Wool blanket and eating snakes

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
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A couple of quick questions for anyone that can answer them. I grabbed a surplus wool blanket today, weighs a few pounds and doesn't feel worn out or thread bare. Canuck surplus. Can anyone decipher the tag ? Does 85 moth proof mean 85% wool content ?, or are we talking around 70% for these blankets ? I did a few searches and only got a vague history of the mill. Also.............. Has anyone here eaten a garter snake ? I was metal detecting a small town last year and the place was literally crawling with Garter Snakes. Are Garters edible ? I would't mind giving them a chew out of curiosity. I think that I walked into a den site.

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No idea about the blanket, but most snakes are edible, garters included. It's usually more a question of "Will this snake try to poison me if I try to eat it?"

I think you can just cut off the head and tail and peel the whole skin off, then skewer them over a fire.
 
Grease said:
No idea about the blanket, but most snakes are edible, garters included. It's usually more a question of "Will this snake try to poison me if I try to eat it?"

I think you can just cut off the head and tail and peel the whole skin off, then skewer them over a fire.
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I think that I'll try garter this year. I have found them right across Canada. The little buggers have spooked me more than once. Walking along, then zip, out shoots a garter two feet in front of me in the tall straw grass. Gave me a tight hoop more than once.
 
I seem to recall reading that garter snakes taste rather nasty, but I wouldn't know personally.
 
Garters tend to eat frogs, toads, small fish and even worms so I imagine they don't taste all that good. Give me a good corn-fed chicken eating snake anyday.
 
garters have very strong musk glands.. which they can activate defensively which make them smeel disgusting for hours. they also have abazillion ribs, so for me the juice is not worth the squeeze, als they are protected by me, as are all snakes and lizards
 
Bummer, I was kind of excited to try a Garter. Doesn't sound like weinies and beans though..........pass. I've tried all kinds of wierd critters from sucker fish to porcupine (the porky tasted like sh.. and smelled like it too ).
 
Use the garter snake as a big worm for fish bait. Fish are generally better tasting anyway. Unless you find a very large rattler.
 
I bought the wife a metal detector for Christmas and she "hates" snakes..Hopefully she don't encounter to many...CD
 
Codger_64 said:
Use the garter snake as a big worm for fish bait. Fish are generally better tasting anyway. Unless you find a very large rattler.
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Actually bud, rattlers are a distinct possibility about an hours drive south of here. We have prickly pear cactus on the southern hill slopes. I used to play with snakes as a kid, but not a fan now. Not quite a snake ninny, but getting a little closer with age.
 
CellerDrummer said:
I bought the wife a metal detector for Christmas and she "hates" snakes..Hopefully she don't encounter to many...CD
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Well this location had its main street burn in the late twenties and they pushed everyting left into the foundations, then leveled with earth. With the snake numbers that I saw last year I believe that they are denning in the old foundations.
 
I'm guessing you came across a "ball" of snakes?, if so, it was mating time!! I've come across this a few times while out after spring edibles. As fare, I can't imagine picking through all the small bones for a tea spoon of meat, unless I was starved.;)
 
upnorth said:
Actually bud, rattlers are a distinct possibility about an hours drive south of here. We have prickly pear cactus on the southern hill slopes. I used to play with snakes as a kid, but not a fan now. Not quite a snake ninny, but getting a little closer with age.
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Sometimes a bit of wisdom comes with age. We used to catch sacks full of water moccasins when I was a kid. We got a dollar each for them from a guy who supplied them for antivenom. A dollar would buy a pack of Camels, a Pepsi and a candy bar with change left over. We never got bit, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Nowdays, a long catch stick would be in order instead of using my hands. If I were even inclined to do it at all, which I am not.
 
I do believe the tag means 85% wool, plus it's been moth proofed. More than likely 15% cotton content.
 
I stumbled upon a little jut of land that went out into a river. My brother and I were out on this little peninsula when we heard a rattle, then another, then there were rattles coming from all around us. We started seeing the rattle snakes all over, behind, to the sides, in front.

We were wearing shorts and river sandals.

We ended up slowly moving to the edge and leaping into the water and swimming back to shore at the park. When we went back around, we noticed the sign we had ignored the first time around (WARNING: RATTLE SNAKES)

I have never been that scared in nature, even when a bear tried to get me (he came out on the dock where I was swimming, and followed me to the end. I had to dive off the end, swim under water about 20 feet, and come up under another dock and hide).
 
mewolf1 said:
I'm guessing you came across a "ball" of snakes?, if so, it was mating time!! I've come across this a few times while out after spring edibles. As fare, I can't imagine picking through all the small bones for a tea spoon of meat, unless I was starved.;)
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I really don't know about a snake ball ? I was walking an area of say 3-4 blocks square out in a tiny, near ghost town, out in the country. The buggers startled me many times. Long snakes, shorter snakes, some with red stripes, some with black, all Garters. I'd have one darting away about every 15-20 feet.
 
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