...and a real badass.
I ran across this little guy this morning when I was on a training hike with my llamas. He was about 3' long at the most. He sure tried to play big and mean, though. He didn't rattle but 2 out of 3 of these that I've seen don't rattle. It's a Western rattler, a subspecies of the Prairie or Great Plaines rattler.
My phone doesn't take very clear photos so it's a tad blurry.

Where’s “the after” pic?

lol


Should look like a ball of hamburger meat.

Yeah- blame it on the phone....

I do.

Do llamas bite?

Make a good hatband - a bit too small for a belt.

I am all for conservation and knowing that snakes have a purpose in nature and all that. But I don't think i could keep myself from killing every single one of those fuggers I came close to.

Do they not rattle? Or are you like me and just can't hear it?

Was crawling under a fence near Hardy Arkansas a few years back when my son urgently said "STOP"!
The fence had grown up in trees and there was a timber rattler buzzing for all he was worth about 2 feet from my head in the roots of a tree. I could see his tail blurring. My son could hear it from 12-15 feet away. I didn't hear it at all...

What he said!

On a side note, to Rock Chuck's comment about 2 of 3 not rattling...they're seeing that more often. The logic being the ones that rattle get killed so the ones that don't are passing that trait to the next generation. Scary, as I had one a Prarie Rattler swim by me at one if my fishing holes this weekend.

I heard a theory that hogs had been acting as predators on snakes so the snakes have stopped rattling in response. Learned response in a snake seems a bit of a long shot maybe but.....

I HATE those basterds. Kill everyone I see or hear.
If not for me, for the gun dogs that might find them.

I watched his tail carefully and didn't see it shake at all. He didn't even try.
I usually don't bother them. Shortly before seeing him, I had a young buck antelope jog across the trail in front of me. Then he turned around and 'jogged' back in a blur, way too fast to get my camera out.

Or someones kid.

This

How did you get out if that?

I use to give rattlers a break if they weren’t near the house, until I lost a good dog. Now I kill them all on sight.

Where there's one...,
I hope you killed it. Fuggers can strike further than you think.

Did the llamas alert you to it?

No. I was leading and it was in the trail ahead of me. I used my trekking pole to shoosh it out of the way. The llamas just ignored it as I led them around it. I don't know what they would have done if it had rattled. I've seen rattlers a few times before when hiking with them and I don't remember any of them rattling.

I kill every one I can possibly kill, with no remorse.

6 or 8 years ago, my wife and I were boat camping on the shore of a reservoir near here. We just threw out a tarp and slept in the open. The next morning after daybreak, we took a walk along the shore and found a rattler about 100 yds from camp. Since then, you will NOT get that woman to camp out without a tent. Can't be done.

Sounds like we should at least be killing the silent ones.....

A co-worker had that policy - if they were "gentlemanly" enough to rattle he would let them live, but woe unto the silent ones.

Next time, get a lot closer, and hold the camera still for awhile, ta let the focus adjust.

I think rattlers are neat, but antivenom is like 18 grand. I had snake gaiters on once, and they worked. But the SOB bit "me" above the boot line and I was four miles on foot -- so I kill every rattler I'm aware of.

Dogs can sure seem to find them. All my setters have been snake proofed. Hasbeen

Freeze-dried now. 🙂 From western SD prairie dog shoot. Ran into several of them over a couple days. Picked this one up with my shooting sticks and dumped it into my cooler of ice thinking by the time we got home, he’d be real lethargic. At home cautiously opened my cooler and he started buzzing pretty well again.

I kill every rattler I come across.

Thats a big one RC! I found this prairie rattler a while back while out with my snake detector. A little guy but ornery!! I fed him a .45 acp round to the noggin.

In New Mexico, on an Explorer Scout trip to Phillmout Ranch, a few of the boys were teasing a rattler with a stick.

I stayed way back.

All ya fuggin' idiots out there killin' every snake you see are much like the chinks who were told to kill every bird so that they wouldn't eat the grains... then the locust population exploded and ate more grain than the birds did. Nature is about balance. If it's within your curtilage, sure... but otherwise move around it/move it to another area, or continue to be a emotional thinker rather than a logical one and kill every one because it makes you FEEL better..

Eeeeeeeek !

Said BobbyBrown

Pussies !

LOL

🦫

Got it.

Had a timber rattler on my driveway this weekend. Ran to get a shovel but it was gone into pine trees quick. I hadn't seen one in several years. Dog didn't see it thank God.

This is pretty much where I am.

I hunted rattlers for their hides years ago, and somewhere along the way I learned they are about as innocuous as any creature can be....so they get a pass from me unless they are about to sink teeth into me or a dog. More misconceptions about Rattlers than any other single creature. ( and tall stories...)

The camouflage is amazing.

As above. Not many up here tho.

Met a few in Montana, just one in ND. As I've posted before, when that bale came off the chute I already had the hook in and string in other hand when I noticed the tail hanging out the side. Pitched that 60 pound bale a good 30 feet.

But killing every snake one sees regardless of circumstances is emotional pap. Another will take it's place so there has been nothing done for "safety", probably nothing was done to affect "Nature", and you have deprived a living critter of it's life for no real reason. Except fear.

Get over it..

Besides snakes are protected in a lot of states.

For me................. rattle snakes die.... uncle bit, nearly died, granddad lost several dogs, BIL nearly lost one last month, 4 doses of antivenom($2400)..........

Ecologically sound???? not worried about it much, I think Florida has enough 'other snakes' to fill in the void.............

Feel pretty much the same way about moccasins and copperheads, coral snakes get a pass though.....

Years ago when moving our pup was bitten by a rattlesnake in New Mexico at a rest stop. Took her to a vet in Santa Rosa and he had me go to the pharmacy for 3 vials of anti-venom. $15 a vial at that time. Saved the pup's life.

Some species of rattlesnake are protected here.

It's for the children!

If I lived out west I would kill every one of em encountered.
Probably aint even denting the population.
Every one you kill probably 10 others anyways...
That one you kill might have been the one biting a human, dog, horse, livestock.

I can see how some cut down the chance and probability by a no mercy policy on em.

These western rattlers look very much like bull snakes. We have lots of bulls, too. They're harmless but seem like they're more belligerent than the rattlers. They vary in color but most I've seen here look something like this.

I suspect most people kill every snake they see and don't worry too much about identifying them.

This is often the rationale used.

Under that same line of thought I should pull over every stupid driver I see and kill them. They do a LOT more damage than snakes...

Plus you'd have the added advantage of being able to hear them scream.

Snakes eat a lot of rodents that do much more damage than the snakes do.

We have the prairie rattler out east mostly .They are always nasty. Only one I ever ran into that was worse was a sidewinder in the Nevada desert.

In Colorado there is season on rattle snakes

A 6-7 ft bull snake can give you the scare pretty fast though

The difference between a western and a prairie is like the difference between a Rocky Mtn elk and a Roosevelt. Same species with local variations.
Idaho also has a snake season - Jan 1 through Dec 31. They seem to be a bit timid but I've been told that their venom is pretty potent. Usually they'll just slither away but this one coiled and stood his ground.

This is a Western that I killed at least 30 years ago. It's been on my wall all that time. The head fell apart years ago. It was 52" long. It's pretty faded now and very brittle. I guess I need to get a fresh one one of these days. I skinned it and tacked it down to a board flesh side up then buried it in borax for a week to dry it.

That's what leaders do...

Rattlesnake Bill Watson, got his nickname , when he picked up a rattler instead of his lunch sausage.

We run across our share of rattlers down here, I only ever remember one being aggressive and its was only a foot long. I've been struck once, but I literally had stepped on it while chasing a turkey in a creek bottom.

Copperheads have quite the attitude where I'm at.

I'd buy some to keep on hand for that price.
If you ever run across a source like that again, let me know.
I don't think the milkers are making the money.
Most can't afford to go to the ER for a bite, while at the same can't afford not to.

Check it out:
https://thepreachersword.com/2014/01/29/the-high-cost-of-a-deadly-snake-bite/

That's been my experience with Eastern Timbers.
They get big and scary, but most are calm.
I almost stepped on one sunning.
It never buzzed. Even when I picked up the warm snake and bagged it, it was pretty mellow. There aren't many animals in the forest or ponds that are like that.
However, the babies tend to be more defensive.

Slowly, most likely.

Snakes kill about 5 people a year in the US

Dogs kill about 40 people a year.

If you are serious about saving lives then instead of killing snakes kill your neighbors pitbull , I did.

Mike

No kidding. Florida water moccasins are a thing.

I've seen some yuge ones around Lake Okeechobee.

I’ve killed a lot of rattlesnakes. And will continue to. I care not one lick who it triggers. Like shooting gophers. Some panties get wadded over that too.

There's only 2 kinds of snakes, if it dosen't rattle, it's a cobra.

(I don't like snakes}

You mean ground squirrel?

This is a Gopher. I lot of western sharp shooters seem to confuse the two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher

Snakes do bother a lot of people. Spiders seem to bring about the same response.

BANG. I'm bigger and meaner.

Lots of people don’t give a fugk what the Audubon society calls them and use common parlance when discussing local fauna.

Don't get your panties in a wad. Just wondering.

So what do you call these?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher

Now that I think about it mice, spiders and snakes seem to freak people out.

Rats that's the rodent I hate.

I like shooting gophers.

Which are also known as Richardsons Ground Squirrels.

We use that name for profiling purposes.

Think snakes like ground squirrels too.

Fat mice.

Never known one to rattle until it's shot, or a rock busts it's head. These nature programs that say they rattle as a warning are false in my own experience.

This rancher where we hunt in Wyoming, would be pissed if we saw a rattlesnake and didn’t kill it.

Another couple with us on a whitewater trip broke camp to leave a day ahead of us. Last item to be packed was the ground cloth for their tent. You guessed it. He got tossed in the river.

I sure like your way of thinking!

gophers, squeaks, ground squirrels, whatever. They get where the dogs can get them, they die.

Lived in places where folks called any black bird a blackbird. Starlings, crows, grackles, even true blackbirds. If it had feathers and was black it was a friggen blackbird.

When I was younger, putting up hay, we had one farm down the road that was nothing but a big hill. We farmed the top with corn,sides with hay, but there were a lot of rock cliffs nearby.This place was swarming with copperheads. It was nothing to find 4-5 copperheads that slid under the bales after it was left in the filed for the next few days after each baling.

Preferred way to pick up hay was to hook the bale and roll it 90 degrees towards you to see in any were under the bale. An old single shot 12 gauge was clipped to the light bar of the International H, and every copper head got killed right then.

It was common to find dead ones that were baled up as we were feeding the dairy cows in the winter.
A neighbor friend got a few bales on year to put in his beagle dog boxes. I guess one was still alive because after it warmed up in the dog box, it bit the dog and killed it .I don't know how the snake got thru the baler knives an still lived, but when we went over the dog wa dying and the snake was still in the box.

Damn copperheads, you don't get any warning.

Dang, you got serious about your snakes. This is a 2 gauge, called a punt gun. I've read that they'd pour a full pound of black powder down the hole.

With a cheek weld, or in his case a chin weld like that, I wonder where the recoil went? Talk about taking it on the chin!

Or maybe grey squirrels. Oh ... wait ... that one is taken too. Hey, maybe Audubon was on to something!

I've read a little about them. The butt was blocked in. No one could handle that kind of recoil. The gun was blocked in and they aimed by steering the boat with those little hand paddles. More than 1 of them got knocked out of the boat and boats were known to sink after the recoil tore it apart.

Years ago I hiked many, many miles through the AZ desert and Chaparral. I did run into a few. They rattled, but I was way to close for comfort before they did. Scared the crap out of me.

It seemed in the AZ heat they would hide much of the day.

Chesapeake market hunters. Interesting times.

I would have loved to see the Passenger Pigeon flocks in the mid west. Supposed to have been legendary.

Don't forget bats.

Rats used to be common pets with girls.
Tarantulas are common pets in western Europe.


When I taught a class on bats, the good Lord delivered one to me. I displayed it behind glass and released it after the series along with a bat box.

That's a fact Jack!
I mean Chuck!

Oh, ya, bats!

Did you notice any in the brush? I mean up in the brush and not on the ground. Seems like they'd get up on the brush go get away from the heat next to the ground. I saw quite a few that did that in the hottest part of summer. Hikes were short during that time. Two canteens. When the first was empty, it was time to head back to the vehicle where more water was at hand.
Paul B.

Most of us are creeped out by something.
If I found a wild rat, I'd probably do a double take too.
When my Dad was a boy, the rats used to travel through the sewage plumbing. There were reports of bathroom experiences when all of a sudden one would come out of the commode. Talk about surprise. Yikes!

Never did.

I had a very close call on a summer hike in the Rincons right out of Tucson. I hiked up the back side (away from the city). I had 5 quarts of water. By the time I got back to the truck I was in very bad shape! My face was numb. Strange. I think my electrolytes were out of whack.

Bears have been known to kill people. Wolves too. And big cats. And dogs. Skunks, coons, armadillos carry nasty, sometimes deadly diseases. Mad cow disease, tick- carried diseases, rats, prairie dogs.... etc.

Let's kill every one of the bastards, by golly, until only we and plants (some of those are suspect too!) are left. Just so no one will ever have any kind of those kinds of problems again.

Jeeze, you guys!

Keep in mind we have plenty of people and dogs in the world - one here and there snake bitten isn't going to make any more difference than killing a snake for the sake of irrational fear and ignorance, because you can.

Me and mine excepted of course.

If it's dull looking, has a triangular head it's pretty much a dead snake. All y'all snake lovers can kiss my chicken azz, I'm killing every poisonous snake that I come across.
Fact is, once it's dead it's not going to bite anyone or anything.

I'm with Grit on this one.

thinking back, i know of one guy minus an arm due to a diamondback, another a leg due to a diamondback, i have come close to being bit a number of times, and lost a golden retriever due to a snakebite.
I shoot, bludgen, cut, whatever every venomous snake i come across.

Don't like spiders either, but I'm much more comfortable stomping one with my boot.

Years ago when I was in the Nat Guard, we had a battalion from the south, maybe GA or SC but I don't remember, come here to so. Idaho for training. There were ground squirrels everywhere. They started calling them Go Downs 'cause ever time ya see one, it's a goin' down. The name stuck and for some years everyone in the Guard called them Go Downs.
That said, gopher isn't correct but it's commonly used.

No, but you can bite it.
I hear that they are good eatin.
The hides aren't bad looking either.

Timber Rattler Skin suspenders would be Uber

I understand where you are coming from. I don't blame you. Just realize that if it's in striking distance, your chances of getting bit too, go way up when you take a stick to one.
If it's not in striking distance, you Normally have to get that close with a useful stick. They are quicker than us.

My preacher buddy wasn't a Pentecostal snake handler, but he enjoyed catching them. We'd go hunting and he'd wear his hatband with rattler band and belt.
Holsters with snakeskin are premium too.

I had a thread that might be remembered as the bigchickenpussybaby thread. And my first snake kill during my first prairie dog shoot was a bull snake.

Oh well, it was good practice & pistol shotshell testing for the prairie rattlers that followed.

Ded snake not even a good one in my book. I ask that buds remove the carcass from the area so's I don't pee my pants later in the day.

I've eaten some. It was ok but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. It would make a good survival food. They say it tastes like chicken but I'd say more like fish. It's white and flaky.

Fixed it just for you

Killed lots of rattlers, in my time. If it's venomous - it dies.
Some rattle and some don't.
Bull snakes, red racers, garter snakes, and all others get a pass.
I've lost a calf, a yearling steer, and had 2 horses hurt bad by rattlers, so would drive 10 miles out of my way to kill one.
We have a lot of prairie rattlers, and a few western diamondbacks.
If I get involved, I try my damndest to reduce the venomous population.

looks like a Western, but I never saw one in Arizona with a coontail. without the coontail we would call that a "great basin" around here.

we have diamondbacks and mojaves with coontails in Arizona.