Watch your feet and hands, folks!

[hoz53]

Neighbor Lady called for help. Had a Rattle Snake in her yard. Came in from the Vineyard behind her house. Her dog found it and was having fits. She didn't want her dog bit so she called me to "get rid of it".
It had crawled under her shed so she threw a gopher bomb under the shed.
Snake didn't come out so she kept the dog in the house for a while.
Maybe 45 minutes later she called me again. Snake came out and she watched it from the bedroom window. I stood there for about 10 minutes looking at it before I could see it. Finally saw it and got rid of it with my .410. Don't remember if it finally moved or I was just able to see it. Perfect natural camo. Cut it's head off, kept the rattle, buried the head and threw the body back over the fence for the critters. It was gone the next day.
Havn't seen another one in the last few years. Vineyard gets the disk treatment quite often so that might help?

Mom would tell me about her father, when being out and around, wearing "stove pipes" on his lower legs to keep from getting bit from Rattle Snakes. He could hear the "DING" from the snakes hitting the stove pipes.

Never heard of the stove pipes- that’s a good idea- Mabie a bit awkward. When I worked in the desert near Las Vegas they told us they had Mohave green rattlers which the bite from will cause your organs to bleed- never saw one and I’m glad I didn’t.

 

[KMart]

I can only imagine how much fun our Australian members are having while reading this thread. We are really pretty lucky here, only having 4 varieties of poisonous snakes. The guys Down Under knows a thing or two about poisonous snakes with over 200 varieties. And to add insult to injury, they have about 13 varieties of poisonous frogs. I'll leave the spiders out.

 

[dave@aDave]

My grandparents and uncles would make gaiters out of truck tire inner tubes. Cut them long enough to hang off of your belt from about mid-thigh down to just touch the ground.

 

[chop house]

Rattlesnakes were so common in Yuma, AZ that they scarcely rated a mention. I had three in our yard in 18 months - that I know of. They tell me that there are 13 species of rattlesnakes in AZ, and that 6 of them live in Yuma County. Most of the ones I saw were pretty small, but I still won't abide them.

i used to run around chasing coyotes and jacks in the cal antelope valley and beyond toward ridgecrest/china lake. Was fat, dumb and happy 'til once a local said we were crazy... didn't we know about the mojave greens? sure 'nuf, two trips later one buzzed at me from under some chapparal... one more step and i would've been toast.

later, right at sundown on the old owens river road the rattlers came out in full force to soak up the last of the days heat. driving up the road i literally got tired of swerving to run over then. And to think people climb down that hill to fly fish in the river. THAT was a lot of snakes

this year early june pdog shot in murdo, first morning out not 30 minutes after setup the MOST snake-a-phobic of our group came a half-step from pinning one to the ground. we stayed real close to the benches after that! no 'trophy' pics or pace-offs for us!

 

[outasite`08]

last one I dealt with,grabbed it up threw in the middle of the road , watched a tractor-trailer smash it as it was coming to me,,guess it didn't like the other side,

I would have shot it first just to be sure.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Never heard of the stove pipes- that’s a good idea- Mabie a bit awkward.

Those folks got by with what they could. Lived/got by on poached Deer. Sidehill salmon is what my Mom called it. This was mid 20s to late 30s.
Back then, you did what was needed to survive.

 

[hoz53]

Those folks got by with what they could. Lived/got by on poached Deer. Sidehill salmon is what my Mom called it. This was mid 20s to late 30s.
Back then, you did what was needed to survive.

Yeah my dad was born in 27 right on the eve of the depression. He’s told me a lot of stories.

 

[jepp2]

I spend a fair amount of time in the field but have never seen a copperhead or rattler, and would like to keep it that way.

Come visit and you will see many.

 

[rebel]

I can only imagine how much fun our Australian members are having while reading this thread. We are really pretty lucky here, only having 4 varieties of poisonous snakes. The guys Down Under knows a thing or two about poisonous snakes with over 200 varieties. And to add insult to injury, they have about 13 varieties of poisonous frogs. I'll leave the spiders out.

Not saying anything about Australia, the land that time forgot, but try having all 4 varieties in your state!
Except for some of the desert and western rattlers- we got it all. Most prolific rattler in my are is the timber, they call them canebrakes down east. We have six kinds of poisonous snakes scattered through the state. https://gaston.ces.ncsu.edu/snakes/distinguishing-between-venomous-and-non-venomous-snakes/

I was going to say that looked like the one's around here but I see your from NC, some in the hills around here are as big as your upper arm in girth

Biggest one I ever heard of here was 52" and that thick. Never saw a picture but ist was from a friend that doesn't tend to stretch tales. On the copperhead scale, that is huge and old.

 

[Someoldguy]

I'd have to say that Cottonmouths are my least favorite.

Some varieties of snake won't leave, preferring to stay put and defend themselves if you get too close. Cottonmouths are the only poisonous species that I have had come out after me on numerous occasions.

I've fished a lot of ponds and rivers, had more than my fair share of encounters. You'll know straight away if they're around because as I said they come straight out after you.

 

[Tnslim]

I've always heard if in the woods and you smell cucumbers stop and look closely as there's a copperhead close by. Snakes scare the begezzus outta me, doesn't matter the brand and I'd much rather run up on a bear than a snake. Could possibly whip that bear but the snakes are a different story.

 

[KMart]

Not saying anything about Australia, the land that time forgot, but try having all 4 varieties in your state!

I live in SE Texas and we have all of them here, and like you, our local rattler is the Timber Rattler. The western diamondback is all over the western half of the state.

Some years back, the tree huggers made an attempt to "reintroduce" the eastern diamondback to the Big Thicket area of East Texas. The Big Thicket area is about 20 miles from me. I think the free ranging hog population and the locals squelched that effort fairly successfully,

 

[rebel]

That's good. They get a might bigger!

 

[snert]

That's good. They get a might bigger!

Sweet Mary Mother of God that makes me lose bowel control.

 

[gambleone]

Hope he's not just playin dead.

 

[Someoldguy]

Holy crap!

I've seen black snakes that long, but based on the shape of the head, that's a viper.

WHAT is that thing?

 

[Immike]

You need taller boots, damn glad you killed it and not the other way around.

 

[rebel]

You need taller boots, damn glad you killed it and not the other way around.

Damn fellas, that ain't me. That's just a internet pic of a big dead Eastern Diamondback. From Florida I think. If that was me that damn thing would be a lot more f"d up.
We do have big ones down east in the swamps. That was just a "hoochee mamma" of an example.

 

[gambleone]

Those folks got by with what they could. Lived/got by on poached Deer. Sidehill salmon is what my Mom called it. This was mid 20s to late 30s.
Back then, you did what was needed to survive.

My grandpa used to feel for snapping turtles up under the river banks. Said they always went in head first. My dad said , he wouldn't do it though. Neither would I.

 

[jds holler]

I've fished and hunted for years on a couple of river canyons around here that are kind of famous for rattlers. Had a couple of close calls but never got bit -- until --- one evening a bud and I were fishing on the Klamath river, and it was one of those times when the snakes were really out. I had killed two, and since I had the pistol I was breaking trail. All the sudden, BAM! I got nailed on the back of the leg. The pain was awful, and I thought I was gonna have a stroke. I cleared out from where it happened, and looked back at my bro, Mike who was standing there grinning with a large pointed stick in his hand.

It dawned on me what had happened, and also how hard he had stabbed me. I was really pissed, but also relieved. He said he wanted it to feel realistic, and hadn't held back. To my credit, I didn't shoot him, but it was pretty close. We're still like brothers after forty or so years now, and I've got him back in other ways. And I've always appreciated a good gag done well. jd