What wild animals concern, worry, or even scare you ?

[R.Russell]

Ticks, def #1.
I'd say Mountain Lion next. I've seen a 200 pound lion on my property. They mostly take out sheep in the area, but move undetected and I've felt watched many many times. After the first sighting I left a radio on for days-- I've heard it keeps em at arm's length.
Had more run ins with black bear but they're not scary unless you're in a tent and its 3 AM and they won't leave you alone. My hound was about 10 weeks old at the time and I had my hand over his mug to keep him from yelping. THAT was a bit scary. It was pitch black, no moon, and I couldn't see the size of the bear, just woke up to him breathing heavy about 6" from the canvas tent. I shot a 40cal Glock round THROUGH the tent wall. I figured my best bet was to scare him off with a shot beause I had no way to poke my head out the zipper to look around. I think he was on to my pup.
I kept getting visits from him at odd hours of the night for a couple weeks until I took action. I should post this trick in a separate thread because its the only sureshot way to keep a bear from ever visiting your homesite again. The bearbomb! (nonlethal)

 

[Fonly]

Mountain Lions....

They tend to enjoy anything from you house cat, to your neighbors kids...

Usually by the time you see one, you F$#ked. :footthats a green faced mountain lion eating you foot )

 

[unit]

Your avatar scares me, unit. An 8 foot tall bird with teeth like a mountain lion doesnt sit well with me. Haha.

Yes, I suppose I would have to answer that if I ran into my avatar in the bush, I'd probably spontaneously poo myself, but that's not likely

 

[camoninja]

Ticks for me also. Everything else I don't have a problem with.

 

[Noddy]

Spiders that are too big

Not like tarantulas. They are supposed to be big. I am no great fan though

No, it's wolf spiders that get to be 1 1/2" or 2" long. I wonder what they have been eating

 

[Mack]

Spending a lot of time in the SoCal desert I had a big problem with rattlesnakes. They have a nasty habit of trying to crawl in bed with me. Not my idea of a good bedmate.

 

[bushidomosquito]

Only Missouri animal I fear are skunks.

I lived in MO most of my life and and saw them all the time. They ranged from friendly to indifferent to easily scared away. The only time one ran growling towards me instead of away it got liquefied with a 10ga turkey load at 4 yards.

 

[Cutshaw]

Black bears? Nope. Wild dogs? More so than coyotes but not too much. Poisonous snakes? Pesky copperheads had nasty attitudes in the SE and would warm themselves on rocks and pavement. Mountain lions? I don't mountain bike too much anymore and simply can't trail run with my knees.

What scares me? (Beside people...) Stinking rabid raccoons. Even normal raccoons I'm not fond of. Those little leaping devils with opposable thumbs and sharp teeth. Too darned smart and the rabid ones will leap up and attack horses and cows.

Devils, I tell ya. Just like Facebook.

 

[Detour]

I've encountered coyotes, rattlesnakes, bears, and black widows on or near my property and generally haven't had many problems with them. What I watch for the most when I hike around here are bees. The worst feeling in the world is to be hiking up a steep hillside and hear a telltale buzzing that keeps getting louder and louder and knowing there's no way you can outrun them in that terrain. I've come across a few hives in the wild and once I was actually at the beach at Corona del Mar when I heard the same sound and a few thousand bees came zooming in from the ocean, causing everyone to panic and stampede.

 

[HusslinHoosier]

I'm on alert for bears. Regardless of the manual they are difficult to predict and there is not much you can do if one actually decides to attack. I was charged by a boar up in Wisconsin and it was not fun but at least they don't like whistles, that kept him at bay. Ironically, the only time I have ever gone hiking in bear country without spray. I agree with the tick comments as well but a few sprays of 100% deet around the ankles with tucked in pants seems to work for me.

 

[upnorth]

Ticks, def #1.
I'd say Mountain Lion next. I've seen a 200 pound lion on my property. They mostly take out sheep in the area, but move undetected and I've felt watched many many times. After the first sighting I left a radio on for days-- I've heard it keeps em at arm's length.
Had more run ins with black bear but they're not scary unless you're in a tent and its 3 AM and they won't leave you alone. My hound was about 10 weeks old at the time and I had my hand over his mug to keep him from yelping. THAT was a bit scary. It was pitch black, no moon, and I couldn't see the size of the bear, just woke up to him breathing heavy about 6" from the canvas tent. I shot a 40cal Glock round THROUGH the tent wall. I figured my best bet was to scare him off with a shot beause I had no way to poke my head out the zipper to look around. I think he was on to my pup.
I kept getting visits from him at odd hours of the night for a couple weeks until I took action. I should post this trick in a separate thread because its the only sureshot way to keep a bear from ever visiting your homesite again. The bearbomb! (nonlethal)

Not cool at all bud. And the bear bomb sounds interesting. My father told me a story about when he was a young buck working a mine in the Yukon. A grizzly kept edging the camp and finally came in when they were out. It put its teeth through the green painted tin panels of a Coleman stove like Kleenex and generaly ripped the camp up. It was going for the bacon grease etc. Anyway, the old man had a 30.06 and was asked to kill the bear. He nailed the bear several times and it kept coming only using its front legs to move forward, but it kept coming snarling and snapping. The old man killed it finally, a little too close for pappies comfort. When the bear stopped the old man said that he dropped the rifle, grabbed a tree and barfed his guts out.

 

[upnorth]

Mountain Lions....

They tend to enjoy anything from you house cat, to your neighbors kids...

Usually by the time you see one, you F$#ked. :footthats a green faced mountain lion eating you foot )

Incredible picture ! I remember being a teenager and climbing some of the foot hills\mountains in the Rockies. I was in the Glacier\Revelstoke area. I decided that I would climb to the mist\moisture line. It wasn't bad going up, but coming down was really bad because of the incline and my wasted legs. When I was doinking around up there I was eating these semi frozen nickel sized blueberries. I also noticed some medium\largish holes in the hill side. I really didn't know what they were back then but instinctively got a bit freaked and the danger Will Robinson alarm went off. I changed my plans when I saw those den ? holes.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Black Bears once in awhile, but mostly deer ticks.

Doc

 

[upnorth]

Black Bears once in awhile, but mostly deer ticks.

Doc

Ever find them on rabbits doc ? I used to shoot snowshoes and every x number of years the rabbits ears would be crawling with them. That's when I started to check the livers for signs of Tularemia.

 

[BagofDeadCats]

Not to many "dangerous" animals in AZ (Rattlers have a built-in siren) but just about everything that comes outta the ground here will "bite" you here, I've been tagged by just about every single one of the 174,000 different types of cactus out there while hiking/mountain-biking...not to bad going in, but pulling those suckers out sure will ruin an afternoon. =(

 

[upnorth]

Not to many "dangerous" animals in AZ (Rattlers have a built-in siren) but just about everything that comes outta the ground here will "bite" you here, I've been tagged by just about every single one of the 174,000 different types of cactus out there while hiking/mountain-biking...not to bad going in, but pulling those suckers out sure will ruin an afternoon. =(

Yes I've heard that most everything in the desert is either trying to bite, stab or poison a guy.

 

[Bumppo]

Ticks are the ones that got me out of tarps and into tents, and now I am camping in Floridas swamps, invasive species are a concern because I am ignorant of beasts like pythons and monitor lizards. Invasive insects also concern me, but I do not know whats out there yet.
I am not afraid, but I like to know what is out there where i or my dog might go.

 

[glockfire]

I suppose it all depends on where I am at the current time. In ym neck of the woods, we have quite a few Mtn Lions prowilng around. My wife's family's cabin has a big problem with the big cats. We've found scat and pawprints up in the deck in the winter, so when Im in that area they are my biggest concern. All over N. Colorado we face problems with black bears, but generally as pests more than threats. We do have some brown bear species in the Rockies as well, but in 23 years of camping Ive yet to see even a sign of one.

In So Cal there are far more rattle snakes than I couldve imagined, and Ive encountered a few over the years. Ive only had to kill one, but thats because he had slithered his way onto our work property and there was no shooing him away.

Ticks are a nuisance, but Ive only had one on me, and that was while hiking in the boonies of Oklahoma. When Im in OK, I take far more precautions when it comes to dangerous animals and bugs, as we've encountered boars, bobcats, copperheads and watter moccasins, and ticks in the past. You couldnt pay me to camp there.

 

[22-rimfire]

I have a healthy respect for black bears. I'm not particularly afraid of them, but I pay attention. If you encounter one with a bad disposition, it could certainly ruin your day and put you in the hospital or worse.

I hate, yeah that's the correct word, Cotton Mouth snakes. It is the only snake I will go out of my way to kill. They are just so aggressive. Rattlesnakes and Copperheads don't bother me as long as I pay attention when I am in their country.

Killed a Black Widow spider in my garage a few days ago. Now I will have to be careful when moving boxes and items stored in that space.

I pay attention to bees. Some can be quite aggressive if disturbed. Some wasps can be very aggressive even when they are not particularly disturbed.

If you spend time outdoors in tick country. You always have to pay attention. I have gotten hundreds of seed ticks on me out in the woods once and I don't want to go through that again.

 

[Mack]

Not to many "dangerous" animals in AZ (Rattlers have a built-in siren) but just about everything that comes outta the ground here will "bite" you here, I've been tagged by just about every single one of the 174,000 different types of cactus out there while hiking/mountain-biking...not to bad going in, but pulling those suckers out sure will ruin an afternoon. =(

You reminded me of the time I got a knee full of sea urchin barbs. That was unbelievably painful cutting them out. I love the ocean and will only live on the coast or in the desert. Both are filled with creatures that want to stick you with something.