I just moved down to the Pensacola, Fl region this summer and decided to go scout the river for the upcoming deer season. Being a north woods boy in Wisconsin, I have to say the varmint population down here is quite different. I was out for a whole morning on my kayak and getting 10 yards from a gator that was resting in the waters below me just about turned me off from hunting there. Not to mention the 6 water moccasins i saw! Does anyone have any advice with these critters? I dont know how they act, or how to read them or any of that. Any Gator and snake guys out there that could share some advice on close encounters with these reptiles!
Happy swamp life!
ew...dont know wanything about a swamp with gators, but try to avoid the moccasins tho they can real mean. atleast in my previous hunting grounds they were. but usually if you dont bug them they wont bug you...unless you want a cool snakeskin backing but i would recommnend shooting the head off with a 22 er i mean broadhead ;) and then cutting the head with great caution...unless they are protected down there...in indiana you only had to deal with the moccasins and copper heads :p good luck and happy hunting!!
Gators won't generally bother you unless you encroach on a nest or corner them during the breeding season. Most of the water snakes you see are NOT mocs and NOT poisonous.
Snake boots are your friend early in the season.
I used to live in Florida, including Pensacola, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Lots of experience dealing with gators and snakes. It's not so much the gators and snakes that you have to worry about as it is the bugs. Mind you, either can easily kill you (gators and snakes that is), but I never had one attack me despite how close I've gotten to them, even when I was swimming in a river in Florida with a mid-size gator about 25 yds away. A hungry gator will go after your dog in a heartbeat, though, so keep your dogs away from the water. Also, some folks feed them marshmallows (they love those more than anything, apparently), and by feeding them, they learn to lose their fear of man. So if you now of any gators that are regularly fed, probably best to stay away from those.
Back to bugs, though. Deer fly along the Gulf Coast are the worst, especially in the summer time. Trust me when I say that you won't think twice about running a half-mile or longer through a gator and snake infested swamp to get away from a swarm of deer fly! Happened to me and my buddy when we got his jeep stuck in the muck and the deer fly came after us.
Another bug you'll love to hate is the biting gnat that usually attacks around mid-spring. So not only do you have to deal with the bother of gnats flying around bugging you, they actually bite! Their bite doesn't hurt much, though, just annoying. Avon Skin So Soft easily repels them, though, but sadly, it doesn't repel the deer fly, whose bite is much, much worse.
Not sure what the West Nile Virus and Encephalitis infected mosquito situation is like in Pensacola these days, but the Dallas, TX area where I live currently has had the highest incidences of infection for two years straight for West Nile. Just something to think about when it comes to mosquito bites down there. Avon Skin So Soft wasn't as good at repelling them as it is with repelling biting gnats, but good old Deep Woods Off works for the mosquitoes down there.
Next up are chiggers. The chigger problem in Pensacola isn't as bad as it is here in Texas, but there was one time when I lived there that must've stepped in a nest of them because I got covered in bites real bad. Don't know what the chiggers are like in Wisconsin, but I never got bit by them when I lived up in Ohio in the late 70's.
As for spiders, only running my face into their cob webs at night bother me. Luckily, never got bit by one, but at least they serve to keep the other biting insect population at bay.
When it comes to living in the southeastern U.S., it's the biting insects that have plagued me worse than any gator or snake ever has. Hard to see water moccasins in brownish, tea color swampy water down there so just watch where you step. Gators can sometimes look like floating logs from a distance. They're actually easier to spot at night with a flashlight.
Enjoy the beach and gulf fishing down there!
Ed Q... You are correct Sir! Forget the snakes / gators, give them room and they will leave you alone. But not the BUGS!!!
I was hog / deer hunting in the Everglades 2 years ago... and I met up with "Chiggers" for the 1st time. Wow!!! The sweltering humidity made it worse! I was Miserable, sore, itchy, almost raw from scratching by the time I got back to my air conditioned motel room! A hot shower made it worse. After most of a bottle of an antihistamine and 2 days later, the itching ceased.
Yeah, Chiggers. They don't like Yankees. Not this one anyhow. I'll take my chances with gators & snakes, but the Chiggers, those I fear.