As a lot of you know

[dwalt]

I live out in the boondocks. I go to take my dog out at 1:30 this morning which is wierd. (she said she had to go) Cold as can be, snow on the ground and dark as...well it was really dark. All of a sudden I hear the dreaded coyotes.. I guess they had made a "kill" and they were partying! Really kind of a scary even for me. At any rate I never had my dog pee and head for the house so quick!!

[Mickchick]

Good thing - my mom lives in a suburb of Chicago, right on the edges of a canal and forest preserve (heavily wooded) and there have been a number of attacks on dogs and humans by coyotes.  I always thought they stayed away from humans and bigger animals, but they've taken down a german shepard and other big dogs as well as little ones.  Be careful.. according to her local vet, they carry diseases that can be transmitted by their urine to other animals and humans through the footpads/bare feet, too.

[dwalt]

Thanks, I too live where it is heavily wooded and this time of year they get brave.  I have a shotgun at both back doors and would use it if needed.

[Lifesighs]

The last time I was out with my big Newfoundland late at night he started acting very strange, didn't want to go further kept pushing me back the other way etc. we went back to the house. Next morning we were out again and he started acting up again so back to the house and got my husband, he checked out the old barn at the end of the road and found a mountain lion had drug his big buck kill in the barn. He was probably in the barn when we were walking at night.

My Newfie knew, pay attention to what the dogs are telling you when you're out in the boonies. We've run into a few bears when we were out and about in WY also.

[dwalt]

You are so right.  Dogs are great indicators of people as well.  Probably had my rear saved more than one by my critters.

[dwalt]

Snakes scare the begebers outta me.I hate them with a passion.

[AmerikinWmn]

My son has a small lawn care business in Florida and runs across snakes quite often. He texted me a picture of a 5 ft or more rattler he ran across last year while clearing a customer's extra lot. I asked him if he killed it, his answer was "hell yes, if I didn't kill him this time, he might kill me next time". Guess that makes sense in his business.

[blithe spirit]

I live at the city limits of my little town...the rest is mostly agricultural and lots of lakes and swamp. The critters we find around here are relatively small except for the gators...and they are in and around the lakes. We have another critter around here known as a  Florida panther which is kin to a coyote but not. We also have small bears that are native along with the white-tail deer and wild hogs. Not good to keep pets outdoors or to take off jogging especially at night and around lakes.. Civilization has encroached into these critter's habitats. We are usually able to cohabit pretty easily but  people and pets have been been attacked from time to time.

[Karin M Fichtner]

When I was staying in my son's home in N.C., right on Hwy 24, they found an 8-ft gator hiding under someone's van near the intersection where my grocery store was.  Someone had parked the van in an empty lot with a "For Sale" sign on it.  A Coca-Cola truck driver had reported seeing it cross old hwy 24, and by the time the cops got there, it was hiding in the shade of the van.  They had a heckuva time getting it out.  Poor thing, probably scared silly.  No one had an explanation how he got there; other than Bogue Sound, there was no real water anywhere near there.