Rattlesnake questions?

[The Mohican Sneak]

Oleg,

Check around your local sporting goods stores and look for "Snake-Chaps". They're chaps that strap onto your legs, covering the tops of your boots, all the way up to the crotch. They are made of out of a durable material that snakes can't bite through.

Their downfall -- They're a bit bulky, stiff, and extremely hot when worn during the warmer months. But which is the better case scenario? Dead or uncomfortable?

About shot placement on the snake. I believe if a person has to kill something, is should be done in a humane manner. So any other shot besides the headshot, would not be an option.

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[Art Eatman]

Oleg, I've been running loose in snake country for darned near 60 years, and I guess my feet just automatically take me where snakes aren't. Anyway, I usually wear the lightest, crepe-soled 10" boot I can find. Something like a Russell Birdhunter, or a lightweight pull-on work-type boot.

The main thing is to learn how to walk. You learn to look down briefly; take two to four steps; look down again...This helps you avoid noisy things like sticks and twigs, as well as snakes. You avoid loose rocks, and most always have a safe place for your next step.

I have hunted with folks who sound like a herd of shod horses going through the brush--amazing so much noise could come from one fella!

And avoid hard cloth such as new Levis. The "weep, weep" when going through brush wakes up every critter within a couple of hundred yards. Nylon is bad, as in the very protective but very noisy nylon-faced "brush pants". Great for quail hunting; bad for walking for deer.

If you just have to walk through tall grass in snaky country, probing with a walking stick helps. Let the stick wake him up, not your foot...

By and large, it's an over-rated danger. It just takes common sense and a reasonable amount of watchfulness...

Have fun, Art

[Jeff Thomas]

Oleg, honest buddy ... save your ammo. It just isn't necessary. And, Art is so right - this danger is way over-rated. Hell, years ago we'd sometimes hunt all weekend for a rattlesnake to catch, and not see one. And, we were looking hard for them, and knew what we were doing.

I agree about Texas - that's where the biggest Western Diamondbacks are found (Crotalus atrox). The biggest rattlers in the U.S. are in the southeast, mainly Florida - the Eastern Diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus). It was an Eastern Diamondback that bit me once, due to my own stupidity ... fortunately, it was a 'dry' bite. As I recall, about 25% of the time a poisonous snake doesn't even inject venom.

Come out to AZ sometime and visit me - we'll introduce you properly to the local hot stuff.

Take care. Regards from AZ

[damiano]

I'm with you guys on the snake problem and solutions here in the states. However, I used to live in Africa and later in India and in both countries the only good snake is a dead one. Our species in the USA are relatively non-aggressive. But I'd love to take anyone who advocates "leave them alone" to Africa with me to bivouac. Don't get me wrong, here that tactic works mostly, there it will just get you killed.

I've been on march and literally watched as a giant tree snake droped out of a tree and lassoed himself around a guys neck to try to strangle him. Even better is in India where snakes will go after a man in groups as he walks down the road attacking with what seems like strategy. Several will lay across the road and "stand up" when they sense him close by. If he turns to walk away, he will find his path blocked by several more behind him. Very eerie. I've seen these things first hand and because of that, anytime I see a snake that is identifiable as "hot" I kill it. I'd rather spend more time with my .223 chasing groundhogs on my land because of killing their main predator than mourning my boy because a cottonmouth bit him at our pond. As for the mice, well, I've got one of the meanest cats around. Petronius would take on a coyote if given the chance.

We live on some nice land, but have a major problem with snakes because of all the water and prey living on the land. My family are all required to go armed anytime they walk more than 25 feet away from the house. My fiance carries a PPK with her, I carry my trusty 226 and my ward, Andy, carries either a S&W .22 or his Colt Commander .45 and even though I agree with Art's post about pistol calibre shot being hard to use, each mag is loaded in an alternate setup. Hydrashok and SnakeShot alternating with the last one hardball. I know, its a bit wierd but is works. We get groundhogs and snakes on a nearly daily basis. We take their carcasses and toss them into the woods where a lone coyote lives. I think he was an alpha that got deposed, he's pretty old and mangy. I've decided to leave him alone. He's gobbles up whatever is thrown out there. He's still feral but does trust us a bit.



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damiano

[Gopher .45]

Coyotes don't have alphas. Unlike wolves, coyotes typically only come together to breed and of course mothers with young can be spotted as well. Otherwise, they tend to spend the rest of their adult time as solitary individuals.

[El Rojo]

Am I the only one who has had bad rattlesnake dreams ever since they were 5 years old? These are about the worst nightmares I have. The snakes are always chasing me and out to do me great harm. One of the last ones I had, the snake up and bit onto my "male organ" through my pants (I had to add pants part beause you all would have asked why my organ was out around a snake and I didn't want to listen to all of your crap! ). What a horrible dream that was.

The Indian Viper story would make me a firm believer in always having a tactical shotgun with me in that area. I figure about 8, 7 1/2's loaded up in there would discourage the snakes, or at least let me take a few of them with me.

[Art Eatman]

Obviously, El Rojo, you need treatment of the "total immersion" sort. You need to go to a snake farm and spend the day in the middle of the crawly-critters--or until you're just totally unconcerned about them, whichever change-of-mind method hits first.

Maybe get a baby boa as a pet. Carry it around with you--it would make a wonderful conversation piece! You could explain your psychiatric problems to beautiful young women and get lots of sympathy! Hey, this is the new age, ain't it? Folks s'posed to help each other get over problems? You could always explain it's your psychic advisor on picking stocks--and you're now a millionaire on account of it!

Just trying to help,

Art

"I like to help folks out; I just don't always know where they came in."

[El Rojo]

I do not have an aversion to snakes. Just last week I pulled a slightly mashed king snake out of the road in the middle of the night. He was still alive, he just had half of his lower intestine hanging out his arse. I can ever get really close to rattlesnakes without problems. It is just my dreams haunt me. There are rattlesnakes always defying their natural speed chasing after me. Many of the dreams I get bitten over and over, and as I mentioned, once right on my tip!

When will they ever end?

[Art Eatman]

Rojo, me lad, only the love of a good woman can solve this!

Art

[C.R.Sam]

" They are made of out of a durable material that snakes can't bite through."

There have been a few cases of secondary envenomation of person repairing motorcycle tire and getting snagged by fang protruding through to the inside of the tire.

As a group, the eastern diamondback is the largest poisonous North American snake. There is one exception hanging on a wall of a navy SERE school building near Warner Hot Springs Kalifornia. Western Diamondback without head, tad over eight feet long and well over a foot across the skin. Allowing for stretch, that is still one big un.

Good idea to collect the culprit if bitten. Most U.S. pit vipers are haemotoxic but the diamondbacks are both haemotoxic and neurotoxic. Better chance of appropriate treatment if the critter is identified. Mojave green rattler appearantly also has a different toxin load with attendant specific treatment requirement.

I believe in lettin em be, unless they get in the house, then we have a problem. In my area of AZ hills we have mojave greens which have a hair trigger and let you know when you are intruding into their zone. The more dangerous seems to be the mild mannered black, which will let you or your horse step on it before rattlin, then buzz and strike.

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Sam I am, grn egs n packin

Nikita Khrushchev predicted confidently in a speech in Bucharest, Rumania on June 19, 1962 that: " The United States will eventually fly the Communist Red Flag...the American people will hoist it themselves."

[Oleg Volk]

Not that snakes have done me any harm, but I find myself wishing to go after then with a shotgun. Maybe when I am in AZ I'd have a chance to get a few. Can always pretend they are something really nasty like Reno & pals

[dZ]

supposedly the Bushmaster in SA mates for life & if you kill one you better expect the other to come looking for ya...
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconVall...ushmaster.html
Slender-bodied, the bushmaster is the longest
member of the pit-viper group, reaching
lengths up to
3.6 m (12 ft).
The fangs may be more than 2.5 cm (1 in) long.

dZ

[huntschool]

This thresd started with a gun question.....

An old timer in South Carolina told me all you had to dowas stick your rifle or shotgun bbl down in the snakes direction and the snake would do the "sighting" for you.

Art, you ever heard of this?

I have had the opportunity to try this in south Texas on several occasions. It works. I must suggest that you consider the lenghth of the snake....as related to the length of your arm and gun.

270, 7mm mag and 338 all seem to work well. You just stick it in close to their head, about a foot or two and the snake lines itself up on the bbl. Squeeze trigger, dead, no head snake.

The effect of a shotgun with the same method is quite profound......

So, don't worry with the hand gun.

Huntschool

Single shot shooters only shoot once.

[Art Eatman]

Well, the rattler--or any pit viper--zeroes in on heat. Their two heat-seeking pits function as do our eyes, providing a sort of depth perception.

A gun-barrel, being probably warmer than the air, gives them a heat source to zero in on.

An instance where a survival mechanism can be contra-survival.

, Art

[Speedy]

D-Max SA revolver in .45 Colt/.410. The piece will chamber a 3" shell but for the close work a 2.5" does the trick neatly. I keep the modified choke in it. At 8' with #8 shot it throws a 4" pattern. EOS (end of snake)

I try to avoid them but if they make it into camp they are mine.

Rick

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I prefer armed combat to unarmed combat. It's easier on the knuckles.

[Al Thompson]

Getting slow to load. New thread!

Giz