(meteorobs) Meteor Watching and Wild Animals

al mitt almitt at kconline.com
Sun Nov 1 08:49:44 EST 2009


Greetings Dave, Paul and all,

They sell bear/cougar spray similar to pepper spray only bigger can. I use 
this when out hunting meteorites or observing on my own. Cougars are sneaky 
and will stalk you so only effective if you can catch them before they 
attack. I suppose you can be caught off guard when you are concentrating on 
counting meteors per hour or looking at the ground as you swing a metal 
detector. Still a piece of mind having the spray though. Best!

--AL Mitterling


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <pmartsching at mchsi.com>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Meteor Watching and Wild Animals


>
> Dave,
>
> Probably there was something wrong with these coyotes.  At least one of 
> them was "insane" or rabid or whatever.  In the case of bears, any food 
> attracts them, more so if they are "garbage can" bears - accustomed to 
> eating people food.  There are rare bad-tempered animals, which are much 
> more dangerous than usual for their kind.  Maybe keep a baseball bat while 
> observing?  or mace?  Mace might just make a bear madder.  So far in this 
> part of the country mountain lions are rare and they usually do not attack 
> people, but sometimes they do.  But there is some risk in every activity.
>
> Paul
>
>  -------------- Original message from "David Oesper" 
> <oesper at mac.com>: --------------
>
> The heartbreaking death of young Canadian folksinger Taylor Mitchell from 
> an extremely rare coyote attack this week makes me wonder what the risks 
> are watching meteors, alone, at night, on a lawn chair (prone and two feet 
> off the ground), in a remote area.  Are mountain lions, bears, wild dogs, 
> coyotes, etc. more likely to attack you in certain areas of the country 
> under those circumstances?  Have any of you had (or heard of) incidents, 
> and do you take
>> precautions?  Recommendations?
>>
>> Just curious.
>>
>> One more thing to worry about, I guess.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> David Oesper 





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