Whats your "greatest threat" WILDLIFE encounter

[HIKER7s]

All this bear talk made me think of what I considered the greatest threat I have ever experienced ON THE AT from WILDLIFE.

Although I have had several encounters with bears on the trail, roaming around camp at night among I have been more less comfortable with the un-attached dog.

WILD DOGS
In '78 I come up out of Lehigh Gap and began hearing growls in the wood. Soon there was like 4 dogs around me.

Tell you what, they all looked like they hadnt seen a master in months, mangy and dirty and that look saying bite, you know. Didnt know what else to do so i began blowing my whistle and banging my hiking stick on the trees like a madman, lol.

I drove em off but I was looking around, ahead and behind me for a couple o days after that.


More recent I was bit in the calf in Caledonia ST park in 2001....10 minutes after starting a planned 4 day trip SOBO ! It wasnt rabid however it took a long time to heal. It also ended the trip with my companions as they were all newbies and afraid to go on (no matter how I told them "this never happens")

[Jack Tarlin]

An infected spider bite around eight years ago.

The potential threat from bears---despite what some terrified city folk have been spouting here likely---is statistically insignificant on the A.T. Minor cuts, bites, scratches, burns, etc. are far more likely to affect your trip, or even end it.

[MOWGLI]

If you consider the deer tick "wildlife", IMO it is by far the biggest threat to humans on the AT. That could be quantified with calculating the lost days from work, lost hiking time, maintainers sidelined, health dollars expended, thru hikes ended. Just about any way you look at it.

[HIKER7s]

If you consider the deer tick "wildlife", IMO it is by far the biggest threat to humans on the AT. That could be quantified with calculating the lost days from work, lost hiking time, maintainers sidelined, health dollars expended, thru hikes ended. Just about any way you look at it.

GOOD Point Mowg, I guess really, other than death the affects of the deer tick (if you do get the Lyme) would be probably the best example of a long term threat from a wildlife source.

But how about everyone's example of what they think was their own greatest threat. (an experience)

[Dances with Mice]

Bunch of years ago at Low Gap (Georgia) I was out with my son and a few of his friends. After dark we went out on a firewood scrounge (...plan ahead!...) and on the way back to camp, just before the fire ring, one of the boys thought he saw a rolled up coat, or a hat, or something and since his hands were full he kicked it towards the campsite.

It was a skunk.

A well-mannered skunk, fortunately. One with a forgiving disposition. It did some chattering as we did some scattering but it didn't choose to retaliate.

The biggest threat I've ever felt was when a platoon of starving Army Ranger trainees tromped up just as I was biting into a big overstuffed burrito.

[Blue Jay]

But how about everyone's example of what they think was their own greatest threat. (an experience)

I'd still go with deer tick. I've pulled hundreds of them off me (an experience).
If you want a noninsect danger, I'd have to go with picking up Baltimore Jack's Pack.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Not directly on the AT, but close enough it could happen on the AT (this happened in Slickrock Wilderness in NC about 1981) I encoutered several wild boars during mating season. They were behaving aggressively and destroyed my tent. I climbed a tree to avoid them. They weren't after me - just rowdy young male boars looking for female companionship.

[kyhipo]

Looking at a rattler straight in the eyes about 6inches away in the serria nevadas ky

[sparky2000]

The most dangerous time on the trail for me was a good blower two nights before NOC. The branches flying around.........

[gr8fulyankee]

Off the coast of Small point ME,
I was about 100 feet out and a seal popped up in front of me.
Then it went under and I felt it as it brushed my inner right thigh as it swam between my legs.

Doesn't sound like much, but it was a little to close to a very personal part of me.

[bulldog49]

I have two close encounters, both happened on Isle Royale on different trips in early spring, the first week the is park is opened.

The first one was after a particularly harsh winter where a large portion of the Moose died. I was walking aways ahead of my wife and noticed a still-born moose calf lying near the trail. I stopped a little ways past it to wait for my wife to catch up. When she didn't catch up to me, I backtracked to find her. She was hiding behind a tree near the dead calf because the mother moose showed up to protect her dead offspring and would not let my wife pass. I circled around and finally got the mother's attention long enough for my wife to get away.

The 2nd incident involved a Gyr Falcon. As we approached the tree where it was nesting it repeatedly dived bombed us until; we were well out of the area. It actually grabbed and pulled my wife's hair.

[Lilred]

The closest I came was sleeping in a shelter only to find out it was infested with black widow spiders the next day. Deer Park Shelter I think was the name of it. The one just before Hot Springs.

[max patch]

Massachussets mosquitos. Thot they were gonna fly off with me.

[the goat]

definitely my scariest is getting chased by a black bear on the AT in snp, on a mid-winter trail run (also definitely my fault).

it was a sow protecting her two cubs who had just been treed by my "always well-behaved except for this one incident" dog. i was yelling at my dog to come back the whole time, but the fun was too much to resist for him, so he decided to chase the sow too. i was watching and yelling the whole time, and they were maybe thirty yards off the trail.

well, she got pretty pissed, turned around & roared (quite a chilling sound when hurled in your direction) and charged after him and i, in turn, ran like hell. as my dog came back towards me (finally listening to me a most inopportune moment) the sow gained on us both. at some point, my dog passed me (that bastard) and the sow got even closer. thank God she abandoned the chase as the trail dropped down to skyline drive & elkwallow. although it seemed like a mile, the chase maybe lasted 100+ yds (i'm thankful i had a head start), and at her closest she was probably a mere 10 yds behind me.

*please spare me the lecture on leashes and dogs, you couldn't possibly be telling me anything i don't already know

[papa john]

If you want a noninsect danger, I'd have to go with picking up Baltimore Jack's Pack.

Not sure about his pack, but you definitely don't want to get between him and a can of spam. I've seen that close up and personal. Hawk Mtn Shelter, April '00. Wasn't pretty.

[RockyTrail]

it was a sow protecting her two cubs who had just been treed by my "always well-behaved except for this one incident" dog. i was yelling at my dog to come back the whole time, but the fun was too much to resist for him, so he decided to chase the sow too. i was watching and yelling the whole time, and they were maybe thirty yards off the trail.

well, she got pretty pissed, turned around & roared (quite a chilling sound when hurled in your direction) and charged after him and i, in turn, ran like hell. as my dog came back towards me (finally listening to me a most inopportune moment) the sow gained on us both. at some point, my dog passed me (that bastard) and the sow got even closer. thank God she abandoned the chase as the trail dropped down to skyline drive & elkwallow. although it seemed like a mile, the chase maybe lasted 100+ yds (i'm thankful i had a head start), and at her closest she was probably a mere 10 yds behind me.

That dog!....ROFL!!....really loves his master!!! Sorry,

Thanks for sharing your unique experience, that has to be the funniest thing I've read on this board in quite a while!!! However I'm sure you didn't think so at the time. What a great story, I'm still ROFL!

[ed bell]

I encoutered several wild boars during mating season. They were behaving aggressively and destroyed my tent. I climbed a tree to avoid them. They weren't after me - just rowdy young male boars looking for female companionship.

We have lots of those damn critters in Western South Carolina. I have seen the aftermath of their rootin around. They sure can tear up a hillside. From everything I have heard they are no fun to be harassed by.

[Viking (US)]

The "greatest threat" I had that scared me the most was a grouse that burst out of a bush a couple yards away my first day in the Smokies. It was sunset, still a mile or so to the shelter, and I was thinking about bears. Damn bird nearly gave me a heart attack.

The "greatest threat" that might have caused grevious bodily harm was a moose that tromped through the gap (3-4 feet) between my and another hiker's tents in Maine in the middle of the night. I slept through the whole thing, though, so I dunno if it counts.

I saw no rattlesnakes the whole time and only 2 bears, one in the Shennies and one in New Jersey, both of which went away when they saw me. There were probably a lot of both that I didn't see.

[Skidsteer]

Greatest threat on the trail?


Prosecution rests.....


Click here.


And here.

[Viking (US)]

With respect, Skidsteer, clowns are ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE a threat. I thought we were talking about the AT . . .