Seems to me a lot of people need to start by making common sense decisions that lower the odds they will get into any situation before worrying about bringing artillery.

Running in woodlands with ear buds in and listening to music while thinking about work is a fine way to find yourself in a situation. In the woods it is ear buds out, active listening to the woods, head on a swivel observing the situation. Common sense.

Hiking we once saw a guy who was fishing from a canoe. He had caught a fish and while he was winding it in a gator had grabbed it. There he was, alone, in a small canoe holding his rod in one hand and beating what looked like an 8' gator with a paddle with the other. Very foolish. The alligator could have flipped the boat with a twitch of its tail. It was close enough to grab the man's arm. What would have happened if he had fallen or got pulled into the water? I guess its a matter of values. I'm not willing to die, or have an arm ripped off, for a fish.

I suspect if he thought about it he would agree that it would be better to let the gator have the fish. Hell, let it have the pole. In the end the line broke and the gator took off with his prize. It worked out this time.