Today’s lesson… Know what to do when you encounter animals
--
Sign up to receive the weekly lessons plus extra goodies: http://eepurl.com/imZrrg
There are lots of animals out there that can harm you, and different methods for keeping safe from each one.
There’s also a ton of bad advice out there about staying safe from those animals.
For example…
What do you do if you see black bear on the trail?
Most people would say act big and tall and scare it away, but it’s not that simple. There are times when that’s the wrong approach with a black bear.
What if you act big and scary and then realize her babies are on the trail behind you? Now you- the big scary animal- is between her and the babies.
Now you’re between a rock and hard place, or a bear and a hard place, as the case may be.
All I’m trying to say is that there are so many things to do with so many different animals, that most people just freeze up, get scared, and then display prey animal behavior.
What I’m going to give you in this lesson are a few simple strategies to use for MOST animals you might encounter. This will keep you save in 99.9% of the situations the average person would encounter.
If you live in an area where more dangerous animals are common, I would advise that you find out what to do specifically for that animal. For example, if I lived in Colorado, I would learn up on what to do for mountain lions. In Alaska, it would be large bears and moose.
By the way, if you have specific requests for lessons, just email me. If I get quite a few requests on specific topics, I’ll do a lesson on that to include here in the series.
Animal Encounter Safety
I’m not using the word “wild” for this, because the most common animal most of you will encounter and have trouble with is someone else’s pet dog.
- Carry a stick
- I recommend you carry a stick with you anytime you leave the house for a walk, hike, bike, kayak…or anything. A simple walking stick has so many uses, and it’s so easy to carry, it’s a necessity.
- Just a few uses for a good walking stick:
