OT: The Avalounge but every time someone posts the quality declines

[hockeyfish]

One of my friends pretty much goes up to the mountains every weekend on his motorcycle when the weather permits it. He has run across like 6 bears and told me that majority of them never really scared them. It's the Mom's you need to watch out for, but that could be said for any species. Though he told me that there are some parts of Colorado which do have Grizzlies like the parts around Wyoming I believe. He says that will be the only time he will carry a gun on him and I don't blame him. If you go to the zoo and see those ****ers up close, they can shred you with one swipe.

Yeah, you're not wrong, my friend said he came across one bobcat during that time and mentioned those things are scary because they stalk you. Just think how many have stalked him that he doesn't know about.

There are no grizzlies in Colorado, 100% extinct.

Moose are the ones that scare the crap out of me. Especially if you have dogs with you. They are also the perfect size to kill you if you hit one with a car. And they won't budge if they see you coming. They will stare you down until you are both dead. I came within a few feet of hitting one, pretty terrifying.

 

[McMetal]

Moose are actually mean as all hell if you meet them in person. Just bad tempered beasts, and big enough to make good on their impulse to kick you to death.

 

[UncleRisto]

I saw a fox once.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

Doubtful

Maybe VIP passes? To meet & greet, get autographs, etc?
Can buy my own ticket...

 

[Bubba Thudd]

Damn, that was my one chance to become a closer friend to Bubba.

We could still go and meet up...if you'd be in the Springs that night.

I'll be wearing these:

(no, I won't...)

 

[UncleRisto]

That's solid, have you ever came across wolves or anything in winter? I love hiking in summer, but it is also bear season so there is a pro and con concerning that.

"I only afraid of bear, but bear in the forest."

 

[hockeyfish]

I saw a fox once.

There's one in my bed right now

 

[UncleRisto]

There's one in my bed right now

 

[RockLobster]

I saw a fox once.

What did it say?

 

[UncleRisto]

What did it say?

You're not allowed to make references that old if they weren't funny in the first place.

 

[RockLobster]

You're not allowed to make references that old if they weren't funny in the first place.

 

[ABasin]

What about brown bears?

Aren’t brown bears and grizzly bears the same thing?

In general, the vast majority of wild animals in Colorado have zero interest in messing with people. Mountain lions could, but I believe they prefer prey much smaller than themselves.

The two real dangers are moose, and any animal with babies/cubs. I read that the second most dangerous wild animal one could come across in the wild in the US, is a mother moose with a cub next to her (2nd to a polar bear in Alaska).

I’ve encountered a momma moose with a cub three times in the past 5 years, every time near Berthoud Pass/Winter Park. Once, my friend’s deaf 15 year old dog was with us, while hiking the Jim Creek trail. That was effing scary.

 

[UncleRisto]

Aren’t brown bears and grizzly bears the same thing?

No, grizzlies are brown bears but brown bears aren't all grizzlies. Most brown bears in North America are grizzlies (or North American brown bears as they are called) though.

Finnish bears are Eurasian brown bears.

 

[Foppberg]

I've only seen moose a few times, but cougars still freak me out the most. They're so stealthy.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Maybe VIP passes? To meet & greet, get autographs, etc?
Can buy my own ticket...

I'll talk to my cousin while I'm here and see what the deal is. Not promising anything though. Sorry

 

[ASmileyFace]

Seemingly the only animal I haven't run into on a trail is a mountain lion. And I'm okay with that. They are god damn scary.

Bears aren't bad usually until they get domesticated to humans. We had a bunch in Durango rummaging through trash and generally not giving a f*** about people. A bunch of bears had to be shot this year, which is incredibly sad. The city needs to get it together and provide bear proof dumpsters to everyone. We jerry rigged ours to prevent bears getting into it, but it only worked with smaller bears.

 

[UncleRisto]

There are less than 3000 lynx in Finland, they're the only Felidae in the Finnish wild, and they try to avoid people.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I see moose on a weekly basis.

 

[UncleRisto]

I see moose on a weekly basis.

Are there more moose or people in NL?

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Are there more moose or people in NL?

I was actually curious so I googled it lol. Approximately 110,000 moose and approximately 478,000 people. This is the island of Newfoundland only. Our province is actually Newfoundland and Labrador but I couldn't find a population of moose record for Labrador so I'm using the island only lol.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

Seemingly the only animal I haven't run into on a trail is a mountain lion. And I'm okay with that. They are god damn scary.

Bears aren't bad usually until they get domesticated to humans. We had a bunch in Durango rummaging through trash and generally not giving a **** about people. A bunch of bears had to be shot this year, which is incredibly sad. The city needs to get it together and provide bear proof dumpsters to everyone. We jerry rigged ours to prevent bears getting into it, but it only worked with smaller bears.

Dude you have no idea(well, maybe you do). The amount of bears we get in Aspen each fall is staggering. They dumpster dive all day every day. Definitely domesticated. There was a momma and two cubs that were chillin in this tree on our walking mall in downtown Aspen this fall right outside my office for two days. Poor things couldn’t even leave (even though they love that tree and have been known to come back to it each year) because of all the idiot tourists gawking at them. Eventually they had to shoot them down and relocate them (several every year) because it became to big of a distraction. We’ve also had some mountain lion attacks up here and they definitely are the scariest.

We had two cubs come down and put a child in their mouth and the mom went all beast and literally opened the jaws off her child. Saved her kid but sadly they had to go shoot the cubs because once they’ve gotten a taste they’ll keep coming back. We have a lot of spottings up here and plenty of stories of people having this eery feeling they were being stalked and sure enough.

Moose are definitely f***ing scary too. Those guys have no qualms about charging and killing you. Was climbing a 14er last year very early morn and you could see that big f***ers sillouhette above this hill so far away. He was just watching us as we hiked and obviously us him. Eventually when we got to his elevation on the other side of the valley he started bookin it down into the stream and off into the distance. Was really cool to watch but man the distance he covered in about 1 minute was astounding. And the sheer size from so far away was really crazy.

 

[UncleRisto]

I was actually curious so I googled it lol. Approximately 110,000 moose and approximately 478,000 people. This is the island of Newfoundland only. Our province is actually Newfoundland and Labrador but I couldn't find a population of moose record for Labrador so I'm using the island only lol.

Finland is 3 times the size of the Newfoundland and the moose population is smaller.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Finland is 3 times the size of the Newfoundland and the moose population is smaller.

Yeah it's pretty crazy. I remember a prof in university once said that Moose in Newfoundland make up about 20% of the population of Moose in Canada while the population of people in Newfoundland make up around 1% of the population of Canada.

 

[Foppberg]

Is there even anything in Labrador? Seems like it's pretty much a wasteland.

 

[UncleRisto]

Is there even anything in Labrador? Seems like it's pretty much a wasteland.

That's a pretty safe bet as half of Canada is a wasteland.