Rattler, elk, goats, mulies....oh & pdogs.

[snert]

Just tryin' to have a little fun, that's all...I have a cabin in the mountains of Virginia and there are more poisonous snakes there than anywhere I have ever seen. Usually, rattlers and copperheads are pretty rare, but not at the cabin. I typically see at least one or the other every time I am there. I am not really scared of them, but I have seen first hand the damage a snakebite can cause....a cousin got bit on the tip of his thumb many years ago. He still cant move it, it stays real pink in color and the skin constantly sloughs off. He has never grown the nail back and the doctors tell him that this is the best it will get.
I can say I am not scared of them...but a poisonous snake has the potential to scare anyone, me included!!!!!

Ok, to me that is like having a cabin in a dry riverbed.

 

[msinc]

Here is one that got snerted!!!! In fact, he is probably about as snerted as he can get...



First time I took the wife up there this one was right outside the truck when I parked. I caught him and tanned his hide. When I was building the place one of the guys that helped me got struck in the boot by a copperhead and had another copperhead fall down out of the floor joists and land on his back when he went into the crawl space. It is a miracle he didn't end up getting bit with two close calls in one weekend. Needless to say, he has never been back.
I don't know if Pa. still has those "rattler round ups" or not. I lived up there in the 80's and they did. It was sanctioned and they collected the venom then let them go. It is pretty easy to tell the male from the female timber rattler...the last several inches of the males tail is black. The one in the photo above is a male but you probably cant tell in that photo.

 

[snert]

So I lived in western Pa as a kid and never saw a rattler or copperhead. I did see a TR at a rest stop on the PA border. Game cop was there shielding it from anyone like me who would have run it over...apparently they were endangered or some such. Had he not been there no doubt it would have met Michelin man. I might even have dropped the clutch while parked on it. I cannot imagine living where i saw 2 copperheads at point blank in a weekend. God bless ya man.

 

[Shaggy357]

The last rattle snake I saw is hanging on my wall at home. The one before that is on my nephew's hat. Made a nice hat band. My love for snakes is just above spiders on the list. You have to look a LONG way down on the list to find them.....

Nice deer, elk, and goats. I could have just laid out there and watched all the fun. Spend many hours on my porch just watching activity around the pond.

 

[MrMajestic]

When we were young my cousin was playing in the front yard in SC PA and rolled down into the drainage ditch. Hit 13 times by a copperhead, or copperheads. Them bastards don't warn you unless you get close enough to smell 'um. They say they smell like cucumber although I can't confirm. When canoeing in the summertime I stay on constant watch.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Gawd I hate snakes. All of em.. Just glad I live in a place where I rarely see em..

 

[msinc]

When we were young my cousin was playing in the front yard in SC PA and rolled down into the drainage ditch. Hit 13 times by a copperhead, or copperheads. Them bastards don't warn you unless you get close enough to smell 'um. They say they smell like cucumber although I can't confirm. When canoeing in the summertime I stay on constant watch.

As someone who spent half his life coon hunting in a state that has copperheads I can say that yes, they absolutely do give off a smell like cucumbers...but not all the time. Usually, when you go in the woods and do smell the scent they are not seen. Not sure what they leave the scent for, we used to think it was done during breeding season, but I have always happened upon the smell in the late summer on hot humid nights {like right now}.
I have had several coon hounds get bit and they swell up and feel bad for a few days, but none of mine ever died. Have heard of a few that did though. I had a cousin get bit on the tip of his thumb...it took almost a year to recover. A couple of times he wished he was dead. His thumbnail has never grown back and he lost the use of the thumb. His thumb stays pink and the skin just continuously sloughs off.
I am not afraid of any snake and will catch one in a minute...but I for sure do not want to get bit.