Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

YES!! We have alligators that eat people now several times per week. Please feel free to stay home and not come down here to fish or hunt. Leave that up to us.

--Millpond

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

I thought that Florida DNR gave you guys an alligator season recently? Man, alligator tail does taste good, so you must be happy if that's true!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

From what I have seen, a lot of places are dangerous in one way or another. You just have to choose your "poison." It's either gators, venomous snakes, twisters, frostbite, excessive heat, traffic, grizzly bears, cougars, murder,etc. etc. I think if you have a healthy respect for wildlife and natural forces, you aremost likely notgoing to have a problem.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

It is common to see a gator most any place. Seems to be a lot more of them than there was 30 years ago. You occasionally see them crossing the highway, sometimes a small one will get run over. I think people feeding them when they clean fish, etc,gets the gators to where they aren't scared of you.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Like the bears in many places, they've lost their fear of humans, and that's not good.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Many of these people that you read about or see on the news, are dumb people who moved down here and feed the gators as pets. You play with fire and you will get burned!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Habituation of wildlife to human presence and feeding is usually bad for everyone involved. Problems range from property damage to disease, injury and even death.I agree on that point for sure, no matter what species you are talking about (carnivore or herbivore.) People need to learn that not respecting wildlife and nottreating them as wild can have enormous impacts on wildlife as well as other people.

There are definately more gators than there were 30 years ago because they were Endangered and nearly extinct. The recovery of the gator population is one of the success stories of wildlife conservation in the fact that we have a healthy population of them now. I think Florida is doing a good job of managing the gator population through legal harvests, etc. They do taste great! The issue now becomes one of people management. Many people do not realize that50% of Wildlife Management is People Management.Everyone in Florida should realize that neitherdirect nor indirect feeding ofwildlife (through cleaning fish where they are caught for example)is acceptable.I can tell you up front that the wildlife can be easier to work with.

I realize that we are mainly talking about gators butplease keep in mind that more people are killed every year worldwide by herbivores than carnivores, so don't feed deer either!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

I have had several occasions with gatorswithin a foot of the bass boat and other times with them right next to us while duck hunting.

I was golfing with my brother last spring in Jacksonville and laying on the fairway next to a pond was an 8 footer. I said, "You know your in florida when you see that" and my brother said, "You know your a from florida when it doesn't scare the crap out of you"

But I love the hunting and fishing in florida and am only trying to discourage people from coming down here. Thanks for all the replys.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Right on,MP! I was born and raisedin the FL Keys and our diet was Fish, Green Turtles, Jew Fish, Spiny Lobster, Stone Crabs and Conch,but over the years of so many people moving to Fl, (the state had to ban Green Turtles, Jew Fish,Conch and place a limit on the Fish, Stone Crabsand Spiny Lobster)that are taken. That's like telling a China Man, you can't have rice anymore!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

No brother, we should allow the deer to feed us!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

You knew what I meant! HAHAHA I knowvenison is tasty too, but you will not see me out there feeding one. Those hooves and antlerscan do some real damage!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Alright now, you're starting to rub the Floridians wrong!

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Secession of North Florida from the rest of the state. Dawg face have you lost your mind? What makes you think Georgia would want you? I think you must have bumped your head on the limo roof.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

I hope you weren't calling me a Yankee. My parents may be from Northern Missouri but both sides of my family were from Virginia before the Civil War. Both sides fought for the South. I grew up just south of Richmond, Virginia too. I may be descended from people who wanted to ceceed from the Union on issues of State's Rights but I am an American and proud of it. That doesn't make me a Yankee. I know my Southern Heritage but dividing up the territory of the United States was/is a mistake.

It is true that Yankees today are very different than Southerners today and we can trace our beliefs and attitudes to the political differences in our country between men like Thomas Jefferson (conservative/small federal government - the basic man is good and can take care of himself) and Alexander Hamilton (liberal/big federal government - the basic man is incompetent and needs the government to take of him.)

I know this may seem an oversimplification but it is the basis of what became the Republican and Democratic parties as we know them today. It is what we fought England for, is it what we fought the Civil War over and what we continue to debate to this day.

George Washington warned of a few things before he died but the two that stick out in my mind are "Avoid permanent political parties" and "Avoid foreign entanglements."

My beliefs about government, society, food, driving, accent etc. are Southern. Sorry about the rant.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

yea we got gators that eat you if you get in the water. then we got the cottonmouths if you walk the banks.
then if you want to stay high up on the hill, we got the meanest rattler( southern diamondback) that would love to tag you.then the sketters could give you all sorts of deiease, not to mention the sharks in the waters all the way around the state.

so if your thinking about coming to Fla. I wouldn't advise it.you could wake up dead.[:o] [:o] [:o] [:o][&:][8D];);):D:D

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Not to mention the No-Seums and Fire Ants!:D:D:D:D:D:D

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

god lived in florida for 5 yrs moved back to NY now I`m back here for 2 weeks and can`t figure out why i left.[&o]

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Were did my post go? I posted last night with a pic....Rebel Hog replied....?was it deleted?

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Maybe some pro-development, pro-out-of-control tourists hacked into the site and deleted some of our posts. [:@][:@][:@]

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Well I am not sure what happened but I am Floridian living in NC.. Here is a pick of my Great Great Grandfather in Volusia County....Thought you guys might find it cool.....Check out the tree he is standing next to....[/align][/align]

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

I've been here since 1981. Here is my observation from the greatest danger to the least.

1. Car wrecks
2. Folks wired on crank or crack
3. Perverts.
4. Water Mocassins
5. Other Hunters
6. Gators.
7. Rattle Snakes.
8. Falling out of stand.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Dont forget:

All jet skiers

Drunks at the helm of 30 foot cabin cruisers

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

Chuck, stop your rambling on the state, you're here taking up a teacher's salary.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

I was simply answering the question Reb.Is Florida dangerous??
The answer is yes. I'm sure other states are just as dangerous but I believe I am welcome to my opinionof my experince in Florida.

Now there are ways to minimize these problems..

1. Car wrecks
Look 4 times before pulling out i traffic.Do not take it for granted folks will stop.

2. Folks wired on crank or crack
Our county is #1 for the producer of Crystal Meth { Crank} so yes it is a big problem, Choose your friends wisely. Lock car doors.

3. Perverts.

The fishing hole I fish at arrested over 150 prerverts in one year.I'd say we have a problem. Fish from a boat.

4. Water Mocassins ..They give no warning except a rattle of a tail that has no rattles. Snake boots are great.


5. Other Hunters ..They are ok in general ..just a few too many IMHO Walk deeper off the main trail. Most of the hunters I've seen rarely go past 1/2 mimle.

6. Gators. They are very active in the dark. Hunters usually go to there stands in the dark..therefore I would consider them dangerous. Tack your trail good and stay away from them if at all possible.


7. Rattle Snakes. Haven't seen too many thus the reason they are #7 Where snake boots.

8. Falling out of stand. Double check and double check everything. This is ones own personal responsibility.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

talk about dangerous, my dad told me this story several times,i was born and raised in florida,NW.sure miss hunt'n and riding the river.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

the most dangerous thing in Florida is the grey haired Yankees that retire down here and possess a valid drivers license.

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

i think i'll have to agree with that...

RE: Is Florida Dangerous?!?
 

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