Wild Animals: How to Avoid Becoming "Dinner" and Part Ways in Peace

Many beginners haunt their own imaginations with grisly scenes: hungry wolves lying in ambush or a bear specifically stalking a tourist around the next bend in the trail. Let me ease your mind: you are not on the menu. To a wild animal, a human is a strange, loud creature that smells like "chemicals" (laundry detergent, deodorant, or a gas stove). In 99% of cases, animals scent you from hundreds of meters away and quietly slip into the brush. They want to meet you even less than you want to meet them.