Makah
Active member
Because I go camping and hiking a lot in the woods, I've thought about this a fair bit with regards to fending off bears or wolves if necessary. There is a very real and quite precise calculus involved in this type of encounter. The thing about wild animals, is that they are very conservative. It's not enough for them to just kill their prey, they need to do so without becoming injured themselves. A serious injury will prevent them from hunting and endanger their own lives.
The worst thing to do is run. This makes you look like prey and it exposes your most vulnerable side: your back. More critically, you could never outrun a lion. In other words, stand your ground: show the lion that you're not going down without a fight, that by engaging with you it risks serious injury. That alone should be enough to deter it. Ideally, you should have some kind of weapon to back up your claim: a stick or a knife (or best of all, a gun). This will also have the effect of making you more confident.
A major problem with lions (or wolves for that matter) is that they hunt in packs. So while you might be able to take on one lion and come out the better, with a pack while you are distracted with one individual, all the others can attack you from behind. The best strategy here is to put your back up against a solid object like a tree or a cliff. Engage the dominant animal first.
The worst thing to do is run. This makes you look like prey and it exposes your most vulnerable side: your back. More critically, you could never outrun a lion. In other words, stand your ground: show the lion that you're not going down without a fight, that by engaging with you it risks serious injury. That alone should be enough to deter it. Ideally, you should have some kind of weapon to back up your claim: a stick or a knife (or best of all, a gun). This will also have the effect of making you more confident.
A major problem with lions (or wolves for that matter) is that they hunt in packs. So while you might be able to take on one lion and come out the better, with a pack while you are distracted with one individual, all the others can attack you from behind. The best strategy here is to put your back up against a solid object like a tree or a cliff. Engage the dominant animal first.
