In some places, it’s more likely to be threatened by some kind of wild animal than some kind of human scumbag animal. And, a wild animal doesn’t have to be a Grizzly to damage you. The large wild animals, like bears and mountain lions, are a recognizable threat immediately and hopefully you can respond by retreating or using large caliber small arms to defend yourself. Mountain lions are a particular problem in this respect because they generally attack from behind and attempt to bite into the head of the prey. One would have to be extremely alert to avoid this type of attack. Note also that if you happen to be somewhere like Custer Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the American Bison ("buffalo") you encounter are very much wild, can easily outrun you, and weighing about one ton, can turn you into a big red smear in the grass. Another large predator, the wolf, I am not including here because despite some legends, there is very little proof that a wolf has ever attacked a human. I’d consider a wolf in your proximity the same as a large, very dangerous dog. Hopefully the wolf would leave you alone and be on its way.

The animals that are more likely to get in your path and can hurt you are raccoons, opossums, foxes, rats, wild cats, wild dogs, coyotes and mice. Yes, mice, because like rats, they can carry diseases, they will leave droppings all over the place (of course that’s not a tremendous threat), but mice and rats often chew through things. When they chew through electrical wiring or chew holes in your home, you now have high risks for an electrical fire or the entry of snakes and other things you’d probably rather not see in the kitchen. Rats can chew through steel, so something like a copper gas line isn’t much of a deterrent when the rat is trying to get through the hole where the gas line is entering your house. Granted, these aren’t threats like a gunfight, but they are things to be aware of and watch for, so you don’t end up with a real threat from the actions of tiny critters. Traps, of course, snake shot in handguns and even a baseball bat will take care of these rodents. Personally, I am not in favor of poison unless you can be positive that nothing else would be exposed to it. Poison tends to end up biting the wrong target sometimes. I’d rather skip that risk.

The next group are the raccoons, opossums, foxes and wild cats. Normally they’d be interesting to watch or just a nuisance. But, when you’re watching any of them, note their behavior and appearance. Does it look healthy? Does it have fur missing in patches? Holding its head at an odd angle? Moving toward you rather than avoiding you? If it’s healthy, it will likely be running away from you. All these critters can carry rabies and are nasty if they get close enough to start biting and clawing. You can retreat, but that leaves the animal still out in the world and you’ll just have to deal with it later. You can kill any of them with some kind of implement if you’re fast, but they are all small targets and extremely hard to kill. When you stick a pitchfork into a possum and it’s pinned to the ground hissing at you, you’ll better understand that it’s not a good situation at all. That leaves firearms and presumably you are always carrying a handgun. So, be aware that the bullets will usually zip right through the animal, and the animal will have no idea that it’s been hit. If it does drop, do not approach it. Use something to shove it and be prepared to fire again. In fact, I would not expect a single shot to do anything. Don’t fire once and then stop and look. Shoot until the animal appears dead. You will have much more latitude with a shotgun and buckshot, but I am expecting that few of you will be carrying a riot gun all the time. Even so, a cat struck with one round of 12 gauge buckshot in the head and chest at about 15 feet was able to continue running until struck by a second round. Not even a riot gun is a sure thing.

A wild (or any attacking) dog should be considered life-threatening. Include coyotes, too, as there are increased reports that coyotes will indirectly attack people (the coyote attacks a person’s pet dog and then the person is in the fight). Big dogs are just hard to stop. And, if the dog does get its teeth on you, expect a very primitive and bloody fight for survival. At such a time, a handgun or big knife will be badly needed. Don’t give ground, the dog is faster than you are anyway, don’t back up unless you have only a short distance to safety. Do what you need to do to keep the dog away and that may mean you will need to shoot.

Whether it’s a dog or some other critter, if it’s coming toward you when you decide to open fire, if you have time, crouch down. Squat as low as you can. That gets the gun closer to the ground than if you were standing. This puts the bullet on a path that is more parallel to the ground, and that path better matches the critter moving in your direction. In other words – standing, you’ll have to put the sights on the critter and then move the gun so the sights remain on target as the critter moves toward you. If you’ve squatted down, you get the sights on target and you don’t have to keep moving the gun, the critter will be moving toward you and your sights won’t need realignment. That gives you a better chance for more good, solid hits. This really works, though getting lower runs counter to your instinct to stay up and more “away” from the attacking animal. If you can get past that, though, you’ll be able to run multiple rounds into the animal rather than perhaps just one if you’re standing. And it will take multiple rounds on a large dog or any crazy animal that doesn’t realize it’s dead after you’ve started shooting it.

I am absolutely not advocating slaughtering wild critters because they happen to be in your proximity. If you don’t like wild animals, then you need to move somewhere that has none. I live where there are many wild things. I have no issues with 99% of them and very much enjoy seeing them running around. Sometimes, though, one will show up acting odd and causing problems – those are the ones I do end up dispatching, though I don't consider these to be critical problems, just unfortunate but necessary actions based on the behavior of the animal. However, this doesn’t apply to attacking dogs. As I said, that is an immediate life-threatening situation. Please treat it as such and take appropriate action to defend your life. And if the dog isn't attacking? It's just a dog. Pet it on the head and give it a dog bone. You may have made yourself a new friend.