I kill rattlers around the house and barn.
Also any snakes that are in the house.
Wife dont like house snakes.
Mostly like you Jim, except if I can I'll just remove them from the homestead area.
Lived in a place in AZ desert where I killed or removed 21 in a five year period. From next to the hose bib on the house wall, under the pallet the doghouse sat on, the porch, steps going down from the yard to the street. One I removed crawled under a cooler i had tipped over to dry out after rinsing it post turkey hunting. Hadn't been on the lawn a half hour. Most of the killed ones were eaten and their skins preserved. We let many go that were away from the house.
This house here, haven't seen a rattler yet but garter snakes and gopher snakes (bull snakes to some of youins) and a spattering of others. Have actually had small garter snakes get in somehow. Maybe through the side of the dog door flaps?
Unless they are an immediate threat to ones self, children, livestock, or have taken up residence adjacent or under a cabin or home, IMO, they should be left alone to do their thing. We have no snakes in Alaska, but I have lived where they were, and encountered them (scaring the crap out of me a couple times) and felt the same then.
If it is legal, and they are wanted for meat or hide (not just the rattles) that is a different story.
Killing them otherwise is a wanton act, depriving them of the only thing the poor bastards have - their life. It is not going to make a bit of difference in the population, one way or another, so it is merely a "feel-good" act on the killer's part. No different than killing a deer or other animal "because it is there", or for the rack.
If it is illegal, then the snake killer should be prosecuted, in addition. No wink, wink, ha,ha.
Pretty much on the same page as you las, they get a pass from me most times. I hate friggen rats, mice, gophers and other rodent vermin that gets in the garden, sheds, chicken coops, and yard. If the rattler ain't near to the house, it'll likely live.
Not killing a killer is ridiculous. Get them before they get you or someone else.
Had to tell Varmintgay the same thing a few years ago....using that logic I should pull over every stupid driver I see, and kill them...
I see a lot of stupid drivers, I like the idea of killing them!
I'm more for having a vaporize button on my dashboard with crosshairs so I don't smoke an innocent driver. Either that or a "Groundhog Day" button so they can keep going over and over their impropriety, endlessly, until they figure it out.
Geno
PS, for those who think "well Geno just hasn't had a close call yet", I've had my hands and feet within inches of them on more than a few occasions. It definitely gets the heart started.
