Model 67 saves 3 year old boy from fearsome rattler!

[Texas Star]

Texas Star: I hope you don't mind me tagging onto your thread: I was an Emergency Room Nurse for many years and saw a number (all males) of people that were bitten by "dead" snakes. I don't recall any fatalities, but the victims certainly suffered, and there was permanent damage to their stricken hands and arms.

Regards,

Dave

Dave-

Yes, I've read and heard about that several times.

As for all male victims, how many women have you known who'd handle any snake, dead or alive? Even those who brag about being empowered feminists are pretty likely to call for a man to deal with a snake or maybe even a mouse.

That can be sort of funny, if you don't let them see you laughing. They usually aren't nearly as afraid of men as they are of snakes.

 

[Bill Bates]

Dave-

Yes, I've read and heard about that several times.

As for all male victims, how many women have you known who'd handle any snake, dead or alive? Even those who brag about being empowered feminists are pretty likely to call for a man to deal with a snake or maybe even a mouse.

That can be sort of funny, if you don't let them see you laughing. They usually aren't nearly as afraid of men as they are of snakes.

Well here is my much better half getting a little Great Basin Rattler ready for posing for a photos. She enjoys playing with little critters and such.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Wow, Bill Bates! It has, until now, been my experience that women knew enough than to mess with the dangerous snakes, and it was usually the male "experts", especially enlightened by multiple doses of alcohol that ended up with one or more snake bites. Generally, the snake bites to the "experts" were inevitably on the hands, arms, and or faces. Bites to most children and the ladies were usually on the feet, ankles, and lower legs. Your wife is a hell of a lot braver around the varmints than I am. I believe a shovel, or preferably, the barrel length of a 12ga. shotgun are about as close as I want to get to the darn things.

Regards,

Dave

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I think you ought to take the head put in in one of those mailing boxes and send it to someone you don't like.

 

[rwsmith]

I can't believe rattlesnake bites....

Texas Star: I hope you don't mind me tagging onto your thread: I was an Emergency Room Nurse for many years and saw a number (all males) of people that were bitten by "dead" snakes. I don't recall any fatalities, but the victims certainly suffered, and there was permanent damage to their stricken hands and arms.

Regards,

Dave

I've seen picture of rattlesnake bites and the necrosis of skin and large muscles is horrendous. I always thought if you got bit if you didn't die you'd just be sick a few days, but that ain't the way it works.

 

[shouldazagged]

Bites to most children and the ladies were usually on the feet, ankles, and lower legs.

Read a sad story some years ago. Safari hunting guide took out a party with a young lady included. Somehow the lady was bitten on the derriere by Gaboon viper. The guide had a complete nervous breakdown trying to decide where to apply the tourniquet.

Of course, as Orson Bean taught us many years ago, the snake got its name because it invariably bites its victims on the gaboon.

 

[DR505]

Well here is my much better half getting a little Great Basin Rattler ready for posing for a photos. She enjoys playing with little critters and such.

Thanks for the great pictures Bill! If your wife is anything like mine, she is your better 3/4's.

 

[CW Spook]

I think you ought to take the head put in in one of those mailing boxes and send it to someone you don't like.

'Bout 40 years ago, I was stationed at a base on the edge of San Antonio. We had rattlesnakes all over the area, and one of our guys, a CTR1 named Terry was deathly afraid of snakes. One of the day-ladies killed a baby rattler and stuck it in a 3x5 file-card box on Terry's desk. When he opened the box, he shrieked and threw the box clear across the very large office.

 

[Faulkner]

That snake was doing just what comes natural to him, did you have to kill it? Couldn't you have shooed it away with a stick or stamp you foot or thrown a rock in its direction to get its attention away from your son? Seems people needlessly kill snakes without question because they fear them out of ignorance and cultural malice. They are, after all, one of God's creatures just trying to make their way in a dangerous world.

Okay, I nearly gagged after writing the paragraph above, good shooting! I'm impressed you got it with one shot, it would have been in four or five pieces had I been there.

 

[jgh4445]

Great shot, but even if it had been a full grown rattler and fully capable of regulating its venom dispersion, I'd have still shot him!!! lol...made a good snake of him ya did!

 

[DR505]

That snake was doing just what comes natural to him, did you have to kill it? Couldn't you have shooed it away with a stick or stamp you foot or thrown a rock in its direction to get its attention away from your son? Seems people needlessly kill snakes without question because they fear them out of ignorance and cultural malice. They are, after all, one of God's creatures just trying to make their way in a dangerous world.

Okay, I nearly gagged after writing the paragraph above, good shooting! I'm impressed you got it with one shot, it would have been in four or five pieces had I been there.

Boy, that first paragraph really had me going!

 

[Texas Star]

Read a sad story some years ago. Safari hunting guide took out a party with a young lady included. Somehow the lady was bitten on the derriere by Gaboon viper. The guide had a complete nervous breakdown trying to decide where to apply the tourniquet.

Of course, as Orson Bean taught us many years ago, the snake got its name because it invariably bites its victims on the gaboon.

Many years ago, zoo director Marlin Perkins was bitten on one finger by just one fang by a Gaboon viper, Bitis gabonica. The bite was a quick hit, not a long feeding response bite.

He nearly died. I read the medical report, and it was very close.

Those things have fangs up to two inches long, maybe a bit more. And the venom is a really nasty mix of nuero and hemo toxins.

 

[51plymouth]

Nice shot.
This area of CA is the most snake infested place that I have ever seen.
I generally use a single action Razor-Back.

 

[mbliss57]

Great shot. We don't get any rattlers here in NE Ohio. It should make some good soup or maybe a steak. You should get something for the cost of the .38 spl. My son (28 years old) and I were just admiring my new to me Model 67 after dinner tonight. I'll have to send him this link.
I am glad your boy is ok. That is now joking matter.

 

[charlie sherrill]

Around here we have Eastern Diamondbacks mostly with an occasional Timber Rattler. My first experience with them was deer hunting with my uncle when I was 13. We were looking for dogs on a frosty morning when we passed a gopher tortoise burrow. There in the sun with the surrounding area frosted over lay a single rattlesnake with his head poked out of that burrow getting a little sun. I told my uncle and he said "watch this" He got a siphon hose and sucked a little gas out of the tank of the old pickup we were in and walked over to the burrow. He told me to load up my shotgun with birdshot and get ready. He stuffed that hose down in that hole and when he blew that gas in there three diamondbacks and a timber rattler came out. I killed all four with the largest being over 6". We skinned them and fried them in fish batter at the camp that night along with fries and hushpuppies. I have killed probably somewhere between 30-40 in my LEO career. If you get a snake call you kill it. If you don't the caller doesn't feel safe. I've caught some but you have to know what you're doing or you might get bitten. I've also dealt with cottonmouth water moccasins, copperheads, and one corral snake. To me, the cotton mouths seem more aggressive.

Snake joke: Bubba and Billy Joe were cutting pulpwood deep in the woods when nature struck Billy Joe. He had to go bad and went over to the edge of a brush pile, pulled his pants down, squatted and began to take care of business when a rattlesnake bit him on a very sensitive part of his anatomy. He screamed in agony and told Bubba to go to a nearby small town and fetch the doctor. Bubba jumped in the old pulpwood truck and raced to town. When he got to the doctor's office he told the doctor what had happened and that he needed the doctor to come with him and help save Billy Joe. The doctor already had an emergency in the office and gave him a scalpel with the instructions to cut an "X" on each fang mark, suck the poison out, and bring Billy Joe back to the office. Bubba raced back to Billy Joe and found him on the ground with his condition worsening. Billy Joe screamed "where's the doctor" and Bubba told him about the emergency that was already in the office. "Well what did he say?" Bubba replied "the doctor said you gonna die."

 

[dcxplant]

Our local FD moves them if you call. They always come back...

I don't call. I wasted some ammo on the first couple when we moved out here, but now I just clip em with a shovel. It's easier and the disposal tool is still in yer hands.

I tried a flat shovel, but find a round one is better. I keep a decent edge on our garden shovel for this purpose.

After 3-4 rattlers a year for a few years, I haven't seen one this year yet, thank goodness!

With a 4year old boy (snake wise of course) and two Labradors, no rattler gets out alive at my place!

 

[Stevens]

Just 20 minutes ago I had to pull one out of the flower beds, my wife was weeding and called me over, I normally just chuck them back in the swamp. I think I broke the back of this one getting him out of the spot it was wedged in, it didn't seem to be able to crawl out on the grass so I put it out of it's misery with a hoe and tossed it.
I live on the edge of about 30,000 acres of swamp so they are common here, they often get into the sheds, garage, porches, even the house once in a while. Usually non poisonous rat or mudsnakes, they scare the heck out of the ladies, and some guys anyway.
Steve W

 

[don5]

Here is the best way to take care of a snake close to the house that goes down a hole or in a crack in your sidewalk or driveway. Go in the house and put on a pot of water. When it is boiling, take the pot outside and dump it into the crack or hole. Get ready because whatever is in there is coming out and it isn't going to be happy. Works every time. If a snake is getting in the house, put down some of those sticky pads that are used for mice. It will stop them right there on the spot. They will start wiggling hard to get away but usually they start rolling. A couple of pads will usually do the trick. How you dispatch the snake is up to you.

Glad everything worked out for the OP and his son. I would have used more than one shot though. I shoot till they quit moving or until I can get the shovel.

 

[rburg]

This is a good thread. Someone started by asking what kind of snake it was. A poster responded that it was a dead one, and another that it was a good snake. I agree with those conclusions. Dead rattler is a good rattler. The more you kill the fewer you see. Any that inhabit places where kids play need to become good snakes. And you can't really tell were kids might decide to play. So be safe and just kill 'em all. Some twice. As in real dead.

Once the head is gone, you can start operations on the back part. Most folks take the rattles. I remember one that was 17 rattles and a button! If'n I had one now, I'd be going for a hatband. I wonder if folks sell them already made up. My dad had a thing about a hoe being better for snake head removal than a shovel. Something about distance from the critter to your forward foot. He had a lot of good advice. I figured a 12 gauge was better than a hoe.

 

[rvanpelt]

Great shot!! No sympathy for rattlers here. I hate them things! We live in the country and over the years rattlers have bit my horse, several cows, killing one cow, dogs and my Dad spent 3 days in the hospital and was very sick because of a bite. As was mentioned above: the little ones are very dangerous. My Dad was bitten by one less than a foot long, only one fang got him on the finger, they have no rattles to warn you. His arm swelled up 3 to 4 times normal and turned black.
As the nurse mentioned above, dispose of the head by smashing and burning as a neighbor was bitten by a dead snake after he had killed it and spent a couple days in the hospital.
I got this one the day before yesterday with my 9mm while mowing, 42 inches long with 14 rattles.
Take care!
Rod