1 less rattlesnake!

[Charlie Horse]

I saw my 80ish land lady pull a skunk out from under a brooder house. The skunk was caught in a foot trap. She grabbed the trap chain and hauled it out. I shot it. It was an exciting evening while it lasted. That was a long time ago.

[pls1911]

The only snake that raises my attention is the snake that surprises me.
Even then, I’ll gather my wits and normally just move em out of my way.

[Jeff Michel]

I'll generally let a snake be unless it's close to the house but there are exceptions. I was hunting in South Africa this past August and my host showed me a skin of a Black Mamba that stretched across the back of a full sized sofa and hung two feet on either side, wide as the length of hand. He found it in his horse stable after it bit his dog. I'd be pretty content to hunt those into extinction. About the same time, he left his kitchen door open and his wife found a six foot spitting cobra on the counter. Blew up the spice rack with a 12 gauge but got the snake. Lots of snakes over there, glad I live in Ohio.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

My Chesapeake Bay Retriever was killed by a rattler, died in less than 10 minutes when we were out walking, all we saw was some puncture marks on the inside of her hind leg, happened in August, we were stunned. I have seen horses and cattle severely injured, near death and in great pain due to rattlers. We kill them when we see them. The rest of the snakes get a pass, though we would kill copperheads and moccasins if they were around. Poisonous snakebites just do too much damage to take the chance of injury to people or other animals.

[Doughty]

"MostlyLeverGuns; Poisonous snakebites just do too much damage to take the chance of injury to people or other animals."

This.

[Charlie Horse]

I've never seen a rattlesnake in the wild and I would like to someday.

But I sure wouldn't want to have to deal with venomous snakes on a regular basis. Even the non-venomous ones give me the creeps. Especially the big water snakes we have around here.
Copperheads don't bother me but water moccasins really do. I hate those things.

[Gtrubicon]

We have lots of rattlers where I live, I find both The Timber and Western Diamond back here on our property. The Timber are usually much more aggressive. This summer our 130lb Great Dane was bit in the face while drinking water at her water bowl. Happened right in front of my son and I. It was a 26” snake, 6 buttons that gave no warning. I grabbed a shovel to end the snake, in doing so the snake struck wildly at me while moving towards me. The round point shovel always prevails. I have no use for them, they are dangerous so I off them whenever or wherever I find them. Our dog survived thankfully, it cost us almost $1200 in vet bills. The funny thing is she refuses to drink out of that water bowl, she barks at it daily. We had to buy a new bowl and move its location so she could drink.

[Duckiller]

Several years ago while coming in from duck blind to club house I encountered a small rattle snake. It was about 10 " long. Two shots from a 20 ga over and under sent him on his way. A son asked why did you shoot it twice? Their sister told them it was because I wanted to make sure it was dead. Don't need to be running into rattle snakes of any size in the predawn hours going to a duck blind.

[Gtrubicon]

Several years ago while coming in from duck blind to club house I encountered a small rattle snake. It was about 10 " long. Two shots from a 20 ga over and under sent him on his way. A son asked why did you shoot it twice? Their sister told them it was because I wanted to make sure it was dead. Don't need to be running into rattle snakes of any size in the predawn hours going to a duck blind.

Several years ago at a duck club in the Central Valley my buddy got in the concrete below ground blind in the dark. He kept feeling the sensation that something was tapping him on his lower calf. He could feel it through his waders. He turned on a flashlight to see a 18-20” rattler striking at his feet! He trampled it to death.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Now there was a lucky guy! Good thing that he had the waders, and that they were thick enough to defeat the fangs! Multiple bites would probably prove fatal.

DG

[Gtrubicon]

Since that happened we always shine a light into the blind before crawling in!

[Texas by God]

We lost a 500 lb steer to a bite below the eye from a Velvet tail- probably a big one. Fang holes were 2” apart.
We’ve seen a few 6 footers here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wch]

PA copperheads, now that's a different story!

[Dave H]

I was working on a small river reclamation project up in the state of Connecticut and I just dumped a load of rip rap out in the water so Roy could reach it with the excavator when he swung back he hit a tree and a water snake fell in his lap from in that tree he got bit in the prosses of getting rid of the snake his hand swelled up pretty good for a few days. I killed lots of rattlers up at the camping bus and took second place at the Noxen snake hunt with an over 52-inch-long timber rattler.

[TNsailorman]

A 4 foot timer rattler is a large snake and would back a real dose of venom if you are bitten by one. But even non-poisonous snakes can create problems. A fellow who worked with me was bitten by an old common black snake when he stepped on it in some high weeds by the river. After a couple of days his leg started swelling and became painful. He went to the doctor and what he had was an infection caused by germs on the snake's fangs where it had eaten something that had some sort of disease. He had to undergo 2 surgeries on his leg and several shots to get his leg cleared up. He was really felt miserable for awhile. It took about a month to get all the infection cleared out of his leg and body. While I don't kill non-poisonous snakes, I don't take chances with them either. james

[Charlie Horse]

Dirty Jobs did a show up on Lake Erie. They were catching water snakes by hand and getting bit on their forearms multiple times. No way would I grab one of those things.

[Adam Helmer]

When I lived on our farm downstate in PA, we had far too many Copperheads! We had livestock get bit and get ill or die. My dad gave me a 4-inch M10 S&W .38 Special and told me to fix things. We reloaded and I put Unique, a gas check below and above the #7.5 shot. At age 16, I happily ended our snake problem for a few years until dad sold the farm.

I see no need for any poison snake when there are so many harmless ones. Folks what love them should live with them for a while, just saying! We had two rattlers: one was a 3.5 foot and the other was a yellow phase 5-footer that dad hung on the lower rung of the telephone pole step by the cattle barn.

Adam

[Blkpwdrbuff]

Some genius here in Utah got rattlesnakes on the protected list.
If seen I practice SSS.
Having been raised on a cattle ranch I've seen firsthand what they can do.
I will kill every one I see.
Blkpwdrbuff

[Abert Rim]

Here in the Rolling Plains of west-central Texas, diamondbacks are a common feature. The Jaycees here in Sweetwater started the annual Rattlesnake Roundup back in 1958, and it is held the second weekend in March. Our rifle and pistol club holds a gun show in an adjacent building that has proven to be a reliable source of revenue, allowing the club to continue to improve our rifle, pistol and shotgun ranges.
The Nolan County Coliseum is SRO during the roundup, with various arenas dedicated to handling, venom extraction, education and butchering and skinning, then off to the deep fryers!

[phantom22]

Some genius here in Utah got rattlesnakes on the protected list.
If seen I practice SSS.
Having been raised on a cattle ranch I've seen firsthand what they can do.
I will kill every one I see.
Blkpwdrbuff

A lot of problems can be solved with judicious practice of SSS.