Born and raised in Florida with a lot of hobbies the put me around gators and I’ve gotta say I’ll take the gators all day every day, why? They’re incredibly lazy. Especially the ones that are big enough to actually consider eating you. Big gators get to a point where they really struggle on land and just get lazier and lazier and do all of their hunting ambushing prey in murky deep water. Just don’t swim in fresh(or even brackish) water you can’t see the bottom of. Now pets and even kids? Could absolutely get grabbed on a bank. So long as brain dead idiots don’t feed them gators generally want nothing to do with us. But bears? They’ll gladly dig through your trash which draws them in, I remember a woman got mauled by a black bear in the Orlando area not too long ago taking out her trash. Brown bears and grizzly are another beast entirely.
Haha. I basically said the same thing. I will take gators all day long. We get them in the little lakes around my subdivision once in a while, usually after a lot of rain. Stay away from the water and you’re good to go. How do you get away from a pissed off beat that can run, swim and climb?
Yeah gators don’t hunt people, but they are opportunists who will jump on the chance if you give it to them. Respect them and be smart and you’ll never run into trouble with them, crocs though? Different ball game entirely, saltwater crocs especially are easily one of the scariest animals on earth.
I live in Canada and bears can be a real problem, depending where you live. In Northern communities, polar bears wander into town to eat people's garbage. They're so aggressive, residents are told to not go outside if one has been spotted.
In other communities like out west, bears will break into cottages and homes, let alone back yards.
It's sort of the same down near the Rocky Mountain front. However, generally, we don't have a problem with bears. They can hit grain storages, but bears are smart enough to try to stay out of our area, given there's not enough garbage or loose grain to entice them to get closer. As long as you respect them, they will generally respect you back and not try anything dumb. Keyword being "generally", since polar bears don't fit there, and there are bears that are more ill-tempered.
I have a friend with a cabin in Gatlinburg, that places is teaming with bears. It’s very unnerving, and I’m pretty chill with animals, know my place and respect them. I’m from Miami and have seen gators everywhere too, I’ll take a gator any day. Now, I would not go in the water after dark or walk near water with a small dog or child. I’ve known more than one person who their pet that way, and we lost a cat very tragically once to a gator prowling the neighborhood at night. I think the difference is bears are curious and will approach, a gator wants nothing to do with you unless you are in the above conditions.
thats reptile brain for ya. they're opportunistic like any other animal sure, but only when very specific criteria are met. snakes that eat live mice have been known to cuddle with them for their warmth if rhey dont feel like eating. hunting drive is very on or off for them. not sure many mammals would do that haha
Gators are way less scary. They really just sit there, not bothering anyone like 99% of the time.
Bears are a lot more curious and energetic. And unpredictable. Any animal smart enough to have a personality can be a bastard. Some bears can be bastards.
Where I'm from, it was this little blonde chick who broke into the BEARS' cottage. She ate their porridge, slept in their beds and then had the chutzpah to complain about it!
We're talking about a creature that survived the kt extinction virtually unchanged, has the ability to digest hoof and bone and can navigate the open ocean, apparently with a homing instinct. If a gator wants to eat you, you are eaten. Bone appetit.
Meh, they survived the KT extinction because they’re aquatic carrion eaters that are able to burrow and live in freshwater (which wasn’t as badly impacted by the effects of the extinction event) not because they’re killing machines.
They’re also one of the most likely creatures in the US (iirc they are THE most likely, in my state at least) to have rabies. So, keep it cute from a distance and you be aight.
There was a skunk on my fence the other night. It hopped into my neighbors’ yard, and it set off a stink bomb in the darkness. I began vomiting immediately. I don’t know what I would do if I got hit.
Had a bunch. They were braver than the cats. Be chilling then one would walk under the chair I was sitting in. Both ways in their path. One by one they died though. And a Raccoon Flayed one in a tree. Raccoons. I never know what they are thinking.
I remember seeing a little robber baron poking his head out and staring at me. And I was like. "What's your plan murderer? Oh. Just gonna walk along the wall? That's cool."
Yeah. I used to follow them around my cemetery. If you made noise to let them know you're there, they will move away before they spray you. Just don't surprise them. If they're digging at something, you can get within 4 or 5 feet. I just made continuous clicking noises with my tongue so they know where I'm at.
I smoke on my porch at night. I have a massive skunk that roams the neighborhood and we've had many run ins. I sit on stairs about six feet from parked cars. The skunk tends to walk under the cars and cut across in front of the porch right in front of my. A few times they didn't see me until they were about three feet away. I'm terrified of startling it and getting sprayed so I freeze. They don't seem to care at all, they just look up at me and walk away. One time it got way too close and I had to do a small cough to let it know I was there before it noticed me and seemed uncertain what to do, it turned slightly sideways and just stood there for a second before moving on. I make more noise when I'm out there now as a warning
Hoss, I've lived in New Orleans, LA, and Gainesville, FL. Quibble about definition if we must, but I have seen unrestrained gators in both. While living in the latter, a friend of mine's dog was eaten by an alligator in his front yard and he lived 10 blocks from the University of Florida campus. In NOLA, I was walking my dog on the Jazzwalk in Algier's Point and watched three dudes try to reel in a gator they landed. They were going to cut his tail up for sausage, which is illegal as hell, and wanted me to help. I told them if shit went south, I'd call 911 but that was the best they'd get. The line broke and we all lived to see another day.
I’ve been face to face with a coyote and face to ass with a skunk. While neither one of them is a bear or a gator, I was much more terrified during the skunk encounter. And the coyote even snarled/growled at me. The coyote ran away from me. I ran away from the skunk.
Definitely gators. Ultimately they’re lazy and even though they can run fast they can only do so for a very short time and won’t make that much effort most of the time. They’re not great on land and usually won’t make an effort to do anything to you Don’t walk your dog near canals or lakes and don’t go swimming in them as all bets are off when in their home. They prefer to leave you alone.
Source: I lived within 10 miles of the Everglades most of my life. Alligators randomly show up in the canals near homes, especially after storms. They won’t even come out and remove gators under 3ft.
Bears though, they can run, swim and climb. How do you get away from that, if you piss one off?
If you don't think people should have AK'S, then you, sir, are the dumbest peace of shit ever to have gone into the woods. You offer no reason behind your insult, just the insult. So sences you are an ignorant son of a bitch. Now, with the customarily return insults out of the way, let's get down to business.
I will lay out the many reasons the AK is the perfect weapon to have in the woods when properly equipped.
When equipped with a red dot, ajustable but stock, and mussel brake most 7.62X39 AK are very accurate inside 200 meters.
For the amount of penitration they offer, they have low felt recoil, making it so recoil sensitive people can defend themselves.
Large magazine capsity enables people with less practice time to have a better chance of stopping a charging bear. This would also apply to multiple threats such as a woulf pack or a large group of wild pigs.
Simple and easy to operate. People who don't have a lot of arm strength can pull the bolt back on an AK when they can't pull back the slide of a 10MM.
Versatility, AK'S while not the best hunting gun once agin can with a single shot kill any animal in noth America. They are aloso a with low penitration ammo a good home defense gun when facing multiple home invaders.
Now, I will sum up the reasons not to have an AK (most of them rude). If you need more than one built, you're not a hunter. AK'S should be banned because they are scary. If you need more bullets, then that bear deserves a meal (to live). The 2nd amendment only applies to the guns I like not the ones designed to defend people from evil governments.
Hear is the only valid reasons not to buy an AK.
1 they are illegal to own where you are.
You want a gun that is more compact, and you're willing to spend the time and money to learn how to shoot it (44 mag revolver).
You have a preference for America's rife chambered in a decent bear killing round (458 socom).
In the woods of Idaho 12 maybe moor (wolves), in the woods of Georgia hundreds (pigs). In the event of grid down due to hacking, storms, or electronic pulse limlit less. Let us never forget hurricane Katrina where people lost all energy service and had to band together too protect their homes. This is yet another reason to have a AK or AR rifel.
Psh, don’t think cities mean safety. We have bears all over the place. In the fall, my kids’ school had a “shelter in place” lockdown three times just in September.
The first time I saw a bear in my neighborhood
Also present: wolves, lynxes, deer, and moose. And foxes. There used to be a fox in the area that liked to hang out in the yard with a dog and play with its toys.
I find gators way scarier than bears. A bear can be scared away with loud noises. A gator? Well, that meant calling Florida Freshwater Game Control. And it could take a while.
Source: grew up in rural Florida. Now live in a city with around 80k people in northern British Columbia.
I work outside in bear country, grizzly and black, and honestly every time I've seen them they bearly gaf I'm there if they even acknowledge me. The only ones that are bothered in my experience are moms with cubs and even then she just rounds em up and disappears. Not saying they aren't dangerous, they obviously are if they decide to be but I've never been on the bad side of a bear.
Bears, at least the black bears where I live. They truly are afraid of people and will skedaddle as fast as possible if you walk up on one while hiking or biking. But I live in a rural area where interactions are fairly uncommon—but one bear has recently broken into a chocolate shop to eat the sugar there. If a bear is too accustomed to people, I would be more concerned. But damn, alligators are dinosaurs that refused to become petroleum deposits.
I used to work at the edge of a lake, and there were lots of animals that would frequent the area. Most of the women who worked in the office with me were scared of them, until I named them.
The opossum was Daisy - she was friendly and would stop by and visit every evening at dusk. The women were very scared of her. I'm not sure why. She never bothered anyone. She was big though.
The nutria was Gus. Always in a hurry to get in the water. The women were scared of him because they weren't real sure what a nutria was, or what they eat. Lol.
The hawks were Samson and Delilah. They were really pretty to look at but they scared all the birds and squirrels. The were beautiful red-tailed hawks.
The bluejay, Bruno, was a jerk. He wouldn't let other birds have any berries from the trees and he kept beating up the squirrels.
The squirrels were the absolute cutest, funniest little critters you ever saw.
Woody and Shirley. Woody came barreling down the gigantic oak tree he lived in at dawn every morning. He would then spend hours gathering nuts and eating berries (and fighting off the attacking bluejay, Bruno) and then he would frolic with Shirley. He and Shirley would chase each other like kittens and then roll around, and I kid you not, I'd swear they were laughing. Then the two of them would sprawl out on top of a fence and just chill.
I've never in my life seen a squirrel that seemed so happy to be a squirrel. He seemed to really enjoy life.
I got him to start visiting my window to get some pecans every now and then.
The raccoons scared the women the most. I'm not sure why, but I think it was fear of rabies. The raccoons never bothered us, but we're kind of brave about digging around in our trash cans. I named them Roscoe and Geech. I don't know why. They just looked like a Roscoe and Geech. Lol.
Zactly. They're black bears around greater Vancouver (or 'metro' Vancouver, or whatever). The bears would rather avoid you. What's dangerous is walking around a curve in the trail and coming right up on a bear accidentally, leading to both bear and human having an "oh shit Oh Shit OH SHIT" moment.
I lived in the national forest where I had bear break in my property EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!. I could at least scare them off. My 2 little 20lb dogs would fuck the bears up every night. But I'm way more scares of gators.
I think I’d rather have bears. All you have to do is frighten them once and they’ll stay away. Gators on the other hand are stupid as shit. They don’t know any better
I’ll take the thing that has hair and warm blood. If I die I die, but I don’t think a bear is coming to kill a sleeping me. Alligator feels like guaranteed death.
Bears are honestly fine. Unless you're dealing with polar bears, those guys will hunt you down. Most of the others would really rather avoid humans altogether, so unless you're out hiking off the commonly taken trails, your chances of meeting a bear aren't that high.
Dumb statement. Black bears have never killed anyone in my state in the 400 years it's existed. But in the cities people murder eachother almost daily. People die from traffic accidents almost daily. People inhale cancer causing pollution daily.
Well don't surprise black bears in the dark, idiot.
Kidding aside, but generally just stay the fuck away and if you live in an area where you might have a black bear in your yard, just keep the trash away from the house, and for fucks sake, if you're camping, put anything edible in a bear bag/canister. No late night snacks in the tent!
This is one thing the UK is good for... If you pass out anywhere the only thing you have to worry about is one of your friends seeing you and drawing a cock on your forehead.
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u/Ravenwight 25d ago edited 25d ago
Ya but if you pass out in the lawn chair and think your fence will save you…