I will be leaving in a week to go on a backpacking and fly fishing trip in the West Elk Wilderness area of Gunnison National Forest. I have been there once years ago and have visited Colorado three times on fishing trips. I have seen elk, mule deer, bighorns, and bears in Colorado, none of which have me particularly concerned. I will be armed with a firearm which I know how to use properly. None of these animals (even the bears probably) would actively hunt someone so I feel as long as I'm not out there poking them with a stick or leaving baked trout in my tent, I don't need to concern myself with them. What I do worry about are mountain lions. I know how well cats can hide themselves. Bobcats are thick in Kansas and I have lived here my entire life only to catch a fleeting glimpse of one. It makes me wonder how many bobcats and mountain lions I have walked by, never even knowing they were there. This bothers me given a cougar's preference for deer sized prey (human sized). An animal that would most likely attack because I startled it or I was in it's territory would probably make me well aware of it's presence, thus giving me time to react in the proper manner. An animal that is stalking me as prey (a mountain lion) would be as silent as possible. This combined with their tendency to go straight for the neck scares me. If one of these things decides to grab me from behind, am I going to have a chance in hell to stab, shoot, or fight it off? Maybe this is an irrational concern? I am traveling with a friend. These will be the deepest woods I have ever been in, the last trip being in the Sangre De Cristo range near Westcliffe.
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