Rattlesnake

[Kilboars]

Those could really ruin your day..

 

[UncleNommies]

In the southeast, rattlesnakes will let you pass by but copperheads are hard to see and will pursue you. Snake boots are required.

I was hunting south Ga when I was younger, had to make a large leap over a creek to get to where i was hunting. Made the jump, took about 2 steps and all I could see were these yellow things, then i realized it was the tails of a bunch of young copperheads. Back across the creek i went!

 

[EastHumboldt]

I was fishing last summer on the East Walker river. I was standing in a depression on the bank with abunch of weeds around my feet. I have tinnitus and some hearing loss, so with the rushing noise of the river I heard what I thought was someone’s drag going out. I kept looking into the river for another fisherman but didn’t see anyone. Then the light came on. I looked down, and there was a smallish Great Basin rattler about a foot from my boot. He was just coiled up and trying to tell me not to step on him, so I just eased way from him and gave him a pass.

 

[USMC-40]

Reading this thread about people taking shooting sticks, shovels, hoes to rattlesnakes…..

I live on the eastern shore of Maryland and we have very, very few copperheads here and no rattlesnakes. So I have no real experience with poisonous snakes. Is a rattlesnake striking distance so limited that hitting them with a shovel is pretty much a risk free thing?

They can strike further than I expected the first time
I was playing with one with a stick - when he struck he almost got me. I read somewhere they can strike 1.5x their length - so your average 4’ timber rattler can get you 6’ away.

 

[43.6N]

Reading this thread about people taking shooting sticks, shovels, hoes to rattlesnakes…..

I live on the eastern shore of Maryland and we have very, very few copperheads here and no rattlesnakes. So I have no real experience with poisonous snakes. Is a rattlesnake striking distance so limited that hitting them with a shovel is pretty much a risk free thing?

You also want to take note of how they are coiled.

If the coils are behind the head, they can strike their full distance.
If the coils are in front of the head, strike range is much shorter.

Look at the two coiled snakes @Owens posted pictures of: one has the full mass of his coils positioned so its head is in front of the center of gravity. It is poised for a full length strike.

The other has its coils in front of its raised head. It would need to reposition in order to leverage its center of gravity for a strike.

One technique we would use when catching rattlesnakes was to circle around until the coils were in front of the head specifically to limit their striking range.

I've come across plenty running on trails or at the archery range in the Denver area. The one in the first pic was annoyed when we got there because a mountain bike had just gone through. The second pic was just off the main path at the archery range.

View attachment 1078980View attachment 1078981

 

[MTlan66]

Reading this thread about people taking shooting sticks, shovels, hoes to rattlesnakes…..

I live on the eastern shore of Maryland and we have very, very few copperheads here and no rattlesnakes. So I have no real experience with poisonous snakes. Is a rattlesnake striking distance so limited that hitting them with a shovel is pretty much a risk free thing?

I guess when you grow up around poisonous snakes, you have a sense of what they can and can’t do, and how they behave. I have seen a lot of very large rattlesnakes killed with shovels, but only one myself that was over about 3 1/2’. I certainly prefer a firearm! I killed a smaller rattlesnake (2 1/2’ or so) once with a guitar case, as that was all I had available. Not recommended, but if I did it again, I would remove the guitar first .

 

[*zap*]

Woke up with a rattler tucked in next to my sleeping bag.
No floorless for me unless it is below 40° for a high temp.

 

[Taudisio]

Reading this thread about people taking shooting sticks, shovels, hoes to rattlesnakes…..

I live on the eastern shore of Maryland and we have very, very few copperheads here and no rattlesnakes. So I have no real experience with poisonous snakes. Is a rattlesnake striking distance so limited that hitting them with a shovel is pretty much a risk free thing?

In my experience, they can only strike about 1/2 their length, so a 6 footer will hit about 3ft away when they are coiled and ready. My favorite weapon was a driver (golf club) that the head snapped off. Quick, and I could pull the snake back when they tried to escape before I hit them. I don’t remember how many I killed with that thing. A shovel is alright, but in rocky terrain the head can be difficult if the snake was between rocks, and they are a bit unwieldy.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

The word is venomous boys, not poisonous!

 

[MaddMatt]

From my unofficial research it seems like most rattlesnake bites happen in the southern snake handling churches. Like generational deaths by rattlesnake, grandfather, father, son.


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My dad worked with a fella who met his end during a snake service. At his funeral they busted out serpents again and his daughter met her end.

 

[RockAndSage]

You also want to take note of how they are coiled.

If the coils are behind the head, they can strike their full distance.
If the coils are in front of the head, strike range is much shorter.

Look at the two coiled snakes @Owens posted pictures of: one has the full mass of his coils positioned so its head is in front of the center of gravity. It is poised for a full length strike.

The other has its coils in front of its raised head. It would need to reposition in order to leverage its center of gravity for a strike.

One technique we would use when catching rattlesnakes was to circle around until the coils were in front of the head specifically to limit their striking range.

This is some great info, learned a bunch just now.

 

[bridgerbenson]

In my experience, they can only strike about 1/2 their length, so a 6 footer will hit about 3ft away when they are coiled and ready. My favorite weapon was a driver (golf club) that the head snapped off. Quick, and I could pull the snake back when they tried to escape before I hit them. I don’t remember how many I killed with that thing. A shovel is alright, but in rocky terrain the head can be difficult if the snake was between rocks, and they are a bit unwieldy.

This has been my experience as well with their reach. I’ve killed them with about everything from a fishing pole to a broken off fence post to a ratchet strap to an arrow. Used to catch them live in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, then toss in a freezer and freeze whole for a taxidermist. In my younger partying days, I woke up to a 2 footer rattling on the foot of my bed that I had stuffed into one of those mesh window visor zippered bags and took partying for the night. Took him out and released him in a prairie dog town because I felt bad for giving him such a long night.


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[Lowedown]

True, that one was a long time ago and I must have felt like it wasn't safe to keep going after this one for whatever reason. Need a pretty big rock though lol. Keep in mind, we often find them in pairs (a big one and a little one) and the one you see has your focus. Sometimes it's best to just let them be. I don't know the actual stats but I've heard that most of the rattlesnake bites happen when people are trying to catch or kill them.

Good thing to mention! I was also taught they are often not alone, and therefore freeze and look around carefully before moving or reaching down to get a rock! My Grandma once grabbed a rattler thinking it was a rock to throw at another! thankfully it didn't strike, but it sure taught her a lesson!

My uncle Randy was climbing a 15' cliff out of a draw in the high dessert down near Glass Buttes here in Oregon in his late teens when he had a scary encounter. As he was nearing the top of the cliff he pulled himself up eye level with a horizontal crevice that went about 18"' back into the cliff. As he rose up to that level he heard a very loud and long HISSS sound and realized he was face to face with a huge coiled rattler that was shaking a broken tail 12" in front of his nose! He remembers launching himself backwards into space and landing hard only to take off running for camp!