Rattlesnakes while hunting

[Bigjay73]

I was jogging once around a swamp in NC. Looked down just as my left foot was making its way towards the open mouth of a molting water moccasin. I then levitated 4 ft up and 10 ft over where I commenced to hyper ventilating and checking the status of my underwear. Another time I spent a half hour fishing a foot from a tree stump on the cape fear river. Went to sit on it and noticed a coiled up sleeping cottonmouth was in it the entire time. I tend to investigate sitting areas a little closer now.

 

[JTHOMP]

I’ve only knowingly came across two timber rattlers while in the woods. One I stepped up on a fallen log when and was about to jump down when I realize what was waiting at my landing. Could’ve been bad.

Both encounters were in June. I was excited to see a rattler and wanted to see it rattle. Provoked both with a long stick until they had enough of me and slithered off. Kind of anticlimactic.

Unless I’m slip hunting my goal with snakes is just to walk fast enough and we don’t notice each other. What I really hate seeing while walking is a big fat white mouth open up under my foot.

 

[Birddog916]

I found this lil danger noodle while turkey hunting in 2019

 

[thusby]

Never killed a snake. I always operated under the belief I would much rather have snakes than rats.

 

[JTHOMP]

I was jogging once around a swamp in NC. Looked down just as my left foot was making its way towards the open mouth of a molting water moccasin. I then levitated 4 ft up and 10 ft over where I commenced to hyper ventilating and checking the status of my underwear. Another time I spent a half hour fishing a foot from a tree stump on the cape fear river. Went to sit on it and noticed a coiled up sleeping cottonmouth was in it the entire time. I tend to investigate sitting areas a little closer now.

I came across this guy sleeping. He wasn’t happy to be woken up by my curiosity to see if he was dead.

 

[Gut Shot]

A few years ago I took the family out for antelope in Wyoming. We tagged our antelope and had a couple of days left to hunt grouse and shoot prairie dogs. That dog town had a BUNCH of rattlers in it. Coming from the midwest, where we had never seen a rattle snake, it was a very cool experience, certainly something the kids will always remember.

 

[mtmiller]

Miller...that picture is amazing

I am hoping to do better. This just poppoed up on my FB page from eight years ago. I now have better glass and hope to get better focus on the head.

Here is a trophy from a couple years ago. I was at work, so just a quick picture and back to work. He had some girth for MT.

 

[Bigjay73]

View attachment 141190

I came across this guy sleeping. He wasn’t happy to be woken up by my curiosity to see if he was dead.

Haha. You know exactly what you're looking at when you see that white mouth

 

[np307]

Havent had any run-ins with rattlesnakes, although I hunt in a part of the state with quite a few. I'm sure I'll get popped eventually since in the summer the cicadas make you numb to that frequency of sounds.

I have had a couple close encounters with some copperheads. One laying in the path waiting for morning sun to break through the canopy. Another time waiting for a buddy by the truck after dark I heard something in the pine straw. Turned my light on to see a copperhead about a foot and a half away.

 

[LuketheDog]

Which states? I have hunted rattlers a number of times and never heard of restrictions.

Colorado has a season for them, June 15-August15

 

[ID_deerslayer]

just looking at those pictures makes me sick to my stomach and have a lump in my throat. That's how much I am afraid of rattlesnakes.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Last august i stumbled on this pair while bear hunting in ferry county, wa. Karma my ass, i shoot em. After i shot the one in the foreground the other slithered under the rock.

 

[Europe]

Rattlers are natural pest control,please leave them be.
I only take 4ft. or longer snakes for thier skin and meat.
Gopher snakes will bluff with a hiss and wiggle thier tail.
Scares the Cr/ap out of you,but not lethal..
Live and let live...View attachment 141163View attachment 141164

agree with all points . we use to also eat the large ones.

Big Fin. thanks for starting this thread, your posts as well as the posts from the other members where enjoyable reads ------but brought back memories that were not so enjoyable )-;

I think we have a dozen different species of rattlesnakes in Arizona and I swear to God I have encountered every damn species, usually while Coues hunting . Staying on a horse sometimes in interesting when they encounter one. Crawling along the ground and coming face to face with one always created a need for me to change clothes. AAAGGGGHHHH !! Another funny snake story involves the Black Mambo in Africa. We were told that a human could die within 30 minutes from a bite from one of them without the help of a respirator . I ask how close are we to a respirator ----the response , "about 4 hours "

Heads up. If any of you decide to go Coues hunting in Arizona ( or even New Mexico ) dont let anyone try to convince you that you will not encounter any at that time of year. Obviously, they will not be as prominent in July, but they could be, can be, out and about as late as Oct, even Nov.

 

[Tradewind]

Aren't there gaiters you can wear which will not allow the bite to get through?
I was on a quail hunt and someone had those on

 

[Europe]

Aren't there gaiters you can wear which will not allow the bite to get through?
I was on a quail hunt and someone had those on

not that come up over you head---ie: when crawling through grass (-: (-:

 

[Hammsolo]

I had a guy just today ask me if I ever run across rattlesnakes while turkey hunting Western oklahoma. I told him about the time a couple years ago in NM while I was hunting scaled quial. I heard a strange noise down by my feet. Dumb me thought the sound was a locust. I looked down and a Prairie rattler was approx. 18 inches from my boots and was in the position of pic #2. Coiled and ready, I was in striking distance and didn't know it. I jumped to get out of the way, thankfully he didn't strike. Right or wrong I usually give them a 12 guage dirt nap.

Do you eat them? Skin? I’ve never killed one. I have a new hunting spot with them. I’m always looking to try a new snack.

 

[Hammsolo]

I’m scared S***less of snakes but I leave them alone and understand their place in the world too. 10 years ago I had a different philosophy. Part of growing up I guess.

Ecosystems

 

[Tomahawk]

Central Montana 2020, found this guy on the access road after packing my bear out. One of the many snakes crawling around the N-Bar.

 

[44hunter45]

Great thread!

No Pics, but too many stories to tell here.

Growing up in the Sierra Nevada Foothills country of California we had lots of snakes. Most kid's mothers shout ,"Be Careful" when they head outside. My mother's mantra was, "Watch for Snakes!" My family used to kill every one we saw on the ranch, but then we evolved into a "let them be" attitude. My brother and I were quite the amateur herpetologists. We handled rattlers from a young age. None of us ever got bit, but we lost dogs and an expensive Appaloosa to snake bites over the years. My dad saved a black lab which had jumped in front of me as a very small child and taken a bite on the nose. He dipped the dog's nose in kerosene, which he said was anti-coagulant. To this day I wonder at some of Pop's cowboy remedies, but the dog lived.

Mom finally pushed Pop to get the door sills installed in our ranch house because she got tired of snakes coming inside to lay on the cool concrete floors.

My favorite snake story is that I had a college field biology class and our textbook stated that the Great Western Diamondback never exceeds 4 1/2' in length. I called BS out loud in class. This resulted in the professor challenging me to prove it wrong. About 1 hour cruising the white dirt roads of Madera County that weekend netted us a fat 8' rattler. We caught it and I did a show and tell in class with it the next week.

I am completely comfortable with rattlers. Years later my work took me on extended trips to the Atlanta area. Every time we went to the Chattahoochee to recreate, someone would drag out the story of a woman water skier who fell into a knot of Moccasins and was beyond saving by the time they got to her. Local myth? It didn't matter to me. The idea of a killer snake that likes to strike first and ask questions later really kept me on my toes on and off the water in the South. I never did see a Moccasin.

 

[mtlilguy]

2015. My first summer on the HiLine. This guy was not happy with me interrupting his meal, but he couldn't do much about it. Snapped a few pics then back to work. They have to eat too, I guess.