[at-l] Self defense on the trail

[jbryankramer@xxxxxxx (J Bryan Kramer)]

Well in my experience, and I am not the non-violent type but do have some
experience with the criminally violent in the armed forces police. None of
the schemes below will work with the possible exception of number 5, best if
the group contains several physically fit six foot plus alpha males though.
In that case you are just taking the standard tactic of transferring your
defense to the people in your group willing to be responsible citizens. Sort
of like being a Canadian.

As for the others:

1) Avoidance: darn hard to do on a linear trail with fixed stations
(shelters), maybe if you turn around and go the other way. That would seem
to make it tough to finish your planned hike. I suppose you could hid under
a bush everytime that you think that you hear someone on the trail, a bit
hard to contemplate for you gregarious types.

2) Flight: If they are committed  to committing some sort of criminal
assault running away probably has a low probability of success. When the dog
sees the squirrel running away he doesn't ignore the squirrel does he? They
won't be wearing 40 pound packs either, they can come back for their
six-packs later.

3) Verbal: Generally, IMHO, these types of Yahoos are on the non-verbal or
slightly verbal end of the IQ scale. You know, the room temp end. They
generally are not susceptible to logical discourse. You can try the: "My
brother, who is on leave from the SEALS, is just up the trail cleaning his
.45 while waiting for me" tactic but with doubtful success. The verbal
tactic that works best is the: "I got my hand on the butt of my 10 mm
here...." line, that is discourse that they understand but only if delivered
with a forceful and convincing manner possibly accompanied by shooting their
ear off.

4) Diversion: Now this one has possibilities, we all know the joke about the
two guys running away from the bear, the punch line being I don't have to be
faster than the bear only faster than YOU. So if you are willing to
sacrifice a hiking companion or two, sort of like the Russian tactic of
throwing people off the sled, you might be successful. Better be sure to
bring some slow attractive females along I guess.

But all this aside, just how likely are you to run into this sort of problem
on the trail? Just don't stop at shelters near roads, that in itself would
eliminate 90% (a WAG) of potential problems. In general these Yahoos are not
hikers and getting more than a quarter mile or so away from their pickup
trucks and beer coolers is disturbing to them. I don't carry a gun with me
but I'm the big 6'2" assertive alpha male type though.

Bryan


"Si vis pacem para bellum"

> 1.  Avoidance - recognizing and staying away from situations that
> seem to have a strong potential for danger.
> 2.  Flight - getting away from the danger before it becomes a threat.
> 3. Verbal control - saying the right things to de-escalate
> tension or danger.
> 4.  Diversion - distracting the potential danger to another action.
> 5.  Group protection - staying with a group of people around you.
>