People want to move out to the woods, people often do not understand what that means. By that I mean that wild animals often call the shots and while unlikely could turn the tables on the almighty human. Here are a few examples I’ve seen / observed in the last 2 weeks.
- Bear: There has been a big bear stalking our trash, he even opened a “bear proof” locking trash container and had his way with everything inside. It was NOT left out overnight.
- Bear x2: Dog going crazy out on the deck at night and I went outside, there was the same bear about 20 yards away just staring at me before slowly walking off like he didn’t have a care in the world.
- Lion: Recent snow (yes it still snows at elevation) revealed mountain lion tracks close to the homestead, a neighbor up the road lost a goat to said lion recently. More than the bear these are freaky because you never see them.
- Fox, Turkey, Deer, Elk: Not exactly a threat but nonetheless still around which do draw the larger predators in.
I love living out here and when I go outside, especially at night, I’m overly cautious and have a firearm on me. The chances of getting assaulted by a bear or lion are slim but they are still there and under cover of darkness they have the advantage. We humans believe we are all powerful and run the show but reality is out here, we could be nothing more than a meal.
Good times.
2 comments
I’m pretty jealous of your situation right now!
I grew up in the sticks myself, and have always found it funny that people assume we are the top of the food chain wherever we go. In my neck of the woods, we did not have bears but coyotes and the occasional mountain lion. The worst threat we had were packs of feral dogs; those that were usually dumped by negligent owners and went wild. There was more than one story of hunters being treed by them, usually after being run off a fresh kill they were field dressing. These dogs had no fear of man and usually looked at us as a source of food, knowing we are usually near it.
One animal to bring up here that many don’t think of as a threat, feral pigs. A grown pig can gore and maim a person in very little time and they are hard enough to kill that avoidance is usually the best policy unless actively hunting them.
In the country, common sense is a valuable asset. Using it when dealing with wildlife is very important.
Yes, people underestimate the threat feral dogs present. We once lost all our lambs in one afternoon to a pack of dogs we didn’t even know existed. And yes, if they’re hungry they will go after a human, especially a child. It breaks my heart because these dogs are the result of negligent humans.