Personal safety when hiking alone

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  • Emmapatterson1729
    Emmapatterson1729 Posts: 1,296 Member
    edited August 2019
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    LOL. I like the walking stick idea. Ever see Morgan on The Walking Dead with his stick!! ;)

    Small can of wasp spray or bug repellent can also work as an alternative to pepper spray. In the US, they sell travel size smaller cans of mosquito repellents.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »
    LOL. I like the walking stick idea. Ever see Morgan on The Walking Dead with his stick!! ;)

    Small can of wasp spray or bug repellent can also work as an alternative to pepper spray. In the US, they sell travel size smaller cans of mosquito repellents.

    I was so done with Fear the Walking Dead after
    they killed off Maddie.
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
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    I was not inferring a person of any colour.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    This discussion is gonna be lit when they finally introduce the disagree button.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,124 Member
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    This discussion is gonna be lit when they finally introduce the disagree button.

    The Ignore function is pretty cool. :flowerforyou:
  • TheRealSlim_Shelly
    TheRealSlim_Shelly Posts: 66 Member
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    Girl! You are not overreacting. What was the creepy incident that happened? A woman should always trust her intuition.

    I had a dude follow me at the park with my child. Treat your life the exact same way as if your own child’s life was at stake. I read all these women’s stories about guys following them and they have no clue what to do but be afraid. Even if you call 911, there is a period of time before they show up. You need to be prepared to handle yourself. Carry a weapon. Or something you can use as a weapon - a car key, a pocket knife, pepper spray, hair spray if that’s all you have. Never be distracted or zoned out, you need to be hyper aware of your surroundings. Start screaming your head off. Carry an air horn. Have 911 at the ready when you start your hike. Don’t hesitate to call 911, too many women hesitate. Share your location on your phone with friends, *and* tell someone exactly where you’re going and what time you’ll be back. Don’t put yourself in isolated situations.

    My real advice is don’t go hiking alone, especially in unpopulated areas, regardless of how rural the area is. And at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I wouldn’t even advise for 2 females to go hiking alone. A group is always better. This is what I would tell my own family member. For a multitude of reasons, don’t go hiking alone.
  • MoKaaz
    MoKaaz Posts: 162 Member
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    Since where I live carrying firearms in public without proper papers or reason to is illegal. Pepper spray is also illegal. I carry bear spray everywhere, (even in the city where bears do in fact occasionally come) and I never hike alone.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,991 Member
    edited September 2019
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    Australia, where the homocide rate is more than 5 times lower than the US.

    Didn't you just have a mass murder at mosque recently that led your govt to ban guns after the fact. Good luck w/that unless you,also confiscated all of the guns still in private possession as,well.

    More to the point, regarding the methods of safeguarding the safety of a lone female hiker, it really depends on the mindset, size and training of the female involved.

    I'm a retired LEO (law enforcement officer) and can legally carry a gun anywhere in the US but I almost never carry a gun. Why? Because it's too heavy and the liabilities associated w/its use are too great and (in most cases) its need is too remote. And that's in an urban setting. No way I'd carry a gun & ammo weighing 2-4# while just hiking. While hunting maybe but on a day hike, no way.

    Women of smaller stature are more likely to be targeted than women who are larger than the attacker simply because most attackers are looking for victims who are less theatening and less likely to be able to fight back. However, you really can't assess or plan for this risk because you'll never know how large you potential assailant will be. If he's 6'2" and 200# almost every woman would still be at risk.

    That said, most women (regardless of size) are not trained to fight back when attacked. If you do not have the WILL to defend yourself w/all your might (and I'm not talking about any martial arts training), no weapon will be of much use to you.

    But, if you are willing to do what it takes to physically fend off an attacker, then you have a chance, regardless of your size and whether you have a weapon or not, but having a weapon and knowing how to use it would be helpful and the weapon need not be lethal to be effective.

    Pepper spay if used effectively would be useful but ineffective in surprise attack when it cannot be sprayed in the assailant's eyes quickly enough and at sufficient distance, so that you can run away while the assailant is blinded and before he can grab you.

    Once he gets his hands on you, it doesn't matter if he can see or not, if you do not have sufficient strength to break away, because he can just hold onto you until the effects of the pepper spray wear off.

    In that case, a key or other blunt force object, like a pencil or pen, placed between your fingers gripped w/your hand in a fist could be sufficient to cause sufficient pain to force the assailant to release you but here is where mindset is relevant. There are also specially designed pens for this purpose and other devices called kubutons specifically designed for such use.

    The object of using such a device is not to just get the assailant to release you but to physically disable him so that he cannot or does not want to persue you further.

    Most people (men and women both) aren't trained or prepared to take this step because what it means, for example, is jabbing the key, pencil or pen into the asssilant's eyes and or throat w/as much force as possible, inflicting blindiness, asphixiation and/or severe pain. Very little practice or training is necessay to do this if you can do it.

    I guarantee that an assailant will break off the attack if you do this but few people have the stomach to do it.

    But if you don't have the wherewithall to even consider such a thing, the next best "defense" is simply to never hike alone. Always go w/a buddy (male or female) and the odds of your being attacked drop dramatically.

    If you do have the mindset to inflict lethal force on an attacker (which is a legal form of self defense IF you have a "reasonable" fear that you may be killed or suffer serious bodily injury as a result of the attack), I would suggest you look into carrying a light weight karambit blade which can be used very effectively w/o significant training. If used deliberately to cut the throat, femoral or brachial arteries, the result will almost always be fatal.

    The one that I carry everyday is called the Pika (made by Bastinelli & Marcaida, the latter being the guy on Forged in Fire). The Pika is about 4"long, 1/4-1/2" thick at its its widest points, has a 1.5" scapel sharp cutting edge and only weighs 1-2 ounces. It can be easily carried in its kydex sheath or your belt.

    To deploy it, you simply insert your index finger in the finger hole built into it, and grasp the handle as you pull it from the sheath in a reverse hand grip. Even w/o traning, if you flail away at your assailant w/random stabbing and slicing movements you will inflict very serious damage.

    Also, because of its small size and how its held, it it very difficult to remove the knife from your hand and any attempt to grab it will most likely result in serous damage to the assailant's hands.

    This is the best close quarters, hand on hand self defense weapons that I know of and if you have the will to carry/use it. I highly recommend it, if you want/need to carry a potentially lethal weapon for self defense while hiking during the daytime or while walking the strrets of a city alone at night.

    If not, find a buddy to accompany you instead.

    Good luck!

    OBTW, if the assailant has a gun, all bets are off and your only defense would probably be to run (not in a straight line or w/o sufficient cover or concealment. The karambit "could" be effective but ONLY if you are near enough to get inside the arm holding the gun to strike the assailant w/it.

    BUT , I'd only suggest trying this as an absolutely LAST resort when your life is at risk snd you have no options left.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,991 Member
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    slimgirljo15 wrote: »
    @sgt1372 that was New Zealand :#

    Sorry, my mistake. Apologies to you Aussies. ;)

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