Ever find a snake in a hay bale?

[rolomac]

When I was a kid back in Nebraska I worked the hay fields in the summer. Farmer I worked for didn't bale hay but we stacked it. One or two guys would be on top of the haystack as the loader brought a load which he would dump on top. They guys on the stack had pitchforks and their job was to evenly spread each load so the stack got higher without getting lopsided. As the stack got higher the guys on the top just kept going up with it until it was done and then they slid down. The job of spreading hay on top was not a lot of fun. Working in the hot sun and getting loads of itchy hay dumped on you was unpleasant enough but occasionally a snake would be in a load that was brought. Most of them were what we called bull-snakes but I've also heard them called gopher-snakes. They weren't poisonous but got really big and scary looking. The guys on the stack had to be on the lookout and I don't recall anybody ever getting bit even though an occasional diamond-back rattler got brought to them.

rolomac

 

[Acebow]

My favorite family snake story is when Mom was in the chicken coop, going from nest to nest and reaching under the hens to collect the eggs. Of course (this being a snake thread), she reached under one and grabbed a black snake. She screamed so loud, the guys working at a grain elevator a couple blocks away--including my Dad--heard her and came running. When they got there, she was standing there with a squeezed-to-death snake in her hand, and yelling at Dad to 'kill the snake, kill the snake!'. Took him a while to convince her it was too late for that.

As a kid bucking bales, I heard a lot of stories about finding snakes in bales; I only found a couple of skins and skeletons, myself. Acebow

 

[BearBio]

Is that a Burmese python in the bale? Was it in Florida?

I saw a pic of a big Rock python in South Africa that'd gotten fried in an electric fence. Saw another here that'd constricted a large German Shepherd. They often have bad tempers.

That was my initial thought as it didn't look like any North American snake. A later poster said "Australia", so I tend to want to say a carpet python or maybe a diamond python? Some kind of ground python.

 

[Geno44]

I've baled small square bales for 45 years and baled several snakes in that time. None were poisonous but any that were still alive were angry. Hay machinery is very good at "gathering" and snakes are included. The trouble with the picture in the original post is that it doesn't really give you an idea of the size of the bale. That particular bale could weigh 600 pounds or 1800 pounds and without knowing that information, the size of he snake would only be a guess but it does look big and it does look like it might be some kind of python. It is an interesting picture!

 

[model70hunter]

my brother was baling close to a creek, it was brushy and prime snake country along the creek. It had rained and the creek was still up in the edge of the field. The water pushed the snakes into the grass he was mowing. He said he had never seen so many copperheads in one spot before, they obligingly stuck their head up just as the mower got to them.

They became a good snake.

Remember the old line shave and a haircut 2 bits. The snakes never paid.

 

[da gimp]

I've had plenty of snakes in bales but the absolute worst was when the farmer I was working for got a skunk in a bale. My mom was convinced I had a green aura about me for a week no matter how hard I scrubbed.

That is a bale that would have stayed in the field....... I'm sure the farmer didn't want it in his barn either..........none of the ones we hauled for would have wanted it............ they had us take the bales with dead snakes in them generally...... but some weren't really happy about them.......even though digestive systems seem to be immune to snake venom.....the farmers still had to handle that bale in the barn to get it on his truck when they fed & then had to handle it again when he got to where the cattle/horses were.........and some worried about getting stuck with a fang. even though it would have long dried up/out. many times when a farmer/rancher feeds it is dark............

 

[rburg]

Like many who have spent some time outdoors, I hate snakes. All of them. And you know how to make one into a good snake. Out west, the cure for them sunning themselves on the blacktop is to use your brakes as you go over them. With luck you get a good "smear".

One of our hay hauling vehicles was a old Opel wagon. We were just kids, and the other guys dad let us drive it around on the farm. We discovered we could "haul" 4 bales. Two on top and two kind of hanging out the back. One day a black snake managed to escape one of the bales on top. And his escape route was down the windshield. Yeah, we stopped for the day after that.

 

[curt1950]

Funny stories, hauled a lot of hay in my day but never saw a snake. But ! when I was a boy scout in summer camp we went on a 10 mile hike. Close to the half way point the lead scout ran into a timber rattler and started chucking rocks at it. Of course they killed it with a big old boulder and wanted to take the rattles off it. By then the scout master caught up to them and put a stop to it. He looked at them for a couple of minuets then just said " you killed it, you eat it for lunch" then sat down and showed us how to skin it and cook it. Biggest chicken neck I ever saw. Skin and rattles went up on the wall back at camp and the guys that threw the rocks did dishes that night for killing something they didn't have to.

 

[Texas Star]

That was my initial thought as it didn't look like any North American snake. A later poster said "Australia", so I tend to want to say a carpet python or maybe a diamond python? Some kind of ground python.

Yep, I saw that. But I don't know Australian pythons well.

Saw a pic of a rainbow python there that'd gotten stretched out halfway down a cliff and was holding on above with its tail. It had a dead wallaby in its mouth, trying to raise it up to the ground above.

 

[islamoradamark]

since we are telling snake stories i remember i was with a friend swimming quietly across a lake [breast stroke} i saw i snake looking at us right at face level i tapped him on shoulder and pointed at the snake he screamed and back peddled real fast and he was a big man i laughed i guess he did see the snake after that i didnt see the snake any more they can surprise you thats what make ya jump

 

[tbgunner88]

I hooked a bale as it came off the loader, and there was snake heads and tails stickin' out all over that bale.

It was the medusa hay bale Don't look it in the eyes

 

[BearBio]

Yep, I saw that. But I don't know Australian pythons well.

Saw a pic of a rainbow python there that'd gotten stretched out halfway down a cliff and was holding on above with its tail. It had a dead wallaby in its mouth, trying to raise it up to the ground above.

When I was an undergrad (first time I was in college), I managed pet stores (what else?). At one, we had a 16 foot "retic" in the front window. I used to go in there to get away from the people. Anyway, I found that constrictors are pretty docile as long as they have something to wrap the last foot or two of tail around.

 

[M E Morrison]

When I was a kid back in Nebraska I worked the hay fields in the summer. Farmer I worked for didn't bale hay but we stacked it. One or two guys would be on top of the haystack as the loader brought a load which he would dump on top. They guys on the stack had pitchforks and their job was to evenly spread each load so the stack got higher without getting lopsided. As the stack got higher the guys on the top just kept going up with it until it was done and then they slid down. The job of spreading hay on top was not a lot of fun. Working in the hot sun and getting loads of itchy hay dumped on you was unpleasant enough but occasionally a snake would be in a load that was brought. Most of them were what we called bull-snakes but I've also heard them called gopher-snakes. They weren't poisonous but got really big and scary looking. The guys on the stack had to be on the lookout and I don't recall anybody ever getting bit even though an occasional diamond-back rattler got brought to them.

rolomac

kind of a hijack here, but it seems to fit the loose hay theme

my Grandfather also put up loose hay in my younger years & took a tandem load at a time. I was on the front trailer leveling hay when we passed under a tree with a hornets nest the size of a beach ball in it. My uncle John said "watch this" and speared the nest with his pitchfork and lobbed it onto the rear trailer. Pitchforks flew off one side (to avoid personal injury) and men flew off the other side. Needless to say Uncle John had to watch his back the rest of the day!

 

[da gimp]

I'm surprised your uncle didn't get into a tussle with the guys on the rear trailer.... around here... he sure would have.

 

[M E Morrison]

I'm surprised your uncle didn't get into a tussle with the guys on the rear trailer.... around here... he sure would have.

true enough, but Uncle John was built like a grizzly bear; even in his later years not many would consider messing with him!

besides, I'm sure they got him back, when it was safe to do so - that's the way it was (and still is) around here.

 

[16thVACav]

Funny stories, hauled a lot of hay in my day but never saw a snake. But ! when I was a boy scout in summer camp we went on a 10 mile hike. Close to the half way point the lead scout ran into a timber rattler and started chucking rocks at it. Of course they killed it with a big old boulder and wanted to take the rattles off it. By then the scout master caught up to them and put a stop to it. He looked at them for a couple of minuets then just said " you killed it, you eat it for lunch" then sat down and showed us how to skin it and cook it. Biggest chicken neck I ever saw. Skin and rattles went up on the wall back at camp and the guys that threw the rocks did dishes that night for killing something they didn't have to.

There ought to be a "snake killin" merit badge!