Animal in the bush

[dancier]

I often see this thread appear on BPL but the OP was primarily after pictures of a mountain lion but other wildlife has been filmed as well. Some of the pictures show freshly caught prey, it's different world out there at night so I wonder what happens around our tents at night.


http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... 210#794210

[Travis22]

Great thread and photos over there thanks for sharing.

Feral cats make the worst sound outside ones tent in the night while trying to lure in prey.

Been honked by many deer, heard lots of howling dogs/ dingoes, owls and other birds but cannot say I've ever felt threatened.

It certainly is a different world overseas where I dare say their animals can and sometimes sneak up on you without a sound and pose a significant threat to ones health!

Travis.

[GPPJ]

North American 'gun' culture got going in part due the uh, hazardous fauna: bears especially.

I think if the Australian settlers had cause to live with more hazardous large fauna we may have developed a similar dependance on rifles and shotguns.
Carnivorous kangaroos....

We are the lucky country! (NZ is the very lucky country).

[David M]

It must certainly be a different experience hiking in North America where the wildlife might eat you. At least ours tend to only sting or poison you (except crocs up north and numerous marine predators).

Also, in the US and Canada hikers hang their food in trees in bear proof bags. I never understood this. If the bear can't get to your food supply aren't you then the easier-to-get-to tasty morsel?

[Travis22]

I don't think the American gun culture has bugger all to do with dangerous animals.

There constitutional right to bare arms exists purely so that if the govt ever went against it's people the people could stand up against the govt.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"

Just like anyone living / working in remote Australia can get permission to carry a sidearm (handgun) for protection if threats are proven to exist ie. wild pigs/ crocodiles/ buffalo etc. I would say that the Americans that carry a firearm where bear threat is high are in a completely different 'group' to the hard core 2nd amendment crowd.

Most Australian that live off the land still today have a huge reliance on firearms they are just another tool in the shed to them, far from the weapon status most city folk view them as.

Travis.

[Strider]

Most Australian that live off the land still today have a huge reliance on firearms they are just another tool in the shed to them, far from the weapon status most city folk view them as.

Exactly like knives. Try telling the sheeple it's purely a tool though..

[dancier]

If you jump onto the American walking forums, it's an eye opener, most of it good but here are some of the bad things.

In the states with the gun culture, it's a whole different world, I've read where guys have set up tents and some drunk bogan is taking pot shots at them because he thinks it's an animal moving through the bush, I assume it would be very rare but in Aus the thought wouldn't come across your mind.

With the fire culture, they're having massive problems with bushfires in some parts, to the point where they are restricting stove use, whether it be hikers or not, people light fires without a lot of thought. Another thread I was reading, this guys had just set up his brand new dream tent and then goes for a walk down to the lake and comes back to find, another walker lights a fire next to the tent causing damage to the fly from embers without a thought in the world.

Another one, these guys set up camp near the border of Mexico in the desert, at night they could hear movement and voices, it was the border control and they were saved by one guy having a tent set up whereas the others were cowboy camping, as do the illegal Mexicans.

[Gadgetgeek]

The reason to hang the food and smelly stuff up away from the bears is more to keep the bear moving on. If it can't get to your food, its not likely to hang around, the bigger risk is it tries to get into the tent for a snack, then finds the people, and either panics and hurts someone in the process, or if its a bigger bear, takes the opportunity. The other aspect is keeping the bears from associating people with food, so over the long term, by keeping food away from the bears, it protects people in general. It only takes a little time for a bear to habituate to people, and then that bear is either re-located or put down, usually the latter. Bears are pretty lazy so keeping the food from them is the easy way, bear lockers work as well if they are the big steel ones, but bear-proof containers are less optimal in my opinion, since the bear just has something to play with. I guess over time they would learn that its not worth it, but I'd rather not give it the chance.
As far as carrying guns for bear protection, apart from hunting guides, almost no one does. Avoidance is much better, and spray works 100% of the time, where as shooting a bear tends to just *&^%$#! it off, and ensure it fights to the end. That is, if you manage to hit it at all. There are quite a few hard core, carry anywhere sort of folks, but in general, most people don't worry about it too much.
As far as the gun culture, its the same in the rural areas of Australia, in fact, historically Australia had far more guns than Canada, and most of the states! Of course with the "new" rules, that put most urbanites in the unarmed group, and limited the firepower of rural folks, but I think the reason we don't see the same things is proximity. The average farmer in the US lives a short distance from town and his nearest neighbor, where as the average aussie farmer is very isolated. So the guys with guns can really do what they want, and never affect your average bushwalker. Plus you are very unlikely in australia to stumble across someones grow-op in a national park, where in the states, that happens all the time, and many of those grow-ops are defended. So I think its just a proximity thing.

I would love to get a trap camera to see what all walks though the campsite over night, would be fun to see for sure!

[Orion]

I don't think our fanatical gun culture has anything to do with past dangerous animals. The origin was political, a desire to be free of government tyranny.

In terms of number of deaths I would hazard a guess that the fauna of Australia is far and away more dangerous.

I saw what I think was a bobcat recently in Yosemite Valley at about 6:30am. It was skulking between the parked cars in the Curry Village orchard. I didn't get that good of a look at it but it seemed bigger than other bobcats I've seen in Yosemite, about a meter long, so I suppose it's possible it was a small mountain lion, but probably not. This one was sneaking around but others I've seen just walked casually within 10 meters of where I was standing without even giving me a look, as if to say, "I couldn't care less about you."

[markg]

Things certainly are different in their backwoods. Some of my family live in Alaska and rifles and side arms are like shoes and socks. They are fortunate to have all those big animals in the parks, just like we have our slithery, furry ones.

[Gadgetgeek]

Orion, it could well have been a big bobcat, cougars look quite a bit different, so I doubt you'd confuse the two.
When I lived in Churchill there were still gun-racks at the door of the grocery stores. Not so now, but it all depends on the times.