Absolutely...most people get hurt because of a lack of respect. Just go to TH-cam and type "dumb" and "Yellowstone," and you'll see some examples of people asking for trouble...it's even worse when they have kids with them.
Hogs are my answer when someone asks why a civilian needs an AR-15 or semiautomatic rifle. They travel in groups and can easily weigh 150 pounds or 70 kilos and are not friendly.
Half the pictures of the Moose were Elk . Moose antlers are more flatter and Elk's are like deer. Here in Washington we have Moose , Elk , Deer , Grizzly in Selkirk Mountains , Cougars ( which killed a cyclist a few yrs ago ) Western Diamondback Rattlers and 25,000 -30,000 Black Bears .
@@MichaelScheele no I think you have it reversed, Europeans call Moose, Elk. Elk at some point just became a word for "large deer", and when english settlers arrived they saw these large deer that were about the size of european elk (moose) and called them elks too. So it is a little confusing.
You can find alligators in about 10 states or so. This list seems to focus on statistics as opposed to capabilities. Alligators don't kill tons of people, but they definitely can.
Yeah alligators are more potentially dangerous than a lot of these animals. But potentially is the key word. Alligators by and large are lazy and have no interest in attacking people, so as long as you treat them with respect and don't get too close you generally are in no danger whatsoever from alligators. Just have to be careful when swimming in natural waterways/ponds/lakes because if you're thrashing around in the water they might mistake you for food.
I read an article a few years ago about an elderly man hiking a trail in California. He'd hiked this trail hundreds of times. One part of the trail was an overlook looking down on a river or creek. Below him he saw a mama bear with some cubs in the river fishing. He was far enough away to be safe but made a mental note to watch out for them and continued his hike. He got maybe another 100 yards down the trail when he was suddenly tackled from behind. A mountain lion had decided he was easy enough pickings to make a go of it. Fortunately, the man was wearing a backpack, and that took most of the damage, at least at first. But he still couldn't move. The attack continued until, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and he saw the mountain lion picking itself up off the ground several yards away. Mama bear had heard or smelled the big cat and had decided that a good offense was the best defense to protect her cubs. As the cat attacked the man, she'd come up behind it and swatted it away. The cat ended up not getting the man OR one of the cubs that day. The man kept still until the bear wandered off. He went home mostly unharmed but with one helluva story.
I don't know what would scare me more. The cougar attacking me or the bear going the 100 yards so fast. If it wasn't for momma bear wanting to keep the cubs safe, that guy very well could have been killed. I know I would definately need a new pair of pants after that encounter
@@badandy102 my thought exactly. definitely an I am glad I was wearing the brown or black pants day. Do you reckon the attacked feller found somewhere else to hike?
@@badandy102 lol this was what I just posted in my comment on this channel no matter how cute or whatever walk away from a baby bear. The baby isn't the problem it's the ever watchful mother that isn't far behind. And yes, she will take care of any potential threat in the area for sure! Those babies are her life and that is probably the one animal that shows a mothers love the most in that stage aint nothing going to touch her babe whether it's thinking about it or not!!!!
@@sammyp4216 Yeah, bear cubs are cute, friendly, and playful.... but NEVER make the mistake of playing with them. Their helicopter parent mothers will have some serious words with you involving six inch claws.
In the southern US we also have water moccasins and copperheads that are extremely venomous. I’m with you about snakes. Also I had a distant cousin who was killed in a car accident with a deer so it happens all too frequently. I’ve actually hit one myself. That’s why hunting is allowed to decrease the overpopulation that also leads to starvation and disease in the species. Great review!! 😊
🤣🤣...........no..........not compared to snakes in any other part of the world they aren't. Death from copperhead has VERY VERY rarely happened and EVERY time it DID happen it was the same scenario. A child finding a nest of baby copperheads and picks them up then gets bit MULTIPLE times by babies that can't regulate their venom release yet. Less than 12 people have died from copperheads since written records started in North America. Water Moccasins are a bit more aggressive but again, you would need multiple bites to kill you. Again, most deaths from them occur when someone walks into water or swampy grassland and steps right into a mating ball. Like 7 snakes all fighting to mate with one female at the same time.
Copper heads aren’t extremely dangerous for healthy people. Kids and elderly are more susceptible than individuals who are closer to their prime. I’ve heard from a wildlife conservationist who was bitten by one. He said that it made him sicker than a dog. He said he was vomiting and everything. I’ve never been bitten by one but I have stepped close to one before I noticed it. I’ve also been around a timber rattler before which is pretty nerve racking
@William Eldridge Humans kill way more deer than wolves. Wolves would also do a big number on livestock. I don’t hate wolves but they wouldn’t help eastern ecosystems. A large reason why deer overpopulate so quickly is because of the abundance of food. Before people cultivated farmland and huge fields in the eastern United States, most of that land was woodland which doesn’t yield as much food for the deer
@@china_sickness7005 it’s really bad where I am, out on eastern Long Island all the wild herbivores are overpopulated. Deer, turkey, etc. there’s nothing to hunt them but humans.
Alligators are found throughout the entire South Eastern States, from Texas to South Carolina. I was also surprised that it didn't make the list since their Jaw Strength is greater than a Bears, but generally there are less than 100 Alligator Attacks (on Humans) per year in all of the U.S.
You can include North Carolina, too... maybe a dubious nitpick... BUT they're frequent around Wilmington among other places, and several folks are raising them commercially as well as hunting them to control numbers... ;o)
Its because unless in the water it’s incredibly unlikely for a alligator attack to be fatal and unlike the spiders it isnt because of antidotes Alligators kill by drowning and death roll Its hard for a alligator to drag a human from land to water And death rolls arent nearly as effective on humans as it is on other animals
@@thatdamncrow9197 It's ALSO at least partially because alligators just don't go too far astray from water. They feel clumsier and slower on land... AND people rarely just stumble into gator territory without knowing about it, unlike the near oblivious hundreds of thousands a year who stick earbuds into the sides of their heads and go stumbling or running about through the territories of other known dangerous predators. The relative rarity of gator and croc' attacks are likely a culmination of both sides generally avoiding each other. ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 well crocs are because they are so rare most people didnt even know they exist in the us Like they are so hard to find you basically need to hunt for them Also since gators in general almost never initiate a attack on land anyways Not to mention you can just jump on it and hold your hand on its mouth As it cant open its mouth if you do
Not to mention the number of deaths is almost non-existent. There've been just over a little over 30 total deaths by alligators in the US, in the last 50 years or so. That's less than 1 per year, and almost every one of those deaths was due to people being IN the water.
Something they forgot to mention about the cougar is that it can jump 18 feet straight up. You're not getting away from a cougar, your only option is to convince the cougar to leave you alone.
In my decades of being in the wilderness all around the western states, I have pretty much encountered almost all of these animals and have yet to have a bad story to tell, thank goodness.. Here in the US it is highly encouraged to KNOW your surroundings and what lives in it and what to do, National Parks are great resources for this as they put wildlife education at the top for every visitor. Each animal requires a certain strategy on what to do. The biggest thing is to be aware and stay at a distance, hike with others and do not give them reason to charge. Know the rules and respect the animal. Most of the time they do not want to have anything to do with you and most will mind their own business or just scatter away, so keep your distance especially when wild protective animal mothers and young are involved and never turn your back and run, that triggers Game Time for them. Being with others will give you safety in numbers and you will most likely never see any on the trail except for the common deer who are cutely grazing and are also skittish of humans for the most part. To be honest, Yes it might be scary to spot a bear, a mountain lion or bison, even at a distance but it is also a unique almost honorable feeling when you see them in the wild because of the majesty of these animals, it's sort of a rush of energy and emotions when it happens.
My wife, daughter and their friends were hiking in the mountains real close to home, and came across a huge male mountain lion. My dog, Molly, a sweet yellow lab, took after it and chased it away, even though it was over twice her size.
That was just the mountain lion that they happened to see. There have been less than 20 mountain lion fatalities, in all of Mexico/US/Canada combined, in all of recorded history. Some university did a study (in Colorado I think), where they tagged mountain lions with GPS to map their territory and patterns. When they looked up the data, all of these mountain lions were basically hanging out in suburban yards and wandering through neighborhoods. When they do attack, people almost always just fight them off. Last one I read about was a 76 year old hiking in Vancouver and he got jumped from behind. He wrestled the cat and killed it with his Swiss army knife.
LOL! The expressions on her face. HOWEVER - the video she’s reviewing has two glaring errors: 1) the videos of “moose”about half the time, are actually of elk, a totally different species. 2) In the bison 🦬 section, there’s a clip of a herd of wildebeest, which are native to Africa. But YOUR reaction video was great!
While many of these creatures are found in wilderness areas, people in urban and suburban areas can encounter them if their natural range is nearby. In the Seattle area, we sometimes have black bear go through neighborhoods. Mountain lions (cougars) and coyotes too. The latter pose a danger to pets.
Black Bears are cool. They mostly live off of Insects and Berries. There was one who lived in my neighborhood growing up that walked down the road to the Beach every so often. It was going down there for the Salmon Berries which grew along the Creek. Never harmed anyone, nor anyone's pets. It was around for like 8 years before they relocated it. So, keep your distance. But they REALLY don't want the smoke. So they will most likely not go aggressive, until you approach.
In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there are an estimated 1900 black bears, but have only killed 2 people since the 1930s. The Park Service will destroy any bear that doesn't fear people, so please please don't feed the bears. They're pretty cool - but be respectful and keep some distance - and take some great pictures. :)
Rattlesnakes. She says “Not Florida!” There are actually four types of poisonous snakes in the US. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth moccasins, and coral snakes. I grew up in the Florida panhandle. All four are present there.
Yep,I grew up in the south.The water moccasin is the scariest and when I was a kid,I heard stories of water moccasins chasing people.Its funny,I went to school in the New York area and I would tell people about snakes,coyotes, mountain lions etc and they would look at me like as if I lived and came from another planet.And oh yea,Me and my dad would go fishing in a small boat and gators would swim would up to the boat and stay there waiting to try to steal the fish we caught.
@@Solutad Sorry... bad information. Florida has one Hippo in the wild... named Lu. Lives in Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and is obviously not native to there.
It’s very rare to ever hear about alligator attacks, once in a great while they might take a child or a dog. They don’t kill adults very often but I know I’m sure as hell not swimming in waters that contain alligators. They are all over the south from Texas to the Carolinas.
I live in the middle of Pennsylvania, where whitetail deer are NUMEROUS. I actually have hit three deer at three different times, and closely avoided deer many times. As a person who drives for a living in PA, that is common.
I’ve only encountered a rattlesnake twice but each time my heart jumped. Those things are creepy especially when you can’t see em but you just hear the rattle
I was biking across South Dakota last year when i encountered a rattlesnake that was sunning himself on the gravel bike trail. He curled up and rattled at me as i biked by. Lemme tell ya, that sound goes straight to your spine!
I was hiking the AT and my trekking poles were in the tall grass beside the trail. Heard a rattler on my left as my pole hit the ground right by it and my pace tripled for a bit. lol Saw a few dozen notes of copperheads on the trail but never saw them. Probably stepped next to countless ones and never knew.
When I hear rattlers I just walk clear. When they rattle it's a warning. Either you see them or see a hole in the ground. Just walk around it. Cougars near people can be bad news because that means they aren't avoiding you any more.
They are getting rarer(some of them are endangered now) but growing up I would see one or two a year. Luckily the ones here in the south east aren't usually aggressive (unlike the ones out west)
Another reason behind the term “Caught like a deer in the headlights” is that deer (and many other wild animals) tend to “freeze up” when you shine a bright light on them. In fact, in the US, it’s generally illegal to shine a light at a deer or other animal while in possession of a weapon (i.e., for the purposes of hunting). It’s actually also generally illegal to hunt deer at night at all.
Courtney, your reactions was, as always, a lot of fun to watch. Frankly, I was a little irritated at the video, though, when they kept showing shots of elk when they were talking about the moose. The two are obviously very different and neither would ever be mistaken for the other. Anyway, except for that minor criticism of the video you were watching, I loved your reaction.
Came here to say the same thing about the moose/elk, and to mention that they neglected the eastern population of mountain lions. Although they are officially "unconfirmed," mountain lions have always been present in the east and while populations are severely depleted because of habitat destruction, they are still around.
It irritated me too. I'm from Maine we don't even have elk to "confuse" them with here. We do however also have mountain lions. Not a lot but there's few.
There is a little confusion due to the naming of elk in europe, but honestly I think they just were lazy when googling images of deer, and didn't care if it was the wrong thing as long as it got the point across. They also used a prehistoric megaloceros skeleton when talking about the antlers, and when the showing the bison they had a clip of african wildebeest to show a herd.
One of the other reasons that moose are so deadly is that, like deer, they often feed near the roadways at night. But, unlike deer, their eyes do not reflect light back. That and their almost black coloring make them almost impossible to see at night, until you are right on them.
And even then, when you hit them. You are apt to think you ran off the road into a smal group of four trees instead of a moose. Cripes these things get BIG.
Alligators, alligators are mostly found in Florida and southern states that border the Gulf of Mexico, because they are temperature sensitive, they like it warm. Most human beings have nothing to worry about from alligators, because most people usually don't go swimming in lakes and rivers where alligators are usually found. But what alligators do devastate are your pets, mostly dogs because they like to hop in the water and play around. So keep your pets away from the water when you're in the southern Gulf States. Keep making the great videos and good luck.
Few years back a suspect was running from the cops here in Florida and ran into a river because he knew they wouldn't follow. The cops just kept telling "don't do it". He never came back out. Torn to pieces.
I'm in western Washington state and go hiking all the time and i never go without a sidearm (note: not to kill, they will typically run from the sound) ... we have bears, cougars, wolves and coyotes...
Cougars are #1 for me being a big game hunter. During the hunt and after harvesting an animal, it always has a level of concern. Fresh cougar tracks/footprints will always run a chill up your spine!
they were a little misleading about cause of bison reduction. While I don't deny disease, they were in fact eradicated in order to deny Native American's in the plains states their primary food & resources (they used the entire animal; meat, skin, bones, tendons (for glue, bow strings), hooves.
@@OneVoiceMore It was clearly the intent. It was even stated as such in writing by government officials. They wanted to eliminate the threat and complications the indians posed, and wanted to remove an obstacle for train movement.
I have had encounters with 8 of these 10. Most of them while living in Alaska. Plus my dad was a career Military man so all of my life that I can remember my dad was in the military. Places I have run into these things are Minnesota, Arizona, Wyoming and Alaska. 1) I have been within inches of female Black Widow Spiders. Usually while cleaning up around old cars or old buildings. 2) Alaskan Wolf-- I was in Alaska in High School training for my 1st marathon and heard the wolves howling close to me so I turned around to go back home. They followed me for three or four miles, howling as they followed me. That was very scary. Back in 74. 3) Grizzly Bear-- This happened in Alaska when I was in the military back in 80. I was a driver for some of the West Point students on a weekend and they went on a Rafting Trip. we saw a Grizzly on the shore. It ran after a momma moose and its kid and killed the baby moose and tried to get mom but could not. Then it came back to the river, stood up on its hind legs and then came in after us. The guys running the raft let him get about 10 ft. away and then started rowing and pulled away from him and he went back to shore. 4) North American Box Scorpian AZ We lived in AZ for a year and dad took us boys out for a walk in the Mtns and then he turned over rocks every once and awhile. We ended up catching 4 of these Scorpians and had them in a canning jar for a couple of hours and then let them go. What can I say the only girl in our family was mom and she had 5 boys, and we were all boy. lol 5) Rattle Snake AZ Still while in AZ they had an NCO family Picnic in the Mtns. I have always rather walked around without shoes which is what I was doing and walking down a dry wash to boot. I was a dumb Freshman in high school and saw a western diamondback rattle snake and tried to catch it. Yeah I knew it was poisonous but that didn't matter to me at the time. I lost the snake in bushes. 6) Deer-- I HATE deer. I have seen people slow down to 5 mph so deer running on the side of the road could cross. After a mile or two of this the people in the car sped up and thats when the deer decided to run in front of the car. Seen that happen more than once and most of the time the deer get hurt or killed cause they stay just ahead of the car. The thing that happened to me about 4 years ago is I was going home and it was dark and its crazy if deer are in the area and something is fifty yards away they will run to try to cross in front of it and not get hit. Least it seems like they do it as a competition. Thats what happened to me. I was ten or fifteen yards away from the deer when I saw the head and I thought at 55 mph I should miss it but I was so close it would not have mattered. Then since I thought I would miss that deer I am thinking I hope there is not another once. And there was and I could not miss this one. It cost a grand for the parts I had to personally replace. 7) Bison-- AHHH Back to the Alaskan stuff. The post that we lived on in Alaska had Bison come out of the woods and walk among the buildings in the winter and we could see them out the window of the Quad we lived in just 5 yds away. My dad told us two stories where people got up close to Buffalo for doing something they were told never to do. Honk their car horn at them. In classes the military had to take at this post one of them included how to be around the buffalo. Well a call came in for a wrecker as a vehicle was in the ditch in the winter. They sent out a 5 ton tactical wrecker. Well on the way out to get the vehicle a buffalo was laying down in the middle of this guys lane. He did what he was told for a bit and got tired of waiting and honked the wreckers horn at it. The buffalo charged the Wrecker and hit it so hard that it pushed the wreckers grill back into the radiator and trashed the radiator with its horns. Now that is about a foot of space from the grill to the radiator. The wrecker operator had to call for a wrecker to pull him back to the shop and send out another wrecker to get the vehicle he was supposed to get. Then some guy had the same kind of thing happen but he was driving a VW bug. Charged and hit and lifted with his horns with enough force to flip the VW. 8) Alaskan-Yukon Moose-- Now I have seen a fair amount of Moose in Alaska. U see them about everywhere. In the woods, water, in the Drive Thru at Mc Donalds. TRUE STORY. I have had Two close encounters with a total of 4 moose. 1st time I am out doing a 5k training run b4 I eat in the morning. Its like 5am and I am on a trail in the woods. I come around a corner and off to my Right about 10 yards away I see two baby moose and I am thinking thats cute. Then I see mamma and she is all of a sudden between me and her kids. She chases the kids into the woods away from me and then comes back to see what I am doing. I found a trail. Exit Stage Left and am taking that away from the three of them as fast and I can go. lol She left me alone. Another time I am doing a 10k training run after work b4 I go eat supper at the chow hall. I am out on a taxi way on a rarely used small air field. Then Off to my right I hear this crashing in the trees and look over and there is a moose that is at least 6 foot tall at the shoulders. well there was not a tree that the moose could not run through there so I just kept running. What u going to do. lol Made it back to chow a half out later. lol
@@robertdysonn Better than I did. I made it through number two. On a related note to his #1, I was once bitten by a brown recluse. Took a couple months to heal. Want to hear about it? lol
Gators are found in the Southeastern states. We have native fresh water Crocs that are found in southern Fla. Here in Fla our four venomous snakes are the Eastern Diamondback Rattler, The Pygmy Rattler , The Water Moccasin and Coral snake. And yes Bull sharks have been seen in our rivers. In the winter months when the water is colder in the Gulf of Mexico Great Whites will swim up into the Gulf and along with many other species of sharks you will find Tiger Sharks here as well. But I can't recall anyone being killed here by a Tiger or Great White. The Bulls are the ones that you hafta watch out for.
FL has Pumas (Florida Panther) as well, but there are very few remaining. In addition to rattlesnakes, we also have cottonmouth snakes also known as water moccasins. Those snakes are venomous and semi-aquatic. Black bears have been observed on neighbors' Ring cameras, but few & far between. I wouldn't want to meet one. Alligators & American crocodiles are both present in the Everglades. Both are native species. As far as I know the crocs are mostly in the Everglades, gators roam throughout the state. Gators, keep your distance, don't mess with them, and you should be fine. It's probably why they're not on this list.
Once my father was very late getting home. When he finally arrived, there was a HUGE dent in the side of his car. He had been driving on a rural road, without much light around, through a wooded area. Out of nowhere, a running deer simply collided with the car. This was in the state of Indiana.
It's not uncommon to see bears here in the mountains of North Carolina. Hotels will often have warnings telling people to not store food in their cars in the parking lot, as it will attract them.
I'm from Louisville, KY, and the more I grow older the more I regret that I've never spent any significant time in North Carolina. If I ever go, I think Asheville would be my first stopping point. Bela Bartok went there for his health and founded a string quartet towards the end of his life, and I'm a huge fan of a movie reactor who lives there. I just feel it must be a nice place.
I've never personally seen a scorpion in my house, only the yard, and thankfully, from a safe distance as a child, but there's plenty who find them in their houses all the time. It really teaches you to watch where you're walking.
My dad lived in the Poconos, where deer are abundant. There are special state assigned officers that are basically paid to hunt down injured or rabid animals on highways. My dad was driving a night and tried to swerve away from an already injured doe, but it kept moving and he ended up hitting it anyway. The state officer had been trying to shoot it, since it was already limping and wouldn’t survive the upcoming winter, but stopped when my dad’s car came close enough. The deer, even after being shot, hit with my dads car, and whatever happened before the state officer got to it, got up and continued to limp and even hop. Meanwhile, my dad’s car was DESTROYED and looked like it had a mustache. Those things are built like tanks, sturdy af. God forbid it’s mating season, that’s a whole new thing 🙅♀️ Keep up the awesome work, much love from New Jersey 💛
I'm from Kentucky but I have driven the length of the Garden State Parkway (and, spent a week in Rahway) and there's good reason your beautiful state terms itself "The Garden State." One day I would like to visit the Pine Barrens. My favorite NJ story is from Rahway. I was taking a class in the Oracle database engine, in 1996, and the office building was still being completed. I was commuting from Chelsea (staying with an ex girlfriend I'd met in Chicago) and on the train, I realized I was passing through towns like Elizabeth, and realized with a shock, that this was the part of New Jersey dramatized in Orson Welles' famous 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds". I punched the wrong elevator button and landed on a not-yet-completed floor of the building. A worker was labeling offices with their room numbers. He gave me a "what the hell are you doing here" look, and as I retreated into the elevator I said, in a more Kentucky accent than I actually have (Louisville is a northern city in a southern state), "I just realized this is the part of New Jersey the Martians destroyed... you've done a great job building it back!" I don't really know if he caught the reference or not, but he beamed at me and said, pride in his voice, "Thanks!"
When my family was in Yellowstone 30 years a go, we had to stop due to a herd of bison crossing the road. There was a massive bull on our side of the herd and it just looked at us in our car as it took its' time crossing. It was both amazing and intimidating, cause we were pretty sure it could have flipped our sedan if we had pissed it off. National park animals are wild and they ain't no petting zoo.
I was helping my father one winter is a local state park to feed the bison. The snow was deep and the park had no vehicles to feed with. One bison bull came to the back of a 3/4 ton ford pickup loaded with hay and began scratching his neck on the back bumper. He would lift the tire completely off the ground. They are massive and quite dense.
Hello Courtney. Pretty interesting video today. Out in Texas we are always on the lookout for gators & sharks near the waters, copperhead rattlesnakes, have alot of vehicle vs. deer or wild hog accidents in the area I live. Dealt with black widows and brown recluse spiders in Utah never did see a mountain lion while camping, but we did occasionally see deer and moose.
Often, when deer are crossing the road, it will actually look like they are across the road and headed for the woods when they will suddenly wheel around and head right back into the road just as you reach them. It is not uncommon for them to actually slam into the side of the car. The deadly ones are when they come crashing through the windshield.
@@Mycroftsbrother South Carolina here I've struck two white tail deer and had several near misses . The first deer I struck was crippled so I finished it off with a 22 rifle and ate it . The second got up and ran off .
@@victorwaddell6530 I have been lucky enough to not hit any, just near misses. My father, however, was not. He drives a small pickup, and slammed into one on the back roads. Second his car hit it, the thing shat down the driver side of his car all they way to the tailgate. I was probably 15, found him outside at 3am swearing profusely with the garden hose full blast.
I grew up in the woods. From a young age I was taught to watch and listen for cougars, coyotes, bears and rattlesnakes. I took a snakebite kit everywhere I went. And where I live the brown recluse is kinda common. I’ve seen wild black bears. While there’s a lot of danger. It’s usually quite beautiful
Most of the deadly animals on this list are in the Western and Southern US, as well as Alaska. The Mid Atlantic and Northeast is relatively safe in regards to wildlife
Well, we don't have a lot of rattlesnakes, scorpions, or sharks (except the occasional great white) up here in Maine, but we do have some brown bears, lots of black bears, grey and (recently reintroduced) timber wolves, black widows and brown recluse spiders, too many deer (hence the wolves), and lots of moose. There have been reports of mountain lions, but those are usually dismissed as misidentification of Lynx, as they are often just tracks in the snow or mud.
Only thing that will hurt you is deer jumping in front of your car. You'll have that more common in Pennsylvania. Maybe rattlesnakes, but seeing one is extremely rare
When I was 10 years old deep In the woods of Alabama I got bit by a black widow spider in the shoulder and yeah it hurt and I spent the night in the Hospital.
Courtney, your neighbor Australia, has a reputation for having a lot of deadly creatures. Do people in New Zealand see it that way? I wonder if they think the US is the country with lots of deadly creatures.
If Douglas Adams' work "Last Chance to See" is to be believed, NZ grew independently from the sea floor, not from plate tectonic separation from Australia. So (plus or minus raft migrations and introduced species) even though we in the northern hemisphere think of NZ as a sort of suburb of Australia, it's really not that way.
As an American, we joke that Australia is where God put his oddest and most dangerous creatures so as to ensure no one would live there but criminals. Its kind of true. Just the funnel spider alone is scarier than anything here in the states, but maybe a Grizzly, and those are rare even in bear country. Your funnel spiders are everywhere (at least we think they are).
If you went camping or hiking here, you'd be fine. Most of these animals don't want to be around you as much as you don't want to be around them lol But the video is right never EVER trun your back and run with a cougar. With the big cats, you are the mouse. lol
The ones in wider areas, wolves, bears or cougars, indeed usually will just go their own way seeing a large fellow mammal. Things like Scorpions and Spiders don't have that mammalian instinct to just avoid conflict though. Luckily, we generally know where they hang out.
Courtney, I enjoyed your reaction. I am trying to get my head around the fact that there are places where people don't have to beware of wildlife. I love forests, but my whole life I have known that there were things in them that would kill me if I wasn't careful. I have a vivid imagination, but I can't imagine not watching out for predators and other things that can harm me. I was born in the north-eastern US and now live in the western US. I have had encounters/run-ins with black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, black widows, brown recluses, bison, and deer (deer, elk, moose). I've also had to deal with coyotes, but not wolves. The predators (mammals) mainly centered around sheep (with a memorable exception involving a bear on a camping trip). My mother kept them when I was young and later I was responsible for my aunt's small herd. Mountain lions are one animal that gives my mother pause (she is not easily intimidated). I kept a black widow as a pet for awhile. I found it at work behind the flush lever of a toilet. I figured it would be best not left there. I took her home, named her Fluffy, and she lived in a large pill bottle with small airholes drilled into it. I fed her insects that I and my parents caught. My mother enjoyed watching the flies get eaten (at the time she was laid up with leg trouble and the flies tormented her, so I can see why she enjoyed the shoe being on the other foot). Both types of spider were endemic to the part of the west I lived in at the time. Smart people checked their shoes/boots prior to putting them on to avoid misunderstandings. The rattlesnake I encountered while hiking. It gave timely warning and I went my way, leaving it to whatever it is rattlesnakes do when they decide to park on hiking trails. The bison were captive. I stayed on my side of the fence, they stayed on theirs. I grew up right next to a beaver swamp, so moose were a fact of life. My mother taught me to hunt deer. I do not like snakes. I have an irrational hatred of them. Unfortunately, snakes do not feel the same way. Snakes seem to adore me. I have literally had to use sticks to pick up a snake and toss it in the underbrush so I could get around it. They don't slither away from me. They like to watch me and smell me (judging by the tongue flicking). One even followed me for over a quarter of a mile when I was hiking. It even came out on a road to do so. To put that behavior in perspective. I was hiking in an area with many birds of prey, several of whom would cheerfully add snake to the menu. A dark snake on a light colored road is almost asking to get eaten there. I once had to fire up a power power to convince another snake to remove itself from path (it was blocking my access to the door of my residence at the time.
@@jordandale85 How did you interpret the post you're responding to? Did you think he meant buffalos have guns? Animal encounters DO explain gun culture, in part.
In college we went to the tallgrass prairie preserve. Which has a substantial Buffalo population. The ones I'd seen previously seemed to be no bigger than a large bull. The herds there had members that looked to be as tall as the van we were in. Massive animals. I regularly work cattle in a isolated pasture and have dealt with the black widow waaaay more than I like. Plus 4 venomous snake species. Only 1 made this list. And one night a possible mountain lion.
Just so you know, some of those "Moose" examples were Elks. While also very big, they are far less defensive or violent than Moose. Tips for hiking in the Western US: do NOT hike with headphones on while in mountain lion territory. They prefer to attack without being seen, so don't have your back to them. They also don't want a straight up fight, so be aggressively defensive and try to scare them away. Or walk backwards while facing them until they give up the hunt. Moose are skittish 90% of the year, mating season is when they are most dangerous. Almost exclusively found in the Northeastern States such as New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont
We had a small pink puppy we found in the woods. He had the mange so bad that his skin was horrible and he came to us for help. I took him to the vet and got the mange took care of. When I took him for his shots he was jet black and beautiful. Thats when the vet told me he was coyote. Best boy I ever had!! Sadly he died.
I’ve actually heard in Montana where grizzley bears are protected some bears have learned the behavior to run towards shots because they know hunters downed game the bears can eat.
I'm from Arizona and grew up in a rural area. I grew up watching out for rattlesnakes, scorpions and spiders when we would be out playing or working. But I love em, and am still fascinated when I see any of these creatures
Here in Arkansas we have a growing problem with our rattlesnakes. We have the luck(?) to be on the edge of the natural range of the eastern and western plus the timber rattlers. Due to a couple of different factors they are being pushed together. This is resulting in some hybrid snakes that are different. The biggest problem is when the western rattler and the timber rattler interbreed the result is very territorial and will attack when the others would slither away. This doesn’t go well cuz the snakes sometimes won’t have rattles so they strike without warning.
The general global rule with scorpions is that the smaller, the more dangerous. The bigger varieties aren't "harmless", but the venom is generally more potent the smaller the species. The Bison segment of the video was a bit misleading as they showed a clip of a heard of Wildebeast from Africa. The Moose segment was also misleading as they showed a skeleton of an Irish Elk, an extinct species and they also showed Wapiti or North American Elk intermixed with clips of Moose.
When it comes to "staying safe against animal attacks" in the US, the big thing is just to know the general range of different dangerous animals, and take into account you won't find all of them in the same areas. Also, if you ask locals they will generally know what is "Bear country" or "cougar territory", and can give good locations for hiking that are out of those ranges. For example, if you're in upstate New York, you aren't going to be seeing Scorpions, Cougars, or Grizzly Bears. You will, however- see Black Bears, White Tailed deer, and Moose. Since they aren't even on the radar for this video, here's some info on Black Bears since they're more common than Grizzlies and what you're more likely to encounter. Black Bears are less ornery than Grizzly bears- so as long as you aren't purposely getting near them and make sure to carry Bear Spray (pepper spray for bears) you should be fine. They're omnivores that mostly go after fruit and insects/ though they do like to go after trash from humans as well. In general the "more afraid of us than we are of it" applies, but that doesn't mean they aren't still wild animals that can hurt you if you mess with them. In reverse, if you're in Southern California--- you won't see Grizzlies, Black Bears, Moose, or white tailed deer. You will, however, see Cougars, Scorpions, and possibly Mule deer (depending on where in SoCali you are). Cougars are territorial, and usually stay within a certain range and don't wander out of it unless they're sick/can't get food for some reason. Think of how your typical outdoor-housecat will wander around the neighborhood a certain distance around their house... Cougars behave much like that, they're just more likely to attack a person that our furry friends! Locals should be able to give you ideas of where not to hike to avoid Cougars. Mule deer and White tailed deer are basically the same for your touring America concerns-- they both wander into roads and get hit a lot. The average American probably wouldn't know the difference between the two tbh. Like the video said, being more aware at night and during dawn/dusk while driving is how you prevent hitting a deer. Also, while they typically aren't aggressive, you don't want to approach deer because they carry ticks. My family used to feed the deer that lived around my house- until on of the ticks I found on me gave me Lyme. Deer are non aggressive but that doesn't mean they can't kill you multiple other ways. The video doesn't go into Moose very thoroughly, so as someone who grew up in Moose country I want to give one of the most important tips that I was ever given with a quick story: So I drive a big truck with a grille guard on it, and I was told when I started driving that (for my case), if I was going to hit a deer to just hit it- because the truck was big enough, and the grille guard would vaporize it. Swerving to avoid would have me hitting a tree possibly instead/ and you never want to take your chances with a tree.... I would be better off paying for any damage to my truck than paying the hospital bills AND for my truck if I swerved. On the other hand, I was also told this at the same time: "If there's a Moose on the road, you take your chance with the tree- because the tree will be much more forgiving than the Moose". If a Moose goes through your windshield you are dead. And if by some chance you're not dead, you better hope the Moose is, because you'll be dead VERY quickly if it's not. Moose are temperamental, territorial, and not afraid of anything. If you see a Moose, even if it's at a distance- you leave the area. For all you know, there could be a calf nearby/ and if there is that makes a cow much more deadly. Keep in mind, that Moose are prey animals- for that reason alone they are overly aggressive to anything that approaches. Best not to linger, even if you think you're far enough away.
He really just called Maryland Mary-Land haha ...And kept showing Elk when he brought up the Moose, they're two different animals lol 14:18 to 14:21 you can see they're different. The first one is a moose, second one is an Elk
A good friend of mine and I were out Pheasant hunting in eastern South Dakota and were stalked by a Cougar. Near the end of the circuit of the public hunting area we were walking around we came upon Cougar tracks. My buddy was a Game, Fish, and Parks Ranger and wanted to follow the tracks to see where the animal was going. Mostly because he wanted to see if we could get a photo of the animal as it wasn't supposed to be that far east. We followed it, and found it was following another set of tracks. It took us a couple minutes, but we realized that the cougar tracks were following OUR tracks from when we had started walking around the public hunting area. We turned around and hightailed it back to our car.
Same sort of thing happened to me when out hiking. Happened to look down, seen the cougar track right in the middle of my boot tread going the same direction I had gone. And from that point in I never go out into the mountains without my sidearm, probably shouldn't have gone without it before either.
Northern Indiana here, we have rattlesnakes, water moccasins, Bobcats, mountain lions have been seen,coyotes and timber wolves have also been seen roaming.
This made me chuckle a bit. I grew up in norther Colorado in the '60's and '70's and my brothers and friends and I used to catch rattle snakes and black widow spiders for fun and keep them as pets... at least until our parents found out about them. The thing about any deadly creature is that you must know their strengths and limitations as well as your own and always use caution with them. The snakes are tasty treats if prepared properly and the spiders are fun to watch and feed.
Hi, Courtney :) My brother used to live in a rural area of central Northern California. He's had encounters with snakes, tarantulas, coyotes, yellowjackets, and when he moved to Missouri, an alligator snapping turtle showed up in his driveway. Deer have walked on to his property, but they got scared off by the floodlights outside.
I live in Northern California (SF Bay Area) and belong to a hiking group that does 10 mile day hikes in some of the most beautiful places around here. I am also an Army vet with medical training, carry a first aid and snake bite kit, and act as a sweeper in the back of the group (up to 40 people) with a radio to keep in touch with the hike leader. RATTLE SNAKES- They are masters of camouflage and often hard to see even when looking right at them. I have only seen three in my 10 years of hiking. Two were pointed out by others and the third was 'pointed out' by an agitated cow. We stay on the trail and I recommend everyone use a hiking stick to sweep the brush and leaves around you if you have to use the 'facilities'. MOUNTAIN LIONS- I was hiking in the back of the group and spotted a Cougar up high in the bushes above the trail on a busy, popular park, just watching people go by, as cats do. I was far from the group and he could have been on me in seconds but I made eye contact and showed him my stick. I caught up with the group and he followed us for half a mile and got bored. Most attacks have been on (smaller) female joggers and cyclist because cats like to chase and pounce. They all survived by using their bikes, etc. as shields and standing up to them. They were all surprised because they were wearing ear pods and running alone early morning or evening, when the low light gives the hunter an advantage. COYOTES- are everywhere, usually shy, small dogs scrounging for food. Unlike Mountain Lions, who like all cats are shy about going to the bathroom and will hide their poop (to mask their presence from prey), Coyotes, like all dogs go wherever they want. Unlike domestic dog poop, Coyotes eat their prey (squirrels, rabbit's, etc.) whole and poop out the stuff that their stomachs can't digest namely bone calcium and fur, so if you see a white, furry poop, it's most likely a Coyote or other wild dog. Some of our hikers (from other countries or city people) are surprised when they see the signs posted about the animal dangers in the parks near our homes. I remind them that they are OUTSIDE where animals roam and they were here first until we encroached on their habitats. Use common sense, don't go alone, and clean up your trash. PS. I always wear a hat because the only critters I fear are the ticks that repel out the trees and in to your hair. HAPPY HIKING.
They failed to mention that moose are excellent swimmers and will dive to feed on water plants. So it's completely possible to run into a moose while underwater. Side note: orcas consider moose prey.
Back in the late 80s, I spent a semester on the team caring for the school mascot, a cougar named Shasta. She was trained follow the team around campus for exercise (but always on leashes). From her body posture and the direction of her ears, so always seemed more interested in me than even in the guys who raised from a cub.
I have seen moose, bears and rattlesnakes in the wild, and I have heard a cougar while backpacking in New Mexico. Problems with wildlife are rare and usually can be avoided with some skill, experience and common sense.
I live here in California on the east side of the Sacramento valley just up into the foothills. Rattlesnakes and black widows are very common here. I tend to not even think about black widows because they keep to themselves and are very shy. They have a distinct web that no other spider in this area has. Rattlesnakes on the other hand tend to be a problem in the summertime. You never know when you're going to run across one. It's best to carry a flashlight with you after dark. I do have a early warning system for rattlesnakes. They're called Moluccan cockatoos. I have them outdoors during the summer. They have keen eyesight and can spot a rattlesnakes well before I do.
NGL, her shock at deer being #3 is hilarious to me - as an American, and as someone who's been around whitetail deer my whole life, I take for granted that most people around the world only have knowledge of them from Disney movies.
At work in Wisconsin a few years ago I opened up a new ream of copy paper and found a squished and dried out scorpion. They are not native here. We have bears, wolves, reports of cougars with at least one official capture. Wisconsin rattle snake. An Elk reintroduction program. Sometimes some Moose will travel across the border from upper Michigan from their reintroduction program. Coyote. That's about it. Nothing that seeks out people. But regardless when I'm out in the national forests I bring a hiking stick for stability and protection.
My little sister got bit by a black widow 3 times when she was 3 years old. This film crew from Australia even came and interviewed my family a few years later for a nature show and we were on TV haha.
I live in Northern California.. we have at least 3 rattlesnakes a year during the summer. We have mountain lions in our area. Last week one got our neighbors chickens. One also walked outside our gate to the neighbors garage and greeted him, then walked off. So we are very careful and armed when out on our property.. We keep our dogs near as well.. it's just part of living in the country..
Something to think about with the rattlesnake, some have learned not to rattle because some people hunt them using the rattle sound and the snakes are learning not to announce themselves anymore; they just strike.
As a native Floridian, I have always been aware of the numerous deadly creatures in the state, including alligators, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlers, water moccasins (another snake), brown recluse spiders, sharks, and off the southern coast, crocodiles. You learn the rules pretty quickly growing up here: don't stand close to the water's edge, don't wade through tall grass, don't stick your hand in dark spaces.
Never once had any issues with gators. Been fishing numerous times with gators sunning on the bank 30 or so yards away. Of course that doesn’t mean you can approach one although my guess is it would simply scamper into the water if you tried to. The one thing you absolutely do not want to do and this goes for most animals, don’t pick up their young. Momma gator isn’t going to take kindly to that.
@@chrissede2270 Generally speaking, it's not the ones you can see you have to worry about, it's the ones you can't see because they are under the surface. I've been fishing many times myself, but if I see those eyes or that ridge on the back, I pack it in for the day.
I have seen film from a national park were a bear swatted a car. The claws left 6 slash marks in the sheet metal, cut right through the body like it was a canvas tent. That's why it's hard to kill them, that thick coat, fat layer and massive muscles makes it difficult to get a bullet into a vital organ. There was a story in Outdoor Life years ago about a moose collision. When they found the wreck, they determined the car went around a corner hitting the moose, the moose rolled over and the hoofs went through the windshield impaling the driver in the head, killing him instantiatly.
cougars generally rely on ambush attacks. Since broken teeth or jaws from something like a deer kicking it, could cause it to be unable to eat or hunt, and it would starve to death. They are about the size of an adult human, so they don't usually risk a direct confrontation or a group of humans, because the risk to themselves is too great.
Rattle snakes rattlrs if wet for a long time may not sound as they rattle. Most are in areas that are farly dry climate. This mostly happens when long rains that last several days. I have watched the rattles move with no sound.
I live in Montana, and we have bears, deer, moose, cougars and wolves around here. The deer simply walk around my town like they own the place, but there's about one car vs. deer collision per week in the county. Moose are NOT to be messed with under any circumstances, they are monstrous and fast as lightning.
When I visit relatives back in Pennsylvania I always worry about hitting deer especially at night. They live in the woods there but cross streets all the time. Moose really scare me. They’re antisocial creatures and will charge and kick you so don’t go near them. Mountain lions scare me the most. They’re so quiet and fast you could be hiking and never know they’re around. Bears tend to avoid humans and black bears will usually run away but grizzlies are something else. They’re mostly in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming and some other northern states. They’re huge. But they’re usually way out in the wilderness though. Some of the pictures were showing elk when they were talking about moose. Weird. Good reaction Courtney.
I live outside Houston, Tx in the country. I carry a firearm when walking my property because we have herds of wild hogs, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, deer, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth and coral snakes. We also have black widows and brown recluses. I almost lost my pinky finger to a brown recluse bite and my best friend had 2 necrotic areas in his armpit removed from brown recluse spider bite. Always keep one eye and ear open. When I lived in New Jersey, a black bear was in our front yard for an hour before wandering off
I worked for a state park for a few summers and timber rattlesnakes were fairly common. One day, I was cutting wood and lifted up one of the logs only to have a rattler staring back at me. I've never frozen in fear like that in my life 😂
Alligators are found in all of the Gulf coast states from Florida to Texas. Rattlesnakes have the most fatalities but there are 3 other venomous species of snakes found in the U.S.: coral snake, copperhead & water moccasin or cottonmouth. I grew up in east Texas & have lived in Idaho for the past 25 yrs. In Idaho we have black bears, cougars, wolves, coyotes, & wolverines. I have found where cougars have used a couple of my trees near my dogs' fenced yard for scratching posts. Besides the bull shark our oceans have great white, tiger, great hammerhead plus other sharks.
K. I know I am just a Canadian, but you may want to look up what we have up here. We have everything from scorpions and rattlesnakes to wolves, cougars, polar bears, moose, bison and everything in between. We had a very angry cow moose in our neighbourhood last spring that was the meanest thing I have ever come across. She stayed for a few weeks, then moved on, but everyone kept a very close eye on her and let everyone know where abouts she was. Anyone with dogs had to really watch out because she would charge them ... with or without people on the end of the dog's leash.
You might want to steer clear of my state, we have occasional (usually migrating) mountain lions (cougars), some fine little scorpions, a lot of brown recluse spiders, a decent supply of black widows, bison, multiple varieties of rattlesnakes, a small grey wolf population, a lot of deer, and thats just our dangerous animals from this list. [And in case you're wondering, I'm from Oklahoma] But we have a lot of nice things too.
I live in north Texas, and some of the rattlesnakes here have developed the habit to NOT rattle, because if there are nearby wild boar, they will trample the snake. You have to be incredibly careful when moving through tall grasses or going near woodpiles, because rattlesnakes won't always warn you that they are there.
As a U.S. resident living on the east coast, where things like coyotes, bears, etc are common, the general rule of thumb is 1. maintain a respectful distance (I'd say 3 meters roughly). 2. never ever go near the babies, just because you can't see Momma doesn't mean she's not there. 3. never turn your back or run from a large animal unless you're absolutely sure it has either left the area or you have enough space between you and it that you can safely move away; It is very likely they will be much faster than you and will either trample you until they're positive you've stopped breathing, or they will shred you into tiny pieces and eat you.
I'm from Michigan we have mountain lions, bears, bison, rattlesnakes, wolves, moose, and All kinds of deers, black widows and brown recluses, we also have some weird coyote dog hybrid, and probably way more than even I know for sure
I'm from Kentucky and I live near the mountains. Yeah we rarely see cougars but it happens. Best way to survive an attack from them is to keep facing it, walk backwards slowly, scream and throw stuff at it. They are actually big babies and you may just have stubbed upon its den
I live in AZ. Those Bark scorpions are no joke. They are super aggressive and show up everywhere. We would find them all over the place at my dad's house. Even in the shower. Cool thing is how they will glow when hit with a black-light. We each had a small flashlight with a filter and would check out our beds and rooms before going to sleep each night. We couldn't go more than a week or two without seeing one.
I live in New Hampshire. We have a lot of moose. I remember one time on my driveway there was a large 7-8 ft moose just sitting there at the junction of my driveway and two roads holding traffic. They are VERY dangerous in the winter with snow. They are already fast animals when sprinting but compared to humans in the snow, it's even worse off. They don't really lose speed in snow because of how large they are. New Hampshire is more of a country-ish state. especially the north country (along Canadian border). I know of a few people involved in moose attacks when snowmobiling and I know of a couple who had to draw their weapons (only had for moose defense) and shoot to save themselves. Moose are no joke at all.
by the way, there's cougars all over California although we usually call the mountain lions. they are normally shy of people. The problem is that our pets look like lunch to them. My old girlfriend once spotted a cougar watching her from a bank above the fire road near her house in the Hollywood Hills when she was walking a golden retriever. If she had been walking a corgi, she might've been in trouble - or, more likely, the dog would've been. As it was, she just backed away slowly keeping her eye on it to let it know she saw it, and headed home. attacks are very rare - if there are repeated attacks, or if they get a human, animal services will try to track them down, tranquilize them, and move them to a wilderness area.
Hi Courtney, just found ya. I'm currently in rural central Wisconsin and we have Black Bears & Wolfs that prey upon Deer (and out pets 😔), Black Widow and Brown Recluse in our basements, Timber Rattlers in our woods and every once in a while a Cougar visits. But as the wonderfully voiced stated, Deer are by far the most dangerous. That said its extremely rare to encounter any of these animals while hiking. Mosquitoes and Ticks are what you need to watch for in the Midwest. Wear boots or thick shoes to prevent bites from the ground, cover as much skin as you can to prevent bites from above and a hat to keep your head shaded. If you've hiked in Australia, you should be well prepared for North America. Cheers 🤘🏼
There is also a FL. golf course that has several bull sharks that ended up stuck in the course water traps. Talk about a real hazard that's one set of water traps where even the most expensive of golf balls is not worth attempting to see if retrieval is possible.
Mosquitoes and ticks also carry severe diseases in fl. Most things here will either eat you or make you seriously sick. Apparently we now have snails that are carrying a pretty nasty disease. And dont get me started on the water that at times has red alge or micro organisms, beach and fresh water. It's not just the animals you have to watch out for here. I keep hearing that florida is the Australia of America. Which I guess since I'm from Florida I'm used to all the deadly things we have here. Oh and our weather is nasty with hurricanes, water spouts, tornados, severe thunderstorms, our heat and humidity and etc. Just check whatever area you go hiking with the local info. And when you get there ask local hikers they are usually nice and helpful for newbies.
I can attest to the brown recluse spider. I have been through two surgeries, and have missed a month and a half of work because of a bite on my ankle. Always check your shoes, before putting them on.
I live in the Alaskan panhandle and here we have black bears all over. Although I have occasionally seen them from a distance in the woods or along the roads, they often come into my city and go through peoples trash cans. One night as I was taking out my trash, I opened the dumpster to find a juvenile black bear in the dumpster looking back at me. My first thought was that since it was a young bear, the mother was likely in the vicinity as well. (Mother bears can become quite vicious when protecting their young.) I quickly ran back inside with trash bags still in tow and waited until daylight the following day to try again. (It should be noted that when people in my area go hiking, it is not uncommon for one or more hikers in the group to carry a "bear gun" for protection. A high caliber handgun in a chest holster is typical.)
I've had a few random encounters with some of these, especially deer. A little common sense and keeping a cool head goes a long way towards staying safe.
Gators are found pretty much in all the southeastern coastal states... but most gator encounters happen when you are walking along a waterway and see one basking on the shore, which means they are lethargic and not very likely to attack even if they wanted to, so you can easily just walk away.
I live in a suburb of Detroit and we have a few deer habitats near our house. Seeing a deer grazing outside your window is common. You have to be mindful of them when driving through the neighborhood. I almost had a collision with one myself.
Yes, I've seen or encountered many of these, and some not mentioned...I'm in the Southern USA. When we cleared our land for our current house, we disturbed a black widow colony....the land had been untouched for about 70 years....We saw them quite often for about 5 years after moving into our house. We also have water moccasins and copperheads on our land, which are both venomous, and my cats have dragged into the house before. I've never seen a brown recluse here, but my sister in law lives about 1 hour away and sees them often. My son almost stepped on a rattlesnake when he was 2 1/2....luckily my husband grabbed him just in time. Deer are plentiful here -- you see them all the time in your yard/woods or driving down the road....you just have to be very aware and be ready to brake. Just a short way north of us, the bears are creeping into the populated areas...they have been there anyhow, just not so brazen...People hit them with cars too (by accident). When I was 3, my family went camping and my parents didn't store our food waste properly. Me and my mom woke up in the night to a bear's head looking into our tent....my mom just signaled me to be quiet, and I was, and the bear left. We have small scorpions here that sting like a bee sting - I've learned to scan a room very quickly at certain times of the year! We don't have wolves, but do have coyotes, which also tend to have pack behavior...They were brought here as deer population control, but the problem is, we have no predator for the coyotes, so they are out of control....They live in our woods and are pretty bold. You just learn to be aware and live with it...
Often heard at the pearly gates: "He seemed so docile, and I really wanted a selfie....".
Absolutely...most people get hurt because of a lack of respect. Just go to TH-cam and type "dumb" and "Yellowstone," and you'll see some examples of people asking for trouble...it's even worse when they have kids with them.
🤔😂😳
I want to type "lol," but this is more sad, as this is becoming more and more true
Yes!
"Your honor. His ears were round and fluffy. If he didn't want to be pet he shouldn't be cute. That is all."
I’m SO surprised that they didn’t mention wild hogs! I live in the south east coast and I’m more scared of a hog than any other animal in the US.
Hogs eat anything (including you) and a wild hog is mean as sin
@@markcarpenter6020 facts, I know first hand how bad they can be!
Maybe they left it out because it's an invasive species? I can't think of any other reason. Wild hogs are dangerous
Hogs are my answer when someone asks why a civilian needs an AR-15 or semiautomatic rifle. They travel in groups and can easily weigh 150 pounds or 70 kilos and are not friendly.
@@hatchett151
They are also tasty..
Half the pictures of the Moose were Elk . Moose antlers are more flatter and Elk's are like deer.
Here in Washington we have Moose , Elk , Deer , Grizzly in Selkirk Mountains , Cougars ( which killed a cyclist a few yrs ago ) Western Diamondback Rattlers and 25,000 -30,000 Black Bears .
Jack of all trades… but for all the wrong reasons
Europeans call what we call "elk," "moose." Maybe this video's maker used stock footage of "moose" and some clips were "elk" labeled as "moose".
It also showed wildebeest when showing Bison.
@@MichaelScheele no I think you have it reversed, Europeans call Moose, Elk. Elk at some point just became a word for "large deer", and when english settlers arrived they saw these large deer that were about the size of european elk (moose) and called them elks too. So it is a little confusing.
They also showed bones from a prehistoric Megaloceros deer to show how big the antlers are.
You can find alligators in about 10 states or so. This list seems to focus on statistics as opposed to capabilities. Alligators don't kill tons of people, but they definitely can.
Yeah alligators are more potentially dangerous than a lot of these animals. But potentially is the key word. Alligators by and large are lazy and have no interest in attacking people, so as long as you treat them with respect and don't get too close you generally are in no danger whatsoever from alligators. Just have to be careful when swimming in natural waterways/ponds/lakes because if you're thrashing around in the water they might mistake you for food.
could not agree more
@@chriswhinery925 thing is with gators, bears cugars , snakes, spidersand wolves most humans instinctually know not to antagonize them.
I read an article a few years ago about an elderly man hiking a trail in California. He'd hiked this trail hundreds of times. One part of the trail was an overlook looking down on a river or creek. Below him he saw a mama bear with some cubs in the river fishing. He was far enough away to be safe but made a mental note to watch out for them and continued his hike. He got maybe another 100 yards down the trail when he was suddenly tackled from behind. A mountain lion had decided he was easy enough pickings to make a go of it. Fortunately, the man was wearing a backpack, and that took most of the damage, at least at first. But he still couldn't move. The attack continued until, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and he saw the mountain lion picking itself up off the ground several yards away.
Mama bear had heard or smelled the big cat and had decided that a good offense was the best defense to protect her cubs. As the cat attacked the man, she'd come up behind it and swatted it away. The cat ended up not getting the man OR one of the cubs that day. The man kept still until the bear wandered off. He went home mostly unharmed but with one helluva story.
I don't know what would scare me more. The cougar attacking me or the bear going the 100 yards so fast. If it wasn't for momma bear wanting to keep the cubs safe, that guy very well could have been killed. I know I would definately need a new pair of pants after that encounter
@@badandy102 my thought exactly. definitely an I am glad I was wearing the brown or black pants day. Do you reckon the attacked feller found somewhere else to hike?
@@badandy102 lol this was what I just posted in my comment on this channel no matter how cute or whatever walk away from a baby bear. The baby isn't the problem it's the ever watchful mother that isn't far behind. And yes, she will take care of any potential threat in the area for sure! Those babies are her life and that is probably the one animal that shows a mothers love the most in that stage aint nothing going to touch her babe whether it's thinking about it or not!!!!
@@sammyp4216 And "any potential threat" means "anything with a heartbeat."
@@sammyp4216 Yeah, bear cubs are cute, friendly, and playful.... but NEVER make the mistake of playing with them. Their helicopter parent mothers will have some serious words with you involving six inch claws.
In the southern US we also have water moccasins and copperheads that are extremely venomous. I’m with you about snakes. Also I had a
distant cousin who was killed in a car accident with a deer so it happens all too frequently. I’ve actually hit one myself. That’s why hunting is allowed to decrease the overpopulation that also leads to starvation and disease in the species. Great review!! 😊
Coincidentally a very large part of the reason we have deer overpopulation problems is because our elimination of wolf populations across the US.
🤣🤣...........no..........not compared to snakes in any other part of the world they aren't.
Death from copperhead has VERY VERY rarely happened and EVERY time it DID happen it was the same scenario. A child finding a nest of baby copperheads and picks them up then gets bit MULTIPLE times by babies that can't regulate their venom release yet. Less than 12 people have died from copperheads since written records started in North America.
Water Moccasins are a bit more aggressive but again, you would need multiple bites to kill you. Again, most deaths from them occur when someone walks into water or swampy grassland and steps right into a mating ball. Like 7 snakes all fighting to mate with one female at the same time.
Copper heads aren’t extremely dangerous for healthy people. Kids and elderly are more susceptible than individuals who are closer to their prime. I’ve heard from a wildlife conservationist who was bitten by one. He said that it made him sicker than a dog. He said he was vomiting and everything. I’ve never been bitten by one but I have stepped close to one before I noticed it. I’ve also been around a timber rattler before which is pretty nerve racking
@William Eldridge
Humans kill way more deer than wolves. Wolves would also do a big number on livestock. I don’t hate wolves but they wouldn’t help eastern ecosystems. A large reason why deer overpopulate so quickly is because of the abundance of food. Before people cultivated farmland and huge fields in the eastern United States, most of that land was woodland which doesn’t yield as much food for the deer
@@china_sickness7005 it’s really bad where I am, out on eastern Long Island all the wild herbivores are overpopulated. Deer, turkey, etc. there’s nothing to hunt them but humans.
Alligators are found throughout the entire South Eastern States, from Texas to South Carolina. I was also surprised that it didn't make the list since their Jaw Strength is greater than a Bears, but generally there are less than 100 Alligator Attacks (on Humans) per year in all of the U.S.
You can include North Carolina, too... maybe a dubious nitpick... BUT they're frequent around Wilmington among other places, and several folks are raising them commercially as well as hunting them to control numbers... ;o)
Its because unless in the water it’s incredibly unlikely for a alligator attack to be fatal and unlike the spiders it isnt because of antidotes
Alligators kill by drowning and death roll
Its hard for a alligator to drag a human from land to water
And death rolls arent nearly as effective on humans as it is on other animals
@@thatdamncrow9197 It's ALSO at least partially because alligators just don't go too far astray from water. They feel clumsier and slower on land...
AND people rarely just stumble into gator territory without knowing about it, unlike the near oblivious hundreds of thousands a year who stick earbuds into the sides of their heads and go stumbling or running about through the territories of other known dangerous predators.
The relative rarity of gator and croc' attacks are likely a culmination of both sides generally avoiding each other. ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 well crocs are because they are so rare most people didnt even know they exist in the us
Like they are so hard to find you basically need to hunt for them
Also since gators in general almost never initiate a attack on land anyways
Not to mention you can just jump on it and hold your hand on its mouth
As it cant open its mouth if you do
Not to mention the number of deaths is almost non-existent. There've been just over a little over 30 total deaths by alligators in the US, in the last 50 years or so. That's less than 1 per year, and almost every one of those deaths was due to people being IN the water.
Something they forgot to mention about the cougar is that it can jump 18 feet straight up. You're not getting away from a cougar, your only option is to convince the cougar to leave you alone.
there's another option. We have cougars here right on the edge of town. Which is why I carry a .357 magnum on the trails.
They’re not just out west, either. They’re in the east, too.
The reason they weren't mentioned is probably due to their low kill count compared to the rest of the animals on the list.
@@dundinwilson7733 Cougars were like the third thing listed.
@@hereigoagain04 how far east have they gone?
We have Gray Wolves (also called Timber Wolves) here in Northern Minnesota. Always awesome to see them in the wild.
Shout-out from Leech Lake, man!
I saw a wolf in Swatara Minnesota it was really cool.
Shout out from Duluth
Hence the name of your NBA Team..couldn't think of a more appropiate one!
I have a 50% Timber in my lap right now. Best friend ever.
In my decades of being in the wilderness all around the western states, I have pretty much encountered almost all of these animals and have yet to have a bad story to tell, thank goodness..
Here in the US it is highly encouraged to KNOW your surroundings and what lives in it and what to do, National Parks are great resources for this as they put wildlife education at the top for every visitor.
Each animal requires a certain strategy on what to do. The biggest thing is to be aware and stay at a distance, hike with others and do not give them reason to charge. Know the rules and respect the animal. Most of the time they do not want to have anything to do with you and most will mind their own business or just scatter away, so keep your distance especially when wild protective animal mothers and young are involved and never turn your back and run, that triggers Game Time for them. Being with others will give you safety in numbers and you will most likely never see any on the trail except for the common deer who are cutely grazing and are also skittish of humans for the most part.
To be honest, Yes it might be scary to spot a bear, a mountain lion or bison, even at a distance but it is also a unique almost honorable feeling when you see them in the wild because of the majesty of these animals, it's sort of a rush of energy and emotions when it happens.
Thank you these are not vicious killers they are simply protecting them self or hunting and mistook you for food
My wife, daughter and their friends were hiking in the mountains real close to home, and came across a huge male mountain lion. My dog, Molly, a sweet yellow lab, took after it and chased it away, even though it was over twice her size.
Your dog is lucky the cat wasn't hungry, or in a bad mood.
@@J3scribe i think it was the fact that Molly didn't act like prey.
Probably.
That was just the mountain lion that they happened to see. There have been less than 20 mountain lion fatalities, in all of Mexico/US/Canada combined, in all of recorded history. Some university did a study (in Colorado I think), where they tagged mountain lions with GPS to map their territory and patterns. When they looked up the data, all of these mountain lions were basically hanging out in suburban yards and wandering through neighborhoods. When they do attack, people almost always just fight them off. Last one I read about was a 76 year old hiking in Vancouver and he got jumped from behind. He wrestled the cat and killed it with his Swiss army knife.
It helps that mountain lions tend to leave when they pick up the sound of human voices.
LOL! The expressions on her face. HOWEVER - the video she’s reviewing has two glaring errors: 1) the videos of “moose”about half the time, are actually of elk, a totally different species. 2) In the bison 🦬 section, there’s a clip of a herd of wildebeest, which are native to Africa.
But YOUR reaction video was great!
While many of these creatures are found in wilderness areas, people in urban and suburban areas can encounter them if their natural range is nearby.
In the Seattle area, we sometimes have black bear go through neighborhoods. Mountain lions (cougars) and coyotes too. The latter pose a danger to pets.
Black bear are pretty nuts in jersey
. . And they'll come w.after you area alone 3,000 coyotes here in Cook County in the Chicago ae 0003000 We have about 3,
We get coyotes in Minnesota. One of them killed my favorite cat a couple years ago, and they're actually the reason why I have guns now lol
Black Bears are cool. They mostly live off of Insects and Berries.
There was one who lived in my neighborhood growing up that walked down the road to the Beach every so often. It was going down there for the Salmon Berries which grew along the Creek. Never harmed anyone, nor anyone's pets. It was around for like 8 years before they relocated it.
So, keep your distance. But they REALLY don't want the smoke. So they will most likely not go aggressive, until you approach.
In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there are an estimated 1900 black bears, but have only killed 2 people since the 1930s. The Park Service will destroy any bear that doesn't fear people, so please please don't feed the bears. They're pretty cool - but be respectful and keep some distance - and take some great pictures. :)
Rattlesnakes. She says “Not Florida!”
There are actually four types of poisonous snakes in the US. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth moccasins, and coral snakes. I grew up in the Florida panhandle. All four are present there.
Yep,I grew up in the south.The water moccasin is the scariest and when I was a kid,I heard stories of water moccasins chasing people.Its funny,I went to school in the New York area and I would tell people about snakes,coyotes, mountain lions etc and they would look at me like as if I lived and came from another planet.And oh yea,Me and my dad would go fishing in a small boat and gators would swim would up to the boat and stay there waiting to try to steal the fish we caught.
Venomous, not poisonous
Florida also has Gators and Hippos. It's one of the more dangerous areas of the U.S. in the swamps.
@@robertmasengale9366 Florida does NOT have hippos, what the fuck are you talking about lol
@@Solutad Sorry... bad information. Florida has one Hippo in the wild... named Lu. Lives in Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and is obviously not native to there.
It’s very rare to ever hear about alligator attacks, once in a great while they might take a child or a dog. They don’t kill adults very often but I know I’m sure as hell not swimming in waters that contain alligators. They are all over the south from Texas to the Carolinas.
I live in the middle of Pennsylvania, where whitetail deer are NUMEROUS. I actually have hit three deer at three different times, and closely avoided deer many times. As a person who drives for a living in PA, that is common.
I’ve only encountered a rattlesnake twice but each time my heart jumped. Those things are creepy especially when you can’t see em but you just hear the rattle
I was biking across South Dakota last year when i encountered a rattlesnake that was sunning himself on the gravel bike trail. He curled up and rattled at me as i biked by. Lemme tell ya, that sound goes straight to your spine!
I was hiking the AT and my trekking poles were in the tall grass beside the trail. Heard a rattler on my left as my pole hit the ground right by it and my pace tripled for a bit. lol Saw a few dozen notes of copperheads on the trail but never saw them. Probably stepped next to countless ones and never knew.
When I hear rattlers I just walk clear. When they rattle it's a warning. Either you see them or see a hole in the ground. Just walk around it.
Cougars near people can be bad news because that means they aren't avoiding you any more.
I’m surprised they didn’t include water moccasins and coral snakes.
They are getting rarer(some of them are endangered now) but growing up I would see one or two a year. Luckily the ones here in the south east aren't usually aggressive (unlike the ones out west)
Another reason behind the term “Caught like a deer in the headlights” is that deer (and many other wild animals) tend to “freeze up” when you shine a bright light on them. In fact, in the US, it’s generally illegal to shine a light at a deer or other animal while in possession of a weapon (i.e., for the purposes of hunting). It’s actually also generally illegal to hunt deer at night at all.
Exception: it's perfectly legal to shine a light on a raccoon, because they're more or less impossible to hunt except at night.
Courtney, your reactions was, as always, a lot of fun to watch. Frankly, I was a little irritated at the video, though, when they kept showing shots of elk when they were talking about the moose. The two are obviously very different and neither would ever be mistaken for the other. Anyway, except for that minor criticism of the video you were watching, I loved your reaction.
Came here to say the same thing about the moose/elk, and to mention that they neglected the eastern population of mountain lions. Although they are officially "unconfirmed," mountain lions have always been present in the east and while populations are severely depleted because of habitat destruction, they are still around.
It irritated me too. I'm from Maine we don't even have elk to "confuse" them with here. We do however also have mountain lions. Not a lot but there's few.
bad video when wee talk about shown species not be a part of the topic.
There is a little confusion due to the naming of elk in europe, but honestly I think they just were lazy when googling images of deer, and didn't care if it was the wrong thing as long as it got the point across. They also used a prehistoric megaloceros skeleton when talking about the antlers, and when the showing the bison they had a clip of african wildebeest to show a herd.
I’m pretty sure some of those “bison” were actually wildebeests, too.
I've owned two Cougars. They weren't deadly, but with their big V-8s, they were fairly quick. . . 😁😁
I dated a couple of cougars.
@@chrisd7047 hahahahaha
@@chrisd7047 you absolute legend you!
One of the other reasons that moose are so deadly is that, like deer, they often feed near the roadways at night. But, unlike deer, their eyes do not reflect light back. That and their almost black coloring make them almost impossible to see at night, until you are right on them.
Yeah and they run a ton on country roads where everyone goes over 65-70 so you never have time to brake
And even then, when you hit them. You are apt to think you ran off the road into a smal group of four trees instead of a moose.
Cripes these things get BIG.
The moose we have here are not at all afraid of a humans and look at us with distain. Don't attempt to drive one away they don't take kindly to it.
Alligators, alligators are mostly found in Florida and southern states that border the Gulf of Mexico, because they are temperature sensitive, they like it warm. Most human beings have nothing to worry about from alligators, because most people usually don't go swimming in lakes and rivers where alligators are usually found. But what alligators do devastate are your pets, mostly dogs because they like to hop in the water and play around. So keep your pets away from the water when you're in the southern Gulf States.
Keep making the great videos and good luck.
Few years back a suspect was running from the cops here in Florida and ran into a river because he knew they wouldn't follow. The cops just kept telling "don't do it". He never came back out. Torn to pieces.
I'm in western Washington state and go hiking all the time and i never go without a sidearm (note: not to kill, they will typically run from the sound) ... we have bears, cougars, wolves and coyotes...
Eastern Washington we have all of those, plus Cougars, Rattlesnakes, Black Widows, and the occasional Elk or Moose
@@wesdog8975 yep... plus way more coyotes than the west side... I sometimes Deer/Elk hunt in the Ellensburg area
Cougars are #1 for me being a big game hunter. During the hunt and after harvesting an animal, it always has a level of concern. Fresh cougar tracks/footprints will always run a chill up your spine!
He’s wrong about the panther’s range. They’ve managed to repopulate every state in the CONUS.
I love how certain people deny them living in a certain area even though there are pictures and dead cows to show other wise.
@Gail Everett I was talking about southern Illinois
Cougars can be found from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
they were a little misleading about cause of bison reduction. While I don't deny disease, they were in fact eradicated in order to deny Native American's in the plains states their primary food & resources (they used the entire animal; meat, skin, bones, tendons (for glue, bow strings), hooves.
That was an outcome, not the intent. It was a HUGE international and commercial sport.
@@OneVoiceMore It was clearly the intent. It was even stated as such in writing by government officials. They wanted to eliminate the threat and complications the indians posed, and wanted to remove an obstacle for train movement.
I have had encounters with 8 of these 10. Most of them while living in Alaska. Plus my dad was a career Military man so all of my life that I can remember my dad was in the military. Places I have run into these things are Minnesota, Arizona, Wyoming and Alaska.
1) I have been within inches of female Black Widow Spiders. Usually while cleaning up around old cars or old buildings.
2) Alaskan Wolf-- I was in Alaska in High School training for my 1st marathon and heard the wolves howling close to me so I turned around to go back home. They followed me for three or four miles, howling as they followed me. That was very scary. Back in 74.
3) Grizzly Bear-- This happened in Alaska when I was in the military back in 80. I was a driver for some of the West Point students on a weekend and they went on a Rafting Trip. we saw a Grizzly on the shore. It ran after a momma moose and its kid and killed the baby moose and tried to get mom but could not. Then it came back to the river, stood up on its hind legs and then came in after us. The guys running the raft let him get about 10 ft. away and then started rowing and pulled away from him and he went back to shore.
4) North American Box Scorpian AZ
We lived in AZ for a year and dad took us boys out for a walk in the Mtns and then he turned over rocks every once and awhile. We ended up catching 4 of these Scorpians and had them in a canning jar for a couple of hours and then let them go. What can I say the only girl in our family was mom and she had 5 boys, and we were all boy. lol
5) Rattle Snake AZ
Still while in AZ they had an NCO family Picnic in the Mtns. I have always rather walked around without shoes which is what I was doing and walking down a dry wash to boot. I was a dumb Freshman in high school and saw a western diamondback rattle snake and tried to catch it. Yeah I knew it was poisonous but that didn't matter to me at the time. I lost the snake in bushes.
6) Deer-- I HATE deer. I have seen people slow down to 5 mph so deer running on the side of the road could cross. After a mile or two of this the people in the car sped up and thats when the deer decided to run in front of the car. Seen that happen more than once and most of the time the deer get hurt or killed cause they stay just ahead of the car.
The thing that happened to me about 4 years ago is I was going home and it was dark and its crazy if deer are in the area and something is fifty yards away they will run to try to cross in front of it and not get hit. Least it seems like they do it as a competition.
Thats what happened to me. I was ten or fifteen yards away from the deer when I saw the head and I thought at 55 mph I should miss it but I was so close it would not have mattered. Then since I thought I would miss that deer I am thinking I hope there is not another once. And there was and I could not miss this one. It cost a grand for the parts I had to personally replace.
7) Bison-- AHHH Back to the Alaskan stuff. The post that we lived on in Alaska had Bison come out of the woods and walk among the buildings in the winter and we could see them out the window of the Quad we lived in just 5 yds away.
My dad told us two stories where people got up close to Buffalo for doing something they were told never to do. Honk their car horn at them. In classes the military had to take at this post one of them included how to be around the buffalo.
Well a call came in for a wrecker as a vehicle was in the ditch in the winter. They sent out a 5 ton tactical wrecker. Well on the way out to get the vehicle a buffalo was laying down in the middle of this guys lane. He did what he was told for a bit and got tired of waiting and honked the wreckers horn at it. The buffalo charged the Wrecker and hit it so hard that it pushed the wreckers grill back into the radiator and trashed the radiator with its horns. Now that is about a foot of space from the grill to the radiator.
The wrecker operator had to call for a wrecker to pull him back to the shop and send out another wrecker to get the vehicle he was supposed to get.
Then some guy had the same kind of thing happen but he was driving a VW bug. Charged and hit and lifted with his horns with enough force to flip the VW.
8) Alaskan-Yukon Moose-- Now I have seen a fair amount of Moose in Alaska. U see them about everywhere. In the woods, water, in the Drive Thru at Mc Donalds. TRUE STORY.
I have had Two close encounters with a total of 4 moose.
1st time I am out doing a 5k training run b4 I eat in the morning. Its like 5am and I am on a trail in the woods. I come around a corner and off to my Right about 10 yards away I see two baby moose and I am thinking thats cute. Then I see mamma and she is all of a sudden between me and her kids. She chases the kids into the woods away from me and then comes back to see what I am doing. I found a trail. Exit Stage Left and am taking that away from the three of them as fast and I can go. lol She left me alone.
Another time I am doing a 10k training run after work b4 I go eat supper at the chow hall. I am out on a taxi way on a rarely used small air field. Then Off to my right I hear this crashing in the trees and look over and there is a moose that is at least 6 foot tall at the shoulders. well there was not a tree that the moose could not run through there so I just kept running. What u going to do. lol Made it back to chow a half out later. lol
So funny when people go into this extreme detail like anyone’s going to read all of this.
@@robertdysonn I did, it was an interesting story, lol. I agree with you, though, it's really TMI
@@markzimmerman2057 I only got through number three, smiles.
@@robertdysonn Better than I did. I made it through number two. On a related note to his #1, I was once bitten by a brown recluse. Took a couple months to heal. Want to hear about it? lol
@@singledad1313 laughing! I appreciate the offer but I’m good, smiles.
Gators are found in the Southeastern states. We have native fresh water Crocs that are found in southern Fla.
Here in Fla our four venomous snakes are the Eastern Diamondback Rattler, The Pygmy Rattler , The Water Moccasin and Coral snake.
And yes Bull sharks have been seen in our rivers. In the winter months when the water is colder in the Gulf of Mexico Great Whites will swim up into the Gulf and along with many other species of sharks you will find Tiger Sharks here as well. But I can't recall anyone being killed here by a Tiger or Great White. The Bulls are the ones that you hafta watch out for.
FL has Pumas (Florida Panther) as well, but there are very few remaining. In addition to rattlesnakes, we also have cottonmouth snakes also known as water moccasins. Those snakes are venomous and semi-aquatic. Black bears have been observed on neighbors' Ring cameras, but few & far between. I wouldn't want to meet one.
Alligators & American crocodiles are both present in the Everglades. Both are native species. As far as I know the crocs are mostly in the Everglades, gators roam throughout the state. Gators, keep your distance, don't mess with them, and you should be fine. It's probably why they're not on this list.
Honestly cottonmouths are more aggressive than most rattlers here in the South East.
@@markcarpenter6020 Not to mention rattlers have the courtesy to warn you. Good point.
@@Terrell070 I've had a moccasin literally chase me out of a river before. I've never had a rattler chase me
Once my father was very late getting home. When he finally arrived, there was a HUGE dent in the side of his car. He had been driving on a rural road, without much light around, through a wooded area. Out of nowhere, a running deer simply collided with the car. This was in the state of Indiana.
Here in Texas they say there are two types of drivers. Those who have hit a deer, and those who are going to hit a deer.
It's not uncommon to see bears here in the mountains of North Carolina. Hotels will often have warnings telling people to not store food in their cars in the parking lot, as it will attract them.
I'm from Louisville, KY, and the more I grow older the more I regret that I've never spent any significant time in North Carolina. If I ever go, I think Asheville would be my first stopping point. Bela Bartok went there for his health and founded a string quartet towards the end of his life, and I'm a huge fan of a movie reactor who lives there. I just feel it must be a nice place.
In the country parts of Iowa a few bears have made there way over here and Rome around… they usually end up dying because there is little food here
I've never personally seen a scorpion in my house, only the yard, and thankfully, from a safe distance as a child, but there's plenty who find them in their houses all the time. It really teaches you to watch where you're walking.
And shake out your shoes before putting them on. You only make that mistake once
My dad lived in the Poconos, where deer are abundant. There are special state assigned officers that are basically paid to hunt down injured or rabid animals on highways. My dad was driving a night and tried to swerve away from an already injured doe, but it kept moving and he ended up hitting it anyway. The state officer had been trying to shoot it, since it was already limping and wouldn’t survive the upcoming winter, but stopped when my dad’s car came close enough. The deer, even after being shot, hit with my dads car, and whatever happened before the state officer got to it, got up and continued to limp and even hop. Meanwhile, my dad’s car was DESTROYED and looked like it had a mustache. Those things are built like tanks, sturdy af. God forbid it’s mating season, that’s a whole new thing 🙅♀️
Keep up the awesome work, much love from New Jersey 💛
I'm from Kentucky but I have driven the length of the Garden State Parkway (and, spent a week in Rahway) and there's good reason your beautiful state terms itself "The Garden State." One day I would like to visit the Pine Barrens. My favorite NJ story is from Rahway. I was taking a class in the Oracle database engine, in 1996, and the office building was still being completed. I was commuting from Chelsea (staying with an ex girlfriend I'd met in Chicago) and on the train, I realized I was passing through towns like Elizabeth, and realized with a shock, that this was the part of New Jersey dramatized in Orson Welles' famous 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds". I punched the wrong elevator button and landed on a not-yet-completed floor of the building. A worker was labeling offices with their room numbers. He gave me a "what the hell are you doing here" look, and as I retreated into the elevator I said, in a more Kentucky accent than I actually have (Louisville is a northern city in a southern state), "I just realized this is the part of New Jersey the Martians destroyed... you've done a great job building it back!" I don't really know if he caught the reference or not, but he beamed at me and said, pride in his voice, "Thanks!"
When my family was in Yellowstone 30 years a go, we had to stop due to a herd of bison crossing the road. There was a massive bull on our side of the herd and it just looked at us in our car as it took its' time crossing. It was both amazing and intimidating, cause we were pretty sure it could have flipped our sedan if we had pissed it off. National park animals are wild and they ain't no petting zoo.
you got that right, and you are in THEIR home. not a petting zoo
I was helping my father one winter is a local state park to feed the bison. The snow was deep and the park had no vehicles to feed with. One bison bull came to the back of a 3/4 ton ford pickup loaded with hay and began scratching his neck on the back bumper. He would lift the tire completely off the ground. They are massive and quite dense.
Hello Courtney. Pretty interesting video today. Out in Texas we are always on the lookout for gators & sharks near the waters, copperhead rattlesnakes, have alot of vehicle vs. deer or wild hog accidents in the area I live. Dealt with black widows and brown recluse spiders in Utah never did see a mountain lion while camping, but we did occasionally see deer and moose.
Hi Cody! So interesting right? thanks for watching! oh my goodness, that's so many animals that ya gotta look out for 😭
Often, when deer are crossing the road, it will actually look like they are across the road and headed for the woods when they will suddenly wheel around and head right back into the road just as you reach them. It is not uncommon for them to actually slam into the side of the car. The deadly ones are when they come crashing through the windshield.
@@Mycroftsbrother South Carolina here I've struck two white tail deer and had several near misses . The first deer I struck was crippled so I finished it off with a 22 rifle and ate it . The second got up and ran off .
@@victorwaddell6530 I have been lucky enough to not hit any, just near misses. My father, however, was not. He drives a small pickup, and slammed into one on the back roads. Second his car hit it, the thing shat down the driver side of his car all they way to the tailgate.
I was probably 15, found him outside at 3am swearing profusely with the garden hose full blast.
@@lfadedragel9178 Full coverage auto insurance covers animal encounter damage .
I grew up in the woods. From a young age I was taught to watch and listen for cougars, coyotes, bears and rattlesnakes. I took a snakebite kit everywhere I went. And where I live the brown recluse is kinda common. I’ve seen wild black bears. While there’s a lot of danger. It’s usually quite beautiful
Most of the deadly animals on this list are in the Western and Southern US, as well as Alaska. The Mid Atlantic and Northeast is relatively safe in regards to wildlife
Well, we don't have a lot of rattlesnakes, scorpions, or sharks (except the occasional great white) up here in Maine, but we do have some brown bears, lots of black bears, grey and (recently reintroduced) timber wolves, black widows and brown recluse spiders, too many deer (hence the wolves), and lots of moose. There have been reports of mountain lions, but those are usually dismissed as misidentification of Lynx, as they are often just tracks in the snow or mud.
Only thing that will hurt you is deer jumping in front of your car. You'll have that more common in Pennsylvania.
Maybe rattlesnakes, but seeing one is extremely rare
@@frankisfunny2007 This is nonsense. In rutting season, the bucks are highly aggressive, and will attack personally.
we have the majority of the animals on this list here in new york state.
@@psychobetha But not as many as out West. That's why I said "relatively safe"
When I was 10 years old deep In the woods of Alabama I got bit by a black widow spider in the shoulder and yeah it hurt and I spent the night in the Hospital.
Courtney, your neighbor Australia, has a reputation for having a lot of deadly creatures. Do people in New Zealand see it that way? I wonder if they think the US is the country with lots of deadly creatures.
Yea but Australia don't have big killer animals like North America or like in Africa
If Douglas Adams' work "Last Chance to See" is to be believed, NZ grew independently from the sea floor, not from plate tectonic separation from Australia. So (plus or minus raft migrations and introduced species) even though we in the northern hemisphere think of NZ as a sort of suburb of Australia, it's really not that way.
@@nesseihtgnay9419 Crocodiles and kangaroos are both large animals and both are very dangerous
As an American, we joke that Australia is where God put his oddest and most dangerous creatures so as to ensure no one would live there but criminals.
Its kind of true.
Just the funnel spider alone is scarier than anything here in the states, but maybe a Grizzly, and those are rare even in bear country. Your funnel spiders are everywhere (at least we think they are).
@@alexsmart5452 They had that Prime Minister Howard too.
Aside from the Grizzly...Aussie bugs and tiny things, like the...jackjumper? ant, scare me a LOT more
If you went camping or hiking here, you'd be fine. Most of these animals don't want to be around you as much as you don't want to be around them lol But the video is right never EVER trun your back and run with a cougar. With the big cats, you are the mouse. lol
The ones in wider areas, wolves, bears or cougars, indeed usually will just go their own way seeing a large fellow mammal. Things like Scorpions and Spiders don't have that mammalian instinct to just avoid conflict though. Luckily, we generally know where they hang out.
Courtney, I enjoyed your reaction. I am trying to get my head around the fact that there are places where people don't have to beware of wildlife. I love forests, but my whole life I have known that there were things in them that would kill me if I wasn't careful. I have a vivid imagination, but I can't imagine not watching out for predators and other things that can harm me.
I was born in the north-eastern US and now live in the western US. I have had encounters/run-ins with black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, black widows, brown recluses, bison, and deer (deer, elk, moose). I've also had to deal with coyotes, but not wolves. The predators (mammals) mainly centered around sheep (with a memorable exception involving a bear on a camping trip). My mother kept them when I was young and later I was responsible for my aunt's small herd. Mountain lions are one animal that gives my mother pause (she is not easily intimidated). I kept a black widow as a pet for awhile. I found it at work behind the flush lever of a toilet. I figured it would be best not left there. I took her home, named her Fluffy, and she lived in a large pill bottle with small airholes drilled into it. I fed her insects that I and my parents caught. My mother enjoyed watching the flies get eaten (at the time she was laid up with leg trouble and the flies tormented her, so I can see why she enjoyed the shoe being on the other foot). Both types of spider were endemic to the part of the west I lived in at the time. Smart people checked their shoes/boots prior to putting them on to avoid misunderstandings. The rattlesnake I encountered while hiking. It gave timely warning and I went my way, leaving it to whatever it is rattlesnakes do when they decide to park on hiking trails. The bison were captive. I stayed on my side of the fence, they stayed on theirs. I grew up right next to a beaver swamp, so moose were a fact of life. My mother taught me to hunt deer.
I do not like snakes. I have an irrational hatred of them. Unfortunately, snakes do not feel the same way. Snakes seem to adore me. I have literally had to use sticks to pick up a snake and toss it in the underbrush so I could get around it. They don't slither away from me. They like to watch me and smell me (judging by the tongue flicking). One even followed me for over a quarter of a mile when I was hiking. It even came out on a road to do so. To put that behavior in perspective. I was hiking in an area with many birds of prey, several of whom would cheerfully add snake to the menu. A dark snake on a light colored road is almost asking to get eaten there. I once had to fire up a power power to convince another snake to remove itself from path (it was blocking my access to the door of my residence at the time.
Some encounters with these animals can help explain the history of "gun culture" in the US as well.
No, that's mostly for people, the apex predator.
@@jordandale85 How did you interpret the post you're responding to?
Did you think he meant buffalos have guns?
Animal encounters DO explain gun culture, in part.
@@jordandale85 that's wrong in Texas and Alaska it's best you own a gun even in Montana
In college we went to the tallgrass prairie preserve. Which has a substantial Buffalo population. The ones I'd seen previously seemed to be no bigger than a large bull. The herds there had members that looked to be as tall as the van we were in. Massive animals.
I regularly work cattle in a isolated pasture and have dealt with the black widow waaaay more than I like. Plus 4 venomous snake species. Only 1 made this list. And one night a possible mountain lion.
Just so you know, some of those "Moose" examples were Elks. While also very big, they are far less defensive or violent than Moose. Tips for hiking in the Western US: do NOT hike with headphones on while in mountain lion territory. They prefer to attack without being seen, so don't have your back to them. They also don't want a straight up fight, so be aggressively defensive and try to scare them away. Or walk backwards while facing them until they give up the hunt. Moose are skittish 90% of the year, mating season is when they are most dangerous. Almost exclusively found in the Northeastern States such as New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont
Cougars are everywhere, I live on the East Coast and there’s been cougars out in fields.
We had a small pink puppy we found in the woods. He had the mange so bad that his skin was horrible and he came to us for help. I took him to the vet and got the mange took care of. When I took him for his shots he was jet black and beautiful. Thats when the vet told me he was coyote. Best boy I ever had!! Sadly he died.
I’ve actually heard in Montana where grizzley bears are protected some bears have learned the behavior to run towards shots because they know hunters downed game the bears can eat.
Which is why prudent hunters will also carry heavy handguns.
I'm from Arizona and grew up in a rural area. I grew up watching out for rattlesnakes, scorpions and spiders when we would be out playing or working. But I love em, and am still fascinated when I see any of these creatures
Here in Arkansas we have a growing problem with our rattlesnakes. We have the luck(?) to be on the edge of the natural range of the eastern and western plus the timber rattlers. Due to a couple of different factors they are being pushed together. This is resulting in some hybrid snakes that are different. The biggest problem is when the western rattler and the timber rattler interbreed the result is very territorial and will attack when the others would slither away. This doesn’t go well cuz the snakes sometimes won’t have rattles so they strike without warning.
The general global rule with scorpions is that the smaller, the more dangerous. The bigger varieties aren't "harmless", but the venom is generally more potent the smaller the species. The Bison segment of the video was a bit misleading as they showed a clip of a heard of Wildebeast from Africa. The Moose segment was also misleading as they showed a skeleton of an Irish Elk, an extinct species and they also showed Wapiti or North American Elk intermixed with clips of Moose.
When it comes to "staying safe against animal attacks" in the US, the big thing is just to know the general range of different dangerous animals, and take into account you won't find all of them in the same areas. Also, if you ask locals they will generally know what is "Bear country" or "cougar territory", and can give good locations for hiking that are out of those ranges.
For example, if you're in upstate New York, you aren't going to be seeing Scorpions, Cougars, or Grizzly Bears. You will, however- see Black Bears, White Tailed deer, and Moose.
Since they aren't even on the radar for this video, here's some info on Black Bears since they're more common than Grizzlies and what you're more likely to encounter. Black Bears are less ornery than Grizzly bears- so as long as you aren't purposely getting near them and make sure to carry Bear Spray (pepper spray for bears) you should be fine. They're omnivores that mostly go after fruit and insects/ though they do like to go after trash from humans as well. In general the "more afraid of us than we are of it" applies, but that doesn't mean they aren't still wild animals that can hurt you if you mess with them.
In reverse, if you're in Southern California--- you won't see Grizzlies, Black Bears, Moose, or white tailed deer. You will, however, see Cougars, Scorpions, and possibly Mule deer (depending on where in SoCali you are).
Cougars are territorial, and usually stay within a certain range and don't wander out of it unless they're sick/can't get food for some reason. Think of how your typical outdoor-housecat will wander around the neighborhood a certain distance around their house... Cougars behave much like that, they're just more likely to attack a person that our furry friends! Locals should be able to give you ideas of where not to hike to avoid Cougars.
Mule deer and White tailed deer are basically the same for your touring America concerns-- they both wander into roads and get hit a lot. The average American probably wouldn't know the difference between the two tbh. Like the video said, being more aware at night and during dawn/dusk while driving is how you prevent hitting a deer. Also, while they typically aren't aggressive, you don't want to approach deer because they carry ticks. My family used to feed the deer that lived around my house- until on of the ticks I found on me gave me Lyme. Deer are non aggressive but that doesn't mean they can't kill you multiple other ways.
The video doesn't go into Moose very thoroughly, so as someone who grew up in Moose country I want to give one of the most important tips that I was ever given with a quick story:
So I drive a big truck with a grille guard on it, and I was told when I started driving that (for my case), if I was going to hit a deer to just hit it- because the truck was big enough, and the grille guard would vaporize it. Swerving to avoid would have me hitting a tree possibly instead/ and you never want to take your chances with a tree.... I would be better off paying for any damage to my truck than paying the hospital bills AND for my truck if I swerved. On the other hand, I was also told this at the same time:
"If there's a Moose on the road, you take your chance with the tree- because the tree will be much more forgiving than the Moose".
If a Moose goes through your windshield you are dead. And if by some chance you're not dead, you better hope the Moose is, because you'll be dead VERY quickly if it's not.
Moose are temperamental, territorial, and not afraid of anything. If you see a Moose, even if it's at a distance- you leave the area. For all you know, there could be a calf nearby/ and if there is that makes a cow much more deadly. Keep in mind, that Moose are prey animals- for that reason alone they are overly aggressive to anything that approaches. Best not to linger, even if you think you're far enough away.
He really just called Maryland Mary-Land haha
...And kept showing Elk when he brought up the Moose, they're two different animals lol
14:18 to 14:21 you can see they're different. The first one is a moose, second one is an Elk
A good friend of mine and I were out Pheasant hunting in eastern South Dakota and were stalked by a Cougar. Near the end of the circuit of the public hunting area we were walking around we came upon Cougar tracks. My buddy was a Game, Fish, and Parks Ranger and wanted to follow the tracks to see where the animal was going. Mostly because he wanted to see if we could get a photo of the animal as it wasn't supposed to be that far east. We followed it, and found it was following another set of tracks. It took us a couple minutes, but we realized that the cougar tracks were following OUR tracks from when we had started walking around the public hunting area.
We turned around and hightailed it back to our car.
Same sort of thing happened to me when out hiking. Happened to look down, seen the cougar track right in the middle of my boot tread going the same direction I had gone.
And from that point in I never go out into the mountains without my sidearm, probably shouldn't have gone without it before either.
Northern Indiana here, we have rattlesnakes, water moccasins, Bobcats, mountain lions have been seen,coyotes and timber wolves have also been seen roaming.
This made me chuckle a bit. I grew up in norther Colorado in the '60's and '70's and my brothers and friends and I used to catch rattle snakes and black widow spiders for fun and keep them as pets... at least until our parents found out about them. The thing about any deadly creature is that you must know their strengths and limitations as well as your own and always use caution with them. The snakes are tasty treats if prepared properly and the spiders are fun to watch and feed.
I have seen the following animals in the wild... Brown Bears, Black Bears, Elks, Deer, Bisons, Grey Wolves, Black Widows, Alligators and Rattlesnake.
Hi, Courtney :)
My brother used to live in a rural area of central Northern California. He's had encounters with snakes, tarantulas, coyotes, yellowjackets, and when he moved to Missouri, an alligator snapping turtle showed up in his driveway.
Deer have walked on to his property, but they got scared off by the floodlights outside.
We live nine miles from a major city in Minnesota. On a winter morning, we have found cougar tracks in our backyard. We also have coyotes quite a bit.
I live in Northern California (SF Bay Area) and belong to a hiking group that does 10 mile day hikes in some of the most beautiful places around here. I am also an Army vet with medical training, carry a first aid and snake bite kit, and act as a sweeper in the back of the group (up to 40 people) with a radio to keep in touch with the hike leader.
RATTLE SNAKES- They are masters of camouflage and often hard to see even when looking right at them. I have only seen three in my 10 years of hiking. Two were pointed out by others and the third was 'pointed out' by an agitated cow. We stay on the trail and I recommend everyone use a hiking stick to sweep the brush and leaves around you if you have to use the 'facilities'.
MOUNTAIN LIONS- I was hiking in the back of the group and spotted a Cougar up high in the bushes above the trail on a busy, popular park, just watching people go by, as cats do. I was far from the group and he could have been on me in seconds but I made eye contact and showed him my stick. I caught up with the group and he followed us for half a mile and got bored. Most attacks have been on (smaller) female joggers and cyclist because cats like to chase and pounce. They all survived by using their bikes, etc. as shields and standing up to them. They were all surprised because they were wearing ear pods and running alone early morning or evening, when the low light gives the hunter an advantage.
COYOTES- are everywhere, usually shy, small dogs scrounging for food. Unlike Mountain Lions, who like all cats are shy about going to the bathroom and will hide their poop (to mask their presence from prey), Coyotes, like all dogs go wherever they want. Unlike domestic dog poop, Coyotes eat their prey (squirrels, rabbit's, etc.) whole and poop out the stuff that their stomachs can't digest namely bone calcium and fur, so if you see a white, furry poop, it's most likely a Coyote or other wild dog.
Some of our hikers (from other countries or city people) are surprised when they see the signs posted about the animal dangers in the parks near our homes. I remind them that they are OUTSIDE where animals roam and they were here first until we encroached on their habitats. Use common sense, don't go alone, and clean up your trash.
PS. I always wear a hat because the only critters I fear are the ticks that repel out the trees and in to your hair. HAPPY HIKING.
They failed to mention that moose are excellent swimmers and will dive to feed on water plants. So it's completely possible to run into a moose while underwater. Side note: orcas consider moose prey.
Yep, when you are out hiking in the US, you have to watch out for those wild beers!
Back in the late 80s, I spent a semester on the team caring for the school mascot, a cougar named Shasta. She was trained follow the team around campus for exercise (but always on leashes). From her body posture and the direction of her ears, so always seemed more interested in me than even in the guys who raised from a cub.
I have seen moose, bears and rattlesnakes in the wild, and I have heard a cougar while backpacking in New Mexico. Problems with wildlife are rare and usually can be avoided with some skill, experience and common sense.
I live here in California on the east side of the Sacramento valley just up into the foothills. Rattlesnakes and black widows are very common here. I tend to not even think about black widows because they keep to themselves and are very shy. They have a distinct web that no other spider in this area has. Rattlesnakes on the other hand tend to be a problem in the summertime. You never know when you're going to run across one. It's best to carry a flashlight with you after dark. I do have a early warning system for rattlesnakes. They're called Moluccan cockatoos. I have them outdoors during the summer. They have keen eyesight and can spot a rattlesnakes well before I do.
NGL, her shock at deer being #3 is hilarious to me - as an American, and as someone who's been around whitetail deer my whole life, I take for granted that most people around the world only have knowledge of them from Disney movies.
At work in Wisconsin a few years ago I opened up a new ream of copy paper and found a squished and dried out scorpion. They are not native here. We have bears, wolves, reports of cougars with at least one official capture. Wisconsin rattle snake. An Elk reintroduction program. Sometimes some Moose will travel across the border from upper Michigan from their reintroduction program. Coyote. That's about it. Nothing that seeks out people. But regardless when I'm out in the national forests I bring a hiking stick for stability and protection.
My little sister got bit by a black widow 3 times when she was 3 years old. This film crew from Australia even came and interviewed my family a few years later for a nature show and we were on TV haha.
I live in Northern California.. we have at least 3 rattlesnakes a year during the summer. We have mountain lions in our area. Last week one got our neighbors chickens. One also walked outside our gate to the neighbors garage and greeted him, then walked off. So we are very careful and armed when out on our property.. We keep our dogs near as well.. it's just part of living in the country..
Something to think about with the rattlesnake, some have learned not to rattle because some people hunt them using the rattle sound and the snakes are learning not to announce themselves anymore; they just strike.
As a native Floridian, I have always been aware of the numerous deadly creatures in the state, including alligators, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlers, water moccasins (another snake), brown recluse spiders, sharks, and off the southern coast, crocodiles. You learn the rules pretty quickly growing up here: don't stand close to the water's edge, don't wade through tall grass, don't stick your hand in dark spaces.
Never once had any issues with gators. Been fishing numerous times with gators sunning on the bank 30 or so yards away. Of course that doesn’t mean you can approach one although my guess is it would simply scamper into the water if you tried to. The one thing you absolutely do not want to do and this goes for most animals, don’t pick up their young. Momma gator isn’t going to take kindly to that.
@@chrissede2270 Generally speaking, it's not the ones you can see you have to worry about, it's the ones you can't see because they are under the surface. I've been fishing many times myself, but if I see those eyes or that ridge on the back, I pack it in for the day.
Hello. I live in Canada. When out hunting or just going through the woods, seeing these animals in their natural habitat is awe-inspiring.
I have seen film from a national park were a bear swatted a car. The claws left 6 slash marks in the sheet metal, cut right through the body like it was a canvas tent. That's why it's hard to kill them, that thick coat, fat layer and massive muscles makes it difficult to get a bullet into a vital organ. There was a story in Outdoor Life years ago about a moose collision. When they found the wreck, they determined the car went around a corner hitting the moose, the moose rolled over and the hoofs went through the windshield impaling the driver in the head, killing him instantiatly.
cougars generally rely on ambush attacks. Since broken teeth or jaws from something like a deer kicking it, could cause it to be unable to eat or hunt, and it would starve to death. They are about the size of an adult human, so they don't usually risk a direct confrontation or a group of humans, because the risk to themselves is too great.
Rattle snakes rattlrs if wet for a long time may not sound as they rattle. Most are in areas that are farly dry climate. This mostly happens when long rains that last several days. I have watched the rattles move with no sound.
I live in Montana, and we have bears, deer, moose, cougars and wolves around here. The deer simply walk around my town like they own the place, but there's about one car vs. deer collision per week in the county. Moose are NOT to be messed with under any circumstances, they are monstrous and fast as lightning.
When I visit relatives back in Pennsylvania I always worry about hitting deer especially at night. They live in the woods there but cross streets all the time. Moose really scare me. They’re antisocial creatures and will charge and kick you so don’t go near them. Mountain lions scare me the most. They’re so quiet and fast you could be hiking and never know they’re around. Bears tend to avoid humans and black bears will usually run away but grizzlies are something else. They’re mostly in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming and some other northern states. They’re huge. But they’re usually way out in the wilderness though. Some of the pictures were showing elk when they were talking about moose. Weird. Good reaction Courtney.
I live outside Houston, Tx in the country.
I carry a firearm when walking my property because we have herds of wild hogs, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, deer, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth and coral snakes. We also have black widows and brown recluses.
I almost lost my pinky finger to a brown recluse bite and my best friend had 2 necrotic areas in his armpit removed from brown recluse spider bite.
Always keep one eye and ear open.
When I lived in New Jersey, a black bear was in our front yard for an hour before wandering off
I worked for a state park for a few summers and timber rattlesnakes were fairly common. One day, I was cutting wood and lifted up one of the logs only to have a rattler staring back at me. I've never frozen in fear like that in my life 😂
Alligators are found in all of the Gulf coast states from Florida to Texas. Rattlesnakes have the most fatalities but there are 3 other venomous species of snakes found in the U.S.: coral snake, copperhead & water moccasin or cottonmouth. I grew up in east Texas & have lived in Idaho for the past 25 yrs. In Idaho we have black bears, cougars, wolves, coyotes, & wolverines. I have found where cougars have used a couple of my trees near my dogs' fenced yard for scratching posts. Besides the bull shark our oceans have great white, tiger, great hammerhead plus other sharks.
K. I know I am just a Canadian, but you may want to look up what we have up here. We have everything from scorpions and rattlesnakes to wolves, cougars, polar bears, moose, bison and everything in between. We had a very angry cow moose in our neighbourhood last spring that was the meanest thing I have ever come across. She stayed for a few weeks, then moved on, but everyone kept a very close eye on her and let everyone know where abouts she was. Anyone with dogs had to really watch out because she would charge them ... with or without people on the end of the dog's leash.
You might want to steer clear of my state, we have occasional (usually migrating) mountain lions (cougars), some fine little scorpions, a lot of brown recluse spiders, a decent supply of black widows, bison, multiple varieties of rattlesnakes, a small grey wolf population, a lot of deer, and thats just our dangerous animals from this list. [And in case you're wondering, I'm from Oklahoma]
But we have a lot of nice things too.
I live in north Texas, and some of the rattlesnakes here have developed the habit to NOT rattle, because if there are nearby wild boar, they will trample the snake. You have to be incredibly careful when moving through tall grasses or going near woodpiles, because rattlesnakes won't always warn you that they are there.
I've come in to contact with many Rattlesnakes in South Texas, most of the time they spot you first and the rattle is really loud.
In Georgetown Texas I was driving home from work one night and had a deer pass so close in front of my truck that I definitely puckered up.
As a U.S. resident living on the east coast, where things like coyotes, bears, etc are common, the general rule of thumb is 1. maintain a respectful distance (I'd say 3 meters roughly).
2. never ever go near the babies, just because you can't see Momma doesn't mean she's not there.
3. never turn your back or run from a large animal unless you're absolutely sure it has either left the area or you have enough space between you and it that you can safely move away; It is very likely they will be much faster than you and will either trample you until they're positive you've stopped breathing, or they will shred you into tiny pieces and eat you.
I'm from Michigan we have mountain lions, bears, bison, rattlesnakes, wolves, moose, and All kinds of deers, black widows and brown recluses, we also have some weird coyote dog hybrid, and probably way more than even I know for sure
I'm from Kentucky and I live near the mountains. Yeah we rarely see cougars but it happens. Best way to survive an attack from them is to keep facing it, walk backwards slowly, scream and throw stuff at it. They are actually big babies and you may just have stubbed upon its den
I live in AZ. Those Bark scorpions are no joke. They are super aggressive and show up everywhere. We would find them all over the place at my dad's house. Even in the shower. Cool thing is how they will glow when hit with a black-light. We each had a small flashlight with a filter and would check out our beds and rooms before going to sleep each night. We couldn't go more than a week or two without seeing one.
I live in New Hampshire. We have a lot of moose. I remember one time on my driveway there was a large 7-8 ft moose just sitting there at the junction of my driveway and two roads holding traffic. They are VERY dangerous in the winter with snow. They are already fast animals when sprinting but compared to humans in the snow, it's even worse off. They don't really lose speed in snow because of how large they are. New Hampshire is more of a country-ish state. especially the north country (along Canadian border). I know of a few people involved in moose attacks when snowmobiling and I know of a couple who had to draw their weapons (only had for moose defense) and shoot to save themselves. Moose are no joke at all.
by the way, there's cougars all over California although we usually call the mountain lions. they are normally shy of people.
The problem is that our pets look like lunch to them. My old girlfriend once spotted a cougar watching her from a bank above the fire road near her house in the Hollywood Hills when she was walking a golden retriever.
If she had been walking a corgi, she might've been in trouble - or, more likely, the dog would've been. As it was, she just backed away slowly keeping her eye on it to let it know she saw it, and headed home.
attacks are very rare - if there are repeated attacks, or if they get a human, animal services will try to track them down, tranquilize them, and move them to a wilderness area.
Hi Courtney, just found ya. I'm currently in rural central Wisconsin and we have Black Bears & Wolfs that prey upon Deer (and out pets 😔), Black Widow and Brown Recluse in our basements, Timber Rattlers in our woods and every once in a while a Cougar visits. But as the wonderfully voiced stated, Deer are by far the most dangerous.
That said its extremely rare to encounter any of these animals while hiking. Mosquitoes and Ticks are what you need to watch for in the Midwest. Wear boots or thick shoes to prevent bites from the ground, cover as much skin as you can to prevent bites from above and a hat to keep your head shaded. If you've hiked in Australia, you should be well prepared for North America.
Cheers 🤘🏼
There is also a FL. golf course that has several bull sharks that ended up stuck in the course water traps. Talk about a real hazard that's one set of water traps where even the most expensive of golf balls is not worth attempting to see if retrieval is possible.
Mosquitoes and ticks also carry severe diseases in fl. Most things here will either eat you or make you seriously sick. Apparently we now have snails that are carrying a pretty nasty disease. And dont get me started on the water that at times has red alge or micro organisms, beach and fresh water. It's not just the animals you have to watch out for here. I keep hearing that florida is the Australia of America. Which I guess since I'm from Florida I'm used to all the deadly things we have here. Oh and our weather is nasty with hurricanes, water spouts, tornados, severe thunderstorms, our heat and humidity and etc. Just check whatever area you go hiking with the local info. And when you get there ask local hikers they are usually nice and helpful for newbies.
I can attest to the brown recluse spider. I have been through two surgeries, and have missed a month and a half of work because of a bite on my ankle. Always check your shoes, before putting them on.
I live in the Alaskan panhandle and here we have black bears all over. Although I have occasionally seen them from a distance in the woods or along the roads, they often come into my city and go through peoples trash cans. One night as I was taking out my trash, I opened the dumpster to find a juvenile black bear in the dumpster looking back at me. My first thought was that since it was a young bear, the mother was likely in the vicinity as well. (Mother bears can become quite vicious when protecting their young.) I quickly ran back inside with trash bags still in tow and waited until daylight the following day to try again. (It should be noted that when people in my area go hiking, it is not uncommon for one or more hikers in the group to carry a "bear gun" for protection. A high caliber handgun in a chest holster is typical.)
I've had a few random encounters with some of these, especially deer. A little common sense and keeping a cool head goes a long way towards staying safe.
Gators are found pretty much in all the southeastern coastal states... but most gator encounters happen when you are walking along a waterway and see one basking on the shore, which means they are lethargic and not very likely to attack even if they wanted to, so you can easily just walk away.
I live in a suburb of Detroit and we have a few deer habitats near our house. Seeing a deer grazing outside your window is common. You have to be mindful of them when driving through the neighborhood. I almost had a collision with one myself.
Yes, I've seen or encountered many of these, and some not mentioned...I'm in the Southern USA. When we cleared our land for our current house, we disturbed a black widow colony....the land had been untouched for about 70 years....We saw them quite often for about 5 years after moving into our house. We also have water moccasins and copperheads on our land, which are both venomous, and my cats have dragged into the house before. I've never seen a brown recluse here, but my sister in law lives about 1 hour away and sees them often. My son almost stepped on a rattlesnake when he was 2 1/2....luckily my husband grabbed him just in time. Deer are plentiful here -- you see them all the time in your yard/woods or driving down the road....you just have to be very aware and be ready to brake. Just a short way north of us, the bears are creeping into the populated areas...they have been there anyhow, just not so brazen...People hit them with cars too (by accident). When I was 3, my family went camping and my parents didn't store our food waste properly. Me and my mom woke up in the night to a bear's head looking into our tent....my mom just signaled me to be quiet, and I was, and the bear left. We have small scorpions here that sting like a bee sting - I've learned to scan a room very quickly at certain times of the year! We don't have wolves, but do have coyotes, which also tend to have pack behavior...They were brought here as deer population control, but the problem is, we have no predator for the coyotes, so they are out of control....They live in our woods and are pretty bold. You just learn to be aware and live with it...