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I know they say to always bring buddy along, but what if there's no one at the moment to join you? Would you still go by yourself? If so, do you bring any weapons with you (besides knife) to protect yourself from possible bums or animals?

Also, do you always carry an emergency kit with you in case of getting lost and stranded for the night?

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So far we haven't had any problems with bums/criminals in the forests around here. I often hunt mushrooms alone, and I do not carry a gun. The most dangerous thing in the woods is one of the smallest... the ticks.

Out west I carry a bear spray canister on my belt.

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How do you minimize the tick bites besides the obvious such as wearing long pants etc? Do you treat your clothing with permethrin? Deet spray on skin? I have tick key to remove them, and some liquid that you drop on a tick and it falls off by itself. The liquid works well, got 2 off of me with no problem, haven't tried the key yet.

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ticks are terrible around here. Its best to have your pants tucked into your boots and I spray my pant legs with tick repellent I have for my dogs. If you wear light colored pants you can see them climbing up your legs. Its best to avoid deer bedding areas also. I carry a 38spl occasionally with birds shot in the 1st chamber and slugs in the last 3. Keep an empty one 1st. I havent had to shoot a rattlesnake yet, but would hate to get bit or have a dog bit because I didn't have one. I have shot 2 rabid coons in the field, but if it weren't for the dogs , Id of probably just avoided them.

People, the kind of people that are a danger usually arent out hunting mushrooms or fishing in my experiences.

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Here in the parks near me, there's a lot of garbage in the woods..beer bottles, styrofoam cups etc., so I know it's not mushroom hunters that loiter in there, you never know...Also I guess going early morning is safer than in the afternoon.

Thanks for advise on light colored pants, I don't think I own any.

What if hunting (deer) season is open? How to avoid being shot? Sing songs and wear orange clothing?:)

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There is never any reason to shoot a snake. They can be walked around or shifted with a stick so easily that it is pretty ridiculous to harm them.

I enjoy hanging out with them and taking photos. My only concern is when they get scared and leave before I can get the perfect (camera) shot. Don't get within one snake length of the snake, and you're fine.

Rattlesnakes and other vipers are nice trail company. Don't be a jerk to them or step on them and they won't bother you. Killing keystone species is a sucky, irresponsible thing to do, and utterly unnecessary.

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Rattlesnakes and other vipers are nice trail company. Don't be a jerk

I prefer not to share a trail with either one.

I lost one golden retriever to a rattlesnake and lost a lab to a jerk. If you want to hug trees and kiss tigers thats fine with me , but save the sermon for them.

I don't recommend singing in the woods during deer season lol. Refer to the ethics thread about sharing the woods.

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I've seen a family spreadout hundred yards or so from each other and yelling back-and-forth to avoid getting lost... I guess that is not very ethical either.

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Depends on whether they knew you were watching them or not :nightowl:

Lets just say I wouldn't do that if I saw you. Rule of thumb is not to do anything that would bother you when others are around. Most people spend time outdoors and enjoy peace and quiet.

I also pick up trash in the woods. Many days the only thing I carried in my game bag or mushroom sack was someone else's empties. Used to spend a lot of down time fishing cleaning up mountain roads during the hot hours . There are many ways to make your time in the woods more enjoyable for all.

ps: btw, I sing in the woods all the time, today was Blackbird from the Beatles that was stuck in my head.

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Snakes are more threatening than just merely scary. One can easily sneak up on a big rattler and a problem ensues. I've come pretty close to this here in PA. Honestly, if I had stepped a bit closer, close enough that the snake felt the need to attack, I doubt I would have stood a chance to shoot the snake before it had a chance to strike me. But killing of a snake as a means of preventing harm to self or to a cherished companion, I think this is justifiable. Aside from this situation, I'm on the snake's side.

But I havta admit, I can find no reason to want to avoid killing any tick.

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All of my rattle snake run ins have been stream side. Most were while fishing and one in my old yard. My golden was bit in my yard so have to wonder if leaving it be was really worth it. Maybe its me , but when Im walking through the weeds or ferns and I hear a rattle, I freeze then back off and so far the snakes have all done the same. Of course they fall short of putting their hands up when drawn upon.

Other than ticks, I don't kill too much that I don't eat. I even hate to kill mice. The scary three; snakes, bats and spiders are the main predators of some of the worst disease carrying hosts like mice, rats and mosquitos. I prefer black rat snakes and garter snakes to rattlers and copperheads though.

When I was up your way Dave I was hoping to catch one of our black snakes and use it for snake training with dogs. Many of my customers between Dutch Mountain and Shohola Falls had rattle snake run ins. Educating the dogs is a better option than letting them learn from their mistake. We also had a rat problem in the feed storage, I believe I could've killed two birds with one stone, but wasn't there long enough to see it to fruition.

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Rats setting up shop in a barn and eating the chicken feed... I can think of no other option than to kill them. I doubt that trapping would be worth the effort. And what would you do with a bunch of captive rats? I think neither the State Game Commission nor the Department of Conservation would view rats as something to be released into the wild. But I think the SGC may be willing to help remove/release a rattlesnake.

Every summer there's a "rattlesnake roundup" in Noxen, PA. This is the south-side of Dutch Mountain. The snakes are rounded up by experienced trappers, displayed, and then released in the same locations where they were captured. I've seen some really imposing black snakes along the Falls Trail at Ricketts Glen. Had to bushwhack around one once. It was coiled into strike pose and would not move. Once, along a stretch of the Loyalsock Trail where there's a cliff only a few feet from one side, a large rattler would not allow my wife and I to pass. After 15 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to scare it off, we bushwhacked trough some rather thick underbrush. Have you ever run across a hognose snake? This one is the wimp of the snake world. It'll play dead as a last resort. But it's first reaction is to flare out its upper body like a cobra and hiss... terrifying but completely harmless.

In the back-country of Glacier National Park I had an encounter with a female grizzly bear that was leading 3 cubs down to a river. She positioned herself between me and the cubs and remained focused on my until the cubs were safely past. My bear spray was on my belt, but I didn't grab or point it. Got my adrenaline flowing for sure. But no harm came to anything.

Training a dog to deal with snakes... an interesting idea.

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My thoughts were to feed the rats to the captive black snake and in return he could be used to introduce the dogs to a safe snake and use negative stimulus from an e-collar to reinforce, "BAD!" This is a common practice out west, but as far as I know no one does it around here.

{I know e-colars are a touchy subject too, but like most tools when used improperly they get a bad rep(If anyones interested Ill start a new thread rather than hi-jack this any further)}

I've never seen a hognose snake, but have heard of them. I don't believe we have them down this far. I was intimidated by a large black snake once. We were at the big round top in Gettysburg and I saw a few and thought I would grab one and see how my girl friend at the time would react. I've handled a few snakes four to five feet long in the past. This one was partially under a log and I could see four feet of its tail end sticking out. When I grabbed its tail another three feet with a large head and fanged mouth big enough to fit around my fist reached for me. It had to have been at least seven feet long. I left it be :) Later we read about large black snakes it the rocky hollow across the street from devil's den.

Is Noxen the town that Bowmans Creek runs through? I used to fish the headwaters for natives. I spent a good bit of time along the dirt road between there and heading through the gamelands towards Lopez. In fact theres a birch bottom Me and the dogs visited quite often that I thought would be a good place to look for chaga.

Ive always wanted to visit Glacier National Park. I imagine that experience is one you'll never forget.

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You asked about hunters. In Washington State we wear orange - hunters are required to. The local foray group does not let you go in the woods without bright orange. Not long ago a hunter shot and killed a brush picker who was not wearing orange. They charged him but the jury found him innocent even though he admitted to the shooting. So wear bright colors! I almost always go out alone since that is my preference.

Getting lost here is perhaps the biggest threat. Hypothermia if you don't make it out of the woods. The fog moves in and one gets disoriented fast. They are selling a device now that you set when you leave your car and it uses GPS to always point the direction your car is. Like a compass but with directions. How cool is that?

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I like mushroom hunting and photographic field trips. I almost always go alone. No one really interested in my hobbies. Here, we can carry a handgun if it is in plain sight. We have to have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. I should carry a handgun, but I don't. We also have a lot of rabid raccoon. I also recommend 'international orange' clothing if in the woods during ANY hunting season. I should start carrying a little of the basic survival gear, matches at least.

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I wear a blaze-orange hat beginning with bow season and all through the winter when I'm xx-skiing.

I once saw a rabid raccoon in the woods... disoriented, stumbling around. If I had a gun, I would have taken the disease-carrier out of the woods.

Been to Glacier three times. I'd like to go back. Bonus... If you do your Montana/Idaho Inci-web burn-site research, you may track one down outside of the park and get some nice fire morels. No mushroom picking allowed within the park, and they definitely check the burn-sites. This rule is the result of commercial morel hunting activities within the park.

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Bear season started today in PA, so there are lots of rifles out there. Deer runs for two weeks after Thanksgiving. I'll probably grab the .243 and go nap in the cold somewhere, but unless something memorable passes in front of me I'll probably just look forward to a hot lunch at a local diner. There was a time when I could pretty much feed a family of five with game and canned garden goodies, but that was a long time ago. I won't go in the woods during these 3 weeks with out wearing orange and definitely won't run dogs.

I think the one critter that has caused me the most grief in the woods is the most adorable and interesting one out there. I know many shoot them as pest, but I never could. Once up in the Lopez area one filled my Setter Thorne's mouth and face with at least 100 quills. He was a pine tree dweller and from the looks of his trails in the snow he never traveled much further than 100 feet from his tree all winter. Now believe it or not Thorne was the smartest dog I ever had, but something about porkies brought the dumb out of her. Last time was in Maine and she gathered at least 200 quills. In between her gums and teeth looked like trimmed deer hide on a muddler minnow. Luckily my cousin had a flashlight and a leatheman tool and I managed to get 198 or so out before we left. The anti porkite got up and run around like nothing happened. Now my Drummer once got 4 in his nose up around the same area as the first. Each one pulled caused a howl through the snowy woodland that Im sure made the hair stand up on the backs of the necks of anyone who may have been residing within 10 miles of that hilltop.

Glacier is on my wish list along with Yellowstone and Yosemite. I believe the National Parks are the best thing our country ever did and even though the laws may seem ridiculous, it was commercial interests that nearly ruined our parks. I think the only one that suffered greatly was Yosemite when they flooded it for San Frans water. There is a well done documentary that Ken Burns did that is worth watching. It was still on Netflix only 2 months ago.

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I've been up close but not quite personal with many a porcupine. They are slow and more-or-less unconcerned about waddling within a few feet of a person. Most folks I know who take dogs out into woods have experienced at least one problem with a porcupine.

Yosemite is still on my wish-list. Yellowstone is full of interesting stuff, but it's very crowded at peak season. Lots of wildlife.

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I think my opinion of Yellowstone is probably skewed on account of the prevailing conditions when I was there. Forest fires upwind of the park had filled the air with smoky smog, and the early August weather was hot. Less than optimal hiking conditions. So we didn't get more than 1/2 mile from our rental car. But the park is massive, and there's beautiful streams everywhere.

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I'm not sure some folks quite understand why killing apex predators is irresponsible. It has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with biology. Killing faster reproducing animals in a sustainable way is perfectly fine, and in some cases can even be very beneficial to the long term survivability of the area you are enjoying for your hiking and mushroom hunting. Remove keystone species that have a low reproduction rate, and you can have long term "ripple" effects on the region itself that go far beyond that single animal.

Basically you mess it up for everyone if you take important stuff out of the ecosystem that can't easily be spared or replaced. I would compare it to destroying a large area of mushroom mycelium rather than harvesting mushrooms in ways that let the supporting root system survive. It's a good ethical principle to use wild areas responsibly and not damage them. Hunt rabbits, deer and squirrels; those are sustainable targets. Pick plants that have sustainable growth. Don't slash and burn and wreck things for everyone including yourself next year.

Typically one apex predator that takes small prey animals is responsible for something like 1,000 of them (including average reproductive potential) removed from the population in its lifetime. If you plug snakes and mice into that equation, that is a lot of rodents running around eating things in the woods. Some of the first things rodents go for are the eggs of ground nesting birds, which can lower their population and in turn have a substantial effect on other species. They are called apex predators for a reason, and the presence or absence of a very few or even just one animal has a pretty profound effect on the surrounding area.

If you take a pet into a wild area and it attacks the local wildlife, your pet can get hurt. So can you. That's unfortunate but true. If you want to enjoy the benefits of a wild area, by definition everything in it is not going to be completely safe and sanitized. Trying to make it so can have pretty awful results.

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i'll look into that device, as of now I have regular compass - a wrist Suunto, and Commander Compass app on iPhone, but I guess uses cellular signal, so once that drops I'm screwed...pretty accurate though, used it a few times already to find my way back to the car.

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