Four large mammals, one reptile, four snakes, four arachnids, a few insects. That is the catalog of animals in North America that are dangerous to humans. If you have half a brain, you will never be in danger from any of these animals. If you don't have half a brain, you will be in danger from many animals (and other things) that shouldn't be dangerous. If the rest of us have any luck, natural selection will take its course.
For those of us with half a brain, going into the wilderness does not need to be a fearful thing. We only fear what is unknown to us. If you educate yourself on these dangerous animals you need never worry for your safety. Of course there are two legged animals that are far more dangerous than any wild creature, but that's a subject for the sociology and psychology sections. Here, we're going to talk mostly about bears.
In North America, the four mammals that will kill you are the wolf, mountain lion, moose, and bear. I suppose at some point in the history of this continent some buffoon got himself torn to pieces by raccoons or had a bison in Yellowstone step on his neck, but those are really deaths by stupid misadventure and outside the scope of this discussion.
Let's get wolves out of the way right off. I don't believe there's any record of a fatal wolf attack on a human. Perhaps no record of attack at all. Even back in the old days when there were a lot of them. Now you can consider yourself lucky to even see one and where they live these days there's plenty of deer (and sheep but we won't go there) and they are not interested in eating you.
Mountain lion attacks are on the rise. This is simply a matter of encroachment. We build our houses further and further into wild land and the big cats have nowhere to go. Then we go into their yard and act like food. Have you ever seen a cat that can resist something running away from it? Interestingly, though, because of this encroachment on habitat, the attacks are happening more in urban areas. Makes sense. If the cat has someplace to go to get away from you and a steady food source, you're probably never even going to see him. Well, to be fair, if he decides to stalk and kill you, you'll probably never see him either.
Bull moose have bad attitudes and they are territorial. They really don't have much motivation to avoid people. If you annoy one you will have a major problem on your hand since they are fast and they are tall and they can reach you up in that tree. Of our four mammals, though, the moose is the only strict herbivore, so the only time they attack humans is if they feel threatened. They will not come to you, you have to go to them, so it makes them easy to avoid.
That leaves us with the bear. People get killed by bears quite often, but it's not as often as you think, and it's usually for what amounts to a good reason in the bear's mind.
You have to understand bear mentality. They really don't want to be around people, and will usually avoid them, but they are at the top of the food chain and they know it. They're not always going to politely step aside. The most dangerous bears are the ones that are used to humans and have no fear of them. They know they can take us in a fight and sometimes use that to their advantage.
Bears are motivated pretty much by one thing: food. If you have food and the bear finds out, just give it to him. Don't play any games, just hand over the vittles. He will not stop until he gets them. If you act like food, the bear may decide to try a bite of you. That's when you have a problem.
Bears attack humans on purpose for three reasons: predation, defense, and fear. Very rarely a hungry bear will stalk and attack a human for food. If you run into one of these bears, all I can say is you're screwed. Fight like hell. If he intends to eat you the playing dead thing is really just playing directly into his hand. Fortunately, this kind of thing is extremely rare.
My nightmare is to be ambling down a trail and see two grizzly cubs and no mother. Why? Because mama is somewhere nearby and if I'm having a really bad day I just walked between her and her cubs.
Usually most bear encounters involving teeth and claws result from surprising the bear. You know how you feel when you're having a nice cup of coffee and someone barges into the room suddenly? You do that to a bear and you may have a problem.
Even in the latter two scenarios, defense and surprise, a bear will usually not attack. It's very common for bears to charge you to see what you'll do. If you run you're food, if you attack or act aggressive you're an enemy. Even if a bear is afraid of you, he usually will not turn tail and run because that would be exposing his vulnerable hind quarters. Remember, although the bear is afraid of you, it is not afraid to fight if it feels it needs to. You are not going to get anywhere trying to intimidate the bear. You need to get out of there as quickly as possible without acting like food.
I won't go into what to do when you are confronted with a bear in the wild. You can get that information in a dozen places. Rather I'm focusing on avoidance here. When you are in the wild, make a lot of noise so the bears know you're there. If you see or hear a bear, keep your distance. Keep food inaccessible and if you don't want bears in your tent with you at night, keep your campsite clean and cook away from your tent. Use bear boxes or hang your food in a tree.
Know how to act and respect the wild and it will give you many wonderful adventures.