Snake bite

[Huntinmechanic]

Question for the guys that have first hand experience with snake bites, specifically rattlesnake bites out west. When snake bites occur, is it generally from a snake that has been directly stepped on or did the snake strike from a distance? Just curious as I have changed my fitness routine due to injury from lifting to now hiking 5-6x a week on single tracks near my home. I've been bit once and that was by a gopher snake about 30 years ago. Bled like crazy! I regularly encounter rattlesnakes while hiking. Typically they are just crossing the trail and not bothering anything.

J.R.

 

[Blake_08]

My son was bitten by a Copperhead in our yard last year. He stepped on the snake and it big him with 1 fang, the other was in his croc shoe. I don't believe it would have bitten him had he not stepped on it. Overnight in the hospital and 12 vials of antivenom was the result but he never got sick or too sore, just swollen and bruised.

I think they're usually not an issue unless they're stepped on.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

One of the places we hunt down in South Texas is flat out infested with snakes, fattest healthiest rattlers I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. About half of them will rattle and the other half hide quietly, and a LOT of guys have had close encounters, but they don't seem eager to strike. I think generally speaking, depending on the snake, they tend to avoid defensive bites unless they think you're trying to get after them. I can't speak to mountain rattlers, never seen one and hopefully never do.

 

[TexasScout]

I had a rattlesnake strike me while I was running down a trail a few years ago. I didn’t feel it if I did step on it, and I didn’t see it until after it hit the back of my leg.

 

[Kyle C]

I've known 4 people that have been bitten and they were all different but in a similar area and all locals. One was from picking up a fresh load of laundry off the floor in the house. Second was sitting in a recliner and reached down to grab the TV remote and the snake was under his chair. Third was going to unlock the truck door and dropped keys on the ground and when reaching down to grab them got bit. The fourth was shut in a root seller door and the guy bent down to move whatever was blocking the door and it happened to be a snake. Granted this area is full of snakes but they were all on the hands and arms. I'm not yet to meet anyone bit on the legs or anywhere other then the hands. When chatting with these people about the incidents they all said the same thing that it won't happen when you expect it too.

 

[t_carlson]

The prairie rattlers here in MT are pretty polite, IME. I've stepped over two without getting bit. I also had one coiled up on the back porch, right next to the sliding glass door. Dogs went out, snake buzzed, and he held off biting me and the dogs (I was trying to keep them from getting bit) until the wife brought me a gun.

From my experience, I would say that they don't WANT to bite you. They just want to be left alone.

 

[Marshfly]

I've known 4 people that have been bitten and they were all different but in a similar area and all locals. One was from picking up a fresh load of laundry off the floor in the house. Second was sitting in a recliner and reached down to grab the TV remote and the snake was under his chair. Third was going to unlock the truck door and dropped keys on the ground and when reaching down to grab them got bit. The fourth was shut in a root seller door and the guy bent down to move whatever was blocking the door and it happened to be a snake. Granted this area is full of snakes but they were all on the hands and arms. I'm not yet to meet anyone bit on the legs or anywhere other then the hands. When chatting with these people about the incidents they all said the same thing that it won't happen when you expect it too.

What the...

Where is that so I can avoid that area.

 

[TaperPin]

Question for the guys that have first hand experience with snake bites, specifically rattlesnake bites out west. When snake bites occur, is it generally from a snake that has been directly stepped on or did the snake strike from a distance? Just curious as I have changed my fitness routine due to injury from lifting to now hiking 5-6x a week on single tracks near my home. I've been bit once and that was by a gopher snake about 30 years ago. Bled like crazy! I regularly encounter rattlesnakes while hiking. Typically they are just crossing the trail and not bothering anything.

J.R.

The distance a snake rattles from varies across the west. Whatever breed is in the Utah book cliffs will start rattling 100 feet away - a bunch of us Wyoming boys were quite impressed. As we got closer to it, at 10’ away the snake was not having any part of it and sort of bluff charged then ran away. That was the only snake any of us didn’t want to have anything to do with, even though it had a big rattle. If you got within 5’ I have no doubt it would try to bite. We ran into a handful of others that were just the same - they were easy to spot from the rattling at distance.

Most Wyoming, Idaho, and Colorado snakes won’t bite unless you put yourself close enough for an easy strike - I’ve never had one even bluff charge. Rattling won’t start until you’re less than 5-10’, and often a snake won’t rattle at all and just coil up and look at you. The rule of thumb is don’t step or put your hand anywhere you can’t see if a snake is within striking distance. I walk two feet ish from brush as do many people and almost never have problems, but that’s not always possible so I may slow down and look closer as I go to up my odds. The guys that get bit more than once have habits of putting hands where they can’t see.

The ones I’d watch out for are the babies and adolescents - something the diameter of a pinky will gladly bite you and the tiny fangs might not feel like much. Snakes the size of a thumb can be hard to see.

The only snake bite in 10 years of wildland firefighting and a lifetime of messing around in the foothills and sage flats was when we were bushwhacking through some 4’ to 6’ brush of some kind on Casper Mountain near Casper, Wyo. One of our guys started feeling bad, had what looked like a spider bite on his upper arm, and we drove him to the hospital thinking it was an allergic reaction to a spider. Turned out a baby snake was up in the brush and only got one fang in him. I’ve never seen a small rattlesnake up in brush before, during, or since, and wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t a few feet from him when it happened, but I’m much more careful now.

As grade school kids we’d lift our feet off the bicycle pedals and laugh as we sped by young snakes coming out of a snake den that were trying to strike at us. I’m sure a lot of boys end up in the ER playing with snakes. Lol

 

[CorbLand]

What the...

Where is that so I can avoid that area.

and then call the Air Force.

 

[intunegp]

The distance a snake rattles from varies across the west. Whatever breed is in the Utah book cliffs will start rattling 100 feet away - a bunch of us Wyoming boys were quite impressed. As we got closer to it, at 10’ away the snake was not having any part of it and sort of bluff charged then ran away. That was the only snake any of us didn’t want to have anything to do with, even though it had a big rattle. If you got within 5’ I have no doubt it would try to bite. We ran into a handful of others that were just the same - they were easy to spot from the rattling at distance.

Most Wyoming, Idaho, and Colorado snakes won’t bite unless you put yourself close enough for an easy strike - I’ve never had one even bluff charge. Rattling won’t start until you’re less than 5-10’, and often a snake won’t rattle at all and just coil up and look at you. The rule of thumb is don’t step or put your hand anywhere you can’t see if a snake is within striking distance. I walk two feet ish from brush as do many people and almost never have problems, but that’s not always possible so I may slow down and look closer as I go to up my odds. The guys that get bit more than once have habits of putting hands where they can’t see.

The ones I’d watch out for are the babies and adolescents - something the diameter of a pinky will gladly bite you and the tiny fangs might not feel like much. Snakes the size of a thumb can be hard to see.

The only snake bite in 10 years of wildland firefighting and a lifetime of messing around in the foothills and sage flats was when we were bushwhacking through some 4’ to 6’ brush of some kind on Casper Mountain near Casper, Wyo. One of our guys started feeling bad, had what looked like a spider bite on his upper arm, and we drove him to the hospital thinking it was an allergic reaction to a spider. Turned out a baby snake was up in the brush and only got one fang in him. I’ve never seen a small rattlesnake up in brush before, during, or since, and wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t a few feet from him when it happened, but I’m much more careful now.

As grade school kids we’d lift our feet off the bicycle pedals and laugh as we sped by young snakes coming out of a snake den that were trying to strike at us. I’m sure a lot of boys end up in the ER playing with snakes. Lol

I've seen rattlers in western Colorado work their way to the tops of sage bushes to lay on top of them in the sun. It's a pretty unique experience to be hiking through some brush and encounter a snake at waist level lol. One time a friend and I got off our dirt bikes to explore an old homestead that was built into a hillside from one direction but if you came from the other side you'd walk right onto the roof...he was just through the doorway and I was a step or two outside when I noticed a good sized rattler coiled up and watching us from above the door, never rattled or moved more than his head.

 

[*zap*]

Anything can happen within a few feet. Snake chaps....

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have never been hit, but I have stepped close enough to. for whatever reason they just let me know they were there and I slowly back away, then shot them. My friend and I were snake hunting when he got hit. I I got loaded him real fast and got him to ER within 30 ins. he spent ten days in hospital. I killed that one also and took it to hospital with us.

 

[TaperPin]

I've seen rattlers in western Colorado work their way to the tops of sage bushes to lay on top of them in the sun. It's a pretty unique experience to be hiking through some brush and encounter a snake at waist level lol. One time a friend and I got off our dirt bikes to explore an old homestead that was built into a hillside from one direction but if you came from the other side you'd walk right onto the roof...he was just through the doorway and I was a step or two outside when I noticed a good sized rattler coiled up and watching us from above the door, never rattled or moved more than his head.

That’s really interesting - old homesteads are always fun to explore - I’ll be looking up a lot more! I was moving a piece of an old washing machine and it hissed like a can of spray paint was punctured - the snake was pinched near the rattle so it couldn’t get a full rattle sound and the snake was striking at me almost the full length of his body since the tail was immovable. Luckily he wasnt full size and my legs were out of its reach.

The time we spent on the west slope, it never dawned on us the snakes might be up in the big sagebrush. We are so used to our local snakes, I wonder how many times our attention was just never focused on the right place to see the ones with unfamiliar habits.

 

[Kyle C]

What the...

Where is that so I can avoid that area.

All of them were in the wonderful Imnaha canyon in Oregon. I just wonder how many near misses happen as well. I know we have had many of them, but I've never been bit, or has anyone with me.

 

[7mm-08]

All of them were in the wonderful Imnaha canyon in Oregon. I just wonder how many near misses happen as well. I know we have had many of them, but I've never been bit, or has anyone with me.

That freaking place is crawling with snakes as is the entire Hells Canyon complex.

 

[KenLee]

One of the places we hunt down in South Texas is flat out infested with snakes, fattest healthiest rattlers I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. About half of them will rattle and the other half hide quietly, and a LOT of guys have had close encounters, but they don't seem eager to strike. I think generally speaking, depending on the snake, they tend to avoid defensive bites unless they think you're trying to get after them. I can't speak to mountain rattlers, never seen one and hopefully never do.

I'd go broke buying shotgun shells if I hunted there.

 

[yfarm]

Snakebite Support, fb group run by er docs and vets who treat lots of bites say vast majority are defensive bites by the snakes when startled. Fair number of foot bites in flip flop wearers in snake country and dog and horse muzzles

 

[3forks]

The prairie rattlers here in MT are pretty polite, IME. I've stepped over two without getting bit. I also had one coiled up on the back porch, right next to the sliding glass door. Dogs went out, snake buzzed, and he held off biting me and the dogs (I was trying to keep them from getting bit) until the wife brought me a gun.

From my experience, I would say that they don't WANT to bite you. They just want to be left alone.

My experience has been the same.

I bird hunted extensively when I lived in MT, and my dogs were snake broke and vaccinated. I was never complacent about snakes, but the ones we would come across were pretty docile unless you messed with them. I also liked to photograph them, and while I could get them to coil up, it was really difficult to get them to strike.

I stopped killing snakes that were out in the prairie, and I’ve come to feel a little bad about the number of snakes I killed before I stopped doing it.

 

[omicron1792]

I killed a rattler in a tree at eye level a couple of years ago. Was wet and sometimes they climb, but my guess is a hawk dropped it in tree.

There is some thought that rattlers that rattle get killed by humans, so more and more don’t rattle before striking these days.

My farm has a bunch of them.

 

[tony]

Not a venomous snake, I caught this guy after a meal few weeks back
Shooed him to the tree line. Not sure I was ready to handle a 5’er yet.