I'm going to quote Ray Jardine on two points in a sec. But that is a point in itself, he has 25000 miles of hiking experience, so he is an "expert", but I hunt, live on property with bears, wolves, etc... And the main point is I have to quote Jardine, because these animals never mess with me, and for the most part are invisible. Side story to that though, is I saw more animals in a week in Florida, including more dangerous ones, than in 52 years in Canada....

Jardines claims the snake sleeping with you is a myth, has never happened to him, and until his recent bout with lime disease, he has pretty much always slept under a tarp where animals have open access to him. He claims snakes are for the most part working at night, not looking for somewhere to sleep, and he further claims they would see you as a large hot spot/potential predator, so seeing you as a warm blob, far from seeming attractive would be like you have some special capacity to identify 500 pound gorillas, next move is to try to sleep with one? Jardine currently lives in Arizona, and has worked extensively in California.

Jardine claims bears have only been a problem for him in the Smokies where they behave like advanced racoons. They will dash away with your pack if you put it down. In the main, and this is my experience, he never has problems with them because he does not sleep at established camps. He says that is the only place where they are habituated to humans (or at least that and any similar place, but not the general outdoors). Obviously at a set campground, there will be a bear policy, so they will tell you what to do, and if you are stealthing, you probably don't have to worry. Jardine sleeps with his pack of food next to him, even in bear country. He uses a tarp which he believes is better because you can see what is going on, more easily withdraw, and if a bear wants to grab your food in some freak encounter, he can just take it out from under the edge of the tarp. While I use a tent, I have had the same experience. Racoons will go after packs outside the tent, so I bring it in. Bears show up only once in a blue moon. The way bears (blacks) are hunted is by baiting them. They can be stalked, but for the most part in any kind of cover, the only way you will get them into shooting distance is with bait. You can even bait them on a single go with smudges of bacon fat, and this is in the wilds, no habituated bears. So cooking and food are your main deal. If you want to cook bacon, probably a good idea to stop for dinner before you camp. Even though the US is full of blackies, for the most part hunters will still travel to the north woods, Canada, or the west to get into trophy situations.

Final Jardine thing is the lyme disease. Ticks are probably one of the most actually dangerous pests. They carry an increasing variety of novel, and fatal diseases. Hard to diagnose. I would put most of my concern in that kind of area.

Alligator is the only animal that has actually attacked me (other than dogs, which are my biggest problem by far), and that was in the desert backcountry of Myaka park. They are scary to me, because in their mind we are diffidently on the menu. My experience aside, I would 1) watch out coming down to water. This is their ambush point, but more important it is probably the only place where they would seriously grab you, kill you, and stuff you under a log (or have that in mind). I assume the alligator I ran into just wanted to bite and run. 2) In places where they are common, they are everywhere. You will catch yourself seeing them really close in, when you first missed them. Generally they aren't a problem, but there are so many of them in some places it would be easy to wander onto one of them.

While encounters with animals are rare, what should you do when you make an encounter: 1) don't behave like a tourist, all large animals are dangerous, someone was recently run through by a goat. Don't close the distance with a camera, frontally, that is aggressive behaviour. Either sneak and flank, which is predatory, or stay well back. 2) The marine maxim of being polite and professional with everyone you meet while formulating a plan to kill them should it be required, is good advice. Most of these species are on the human kill list. Most of them wouldn't give an aggressive 40 pound dog pause. Many of these animals are killed in the hundreds of thousands by archers every year. That is the power of a pointy stick and a strong right arm.