I was going ask if he was an Ozarker

We have Brown Recluses here, one of my daughters, and a close neighbor kid, have been bitten. It's a nasty bite, no doubt about that. Here's a good description of them. A few years ago my pole barn office got infested with them. I don't kill spiders as a rule and never really took a good look at them. Finally, after living with them for months, I thought I might have gotten bit, so I looked into what I had crawling all over the place. After a positive ID, I started a killing campaign and stomped everyone of them I saw. If I missed any of them they left on their own and I haven't seen one in a long time now.

I don't know of any tent that would stop the fangs of a big venomous snake. We have plenty of those here too, but I've never worried about them. I'm careful of them, but not worried. I can't imagine a snake spending much time trying to get into a hammock. That would be way below the odds of stepping on one.

The thing that scares me the most about sleeping out in the open on the ground here is ticks and chiggers. I've heard some horror stories from ol'timers here who tipped a few too many and passed out on the ground and when they woke up found they'd been the main course at a feast. You can get away with it in the cold months, but odds are against you in the warm ones.