Outdoor Hazards

[Chronisseur]

Hi guys,

This is a thread to discuss the different sorts of dangers outside in the bush. Pic related, almost died when I saw this guy the other day.

I guess in Australia the major dangers are snakes. It’s always been a worry to step on a brown snake and be out in the middle of the bush. There’s also the concern of ticks, especially around September-November when the nymphs start emerging.

My strategy has always been, once aware of a snake or other reptile, like this goanna, is to slowly back away and not antagonise or provoke the animal. Unfortunately at points in the past snakes have ended up caught in bird netting so I have been forced to extricate them from getting strangled. Nowadays I make sure that the mesh is wide enough to allow a snake to move through without getting injured while small enough to keep out the herbivores.

Ticks are probably the smallest but most dangerous, or at least uncomfortable. To deal with them I throw all my clothes in the wash as soon as I am home and have a hot shower to clean off any chiggers that might have made it through. The hot water irritates them enough so that any can be identified and removed. It’s gross but one effective means of dealing with them is to cover them in vaseline so they start suffocating and back out of the bite, then they are much easier to pull out with a pair of tweezers. Rushing in can result in a state similar to anaphylactic shock so I have learnt that slower can be safer.

I’m curious to hear how people from overseas deal with various hazards including the larger predators like cougars and bears. Anyone ever had an encounter? Let me know what the natural hazards are and how you deal with them.

[buzzmobile]

I learned this a long time ago about ticks.

Old-time remedy still works

Another layer of protection.

[Chronisseur]

I stick to DEET…but point taken

No matter what you do the little bastards always seem to find a way through. In the Land of Oz, they even drop out of trees and try and crawl behind your ears. Constant vigilance my friend!

[SerialSquishy]

Camping stores sell a tick repellent for tents etc… do not apply directly to your skin. But if you douse your clothes with it, it last 6-8 washes. Always apply it to my fishing/bow hunting clothes. Permethrin is the chemical.

[ShiskaberrySavior]

I think I’d be packing a gun along for the sharp teeth meat eaters .

[Cbizzle]

Tics, wolves, and bears, but I’ve never encountered the latter two. Honestly though, aerial traffic is what pushed me inside.

[ELG]

I’m lucky to only worry about ticks, but I don’t really worry because I stay away from spots that have them. I can’t imagine doing guerrilla in Australia, you’re courageous

[Nagel420]

I live in the Appalachian Mountains… Ticks I get just walking from my back door to my veggie garden. Its just a fact of life here, and I am always looking for them. Wood ticks, the bigger ones, don’t bother me, they are easy to spot, and don’t transmit Lyme. Deer ticks on the other hand are a problem. Small as the period > . < here, they can be super hard to spot AND they carry Lyme…

For bigger predators, I have bobcats, bear, coyotes and recently, a few cougar / mountain lion sightings (VERY rare here). Bobcats generally stay away, bears have gotten very courageous and moving into neighborhoods. I HAVE chased several bears away (Black bears, wouldn’t dare try that with a brown or grizzly), and we’ve sat on the deck yelling at a black bear 20ft away destroying a bird feeder. Coyotes generally don’t worry me unless I have my pup with me, but the cougar has me nervous. Thats a BIG cat, and I can be its prey. The bears though, just cause they are black bears doesn’t mean they won’t kill (we had a kid killed a few towns over by a black bear several years ago, confirmed by fish and game, first time in 152 years). Been between a mom and cubs before, was on my ATV, and man I never moved so fast in my life when I realized where I was, she was and the cubs were.

Snakes, well, no cottonmouths this far north, only copperheads and rattlesnakes. Rarely ever see them though… Leather boots, stepping ON logs, not over them, and watching where you step will usually keep any problems to a minimum.

I grew up in these woods. 30 years ago there was not a single bear, coyote or cougar in the area. Camped in the woods as a kid with all sorts of food / alcohol, nothing visited other than racoons. Wouldn’t dare do that today! I even had a bear try to den under my front porch a few years ago while we were on vacation, and a different time had one pull out my kitchen screen trying to get to the garbage (kept inside right under the window). My dog must have scared him cause thankfully, it didn’t enter the house.

I love it when new people move into the area, and they are all like “well, the bears were here first!” Uhm NO bitch… the bears were pushed outta their habitat, and now I have 7 tagged bears living in the 100 acre woods behind my house. I been here 43 years, and as a kid we would be lucky to see one bear, in the depths of a state forest. Now? I see 3-5 bears… A WEEK… They are smart too, they KNOW when to roam the streets before garbage pickup (I wont put mine out the night before). Ya just gotta learn to live with em. The little guys, say under 300lbs, will run from you. Try to shoo away a 500lb+ guy and it just looks at you like “yeah? you and what army buddy?”

[Tejas]

If Sevin is available in your area, pour some in an old sock and dust your legs, socks, pants, etc. and it will keep ticks and chiggers off your legs. Used this when I was a child and it worked great.

[Grease_Monkey]

I’ve got bears, wolves and cougars (densest population of cougs in north america)

I’ve only had run ins with bears. I usually carry a machete or ax along with a knife. Typically with the bears as soon as I wack the machete against a log and bush and make some noise they go away…im also 6’4 280lbs so a bear would really need to have an issue with me before it would challenge me. It is funny seeing my friends react to bears when we walk up on em though.

The wolves, meh, they’re pretty much coyote sized and I’ve only ever seen tracks.

The cougars well, you probably won’t know its there until its go time…

If its hunting season “I’m just out hunting” so ive got a rifle on me lol

Its Steve French, he’s just a big stoned kitty cat.

[SubSoilSelections]

The only real threats in the woods here in Oklahoma are wild hogs and meth heads, with the tweakers being the only real concern for me. With that said, I spend a lot of time in the woods and always carry a Glock 10mm auto and spare magazine just in case. I don’t worry too much about the ticks and what not as there is something about me that bugs don’t like. I spend roughly 150+ days a year in the woods hunting and fishing, and in 30 years I can count on one hand how many ticks I have had on me or bug bites I have gotten.
I have been bitten by a meth head though, hence the pistol.

[Grease_Monkey]

Bitten by a meth head is probably worse than any 4 legged predator lol

[Chronisseur]

@SubSoilSelections yep I think you’re probably right. Down here in Australia there’s a type of feral pig we call “razorbacks”, which get very large and can be quite aggressive. They are probably the most dangerous hazard in terms of large animals, luckily they can’t climb trees. My friend hunts them with knives and dogs, hopefully I never run into them! I’ve heard some horror stories about people getting chased by stags in rut as well, another large and potentially dangerous critter

[Nagel420]

Sevin is available here in a liquid (hose attachment), and boy its some NASTY stuff. Gotta be very selective using it, kills all kinds of beneficials, including bees I only use it when all other attempts fail (ie a little red beetle that destroys my asiatic lilies. Invasive little bug, its larvae are covered in a fecal shield and are disgusting, and they decimate the lilies, nothing but Sevin worked on them.

In the woods, I’ll spray on some deet. That works. But just crossing the yard to go to the garden every day I aint doing that, and that’s when I pick up the ticks

[Chronisseur]

I literally found the tiniest tick embedded in my head today. Those critters are such an annoyance. Glad I got it before it had a chance to get stuck in…gross little buggers.

[SkunkHunt101]

Dogman is out there

[Chronisseur]

Hahaha so funny!

One of more shall we say “alternatively minded” friends was convinced that dogman was real. I gave up fighting it after a while. Once he caught the Trump supporter brain fever we were done!