MASSIVE timber rattler in KS

[bigdonniebrasco]

I was turkey hunting with the wife and almost stepped on this monster! Big ole fat female, that was legitimately as thick an average forearm!
13-14 rattles (that are still intact). in the neighborhood of 5 feet long!

Biggest/heaviest one I have ever come across.

10 seconds earlier I had said "watch your step, this looks pretty snakey in here"

 

[Mountainguide]

Big or small, I HATE those things

 

[jabber]

Maybe I am just a dumbass, but how do you know it was a female?

 

[kansasdad]

bigdonniebrasco I sorta kinda wished you hadn't posted this up here on HuntTalk. I would love to just live in my own fantasy land that there is no such thing as snakes as beautiful and bad as that one in Kansas. Please tell me he was up around your neck of the woods and not anywhere near south central.

The only rattler I have ever found in Kansas was at Pottawatomie State Lake #2 on a boy scout campout. A smallish massasauga didn't like me overturning his rock and he let me know of his dearly held opinion.

 

[Speeddmn]

Maybe I am just a dumbass, but how do you know it was a female?

It was probably pissed off and hissing at him since he was hunting?

 

[JLS]

How long would you estimate that snake? How big are they normally?

Sure are neat markings on those.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

I saw a big one on our farm last summer. I remember being impressed at how thick it was. Seems more like a large animal than a snake. The one I saw was in tall weeds, and fortunately I just saw it headed the other direction....

 

[bigdonniebrasco]

Found her just outside Wichita! ...................................................... (just kidding, she was near LAWRENCE KS)

She was at least 5 feet long, and THICK! Anything approaching a TRUE 6-footer is record territory regardless of what the internet tells you with all the forced perspective shots that get sent around.

With snakes (and a lot of animals) the females are disproportionately larger than the males. There are other ways to tell (length of tail beyond the vent) but I didn't want to disturb her too much. And since this thing was so massive I would bet anything it was a female.

 

[wytex]

Beautiful timber rattler. Looks like a nice long one.
At least our prairie rattlers are not too aggressive. That is why we always have a snake stick, easy to move without causing trouble.
I've seen a timber rattler at least 4 1/2 - 5 ft down south, not near as big as a 6-7 ft western diamondback. Bet those Kansas snakes can get pretty big with all that nice habitat.

 

[teej89]

It was probably pissed off and hissing at him since he was hunting?

hahaah i was just bout to say either with their driving record or the fact that male rattlers are more reasonable and will try to reason before striking where the woman, I mean female, rattler will just strike without warning, totally blind siding you

 

[Sytes]

Oh hell no to rattler country. I would rather deal with Griz and Blacks wayyy before damn rattlers, etc.

That bruiser cross with a boa or something... Screw venomous slither-ers...

 

[tarheel]

Beautiful timber rattler. Looks like a nice long one.
At least our prairie rattlers are not too aggressive. That is why we always have a snake stick, easy to move without causing trouble.
I've seen a timber rattler at least 4 1/2 - 5 ft down south, not near as big as a 6-7 ft western diamondback. Bet those Kansas snakes can get pretty big with all that nice habitat.

Largest specimens reported (2 different snakes) were both 74.5". The Eastern diamondback is larger, one killed in 1946 was 7.8 feet long and weighed 34 pounds. Also the male of the Eastern is larger than the female. My Dad was within a couple of feet of one a few years ago which was swimming down a small river which he was paddling up and he swore that it looked as large around as his thigh and his head was as big as Dad's closed fist. Dad wasn't given to exaggeration but his fear might have played with the proportions. For some reason they're protected in NC, I guess because the SE part of the state is their Northernmost range.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Maybe I am just a dumbass, but how do you know it was a female?

I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea how you would tell them apart.
That rattler is beautiful it seems a lot more colorful than the ones we have in southern Nevada.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I didn't realize timber rattlers were that far west. They freak me out just to look at them

 

[LopeHunter]

I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea how you would tell them apart.
That rattler is beautiful it seems a lot more colorful than the ones we have in southern Nevada.

View attachment 70566

Every time I bivvy in nice, late summer weather and leave the tent at home then this is the image that flashes into my reptilian brain just as am nodding off in my sleeping bag sprawled out in the open on the ground. Shivers.

 

[dcopas78]

Timber rattlesnake are endangered here in Ohio. Before they were listed, my dad used to by them off of a fella that caught them in Shawnee State Forest. The longest one dad has was 54" but they definitely get bigger. I have only saw one in my life.

 

[buckbull]

Here's a timber rattler some guys ran into clearing brush a few miles from my cabin this spring.

 

[wytex]

That pic really shows the velvet tail, looks like a big one also.

 

[Gellar]

I have a timber rattlesnake in a cage at my office. People always ask why in the world we have one, but that is the first thing they want to see. Timber Rattlesnakes can control their venom and 75% of bites on humans from timber rattlers are dry. They know they are not going to eat you and do not want to waste their hard earned venom. It takes them about 28 days to rebuild their supply if they use it all. Timber Rattlesnakes only have to eat a couple of times a year usually when they come out of hibernation and right before they go into hibernation. Every time they shed their skin, which is shortly after they eat, they grow a rattle. Currently, our snake has 7 rattles and we figure it is 4 years old. The first rattle they have when they are born is called a button rattle. The only way to positively id them as male or female is to probe them, but you can accurately guess by their body type as well. Timber Rattlesnakes return to the same den site annually and rarely venture more than a few miles from it their entire life. The last known fatal rattlesnake bite in Iowa was in 1944 and occured to a 4 year old child. Which is true with most fatal timber rattlesnake bites.

 

[Gellar]

Here is our timber rattlesnake getting ready to eat a 13 lined chipmunk. Their is a glare because it is through the glass on the tank. If the snake is not hungry and does not eat the squirrel after a day or two we have to get the squirrel out of the tank because it will actually start to pick at the snake and kill it. We have had to do that a few times and you have to wait until the snake is burrowed in his log and the squirrel is on the opposite side of the tank.