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0560's first blood
- Thread starter travclem
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2004
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- 17,456
Out shooting yesterday I sent a little 18" prairie rattler to see jesus. It was my first ZT's first blood.
I thought snakes went downstairs, not upstairs?
I thought snakes went downstairs, not upstairs?
That may be the case, either way the little scumbag is dead and can't bite me.
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- Oct 12, 2011
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haha that's great :thumbup:
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
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- 350
I can't tell you how many animals I've seen lost to snakebites right here. One buddies been bit too. Luckily he is a big healthy guy and got to care quick. And with three kids under the age of five, I kill rattlers without hesitation or question. I think between me and the neighbor, we were up to 6 last season. They just now came out this year. Neighbors lab pup has been hit already. Face swoll up nasty bad but the little fella made it a week so far. Looks like he will be fine.
My grandpa lives in west Texas and there is a bunch of house building around his house where it was just pasture up until a few months ago and now all the rattlers are coming out of the woodworks. He killed a 5.5 foot one on his porch the other day. He puts the rattle in his guitar to use as a tamborine
Or not because he had taken up residence right beside my rifle bench and dog in the backyard. I kill every rattlesnake I see, and will always do so.
Good deal!
Amen buddy! Thanks!
Yeah this one that I killed was a little guy, the biggest one I've killed around here was 8'3". I killed her in Big Lake TX at our hunting lease in the well house. She had 14 and a button. I went in and turned on the well and heard her rattle in the back but it was dark in there. I went back to turn the well off and she was coiled up under the switch. Weird thing was it was December 26th. I have a Ball canning jar full of rattles that I've gotten over the years.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2012
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- 86
If I see a poisonous snake out in the middle of nowhere he has a 50:50 shot of getting out alive.
Close to the house? They have 0% chance.
I don't kill non-venomous snakes.
We get a lot of Copperheads in North Bama. Those jokers are mean.
Close to the house? They have 0% chance.
I don't kill non-venomous snakes.
We get a lot of Copperheads in North Bama. Those jokers are mean.
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- Apr 4, 2007
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- 8,578
No doubt about copper heads. They are bitey. Cotton mouths IMHO are probably the most aggressive of the Venomous snakes. They get a rep for being lazy and docile as they hang out in the swamps but make no mistake you corner one and that thing will do nothing but snap at you.
I, too, love snakes. They taste like chicken. Not as tough as spotted owl - or as chewy as condor.
Congrats on allowing one to become one with the soil. I did that to a couple of baby copperheads in my basement - found in my sawdust under my table saw. A gal across the street saw their mama going across my driveway and brought it to me in a pillowcase wondering if she could keep it. She had a cousin who was studying snakes. It was definitely a copperhead ~2.5 ft long.
I'm just thankful that you didn't post a picture of a sliced hand/severed finger. My wife did ask to check out my new 0561 when I got it home Saturday before last. Why folks drag a thumb down a new blade to see if it's sharp defies logic. She was pre-occupied with Tom Arnold's 'Redneck Vacation' on the tube. "You didn't tell me it was sharp!", she sobbed. A little soap and water, dab it dry with cotton, and a brush or two of 'New Skin', that great anesthesia/antiseptic/super glue concoction - and she was good to go. Can't tell where the cut was. Funny statement by her, "Your Benchmades are never that sharp!". So, now I need to look for dull knives...
Stainz
Congrats on allowing one to become one with the soil. I did that to a couple of baby copperheads in my basement - found in my sawdust under my table saw. A gal across the street saw their mama going across my driveway and brought it to me in a pillowcase wondering if she could keep it. She had a cousin who was studying snakes. It was definitely a copperhead ~2.5 ft long.
I'm just thankful that you didn't post a picture of a sliced hand/severed finger. My wife did ask to check out my new 0561 when I got it home Saturday before last. Why folks drag a thumb down a new blade to see if it's sharp defies logic. She was pre-occupied with Tom Arnold's 'Redneck Vacation' on the tube. "You didn't tell me it was sharp!", she sobbed. A little soap and water, dab it dry with cotton, and a brush or two of 'New Skin', that great anesthesia/antiseptic/super glue concoction - and she was good to go. Can't tell where the cut was. Funny statement by her, "Your Benchmades are never that sharp!". So, now I need to look for dull knives...
Stainz
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2012
- Messages
- 86
I would agree. Most snakes tend to either a.) stay where you found them while they are angry or b.) attempt to make and angry retreat. Cotton mouths seem to want to chase you down, just for the spite of it. I had a.. situation.. with a rather nasty cotton mouth on a creek bank once. I've only been truly scared of a snake one time and it was that day. He had me cornered and seemed to know it. LOL.
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- Jan 12, 2009
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Why folks drag a thumb down a new blade to see if it's sharp defies logic.
I warn 'em, but I think they have seen that too many times on television.
They never do it more than once with my knives. Not even with a finger nail.
I am with the group that kills any venomous snakes out there. I have seen good dogs killed, and friends of mine bit. When I was a kiddo, one of by buddies was bit by a small rattler (2' or so) on the hand when he was climbing out of the ravine/creek bed he was hiking in. They saved the finger, but it looked more like a claw after that. He was in enormous pain for a week, and thought he would lose the finger for a couple of weeks.
After that, if it is safe for me to do so, I consider it my civic duty to dispatch those guys back to their maker. Anyway, in South Texas we have an abundance of them, so no loss.
Robert
I agree, that doesn't make sense to me either.
I warn 'em, but I think they have seen that too many times on television.
They never do it more than once with my knives. Not even with a finger nail.
I am with the group that kills any venomous snakes out there. I have seen good dogs killed, and friends of mine bit. When I was a kiddo, one of by buddies was bit by a small rattler (2' or so) on the hand when he was climbing out of the ravine/creek bed he was hiking in. They saved the finger, but it looked more like a claw after that. He was in enormous pain for a week, and thought he would lose the finger for a couple of weeks.
After that, if it is safe for me to do so, I consider it my civic duty to dispatch those guys back to their maker. Anyway, in South Texas we have an abundance of them, so no loss.
Robert
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,399
LOL but I have not tried any animal that was tougher to chew than snake, I tried it twice.
First was in the mid 70's, a rattler that I golfed his head off with a steal pipe. Couldn't believe how far the head flew.
The second was the biggest cotton mouth any of the locals had ever seen. (central Fl.) It was winter and it warmed up enough for this guy to go out hunting but not warm enough for it to be a threat or retreat. Death by shovel! This time I marinated it in 4 different sauces that were high in acid hoping to break down mussel. It was just as tough at the rattler. Both had great flavor though.
From my experience, copperheads have to be stepped on to strike. Rattlers just need their strike zone approached/entered - but they generally announce their presence first. Cottonmouths strike if they get a small IR source representing dinner while going from point A to B. They also attack in defending themselves if they find a large IR source (They cannot differentiate between a cajun and a cow. They are on the cajun's dinner menu.) as they travel. Sadly, they seem to have an inertial guidance - and return to their original track when perturbed. If your boat is in that path - as my docked San Juan 21 sailboat was once - they try to go over it. My boat had a flush foredeck, making it's gunwales forward quite high above the water level. No way that snake would reach my deck. But he tried - bumped the hull several times before I used the hook on the docking pole to redirect him. A minute later, he was back - same spot. I introduced him to my paddle... repeatedly.
A knife is not a good weapon against any snake - you have to get too close. Plus - a poisonous snake's severed head is still deadly. They should be buried - carefully - and deep. It's embarrassing to be bit - or stung - by a severed snake head - or yellow jacket's hind end. I laid my arm back on a windowsill and put my elbow on the severed rear end of a yellowjacket - I barely made it to my car and some benadryl (antihistamine - I'm allergic). It made a half dollar sized welt in minutes. The guy who diced the yellowjacket was trying out his new Kershaw Leek. Obviously, it was sharp. As to disposing of snake heads without burying them, I've heard burning them in a camp fire is good - but not from who I would take as an expert. I just dice them with a hoe, shovel, or edger - and bury them or put them - via a shovel - in the trash bag. Mostly, in the woods, I avoid them. That's easiest to do with eastern rattlers - they smell like rotting flesh - and warn you. Good leggings help with copperheads - just look where you put your feet. Cottonmouths? Just avoid bogs and creeks. Use your knife to filet yon headless snake... be prepared for a cooked delicacy with the flavor of chicken - and the texture of squid. I'd think you'd have to be famished!
Stainz
PS I have no idea what spotted owl or condor tastes like - they are a bit hard to find in C.A. (Central Alabama - not CA!). I chewed on a piece of snake - once - on a dare. You'd have to be really hungry.
A knife is not a good weapon against any snake - you have to get too close. Plus - a poisonous snake's severed head is still deadly. They should be buried - carefully - and deep. It's embarrassing to be bit - or stung - by a severed snake head - or yellow jacket's hind end. I laid my arm back on a windowsill and put my elbow on the severed rear end of a yellowjacket - I barely made it to my car and some benadryl (antihistamine - I'm allergic). It made a half dollar sized welt in minutes. The guy who diced the yellowjacket was trying out his new Kershaw Leek. Obviously, it was sharp. As to disposing of snake heads without burying them, I've heard burning them in a camp fire is good - but not from who I would take as an expert. I just dice them with a hoe, shovel, or edger - and bury them or put them - via a shovel - in the trash bag. Mostly, in the woods, I avoid them. That's easiest to do with eastern rattlers - they smell like rotting flesh - and warn you. Good leggings help with copperheads - just look where you put your feet. Cottonmouths? Just avoid bogs and creeks. Use your knife to filet yon headless snake... be prepared for a cooked delicacy with the flavor of chicken - and the texture of squid. I'd think you'd have to be famished!
Stainz
PS I have no idea what spotted owl or condor tastes like - they are a bit hard to find in C.A. (Central Alabama - not CA!). I chewed on a piece of snake - once - on a dare. You'd have to be really hungry.
I puree'd his head with a shovel and buried it, but not before playing with it for a while. It's funny to make snake heads bite shovels. I'm not too worried about being bitten because I wear 17" elephant hide boots.