Tom I'll do the short answer on Keeping the Dogs Safe for the longer version there are threads that can be searched
Gators stop eating when the water temperature drops below 70 That's a pure and simple biological fact they don't eat cause they're don't need to Gator ranches would love it if this weren't true cause it would save them money not having to climate control their growing houses For sure you'll hear about them eating a duck once in awhile but that's not that common, the prey is small and usually so is the gator it happens more often the further South you go and when the weather is warm for a long time causing those big shallow hydrilla flats, and the gators on them, to warm up It's not a regular thing
I started hunting when I was 12 that was 50 years ago I hunted with a man that hunted with a dog those first years My brother got a dog when I was 15 and I got my first one when I was 18 Everyone of my friends that I hunted regularly with had dogs I figure that conservatively including myself and all my friends that I have hunted with that we have some 5K man days hunting Florida in Gator habitat and during that period of time not only have I never had a gator incident none of my friends have and none of personally knows anyone that has HAve any of us seen Gators close to the decoys SURE but that doesn't mean that the gator was looking to eat the dog You'll hear people say "I HEARD about this, or that dog getting eaten" but I've yet to ever talk to a person that has PERSONALLY seen a dog taken with his own eyes It's always fourth or fifth hand when you hear it I've even asked outright on Florida hunting website for FIRST HAND ACCOUNTs and the silence when asking that is deafening
The further South you go the more likely it would be to happen but you might recall just recently the story about the Chessie that spent five nights lost in the Lake Okeechobee marshes, marshes that are full of Gators, when it wasn't cold, without getting eaten to me that wasn't a surprise Wasn't the guts and determination of the dog that saved him from the gators it was BIOLOGY
Has it happened? I'm sure it has but like I said with the Shark thing there are far more dangerous things lurking out there that the people that let Gators spook them seem to never think about (My period key isn't working if anyone is wondering about the lack of punctuation) ICE, HYPOTHERMIA, VEHICLE ACCIDENTS, FALLING OUT OF BOATS, PROPELLERS, BODY GRIP TRAPS, BEING RUN OVER IN THE PARKING LOT, ACCIDENTALLY SHOT would be a few examples, (and unlike Gators I personally know of dogs that have suffered each and everyone of those)
There are things I do to lessen the small chance something might happen but honestly, based on fifty years of experience Gators truly are the "monster in the closet" The closet that proves to be empty once you open the door and look inside
As someone said Snakes are likely a bigger worry because they will strike out of defense and because they are hungry warm sunny days after cold spells puts them in the need to sun to warm up in our marshes that usually means they'll be up on big cattail islands which is where the cripples want to go THAT I worry about Gators I'm aware of and make allowances for but they aren't going to keep me from hunting a dog
I said this was the short answer Imagine if I had posted the long one?
Steve
