Hi All,
I live in housing community that butts up against a national park, and am wondering… has anyone here ever used their high lumen flashlight to deter an aggressive dog/wild animal?
On a side note: I joined BLF in mid May, but had been a lurker about a month prior. Since then I’ve acquired in order Nitecore MT10C, A6, X5, S41 and have a X6 incoming (today). My obsession list atm… knives, watches, jeeps and now edc flashlights. I find myself coveting numerous other edc lights, but can’t pull the trigger. I think I have enough 1000 to 2000 lumen edc’s… so I’m waiting for technology to produce a pocket-able XHP.
Someone previously reported that bears run off when you shine a strobing light at them. Bear spray is only effective when they’re close enough to you, and that wind direction is in your favor.
Since you live in AZ, your best light for deterrent against Truly Dangerous wild animals (I’m guessing coyotes & pigs, but rutting deer can be a real PITA) is the baleful flash at the muzzle of a large-caliber firearm.
Animals don’t lurk here, so they’re notoriously unimpressed by lumen or CRI numbers from the Internet. You’ll find out soon enough that even pain isn’t that useful at warding off an animal attack. They do more damage to each other during the rut (sex) than most humans can do with tools.
If they’re just curious, I’d say make a friend. But if there’s money on the table, my wager is you’ll never get close enough to need any of this. (They didn’t evolve long enough to be seen there by flirting with the Apex Predator.) And if you do, none of this will help.
One way I’ve found to “ward off” most animals (2- and 4-legged as well as piscene & “Mr. No-Shoulders”) is what I call The Hungry Hunter attitude. Just take into your head the idea “I’m hungry and you look yummy. Stay right where you are so I can come find out.” Walk that walk & you won’t see many animals at all.
I’m a walk softly and carry a big stick kinda guy. A good sound bang on the snout has saved me more than once, but think it only works against domestic animals that are just behaving badly. I wouldn’t expect it to do a lot against a wild animal or a dog that was trained to attack.
I’ve had plenty of experience with Bear. 99 out of 100 Wild Black Bear will run from humans (Park Bears not so much).They fear us and are not nearly as prone to attack as most people think. A Black Bear that has decided to attack will not likely stop until physically incapacitated. A high powered rifle is the minimum that I would be comfortable with. The secret weapon for park Bears is water balloons. For some reason it messes with their heads and they run like the dickens.
A flashlight as a defensive weapon against animals is fairly worthless. I shined a Marauding Skunk from my pup tent one night and his only reaction was to come right up and sniff it. Fortunately he was more interested in my Hershey bar and made off with that. I hope it gave that little thief the runs because sure scared the crap outa me
The best defense is your brain. Situational awareness removes surprises and forethought puts the possible needed solutions in your pocket. The best solution is avoidance of problems but you can’t always arrange that.
Use a strong floody light to see them before they’re close enough to be a problem, then handle the situation as needed. Self-defense is up close and personal and I’d want something more than a light for that job if there’s no other way out of the situation. Just my two cents worth, YMMV.
Dogs don’t seem to be phased by strobe. Same with domestic cats.
We live in the woods. My dogs will try to take down pretty much any animal that gets near our house. No barking. Just attack unless the animal is very large. Then they confront it. Barking, snarling, threatening to bite until they get it to leave. There are a couple exceptions like cyotes. The exception, they stay on our front deck, bark and point. Pretty much every time I strobe in this situation, the animal leaves. I generally don’t see the animal. The dogs will either relax or finally pursue. So strobe does seem to be a deterent in a non-confrontation situation. I image strobe will be less effective in a face to face situation.
If I go out into the woods at night (I generally avoid this, but sometime it has to be done), I make lots of noise. Most wild animals will avoid you if you don’t surprise them.
Once I was sneaking around in the woods at night (because it’s not just bears who … well … nevermind that now), trying to “think my way” in the dark.
I kept hearing a strange “skritch-skritch” sound in a tree, so I lit up my 6D Maglight on it.
It was a cute pair of flying squirrels. (In your face baby bunnies!)
Apparently the awesome power of the burning wire was too much for them, because one decided to show me where the nickname comes from — and not the “Southern” part! Unfortunately, it made a Darwinian-class error & landed on my hat!!! “In your face you Dim bulb!!” (No, Darwin didn’t get his due that night! All animals get a happy ending in Dimbo’s world!)
I didn’t want to put my hand up there, so I tried to gently walk it back to the camp site to show off… Needless to say, it proved its superior evolution before I could take a few steps & that’s the last I heard or saw of either of them.
Remember, even in the darkness, you’re still the Apex Predator.
