Use Common Sense and Gut Reactions
Charm predators may approach you on the trail and ask for directions or help, preying on your social conditioning to be obliging and polite. Use common sense and instincts – elk don’t stick around wolves to be polite. If you feel uncomfortable, remember, you don’t owe strangers any answers or explanations; if you must, communicate that you’re there for exercise and need to get on with it.
Notice “trouble patterns”—unusual, unnecessary, or potentially threatening behavior. For example, if you’re running down a logging road and a truck passes you, turns, and stops beside you, be on guard and trust your gut reactions. Your limbic brain instantly assesses threats by absorbing as much as twelve million pieces of information simultaneously and categorizing this information into threat or no threat. You may not be able to articulate why you suddenly feel afraid or uncomfortable, but trust your gut reaction. Remain flexible and change your course, turn around, or get back into your car if that’s what your instincts tell you. Intuition may save your life.
Stay Relaxed and Be Prepared
Avoid constant, low-grade paranoia—it causes ulcers. Instead, use common sense and vigilance. Stay relaxed by breathing slowly to improve general awareness, reaction time, and decision-making in stressful situations.
Your second goal should always be escape. If your avoidance strategies fail, basic self-defense skills can increase your survival chances. You’ll need to focus, snap out of your freeze, and decide what the attacker wants. Don’t risk injury to protect your possessions, but if you sense that he wants you, and you decide to fight, commit 100%. Overcoming the shock, panic, and possible injuries of a sudden attack is challenging, but an immediate, decisive counter-attack to vulnerable targets like eyes, throat, or knees, paired with yelling, may save your life. Use your hammer-fists, palm-heels, elbows, or knees, or weapons of opportunity, like a handful of dirt, rocks, or your water bottle. Train in self-defense and stay fit, and your natural weapons can become very effective.
Keep running and hiking in the Montana mountains—it’s good for you! And all things considered, the risk is fairly low, as many more women die from heart attacks than from stranger violence. Just be aware, trust your instincts, and, if necessary, counter-attack like a wolverine—ferocious and determined to win.
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