You find yourself in the cretaceous

[SLD]

It seems to me that your best odds of survival are to get as high as possible. A predator is not going to climb up high to a mountain top when it has so many prey down in the valley to choose from.

Obviously an Ar-15 with a 556 round isn’t going to do much but bounce off a T Rex’s tough skin. You might get lucky with a shot to the eye. But there’s a larger more vulnerable target too. The mouth. T. rex likely attacked with its jaw agape. Shooting into the mouth might do enough damage so it would turn and run. Also remember that there are smaller predators too who could be hurt by a sufficiently powerful rifle. Plus the noise may make them run away. A rifle may also be good for hunting prey yourself.

But it’s not a hunting expedition. So maybe you just bring something to protect yourself, I.e. some kind of vehicle that predators wouldn’t see as prey. A large humvee? You could put run T. rex with one.

Let’s just say you’re only going to stay a few days to mainly observe.

 

[DBT]

A 5.56/.223 full jacket can punch holes in steel plate...It just doesn't make a big enough hole to kill quickly unless a vital spot is hit. Which may be difficult under trying circumstances.

 

[bilby]

It seems to me that your best odds of survival are to get as high as possible.

While that does sound like an excellent idea, I am not sure that recreational drug use would enhance your survival odds, regardless of their enhancing effects on the quality of your Cretaceous experience.

A predator is not going to climb up high to a mountain top when it has so many prey down in the valley to choose from.

Oh, sorry. I seem to have misinterpreted your suggestion.

 

[skepticalbip]

I think maybe you have been overly influenced by Hollywood movies. If the population distribution of animals during the Cretaceous were anything like today then apex predators would be fairly sparse. If you are only going to stay a few days then there is a very good chance that you would never see a T-Rex. Hollywood also makes the AR-15 out to be much more than it is... It certainly isn't a big game weapon. If it is the T-Rex you want to defend yourself from then a big game gun like the .700 nitro or at a bare minimum a .45-70 should be your choice.

I would suggest you bring plenty beans and rice since the edibility of any vegetation would be unknown.

 

[Treedbear]

I think maybe you have been overly influenced by Hollywood movies. If the population distribution of animals during the Cretaceous were anything like today then apex predators would be fairly sparse. If you are only going to stay a few days then there is a very good chance that you would never see a T-Rex. ...

There's probably a good reason that mammals never grew to human size until the dino's were out of the picture. T-Rex might be the least of your worries. At least the adult ones. They're probably after bigger prey. Or maybe they were mainly scavengers.

 

[Jayjay]

Gun or no gun, I'd be dead soon anyway. So my motivation wouldn't be survival, but revenge. I'd bring the only thing that we know can reliably kill dinosaurs: an asteroid about 15 km in diameter, hurtling towards Earth at 12 m/s.

And a cowboy hat.

 

[Politesse]

If deterrance is your genuine goal rather than hunting, then I'd still say you're better off with a noisemaking device of some kind. If a gun, a decent shotgun. You're not going to kill a pack of velociraptors singlehandely, the very idea is absurd. But you might confuse or scare them off, as you certainly aren't their usual game.

 

[Jarhyn]

If deterrance is your genuine goal rather than hunting, then I'd still say you're better off with a noisemaking device of some kind. If a gun, a decent shotgun. You're not going to kill a pack of velociraptors singlehandely, the very idea is absurd. But you might confuse or scare them off, as you certainly aren't their usual game.

Honestly, with fairly intelligent predators of literally every possible size class, I think your best bet would be to make some attempt at domestication.

The fact is, birds are really smart and social, as were a lot of those creatures of the Cretaceous. I don't think it would be impossible to be a Cretaceous "falconer", albeit with more terrestrial murder-birds.

 

[Angry Floof]

You can bring some things with you. No tank. But some small arms, AR -15 or so. Maybe some other things. How would you survive. We’ll make it North America so you have to deal with T. rex.

For some reason I thought you meant what would we take from the cretaceous, and my answer would be tyrannosaurs.

 

[bilby]

If deterrance is your genuine goal rather than hunting, then I'd still say you're better off with a noisemaking device of some kind. If a gun, a decent shotgun. You're not going to kill a pack of velociraptors singlehandely, the very idea is absurd. But you might confuse or scare them off, as you certainly aren't their usual game.

Honestly, with fairly intelligent predators of literally every possible size class, I think your best bet would be to make some attempt at domestication.

The fact is, birds are really smart and social, as were a lot of those creatures of the Cretaceous. I don't think it would be impossible to be a Cretaceous "falconer", albeit with more terrestrial murder-birds.

I don't think you're going to have much luck domesticating a cassowary, and they are herbivores. They're not very smart, and they're not at all social - and they're probably the closest analogous extant species to dinosaurs.

That said, nobody really knows. Maybe dinosaurs were mostly feathery pussycats.

 

[SLD]

Maybe you’d want an ultralight so you could fly above the predators.

 

[bilby]

Maybe you’d want an ultralight so you could fly above the predators.

Nope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur

Pterosaurs (/ˈtɛrəsɔːr, ˈtɛroʊ-/; from Greek pteron and sauros, meaning "wing lizard") were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I don't see anyone suggesting it as a hunting trip.

The issue is that there are multiple animals back there that would regard us as prey.

In modern times animals that interact with humans have generally learned not to regard us as prey--the only thing that will readily try to eat a human is a polar bear. Note how little contact polar bears have with humanity, there hasn't been time to evolve a pattern of not eating humans.

Nothing in the cretaceous will have this fear of humans, we will be evaluated only on our size--and that makes us prey to multiple carnivores. We can't run well, if you run into one of those animals and aren't armed you're lunch.

All good stuff.

Except there are several predators that will kill and eat a human as a 'target of opportunity'... most of the big cats will. The polar bear is one of the few that will actually stalk humans. Tigers also stalk humans. There are about twenty people per year that are taken by tigers just in the Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh.

There are some tigers that have learned humans can be eaten. However, for the most part we get things like was described by a hiker: She was alone on a rarely-hiked mountain and encountered a mountain lion. She quickly brought her dog in close and retreated carefully. The mountain lion followed her for a while--and she was convinced the mountain lion was trying to separate her from her dog so he could go after the dog. Mostly they regard us as other alpha predators and predators don't engage other predators at their level unless they are desperate.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I think maybe you have been overly influenced by Hollywood movies. If the population distribution of animals during the Cretaceous were anything like today then apex predators would be fairly sparse. If you are only going to stay a few days then there is a very good chance that you would never see a T-Rex. Hollywood also makes the AR-15 out to be much more than it is... It certainly isn't a big game weapon. If it is the T-Rex you want to defend yourself from then a big game gun like the .700 nitro or at a bare minimum a .45-70 should be your choice.

I would suggest you bring plenty beans and rice since the edibility of any vegetation would be unknown.

Yeah, AR-15 isn't the weapon of choice--it's basically a light hunting rifle. It's big game, you need a big ass hunting rifle.

 

[skepticalbip]

I don't see anyone suggesting it as a hunting trip.

The issue is that there are multiple animals back there that would regard us as prey.

In modern times animals that interact with humans have generally learned not to regard us as prey--the only thing that will readily try to eat a human is a polar bear. Note how little contact polar bears have with humanity, there hasn't been time to evolve a pattern of not eating humans.

Nothing in the cretaceous will have this fear of humans, we will be evaluated only on our size--and that makes us prey to multiple carnivores. We can't run well, if you run into one of those animals and aren't armed you're lunch.

All good stuff.

Except there are several predators that will kill and eat a human as a 'target of opportunity'... most of the big cats will. The polar bear is one of the few that will actually stalk humans. Tigers also stalk humans. There are about twenty people per year that are taken by tigers just in the Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh.

There are some tigers that have learned humans can be eaten. However, for the most part we get things like was described by a hiker: She was alone on a rarely-hiked mountain and encountered a mountain lion. She quickly brought her dog in close and retreated carefully. The mountain lion followed her for a while--and she was convinced the mountain lion was trying to separate her from her dog so he could go after the dog. Mostly they regard us as other alpha predators and predators don't engage other predators at their level unless they are desperate.

That story was about a North American cougar (AKA mountain lion, panther, catamount). As far as I am aware, they will take humans as 'targets of opportunity' but don't stalk humans. They will take and eat humans but incidents are about five or six per decade. Alligators, crocodiles, hyenas, lions, etc. are also opportunists that will eat humans if they have the opportunity but don't stalk us.

Tigers are another story. They learned long, long ago that humans were good to eat. We are on their menu. They, like polar bears, will stalk humans. I find conflicting numbers on the number of people eaten by tigers world wide each year but it seems to be between 60 and 90. The southern border area between India and Bangladesh seems to have the highest concentration of incidents (about 20/year) of tigers having humans for dinner. But they also happen in Sumatra, Indo-China, Siberia, etc.

ETA:
I just did a google search on this topic and found this article:

https://www.insider.com/hunt-for-indian-tiger-which-has-killed-eight-people-within-two-years

An 'intelligent' man-eating tiger that has killed its 8th victim in an Indian forest continues to evade the hunters sent to track it down

This bit in that article surprised me:
"Tigers have killed 225 people between 2014 and 2019 across India, including 31 in Maharashtra in 2020 alone."

 

[Politesse]

There are some tigers that have learned humans can be eaten. However, for the most part we get things like was described by a hiker: She was alone on a rarely-hiked mountain and encountered a mountain lion. She quickly brought her dog in close and retreated carefully. The mountain lion followed her for a while--and she was convinced the mountain lion was trying to separate her from her dog so he could go after the dog. Mostly they regard us as other alpha predators and predators don't engage other predators at their level unless they are desperate.

That story was about a North American cougar (AKA mountain lion, panther, catamount). As far as I am aware, they will take humans as 'targets of opportunity' but don't stalk humans. They will take and eat humans but incidents are about five or six per decade. Alligators, crocodiles, hyenas, lions, etc. are also opportunists that will eat humans if they have the opportunity but don't stalk us.

Tigers are another story. They learned long, long ago that humans were good to eat. We are on their menu. They, like polar bears, will stalk humans. I find conflicting numbers on the number of people eaten by tigers world wide each year but it seems to be between 60 and 90. The southern border area between India and Bangladesh seems to have the highest concentration of incidents (about 20/year) of tigers having humans for dinner. But they also happen in Sumatra, Indo-China, Siberia, etc.

Unless used as a noisemaker, a gun isn't going to help you much with a surprise tiger attack either... bullets are not magic, and even if you are very handy with a firearm, dropping a tiger before it mauls you anyway is unlikely. Your best bet would be to fire the thing into the air and start yelling up a blue streak.

Some of the folks in this thread are going to be very surprised if they ever find themselves in a real survival situation! Power fantasies aside, guns are tools, and their primary usefulness to a survivalist is for hunting, not defense. I've never been in a position to encounter a tiger, but I've dealt with bears in my time, and rattlesnakes, and canids and felids of all sizes. Never, so far, have I regretted not bringing a gun while in rough country, or even had any real problem with the above. Most things aren't out to eat you, at the end of the day.

 

[skepticalbip]

There are some tigers that have learned humans can be eaten. However, for the most part we get things like was described by a hiker: She was alone on a rarely-hiked mountain and encountered a mountain lion. She quickly brought her dog in close and retreated carefully. The mountain lion followed her for a while--and she was convinced the mountain lion was trying to separate her from her dog so he could go after the dog. Mostly they regard us as other alpha predators and predators don't engage other predators at their level unless they are desperate.

That story was about a North American cougar (AKA mountain lion, panther, catamount). As far as I am aware, they will take humans as 'targets of opportunity' but don't stalk humans. They will take and eat humans but incidents are about five or six per decade. Alligators, crocodiles, hyenas, lions, etc. are also opportunists that will eat humans if they have the opportunity but don't stalk us.

Tigers are another story. They learned long, long ago that humans were good to eat. We are on their menu. They, like polar bears, will stalk humans. I find conflicting numbers on the number of people eaten by tigers world wide each year but it seems to be between 60 and 90. The southern border area between India and Bangladesh seems to have the highest concentration of incidents (about 20/year) of tigers having humans for dinner. But they also happen in Sumatra, Indo-China, Siberia, etc.

Unless used as a noisemaker, a gun isn't going to help you much with a surprise tiger attack either... bullets are not magic, and even if you are very handy with a firearm, dropping a tiger before it mauls you anyway is unlikely. Your best bet would be to fire the thing into the air and start yelling up a blue streak.

That often works for critters that don't see you as prey or even opportunist predators, but not always. It doesn't work when you are on the prey list of the predator.

So, in your opinion, you don't think that those Indians that were killed by tigers screamed because, if they did, then the tiger would have left them alone? Those couple hundred Indians that were killed by tigers between 2014 and 2019 could have benefited from your wisdom.

Some of the folks in this thread are going to be very surprised if they ever find themselves in a real survival situation! Power fantasies aside, guns are tools, and their primary usefulness to a survivalist is for hunting, not defense. I've never been in a position to encounter a tiger, but I've dealt with bears in my time, and rattlesnakes, and canids and felids of all sizes.

None of those were looking at you as a meal. Congratulations, you out-bluffed a bluffer. Try to stand your ground (with your noise maker) against a hungry polar bear or tiger and the outcome will be much different.

Never, so far, have I regretted not bringing a gun while in rough country, or even had any real problem with the above. Most things aren't out to eat you, at the end of the day.

I have spent a hell of a lot of time wilderness camping and am quite aware that most things aren't out to eat me.

 

[DBT]

The world we live in is a far cry from the conditions before human impact on the environment. How many 19th century mountain men, trappers, etc, were taken by bears, wolves or caugers...better to have a means of defense than not.

 

[Tigers!]

I'd take my mum. She can scare anything.

 

[Politesse]

The world we live in is a far cry from the conditions before human impact on the environment. How many 19th century mountain men, trappers, etc, were taken by bears, wolves or caugers...better to have a means of defense than not.

Colonizing forces who didn't really understand the landscape they were in, its dangers, or how to deal with them effectively. A landscape which, incidentally, was not uninhabited before their arrival, and whose ecological balance was badly damaged by their resulting mass predator kills, damage we are only now starting to repair. So this idea of going back in time to shoot all the tyrannosaurs... it has precedent. Not good precedent. Not good times. I'd rather a time traveler kill themselves than risk the entire future (our present) of the world just so they can go on some boyish primeval power trip.