Risk Assessment for Remote Field Sites/Wildlands

[Salamander]

This is a spin-off from one of the field pistol threads; we were talking about bears and other wildlife there, but here I'd like to expand that to include a wider range of potential risks. The intent is to provide general guidance on how to assess risk prior to venturing out into the woods/fields/swamps etc, whether that's for a weekend hike in the backcountry or extended on the job field work. There are lots of folks on P-F who are very good at assessing urban risks, I'm guessing that knowledge is less widespread for the backcountry. There are certainly folks here who know much of this at a common sense level, for some I'm just trying to help organize that info.

My perspective is as a senior project manager for a global consulting firm, in that context we run a risk assessment prior to sending staff into the field for almost anything, these days. For me that can be biologists, geologists, engineers, construction managers, and more. We get into some pretty remote sites, NEPA baseline studies for mines deep in the desert as one example. What follows is based on 35+ years of experience all over the US and to a lesser extent internationally. At least some government agencies have a similar and sometimes more complicated process. I'm pretty certain that the more specialized .mil types have their own unique risk assessments, although I'm curious if/how the current iterations factor in environmental and wildlife risks when there are obviously greater conflict-related dangers present.

The next post summarizes a generic up-front risk assessment, we do a variation of this for almost anything out of the office. Even being familiar with the concepts can help one to avoid surprises, it's certainly not necessary to fill out a form for every walk in the local park. After that I'm thinking of running through wildlife risks by taxa; large mammal predators get most of the attention in recent threads on P-F, but smaller critters can be risks as well. At some point I'll offer examples of resources to look up info. And I'll probably run through region by region examples for at least the US, since the risks are dramatically different in the western mountains vs the midwest vs the southeast, for example. A regional approach also offers a chance to get into non-wildlife risks, since there are far more injuries or near misses from things like slips/trips/falls or weather than from all wildlife combined.

One goal is to help individuals ask the right questions when deciding which pistol/ammo or other gear to take in the field that day. Sometimes realizing that oh yeah, xyz is a potential risk on this particular day and location, can result in loading up with some different things.

This may evolve depending on feedback. Also if I assume you understand something and you don't, or if I get too deep into jargon, please don't hesitate to ask questions.

[Salamander]

Many private sector firms which have staff working in the field require preparation of a health and safety plan, job safety assessment, or similar prior to any substantial field effort. As a senior project manager for a large global consulting firm I’ve either prepared or reviewed and signed off on lots of these, I actually prefer to have the field lead write it since they will be the ones present every day and responsible for safety. I’d best not share the exact form because it’s proprietary, however the high points are summarized below and are a composite of what we’ve used at my last two firms. The actual form is a Microsoft Word template so boxes can be checked and text boxes filled in efficiently. Most consulting firms use something similar, note that this is the basic level, if someone is working on a hazardous materials or other high risk site there are more detailed and complicated versions required and at higher risk levels legal may be required to review.

The point of this is to make one think things through in advance, and then to be that much more prepared if something actually happens. Way better than trying to figure out what to do under stress. Example, once I did a favor for a UC prof friend of mine and guided two of her grad students to a good field site for their research. Right before finishing, one of them cut her hand badly on a broken bottle in the river substrate. I was able to get them right to the hospital for the few required stitches, and all ended well. They were not prepared, and if I hadn’t been there they would have wasted time figuring out where the hospital was.

Author, project manager, field staff, and project name are identified. Everyone listed here is required to read the finished project and initial or sign, this is just a simple way to be sure that no one blows off safety prep.

A brief description of the field work follows, along with a map or air photo of the site. We use a GIS map with site boundary, but even a Google Earth printout or copy of a paper map can be helpful to have. If it’s basic personal backcountry hiking I’d identify the specific trail(s) here.

Task descriptions follow, this breaks out the major elements of the work. This can be as simple as drive to site, and hike on site; or it can be really detailed for a large complex project. Identify subcontractors if applicable.

Identify the site type, curiously every template I’ve used has boxes for various urban/industrial types but remote field sites fall into “other.”

Check boxes for “main project hazards,” this is enlightening because the standard boxes that follow pretty much identify where most of the injuries/incidents have occurred in several decades of corporate documentation: 1) heat/cold; 2) biological hazards; 3) noise; 4) slips/trips; 5) extreme weather; 6) heavy equipment in use; 7) significant vehicle travel; 8) international travel; 9) inexperienced employees; 10) other. Add more detailed descriptive text for known or potential site-specific risks.

Identify any personal protective equipment or supplies required/recommended.

Societal/social concerns. I’ll let you fill in the blanks here, but don’t brush it off. I’ve personally had to intervene in more than one incident when staff not straight middle aged white males were being hassled in certain parts of the US, and it becomes a concern for any of us in certain parts of the world.

Accessibility concerns, physical/technological/cultural.

Communications plan. List phone numbers for project manager, any other key staff. For remote sites, we like to include an end of day or departing site check-in by text, or by satellite phone if no reliable signal… although these days I can usually find a signal at least from ridgetops.

Emergency contacts. Where is the nearest hospital? Include directions. Local law enforcement? On longer term projects I check in advance, and have sometimes been provided with direct lines to get a faster response. Fire… this is especially important in the west where wildfire risk can be high. Client contact if applicable. Corporate safety director contact.

[Joe S]

Please continue in as much detail as you like.

[JPedersen]

Thank you for your hard work. This is tremendously helpful. Keep it coming !


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[Salamander]

Things may slow down a little for a while because we're now into the sections where I need to verify or update a few facts as I go.

I'll treat bear risks separately later, because I need to look up a few things that I haven't checked in a while. This post will start on other potential mammal threats.

Mountain lions get a lot of attention. In practice sightings are pretty unusual, because mountain lions have huge home ranges and low densities (Average adult mountain lion density in the central Sierras one per 33 square km. Home range averaged 265 square km for females, 350 square km for adult males. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/30726 ). They also tend to be nocturnal or crepuscular (dawn/dusk) and that's when all of my very few sightings have happened. I can count my observations on the fingers of one hand, and the few people I know who have seen very many are either working in the field mostly at night, or are doing research on the species to include radio tracking etc. The range, defined as permanent populations, includes most of the western US and part of Florida. Scattered sightings are known elsewhere, see https://sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2020/07/DeNino_Liana_MCM591_Fall2019.pdf for a map.

Attacks on humans are rare: There have been 22 attacks documented in California since 1986, see https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Mountain-Lion/Attacks . Curiously a lot of those were in SoCal, only three were up here in the emerald triangle counties. I remember reading about the one in 2007, it was an emaciated juvenile which attacked an elderly man, and his elderly wife literally beat it off with a stick. Many of the victims have anecdotally been children or physically small adults. At least a couple of SoCal attacks were on physically small women jogging alone at dusk on trails.

I don't really spend a lot of time worrying about big cats when I'm out hiking in the west. In the unexpected event that defense becomes necessary, they are thin skinned and anything that would work for human self-defense should be more than enough for a mountain lion. The few times I've encountered them in the wild I've been more fascinated than worried, and all of mine gave a disdainful tail flick and walked away.

Feral pigs, some of you know a lot more about these critters than I do simply because they're rare here and pretty much shot on sight. If anyone has extensive experience hunting pigs with handguns, please do share what works. I've seen one dropped immediately by 45 acp at close range but have few other data points, they just haven't been common on any of my sites that I've spent much time on. I do know that where only a few are present, we see them only on game cameras at night or by fresh digging/rooting, which can look like a small mortar barrage happened.

Smaller carnivores and omnivores are rarely a threat. Coyote, fox, bobcat can be fairly common although not often seen; we get astounding numbers of these on game cameras and see lots of tracks and scat at some locations but almost entirely at night. An exception is the occasional encounter with one of these critters with distemper. My most memorable encounter was in an upscale neighborhood in Lake County Illinois, where a raccoon was dragging paralyzed hind legs and drooling all over the middle of the intersection. Only one lady had stopped so far, a soccer mom who wanted to put it in a box and take it to the vet (extremely bad idea), LE was already on the scene (ISP) and he asked me to distract the lady while he put the animal down... which was exactly the right call on his part. See anything like this, either avoid it, or if safe/legal/appropriate put the animal down quickly while keeping a little distance.

Similar with bats. Most are unlikely to encounter them in the wild, if one is flopping around in the open in daytime it may be rabid. We sample bats with acoustic detectors and sonograms (six species in my backyard) and rarely bother to catch or handle them anymore. The few researchers who do handle them have up to date rabies vaccinations... I have access to a whole team of bat specialists and we're bidding on a southeast US bat HCP project right now.

Elk, moose, bison, etc, the general rule is anything bigger than you are gets the right of way. The greatest risk is probably a vehicle-animal encounter. A local biologist friend once got tipped by a rutting male Roosevelt elk, no injury just a face plant, they said they never saw it coming or heard it. Outside of rutting season risk is pretty low unless someone gets stupid close. I did see plenty of stupid in Yellowstone last summer around bison.

Small mammals, the main risk is disease (hantavirus etc), they can bite but only if handled. They can also carry ticks or parasites. Risk is low unless you're handling lots of them for some reason.

There are a few rarities along the southern border or a few other places, things that most people will never see so I won't go into any detail here.

[Duelist]

In the desert southwest near the border, bats are very common, and when the weather is what they like, I see them every evening. We have limestone caves all over the place. At my school, we sometimes have one start the morning roosting in the shade on the side of the building (textured like stone), and then they are stuck when the shade moves. Keeping the kids away from them is the biggest problem then. Having a plan for dealing with a bat that has roosted within reach of a curious/daring/stupid teenage boy is important. :D

Snakes are very common: we have a variety of poisonous rattlesnakes, and a wide variety of non-poisonous snakes. All of the people I know of who have been bitten by a rattlesnake were trying to pick it up, whether to move it or whatever. Usual bite sites are hands. Dogs get bit on the face/neck. If the swelling doesn’t suffocate them, the vets can usually save them. Occasionally, one will have nerve damage.

Most common non-human large animal to encounter is a range cow. Bears, lions, bobcats, badgers, etc., all seem to run away. Skunks don’t always run away. :D

Human and drug smugglers are more common encounters than large predators.

The key to any risk assessment is knowing what the hazards are for the place you are going.

[GJM]

Something my wife and I are very focused on, is communication capability. Ideally you want to take the "search" out of search and rescue. Have one or more methods that will work in your area -- sat phone, 406 PLB, handheld aviation radio, Garmin inreach, latest iPhone.

[PNWTO]

Just seconding what GJM said, an InReach or SPOT is the baseline. I chose the InReach Mini because it afforded two communication with my wife and supervisor. I think the newest SPOT offerings have two-way comms but the Garmin ecosystem is just so easy to get into and the InReach is even more seamless if one has a Garmin watch.

When I was in the field a lot for a land management agency, I also made a point to have enough gear that I could spend the night. I just had a spare JetBoil, a Mountain House meal, and a HPG serape in my daypack. It wouldn't be the most comfortable night, but it would be better than shivering under a tree or in the truck.

It wasn't policy, but my personal requirement was for two gallons of water in the vehicle and two to three liters in the pack. A bit overkill for some climates, but water can be the quickest of the "big deals".

[Salamander]

In the desert southwest near the border, bats are very common, and when the weather is what they like, I see them every evening. We have limestone caves all over the place. At my school, we sometimes have one start the morning roosting in the shade on the side of the building (textured like stone), and then they are stuck when the shade moves. Keeping the kids away from them is the biggest problem then. Having a plan for dealing with a bat that has roosted within reach of a curious/daring/stupid teenage boy is important. :D

Snakes are very common: we have a variety of poisonous rattlesnakes, and a wide variety of non-poisonous snakes. All of the people I know of who have been bitten by a rattlesnake were trying to pick it up, whether to move it or whatever. Usual bite sites are hands. Dogs get bit on the face/neck. If the swelling doesn’t suffocate them, the vets can usually save them. Occasionally, one will have nerve damage.

Most common non-human large animal to encounter is a range cow. Bears, lions, bobcats, badgers, etc., all seem to run away. Skunks don’t always run away. :D

Human and drug smugglers are more common encounters than large predators.

The key to any risk assessment is knowing what the hazards are for the place you are going.

Completely agree that most snake incidents could have very easily been avoided. More on that soon.

Skunks are actually the greatest wildlife "risk" on a lot of sites, especially for those outside at night. OK, maybe annoyance, or at least non-lethal risk. Hard to believe how common they are until one spends time outdoors at night, and it's made worse because they often follow unpaved roads or trails which ups the human encounter frequency.

Know the hazards for the place... that really is the key.

[JHC]

Something my wife and I are very focused on, is communication capability. Ideally you want to take the "search" out of search and rescue. Have one or more methods that will work in your area -- sat phone, 406 PLB, handheld aviation radio, Garmin inreach, latest iPhone.

Drilled into us in the Army when I was in my formative years was the conceptual framework that all we do is Shoot, Move and Communicate (actually correlates to business/work as well sort of). With the tech today, its just too easy to manage this.

[JHC]

Know the hazards for the place... that really is the key.

You mentioned rabies in the context of bats but re it across the small mammals range like coyotes/foxes/raccoons etc, isn't that a seasonal thing? IIRC it peaks in late Summer? And maybe vanishes in cold Winters? Is it a 3 season thing?

[Salamander]

I’ve linked this bear range map before, it’s a useful overview of North American bears https://geology.com/stories/13/bear-areas/

There are three types of bear in North America. The Polar Bear is limited to northern Alaska and Canada. They are the largest of the three varieties, at 700-1,500 pounds, and they are specialized predators focused mostly on seals. I won’t spend too much time on them here, but if you’re one of the very few people who visits within their range, learn more about them, and carry a long gun. They are potentially the most dangerous of the North American bears.

The brown bear, or grizzly, is a little more widespread. It occurs throughout Alaska and NW Canada. For those of us in the lower 48, there are only a few areas to be concerned: The northern Rockies in Montana, in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and a small area of the northernmost cascades in Washington.

Brown bear density in Alaska can be up to one per square mile in productive coastal areas. It’s usually much less inland. The caveat to that is that resource availability can concentrate animals in certain times and places; for example a lush valley surrounded by higher mountains in Alaska, or along streams during salmonid runs. There’s more info on the Alaska populations at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=brownbear.printerfriendly .

There’s a wealth of discussion on defense against brown bears in the various field pistol threads and those tend to evolve over time, so check there for the latest. There’s more info on global brown bear attacks on humans at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44341-w with 183 attacks documented in North America between 2000 and 2015.

Black bear are much more widespread, especially in the western mountains but also in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan; in part of the Ozarks; the Appalachians; parts of Florida; and parts of the North Carolina coastal Plain. Best to look at the linked map, the range is complex. The map doesn’t attempt to distinguish abundance, so I’ll note that I see lots of black bear in northern coastal California and the Rockies, but spent a fair amount of time for three years on a project site in the heart of the mapped Ozark range and never saw a bear or sign of a bear, and the locals had heard stories but never seen one themselves. This was 20 years ago, so not exactly the latest info.

There is a lot of info on the internet about black bear-human interactions; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America is a useful summary of recent attacks and there aren’t all that many despite the sensationalism implied in some of the media accounts that come up on the same search.

With black bear, the key is to know the region because bear behavior various a great deal by place. Here’s in north coast California bears are afraid of humans and run on sight, I know of only a couple of exceptions and there are no documented attacks near here. The conflicts tend to occur where stupid people feed bears or otherwise provide a ready source of food. Once while spending a couple of weeks at Camp 4 in Yosemite, one or more bears would walk right through camp about dusk each day, showing no fear at all. Every couple of days another car would be ripped open in the lot because someone ignored the warnings about not leaving food in cars. The damage was impressive, doors ripped off hinges and interiors completely trashed. Needless to say there have been documented attacks in that county, and in other parts of the Sierra’s with high human recreational use.

I’ll spend less time on Gray Wolves because of limited experience. Someone once said that if you’re in Gray Wolf habitat, you probably had to work to get there. The range includes most of Alaska and Canada, the northern Rockies, parts of Washington, Oregon, and northeast California (Lassen-Modoc, with an estimated 25 animals in multiple packs at last count); portions of Arizona and New Mexico; and northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the UP of Michigan. The range is expanding in some areas including California where they’re been present only the last handful of years. This will, over time, increase the risks of wolf-human interactions.

There have been very few attacks on humans, see https://wolf.org/wolf-info/factsvsfiction/are-wolves-dangerous-to-humans/ for details. The danger of course is that they are pack animals. If encountering wolves don’t run, that will trigger hunting instinct. I can’t recommend shooting one in anything less than a life threatening or major injury situation because they’re still federally listed in most of the range. Even a legit shoot is going to bring down a world of bureaucratic hurt and paperwork to get cleared. If it’s not legit, it could mean criminal charges. I work on ESA projects all the time and need to maintain my agency credibility so need to stay inside the lines.

There's a very small Red Wolf experimental population in the east, I've encountered it only on desktop exercises and therefore don't have a whole lot to share.

[Salamander]

I’m struggling to come up with any real risks associated with birds. They’ve lost a step since evolving from dinosaurs. Vehicle interactions are about it. I’ve had Turkey Vultures come up off the road on winding mountain routes and barely clear the windshield. Once a Barred Owl did hit my windshield, came out of the dark and just glanced off as it flew up, it did not hit the road behind me so may have been OK. That could have been very different if it had been a straight-on hit a foot lower.

Reptiles: Most of the risks are associated with venomous species. As noted above most negative interactions with rattlesnakes are initiated by the human. More than a few reportedly involve alcohol and dares to kiss a snake.

Scientists who work repeatedly with venomous snakes eventually get bitten, all it takes is a momentary lapse. The late Roger Conant, author of the Peterson Field Guide to reptiles, once showed me his scarred hands at lunch during a scientific conference. He joked that he’d been bitten a bunch of times (can’t recall the exact number, but a lot) and had survived both the bites and the treatment.

A acquaintance who researched rattlesnakes was bitten twice, once while feeding an animal. The second time was a very close call, he was on a USMC base in the east with other researchers, was photographing a Timber Rattlesnake, and got too close. I’m told that if he hadn’t been in proximity to helicopter evacuation capability and combat-trained doctors that he wouldn’t have made it. Another guy got bitten in his basement while handling a snake and was found by his daughter as he tried to crawl up the stairs. Then there’s the classic bit of arrogance, Karl P. Schmidt was the curator of reptiles at the Field Museum in the 1930’s and was involved in an academic argument on whether or not a species of African rear-fanged snake was venomous, he argued that it was not. One night after hours he was bitten, I’ve been in that room and it’s in the basement of the museum and off the traffic routes. They found him dead in the morning, he had taken detailed notes on his symptoms. Guess he was wrong about it being venomous.

My advice on dealing with snakes is simple: Unless it’s someplace like under your back porch where it’s a potential risk to kids or pets, leave it alone, walk around it. Three basic reasons: 1) any interaction at all increases risk; 2) if we killed all the snakes we’d be over run with rats and mice; 3) more than a few people have been bitten after killing a snake and then handling the carcass. The muscles can still function for a while after death.

If a bite does happen, the best treatment is a set of car keys. Stay calm and get to a hospital ASAP, which means knowing where the nearest hospital is. Once a USFS intern was bitten during training on a site near mine, big guy, he went into shock and wasn't much help. Took the entire field crew to get him in the car. He was fine the next day, hospital was nine miles away.

In spring 2020 we did the permits and construction clearance for a certain very large factory in Arizona that you’ve probably seen in the news recently. It was a large site, mostly beat-up creosote bush scrub. I had a field team of five out there for 11 days, and they averaged two to three rattlesnakes per day. Two species. Western Diamondbacks we usually heard before we saw them, they rattled from as much as 30 feet away. They stood their ground, and would strike and rattle the entire time. Mojave Rattlesnakes on the other hand would freeze in place, we were unable to get one to rattle or strike even by poking it repeatedly with a snake stick. That makes sense, Mojaves have one of the most potent venoms of any rattlesnake but they don’t have a lot of it. So, expending it might mean not eating for a day or two. We just identified each one and photographed it and moved on. Even though those snakes were going to be destroyed by graders in a few days or weeks, we left them alone. Shooting one would have just increased risk. There were lots of small rocks and thus a ricochet risk, and we were within sight of the interstate.

Most venomous snakes will act like those Mojaves and try to hide. A few are more assertive: Diamondbacks, Timber Rattlesnakes, Cottonmouths. Two of those are pretty common within their range, and Cottonmouths can be found in roadside ditches in Florida. They won’t come after you, those aggressive ones just won’t back off. Wear good leather boots in snake habitat and you’ll be fine, the only strike I’ve seen in the wild was after we’d been looking for an animal for a while (radiotelemetry, so we know it was within a few feet) when it finally got annoyed enough and came up out of the crevice it was hiding in and snapped off a strike at the guy with the antenna. I was right behind him and watched the strike bounce off. If in a high risk area for an extended time consider snake gaiters, we used them on that AZ site.

If you must move a venomous snake, the safest way is to basically lay a plastic garbage can on its side and sweep the snake into it. I’ve done that several times, and seen a whole lot of other rattlesnakes, and have never been bitten. I walk around the majority of them.

There are a few other species that are not venomous but can inflict nasty bites. Water snakes and racers come to mind. Same concept, if you don’t handle them or get really close it’s unlikely to happen. Same reason to not handle an adult Snapping Turtle, once I saw one bite a six inch long fish clean in half.

There are also a couple of venomous lizards, the Gila Monster is best known. They have strong jaws and will bite, hang on, and chew. Best to avoid these too, they’re faster than they look.

Amphibians, I really can’t think of many amphibian related risk unless you lick toads. I know one high-level federal agency guy who was driving on a rainy night near the border in Texas, he picked up a toad off the road, brought in out of the rain to ID it, and bufotoxin from the paratoid glands was somehow atomized by the car defrosters. Not making this up, I’ve been in the field with this guy and one of my relatives was in the car when it happened. They were both pretty useless for the next 10 minutes, burning eyes and couldn’t see very well. No reports of hallucinations but they wouldn’t tell anyway, that wouldn’t look good on a resume.

[Salamander]

You mentioned rabies in the context of bats but re it across the small mammals range like coyotes/foxes/raccoons etc, isn't that a seasonal thing? IIRC it peaks in late Summer? And maybe vanishes in cold Winters? Is it a 3 season thing?

A quick search shows three reported cases in North Carolina in the past week, two raccoons and a fox; so I wouldn't count on it vanishing in winter. There could be seasonal cycles, they could be tied as much to when humans are in the woods or when animals have the most social contact as anything else. I'm not finding any solid data so far though. Rabies is viral, spread by bites or scratches.

According to CDC, 70% of human rabies deaths are from transmissions by bats. The species which most often get rabies are bats, foxes, skunks, and raccoons; but any mammal can get rabies. Even the big guys, some of the otherwise rare attacks by wolves have been linked to rabies.

Dogs with rabies are rare in the US because of required vaccinations, that's not true in many third world countries. If traveling overseas, that's one more thing to be aware of.

[Salamander]

Most of the risks and hazards in this category are more tied to the waterbody itself than to wildlife. Of course Alligators deserve respect in the southeast US, but probably more people die each year by falling out of boats. Fisheries biologists get into some crazy risks like playing with electricity in the water to sample fish, once I helped IDNR for a week on a basin survey and the safety talk was mostly about check on each other frequently, if someone slips they can go under. Although I thought the really crazy part was hauling the generator up and down a steep bank, that's something best left to young backs.

Once I saw a Corps of Engineers guy get badly bitten by a Bowfin he was holding for a photo, caught during a boat electrofishing run. We call Bowfin "Jurassic fish" although really they're more like Miocene, haven't changed much since then. Torpedoes with teeth.

The water thing is mostly common sense, and the fishermen probably already know it. Be careful of deep holes. Be careful of fast current. Be especially careful after heavy rainfall, even if it's not right in that spot; rivers can come up fast after a thunderstorm upstream. Swimmers can get in trouble up to at least several miles below dams because they underestimate how cold it can get during summer flow releases, the Trinity River is a good example of that. I've been in rivers with slick clay substrate where it's hard to keep footing, and that same river had lots of underwater brush and debris jams which can puncture waders or get tangled. And so on.

Saltwater is a whole other deal, and beyond the scope of what I'm trying to do here.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Most venomous snakes will act like those Mojaves and try to hide. A few are more assertive: Diamondbacks, Timber Rattlesnakes, Cottonmouths. Two of those are pretty common within their range, and Cottonmouths can be found in roadside ditches in Florida. They won’t come after you, those aggressive ones just won’t back off. Wear good leather boots in snake habitat and you’ll be fine, the only strike I’ve seen in the wild was after we’d been looking for an animal for a while (radiotelemetry, so we know it was within a few feet) when it finally got annoyed enough and came up out of the crevice it was hiding in and snapped off a strike at the guy with the antenna. I was right behind him and watched the strike bounce off. If in a high risk area for an extended time consider snake gaiters, we used them on that AZ site.

Just an aside, the risk may be low, but is never zero. This may be the exception that proves the rule, but when I was 15 a large Western Diamondback did come after my buddy and me while we were slaughtering jackrabbits with .22 pistols on his great uncle's ranch in Cotulla, TX.

In my AO, we have the aforementioned Diamondbacks, Cottonmouths, Copperheads, and some Coral snakes. Lots of non-venomous imitators. The county I work for hosts one of the two annual Rattlesnake Roundups in this part of the state. The Copperheads are practically docile, whereas Cottonmouths are reputed to be more ill-tempered than the rattlers.


Edit to add.....The biggest critter threats are probably feral dogs, cattle, feral hogs, and then the potentially rabid ones.

....Forgot to mention the feral emu that was put down a few years ago. It was a traffic hazard, but I can't imagine that trying to handle it in any way would've ended well.

[PNWTO]

Edit to add.....The biggest critter threats are probably feral… cattle…

The amount of rage that Ol’ Bessie can generate after spending a winter or two in the wilds is impressive.

[Salamander]

Just an aside, the risk may be low, but is never zero. This may be the exception that proves the rule, but when I was 15 a large Western Diamondback did come after my buddy and me while we were slaughtering jackrabbits with .22 pistols on his great uncle's ranch in Cotulla, TX.

In my AO, we have the aforementioned Diamondbacks, Cottonmouths, Copperheads, and some Coral snakes. Lots of non-venomous imitators. The county I work for hosts one of the two annual Rattlesnake Roundups in this part of the state. The Copperheads are practically docile, whereas Cottonmouths are reputed to be more ill-tempered than the rattlers.


Edit to add.....The biggest critter threats are probably feral dogs, cattle, feral hogs, and then the potentially rabid ones.

....Forgot to mention the feral emu that was put down a few years ago. It was a traffic hazard, but I can't imagine that trying to handle it in any way would've ended well.

A guy I know thought he was being attacked by a Blue Racer once. He stood firm, the snake went right between his legs and down a hole a few feet behind him. He just happened to be on the path to a favorite hiding place. Of course who knows, maybe Mr Snake thought hey they're teenagers, let's have some fun :) You're correct though that there's an exception to every rule... after all, animals can't read, they don't always know what they aren't supposed to do. Example, out of many hundreds of black bear observations around here by lots of biologists, most ran; one treed a friend of mine on private timberlands. He wasn't very serious or he would have climbed up after her, she got on the radio for help and the bear left. Maybe they'd just clear-cut his house and he was ornery, or maybe he was just having a bad Monday morning.

Copperheads; once near Van Buren Missouri we were camped on a project site for several days in late spring, getting up at night to take a piss meant checking every step with a flashlight because there was usually a copperhead or two out there. We saw something like 27 of them that trip. Docile is a good description, most of them didn't move at all. Pretty animals, from a safe distance.

First emu story I've heard, but a guy near here got chased by a llama once. That fence was there for a reason.

[Salamander]

Let's not forget the little creepy-crawly guys. There are a zillion of them so I can barely touch the surface. Most can mean discomfort, a few are more serious.

Everyone knows about bees/hornets etc and they're about everywhere. Most of us who are outdoors much have been stung. They're a bigger concern for those who are allergic.

Ticks are a much bigger concern because of Lyme Disease and a few other afflictions. There are a few parts of the country where one can't walk a block without being swarmed by them. The general protocol is to brush off clothing before getting back in the truck, then toss clothing in the washing machine or at least in a bag so they don't crawl around the house; and then do a self-inspection and hopefully remove any before they get deeply attached. It's the little ones that are the biggest risk, lots of info available online.

Seed ticks aren't really ticks, they're tiny little guys barely visible to the eye and they can go right through the mesh of your jeans, usually by the hundreds. We used to pull them off our pants with duct tape. They're like chiggers on steriods, severe itching for days. The good news is I've seen them only in the Ozarks and only in September, not sure where else they occur. Chiggers are much more widespread and can be annoying.

Spiders, most are harmless, a few are not. We pick up minor bites when working in marshes, no one has had a serious bite when I've been present and I know only one person who has. It does happen though, more in some regions than in others.

Scorpions, I remember during a training in Phoenix at the start of my career there was an Arizona Game and Fish guy in the class, and he did a quick scorpions of the Phoenix area talk. Found one of each in about five minutes under debris, told us don't worry about five of these that are like bee stings but this sixth one can be fatal. It was a little tan guy, and that kind of info is readily available online. Oh, and check inside your boots before putting them on in the morning after camping in the desert. On a more recent trip we put fiber optic cameras down kit fox burrows looking for burrowing owls, and all we found were scorpions. Lots of scorpions.

That's just a quick summary, there's probably more.

Plants: Poison oak (west), poison ivy (east) and poison sumac (bogs in the east) are the main offenders. The last is the worst, but also the hardest to get into. I once had to train a stunt double for a major film on how to recognize and avoid poison oak, which is one of the more unique things I've been paid for. Turned out she enjoyed shooting and was pretty good at it.

Lesser annoyances include anything with thorns. There's a plant whose name escapes me right now, yellow flowers, blooms in June in northern Illinois, it's photoreactive; brush it in sunlight and it can cause blisters. It usually occurs at low density so is easy to avoid. Again, there's certainly more but unless you're eating random things they aren't likely to kill you.

[Salamander]

Now something a little different: How to find info on wildlife and habitat.

All 50 states have a natural heritage program, although it's called different things in different places. While parts of the framework have been standardized there's also tremendous variation depending on funding and local philosophy. Some states (Illinois) have a lot of information but it's not real easy to access without a written request to a state agency. Some are remarkably transparent and informative (Arizona, see https://www.azgfd.com/Wildlife/ ) and cover both game and non-game species. Some only make info on special-status and game species available. A few (California CNDDB) have a ton of info and the ability to generate GIS maps, but require an annual subscription that costs enough to not really be worth it for the non-professional.

To expand a little on how awesome Arizona's system is, you can self-generate habitat and species maps at https://habimap.azgfd.com/ . These do require a little explanation; the species maps are usually based on physical and habitat modeling so they indicate potential presence, not known presence and sometimes they're wrong at a micro-scale. Zoom out a little and they're a pretty good representation.

There's also a lot of info on other state wildlife agency pages and, for federal listed or candidate species, on the USFWS ECOS page. Some jurisdications are more up to date and detailed than others, but it's generally good info.

You'll notice that where I've linked things above it's to government agencies, research institutions, or occasionally a major non-profit. There are no links to random unaffiliated guys on the internet. That's because every corner of the internet is as filled with derp as those other gun forums. Everybody thinks they're an expert because they read it somewhere else on the internet, and a lot of it is wrong. So stick with known sources whenever possible. They aren't perfect and not all scientists and planners agree on everything, but they're usually mostly accurate. I may circle back on this later with more ideas, for now feel free to see what your state has available.

[Clusterfrack]

...Ticks... do a self-inspection and hopefully remove any before they get deeply attached. It's the little ones that are the biggest risk.


Yeah, that inspection sometimes needs to be done by another person. I've been in the woods when two different females got infested by ticks in the crotchital area and had to find a friend and a flashlight... Good lesson to pick a place to squat carefully. Brush offers cover, but also ticks.

[Cookie Monster]

For plants - in So Cal I would add Poodle Dog Brush. Gives a weird poison oak like rash.

Also Cow Parsnip - you rub up against a bunch and some folks get a dermatitis with sun exposure.

Also in riparian areas in the West - Stinging Nettle.

PNW - I’ve done surveys in Devil’s Club. That sucked. Pretty self evident though.

[Coyotesfan97]

There are also a couple of venomous lizards, the Gila Monster is best known. They have strong jaws and will bite, hang on, and chew. Best to avoid these too, they’re faster than they look.

I’ve lived in Arizona for fifty years. I’ve seen Gila Monsters in the desert twice. They are great to watch. They were just ambling along with zero aggression. We just watched them for awhile and they went on their way. If you see one in the Wild you’ve had a lucky day.

Their venom drips off their back teeth and the chew on things they’ve bitten to get the venom in. In the Game and Fish hunting class I took the instructor said if someone gets bit they picked one up. They clamp their jaws so removing them is hard

Don’t pick them up and you’ll be fine.

[Joe S]

Yeah, that inspection sometimes needs to be done by another person. I've been in the woods when two different females got infested by ticks in the crotchital area and had to find a friend and a flashlight... Good lesson to pick a place to squat carefully. Brush offers cover, but also ticks.

IMO, necessary, especially when dealing with the deer ticks, AFAIK, the most common Lyme carrier. They are quite small, and love to hide where they are easily hid by hair (crotch, armpit, upper nape of neck).

That's been my experience, anyway, living in Lyme country.

[RoyGBiv]

Let's not forget the little creepy-crawly guys. There are a zillion of them so I can barely touch the surface. Most can mean discomfort, a few are more serious.



Anaphylaxis

Even if you are not prone to this from a single bite or sting, getting into a nest of something that stings or bites can be trouble. While I don't carry an epi-pen in the woods, I do have Benadryl cream and pills. Paid off for me once while trimming trees and getting in trouble with a nest(?) of biting tree ants. If I was alone I would have driven to the local fire station immediately, which was on the route to the nearest hospital.

ETA. Ticks will definitely find their way into hard to reach places. And they also like to lay low until late night when you're asleep, and you can feel them tickling you on their way to dinner.

[Salamander]

Anaphylaxis

Even if you are not prone to this from a single bite or sting, getting into a nest of something that stings or bites can be trouble. While I don't carry an epi-pen in the woods, I do have Benadryl cream and pills. Paid off for me once while trimming trees and getting in trouble with a nest(?) of biting tree ants. If I was alone I would have driven to the local fire station immediately, which was on the route to the nearest hospital.

ETA. Ticks will definitely find their way into hard to reach places. And they also like to lay low until late night when you're asleep, and you can feel them tickling you on their way to dinner.

Agree. Benedryl is a standard part of my med kit for backcountry work.

Once while on a short summer walk with a friend in the Chicago suburbs, the mosquitos got really bad, as in swarming. Annoying for me, but after a while she started having trouble walking. Knew what it was right away, it had happened before, and she had an epi-pen. I had to help her back to the car, she was fine not too long after that because she was prepared.

[PNWTO]

https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1838739/lost-arizona-hiker-found-guilty-starting-3-forest-fires-2018

Great example of a lack of simple readiness.

[CDW4ME]

My risk assessment, whether going to Publix, Wal-Mart, or on a little hike (basically anywhere outside my yard).
If I had to defend myself against a risk (threat) what concealable handgun would I prefer in my hand? Glock 20SF or 22.5
Risk assessment complete, I'll be packing the 20SF :)

[fatdog]

Anaphylaxis .

A year ago I discussed this with my internist/family doc. I have had mild systemic (not just local site) reactions to certain stings in the past, all easily managed by 50-100 mg of Benadryl. Never been on an ER trip because of one. He agreed that because of where I go (remote) and the fact I go solo it would be a good idea for me to keep an EpiPen, even though I have never had a really severe reaction.

He told me that the first "bad one" can come without a known prior history of that sort of severe sting reactions, and that the fact I have had milder reactions in the past is an indicator that I could get a bad one some day. Fortunately my insurance covered it, $15 copay to me, it gets stuffed in the first aid section of my daypack now with the Benadryl.

[GJM]

This is why you take comm gear and survival gear with you. When flying and snow machining in very cold temps in AK, we made sure to have redundant comm gear and a -40 sleeping bag and bivvy sack, so as to be able to survive.

A Minnesota snowmobiler was rescued from the Bighorn Mountains late last month after being stranded for three nights in sub-zero weather.

David Madsen, 65, of Hawick, Minnesota, survived the unplanned outing by digging a snow cave under his snowmobile.

Madsen wasn’t reported missing because he had left his room at the Bear Lodge Resort at Burgess Junction atop the mountains for a solo day trip. It wasn’t until his motel bill went unpaid three days later that staff reported him missing. By then, Madsen had finally been located by snowmobilers T.J. Larsen, of Gillette, and Jordan Zink, of Sheridan, who just happened to find the stranded sledder.

https://billingsgazette.com/content/tncms/live/

[RoyGBiv]

This is why you take comm gear and survival gear with you. When flying and snow machining in very cold temps in AK, we made sure to have redundant comm gear and a -40 sleeping bag and bivvy sack, so as to be able to survive.

A Minnesota snowmobiler was rescued from the Bighorn Mountains late last month after being stranded for three nights in sub-zero weather.

David Madsen, 65, of Hawick, Minnesota, survived the unplanned outing by digging a snow cave under his snowmobile.

Madsen wasn’t reported missing because he had left his room at the Bear Lodge Resort at Burgess Junction atop the mountains for a solo day trip. It wasn’t until his motel bill went unpaid three days later that staff reported him missing. By then, Madsen had finally been located by snowmobilers T.J. Larsen, of Gillette, and Jordan Zink, of Sheridan, who just happened to find the stranded sledder.

https://billingsgazette.com/content/tncms/live/

Better link...
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/snowmobiler-spends-three-days-nights-in-wyoming-blizzard-before-rescue/article_cf7a5b04-bdfe-11ed-9c05-bbc8c00dd67d.html