1st kill + snake advice

Jens Schuetz

Jens Schuetz

Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
4,162
I had to kill a rattle snake today. It was literally under our doorstep. I asked the kids to stand back and stabbed/smashed the head with a piece of wood. Another one in the body which broke most of the tail of.
It's the first animal with a spine which I ever killed myself. I kniw city folks. Poisening mise doesn't count I guess.
It was only 1.5feet long.

Now there are two questions.

What can I make out of the skin and how? (if it's even legal in Ca) Do I have to process it right away or can I leave it in a bucket until tomorrow?

How do I track them down on our medium size property to get rid of all of them. I already built a 3 feet high snake fence (out of 1/4 hardware cloth) which was almost :rolleyes: complete and will be done tomorrow. I swear.
:D

Thanks guys.
 
Just a heads-up, dead snakes smell pretty bad. :barf:

Second heads-up, some rattlesnake species are endangered and may be protected by Federal and/or state law. If I were you, and not entirely sure of the law, I'd delete this topic. Just sayin'. :foot:
 
Hey, luckily here in Cali you can kill all the rattlers you want without a fishing license. Who's the tree hugger now haha.
 
Make some snake skin boots. Just kidding, a sheath would be cool or just skin it and hang it on the wall. I would have tried to eat him, I heard they taste like chicken.
 
Bob W said:
Just a heads-up, dead snakes smell pretty bad. :barf:

Second heads-up, some rattlesnake species are endangered and may be protected by Federal and/or state law. If I were you, and not entirely sure of the law, I'd delete this topic. Just sayin'. :foot:
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob.
Just read up on it and compared pictures and its legal to kill them here in CA without any license. Its the only venomous snake in the state but there seem to be quite a few of them around here. Glad it didn't get our cottontail bunny.

I can't imagine it smells bad since I had some really tasty rattle snake once in Texas but maybe cooking it removes the smell?


I also got some idea about skinning now. Waiting 2 hours is advised to reduce movement and allow for straighter cuts.

Thing is what do I do with the skin?
Do I have to treat the leather to keep it supple similar to deer skin? Could I just hang it to dry, or would that make it brittle?

Thank you.
 
Bob W said:
Just a heads-up, dead snakes smell pretty bad. :barf:

Second heads-up, some rattlesnake species are endangered and may be protected by Federal and/or state law. If I were you, and not entirely sure of the law, I'd delete this topic. Just sayin'. :foot:
Click to expand...

Any snake under my door step is endangered the minute discovered.
 
Bob W said:
Just a heads-up, dead snakes smell pretty bad. :barf:

Second heads-up, some rattlesnake species are endangered and may be protected by Federal and/or state law. If I were you, and not entirely sure of the law, I'd delete this topic. Just sayin'. :foot:
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, the Three S Rule. Shoot, shovel, shut up.
 
In NY State ALL snakes are protected ! The State of course knows nothing about snakes !!
See leghog comment above !
 
Jens - follow the directions on skinning and tanning, and make a hatband for your bush hat.

Rattlesnake is good eating too!
 
Got it in a jar tanning.

The smell was fine. Actually smelled less than chicken maybe it was just fresher than the chickens I buy or simply too young and small.

Once the poo came out it smelled a bit.
Scraping the skin's insight clean didn't feel right it seemed it couldn't take it. A rough towel rubbed everything off nicely.
 
Last edited:
Finished the snake fence today.
The skin is still tanning for another 24hours. Daughter wants to take the jar for show and tell to Kindergarten tomorrow. :p
 
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