smokies or Blue Ridge, a person will emerge from the trees in the middle of nowhere, with almost no gear and frequently no pack, wearing surplus military gear, and there is a strange look before one of us moves off. Maybe they are fine. Maybe they live back in the woods somewhere. Maybe I am actually the weird one, I don't know. Whatever it is, it's unnerving.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I have more than one friend who has started to carry a gun while hiking. I'm not going to lie, I've considered it. Its been a long time since I've been shooting so I'd have to refresh my skills before I'd feel comfortable packing heat.
 

SkiNurse

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Around here, I would say human is the animal I least like to encounter. Most people are great, but at least once per year, on the AT or connecting trails in the Smokies or Blue Ridge, a person will emerge from the trees in the middle of nowhere, with almost no gear and frequently no pack, wearing surplus military gear, and there is a strange look before one of us moves off. Maybe they are fine. Maybe they live back in the woods somewhere. Maybe I am actually the weird one, I don't know. Whatever it is, it's unnerving.
Exaaaaactly. It's the people I prefer to avoid.... :cool:
 

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