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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 71 points 1 month ago (7 children)

If you need help look for a cop.

[–] obinice@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

You'd never find one of you went looking over here, I've not seen a cop on foot or parked up in YEARS. Only ever see em driving somewhere. Strange.

When I spent some time in the USA though it was creepy, they'd drive their cars around real slow, just watching you, and they're everywhere. It felt weirdly oppressive/threatening to have them always around the next corner, always over your shoulder....watching o.O

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[–] mech@feddit.org 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

"If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lie down."

That's shortened to the point of being useless and leaves out all parts that actually matter.
First of all, there are black grizzlies and brown "Black bears" and the sizes of the species overlap. It may be hard to identify a bear that's coming at you.

Here's what you should do: Carry bear spray whenever you're in bear country!

When you encounter a bear close up, stand still, take out your pepper spray (or anything you can use as a weapon) and start talking to it calmly. Let it know you're a human and neither aggressive nor afraid. Ask it how its day is going!

If it backs down, you walk backwards slowly till it's out of sight, then find a different route.
If it stops, advances or charges, you stand still, facing it. Don't run or climb a tree.
Most charges are mock charges where it'll stop before you.

If it doesn't stop and gets within 20 feet, shoot your bear spray, which resolves 98% of bear attacks without injury:
https://irp.cdn-website.com/01d676b7/files/uploaded/Tom_Smith_Research_Report___Efficacy_of_Bear_Spray_%281%29.pdf In the other 2%, fight for your life. Aim for the nose. Good Luck!

Lying down might sometimes be better if it's a Grizzly, depending on its reason for attacking you, but there's no way you can know that. Chances are, after its first slap you're lying down anyway.

Source: worked as a ranger in British Columbia

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Just want to add, because as an outdoorsy guy in Pennsylvania, I'm a little dumbfounded by how many people seem to think we might have brown/grizzly bears in our neck of the woods.

There aren't. If you're reading this, odds are pretty good that you don't live in brown bear country, because you're probably in an English-speaking country, and just going by numbers you're probably not in the parts of western Canada, Alaska, or the tiny part of the Continental US (mostly just Yellowstone) where they can be found.

Everywhere else in North America it's black bears (or polar bears, but I really hope you don't need help identifying those, and maybe a handful of grizzly-polar bear hybrids)

If you're in Europe you have brown or polar bears.

If you're in Asia, you have a few species with a bit of overlap- brown, polar, panda, sun, and 2 or 3 other species I don't remember off the top of my head.

If you're in the Andes, you got spectacled bears.

If you're anywhere else in the world, read the sign by the cage because you're in a zoo.

Also, I have never encountered a black bear that didn't immediately fuck off the moment it noticed me. There are certainly bolder ones out there, and you should always take any reasonable precautions, but when I'm camping and hiking, bears are basically at the bottom of my list of concerns, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, etc. generally rank higher, I've had chipmunks try to get into my pack while I was sitting there watching it.

All my years of camping I've had exactly 1 incident with a bear back when I was in scouts, and it happened when we were all away from camp, it got into a box of cookware, and I suspect it probably immediately scared itself away when the pots and pans went clattering everywhere.

[–] mech@feddit.org 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

My experience with black bears as well. They fuck off as soon as they see you.
Grizzlies seemed more annoyed, like "Why's there a human in my woods? I just wanna chill."
So depending on their mood, they'll usually check you out, maybe try to get you to fuck off, and failing that, grudgingly walk away.

I actually missed the number one protection against bear (and cougar) attacks in my post:
Have a hiking partner and talk to them. Or doing to yourself.
That reduces the chance of even encountering a bear by a lot cause they hear you coming and avoid you well in advance.
The drawback is you won't get to see a bear.

Our bear safety trainer actually said step 1 in a bear encounter is: Take out your camera.
It puts you in a more reasonable mindset, cause almost no encounters lead to attacks. And you can take some sweet pictures.

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)
[–] mech@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Find cover. A big tree or big rock.
Use your small size and better maneuverability to keep the cover between you and the moose.
Move from cover to cover to create distance.
If there's no cover, run like hell. Moose are faster than you, but they often stop after a short distance.

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This reminds me of a story from a friend of mine who lived in Canada...he sent me texts with his car completely fucked in the middle of a two lane highway with no other cars or trees around... I asked what the hell did he hit, his response is that a moose had crashed into him, got up and just left. The entire passager side of the car looked like it had been smashed in by a big truck.

That was the day I learned that a moose is something you do not fuck with.

[–] mech@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A bull moose weighs up to 1600 pounds and is designed for repeated frontal collisions with another 1600 pound moose.

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[–] PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I had a friend from the UK who planned on biking across Canada (never happened). He asked what animals he should be scared of. It wasnt the bears. Its moose.

They look goofy as fuck, yes. But they can be aggressive for seemingly no reason and fuck you up real quick. Theyre big, heavy, strong, and have a fucking weapon strapped to their head.

Do. Not. Fuck. With. The. Moose.

[–] bobbosr2004@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A moose bit my sister once

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[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

In the other 2%, fight for your life. Aim for the nose. Good Luck!

I mean, I guess, yeah,, that's what you should try. But I'd like to point out that whoever it was Romans or whatnot who used to pit bears against lions and they got bored of the matchup because the bears always won. And those won't have even been grizzlys, but likely European brown bears.

But yah guess one could get lucky and it's not like not-fighting will help either,

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[–] 667@lemmy.radio 42 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The brightest star in the sky is not the North Star (Polaris). If you follow the brightest star in the sky you will follow a planet and travel some curved path.

How to really find Polaris:

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Cool, now how do I find those thingies?

[–] Arcadeep@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago
[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I always struggled with that, too, until my cousin taught me to use Cassiopeia. The other constellations use way too complex of shapes and require accuracy, and they're not super-bright.

Cassiopeia looks like a W or M. Look for 5 dots that could possibly form an ugly W where the left side is wider and more shallow than the right. It'll genuinely stand out like this.

Cassiopeia

There it is!

Cassiopeia identified

Now, mentally draw a straight line across the tips of the shallow side of the W. Then, draw a straight line through that starting from the bottom of the shallow side. You'll get something like an arrow shape. Keep following that perpendicular line away from the W until you find something nearby the line that is noticeably bright. That's Polaris!

Cassiopeia markup

After you find that, you can confirm you found the right star by looking for the dippers and shit.

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[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Live somewhere dark enough and gain pattern recognition

Edit: This was kind of unhelpful, so I'll also recommend Stellarium. Pick a favorite constellation. Cassiopeia is a solid choice, visible in the northern hemisphere year round. Once you get used to how she looks both on stellarium and in the night sky, you'll be better equipped to extrapolate how other constellations should look in the night sky, given how they look on stellarium. Once you start building those neural pathways, it gets a lot easier.

I realize this is basically just "git gud" but for astronomy, but it really is a matter of experience, not skill

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[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Drink alcohol to stay warm.

[–] AffineConnection@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Is that an actual, existing survival myth?

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean, it definitely makes you warmer. In that it shunts your blood to the outer layer of your body, warming your skin and making you feel less cold. Problem is, this actually makes you lose heat more rapidly, and increases your susceptibility to hypothermia. But since you can experience "drink alcohol, feel warmer" yourself, the myth will probably persist indefinitely.

[–] SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It is calories too, so can be drunk for energy if you're out of food.

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Sadly, I think some people believe it.

But other people think you get sick from being outside in the cold

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago

Yes. It's where the old meme of St Bernards carrying little flasks of alcohol came from. The idea was if you were injured in the cold, alcohol would warm you up.

You may feel warmer. But it actually lowers your core temp, IIRC.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It actually was the case, in the olden days.

The classic image of St. Bernard rescue dogs carrying tiny barrels of brandy for the benefit of hypothermic travellers was a myth though.

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[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is you're lost but someone knows where you're supposed to be it's probably better to stay put.

Also moss can grow on any side of a tree.

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 4 points 1 month ago

Its wrong to stay put?

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 22 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Drinking your own pee will end up dehydrating you faster, contrary to how confident Bear Grylls is in it being a decent strategy.

[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think Bear Grylls has a fetish and managed to fool people into thinking it was a survival skill.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think even Bear admits that it should be an absolute last resort. Like a "well I'm like 99% sure I'm dying in the next ten minutes, why not?" sort of situation.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So I'm gonna die anyway, but with the taste of piss in my mouth? Fuck that.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

soooo. your not going to finish yours?

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[–] Doom@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

But if you're lost in a desert you should rub pee on your skin to conserve water. (I'm not kidding that's a real thing.)

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[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

PCP makes you better at fighting cops

[–] lol_idk@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

Well it's not wrong, but it will get you killed

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

it makes you stronger too.

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

On it you can punch holes in reality(the wood fence) and make your way to the other side(the other side of the fence)

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[–] winni@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago

ask AI slop for advise

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