The waters between Florida and several Caribbean countries are used as highways for a variety of unsavory characters, including drug runners and human traffickers. Getting kidnapped, robbed or killed are very real dangers in the aqua blue Caribbean waters.
Florida's Everglades can offer some unique hunting and fishing experiences, but be sure to do your homework when choosing a guide. No one wants to become their own gator bait. Photo: david berkowitz
The deep, lush forest of Northern California has more than a few hazards, where marijuana growing is a big business. One moment you are following a game trail, then it hits a foot path and the next thing you know you're standing in the middle of "Green Acres," many of which are guarded by man-made traps and armed thugs.
The whole of Appalachia used to be relatively safe for hunting, fishing and camping, until the meth shacks started popping up everywhere. The frequency of this illegal activity, and the boldness of the perpetrators, make it dangerous to head back into an unknown hollow to check out the wildlife. Keep your eyes peeled for people who "don't belong" in the woods and don't get too nosey around shacks, barns or other structures that could house a meth lab.
These fickle waters contain some monstrous fish, but they also claim a lot of lives. Ice fishing dangers include falling through the ice, and carbon monoxide poisoning from poorly ventilated ice-fishing huts. Make sure the ice is thick enough, your hut is properly vented and don't push your luck too far into the spring thaw. During open-water season, always keep an eye on the weather–epic storms can pop up here in a heartbeat.
You may get more than you bargain for when hunting or fishing in the South Texas desert near the Mexico border. Drug runners and other dangerous characters abound, hiding in the guise of simple border crossers. Bring your buddies for safety in numbers, and remember what your mama said–don't talk to strangers.
Forget the rattlesnakes–heat stroke and dehydration are much more likely to kill you in the hottest and driest place in the United States. The Death Valley area is located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the arid Great Basin. Mostly in California, with a small extension into Nevada, this rugged desert regularly climbs above 100 °F during the summer months. Despite the name and the weather, Death Valley does boast a wide assortment of wildlife including big horn sheep, quail and coyotes. But with summer temps in the deadly range, you might want to limit your excursions to the cooler morning and evening hours.
The hunting for roe deer, caribou and brown bear and fishing for big salmon here is the stuff of legend. But on the flip side, the remote nature of the hunting and fishing grounds, and the intense cold for most of the year, pose real danger of getting lost, running out of supplies and developing hypothermia.
There are dozens of ways to be taken out of the game in the Amazon, especially during the wet seasons. Snakes, bugs, bandits, disease, drowning, jaguars, piranhas, tiny fish that swim up your urethra, the list goes on and on. In this diverse and treacherous ecosystem, the best investment you can make is a trustworthy guide who knows each of the hazards.
You will find polar bears here, but you'll also find conditions so cold that they could kill a man in minutes. Hunting and fishing around and above the Arctic Circle has sustained Native peoples like the Inuit for centuries. There is much more life at the North Pole than the South Pole, and all that life means two things–food chains and predators. While freezing solid should be your chief concern, the polar bears should not be forgotten about. Photo: Connormah
Yes, you can catch a wide variety of fish in the bays and estuaries of northeastern Australia. But these waters are also home to some of the most deadly aquatic life known to man. The blue-ringed octopus has no known antidote to its poison. The Chinaman fish has a sickening poison that can strike years after mistakenly eating the fish. And then there is the dreaded "sea wasp", a.k.a. the box jellyfish, which is nearly as toxic as the blue-ringed octopus. These jellies can lead to drowning due to the pain incurred from their stings, or death from anaphylactic shock caused by their poison. Add in the toxic stonefish, sting-rays, many poisonous sea snakes and the huge salt water crocs, and you've got to be one very tough and vigilant angler if you plan a fishing trip to Oz. Photo: jemasmith
This former Soviet state boasts great hunting. The Argali sheep are one of the top big game animals in Kyrgyzstan, along with many other Eastern European favorites like boar, bear and deer. Now for the bad news. The State Department suggests that U.S. citizens stay away from K-stan, where political and ethnic violence is very common and tensions are high. And, as you hunt somewhere off the beaten path, remember that land mines in Batken Oblast and near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border will continue to be a concern for decades.
Any nation described as the 'rape capital of the world' should be a destination where you take extra precautions. Another bad statistic for South Africa is its very high murder rate. While there are great safari companies a few hours' drive outside the cities, crime is everywhere. Even farmers are murdered at higher rates than in other countries. If the violence wasn't spooky enough, more than 10 million people in South Africa are infected with HIV. They don't advertise that in the safari brochures.
This small, densely populated nation west of Tanzania has some giant problems, despite being filled with big game. A civil war between Hutus and Tutsis tore the country apart between 1993 and 2006. A ceasefire was declared, however violence still continues. The country cannot keep a leader for long, and the list of assassinated leaders is extensive. The control of the nation has changed hands numerous times in the last 50 years. Crimes are committed daily by roaming gangs, some of them are even machine-gun toting children. Muggings, car jackings and kidnappings await the unprepared or unaware, so don't even stop the car for souvenirs. If you become injured, ill or get attacked while in Burundi, you need to be well trained and supplied, as local clinics have almost no resources.
This country has all of the African Big Five, and the breathtaking Victoria Falls. But with the local currency inflated over 1,000 percent, and a tyrannical leader, the financial and political climates of Zimbabwe are a train wreck. And if you do make it out of Harare, away from the stone-age airport and frequent bombings, there are some serious risks with the local wildlife, specifically the snakes–black mambas, cobras, and the puff adder. Photo: russbowling
Mozambique will be a dangerous place for a very long time. It is a country still recovering from a bloody civil war, where land mines were used indiscriminately. These deadly devices will be out there until they completely corrode or rust, which could take decades. Photo: futureatlas.com
There’s always a certain amount of risk involved in any hunting and fishing trip, but some destinations are far more dangerous than others.