Guess I'll stick to bouncin' off trees, not planning to roll in the bush down under or do much swimming there either Worst I've seen on the trails around here are big black bears and once a wild hog. One of my favorite tracks ends in a tunnel through the brush. I always thought it's just the right size for a big bear and figure that's what keeps it open. It's pretty far back in and already further than I should be going alone, but 1 day I tucked in and rode down that tunnel. It was a bright sunny day, so I could see there was nothing else in there, but still scary 'cause there's no way to turn around. Well the tunnel ended in an open turn and then started again on the other side. Standing in the tunnel on the far side was young wild sow @ 100 kg. Thing is I've seen many of them, eaten a couple, and I've not ever seen a young female alone, there's always a bunch of 'em and that means 1 of them is a big boss hog, 150 kg of jealous wild boar with horns (tusks!)
You'll be right NCSteve...rather ride around our bush with snakes than have black/brown bears chasing me!!! Croc's only found up north around the top end, majority of out beaches have the usual sharks. Even those cute animals known as wombat's...mate they do more damage to a car than a roo, tough little buggers!!! And in Victoria parts of NSW, bloody deer are now everywhere!!
Yeah screw that bears, wild cats(big proper cats-mtn lions-not our poxy feral ones), wolves/coyotes & lots of people with guns! Riding looks good stateside but il take me chances with snakes, crocs n sharks! That is a monster pig WTF?! Who dared get that close for the shot-he would destroy ya & ya dogs!
Bears aren't all that bad, unless cornered or you get between them and their young (the ones we have in CA anyway). I've come across many when mountain biking -- if they don't run as soon as they know you are there, just yell at them for a while. They'll take off. Recently, hiking to the fishing hole, the dogs and I came up behind one on the western states trail. I figured the dogs would make chase, but they just froze. He heard us, half turned around and sniffed a few times, then took off. That could have been bad with the dogs. Cougars are a different story, however. I've only seen one (recently) and let me tell you that right there changed my entire outlook on hiking back from fishing at night. Those bad boys are freaking huge! No problem to take down a 6'1" 215 pound human such as myself. I'm still not sure what to do about my post fishing hikes.
Sux because about half of the places I fish are within state parks. No firearms allowed -- in places where you need them most.
Same here. Black bears aren't aggressive and folks around here have been chasing 'em with dogs and shooting them out of trees for so long they run at first sight of a human. Mountain lion is a different story all together, supposed to be all gone here, but I've seen 2 at my place. I'm sure there are more in the forest. I'm also sure they want nothing to do with a dirt bike. Those hogs are near sighted and aggressive though. They basically have 2 defense mechanisms, run away or run at you And, it's the boss hogs job to run at you while the others run away Once I walked up on a pack while hiking around my place and that's just what happened. I ran from tree to tree and boss hog got confused, then I got to a stout pine tree and climbed up far enough he couldn't see me. After about 15 minutes he left to follow the rest. I wasn't that day, but I often carry a big pistol (S&W .357) just for those reasons, hogs and lions, but haven't felt the need on a bike yet.
