I am currently reading this book about the five large carnivores of Scandinavia and I am absolutely humbled, both by finding out how little I knew about them, what prejudice I had against them and how people that live in close proximity to them can both love, respect and be angry with them at the same time. I am reading the original release in Swedish.
- What have you encountered in the wild?
- When, where, how?
- What were your initial thoughts, feelings and reactions (physical, psychological, etc.)?
- What do think of them in general? <— this last question applies to everybody, regardless of whether you have seen or met one of these large carnivores or not.
Personally, without having met any one of them, I am humbled, scared, amazed and intrigued by them. I feel for those whose - for instance - livestock are threatened by them, especially if it directly damages business. I also strongly believe that the matter should not be dumbed down to the dichotmy of “ignore those that suffer from them” or “eradicate them”. We are far too intelligent and developed a race to degrade ourselves so.
I’ve been almost killed by a grizzly, twice, when I used to live on the eastern slopes of the rockies in Alberta. Climate change and human activity are making it hard for the bears and they are hungry as fuck in those parts.
One time when I was like 6 years old camping with my parents, I went on a walk to the river and got charged from behind a bush, but it didn’t seem hellbent on killing me
Another time I was hiking up a fire cutblock and my buddy and I thought we saw three hikers maybe like 3km uphill from us. Eventually it was obvious is was a mom and cubs, and they were chasing at us full speed (we were upwind from them). If we were a little further into the hike, I think one of us wouldn’t have made it back to the truck in time.
I’ve also been trapped by a moose in my parents garage for 6 hours, once
I still would rather run into either these animals out in the sticks than random humans. I’ve encountered some really sketchy people in my time spent in the woods. Seems to be getting worse too. I’m not a gun person, but that’s why I have a gun.
Trying not to make this personal but I’m much more afraid of a person intentionally carrying a gun, than some random stranger. I understand the urge to protect yourself, but you should take a closer look at your chances of defending yourself, and why you live in fear
I’ve literally been robbed while solo camping before
Since covid there are just a lot of bad people out there. I put my shotgun on my tailgate now and have not had a random drunk crew pull unto my campsite in the middle of the night since lol
Yeah that’s kind of the idea haha
Yes, all the innocent people you may encounter need to be afraid of being murdered because you live in fear after being robbed by one group once?
People pulling up to my campsite in the middle of the night are not innocent people
Whats your suggestion? Call the cops? Lol
Did they murder you? Does everyone do that?
I feel like you are just arguing for the sake of arguing
Every seasoned camper brings a shotgun with them here, because yes, it’s a surprisingly common issue
Probably true. I wasn’t really trying to but yeah, I have very different attitudes toward deadly weapons than you do.
Perhaps you camp somewhere with deadly wildlife, I don’t know.
Most bears and cougars per square kilometre in the entire world where i live
But people are still what scare me more, based on lived experience
In Canada it’s illegal to use a gun in self defense and I’m not super interested in prison. It’s just the best deterrent I can think of. Cops don’t care.