There has been more than one hunter in FL that has had a broken leg
when he stumbled onto and was struck buy a big rattler. The sanke is
pretty much all muscle and when they get that big they pack a lot of
force.
Most vipers don't inject much if any venom if you stumble on them and
they strike ( dry bit). They have to load up before they can inject
venom and besides they save that for hunting. While they can only
strike about 2/3 of their body length when they are coiled it may be
quite difficult to know how long they are.
If I'm going after a six foot rattler, it is with my shotgun.
Want to talk about snakes - try Australia. A pit viper won't kill you
but some of the things they have there will. In Vietnam they have this
green snake - sort of pretty - they called a two stepper. That's how
far you got after being bit before you died. You don't want to even
think about India and the king cobra.
Truman
David LeBlanc wrote:
Even better - here west of the Cascades, we have no poisonous snakes. Not
sure why.
Back in Florida where I grew up, we had 7 different species of poisonous
snakes, and one of the first things you taught kids was 1) stay away from
all snakes (coral snakes look a lot like another snake - just a difference
in pattern), and 2) what all the poisonous snakes looked like.
Had several adventures with snakes, but rarely killed any of them. We did
kill rattlers found near houses, but left the ones in the woods alone.
Unless it is near where you or your animals live, you're not likely to kill
enough of them to even put a dent in the population, so you're not
accomplishing anything. IMHO. If it is a big one, you're also fairly likely
to get hurt unless you use a gun. Not worth putting myself at risk.
BTW, saw an Army demonstration where they had some, killed them and cooked
them on the spot. Rattlers are tasty - at least fresh.
BTW2, when we were in Australia, we were driving past the Crododile Hunter's
place and our host remarked "He's a fair dinky di idiot!" (fair dinky di is
Australian for a whole lot). Still gives me a chuckle. He and the other guy
are probably going to end up eaten by something...
David LeBlanc wrote:
Even better - here west of the Cascades, we have no poisonous snakes. Not
sure why.
Back in Florida where I grew up, we had 7 different species of poisonous
snakes, and one of the first things you taught kids was 1) stay away from
all snakes (coral snakes look a lot like another snake - just a difference
in pattern), and 2) what all the poisonous snakes looked like.
Had several adventures with snakes, but rarely killed any of them. We did
kill rattlers found near houses, but left the ones in the woods alone.
Unless it is near where you or your animals live, you're not likely to kill
enough of them to even put a dent in the population, so you're not
accomplishing anything. IMHO. If it is a big one, you're also fairly likely
to get hurt unless you use a gun. Not worth putting myself at risk.
BTW, saw an Army demonstration where they had some, killed them and cooked
them on the spot. Rattlers are tasty - at least fresh.
BTW2, when we were in Australia, we were driving past the Crododile Hunter's
place and our host remarked "He's a fair dinky di idiot!" (fair dinky di is
Australian for a whole lot). Still gives me a chuckle. He and the other guy
are probably going to end up eaten by something...
We're lucky in the NW--there are only two "kinds" of
snakes--rattlesnakes and "good" snakes. <g> If it has a
little pointy tail and doesn't rattle, then it is a "good"
snake. If it buzzes at you, it ISN'T a "good"
snake. Makes it a lot more simple than the ones you've got
in your area...
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
