The one that got away.....

[rollingb]

My wife was walking out to put letters in the mailbox this morning when our 2 dogs started to bark at something in the tall grass. She checked to see what it was, and found a huge coiled rattlesnake.

She has seen quite a few rattlesnakes before, but she said this'n was the biggest she has ever seen.
By the time she came to get me to kill it, and our dogs decided she was better company than the snake,.... Mr. Buzz Tail had slithered off to parts unknown when I got there.

I could sure use a big rattlesnake skin for a couple of projects I'm working on (maybe next time I'll get the rascal). 

[Spotted Bull]

Being a herp lover I must object to the killing of snakes.

Except for water moccasins. Even I kill those.

[rollingb]

There's only 2 kinds of critters in this world that I don't like, and they are,.... "venomous snakes" (and something else that I can't remember right now).   

[Uncle Russ]

There's only 2 kinds of critters in this world that I don't like, and they are,.... "venomous snakes" (and something else that I can't remember right now).   

I know exactly what the "Something else you can't remember" is. ....
It's sticks that looks like snakes!

I have the same affliction, had it since I was young boy of 9yrs, when a rattlesnake nailed me in the barn.
For the past seven decades I have made myself a promise:
If i can see him, and know exactly where he is, and he presents no danger to me, my dogs, my horses (back when I had horses) or anyone else, he's good to go his own way.
But....if he startled me, or my dogs found him,  Katie bar the door, because I'm going to own his skin, or what's left of his skin.
My rule is, if he presents no danger to me or mine, life's good.
However, when a snake can even remotely present a danger, it's every man for himself, IMHO, and I've never lost a run-in since the summer of 1949.

And that goes for live snakes, dead snakes, or sticks that look like snakes!

Russ...

[Ohio Joe]

Rattlers and Black Widows... And I don't like it when Rondo runs out of Crown Royal... 

[Bigsmoke]

Rattlers and Black Widows... And I don't like it when Rondo runs out of Crown Royal... 

Joe, you will like this one.  Many year ago, when I was in the Army and stationed in Thailand, for some reason Crown Royal was a very unpopular item in the E. M. Club.  So, in order to sell the stuff, every Thursday they would put it on sale for one thin dime a drink.  I used to go up to the club with a couple of dollars in my pocket and come back a very happy boy.   I even made it back to the correct barracks once in a while.

As far as the rattle snakes go, I'm sorry, but I am not much of a hunter.  But yellow jackets and rattlesnakes are two things that I will go out of my way to eradicate.  The funny thing is every rattler that I have shot, I blew the rattles off of.  No trophies to show.  Oh well.

John (Bigsmoke)

[Ohio Joe]

I gotta add yellow jackets to my list as well, John! 

!0 cents a shot, not that's a deal and a half!!! HA! HA! I bet that was right popular for sure...

I can't say for sure what the popular hard drink was back in the '70's, but as far as the beer went - we put away a'lot of Schlitz beer (state side), and god only knows what beer we were drinking in Germany, but it was mighty goooood!!! Of course, we'd drink just about anything back then that we could get our hands on. Even some home made concoctions out in the field...

John, just a thought now... If'n you come across another rattle snake - maybe just shoot both ends to be on the safe side... 

[rollingb]

I read somewheres that rattlesnakes make good pets,.... I've often wondered if some people actually "pet" them, take them out for walks on a leash, or train them to do cool tricks? 

[Spotted Bull]

I read somewheres that rattlesnakes make good pets,.... I've often wondered if some people actually "pet" them, take them out for walks on a leash, or train them to do cool tricks? 

A good friend of mine had a warehouse in the less than sparkling area of Dallas, Texas. He had caught 4 BIG rattlers at his home and took them up to the warehouse and made a big show of putting them inside to act as guard snakes. He posted one small sign on the door warning that there are rattlesnakes inside the building. He never had a single breakin in more than 20 years of using it.

[rollingb]

Spotted Bull,.... your friend is a smart fella. 

[Bigsmoke]

I read somewheres that rattlesnakes make good pets,.... I've often wondered if some people actually "pet" them, take them out for walks on a leash, or train them to do cool tricks? 

Ye gods, a pet rattlesnake?  That has to be more asinine than having a pet skunk.   

[BEAVERMAN]

Years ago in the late 70's and early 80's when I lived in So Cal some buddies and I would go out to certain areas of the desert every couple months for a weekend of shooting, ( we all had modern rifles and such) coyote and jack rabbit hunting along with searching out rattle snakes, primarily Mojave Red and Mojave Green rattlers, would be common to come back with 6 to 10 skins each time, I'd cure them and then trim them and make hat bands and belts, depending on the size, made some serious $ at that time!