Why you should be armed in the woods/wilderness

[tom mac]

check you for ticks... Brad Paisley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt_MwJq8-Cg

[David]

Talking with one of our neighbors while working at the new house this evening. We have something like 20+ miles of nature trails around where we live and another 20+ about a half mile away from our property. It's actually trails that interconnect with where the SEP gatherings usually occur. We got to talking about the several gators in the pond behind the new house and she told us that one of the residents was attacked by a 13-footer a while back. This would have been back around nesting/hatching season. Nesting season is around July and hatching is about 65 days later.

The woman was walking a dog near the water. Big no-no. Gators will key in on dogs from a good distance (and other small animals) from a good distance. The pond behind our house is about half again as long and wide as a football field and I've seen one of the gators in the water on the far side make a bee line to our side when that same neighbor had her dog on a leash as we chatted in the backyard. So the woman that was attacked either it was a hungry gator or she got too close to a nest. Likely the former. The gator was missing a limb, probably from another gator. As a result it was slower than normal and she was able to grab the dog and run a safe distance away. But gators are all over the place here in Florida and folks often report seeing them crossing the trail their on going from one pond to the next. Usually folks simply stop a safe distance and let the gator cross the trail and then they go back to their walk. So usually, not a big deal.

Still a good idea to have a firearm though, as well as a walking stick.

Florida is home to about 1.3 million gators and they're in all 67 counties. My county will issue a permit over the phone if you have a nuisance gator and want to kill it yourself. Hunting starts around August to (IIRC) November with a limit of two.

[David]

Hunter nearly killed by brutal sexual assault from 1,200 lbs moose

https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/hunter ... lbs-moose/

[tom mac]

some would say "what a way to go, died from sex " but not me, to kinky

[David]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... k-dog.html

Florida man attacked in home by black bear.

[David]

Morale of the story is don’t bring a .380 pistol to a Moose attack.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/moose-attack ... 49158.html

[David]

Handgun Ammunition for Carrying in the Woods

http://www.marksmanshipmatters.com/hand ... the-woods/

Here's a sobering quote: The penetration required to reach the vital organs of a bear after passing through the fur, hide, muscle and tissue is measured in feet not inches.

[David]

Sometimes it's simply being in proximity to the wilderness.

Colorado Man Fires .40 Cal Glock 9 Times to Kill Black Bear That Broke Into His House at Night

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/co ... 79e11d51f3

[David]

Swampscott Resident Surrounded by 9 Coyotes, Rescued by Police

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/sw ... e/2864719/

[Mac66]

There is a community of cottages around a small lake about half a mile from my woods house. People lose cats and small dogs to coyotes there. They post pictures of coyotes walking down the streets in broad daylight. Most of the houses are seasonal but there is a fair number of people who live there.

The neighbor who lives on the next property over from mine has lost 2 cats this year and one last year.

And of course I see coyotes on my trail cameras all the time. I've only seen one once in person and it was chasing a deer when we first bought the property 26 years ago. Been meaning to start calling them in to my food plot and shoot them but it's one more thing to get into that I can't do right now.