Previously I had focused much of my attention on what kind of gear to pack, how to provide food and water, and various routes to travel. A trip to the Rockies, part of the AT and a few southeastern US adventures later I realized that people weren't the only hostile forces I might encounter and I didn't have much prepared to deal with the critters I might encounter.

Preparing for wildlife became a new priority for me when I reached an epiphany after visiting my sister in the southwest this summer. While we have all seen the massive fires sweeping across the southwest, most of us have been fortunate enough to avoid their destruction. Animals, however have had much of their habitat destroyed by the fires and as a result these animals have been forced out of the burning forests and into more populated (and better protected by fire suppression efforts) areas. When the fires approached her town, so did many of the animals trying to escape the flames. While my sister at most sees a coyote every now and then, the occasional scorpion and rarely a snake, all of these animals were prevalent throughout her neighborhood.