When we enter the great outdoors, we are exposing ourselves to great risk of encountering dangerous wildlife. To be sure, we can avoid such encounters by remembering to stay calm and sticking to an allocated plan. Most people are too busy scrambling to pack their gear and often forget the whole aspect of dangerous wildlife. Consequentially, we have devised a quick checklist of how you can avoid a menacing encounter.
1. Check for Indicated Wildlife
Simply by using a map or going on the Internet can save you and your group a great deal of risk. Recent advancements in both technology and human discovery have led us to actually be able to find certain wildlife habitats on the map or on the web; this should be a common practice for everyone that is going to explore the wilderness. Although this is not 100% foolproof, at least it will help us steer clear of known dangers.
2. Hide Your Food
A large part of wildlife encounters is because of food and the odors of it. It is even worse is if we feed the animals. Once they are accustomed to being fed by humans, they will be comfortable to forcefully take food. Aggressive behavior from animals is largely attributed to being previously fed by humans. This being said, food storage is also very important. Be sure to try and contain the smell of your food or waste, as it will most certainly attract unwanted guests.
3. Be Aware of Animal Prints or Markings
If you do see some massive paw prints, droppings, scratched trees or even worse a dead carcass, please go back the way you first entered and move as far away as possible. These are all revealing signs that there is wildlife very nearby. It is best not to test nature and better to veer away from an encounter. For the thrill seekers that are looking for an encounter, that could end very badly. We urge you to keep an eye out for these kinds of signs and be aware.
4. When Hiking Stay on Manmade Trails
Surprisingly, wild animals are more scared of humans than we are of them, regardless if they physically can dominate us. Therefore, rather than trying to play Hunger Games and running aimlessly into the woods, it would be best you stay on the trail. Animals will recognize that this pathway was created and used by humans. Alike humans, they try to avoid us, as we should reciprocate that respect.
5. Be Free and Noisy
In the great outdoors we can really be ourselves and just relax. This means that we are allowed to be noisy, yell, and be obnoxious…to some extent. Generally at your campsite, encountering wildlife is not too common when you are awake. However; once you fall asleep it seems like there is always some food missing in the morning. This is because when we are noisy and loud, animals will be afraid and simply will not want to get too close to us. In turn, we should be noisy at the campsite, and even while hiking. Considering this, we do not encourage people to scream, swear or light fireworks, but to respect nature and keep in mind your neighbors.