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Re the critters in that area.

There are probably more mountain lions in that area than any other area in Oregon or the West Coast. I went 50 some years with never seeing a cougar. Then 10 years ago in the upper Chetco I saw my first one and several sightings afterwards around the areas of where the fire is now burning.

Or I would go upstream on a trail or a river and coming back see cougar tracks over my hiking or wading boot tracks. Those that went the same direction as I was headed had a lot of impact on me. So I stopped fishing until about dark or to sunset in those areas. I made sure that I headed back out, way before it got dark even the best fishing happened right before and after sunset.

Some of the bears on the north end from Graves Creek to Paradise Lodge are very territorial. Most of the time you just see the real end of the bears as they try to get away from you. Those bears during black berry season which is now, would just look at you and go on eating black berries.

4 deer seasons ago, two young hunters up north in the Elk River area shot a deer. They went back to their truck to get gear to butcher it and carry it out. A bear attacked and mauled them as they came back to the area where their deer was. I talked to one of their fathers a few months after the attack, and he was still shook up. This was just a plain old Oregon brown/black bear. He had been seen near the area in the black berry bushes, and he too did not leave when fishers or loggers came up to his area. He decided to claim the dead deer as his prize.