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What's the most dangerous animal you've come across?


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I nearly walked into a black bear last fall. It was crossing the trail from the left and I didn't see it till I was about 30' away due to the thick brush. I froze and it just kept walking, if it even noticed me it didn't care about me at all. A couple of minutes later I looked down to see my camera hanging there- I was too busy being excited about the bear to even think about pics, they would have been good.

 

My closest call was this monster:

GIANTSPIDER.jpg

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Deer (due to their fear of people, not very dangerous)

 

I have a 1997 Honda Accord that says otherwise. It was totaled by a deer.

Good point. I have hit deer a few times, but always at after managing to slow down, so no real damage.

 

Ticks and ran into a gator sunning near the trail

After a long mountain scramble last summer, I found a couple of tickes attached to me.

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Deer (due to their fear of people, not very dangerous)

Rattle Snake (it was hiding under some stuff, so lucky we saw it before stepping on it or something)

Coyote and Fox (due to their fear of people, also not very dangerous)

 

I've probably ran into about 30 coyotes. All wanted nothing more than to get away from me. I was on a narrow trail when a big buck came running at me from around a curve. He stopped, turned tail and ran. I was camping in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA, and had left a bag of peanut on the picnic table behind me when I heard crunching. There was a small fox standing on the table eating my peanuts.

 

Nothing I have run into sends my heart racing as the warning sound of a rattlesnake. I run into several a year.

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I have met several rattlesnakes - the time that made me the most nervous was when my dog lunged after one, I fell down, but held onto the leash and pulled her back from a coiled rattler (she remained on leash for the rest of the hike). I have seen a mountain lion or two. And a coyote once thought I was dangerous and followed us for a half mile, howling every time I looked back. But a series of caches named for the trailside killer makes me think that human beings may be the most dangerous. When I think about it, no other animal comes close.

Edited by mulvaney
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Only animal to attack me besides mosquitoes is one tick bite and three wasp stings (on two different occasions).

 

Seen some snakes in my geocaching (and pre-geocaching hiking & kayaking) but the only poisonous one was a water moccasin that swam across the river close to my kayak. Somehow I have yet to see a rattlesnake in the wild; I'm sure it will happen one day and I hope it's a safe meeting.

 

I've see plenty of gators kayaking, but nearly all of them didn't have the slightest interest in moving. None ever seemed aggressive toward me, though one did leap into the water (as much as a gator can leap with those short legs) after a friend's paddle smacked the water a few times (fortunately, from 50+ feet way).

 

Spotted feral pigs on a few occasions but they always ran away.

 

There's a Florida geocacher named Kleetus who got charged by a gator on Juniper Run in Ocala National Forest; there's now a cache near the site now. He keeps an inventory on his profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=21681843-ac47-46f5-8de1-94cb3a7d97a0

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My children and I were walking along a park trail. I heard the two of them scream ahead of me, followed by, SNAKE! As I approached I was confronted by a three foot copperhead. They had stepped right past it, or rather jumped over it. It was pretty feisty. I took my walking stick and scurried him off the trail down the hill. It's illegal to kill snakes in parks anyway. Had it been anywhere else though, it would have been pushing daisies.

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We ran across a rattle snake slithering across a cache on a pile of rocks. Later that same week I was reaching for a cache and I noticed just in the nick of time that a big fat black widow spider was right in front of it. Almost stuck my hand right into it. I kind of got the feeling that nature didn't want us geocaching that week. :P

 

Most annoying animal we have come across is ticks...millions of ticks. Even though I don't think they count as an animal.

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The most dangerous animal on the planet is of the two legged variety

 

I have to agree. However, as the OP was not specific, I took the original question to mean "While geocaching".

 

In almost six years, I have never had a dangerous encounter with a two legged animal, while geocaching.

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we were going get a few caches out in the national forest here in arkansas. It was dark and we were heading up a steep hill when we stopped so my buddy could adjust his gear. My other friend was shining a light ahead and we saw these eyes up ahead pacing back and forth. We were pretty positive it was a mountain lion so we rolled out.

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Humans.

That.

I've had close encounters with black bears, alligators, venomous snakes, feral cattle and all manner of stinging, blood sucking insects, but mankind is certainly the most dangerous.

Second this. There are a number of feral/russian hogs locally, but they usually just run off.

 

Agreed.

Humans are certainly the most dangerous and repugnant creatures you will likely ever encounter.

 

100% of the humans I have met while caching have been gracious, humorous, and interesting. Wait, yea I did meet an arrogant idiot (not a cacher) at one hide, lol.

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One time as I was stumbling around in some thick brush, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my calf. I looked down to see several wasps swarming around my foot which was about 1/2 inch from stepping in a wasp nest. I shudder to think what would have happened had I stepped on it.

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I am not scared of snakes by any means (I lived in AZ, my best friend had snakes, big 10 foot snakes too) but I came across a snake. I almost stepped on it and it scared me to death because I heard it before I saw it.

 

Side note: The deadliest animal I have ever come upon was a rattle snake. I came upon it while my father was driving, he took me and put my hand out the window towards the snake. I once went to a place that had a rattlesnake in a cage with chicken wire and we pet it.

Edited by Hunter275
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It wasn't always while caching, but I have run into bears, bobcats, coyotes, snakes ticks, spiders, deer, and one mountain lion we never reported. The say mountain lions don't live in CT, but I saw it, up close and for a good long time (we woke it from its nap) and someone hit and kiled one with car recently.

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It wasn't always while caching, but I have run into bears, bobcats, coyotes, snakes ticks, spiders, deer, and one mountain lion we never reported. The say mountain lions don't live in CT, but I saw it, up close and for a good long time (we woke it from its nap) and someone hit and kiled one with car recently.

 

That could not possibly have been a mountain lion. It must have been a cougar. Or perhaps a puma.

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Scanning these posts makes me think I haven't been caching enough!

I met a big dog once and I think we both didn't trust the other. He followed me to the cache and back.

I have cached in desert and mountains and have not met the expected denizens.

In the urban parks we have seen lots of homeless camps, but so far all unoccupied.

There is a resident coyote in a park nearby, but I've never met him.

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It wasn't always while caching, but I have run into bears, bobcats, coyotes, snakes ticks, spiders, deer, and one mountain lion we never reported. The say mountain lions don't live in CT, but I saw it, up close and for a good long time (we woke it from its nap) and someone hit and kiled one with car recently.

 

That could not possibly have been a mountain lion. It must have been a cougar. Or perhaps a puma.

 

All of which are names for the same animal.

Edited by Don_J
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Humans.

That.

I've had close encounters with black bears, alligators, venomous snakes, feral cattle and all manner of stinging, blood sucking insects, but mankind is certainly the most dangerous.

 

Humans was my response as well. Come across drug dealers and gang bangers on occasion.

 

From experience, (thankfully not much experience) an equalizer generally renders all but the most suicidal or idiotic humans as gentle as a kitten. Some dogs will even shy from a gun.

 

Also from experience, I've never had a bear or any other wild animal shy from my gun pointed at them in case they got too close.

 

113951492_332d8bcd31.jpg

 

Sidebar: For those that got the reference (by the photo) to the 80's cop show. It was unintended. :rolleyes:

Also, I own one of those and it has to be the most impractical sidearm EVER invented. It's the most expensive paperweight I ever bought. What the heck were the Israelies thinkin'? :rolleyes:

I have one of the Baby Eagles in .45 ACP. It's all steel and works great with the hi-cap mag with 10 rounds of +P ammo. It has all the bells and whistles that a defense side arm needs. Those big ones are just for looks, and won't scare a snake, coyote, or bear and more than a smaller sidearm. But I would sure as heck prefer one of the big ones chambered in .50 AE if a bear were attacking me. :ph34r:

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I met a big dog once and I think we both didn't trust the other.

He followed me to the cache and back.

I'm thinking he just wanted you to open the cache for him.

Without thumbs, opening ammo cans is kinda tough... :lol:

You may be right! It was a former giant peanut butter jar.

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At the top of many of "worlds most dangerous animals" lists I've seen is the mosquito, though mosquitoes are far more dangerous in some areas than others.

 

Someone mentioned deer. I just got home a few minutes ago and had to slow down about a block from my house when a mama and papa deer and their two babies ran across the road in front of me.

 

Some of the animals that I've encountered within an hour of finding a cache that some might consider dangerous include warthogs, elephant, water buffalo, hippo, and tsetse flies.

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It wasn't always while caching, but I have run into bears, bobcats, coyotes, snakes ticks, spiders, deer, and one mountain lion we never reported. The say mountain lions don't live in CT, but I saw it, up close and for a good long time (we woke it from its nap) and someone hit and kiled one with car recently.

 

That could not possibly have been a mountain lion. It must have been a cougar. Or perhaps a puma.

 

All of which are names for the same animal.

 

Pretty sure he knew that.

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