# A Predator question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 8, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684 "2026-10-08T22:17:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/21 "2026-10-10T21:23:10Z")
For the record, I’ve been saying the same thing about hunter vs. predator for literally decades. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > If they were true sportsmen, they would hunt with a bow. Maybe they were. Maybe their futuristic weapons were actually primitive compared to their actual technological level. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/22 "2026-10-12T07:47:14Z")
What if you are a dude using a bow, and don’t care one bit about the size or impressiveness of your game, and only want to put food on the table? Huntor? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/23 "2026-10-12T10:17:39Z")
That would be a predator. The only reason a predator cares about the particular prey is self-preservation. You don’t want to risk getting wounded for a meal. I assume the bow hunter would feel safe and unthreatened regardless what prey they chose, so they would be a normal predator, hunting solely for utility. If they truly didn’t care, even if they were almost certain to lose – like, say, walking right up to a pride of 20 lions and just start firing off arrows at them point blank – that’s more like a Terminator. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/24 "2026-10-13T07:24:35Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > What if you are a dude using a bow, and don’t care one bit about the size or impressiveness of your game, and only want to put food on the table? Huntor? I can think of just two reasons why someone like that would use a bow: they don’t have access to a gun or to ammo, or they are somehow more effective with a bow than they would be with a firearm (like, they’re an archery prodigy while also being gun-shy). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/25 "2026-10-13T12:29:50Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Perhaps I should specify _sport hunter_. The Predator isn’t hunting to eat. It’s not his primary reason, but he does eat his prey. He drills a hole in the skull, adds some kind of liquid that emulsifies the brain, and he drinks it through a straw like a milkshake. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/26 "2026-10-13T12:35:15Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > How? If they wore a thick insulator, wouldn’t they heat up too much to function? The “official” explanation: “The task force wore silver, insulated “cold suits” designed to block 100% of their body heat signatures. Since the Predator relies naturally and primarily on infrared (thermal) vision, the suits made them completely invisible to its standard sight mode. The team chose a meat-packing slaughterhouse for the ambush because the ambient room temperature was kept near freezing. On top of that, they carried shoulder-mounted nitrogen sprayers to continually freeze the air around them and used metallic dust particles to further break up any escaping heat.” The true explanation: It’s Sci-Fi, dude! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/27 "2026-10-13T13:14:27Z")
Where did the task force get its info about the Predator, like his vision abilities? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/28 "2026-10-13T13:15:30Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > “The task force wore silver, insulated “cold suits” designed to block 100% of their body heat signatures. If that’s what it was doing, then 100% of their body heat would be trapped inside the suits. Every move of their muscles - hell, every moment that the food in their stomachs continues to be digested - the temperature inside their suits would rise until they bake inside. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/29 "2026-10-13T13:17:25Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > If that’s what it was doing, then 100% of their body heat would be trapped inside the suits. My “reason #2” covers that. LOL ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/30 "2026-10-13T13:23:06Z")
I just rewatched the scene - the log was completely covered in vines, so it’s possible for an action hero to quickly swing/climb under it - bend down, grab a vine with one hand, swing down, grab a vine on the other side with other hand. Silently seems like a stretch though. And the log itself was thick enough that he was completely masked from the Predator’s view, IR or otherwise. > [@Alessan](#): > > I can think of just two reasons why someone like that would use a bow: they don’t have access to a gun or to ammo, or they are somehow more effective with a bow than they would be with a firearm (like, they’re an archery prodigy while also being gun-shy). That’s actually why Arnie was using a bow in the final scenes, along with the “boy scout shit” traps - he lost his gun during the earlier escape. He still had a few 40mm grenades which he made explosive arrows out of though. “Why’d you say it twice?” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/31 "2026-10-13T17:37:17Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > the log was completely covered in vines, so it’s possible for an action hero to quickly swing/climb under it - bend down, grab a vine with one hand, swing down, grab a vine on the other side with other hand. Silently seems like a stretch though. “What the hell are you?” — “What the hell are _you?_” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/32 "2026-10-13T21:30:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I can think of just two reasons why someone like that would use a bow: they don’t have access to a gun or to ammo, or they are somehow more effective with a bow than they would be with a firearm (like, they’re an archery prodigy while also being gun-shy). Some states have a separate hunting season just for bows, and some hunters prefer bows because of the lack of noise, which can spook deer. Though those usually use crossbows, not regular bows. > [@Babale](#): > > If that’s what it was doing, then 100% of their body heat would be trapped inside the suits. Every move of their muscles - hell, every moment that the food in their stomachs continues to be digested - the temperature inside their suits would rise until they bake inside. You can handle that if you have a consumable coolant like liquid nitrogen in the suit. It wouldn’t last indefinitely, but hopefully it’d last long enough to get the job done. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/33 "2026-10-13T21:47:37Z")
Interviewing the survivors (i.e., Dutch Schaeffer and Anna Gonsalves). Plus a lot of conjecture and speculation, of course, but the fact that Predator vision seems to be based in the infrared was a conclusion Dutch reached during the first event (hence the premise of this thread). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/34 "2026-10-13T22:13:42Z")
Now that I think about it, when Arnie is on the log with the Predator behind him, the mud that made him invisible would only make him look like an inanimate object. The Predator has to be able to see things other than warm things or he’d be blindly walking into trees. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/35 "2026-10-14T00:29:45Z")
Arnie is crossing the log, the Predator jumps down, but is looking away from the log. By the time he turns towards it, Arnie has climbed under it. And the Predator’s vision at night is in fact pretty terrible - everything is just black or blue. There’s a part a few minutes earlier where Arnie is in a tree holding onto a bough and the Predator comes up right behind him, looking right at him, but can’t tell his outline from the tree trunk. Arnie waits until it looks away and swings away on a vine, George of the Jungle style. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/36 "2026-10-16T15:19:56Z")
When in PredatorVision™, it also seems like the default field-of-view is pretty restricted, so probably no peripheral vision that allows Arnie to reposition himself or hide more easily. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/37 "2026-10-16T15:35:37Z")
And it’s even worse without PredatorVision. When Arnie falls in the water and loses the mud, he’s clearly visible in the FLIR visor. But when the Predator takes his helmet off, everything goes to red or purple, so Arnie becomes very hard to see again. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80EaBRgGylo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80EaBRgGylo) (NSFW, one ugly motherfucker). ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/38 "2026-10-19T03:33:24Z")
Here are some guys that actually tried the “mud on the body” trick and used thermal cameras. It worked pretty well. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/GoqsBQYM4lY/maxresdefault.jpg "Can Mud ACTUALLY hide you from Predator???") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoqsBQYM4lY) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684/39 "2026-10-19T17:07:35Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Perhaps I should specify _sport hunter_. The Predator isn’t hunting to eat. He thought about it briefly. One look at Arnold and the Predator saw there’s too much sinew and muscle for a good meal. Arnold would be too tough to chew. 😉 😄 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-predator-question/1033684.md?page=1)