Tennessee

My family and I live in Illinois. Never lived anywhere else. We're considering moving somewhere more warm.
We've started looking at the chattanooga tn area. Land is so cheap and we're hoping to have a large property with no neighbors, and our small farm.
My problem is:
All I can think about are BEARS 😱
The feed and chickens would attract them right? Are horses and goats and pigs safe?
And the snakes 🥺
Is there safer land to look for?
How do you protect yourselves from these things on a farm? What should we expect? I'm sure my imagination is way worse than the real thing. Can you help me get a grasp of the real thing? Thank you!
 
I'll let the folks closer to that area respond to how many bears are in the area as I don't know. But to protect your birds from bears you need a really hot energizer (2 joule) and good electric fencing. Do a search on bears over in the predator section and there's lots of good information. The key to bears and snakes is they want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them.

I don't have bears here, but I'm told they're moving my direction. None-the-less I don't go out on property without being armed. Bugs and critters are part of country living.
 
I'll let the folks closer to that area respond to how many bears are in the area as I don't know. But to protect your birds from bears you need a really hot energizer (2 joule) and good electric fencing. Do a search on bears over in the predator section and there's lots of good information. The key to bears and snakes is they want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them.

I don't have bears here, but I'm told they're moving my direction. None-the-less I don't go out on property without being armed. Bugs and critters are part of country living.
Thank you for your response!
You don't go out on your property without being armed? Do you just conceal carry everywhere or are you that concerned? I've got kids, and I want them to have the country lifestyle I grew up with in Illinois, minus the below freezing temps. I'd hate to think it'd be dangerous for them to play in the yard and explore. But I'll keep researching so I don't go into it with unrealistic expectations. To be fair, I looked up the snakes in Illinois and all kinds of poisonous ones popped up that I've NEVER come across lol So hopefully that's the same for Tennessee. How do you feel about where you live? Nashville was another we were looking at. Any other tips or suggestions for your area?
 
Thank you for your response!
You don't go out on your property without being armed? Do you just conceal carry everywhere or are you that concerned? I've got kids, and I want them to have the country lifestyle I grew up with in Illinois, minus the below freezing temps. I'd hate to think it'd be dangerous for them to play in the yard and explore. But I'll keep researching so I don't go into it with unrealistic expectations. To be fair, I looked up the snakes in Illinois and all kinds of poisonous ones popped up that I've NEVER come across lol So hopefully that's the same for Tennessee. How do you feel about where you live? Nashville was another we were looking at. Any other tips or suggestions for your area?
I live on over 100 acres... when I go to the barn or locally around the house I don't go armed. when I go beyond the defined living spaces I do and I open carry. Look closely at terrain as you choose. I live on the side of a mountain so nothing is flat. My driveway is at 300' elevation, my house is 650' and the top of my property is 1019'. Then down the backside I bump up to the Cumberland river. Most of the things you're worried about will avoid you or run from you if given a chance. What part of IL did you grow up in? My dad grew up in Bush. I grew up in Northern Indiana between Hammond and Gary. But I've lived around the world.
 
My family and I live in Illinois. Never lived anywhere else. We're considering moving somewhere more warm.
We've started looking at the chattanooga tn area. Land is so cheap and we're hoping to have a large property with no neighbors, and our small farm.
My problem is:
All I can think about are BEARS 😱
The feed and chickens would attract them right? Are horses and goats and pigs safe?
And the snakes 🥺
Is there safer land to look for?
How do you protect yourselves from these things on a farm? What should we expect? I'm sure my imagination is way worse than the real thing. Can you help me get a grasp of the real thing? Thank you!
Hello from Delano TN! We live about 42 miles NE of Chattanooga about 1.5 miles from the Cherokee National Forest. We have been here for 20 years and I have yet to see a bear. If you click on my Location you can see where we are in respect to Chattanooga and the forest to the east. Bears are found more on the east side of our county near the NC border. Occasionally they venture into and around some of the campgrounds in the forest. I have hiked the whole county several times and have yet to come across a bear. However the predators you would have to probably deal with would be coons, coyotes, opossums, hawks and dogs. There is a lot of farm area in this area and land is fairly cheap compared to the rest of the country. We LOVE it here. Lots of space and no traffic!
 
Last edited:
I'll let the folks closer to that area respond to how many bears are in the area as I don't know. But to protect your birds from bears you need a really hot energizer (2 joule) and good electric fencing. Do a search on bears over in the predator section and there's lots of good information. The key to bears and snakes is they want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them.

I don't have bears here, but I'm told they're moving my direction. None-the-less I don't go out on property without being armed. Bugs and critters are part of country living.
I live on over 100 acres... when I go to the barn or locally around the house I don't go armed. when I go beyond the defined living spaces I do and I open carry. Look closely at terrain as you choose. I live on the side of a mountain so nothing is flat. My driveway is at 300' elevation, my house is 650' and the top of my property is 1019'. Then down the backside I bump up to the Cumberland river. Most of the things you're worried about will avoid you or run from you if given a chance. What part of IL did you grow up in? My dad grew up in Bush. I grew up in Northern Indiana between Hammond and Gary. But I've lived around the world.
These are the things I need to learn. In Illinois we don't describe things with elevation 😄 is all flat here. I assume being near a mountain and water and hilly land with, I assume, trees would attract all the large animals. So flat land with less trees and no water would hopefully be less desirable for all the animals I'm worried about? I'm in Northern Illinois. I haven't heard of Bush. But I know Gary!
 
Hello from Delano TN! We live about 42 miles NE of Chattanooga about 1.5 miles from the Cherokee National Forest. We have been here for 20 years and I have yet to see a bear. If you click on my Location you can see where we are in respect to Chattanooga and the forest to the east. Bears are found more on the east side of our county near the NC border. Occasionally they venture into and around some of the campgrounds in the forest. I have hiked the whole county several times and have yet to come across a bear. However the predators you would have to probably deal with would be coons, coyotes, opossums, hawks and dogs. There is a lot of farm area in this area and land is fairly cheap compared to the rest of the country. We LOVE it here. Lots of space and no traffic!
Thank you! That's very encouraging! We actually have raccoons, hawks, opossums, fox, raccoons, and even eagles here so those are devils I'm familiar with. Are there a lot of stray dogs? I want to hike and bring our dogs but what I read about bears scared me from that 😳😄 i want to get a huge property and create our own personal paths and ride horses, but if there's bears, I'm imagining not wanting to use the paths lol but you guys are really comforting me.
 
Thank you! That's very encouraging! We actually have raccoons, hawks, opossums, fox, raccoons, and even eagles here so those are devils I'm familiar with. Are there a lot of stray dogs? I want to hike and bring our dogs but what I read about bears scared me from that 😳😄 i want to get a huge property and create our own personal paths and ride horses, but if there's bears, I'm imagining not wanting to use the paths lol but you guys are really comforting me.
If it helps, I used to play in the upper peninsula of Michigan, a place loaded with Bear. When I was out walking I rarely ever saw one. In fact about the only time I've seen them up close was when someone left food outside for them.
 
That really does help. I just need to get a feel of what to truly expect. So far I've been reading the rare horror stories 😱 so I need to not be an extremist lol So do you think dogs would attract bears or deter them? Or irrelevant?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom