One of our daughters traveled to Australia
many years ago and when she returned she told us that absolutely every snake
there is poisonous. I asked her how parents teach their children to avoid
snakes and she said they tell the children, "Bitey, bitey!" I suppose it's
like telling small children that something is "Hot!!!" I don't think I'd
like to live where I was always on the watch for a poisonous snake, but I
suppose you get used to it. I've had all the introduction to the damage a
rattlesnake can do to a horse's leg, thank you. We have a gelding that
lost three good years of endurance riding before he healed the wound and came
sound. His hoof is distorted and he has a huge ugly bump on his
pastern. And he was standing in a paddock about 150 feet from our
daughter's house when he was bitten. The snake was never found anywhere
nearby.
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
because in doing so
we learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
