This is a question I can answer from personal experience. You can't defend yourself with out a gun if they decide to eat you, you are absolutely the slowest and weakest animal in the forest. Luckily for us humans most predators don't have a taste for us and they don't know how slow weak and pathetic we are compared to them. If you don't act like prey they will not attack (the exception might be rabid animals). If you come across a large predator DO NOT RUN!!!!!! running triggers a predatory response and they will chase you. Look at them so they know you are watching them and move casually away, DO NOT try to bluff charge them and scare them off as this can trigger fight or flight response and if you get the fight response on the coin toss your hosed without a gun. I have encountered large brown bears, black bears,lynx, wolves and once I was face to face with a pack of 15 wolves. Everything I just listed moved in the other direction as soon as it was aware of me except the wolf pack. I stopped my snowmachine to take a piss, I was waaaaaay out in the toolies , cloudy and warm night. When I shut the machine off it was pitch black, while peeing I could hear animals walking on the snow about 30 ft away from me, thought it might be a moose. I hurried up with my business,zipped up and hopped back on the machine and listened for anymore noise, couldn't hear anything but the wind, so I fired the sled back up and when the light came on had over a dozen pair of eyes reflected back at me from about 25 ft. I just sat there and watched them watch me then they got up and trotted back into the trees. The whole experience was freaky cool scary. The thing to remember is try to not act like food and they will probably leave you alone.