dogs are more dangerous than bears

[smokymtnsteve]

Attacks by predatory bears are so highly publicized that it is difficult to put them in perspective. You are 160,000 times more likely to be killed in an auto accident than to be killed by a black bear. The more than500,000 black bears in North America account for about one human death every three years. For each person who dies from a black bear attack, 67 die from attacks by dogs, 180 die from bee and/or wasp stings, and 374 die from lightning


and you are more likely to see a dog on the trail than you are a bear....

[Tabasco]

...and I am more likely to beat to death a dog using my poles or my hiking boots than I am a bear. Seems pretty easy to put into perspective.....he's dead, so is she. Through their own actions. Most dog deaths are young children, most bee sting deaths are allergic reactions, (I am surprised you didn't mention the deadly peanut or the dastardly shrimp in the same category with the bees, btw) Lightning strikes can be fairly easily avoided too, the big point in all of this BE SMART. You are responsible for your own safety.
The automobile is about the only random means of death you listed, and that is only partly so, as a lot of deaths are caused by driver error, but some days you just happen to drive through the green light at the same time another driver decides to run it. Game over.

[MedicineMan]

since this thread is obviously AT related I will state my biggest fears while hiking are:
rednecks
hunters
falls/twisted ankles/blown out knees
burns while cooking
cuts
and the most important-hypothermia

I think these are realistic fears because in 32 years of AT hiking I have never seen a bear on the trail (this coming weekend we are back in GSMNP so I may have to chage that), seen 2 snakes (one copperhead and one beautiful black snake), never experienced lightning (big wind and rain yes), luckily dont have a problem with peanuts,poison ivy (but plain milk will kill me), and of the maybe 100 dogs I have seen total only 1 would I consider a poor trail dog.
I have had a gun pointed at me in a robbery attempt on Big Bald, I have seen a man with a major laceration via hatchet near Max Patch, I have been lost (even too recently-well not lost just the wrong trail) and I have seen many a Boy Scout shivering to stay warm.
Working in a large hospital you can imagine what we admit in a weeks time and I have to laugh at the real possibilities on the trail

[Ridge]

You mentioned REDNECKS as a big danger on the AT. Well, these "rednecks" have given many hikers water, food, directions, rides to hospitals and grocery stores. So stay out of the South if you are so afraid of these "terrorist"!!! signed a REDNECK.

[Ankle Bone]

I think you’re most likely to be in an auto accident if a bear is driving the shuttle.

While day hiking with my leashed dog recently, two guys asked me if the pepper spray was for bears. I replied, “No, it’s for the people who don’t keep their dogs under control while on the trail.” Don’t carry spray when it’s just me.

And in spite of what others may think, I’m more nervous about the punks in NY and NJ that I may encounter because I’ll be so close to urban areas. I don’t think the South has cornered the market on idiots, but we sure are easy targets for the uninformed.

[The Old Fhart]

Ankle Bone,
I'm willing to bet the north can easily match you on idiots! Up here we have "swamp yankees" not "red necks" and neither are necessarily any different than the rest of us "normal" folks, whatever normal means. I'm sure everywhere the density of idiots is about the same. I've got a lot of trail magic down south and I do trail magic up here to try to balance that out. Like the balance of power in the cold war, we don't want to have an idiot gap ;-)

[Jaybird]

...................... in 32 years of AT hiking I have never seen a bear on the trail (this coming weekend we are back in GSMNP so I may have to chage that), seen 2 snakes (one copperhead and one beautiful black snake), never experienced lightning (big wind and rain yes),

I have had a gun pointed at me in a robbery attempt on Big Bald, I have seen a man with a major laceration via hatchet near Max Patch, I have been lost (even too recently-well not lost just the wrong trail) and ............

MedicineMan

Remind me to NEVER go hiking with you! hehehehehehehehehehehe!

[Ankle Bone]

According to Jeff Foxworthy, he realized that rednecks were everywhere when he went bowling at a Wisconsin alley that offered valet parking. We is everywhere!

[Jersey Bob]

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[Ankle Bone]

OK, you've sensitized me! Jersey or bust!

[Blue Jay]

3) When walking past a family and hearing the little ones say "Mommy, did you see that man's stick?!"

I'm sorry Jersey Bob, but this communication has been ruled illegal by the FCC.

[Jersey Bob]

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[cabalot]

I'm sorry Jersey Bob, but this communication has been ruled illegal by the FCC.

i beleive the fine for that is now $27,000

i live in jersey too, i am most afraid of running out of alcohol on the trail, or worse, having a bottle of beer wine or booze break inside my pack and not being able to sooth my achey muscles at camp.

[Nightwalker]

Ankle Bone,
I'm willing to bet the north can easily match you on idiots! Up here we have "swamp yankees" not "red necks" and neither are necessarily any different than the rest of us "normal" folks, whatever normal means. I'm sure everywhere the density of idiots is about the same. I've got a lot of trail magic down south and I do trail magic up here to try to balance that out. Like the balance of power in the cold war, we don't want to have an idiot gap ;-)

I get immediate rides when hitching "down here". I've been told that the rides dry up North of the Mason-Dixon line. That may not be true, but most folks of my aquaintance in the South take the Southern hospitality thing very seriously.

Frank

[steve hiker]

Damn right dogs are more dangerous than bears. And so are the idiots who own them. A couple years ago I was hiking to a hot springs when a couple allowed their dog to intimidate me at a trail junction just to prove a point. These jerks were also camping "next" to the springs.

I got my revenge by hiking out the next day, opening their car, taking a dump on the drivers seat and pissing on the passenger seat. I wanted to make their experience as nice as mine. I actually have a friend who shot and killed two charging dobermans at a state park. The owners were pissed but had no recourse; he only got a $50 fine for shooting a gun at the park.
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[weirdfrog]

geez...don't they ever get tired of not having a life?

[Blue Jay]

geez...don't they ever get tired of not having a life?

That is his life. Will gets off telling that story. I've noticed it's changed slightly over the years.

[Jersey Bob]

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[Chappy]

Damn right dogs are more dangerous than bears. And so are the idiots who own them. A couple years ago I was hiking to a hot springs when a couple allowed their dog to intimidate me at a trail junction just to prove a point. These jerks were also camping "next" to the springs.

I got my revenge by hiking out the next day, opening their car, taking a dump on the drivers seat and pissing on the passenger seat. I wanted to make their experience as nice as mine. I actually have a friend who shot and killed two charging dobermans at a state park. The owners were pissed but had no recourse; he only got a $50 fine for shooting a gun at the park.
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Better be careful...you might find yourself on one of those "red blazes."

[snowshoe]

And in spite of what others may think, I’m more nervous about the punks in NY and NJ that I may encounter because I’ll be so close to urban areas. I don’t think the South has cornered the market on idiots, but we sure are easy targets for the uninformed.[/QUOTE]


Wow you really have no clue about the AT in NJ. I live less than a mile from the trail here in NJ and never in m life ran into Punks or anything like that. Never had car break ins either. everyone is always putting Jersey down. Ask most thru hikers and I bet most will speak very Highly of NJ. The part of NJ were the AT goes through is a different world when compared to Newark or Jersey City. It is not what everyone thinks.

Only in NJ will you see more bears on the trail than dogs.