greatscott

Geez all the time I've been touring I never carried spray, maybe I should start. Keep in mind that wild animals are not humans, they are smarter than humans at hunting, they surprise attack without any warning either visual or with noise, unlike humans who will first by approaching you and then start shouting at you and escalate from there, so its possible from what I've read that they will pounce on you before you know what's happening and therefore can't get to the spray in time. Domestic dogs aren't as smart as wild animals, they will visually chase you and bark the whole time giving you plenty of warning to grab your spray and fire. I also don't tour in the backcountry, I stay on roads and camp in parks mostly, sometimes fire stations will allow you to pitch a tent, city parks as well if you get permission, truck stops have no problem with me pitching a tent yet, occasionally I may have to stealth camp but it's rare, so in the places I camp an encounter with another wild animal would be rare, though I have had raccoons come up to the side of the tent sniffing my tent, and felt a nose once sniffing my head, I laughed because I thought it was funny, the raccoon didn't even care I was laughing, the thought of it attacking me never crossed my mind, am I stupid or what? I don't know, I just never been afraid of wildlife and wildlife has never attacked me. I've had deer on several occasions come to within 8 feet of me, we just look at each other, then it would casually walk off back to eating while I watched from a close distance of between 10 to 30 feet. I've been sleeping during the day outside and had birds land on me several times, waking me up, but then I would wake up and watch them, they then would reliaze something with eyes is looking at them and fly off; I've only had two species of birds do this so far, sparrows and bluejays. So where I tour my biggest threats are domestic dogs that people won't tie up even though by law their suppose too.

Happy Feet

I do as well when in camp, usually in my jersey pocket, also trail run with a jersey for the same reason. Cell in one pocket, spray in the other. Riding I like to put it in a holster.

Greatscott, There's a lot of theorizing about how an animal might attack, response time etc... to which no one can really give a 100% answer. Every region is different and where I live and tour sights like this are not uncommon. While it might be assumed an animal may attack from behind there are also many documented cases of sustained frontal attacks that have lasted minutes wherein there was a lot of time for intervention. The best defense is always being proactive and avoiding confrontation and the odds are small but, in the unlikely event that I were set upon by a large predator, I would just curse myself as quite the stupid fool to have traveled into a predators home habitat alone and not having at least carried something small, portable and effective for my own defense.

Other potential threats not already mentioned I've come across while touring that gave me a moment of pause more than thoughts of a coyote ever would were a mother Moose with calf, male Elk in rutting season and a bovine Bull on open grazing land.

BobG

My neighborhood is like living near a zoo where they've left all the cage gates ajar! The coyotes are more elusive.

neighbor's field...



my back yard, say cheese! ...

stardognine

BigAura

Raven? Ravens look like big crows. Crows are usually in a large group.

stardognine

greatscott

I was at my brothers house in Detroit and he and I both saw one standing on a railroad track about 1/8th of mile from us in a industrial area.

greatscott

I hear you man, I think all the killings of humans by coyotes or cats were surprise attacks, the humans never saw them coming, a bear is more like us, because it's large it will just come at us. But just because those killings were sneak attacks doesn't mean they will always be that way, but so far they have been, but again attacks by coyotes and cats combined are far less than shark attacks, and those are rare, I have no reservations about swimming in the ocean.

2manybikes

A person that lives about 8 or 10 blocks from me saw a coyote a few days ago, just the other side of her 4' high fence (like my 4' high fence) while her two Yorkies were in the yard. I'm in Rhode Island. They're all over the place here. I think there's a den about 100 feet from the bike path about a mile from me. They look healthy.

indyfabz

The OP has been MIA for 2 weeks. Wonder if he met his fate at the paws of coyotes while posting from his hammock (or was it a tent, or both?) at 3 a.m. in the Sonoran dessert.

jon c. 

Research has demonstrated that crows recognize individual human faces. We can't tell them apart. How smart an animal is considered to be depends on perspective.

J.Higgins 

Kinda cool. My daughter has three White West Highland Terriers named, Ramses, Osiris, and Horace.

stevepusser

I thought he used the big red arrow to fend off the beasts.

FWIW, I saw the female yote a couple weeks ago for the first time in a month, and she was definitely going to have pups any day. She then showed up last night, and she was definitely nursing. Her mate also showed up at the same time (he turns up about every other night now), so I guess they decided it was safe to leave the pups alone in the den for a bit.

Ravens are normally very wary around people, but some are acclimated, especially in tourist spots. I've fed some wild ones in San Diego that would easily recognize me later, follow me to a MacDonalds, and then sit on the roof until I came out, then come down and land next to me.

Others in campgrounds along the coasts are also used to people. I would ride through San Onofre State Park in winter when it was closed to camping, and if I spotted the resident ravens flying by, I could wave at them and they'd come and land right in front of me to see what's up. The resident ravens at Torrey Pines State Beach are also "friendly", and I've had them come right up on the bench with me like a pigeon. I also saw one there carefully pick up a piece of kelp in its foot, then soar off and drop it on another raven sitting on a lifeguard tower, so they have a sense of humor. But the ones at the Grand and Bryce Canyon parks are also infamous for stealing campers' food, and even have learned to open zippers.

BTW, "long tailed blackbirds" are probably great-tailed grackles, which are not corvids. They are a tropical species which has spread north into the US with the help of human civilization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-tailed_grackle

greatscott

Be careful with those crows, there is evidence to believe that they maybe smarter than your 5th grader and possibility even your 7th grader! And an octopus? don't even go there!
https://www.thoughtco.com/crows-are-...-think-4156896An Octopus learned how to unscrew a lid off a jar with just one demonstration by a human.

Animals are smarter then we think they are, sure a dog can't count and type etc, but they can do all sorts of other things we can't do like be trained to sniff out bombs and drugs, be trained to detect an epilepsy fit is about to occur in a human and warn them so they can take their meds, etc. Elephants morn their dead and even have a ritual for their dead; the list goes on, and we humans have only scratched the top of an iceberg in this area. They've even proven that plants communicate with other plants; https://www.theguardian.com/science/...gh-their-roots. Some insects can count and recognize human faces! https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...g-in-the-world

thumpism 

My advice? If you're sleeping outside, make sure the coyote is inside.

stardognine

rumrunn6

stevepusser

I can attest that they love it.

greatscott

I'm thinking about getting a pet Roadrunner, that little bird will keep the Coyotes away.

stardognine

indyfabz

Makes you wonder how the OP was able to binge post (at least once at 3 a.m. local time) while allegedly camping in the Sonoran Desert wilderness.

greatscott

How well does it do against coyotes?

Rollfast

As long as you didn't get it from ACME...

greatscott

Acme made some horrible stuff, i think the stuff came out of China, the Coyote would read the directions too but they always failed.

thumpism 

Name tells ya, SawzALL!