Anyone step on a rattler?

[mousegunner]

We get one or two in the yard here in SE NC every year, generally in August. My wife's little Jack Russell was struck and killed a few years back. Rattlers are death on dogs. All of the rattlesnakes in NC are listed as "threatened" but around my house they are listed as "endangered".

Two freinds were driving down a dirt road in west Texas when the driver slammed on the brakes and jumped out with his pistol and yells "rattlesnake"!
My other friend said "Don't shoot it some of those are endangered" to which my other friend said "you're damn right it is!"

 

[Someoldguy]

Two things I can not understand -

1 - jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

2 - intentionally handling poisionous snakes.

Y'all ain't right.

 

[Someoldguy]

We were cutting tobacco one hot summer day and I cut a plant and there was a monster rattler up under it on the shade, I high tailed it back a decent ways and one of my Grandmothers brothers grabbed it by the tail and popped it like a bull whip and its head popped off and we never found it...my Uncle was 6 3 and when he held the snake up over his head it touched the ground..

That was in Jackson Co Tn 1980

Don't try that with a big Copperhead. Guess how I know.

 

[Drop Port]

LOL, Good Post!

ALMOST!

Drop port (on here) and I were Pronghorn hunting Wyoming and were warned of the Prarie rattlers were out in the high country. We heard alot of what we called cicadas. . Next thing i know is looking down at my feet and saw one coiled up and ready to strike! I remember ABLA..bLAA..BLAA,DA LALALLAAAA...ETC coming out of my mouth and jumping 3' over a sage bush!!! then looking for help from Drop port and seeing him in tears laughing so hard over what he just saw and he said that was the funniest thing i ever saw in my life LOL!

i swallowed my heart out of my throat and wiped off the sweat..all was well.

Come on, I asked if you were Okay before I busted out laughing.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Two things I can not understand -

1 - jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

2 - intentionally handling poisonous snakes.

Y'all ain't right.

Just FYI, snakes can be venomous, but none are poisonous. Poison is something that kills you when you swallow it, breathe it, or absorb it through the skin. Venom kills you when injected into your bloodstream.

 

[CaptainMal]

Literally wear snake boots all the time when in the Florida, Georgia and Pa. woods when it's warm. Have spotted and near walked on many rattlesnakes. Have also killed near every one I encountered. Most always carry a North American Arms 22 magnum with snake shot or my old S&W 22lr Kit Gun with snake shot. That stuff works. When I am not in the woods I just swap the snake shot for Hornady Critical Defense ammo or the like.

Here's a "good" Georgia Rattlesnake. See the old S&W 22lr. Kit Gun?

fullsizeoutput_ec1 by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr

 

[D-4297]

One thing I've never understood in my seventy years of life on this planet :
People who keep asking why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good airplane .
First of all ; There are no perfectly good airplanes . They all have defects , and I say this as a former pilot , and someone who worked in the industry for a few years . Secondly ; I am a former Vietnam Veteran Paratrooper with a H.A.L.O rating , A Master Skydiver ( U.S.P.A. # D-4297 ) with a Instructors Rating , and , SCR & SCS , NSCR & NSCS , with over 1,500 jumps and competed at two National Championships and seven World Record jumps . . . I've never been injured jumping , and the main reason people jump out of airplanes is because it is one Hellouva lot of fun . You've never been kissed , till you've been kissed by a smokin hot Babe in free-fall . It will actually curl your toes , inside your Jump boots . "Blue Skies".....

 

[wedgy]

Found this guy on trash day when I moved the trash can....he went out to the curb too.

 

[mousegunner]

One thing I've never understood in my seventy years of life on this planet :
People who keep asking why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good airplane .
First of all ; There are no perfectly good airplanes . They all have defects , and I say this as a former pilot , and someone who worked in the industry for a few years . Secondly ; I am a former Vietnam Veteran Paratrooper with a H.A.L.O rating , A Master Skydiver ( U.S.P.A. # D-4297 ) with a Instructors Rating , and , SCR & SCS , NSCR & NSCS , with over 1,500 jumps and competed at two National Championships and seven World Record jumps . . . I've never been injured jumping , and the main reason people jump out of airplanes is because it is one Hellouva lot of fun . You've never been kissed , till you've been kissed by a smokin hot Babe in free-fall . It will actually curl your toes , inside your Jump boots . "Blue Skies".....

But in those 1500+ jumps did you land on or near a rattler?

 

[SamGabara]

Couple years ago on Fort Hood, TX one of the deer hunting guides got struck several times. After the morning hunt he walked back to his truck to go pick up his hunters. Turns out a rattler thought his nice warm engine block was a good place to warm up. The snake struck him in the leg as he was getting back into his truck.

 

[Nature Boy]

I had one curl up next to me one night while in the field at Ft Ord CA. I still have his rattler in a drawer somewhere

 

[D-4297]

@ mousegunner .... Landed close to a couple while jumping at Coolidge back in the late eighties , but nothing to make anybody nervous . My initial post was kind of a "tongue-in-cheek" response to @Someoldguy posting that same old tired , "why do people jump from perfectly good airplanes", tripe . Gets just a little tired hearing it from some "Whuffo" for over fifty years . That's all . Wasn't intended to distract from the OP's subject .

 

[fyrewall]

Just FYI, snakes can be venomous, but none are poisonous. Poison is something that kills you when you swallow it, breathe it, or absorb it through the skin. Venom kills you when injected into your bloodstream.

I take much comfort from this.....

 

[Rem06]

↑
Just FYI, snakes can be venomous, but none are poisonous. Poison is something that kills you when you swallow it, breathe it, or absorb it through the skin. Venom kills you when injected into your bloodstream.

I take much comfort from this.....

IS IT POISONOUS IF YOU EAT IT?...and swallow the venom sack?

kinda like a clip or a magazine ?
anywho...
keep the stories coming

 

[mousegunner]

@ mousegunner .... Landed close to a couple while jumping at Coolidge back in the late eighties , but nothing to make anybody nervous . My initial post was kind of a "tongue-in-cheek" response to @Someoldguy posting that same old tired , "why do people jump from perfectly good airplanes", tripe . Gets just a little tired hearing it from some "Whuffo" for over fifty years . That's all . Wasn't intended to distract from the OP's subject .

I was just having fun, I almost jumped out of helicopter in the Marine Corps. A friend and I were going to take a class in the morning at a local sky diving club. They had an arrangement with the helicopter pilots at Cherry Point to take up skydivers. Classes in the morning jump in the afternoon, static line. I got stuck with duty that weekend, my freind jumped and they had to cut him down from the trees and he didn't want to go again. I couldn't talk anyone else into going with me.

When I worked at a military hospital I talked to a few old retired paratroopers whose knees and hips were shot after so many jumps, they were regulars at the Ortho clinic.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

IS IT POISONOUS IF YOU EAT IT?...and swallow the venom sack?

No.

kinda like a clip or a magazine ?

Exactly.

 

[fyrewall]

Stuff that has caused concern, upset or menaced Mrs. Fyrewall or me where we have fished or hunted:

Florida - snakes, sharks, alligators
Montana - snakes, bears, cougars, coyotes
Massachusetts - snakes, sharks, bees, coyotes
Washington - snakes, cougars, coyotes, owls
California - snakes, sharks
Oregon - snakes, badgers
Arizona - snakes, scorpions
Idaho - snakes, moose
Hawaii - sharks
Alaska - bears, killer whales, sea lions, moose
Maine - black flies

The snakes are the easy winners.

Edit: added scorpions to Arizona nasties, moose also were added after a scary encounter at a rifle range with a juvenile bull moose. Sea lions after another encounter while salmon fishing in a small boat.

 

[fyrewall]

More important snake tales.

Once when drift fishing at a lake in eastern Washington on my boat, I looked back and down to see a 18 inch rattlesnake attempting to board (unauthorized) my vessel by climbing up the outboard motor. I shoved it off with my fishing pole and it swam away.

Another time, while fishing at another lake in eastern Washington, I was drift fishing past a rock wall (like 90 degrees) some 50 feet away and jigging for a bunch of fishes that were probably 30 feet below the boat. My jig stopped falling so I knew one of the fishes grabbed it and my attention was distracted. After dealing with the fish I had drifted to within 15 of the wall and when I looked up I saw a 2 foot rattle snake climbing up the rock wall at eye level. The creature was using every possible tiny projection to get a belly hold on the wall. It found a 2 inch or so wide crack and continued climbing.

Then, finally for today - it was late September and I had picked up a load of 4 inch X 8-10 ft. pvc pipe for some project earlier in the week. I had probably 6 pieces of pipe that needed to be moved into the basement after being outside for 3 days. I picked up 2 pieces per trip. Upon returning with the 2nd load I noticed a small snake slithering out from a pipe end. My favorite cat was present and immediately pounced on the snake just like some wild jungle cat would. Just a blur of brown fur, claws, and fangs - real good for a city cat fed from mostly table scraps & cat crunchies. The snake turned out to be of a harmless variety (non-venomous) but my cat did not know that.

I have more snake stories from the Naval Magazine (mostly bombs) at Cubi Point, RP.

 

[MislMan]

Not a rattler but, stepped on a 7’ black racer yesterday walking in my yard barefoot. You would have thought it was a land mine by watching my high stepping contorted jump and primal scream. Threw out my back (4 surgeries and hardware) and did get a bite on the back of my calve. I’m not much scared of snakes but it was completely out of the blue and way different being barefoot. Normally a black racer won’t let you anywhere near them.

 

[D-4297]

Hey @fyrewall , Don't forget scorpions for your list in Arizona . Nasty little critters . But our nastiest desert dweller is the infamous Mojave Diamondback . Ugly , nasty way to go , and a near zero survival rate . And if you do make it , you are never the same person physically .