With more and more people visiting the back country, "me" included,,, there could be more bear & cougar encounters. Both of their populations are on the rise.
Our group started noticing more and more wolf, cat and bear tracks over the last 6 years,,, and more sighting of them.
Last summer we spotted more bears than the last 5 years, almost a even split between Blacks and Grizzlies.
The cougar Hunters we're out full force the last few years since their numbers are increasing to.
The reasons that "some" of us talk more about furry critter encounters than others is that some of us spend alot of time along the Eastern Slopes... I'm closing in on day 150 this year,,, I ran all winter in the West country.
I hope to pull off another 80 to a 100 days before years end.
Most, "not" all back packers see the West country 4 to 7 times a year, so their regards to furry critter encounters are low. Those that pack for months on end way out along on the edges of the Eastern and Western Rocky Mountain Range see more critters then the short stint back packers.
Rightfully so since less time spent "sometimes" means less chances of encounters, not sure as most folks don't give feed back on social media. This is not saying that some folks don't share encounters on Friend Book. LOL
All I know is that I keep in the back of my mind the idea of Bear Awear along with Cougar Encounters and Cow Loosey the Moosey,,, Cow Moose have injured more humans then they are given credit for,,, many humans have been seriously hurt and injured by Moose,,, in most cases the humans that have been trampled by Moose go threw a long struggle getting back to everyday living because of the damage they can dish-out.
No matter what critter it is, each of us can pick and choose what course of action we will draw from "if" an encounter a-rises,,, only "us" get to play it out with our game plan should an encounter take place.
If one does, are we ready to react, is it in our thoughts to deal with a situation, and what might it look like when things happen fast.
My Harvesting partner is not as fast as he use to be, but when or if an encounter comes up his gut reactions are fast.
He grew up in critter country,,, staying ahead of the game has always been his plan.
No second guessing in his department.
Quality and Control or Control with Quality
We won't know this till a situation a-rises.
Don
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