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Rattler

5K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  txpete 
G
#1 · (Edited)
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#3 ·
As a young kid in eastern NC , when my father and uncles started teaching me to hunt, I was always cautioned to stay away from saw mill dust and slab piles because of rattlesnakes and copperheads liked them. There is nothing like the sound of a big eastern diamondback "buzzing" to get your instant attention and turn your blood cold. I especially remember hearing one buzz some 50+ years back while we were priming tobacco. This was back in the days of using a mule to pull the sled and priming by hand. Everyone froze until someone could locate that rascal.
 
#4 ·
Quite a story Willie, it certainly held my interest. I remember stopping at the Miccosukee Indian Village on the Tamiami Trail, to the west of Miami in the Everglades, and looking at what was supposedly the largest eastern diamondback ever taken. Actually it was the skin of the serpent stretched out on a board and hung on the wall. It would not come close to ten foot, more like eight, as I recall. This is not to refute the size of the rattler in your story.
The eastern diamondbacks get very large and that is what makes them so dangerous as they can give their victim a huge jolt of venom. I viewed a program about the eastern diamondback and the wildlife expert made the point if you are bitten by one you have 45 minutes to get help.
I have seen some big ones, along with some really thick bodied cottonmouths on the Loop Road in the Big Cyprus Swamp, but nothing approximating what you had to deal with. - Hank
 
G
#5 ·
Well Hank, in response, I should say, "Have a look at a 15ft 170 lb specimen. Send More Tourists, The Last Ones Tasted Great | Encouragement

I was told that there had been some quite a bit larger taken in the area around the camp.

Heathen; While cutting tobacco I ran across a copperhead which I swatted and then tossed into the open trunk of my new '56 ford. When we came back an hour later it was gone. I was going to skin it. talk about keeping the feet off the floor for a while. Next morning at the suggestion of a friend, Benny Venneman, I parked the car with the trunk open so that the sun could shine in, as it was autumn and cool in the evenings. Sure enough, after a while, it crawled out from hiding and was properly dispatched!

John Fox; Stayed on topic eh? perhaps! Or have your attention span meds kicked in. I know that from time to time, I make the language a bit more elegant than absolutely necessary, but I am old and easily bored, and view it as a form of entertainment for me

Willie
 
#7 ·
Your stories are always entertaining to me also willie .. it is always distinctly you I wouldn't ask you to do it any differently.

But I can't resist the occasional poke...guess I'm kinda like a rattler myself sometimes. :D
 
#9 ·
Hoo-boy! And I thought some of the desert sidewinders out here were big!

The advice about staying out of the sawdust mounds makes a bunch of sense, too. I know that when backpacking fishing, etc in the Sierras -- where you often find yourself working through and around outcroppings of rock, downed timber and so forth, I never, ever, put a hand or a foot anywhere that I couldn't see precisely where such appendage was being placed. Stories abound about sticking a hand up into an outcropping or on top of a rock and in fact landing on a lot of rattlesnake.

Bill
 
#10 ·
I live in south Georgia. Here the temperatures are now nice and hot. In the late afternoon I commonly take my dog and go for a 4-5 miles walk. A few weeks ago we were walking down the paved street leading down beside the old train tracks leading out of town. Down by the last house I found a huge rattlesnake. He was a tremendous thing. His head was as big as my fist. He was maybe 5 feet long as I am 6 feet 3 inches tall. I figure that is a decent gauge of his length. At his middle he looked like he'd have been at least 5 inches thick. He was a tremendous man of a snake. I tied Molly so that she could not run over to him. I looked in a ditch and found a half of a concrete block. I walked up behind the snake and hit it as hard as I possibly could with the concrete block. It knocked a piece of hide off maybe 5 inches behind the head. it thrashed about like mad. If I could have gotten to the concrete block, I'd have hit him again with it. Unfortunately I just couldn't get my hand on the block. So I tried a brick. I hit him with it just as hard as i could throw it. It did not kill him. The last house on the road was on the other side of a gown up ditch. I ran over and borrowed a shovel figuring I'd cut his head off. When the homeowner and I got back, we found him in the bottom of the ditch. He was under some low bushes. To get at him we had to get on our knees and crawl up in the bushes. After a few feet we decided it wasn't worth it. As hard as I threw it and as good as it hit, I don't see how that snake could have lived after being hit by that block. I now carry a G-22 in my pocket when out walking.
 
G
#12 ·
Trust me guys, this was a huge snake, capable of striking 3' above where he was lying in the sun. At the time, one of the guys from the camp said that he thought that the strike was at the shiny nail clipper that the victim had on a short string and swinging around in front of him!

Willie
 
#13 ·
The Rattlesnake and the Coyote

This isn't an original story and some of you may have heard it already. If so, sorry for the repeat.

There is a moral to this story:

There was a big burning grass fire that high winds was moving very quickly and cindering everything in it's path. The animals were fleeing for their lives.

A coyote ran from the flames until he reached a very wide and fast moving river. It was all rapids and waterfalls. As he stood there, flames encroaching, the coyote realized that he didn't have the strength to swim across that formidable river. Quietly, a rattle snake approached. The rattlesnake said to the coyote, "Hey look, I know that we're mortal enemies and under normal circumstances, we'd never work together, but this isn't normal circumstances and it's to both our advantages that you hear me out".

The rattler went on to say, "I can't make it across that crazy, wide and fast river by myself and I see that you realize the same thing. If we work together, maybe as a team, we can save ourselves from this inferno."

The snake continued saying, "If you let me crawl up onto your back, then you get into the river, I'll wiggle and whip my tail as fast as possible and you can dog-paddle as hard as you can. Maybe, just maybe, we'll make it across to the other side and we can both live through this ordeal".

The coyote thought to himself, "This is a rattlesnake and everybody knows that they can't be trusted". Then, he couldn't help but to come to the conclusion, "By myself I'll never make it across that mighty river and neither can that rattler, so I guess we only have three choices, team-up with together and possibly make it across, singularly we'll drown in our attempt to swim the river, or we can each burn in the fire".

The coyote makes his decision. He says to the rattlesnake, "Okay, you get up onto my back" and the snake does. The coyote gets into the river and starts to dog-paddle. The rattlesnake whips his tail with all of his might and together they're actually making it across the river.

Shortly, before they reach the far shore, the rattler reaches forward and sinks his fangs into the neck of the coyote. The coyote and the snake both start to suck water while they begin to quickly drift with the current. Their heads begin to bob below the surface of the water and with his dying breath the coyote asks the snake, "Why did you do that? Now, we're both going to die".

The rattlesnake replies, "I couldn't help it, it's in my nature, I am a Rattlesnake."

I hope all of you folks are having a good day.

Geezer
 
#14 ·
"Shortly, before they reach the far shore, the rattler reaches forward and sinks his fangs into the neck of the coyote. The coyote and the snake both start to suck water while they begin to quickly drift with the current. Their heads begin to bob below the surface of the water and with his dying breath the coyote asks the snake, 'Why did you do that? Now, we're both going to die'.

The rattlesnake replies, 'I couldn't help it, it's in my nature, I am a Rattlesnake.'"
How apt. Makes one think of the squatter currently residing in the white house and his fellow domestic terrorists in congress.
 
#15 ·
I've seen and killed some VERY big rattlers in the Colorado and Gila River beds in and around Yuma AZ that would measure over 6' long, but nothing like is being described here. I'm not doubting it Willie, no, no, I just know how big they can get and most folks are envisioning a yard-size snake, these things can be monsters and it's obvious some areas support larger ones.
 
G
#16 ·
The Eastern variety are quite a bit larger than the western, darker in color and heavier through the bodies. The folks around the old mills claim that they will get to 12 ft and 125 lbs, though the one that I described is the largest one that I have ever seen. John stretched out the skin minus the head and part of the neck and nailed it to a log. It was measured just over 9'.

Willie
 
#17 ·
It's been some years since I've seen a eastern diamondback. The ones that I really worried about were the pygmy rattlers. One can hardly hear them buzz and they have a nasty temperment. What I mostly see now is copperheads (1-5 per year). Don't see any water mocassins, they are all in the eastern part of the state. The last rattler I saw was a timber rattler up in the mountains. The last coral snake I saw was close to 40 years back. NC still has one of the highest per capita snake bite rates due to the amount of hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities done in the state.
 
#18 ·
Willie, I had to work several times at the Concord Naval Weapons Station outside SF. Since its also an animal preserve, they have some of the biggest damn rattlers running around that place, they'll even come out on the docks. Nope can't touch them, and always look under your car before getting in.
 
#19 ·
when I was a kid dad and I were fishing off bird key in his boat.we decided to leave and try egmont key (tampa bay) and fish the deep channels there as we always caught some nice fish there before.its about 8 miles of open water between the 2 keys and they was a light chop to the water.half way over there I saw a rattler swimming in the gulf heading to eggmont key.I told dad and he said yea right so I made him look and there it was.we killed it with a boat paddle and I hit it acouple of times with a gaf to make sure it was dead.I would have never thought of a rattler swimming in salt water.

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