# Rattlesnake Season



## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

My fiance and I have been out bottle feeding one of our calves that's mother died and checking for new lambs. We were headed in to grab a bite to eat. My fiance was ahead of me by about 100yds because I was messin with the 4 wheeler. As I was catching up to her, she yelled 'Snake" and sure enough there was a 4-5 ft rattlesnake RIGHT AT our back porch. I grabbed the 12 ga and blew his head off. You could tell he just ate something recently. I believe she took a picture with me holding it that I will post later.

That is the 4th rattler killed in the past 3 days here. We killed 37 last year I believe. Plus the 20-30 that got away.. As beautiful as this place is, it is ate up with snakes. We always have extra benadryl in our bags for our dogs, just in case. Last year, one of the lion hounds was bit 4 or 5 times including one in the face and one in the neck. He was sich as hell for a few days but they kept him on benadryl and other meds and he pulled though.. 
My fiance is always going hiking and I tell her she needs to keep a GOOD eye on the ground,where she sits and wherever she grabs. My buddy was bit int he hand a few years ago when he reached down to get something next to a hay bale. He still don't have 100% use of his hand. And almost got bit int he shop last year too.


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## oldmurph58 (Feb 8, 2014)

a good reason to always pack somethin at all times.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

oldmurph58 said:


> a good reason to always pack somethin at all times.


We almost always have our .45's on our hip when we are out. Just for mountain lion,bear and snakes usually. I actually JUST got finished strapping my med bag and .45 onto the 4 wheeler which is why I was behind her. It's a good thing I keep a 12ga by each door.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

The last time I was at our "retirement land" in AZ I saw a prairie dog mound that had been taken over by rattlers. If you look down the hole, there were literally dozens of them in there. When we eventually do get around to building down there, I want to be on hand with a 12ga loaded with bird shot when they dig the footings. I expect I will get enough in 2-3 shots to have new boots made for Mrs Inor and me.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

Inor said:


> The last time I was at our "retirement land" in AZ I saw a prairie dog mound that had been taken over by rattlers. If you look down the hole, there were literally dozens of them in there. When we eventually do get around to building down there, I want to be on hand with a 12ga loaded with bird shot when they dig the footings. I expect I will get enough in 2-3 shots to have new boots made for Mrs Inor and me.


Pour some gas down the hole and light er up..


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## Hemi45 (May 5, 2014)

Yikes! I like snakes just fine but not the venomous variety. I think would live in snake chaps if was in your neck of the woods. Good luck keeping yourselves and your animals safe!


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

She has a pair of snake boots that go almost to her knees she wears most times during the summer around here so I don't worry about her TOO much. I worry about the dogs sometime though.

I'm like you, I don't mind snakes but the venomous ones make my ass pucker sometimes. Nothing like hearing the sound of a rattle snake to make the hair on your neck stand up! As many as I have seen and killed, my ass still puckers when I hear one.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Glad I live where I don't have to worry about snakes.


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

Snakes are why God made those $25 100 rd packs of #9 shot at Wally World.


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## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

Inor said:


> The last time I was at our "retirement land" in AZ I saw a prairie dog mound that had been taken over by rattlers. If you look down the hole, there were literally dozens of them in there. When we eventually do get around to building down there, I want to be on hand with a 12ga loaded with bird shot when they dig the footings. I expect I will get enough in 2-3 shots to have new boots made for Mrs Inor and me.


A gallon of gas, a road flare and a 12 gauge with some #6 shot would have made short work of that nest.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

About an hour ago or less, my fiance and I was out checkin out the garden. I walked thru an area that had some grass that was a little high. She was 30ft or so away about to walk into the garden. I kicked the snake as I was walkin by and seen him more thru the grass. I grabbed my 1911 .45 and made 3 quick shots as fast as I could. I hit him twice. Once behind the head,the other a few inches back from his head and the third missed as far as I could tell.

I will take what i can get..


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## Go2ndAmend (Apr 5, 2013)

Yep, it's snake season. We've had quite a few gopher snakes around the house lately. I like them around, but teach the kids to steer clear of all snakes. My dad ran over a rattler about a week ago on the road headed up to his ranch.


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## keith9365 (Apr 23, 2014)

Beach Kowboy said:


> Pour some gas down the hole and light er up..


Thats what I was thinkin


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

They are out here, too. I actually appreciate snakes and all the rodents they eat. We welcome all king snakes and bull snakes. I don't mind rattlers at all if they are away from the house and barn. I have stopped on the road to shoo them out of the fire of traffic, and I would never kill one on the trail where they are in their natural environment and eating their fill of rodents. (And believe me, here in Arizona, I have run across many of them.) But.... the house rule is that if they are in the barn, in the back yard or driveway, then they have to go. It is just too risky for the horses and for us. I use a shovel. One strong chop behind the head and it is done without wasting ammo. One of my mules dispatched one all by himself a couple of years ago. I found the dead snake in his pen - flat as a pancake. Anyway, I have killed 3 this week - 2 in the barn and 1 coming out of the back yard. I never go out without a flashlight this time of year.


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

They taste like rattlesnake.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

And another one a few minutes ago. We were comin in from feeding and there is was, pretty as you please. He took a .45 to the head and is no more.. Got a feelin it is going to be a bad snake season here..


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Here in Florida it is the beginning of the rainy season, and there is that old saying "When the water's moving so are the snakes."
Before I cleared a couple acres around the house we had Eastern Diamondbacks a plenty. One got the best dog we ever had right in the nose when he stopped to sniff it. Old Harley lived for a few years after that, but his internal organs were greatly affected.
Out in my wood lot I have seen timber rattlers, but as long as they stay out there, we're cool. And there has been the occasional water moccasin (aka Cottonmouth) that gets roaming from my neighbor's stock pond - those get terminated with extreme predjudice. They are just too aggressive to co-exist.
And there a few non venomous guys that live in the garden and around the stable - black racers, red rat snakes. They take care of vermin so we leave them alone.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Here in Florida it is the beginning of the rainy season, and there is that old saying "When the water's moving so are the snakes."
> Before I cleared a couple acres around the house we had Eastern Diamondbacks a plenty. One got the best dog we ever had right in the nose when he stopped to sniff it. Old Harley lived for a few years after that, but his internal organs were greatly affected.
> Out in my wood lot I have seen timber rattlers, but as long as they stay out there, we're cool. And there has been the occasional water moccasin (aka Cottonmouth) that gets roaming from my neighbor's stock pond - those get terminated with extreme predjudice. They are just too aggressive to co-exist.
> And there a few non venomous guys that live in the garden and around the stable - black racers, red rat snakes. They take care of vermin so we leave them alone.


To me a Cottonmouth is the worst. They are aggressive and don't give a warning like a rattler. Here, anything venomous is killed. There is too much livestock to worry about. Anything that will kill livestock is shoot on sight. Coyotes,wolves,lion,bear and snakes..Venomous ones anyway..


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I can understand killing the venomous snakes but around here people kill black snakes and king snakes. ?? what kind of idiot kills harmless snakes that just get rid of pests?


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

PaulS said:


> I can understand killing the venomous snakes but around here people kill black snakes and king snakes. ?? what kind of idiot kills harmless snakes that just get rid of pests?


I dunno, some people are just paranoid I guess.. Non venomous have never bothered me. I like ot have bull snakes and stuff around. They even kill rattlesnakes.


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## Go2ndAmend (Apr 5, 2013)

4' Rattler yesterday near the rental house.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

There are not a lot of wonderful comments one can make about Ohio, . . . but one of them is that pretty near all the snakes you will find in Ohio, . . . have two legs and live in the cities.

What few are out in the boonies, . . . generally ain't poison.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

Sir Dwight, we have a sign at our work, Warning about snakes, But an inside joke between some of us is "watch out for snakes". Meaning the two legged, two faced, smile at you while they stab your back with a big knife variety.


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## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

Beach Kowboy said:


> I dunno, some people are just paranoid I guess.. Non venomous have never bothered me. I like ot have bull snakes and stuff around. They even kill rattlesnakes.


I remember when I was 14, we went to visit my uncle on his ranch in Big Timber, Montana. My cousins and I were out in the fields running around with our pellet rifles when I stepped/looked down and saw what I thought was a huge rattlesnake. I heard a rattle, froze and after it slithered out from under foot, we shot it, only to realize it was Bull Snake. And man did we ever get in trouble. My uncle was pissed!

Two days later, same thing happened to him, he broke leather and let loose right next to his horse. God Damn looked like Yosemite Sam, horse ran off and after the smoke cleared, he realized he had just killed a Bull Snake. Then he was really pissed. Cause now two Bull Snakes were dead and if we hadn't killed the first one, only one would be dead and "now there's gonna be rattlesnakes all over this ranch!"

We laughed our asses off.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

Got it?


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## shotlady (Aug 30, 2012)

one of the wolves at the sanctuary was bit on thurs and my friend Richard in bandera texas was bit as he was moving some hay bails on his ranch.- on thurs too. yikes! be careful.


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## ordnance21xx (Jan 29, 2014)

Two words, (snake boots) I don't kill snakes because they kill and eat rats/mice in south Carolina. 


MOLON LABE


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

ordnance21xx said:


> Two words, (snake boots) I don't kill snakes because they kill and eat rats/mice in south Carolina.
> 
> MOLON LABE


My fiance has been wearing hers religeously. I need to do the same. A .45 or shotgun is great if you see em in time. If not, you are SOL!


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## Doc Holliday (Dec 22, 2012)

Anytime I am out where there are snakes I carry my 1911 or XD45 with shotshells, its easier to hit a snake without having to aim first.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

Doc Holliday said:


> Anytime I am out where there are snakes I carry my 1911 or XD45 with shotshells, its easier to hit a snake without having to aim first.
> 
> View attachment 5532


I have used them in a 22 for rat shot but never in a larger caliber handgun. Might have to try them.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I have a Cobray derringer that shoots 410 and 45 Colt. The 410 shotshells work very well on snakes. I used to make my own shotshells for my 357 but they are only effective to about 10 feet - I know, that is far enough for snakes but a 12" pattern with 150 grains of #9 shot is pretty open at ten feet.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

The big thing now in Florida is the enfestation of the Everglades by pythons, some 20 feet long.
They are decimating the local wildlife.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> The big thing now in Florida is the enfestation of the Everglades by pythons, some 20 feet long.
> They are decimating the local wildlife.


And it is only getting worse. I remember about 9 or 10 yrs ago I came across one in a canal near Coral Springs,Fl by my dads place. It is where west Broward borders the Everglades. Even the fishing has changed all the way up to Okeechobee. Peacock bass and all other kinds of non native shit are taking over.


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

1. shoot all PETA people.
2. shoot all venomous snakes.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

Politicians as well!


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

Beach Kowboy said:


> Politicians as well!


Politicians = snakes.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

MrsInor said:


> Politicians = snakes.


Got me on that one. Venomous at that.


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