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[RC] "I can't get the snakes out of my pasture." - k s swigartRay O'Donohue rno2m@xxxxxxxxxxxx said: Yes you can.Shoot them.What is your point in taking that chance with your horses,dogs,friends,etc?You don't have "hundreds" of them,and rattlesnakes are not really "travelers".Those ones you are seeing are probably pretty much the same ones,over and over,and they have a den site very nearby.I am not a snake-hater.I like having non-venemous ones near the house,but if I have a venemous one near the house or barn,it dies. Out away from "my" turf,all snakes are safe from me.<< As they do at my place; although I don't shoot them. Mostly I use a 2x4. I have, in fact, killed five rattlesnakes in the last month, counting the one in the arena that I didn't intend to kill until it bit itself, I don't consider my arena to be "near the house or barn" (because it isn't). It is out and away from "my" turf, and would have been safe from me if it had just slithered away into the grass when I threw rocks at it. But after it had immobilzed itself by biting itself, I wasn't going to leave it there in the middle of the arena where I wanted to ride; and I sure as hell wasn't going to move it with it still alive. So die it did--I bashed it on the head with a rock and then flung it out in the middle of road so the ravens would be able to see it in order to perform the body removal. It was gone by the next day. However, out in my pasture is also "out and away from my turf." My pasture is 100 acres of unirrigated (so now dead) grass (6" to 2 1/2' tall) on an 800 acre parcel that backs up to the Cleveland National Forest. There is no way in hell I could patrol that kind of space for rattlesnakes. Although if I happened to have a 2x4 with me (or could find a big stick handy) when I saw one out there, then it would die too. However, I am not naive enough to think that this would have much effect on the total rattlesnake population. Additionally, I must confess to rarely ever even going out in the pasture. I don't have to go out there to find the horses, because they meet me at the gate when they hear my truck coming up the road. The only thing I go out there for is to occasionally check the status of the forage and even less occassionally, the status of the fencing. Why would I want to risk stepping on a rattlesnake? :) Even with the death toll so high this month, this is a small fraction of the rattlesnakes I have seen in the last month. And even one or two that I (or my horse) have come pretty damn close to stepping on. And yes, I know of a number of horses (and people) who have even gotten bitten by rattlesnakes. I these particular cases the attending medical professionals were actually more concerned about tetnus and other infection than the effects of the venom itself. It does not mean that rattlesnakes cannot cause serious problems in the rare instances where they are provoked to bite. It just means that they rarely ever do mostly because they are quite difficult to provoke to bite, even in a place like mine, where rattlesnakes are RAMPANT. My place is like rattlesnake heaven, and I make it even more so by inviting large numbers of small rodents with my horse feed. I TRY to control the rodent population as much as I can (and even have stooped to poisoning the no less) because a barn cat would be coyote bait in no time. :) I DO like the King snakes because they help control both the rodent population and the rattlesnake population; but I see them significantly less often than Ido the rattlesnakes. Too bad I don't have a den of them around :). kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.endurance.net/ads/seabiscuit.html Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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