Anyone been bit by a rattlesnake in back country?

[EZduzIT]

Last year. Dry bite. Still hurt like heck.
And I killed two others. This was my fault. About a week after the bite
View attachment 543569

Where at?

 

[Bluumoon]

Rafting the San Juan last week... My 4yo runs up and tells me they found a rattlesnake by the groover. I go dispatch it and pitch it in the river. Two hours later, right at dark, he sits next to my dad and holds up his foot to show off his snake bite, not a peep about it before. Thank the lucky stars no symptoms at all so we waited it out in camp. No sleep for the wife that night, 1000 ft down in a canyon, 8 river miles from a road, then at least 2.5hr drive to a hospital. Had the inreach, but it would have been an issue to get a helicopter anywhere close.

 

[ThunderJack49]

I'm remodeling a cabin in South West Montana right now. I walked in today about mid day and was looking up at the rafters, where I would be working. As I took a step forward, something caught my eye and there was a rattlesnake raising up in one of the stud bays. I had left the crawl space door open and he must of come in from there. Not the back country but one of the last places I ever expected to have a run in. Fortunately my dog was behind me, and not in front of me today.

 

[aclawrence]

I’ve come closing to stepping on a couple timbers. I wear Turtle skins and had them modified a little bit.

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[Coopsdaddy]

My brother has been tagged a couple times by water moccasins. Crofab was 20k+ per vial and seemed like they have him 7-10 vials, this maybe 5-10 yrs ago...2-3 days ICU...yes about 500k total.

If you can, give snakes room. If you get bit stay calm, keep heart rate low, get to help/care...calling the ER in advance was helpful for him as one of his hospital choices didn't have the anti venom ( Crofab) on hand...

My former Lab was bit by a copperhead...a benedryl or two held her over till we got to the vet. Who put her on pain med and antibiotic for a 7-10 day period.

What did insurance cover?

 

[Weldor]

This guy got close because I can't hear the rattle. Maybe 18" from my foot. Had snake gaiters on luckily, caught in in my peripheral while looking for a dove in the cactus. Solid 4 ft'er

 

[bone collector 13]

Working in semi rural EMS. Iv had 2 snake bite patients. Both got venom. Both were in fact messing with the snake. (One actually made it on BRCC_outdoors’s Instagram if you need some comic relief) but having the coverage area we do, and being in the “top 25 climbing destinations in the US” we see a ton of outdoor req in snake country to include rock climbing and it’s relatively a non issue.

And we definitely have snakes. USAF does part of their SAR( I believe it’s called?) school/training out by me and according to them they require everyone in the course to catch, kill and eat a rattlesnake. Lol

 

[bohntr]

Got bit in 1989 while stream fishing…..with the roar of the creek, never heard him. Luckily it was a dry bite, but I still endured all the shots, etc…..telling you to remain calm is hard to do when you’re a mile or so from your truck!

I see some pretty ones a little lower elevation than my place here in AZ.

 

[GAHunterJim]

https://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=477900&forum=36

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Not me, but I was with a guy, we were actually hunting them. While quail hunting we found a spot that for some reason had a good number of them. We were walking on the side of a hill, and all the sudden he let out a scream. I knew right away what thad happened. I got him to my truck and took his boots off, he got hit right above the top of the boot. Telling someone to remain calm is the easy part, having it happen is another. I quickly got him it the back of the truck and told him to keep his foot low, as opposed to putting it on the dashboard, I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, but I though keeping his foot below his heart was the bet thing to do. We were about 15 miles from Lancaster Ca. I flew down the street. as soon as we hit town I flag down a CHP officer, he said we were only about 1 mile from hospital, so he hit his light and I followed him. By the time they got him on the gurney his foot was real swollen and turning colors. I did kill the snake a Mojave, sometimes referred to as a Mojave Green, and gave it to ER Dr. He was in hospital for just over a week. He said he would pass on next snake hunt.

 

[Twitch]

Was bit by a small (under 2') western diamondback while stalking mule deer with my bow in Oregon. I was looking at the deer while inching along a creek bed. Took a step, looking at deer, feel a 'thump thump thump' against my boot. Look down and I had stepped right on him, wasn't rattling, just striking my boot.

Jesus may have walked on water... but I levitated.
Thankfully nothing penetrated the boot.

 

[Moto_917]

I’ve never been bit, but ran calls on a few people who have. Only 1 bite I went on was accidental, the rest were people messing with snakes they shouldn't have.

The closest I’ve ever been to being bit was when I took my sister on a creek fishing trip in the Sierras. We were about an hour drive and a 45 min hike(at a moderate pace) from the closest town. It was a cool morning, and I was motivated to fish, so I kept getting 100 yards or so ahead of my sister then having to wait for her to catch up. I had stopped and after she caught up I turned around to take a step and she screamed(no words, just a terrifying scream). I was wearing shorts and trail running shoes, and almost planted my foot right on a 5’ Southern Pacific rattlesnake that was almost solid black. I was standing about 4’ away from it for a couple minutes, and it didn’t move or rattle. I’m pretty sure I jumped no less than 8’ in the air and dropped everything I was holding. It wasn’t until after all of that took place that the snake started to rattle. I’ve definitely done a lot more looking and walked a little slower in the woods since then.


Also, as others have said: If you have Facebook, look up National Snakebite Support. It’s ran by Doctors and Vets from all over the country, and has a TON of good info for bites.

 

[MountainTracker]

Got bit in 1989 while stream fishing…..with the roar of the creek, never heard him. Luckily it was a dry bite, but I still endured all the shots, etc…..telling you to remain calm is hard to do when you’re a mile or so from your truck!

I see some pretty ones a little lower elevation than my place here in AZ. View attachment 599257

That’s a cool looking rattler. I never saw an all black one when I lived in AZ, working as far south as you can get.


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[bohntr]

That’s a cool looking rattler. I never saw an all black one when I lived in AZ, working as far south as you can get.


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I tend to see them in the 5000-6000’ elevation range

 

[Weldor]

That’s a cool looking rattler. I never saw an all black one when I lived in AZ, working as far south as you can get.


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It's a arizona black rattlesnake, higher elevations. They are cool looking.

 

[George]

I found a bunch of timbers last year.



Only 2 this year, one baby hunting on my porch



and my little pit bull puppy found what I believed to be a gravid female while he was stashing his deer antler behind the wood pile. I relocate them about 100 yards away up the hill. The gravid female was much more ornery than the big males that I usually find. She was quick to strike out having more to protect. I have never been bit but I do keep an eye out.



I train my dogs with rat snakes.





I have only seen a couple of copperheads this year, this one was in the process of having a bad day.






G

 

[Pdawg88]

I was hunting on the ground out in western Oklahoma one evening a couple years back. Had a great little ground blind I had made under a huge cottonwood. Like down a small draw area, tons of deer would walk through. Had taken many deer from that spot in previous years. I’m sitting under the tree and it’s the perfect time of night to be hunting. I keep hearing something to my left in the leafs of the cottonwood, but I don’t see anything walking. This goes on for probably 10 minutes. This is before iPhones m, but I had a cool Nokia that had solitaire on it so I would sit there and waste time playing it. I start playing a game but I can’t concertante because something is in the those damn leafs. I have both of my legs straight out in front of me and I’m leaning against the tree. All of the sudden I look up and the biggest western diamondback is crawling across my left leg, it crawls for a second and then turn and looks at me and just kind of looks at me, flicks it tongue and crawl across my right leg. He never stopped again and just slithered off. I took a video on my old Nokia that I had forever but I have no clue what happened to it. I went back to camp and told the guy what happened and he didn’t believe me until I showed him the video. That snake had no intention of hurting me, it had no clue what I was. But I scared me to death.