Arizona wildlife sightings

[chumley]

I just encountered a grey fox running across Broadway Road in Tempe (my second fox sighting with a mile radius in the past 6 months) and it got me thinking of all the wild animals I've had the fortune of seeing on my many years of adventures. The fox in Tempe is probably the most unusual for its urban location, but others are memorable too.

Mammals:
Mountain Lion
Black Bear
Coatimundi
Javelina
Porcupine
Skunk
Grey Fox
Ringtail
Bobcat
Teva
Elk
Feral Horse
Burro
Bighorn Sheep
Fluffy sheep
Deer
Pronghorn
Raccoon
Otter
Beaver
Bison

Reptiles:
Western Diamondback
Black Tailed
Arizona Black
Speckled
Prairie
Mojave
Rock
Tiger
Twin-spotted
AZ Mountain Kingsnake
Gopher
Desert Tortoise
Gila Monster

Birds:
Too many to list (plus I have no idea what most of them are. These are notable though.)
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
Great Horned Owl
Condor
Turkey

It makes me realize that there are only a few creatures in this state that I haven't seen but would like to. I think
Ocelot
Chupacabra
Grey Wolf
Jaguar

What have you seen, or what is still on your wish list?

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

@chumley
I searched for ["moutain lion" hiker suffocated ] - because I remember the story was that the man had to strangle the cat. And that it was a 'juvenile' cat.

I thought that the story was from Arizona on the AZT. But the hit I found that fits my recollection was for a man in Colorado. So I was wrong that it was on the AZT. (It was in 2019, before I was paying attention to backpacking.)

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-eve ... tain-lion/

While searching, I found this 70 year old attacked in Utah recently.

https://news.yahoo.com/mountain-lion-am ... 20306.html

Then a mountain lion stalking a camper in Tucson in Dec 2021

https://news.yahoo.com/hiker-terrifying ... 46354.html

And last, a man attacked by the Salt River in March.

https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-2 ... an-arizona

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

@ShatteredArm
Here's an excerpt from my triplog:

While moving along the trail, I heard something rustling in the bushes to my left.

I stopped to see what it was.

"A cow? What would a cow be doing up here at this elevation?"

"Maybe a horse?" Although I hadn't seen any horse droppings since Center Creek.

The brush wasn't very high - maybe 4 feet max. And so if a horse, surely I would have seen it.

Then it stuck its head up.

A bear!

25 feet away!

I said, somewhat loudly, "YIKES! BEAR!" (I wonder if I should have blown my whistle?) And I prayed. (After all, they're God's creatures.)

I was surprised - and terrified - that the bear didn't turn and flee.

It just looked at me.

...

After reading that, Cannondalekid posted his story about a bear charging him:

[ photoset ]

[ShatteredArm]

@TooOld2HikeQ
Sounds like in none of these examples was a gun actually useful. Even in this case where a black bear ran towards them (which is extremely rare), it still resolved itself with no harm to the people or the bear. The US averages approximately one black bear-related death per year, and there has only been a single fatality in Arizona from a wild black bear in its entire recorded history (and that occurred at a country club, not out in the wilderness).

In the case of the mountain lion, it's likely you wouldn't even have a chance to get your gun out and take aim before it's on top of you. If you're worried about mountain lion attacks, your best bet is to work on your close combat skills.

[chumley]

@TooOld2HikeQ So there's 2500 mountain lions in Arizona and 7 million people. And there's a single (one) report of a mountain lion attack on a person (which was non-fatal, and was thwarted without the use of a firearm)? From a pilot's standpoint, I think the odds of multiple system failures simultaneously occurring on your aircraft causing a fatal crash is a higher likelihood scenario than a mountain lion attack. But a pilot with a lifetime of education, training, and experience with the redundant safety systems, checklists, and protocols of piloting an aircraft is probably more comfortable with those risks than somebody with less experience with the risks associated with wildlife.

Something to keep in mind is to take a topic that you have a lot of knowledge about ... such as aviation. When an incident occurs that makes the news, how often do you read the article and find it to be incomplete, inaccurate, perhaps misleading, sensational, or obviously written by somebody with a poor grasp of the subject? A picture of a 737 accompanying a story about an A320? ... take this lesson and apply it to subjects which you might not be as knowledgeable. Youtube videos and blogs are only as accurate as the person who publishes them. Even reputable news organizations publish stories that are often lacking in context.

Rattlesnakes, bears, elk, mountain lions, fox, raccoons, skunks, etc. should not be ignored nor taken lightly. But their danger to a hiker or backpacker like you and me is generally exaggerated or sensationalized by people who rarely have a good understanding of their behavior.

If you feel more comfortable carrying a firearm, by all means, go for it. But as a pilot, I suspect you spent countless hours in a simulator practicing for emergency situations you might encounter in flight, and I'd recommend you spend a similar amount of time at the range practicing your marksmanship.

[Alston_Neal]

I do remember the lion attack at the Verde river off Bloody Basin road. A guy nailed it with a cast iron skillet. That being said I'll still carry a pistola over a cast iron skillet any day, yeah I'm weird like that.

[xsproutx]

There was that one on the Salt River last year, too. Few guys were out camping if I recall. There was also one on the Gila portion of the AZT about 3 years ago. Both non-fatal and I'm just sitting here hoping I see one one day. I think it's one of the only "cool" wildlife sightings I haven't had here in AZ yet (but you know, from a distance). Not really a gun guy but maybe I'll start carrying catnip...

[RedRoxx44]

My long ago sighting; [ photoset ] , that was a great day and I remember not being afraid, just being cautious and admiring the wonderful encounter we had. No firearms involved.

[chumley]

Indeed, you will find a good number of photos of [ Black Bear ] and [ Mountain Lion ] (not to mention [ Western Diamondback Rattlesnake ] ) posted by users here. Most are from contributors who were more excited at the opportunity to observe these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat than to be frightened by them. (Ignore the handful of photos from the zoo! )

[CannondaleKid]

I'm just sitting here hoping I see one one day

RE: Mountain lions
I've had the good luck to see two.
And the bad luck not to have a photo of either one.
Oh yeah, lest i forget, I've also been stalked by one... I had a less-than-comfortable feeling I was being watched/followed and it wasn't until later I found its tracks following mine.

[kelly14]

@ShatteredArm

I hike a lot in the backcountry usually with 2 little ones in tow and another in the harness. I think it’d be a perfectly reasonable first reaction to double check my handgun was on my hip upon seeing a bear at close range….

[ShatteredArm]

@kelly14
It's certainly an intuitive reaction, but not a reasonable one.

[LindaAnn]

@ShatteredArm
There’s nothing unreasonable about making sure a firearm is easily accessible and ready on the very remote chance it is needed. Doesn’t mean it is ever drawn, usually just a quick check with your hand to make sure you can reach it unimpeded. I agree with @Kelly14 , there have been a few times I’ve reached to wherever my gun is holstered just to make sure it is there and ready.

[LindaAnn]

Slightly different circumstances, but last fall, some guys I know through work were up in Northern ID hunting black bear. They took a shot at their bear, hitting it, but unbeknownst to them, a grizzly was very nearby and it charged them, startled from the rifle shot. They dropped the grizzly less than twenty feet before it reached them.

Yes, they reported the unfortunate event to the game warden, and after a short investigation were cleared of wrongdoing.

[kelly14]

@LindaAnn
Spot on!

[big_load]

I see bears pretty often. Some run away, some don't. I was bluff charged once in the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon, and I chased a bear out of my garage that didn't want to go. When a bear on the trail doesn't want to move along, I move along instead. Sometimes that means going away and coming back a while later, going very far around, or just going back where I came from. Around here, the main reason a bear might not retreat is that it's at a food source. The best thing to do about bears is read the bear safety literature and follow the guidance.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

I've been reading (and watching) a lot of material about what to do about black bears.

This guy has info that I haven't seen before - that a black bear will make a popping sound when agitated. (5 min at [ youtube video ] )

He talks about bluff charges too.

For me, I like having an Ace "up my sleeve" when someone is bluffing.

[LindaAnn]

Complete guide to bears in the wild:

[chumley]

@TooOld2HikeQ I wonder what expertise "William 180 - 12K Subscribers - HELP PAYPAL ME" has with studying black bear behavior.

[big_load]

The classic reference is "Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance" by Stephen Herrero.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

I'll see if the library has it.

In the meantime, the funniest, succinct review:

OK, so the key to surviving a bear attack is to figure out if the bear is trying to eat you or not.

If the bear is NOT trying to eat you, you're just supposed to lie there and let it lightly gnaw on you or sit on you or whatever not-eating-you activity the bear has in mind.

If the bear IS trying to eat you, you have to fight back because otherwise you'll totally get eaten, yo. (Whether fighting back will help depends on how lazy your bear is).

The million-dollar question, of course, is how do you tell if a bear is trying to eat you or not? Well! By picking up on a series of small, subtle clues that occurred in the 0.3 seconds between you seeing the bear and the bear attacking you, of course! And also by magically knowing the bear's previous history of behavior, feeding, and human acclimation.

IN CONCLUSION, surviving a bear attack is a total crapshoot, and although this is an interesting enough book because bears are fascinating, they are also apparently fairly inscrutable even to bear experts. D'OH!

I don't think that I will lie there (unless knocked down), even if that's what an expert says to do. (Did he perform some experiments with a control group to see who was eaten and who was not?)

Still, I appreciate the tip and will try to read the book.