PlanetMace Blog

An Eagle Scout’s Advice for Safe Camping

As a young boy in the Boy Scouts, I learned to ‘Always Be Prepared’, and as a kid this usually meant having a spare pocket knife or rain poncho in case I had to whittle a toothpick or cover myself during a downpour. As I got older and became an Eagle Scout, I began to spend a lot more time in the wilderness with small groups of people, and ultimately began doing many trips into the wilderness completely alone. Along with a full education of complex knots, wilderness survival techniques, and a host of other useful knowledge about how to stay safe in all conditions, one of the most important things I ever learned actually came from just a brief stroll in my neighborhood park, and taught me that being prepared, also means being prepared to defend yourself from attack, and assailants may not always be exactly what you’re expecting.

As is common to many campers and wilderness enthusiasts, I was on a simple walk through the park one afternoon just to get out of the office and breathe some fresh air. After walking to a bluff overlooking the ocean and enjoying a breathtaking sunset, I began my hike back when I was startled to hear a low pitched growl coming from around the bend from what seemed to come from an elevated direction. Assuming it was just someone’s dog being protective, I continued along the path for about 2 more minutes when again the growl became noticeably more sustained and louder. I was shocked frozen for a moment as it sank in that this was no canine companion I was encroaching upon, but an adult mountain lion; one of the most ferocious predators in North America.

Thankfully, I had been trained to always carry a small canister of pepper spray, which I had fastened to the strap of my camera case, so I would always have it handy. It was one of those small keychain sized devices, and held enough pepper spray to immobilize two fully grown men. I had never expected to use it on an animal before, though I had heard that it was a useful defense against bears and dogs before, so I assumed it would work equally well against a cougar.

As I quietly rounded the bend I was thrust in to the shadow of the mountain and the low overhanging tree branches, where I detected a slight movement just above and in front of me. I could hardly make out anything, but held my trusty canister of pepper spray in my hands ready to deploy at any moment, with my camera firmly gripped in my other hand.

In what occurred in an instant, I saw two bright reflections that were unmistakably the eyes of this great beast that seemed to float through the air in my direction. In a hasty panic, I discharged my pepper spray and fired off a volley of shots from my automatic camera, and before I could assess what had happened, the animal dashed off up the mountain with a slight whimper and vanished.

To this day I do not know if it was the pepper spray or the fright from the flash of my camera that repelled an attack, and I’m sure the animal was unharmed in any event.

But this story holds a valuable lesson for any outdoor enthusiast, whether you’re venturing deep into the wilderness, or just out to your local park, and serves as a topic of discussion in my son’s Boy Scout preparedness courses. The lesson is to always be prepared, and when it comes to self protection, this means carrying pepper spray with you and knowing how to effectively use it against both human and animal attackers. While my son is quite proud of me for being such a brave father and warding off the attack of a wild feline killing machine, his friends often tease and question him about the validity of this event. That is, until they see the pictures- which happen to have come out more vividly than I would have even hoped, as they clearly show the face of the beast only a few feet from my outstretched hand, with a steady stream of pepper spray flying right into the face of the poor animal.