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.
When i was a kid I lived in the mountains of new mexico, and my dad in his infinite wisdom thought he’d surprise my mom and i by buying me a gokart. There were horse trails behind the house that lead into forest and I’d sometimes take it out over those trails as a kid unsupervised.
There was a point where I was going down one of these and something flashed in front of me and my cart hit the back end of something brown. A small, probably young mountain lion’s ass.
It made a pained hissy growly noise and took off running. I immediately turned around and sped home as fast as i could. Almost pissed myself. even though it was obviously small and not coming after me after I hit it, there was an innate fear that this thing could fucking murder me. It was surprising how much scarier the things are when there is no zoo enclosure glass separating you.
Bears, mountain lions, and coyotes. I’ve not seen a mountain lion with my naked eye yet though. They are all around the area so kind of unavoidable, even if you don’t see them you will find their poop, or with coyotes you hear them at night regularly. I’m cautious around all wild animals but not really afraid of them, the odds of being attacked are very slim. I think they should be left alone to do their thing, but I will make noise if necessary to scare them away. One annoying thing is having to take precautions with food when out in the wilderness since bears can be an issue, especially in a group it can be tough to deal with for a number of reasons.
Where I live bears, moose, and mountain lions aren’t uncommon. But the one where I was the most scared was when I was parasailing in Hawaii and while I was wading in the water and GIANT whale breeched right near me. Like RIGHT near me. He swam right under me after and tickled my feet.
Whilst walking my dog at night in Canada. Followed us for a few hundred meters as I walked backwards back home. Pretty sure it was a cougar (mountain lion) as I don’t think a deer would have followed us, let alone without making a sound through the brush.
I would piss myself. Full on piss myself.
Orca and seals, though they aren’t aggressive to humans of course. Coyotes and bears on land. The latter at a distance, which was both of our preference.
Quite a few actually. Alligators and sharks mostly. Give them space and they usually will leave you alone. Life is risk. 🤷♂️
I saw eight bears on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway back in the nineties: a mother and six cubs on one day, and an adult on its own on another. Those fuckers are big.
More recently I was on a coach from Vilnius to Warsaw and saw loads of wolves. Those fuckers are big.
For both occasions I felt something like a distant, muted, primal fear and I was very grateful to be inside a vehicle.
Not a carnivore, but a few years ago I was hiking alone in northern Norway and I came across a small group of reindeer who obviously took a liking to me and followed me for about two hours, very close. They were big enough to do some damage but I didn’t feel even slightly threatened by them, nor them by me, apparently. Those fuckers stink.
I’ve seen bears out in the woods, and walking down the road in front of my house. Also foxes, although they aren’t big. They were chill, so I was chill. Obviously not interested in anything I was doing.
Nah but the next backyard over has been the venue for a spirited yipfest by a pack of coyotes. A few times over the years. I love it every time, even the one morning they woke me up early, it was so awesome that I didn’t mind.
Around day four of a week-long backpacking trip just east of Yosemite, I encountered a bear one morning on my way to do my business. I turned a corner around a large boulder and there he was, was sunning himself on the trail. When he saw me he slowly got up and wandered back into the trees. That simple description left out the few seconds of sheer panic I experienced realizing that the bear could, if it wanted to, cover the distance between us before I could turn around and take three steps. There was nothing but flat, open ground between us and that is what was most frightening.
A shark. Maybe 7~8 foot long but not thick like a tiger or anything truly scary. Still scared tf out of me so I kinda froze in place ready to fight but it turned away about a foot or two away from me, and disappeared and I rushed back on the boat. My heart was racing hard.
I’ve had multiple encounters with bears, cougars, alligators, and meth heads.
The closets I came to dying was being chased around my car for 30m by a mother black bear after I disturbed her hiding in a basement via coal flue. Lost my keys and had to wait for a park ranger to come save me.
Jeez, that’s one hell of a workout
I was walking through some forest in Costa Rica to go from my car to the beach. Halfway through I look up to see an adult crocodile about 50 yards away from me.
I was pretty scared because this was a small stretch of forest and didn’t expect it. Once I go to the beach I turned my chair to make sure a croc didn’t want to eat me or go to the shore of the beach. I later found out crocodiles are really slow. If it was an alligator I might have been toast. I don’t believe Costa Rica has native alligators though.
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only a coyote, i thought it was a husky one time, but it was actually a coyote casually walking pass me.
They follow the train tracks into the city here. Coyotes are smart and very adaptable.
Bears do the same thing.
Unfortunately coyotes around here are too comfortable with people. I live in an urban area near a wilderness area and they come into the neighborhoods looking for rabbits.
Here’s a couple coyotes just chilling in a gated community. They are indeed way too comfortable around us.
