So, to begin with Bears really aren't afraid of much except other bears and Humans sometimes. The Alpha Human Male who feels sort of immortal is their normal state of mind in the wilds. I was confronted more than once while surprising or being surprised by a bear in the wilderness. Most of these times I was on foot an unarmed. So, usually the bear and I would usually choose to just turn around and walk in the other direction from each other and both of us sort of did a macho power walk away.
But on one day I was driving my four wheel drive International Harvester Scout II 4 wheel drive 1974 in the mid 1980s near my 2 1/2 acres of land that I owned then on the side of Mt. Shasta at about 4000 feet in elevation.
| American black bear Temporal range: Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene to recent |
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| At Lake Louise, Alberta |
My father and then about 8 year old son were with me. As we drove down a very remote dirt road 20 to 30 miles from the nearest gas station we were startled by a bear suddenly in front of us. It stood up in the middle of the road to threaten us so I just stopped the car and it would be difficult to determine who was more startled the bear or us. I just kept the engine running in case the bear decided to rip a door off the vehicle or something but it just stood there because we were not approaching anymore. After standing there on its hind legs ready to do battle with us for about a minute or so it finally decided we weren't going to fight and it went down on all fours and slowly and deliberately walked away. I thought as the bear walked away, "There goes the King of the Forest" because that guy could kick anybody's butt even mine if I didn't have a gun or a vehicle to protect me and my family. So, we watched this guy walk away completely amazed by what he had done.
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| Male (bull) | |
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| Female (cow) | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
| Genus: | Alces Gray, 1821 |
| Species: | A. alces |
| Binomial name | |
| Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Moose range map | |
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For example, most people don't know that more people in the U.S. are killed by Buffalo each year than by any other animal. Basically, what a buffalo will do to kill you takes about a couple of seconds. First, they knock you down with their head then with one blow they rise up and flatten your chest or head to the ground with all the weight of their front two legs and body and you are dead. Most of the people killed by Buffalo are tourists that think Buffaloes are cows. No, they are a wild animal that knows how to deal with even Bears. And they are even more dangerous than bears because they are protecting their herds so they won't usually run away unless the whole herd goes too.
And then there are deer. Everyone says, "Oh. Look at the sweet deer." However, anyone knows who lives around deer that they can be incredibly dangerous at times. For example, you never want to approach a female deer with a baby because she might seriously injure or kill you. I have been out just walking my dogs where I live on the streets and have been threatened by a female deer because my dogs even on a leash got too close. And one time I was walking in the dark so I could see the stars where I live and all of a sudden both my dogs started barking wildly. So, I turned on a flashlight only to discover that we had cornered a big buck. I thought to myself, "OH. This is really bad!" But do you know what the big buck with horns did? He jumped 7 feet high right over my head and ran off. I don't know if I was more surprised that my dogs had cornered him on leashes or having him jump over my head.
Another important story for tourists from big cities around the world to hear is about Yosemite. Someone from Europe put their 5 year old child on the back of a deer that they thought was tame and the deer through the child off and killed it before the parents could react. No. The deer even in Yosemite National Park only seem tame because some people feed them. They will kill your children if you put them on the back of a Yosemite deer. So, even though deer are beautiful creatures they are very wild. So, don't put them in the position that they feel they have to harm you or your children.
One way that many hunters are able to track main paths that the deer travel on is because of Another true life experience where I live where there are many deer because they aren't allowed to be hunted by people here in the forests. I was riding my bicycle one day and a girl about 13 was crying and hysterical walking along the roads. She had made the mistake of taking her dog for a walk without a leash among the deer during the season when they have horns. The dog which looked to be a black Labrador was walking very strange and I saw that all the flesh on one side of its chest had been torn and was hanging in a 10 inch wide flap over it's ribs. I knew it had been thrown likely quite a ways by a deer with horns. I asked the girl if I could help but she said through her hysteria, "I'm okay!" and I could see she was heading home with the injured dog who was by then sort of walking sideways. He didn't seem to be bleeding for some reason. He just looked awful and was trying to make his way home. So, the lesson here is don't let your dogs chase deer, especially if any of them have horns because those deer REALLY know how to use those horns for maximum effect.
Also, much of the rolling hills of California but not at higher altitudes there are Wild Boar. And Wild boar can be very dangerous. I will tell you what happened to me one night as I was going on duty at my Lookout around 1985-6 one night. I had just closed one gate behind me on the cattle ranch I was driving through about 10 miles to get to my 4000 foot high Fire Lookout. I had just jumped back into my VW Rabbit that I drove for good mileage to my job a couple of hours from where I lived by car or truck. (I still had my 4 wheel drive International Harvester Scout II for bad weather on dirt roads.) But since I was there 4 days and nights at a time it was okay but then in the dark even though I couldn't see what it was something pushed my car off the dirt cattle ranch road and into a ditch. However, since I wasn't allowed a weapon by regulations at the lookout I was unarmed, so since I wanted to live I just kept going while bouncing in the ditch and finally made my way back onto the dirt road and got out of there because it was dark. I really didn't want to meet what had pushed my car off the road without a good rifle in real life. Four days later I came off duty and drove down the same road this time in the daylight. What had hit me was the hugest mama Boar I had ever seen in my life. She looked like she could have weighed almost as much as my car. And nearby, were her babies waiting for her to get up but she had died from having her jaw torn off when she hit and bit my front bumper when she pushed my car off the road and into a ditch.
So, remember if you are in boar country you either need to be armed or you need to be near trees you can climb to escape them or else be prepared to be gored or worse from their tusks.
There are other Animals on the North American Continent to be wary of as well. The two that concern me the most in the wild in regard to dogs or small children are porcupines and skunks. Most adults know to avoid both. But the real problem is both these animals can afford to be dumb as a post because ANYTHING that messes with them directly by mouth or hand will soon be very sorry. And by the way porcupines and skunks are very sweet but stupid creatures as long as you are not activating their defenses. Skunks tend to make dogs blind if their eyes aren't washed out from the stink in time and sometimes the chemical kills the dog within a couple of days either directly or indirectly. In some ways in regard to dogs porcupines are the same. If a dog tries to bite a porcupine and the owner of the dog doesn't find out in time likely the dog will die soon or already be dead within a few days. Luckily, only if you have an outdoor big dog will you have to worry about this. Most dogs under about 25 pounds won't attack a porcupine because its quills make it look very large. Here is an article I wrote about how a friend and I saved his dog after the dog got quilled and how I later saved my own dog with my wife and kids help a few years later.
If your Dog gets Hit by a porcupine tail
I don't consider a raccoon a problem because I understand their basic natures. I only consider them dangerous if a whole family is traveling along together because then the whole group will tend to fight to the death to protect the family just like people would. So, a single raccoon is less a threat to people or larger animals than a foraging family of raccoons is. However, I have to say that I have lost a dog to a raccoon within the last 10 years because my daughter's babysitter forgot to bring the dogs in. The dog was a jack russell terrier Corgi mix that had the coloration of a jack russell but looked like both. She was a female bitch and had the aggressive part of the Jack Russell within her nature. However, my personal dog which is still alive and is a German Shepard Australian Shepard and is about 75 pounds didn't get into the fight and lived. However, he is also the smartest dog I have ever known. But I could see he felt bad when Maggie died. It was especially bad because Maggie was my daughter's and my wife's dog. She lived about 1 month after that before she passed away from kidney failure. The raccoon she fought likely died too because of the type of close in wound she had in her chest as Maggie was very aggressive with wild animals. So, if you move to an area with Raccoons or are just visiting remember if you leave small pets out at night under 25 or 30 pounds they will be Raccoon dinner. However, Maggie was just protecting our trash cans from a large male Raccoon raider when she got and was given her fatal bite. Raccoons also love eating cats too if they are not resourceful enough at night. So, a less veteran cat will often be eaten by raccoons. Remember, Raccoons can climb trees and run across roofs too. The only thing that will save a cat is to be high enough in the branches so the limbs would break if the raccoons went there or just to hide and stay still downwind of the raccoons so they couldn't smell the cat.
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| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Procyonidae |
| Genus: | Procyon |
| Species: | P. lotor |
| Binomial name | |
| Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Range map of raccoon | |
| Synonyms | |
| Ursus lotor Linnaeus, 1758 | |
i/ræˈkuːn/, Procyon lotor (sometimes spelled racoon),[2] also known as the common raccoon,[3] North American raccoon,[4] northern raccoon[5] and colloquially as coon,[6] is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid
family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in) and a body
weight of 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lb). The raccoon is usually nocturnal and is omnivorous, with a diet consisting of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods, and 27% vertebrates. It has a grayish coat, of which almost 90% is dense underfur, which insulates against cold weather. Two of its most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws and its facial mask, which are themes in the mythology of several Native American tribes.
Raccoons are noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that
they are able to remember the solution to tasks up to three years later.The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests of North America, but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas, where many homeowners consider them to be pests. As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across the European mainland, the Caucasus region and Japan.
So, remember if you see a single raccoon and don't corner it and don't have any small pets on a leash at night when you meet a family of raccoons likely you will be okay. But if you corner a raccoon or an individual with a family nearby expect to go to the hospital along with anyone you are with because their teeth and claws are razor sharp always and they are very fast, unbelievably fast. Also, raccoons are nocturnal and so usually emerge from rain gutters, drains or forests after dark until first light when they go hide and sleep through the day. In California they are in almost every suburb because they have learned to co-exist with humans.
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| Striped skunk | |
| Scientific classification | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Caniformia |
| Superfamily: | Musteloidea |
| Family: | Mephitidae (in part, see text) Bonaparte, 1845 |
| Genera | |
| Conepatus Mydaus Mephitis (type) Spilogale |
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| Skunk genera ranges | |
In regard to a skunk wash your dogs eyes out with lukewarm water until you think the skunk smell is gone just from their eyes. Some people like to give their dogs a Tomato Juice bath with large cans of tomato juice which some people claim neutralizes the odor some. And there are also things you can buy from the vet or some health food stores that help too. But mainly you are likely going to have to leave the dog in the garage or outside for a while or your whole house is going to smell like skunk for a long time.
There are many other animals that are a nuisance like rats, mice, woodpeckers that put acorns in your roofing etc. but most people don't worry about them and are mostly used to these kinds of characters all over the world.
One day later: After thinking more about this I realized some animals that I have had experiences with in North America that I should also include and these are Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Lynx, Mountain Lions, Pronghorn, Marmots, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Hawks of all kinds and all kinds of birds.
Bighorn Sheep
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| Male (ram) | |
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Female Ewe
First of all Mountain Goats almost no one ever sees because they live mostly on rocky cliffs and remote areas in mountains near the Canadian Border in Washington and other northern States. However, I have seen Big Horn Sheep in places right near Los Angeles in the mountains of Angeles Crest, Mount Baden Powell, Mt. Baldy, and there might even be some in the Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear area. However, likely they are protected if herds still exist in these areas. Both my wife and I before we met each other have experienced Big Horn Sheep up close when we least expected to. They are mostly beautiful and should not be approached. Males can be very aggressive and so if you approach a big male imagine him knocking you off the cliff you are presently clinging to. So, keep your distance. My wife when she was single said she was hiking up on Mt. Baldy near her University when she was in college and suddenly one was standing right next to her and she thought for a moment she was dead because she was so unprepared. But the next moment the big Alpha Buck Bighorn was gone and she was okay.
"Mountain Lion" redirects here.
| Cougar[1] Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene to recent |
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Mountain Lions are much more of an ongoing problem in California where I live. The problem is the proximity of people (especially joggers or bicyclists) to Mountain Lion areas. So, in places like Southern California where 9 thousand to 11,000 foot mountainous areas converge with Los Angeles County and L.A. and Hollywood bad things sometimes happen to people unaware that a mountain Lion is stalking them, so sometimes people die. If you are running or jogging or even riding a bike the Lion thinks you are running from him or her and sees you kind of like a giant rabbit and jumps on you from behind and bites your neck. So, if you don't see the Lion likely you are dead while listening to your IPOD through your earphones. So, I usually don't make it a point to jog through rough country ajoining a suburb and the people who do this or ride a bike might sometimes be taking their lives into their hands without realizing it.
Even where I live in an affluent forest on the Coast of Northern California we have Mountain Lions sometimes. A good thing to be aware of is that an adult Mountain Lion can jump a 7 foot fence with a 125 pound German Shepard in its mouth. This says it all. This really happened near where I live. Unfortunately for the German Shepard and the Lion the German Shepard had a chain leash and collar on so the Shepard was found dead hanging on the other side of the fence by his chain with mountain Lion signs nearby.
I have also come across partial carcasses of deer mostly eaten by Mountain Lions. Am I certain it was a Mountain Lion? Where I live only two things likely would eat a deer and one is a human illegal poacher and the second is a Mountain Lion. These are the only two things that eat deer out of my area and humans don't gnaw on deer bones.
Another time I was walking with my dogs along a trail next to a stream in the forest when I heard a a mountain lion scream nearby. Since every hair on my body stood up I immediately turned back towards my car with my dogs since it was twilight and beginning to get dark. So, even though I could not see the Lion I knew I was within a few hundred feet of it and wanted to get out of the area soon. Then as I power walked back to my car with my dogs I heard someone screaming on an adjoining trail. He was screaming "Help me God! Help me God! Help me God!" Likely this person had scared the Lion while riding his bicycle illegally through the forest. I called the authorities to report the lion incident on my cell phone. I'm pretty sure the bicyclist escaped or it would have been in the news. However, under the circumstances I wasn't going to go look for a Lion or a fast moving bicyclist as it got dark.
In regard to Lynx I have only seen one mother with her babies walking along the other side of a remote river in the snow once in my life. It was pretty amazing to even see this once in real life as they don't like being around people at all.
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| Conservation status | |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Suborder: | Ruminantia |
| Infraorder: | Pecora |
| Family: | Antilocapridae Gray, 1866 |
| Genus: | Antilocapra |
| Species: | A. americana |
| Binomial name | |
| Antilocapra americana Ord, 1815 |
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| Subspecies[2] | |
| A. a. americana A. a. mexicana A. a. oregona A. a. peninsularis A. a. sonoriensis |
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In regard to Pronghorns they are very mobile as a species and move in herds from the Canadian Border in Yellowstone all the way down to Arizona depending upon the time of year. However, people may be starting to interfere with their migrations by things they build like freeways, fences and other structures. Pronghorns don't like being around people much and prefer a lot a distance. Deer on the other hand often become comfortable being around people like Coyotes, and raccoons who now live around people a lot throughout California where I live. I have seen Coyotes sauntering along the roads hunting rabbits where i live.
Also, Foxes both the Red Fox and the Desert Fox live in the Area where I do This is a picture from wikipedia of one of the common foxes in California where I live.
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| San Joaquin kit fox | |
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Vulpes |
| Species: | V. macrotis |
| Binomial name | |
| Vulpes macrotis Merriam, 1888 |
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| Kit fox range | |
| Synonyms | |
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All these things are really important to know about if you haven't spent a lot of time around wild animals in the U.S. and you are visiting wilder areas than you are used to being in on a regular basis.
Note: All pictures are from wikipedia and all more technical data. However, it is pretty easy to separate my real life experiences from most stuff from Wikipedia.
| American black bear Temporal range: Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene to recent |
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| At Lake Louise, Alberta |
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