If not guns, at least grab a spear

[Escriba]

I believe Asso is hiding a mandolina somewhere and dreams of giving serenade to every woman of the board. Of course, his biggest dream is to give serenade to a pointy eared woman, because that would only be logical.

Now I can't remove that image from my mind. Specially T'Pol's face.

[Asso]

Uh Uh!
I think it's better I don't reply!
Where's my mandolin, DAMN!

[Alelou]

:vulcan: And this is exactly the reason why I carry a rifle with me every time I go for a walk.

Way to many sightings, an to many folks Hearing that Creapy arse cry Moutain lions make Round here. Even if The PA Game Commission's offical stance is that their are no Moutain lions in PA. Their freakin idiots. No way someone is gona get a Bobcat confused with a Moutain lion, That be like getting A Rat Dog Confused with a Saint Bernard.

But wouldn't a rifle give you false confidence? They attack from behind. You never see them coming. It would probably make more sense to walk around with a mask on the back of your head like Indian villagers do to dissuade tigers.

I imagine a rifle would be handy for bears and rutting bucks and rabid foxes, though. (Yeah, Escriba, many of us do live practically in the wilderness over here. There's still a tremendous amount of undeveloped land on this continent, though the pieces are getting more scattered as time goes by. Actually where I live was once a highly-populated agricultural/industrial hub and later fell back into second-growth forest and very low population when the early industrial revolution petered out ... now it's getting suburbanized as the local economy picks up and people move out of Albany. But there are still wild mountainous areas adjacent and the wildlife travels right through. Had a moose in the front yard last year...

[blacknblue]

:vulcan: And this is exactly the reason why I carry a rifle with me every time I go for a walk.

Way to many sightings, an to many folks Hearing that Creapy arse cry Moutain lions make Round here. Even if The PA Game Commission's offical stance is that their are no Moutain lions in PA. Their freakin idiots. No way someone is gona get a Bobcat confused with a Moutain lion, That be like getting A Rat Dog Confused with a Saint Bernard.

Reminds me of something my wife's uncle in KY told me. Seems his neighbor had a full grown billygoat. Adult male, big one. Large horns, sharp hooves, foul temper.

Went out one day. Goat dead. Broken neck, snapped clean. Belly ripped open. Muscle meat undisturbed. Tracks around the carcass smeared in the mud, but as big as a man's hand or bigger. Called game warden. Fat ass fool initially refused to come out, but finally agreed to leave his air conditioned office after enough harrassment. Eventually arrived and huffed and puffed his lazy lard ass over to look down at the dead goat. Snorted derisively, "Dog killed it." Turned and waddled back to his jeep and drove back to the local bar.

Put not your faith in government employed game management officers. Not in the USA.

[CX]

Yeah, around here the official party line is that there aren't any wolves living in the area. Yet several people around where I live saw one, and I even saw it myself, but the game warden literally laughed at us when we told him about it, and tried to tell us that it was a coyote. I've seen coyotes, and that was no coyote. It didn't even act like one - coyotes are very nervous animals and will try to keep out of sight, and if they spot you looking at them they will look away themselves. Not this thing. It cleared a fense and ran parallel to me in the open at a pretty impressive speed 20+ MPH, and it was staring right at me the whole time. Not a coyote.

[blacknblue]

Just an idle ponder?

What would be the practical difference between a wolf, and a coyote/rottweiler mix? Or a coyote/german shepherd mix?

[CX]

Grey Wolves have a pretty distinct look and they're damn big. Coyotes actually already resemble dogs or maybe fox, and they're about the same size. I'm not sure what a mix would look like.


Grey Wolves attacking a Bison


Coyote

[Mitchell]

^^ Most Dangerous breed of Dog on the Planet.
They sure are Beautiful cant help but respect them,, But make no misstake. If I see one of them in my Backyard, Im going to start shooting. Ive got Live Stock to worry about.


Typicly Grey/Timber Wolves weigh well over a 100lbs. They are far from tiny.

Also Ya know, the main reason Moutain lions climb trees, Is to escape from Timber wolves. They dont jump from trees onto their prey, or drag their kills up in the branchs to eat. They go up there to save their Hides an thats it. Dogs win again.

Just an idle ponder?

What would be the practical difference between a wolf, and a coyote/rottweiler mix? Or a coyote/german shepherd mix?

You mean Coydogs. Their actualy extreamly rare. Since like with wolves it takes both the Coyotee parents to raise the pups. An since Male Dogs really dont give a Crap what happens to their offspring, the pups usualy dont make it when being carred for by just the mother. An it would take a whole New an different kind of idiot to let their female dog's pups come to age/be born if they were half Coyotee.

:vulcan: And this is exactly the reason why I carry a rifle with me every time I go for a walk.

But wouldn't a rifle give you false confidence? They attack from behind. You never see them coming. It would probably make more sense to walk around with a mask on the back of your head like Indian villagers do to dissuade tigers.

All true, But Id rather be Armed, then Unarmed if one did get the drop on me.
Idealy if I had the money to waste on one, Id rather carry 1911 45 Colt for this reason. But since I dont have the cash to waste, Its either my 22Mag, Or my Win 30-30.

Were predators to dont forget.

Its also smart to actualy use our sences while in the Great outdoors. If people would stay alert an didnt make stupid misstakes (like jogging in wolf Country in Alaska unarmed, an with Ipods shoved in their Heads for example) their would be a lot less attacks over all.

[Alelou]

Oh, I know we're predators. First of all, I'm not a vegetarian. If I needed to in order to feed my family, I'd have no qualms at all about hunting (not counting the fear that I'd shoot myself by accident because I'm dangerous with pruners, let alone a gun).

Has anyone actually heard a real account of a non-rabid wolf attacking a human? Farley Mowat had me convinced quite otherwise with his book. I have no doubt they'll eat your livestock, though.

[CX]

Depends on how hungry they are and how alone you are.

[blacknblue]

Oh, I know we're predators. First of all, I'm not a vegetarian. If I needed to in order to feed my family, I'd have no qualms at all about hunting (not counting the fear that I'd shoot myself by accident because I'm dangerous with pruners, let alone a gun).

Has anyone actually heard a real account of a non-rabid wolf attacking a human? Farley Mowat had me convinced quite otherwise with his book. I have no doubt they'll eat your livestock, though.

Yes. There are several fairly recent reports from Alaska about timber wolves making non provoked predator attacks (predator attack = killing for food, not for self defense) on humans. It is apparently not as rare as we have been led to believe. Not routine, but not unheard of either. Wolf are opportunistic, but they are also far from stupid. Try going to news.google.com and use the search function for "wolf attack" or "timber wolf attack". You will get an eyeful of new stories.

I remember one where a young man was caught out alone and cut off by a full pack. Apparently he fired his gun several times but they still took him down. They are too smart to attack humans in a group, or humans that are obviously armed. And of course, they can smell fear. Humans that smell afraid are probably not dangerous. Humans that do not smell afraid, but DO smell of steel and gun oil, are probably best left alone. Wolves are smart critters. Evidently this guy panicked and probably turned his back on them. Maybe he tried to run. Never a good idea when dealing with any kind of canine.