A little OT. What Busse would you use to skin THIS!

I would forgo the Busse, and progress directly to 12-guage!

Sheesh! Some people! :thumbup:

 

I would be using you and your Busse knife, I'm not getting close to that thing!!!

 

HOly Crap!!! I had no idea those things got THAT big!!!

 

OK not to get on a high horse but I would have let the thing live (unless of corse I planned on eating it). That is a grand speciman of a unique reptile and to kill it just because, is well unjustified. However, to each their own.

P.S. I went to college in Wilmington

:thumbdn:

 

That brings up some bad memories.... like when I turned over the 4wheeler coming down a rough part of the mountain only to see a diamond back under it when I wen't to turn the 4wheeler back over. Was forced to kill it since it wouldn't go anywhere even after I shot at it a few times. LOL I shot almost 2 full mags of 9mm at it before I scored a kill shot to the head... it weighed out at just under 40lbs and it was some tasty eating

 

i dont know how fast a 9ft snake can travel (though i assume its pretty fast), but it would seem that you could probably get away from it if if you saw it coming.

maybe that wasnt the case - but i try not to kill snakes. they serve a valuable purpose in this life - lowering the amount of gofers i have to kill.

and seriously, that thing is bueatiful... it would be (for whatever reason) nice to know it was out enjoying life somewhere in a feild. pretty much any reptile expert/exibit/zoo would love to have that thing

 

I wouldnt kill it unless I had to...I hear they are pretty tasty though.

 

If that is the true length of that snake, it is a new world record, shattering the old record by 13".

 

Heck with skinnin' it! I'd take it and have it stuffed!!

 

I call BS on this being an honest representation of a 95 pound, 9'1" rattler.

Firstly, notice that he is holding the snake several feet in front of him, in a photo taken with an extreme wide angle lens... making the snake look disproportionately large in comparison to the person.

Secondly, even if that snake was a large as this picture makes it seem, it still doesn't look to me like a 95 pounder... maybe a 50 pound snake, but I doubt even that.

Thirdly, if that snake was 95 pounds, and he was holding it up on the end of a 3 foot long pole, it would be quite cantilevered, and would seem like several times that weight. Judging by the looks of him... not particularly well built, and not struggling to hold it up... I doubt that snake was anywhere close to 95 pounds.

Lastly, we don't know the size of that man, but he might be a little feller, under five feet, chosen to make the snake look dramatically large by comparison, for all we know.

Anyway, I would let the snake live, if possible. I've encountered many hundreds of rattlers, and never had to kill one, yet. If it was dead, and I was going to skin it, I'd probably have to choose my Pepper Shaker for that task.

 

Worth adding:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/txsnake.asp

 

Look at how his right hand is gripping that pole. It doesn't appear to me that he is holding on very hard...

 

BBSS LE stands for Busse B.S. Skinner Liar Edition

There is no way that snake is as big as advertised.

The BBSS LE would be perfect! It is advertised as being a 9" long, 3/8" thick battle blade... but it is really just a slightly larger GW. It should be perfect!

 

Anyway, back to the original question....
I'd use a Meaner Street in TAN/TAN of course. It only seems right. Then use the skin for inlays for my TAN/TAN blade sheaths. Course it might take more than just this one rattler to do inlays for all of them

 

OOH!! OOH!!! ME WANT!!! That would make one heck of a shop pet!

btw, it looks like its still alive, and yep, I've seen em near that size. Feeding that monster would break ya.

I'm a herp fan from way back, neat to see them getting that big, the rattle snake roundups are starting to strain the populations. Seems people want the rats, mice and other disease carrying vermine over the nice clean snakes.