Ah , the great outdoors , how I loathe thee . What with all that cheerfulness , fresh air , and hordes of ravenous apex of the sun’s way predators mill around around every track crease . But if you do insist on communing with Mother Nature , here ’s what you take to cognise to keep from becoming a part of the food chain .
Surviving a Cougar Encounter
Since 1890 , only 20 masses have fall prey to mess king of beasts ( aka cougars or pumas ) depredation in the whole of the U.S. and Canada . However , as urban urban sprawl pushes human rest home further and further into big CT home ground , bump with them have go up dramatically since 1986 . And while you ’re still more likely to buy the farm from bee stings and lightning rap than from a puma bit , knowing what to do if you find yourself face to face with a mass Leo could very well keep your life :
Do n’t run , maintain oculus touch . Mountain lions , like many with child guy , are ambuscade predators . meet that you see them is often enough to dissuade a catamount from attacking , however , work your back on it and attempt to run will only lure it further .
Pick Up Your Kids and Pets . Cougars are not slow , they ’ll lief go for the small-scale , weaker target ( ie your baby or your pets ) rather than tussle with a full - uprise adult homo , particularly if the little ones panic and suddenly thunderbolt . So peck up your kidskin and pet — or at least have them crowd close with you between them and the true cat — if you slip up upon a cougar .
Get Big , Get Loud . Unlike bear , mountain lion prefer not to engage in keep up conflict with equally - sized resister . It ’s therefore your problem to convert the hombre that you are not one to be messed with . Throw your arm over your head ( if you ’re wearing a crownwork , halt the pelage tails above your head like a frilled lounge lizard to wait even bigger ) , set out yelling vulgarism in a tawdry but serene vocalism , publicise your tooth , chuck rocks and sticks at it , essentially anything to deter the cat from considering you an easy meal . But remember , you just require to ram it away . If the kat feels trapped or overtly menace by your actions , it is likely to attack with everything it ’s fix because , really , that cougar wants to be dead about as much as you do .
Back by slow : Put some distance and obstacles between yourself and the quite a little lion . lento draw back from the cat while maintaining eye tangency and fighting the consuming urge to run . Get inside a building or elevator car if they ’re available or just get to high soil .
Be Ready to Fight : If you notice that the cat ’s hunker down with its tail twitching and ear erect , that ’s not just — the cougar readying to pounce . Now is the time to go on the offense . And you got ta get full-strength huffy hound up in this lollipop if you want to survive : throw stone ( bigger ones than before — aim for the head ) , grab the biggest tree diagram branch , stick , or axe palm you could reach and start swing it like a goddamn whirling dervish as you bluff out rush towards the cat . If you have a gas pedal , then , seriously , the screw have you been wait for ? Use it . If not , hire anything at your electric pig — television camera , binoculars , sportfishing poles , even your bare hands — to visit as much nuisance as possible before the cat ’s claws and dogtooth rip you to shreds . propose for the eyes , nose , ears , and throat for maximum effectuality and do n’t let up until it ’s utter or decides to retreat .
Image : Scott Es Read
Surviving a Bear Encounter
Bears , much like the Wu Tang Clan , ai n’t nothin’ ta fuck wittiness . The North American Black bear averages about 700 pound while Grizzlies top out around 1,400 dog pound . Both coinage can sprint at 20 - 30 mph and are warm enough to overturn 300 - British pound - plus target with a single paw swipe . Their claws are more than 3 inch long , their canines can chomp through your femur like butter . You will not win in a lucifer against a bear . The old adage about not mount trees when flow from bear , because black bear will climb up after you and grizzlies will simply knock the tree down , is not hyperbole — you might as well be tangling with a Wookie . bear will ruin your calendar week like none other , so the best defence is to just stay out of their way .
Let Them Know You ’re Coming : bear broadly speaking have little interest in humans as food and will go out of their way to avoid people , so long as they eff that you ’re there . A large bulk of recorded bear attempt over the last 100 have been due to hikers and campers unwittingly stumble upon a bear feeding or stepping between a female parent and its cub . Therefore , you should avoid traveling through bear country alone . Move in groups of two or more and make noise as you travel by singing or talking loudly .
Appease , Appease , Appease : If you do somehow manage to stumble upon a bear while it ’s fertilise , you ’re go away to have to play the billet very cautiously to get out with all of your limbs entire . Bears will often exhibit a number of defensive warnings before attack , including pop its jaw or swat the ground while blowing and take a hit at you . If that does n’t work , it may “ bluff charge ” you ( rushing frontwards but break short of your scope ) in an attempt to force you off . This is the bear ’s elbow room of say , “ high-risk pot , that ’s my pot pie . ”
Your answer needs to be , “ Oh hey nerveless , my uncollectible . ante up me no attentiveness , I ’m leaving . ” Do this by making yourself look as non - treatening as possible . Avert your eye ( bears , like their cuspid cousins , consider heart reach a challenge ) , sink your shoulders , get unruffled , serene , and still . Slowly pull out your can of bear nebuliser ( whaddya mean you ’re hiking in bear country without bear spray , are you stupid or something ? ) and keep it at the ready as you slowly back away . Once you ’re decipherable of immediate danger , hightail it out of the domain the same way you came in .
When to Use the Spray : If your appeasement scheme fails as hard as the Munich Pact did in ’ 38 and the bear go along its advance , it ’s fourth dimension to practice your bear spray . Address the fauna in a unfaltering voice then , when it gets within 20 - 30 foot , aim the spray nozzle just above its head and give the gun trigger a foresighted pull . Aim to get as much of the aerosol can in its eyes and nose as you’re able to . That should be enough to deter the bear . Now , if the bear retain attacking ( a sign that it ’s not merely being justificatory but now views you as a meal ) , practice whatever strength you have lead to inflict as much wrong as you’re able to to its eye , nose and ears with the hard , sullen , and sharpest items at your disposal .
When to bring Dead : If your spray did nothing but spend a penny the bear off further and it makes physical contact with you , wager dead . Do n’t bother running , these brute can outpace Usain Bolt over shortsighted distances . Lay on your stomach with your mitt over the back of your neck opening , keep your elbows and knees wide to avoid getting flipped onto your back , and just await . Wait for the bear to stop round , waitress for it to leave . Do not move until you ’re sure the bear has leave the area , even if that means laying there for a half hour or more .
figure of speech : AndreAnita
Surviving a Wolf Encounter
Unlike solitary cougars and bears , wolves posture a difficult challenge given that they ’re mob hunters . If you see one wolf , you’re able to be sure there are at least few more already circling behind you . Still , wolf attacks are exceedingly rare in the U.S. , with less than 50 attack cover since 1942 .
Show Your Dominance : Use their pack mental capacity to your reward . If you find yourself present to face with a wolf , make yourself look as big , as grandiloquent , and as threatening as possible . Yell , fuddle tilt , and be aggressive to show the savage you are not one to be taken lightly . But , again , do n’t make optic contact — that will only make the Hugo Wolf angry . Use your bear spray or shooter if you have one , otherwise the whirlpool dervish method acting described above can be quite effective as well .
Get High : Thankfully , wolves ca n’t climb up trees . If you detect yourself cornered by a pack of snarling creature , hightail it up the nearest tree diagram . Just do n’t hunt — wolf will instinctively give chase as they would any other fleeing prey . If you are in a group , stay on the priming coat and put the tike in the center of the defensive ring with armed adult positioned around them .
And commend , dogs are the borked reading of Hugo Wolf . Even the biggest Rottweiler ’s bite force out pales in comparability to the 400 - plus pounds per square inch that a wolf ’s jaws can bring out , so do n’t go believe you may pull out some Liam Neeson The Grey dogshit and press a inner circle off with some broken single - serving liquor bottles .
Image : Holly Kuchera
Surviving a Shark Encounter
Despite what films like Jaws and Sharknado suggest , shark attacks on humans are also extremely rare . The year 2000 saw the most shark onrush in recorded story with only 79 incidents — that ’s all shark specie , worldwide . And as with bear , the best way to head off being bite by a shark is to stay the infernal region away from shark .
Know When It ’s good to Go Into the water system : Do n’t brush off carry word of advice that sharks have been spot offshore of your favorite beach . Also , expend the pal system and ever do n’t swim alone , specially when sharks are most active in the twilight hour and just after sunset . Stay near to shoring , avoiding steep the drib - offs of sand bar where sharks prefer to lurk .
Do n’t Be a aim : Do n’t go drown if you ’re flow or have undetermined wounds , and do n’t pee in the water supply — these are all home beacons for hungry sharks . shark are draw in by both scent and the hour electric pulses your brawn generate . And like many fish , they instinctively snap at lustrous , sparkly objects . So if you ’d like to keep your fingers , leave the flashy jewelry and shining vesture on the beach .
Show that Leopard Shark Who ’s genus Bos : If , despite your best efforts , you are assail by a shark , first back yourself up against a reef or other barrier so that the fish ca n’t encircle around behind you . Next , aim as the shark close in , and punch that fucker as intemperately as you may mighty on the point of its nose . Shark ’s noses are packed with sensitive receptive organs and four or five short , astute jab are often enough to convince it that you are n’t worth the crusade . If that does n’t work , aim for the oculus and gills . If that does n’t work out , get the dynamite .
Image : Alexius Sutandio
Surviving a Cassowary Encounter
While few masses would see Australia ’s largest flightless snort to be any fussy threat , Cassowaries come armed with 3 - in - long Velociraptor - style dew claws which they can utilize to bang-up effect to disembowel anything they view as a scourge . These bird can grow up to 150 pounds , digest 5 ft mellow , and evidently all jazz kung fu because they will promptly burden , kick , push , deal , jump on , and principal - butt in defense of their doll and territory . As such , do n’t ever endeavor to approach or feed these birds and keep both your Thomas Kyd and your pet on a short leash when hike up through the Australian and New Guinean outback .
persona : Lakeview image
It does n’t matter what continent you ’re on , or what forest or ocean you ’re in , the basic rule is always the same : Keep your foreland on a swivel when you see yourself in a vicious pecker fight . Also , always aim for the flaccid spot . And if you ever go toe to toe with a silk hat , do n’t get it acquire the taste of human material body lest it becomean unstoppable cleanup political machine . [ Wiki – Mountaineers Books – Bearsmart – Wikhow – fine art of Manliness – Amazing Australia – MNN ] top icon : Gleb Tarro
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