[SouthernFarmer]

Hey everyone, I'll make this quick, I'm looking to relocate from the mountains of NE Alabama. I've got four places I'm thinking about, and south-central Alabama is one of them. Covington County, specifically, i.e. around Andalusia, AL (or Onycha, or Babbie, or Sanford, or basically anywhere else in the east-central part of the county).

I'm allergic to flying, stinging critters - like hornets, bees, wasps, yellowjackets, etc. - as in if I get stung and don't have an Epi-Pen to jamb into my leg, I'm going to meet Jesus.

I know it might sound trivial to some, but this is a big deal for me, so before I pick up and invest all my savings in moving, I want to make sure I'm not moving out of the frying pan and into the fire (we have a serious red wasp problem in this area, as in, dozens if not hundreds of them doing dive-bomb attacks as you walk from your house to your car, or step out on your front porch).

So- do you folks down in south-central Alabama have tons of flying stinging things coming out now that the weather is warm? I know that there are wasps and hornets everywhere, all 50 states, but it seems a WHOLE lot worse here than in much of the rest of the country, like North Carolina where I grew up.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

-----
P.S. - and while I'm at it, I might as well ask, is there anything else that people routinely are killed by while out in their backyards, i.e. large populations of venomous snakes?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by SouthernFarmer

P.S. - and while I'm at it, I might as well ask, is there anything else that people routinely are killed by while out in their backyards, i.e. large populations of venomous snakes?

The most dangerous animal is someone else's dog.

[Southlander]

Why yes, there is something else that could kill you. Fire ants. You DON"T want to happen to fall in one of their mounds...or stand in one. Fire ants are all over Alabama, but they do seem to be worse from about the middle of the state south to the gulf.

[Piney Woodsman]

Truly, fire ants are nothing to trifle with, especially if you suspect that you are allergic. I responded to your stinging insect and snake concerns in the Mississippi forum; the information should be virtually as applicable to Covington County, though I would add that a good friend who used to live in the woods there encountered some memorably outsized rattlesnakes and still likes to tell about them.