Why you should ALWAYS keep a pistol loaded with shot when in the woods!

[Rob10ring]

The HIGHLIGHT that Fuzdaddy did was Photoshop, the picture apparently was untouched.

I think that's True_Texan's original photo. I just created a visual aid for those that had as difficult a time finding the snake in the photo as I had.

Badger, geez! Sounds like you really have to keep your eyes glue on the daughter and doggy to make sure they don't get bit. Either that, or the kid is the master snake tracker. You may have always been in the proximity of the snakes, but her eyes are lower to the ground and keeping a sharp eye out.

[Badgersmilk]

"You may have always been in the proximity of the snakes, but her eyes are lower to the ground and keeping a sharp eye out."

I dont know about my daughter being any more aware, but the dog...  If its legs were much shorter it'd have to slither to!

[blackwolfe]

So my daughter takes the dog for a walk again today, just in the neighborhood little league field behind our house, and guess what...  TWO MORE SNAKES!  Just garden snakes this time, but geesh!  Living in this state for 12 years I'd bet I've only seen a dozen snakes total (aside from what we've seen the last week!).  Trying to figure out what may have changed!  The trails and places we've been going are all the same.

VERY COOL PICTURE OF THE COPPERHEAD!  Till you said it was photoshop I was thinking, how the HECK did he not walk right onto that thing!?!

I think the rattler was asleep in the sun until the dog stepped on it.  Then it rattled, the dog jumped back, and it made a "threaten strike".  I call it that because I think if it had really wanted to bite the dog it could have.

The trails may be the same and your going the same places, but that doesn't mean there haven't been other changes.  Fox numbers where I live in MI are up.  That means the food supply is up. I've seen 7 fox the last 10 days during my work commute, and 1 dead one on the road.  There are times when I don't see any for years.  Two nights in a row the fox had dinner in it's mouth.  Snakes and fox share some of the same food supply. 
 The weather conditions may be a contributing factor.  Even though the trails are the same, there may be subtle differences in the habitat more suitable to snakes this year.  If there is any new developement nearby some may have been driven from their previous homes to this new area.  Then again they may have always been there unnoticed.

[fightingquaker13]

Blackwolfe is very correct here. I hunted quail in south Texas for years. The amount of rain fall made the difference between a 15 covey day, and maybe putting up two that you didn't even shoot, because you wanted them to be next years seed. Those years, we just hunted to let the dogs work, and maybe a couple for dinner, because there is nothing better than a quail breast with a serrano chile grilled over mesquite.
FQ13

[True_Texan]

Do they at least move when you get near?

Not really. They hold pretty freaking still and if they do move, they move so slow that it doesn't catch your eye. I had a ton of oak leaves on the ground behind the place I used to live. I would more often hear the leaves rustling before I would ever see them.

The head of a dead rattler is still venomous and pretty dangerous, so we bury the heads. I doubt they stay that way indefinitely. Kid Shelleen probably has some info on that.

There was never enough left to find and bury.

I did actually know a man that died from a fang stuck in his tire. He was trying to find the leak by running his hand over the tread and sidewalls. I believe they said it was an uncommon reaction he had to the venom, like he was allergic to snake venom sorta thing.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

I did actually know a man that died from a fang stuck in his tire. He was trying to find the leak by running his hand over the tread and sidewalls. I believe they said it was an uncommon reaction he had to the venom, like he was allergic to snake venom sorta thing.

Thats an urban legend, but still good advice. A "dead" snake's nervous system will keep on twitching long after its dead. I once had a buddy shoot a moccasion about a half hour before shooting light. He wanted to go skin the thing, even though it was still twitching (city boy). I told him that if he got bit by a dead snake, I would leave his ass there untill an hour after sunrise, as I wasn't going to have my duck hunt spoiled by a fool.
FQ13

[MikeBjerum]

Thats an urban legend, but still good advice. A "dead" snake's nervous system will keep on twitching long after its dead. I once had a buddy shoot a moccasion about a half hour before shooting light. He wanted to go skin the thing, even though it was still twitching (city boy). I told him that if he got bit by a dead snake, I would leave his ass there untill an hour after sunrise, as I wasn't going to have my duck hunt spoiled by a fool.
FQ13

Maybe the exact story is an urban legend, but mechanics have been very ill and some have died from "dead snake bites."  I graduated high school in the land of fruits and nuts and went to vo-tech in Phoenix.  Both places taught of the dangers of poisonous critters dead or alive when working on vehicles.  Both schools also had photos and documents of these incidents as part of the warnings.

Working on the underside of vehicles in a land where poisonous things crawl and slither both in parking and driving areas gives a whole new adventure in repairs.

I had forgotten about this excitement until my recent trip to Tulsa, where I saw two road kill rattlers (damn you grow them big down there) on the road.

[Kid Shelleen]

Blackwolfe is very correct here. I hunted quail in south Texas for years. The amount of rain fall made the difference between a 15 covey day, and maybe putting up two that you didn't even shoot, because you wanted them to be next years seed. Those years, we just hunted to let the dogs work, and maybe a couple for dinner, because there is nothing better than a quail breast with a serrano chile grilled over mesquite.FQ13

I'll bet that a gopher covered in serranos and grilled over mesquite would be pretty tasty. We Texans do love our mesquite smoke.

Regarding the staying power of snake venom I don't have an answer. I do know that it sticks around for a while and I'm also in the habit of burying the heads of poisonous snakes for just that reason. The few patients that I saw in the hospital over the years suffered with bites from live snakes. With my apologies again to Texas Bryan and his arachnaphobia I have to say that I've seen far more poisonous spider bites. Sorry Bry.

[tombogan03884]

 Being dead does not keep the poison mechanism from working, I don't know what it does to the venom as far as deterioration but it takes time if you have an open cut you can be poisoned if the head is blown apart if the cut comes into contact with something contaminated by the bursting poison sac. I would be hard pressed to believe True Texans story of the Fang stuck in the tire if he had not mentioned the guys apparent allergy, but if the whole head were stuck between a pair of dual tires its perfectly possible.

[Texas_Bryan]

I'll bet that a gopher covered in serranos and grilled over mesquite would be pretty tasty. We Texans do love our mesquite smoke.

Regarding the staying power of snake venom I don't have an answer. I do know that it sticks around for a while and I'm also in the habit of burying the heads of poisionous snakes for just that reason. The few patients that I saw in the hospital over the years suffered with bites from live snakes. With my apologies again to Texas Bryan and his arachnaphobia I have to say that I've seen far more poisionous spider bites. Sorry Bry.

It's all right, I'm more afraid of some other critters.  But I'll just keep that to my self, seeing how Kid enjoys tormenting me.  It seems the smaller the critter, the more poisonous they get.  But on burying the heads, your better safe than sorry, specially if you got kids running around.  They're just looking for ways to get hurt, they enjoy the attention.