Snake encounter

Although I've used, and still have some stored, the CCI shot loads in 9mm and .38 Special/.357 Magnum (same round), the best is the .45 Colt. You get about 150 grains/170 pellets of #9 shot. I've dispatched all manner of vermin with them and you don't have to be very close.
 
Wasted a lot of rattlers that came into camp when desert camping in southern Arizona. Used my old LEO service revolver - S&W M&P10 and .38 special snake loads. Found it effective to thrust the revolver at the snake, who would then bite the front of the barrel, then I'd pull the trigger. You can also kill them with a BB gun shot to the center of the head - they have no skull there. Clean them like a fish. Skin handy to cure out and decorate lots of things. Meat fries up in a skillet and tastes sort of like chicken and pepperoni. Folks will cringe that you eat rattlesnake but once they risk a bite they'll fight you for every last piece.
 
How about a long handled shovel or a chopping hoe? I have both that I keep real sharp just for that reason.

Can't find any .38 caliber shotshell around here anymore. I think they quit making it.
 
Snake loads

I load Speer shot capsules in 38, 44, and 45 LC with #8 shot for snake eradication.....lived in Az. for years and lived on an old ranch that was infested with a lot of rattle snakes......the old guy who owned the place came over one day while I was hunting snakes with my 45.....He was berry brown,abt 90 yrs old, whipcord thin, wore white cotton long sleeve shirts buttoned at the cuffs and neck, and wore a white straw Stetson ( he was a "native" - I was a "transplant")....he watched me for a bit and asked " whatcha doing?" my response "hunting rattle snakes"......his response "what's the pistol for?".....my response "killing rattle snakes"....about that time I flipped over a piece of corrugated tin and there was a big whammer jammer of a rattler, which curled and buzzed.....the old rancher, walked up with a stick, flipped the snake horizontally along the ground and b-4 it could coil back up, he grabbed it by the tail, cracked it like a whip and popped it's head off......I kid you not.....he looked over at me grinned and said "snakes ain't worth wastin a bullet". Arizona was an interesting place.
 
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When I was about eleven, I went in the back yard where we lived in New Mexico one morning to chop some wood for our stove. I pulled a piece of wood out with one hand and had an axe in the other hand. About a seven foot diamondback came at me from under the wood pile. I swung the axe for his head and chopped about a foot off his tail. That made him madder. He chased me around the yard with me chopping away running backwards. It ended up in about seven or eight one foot long pieces. If I put a stick by his mouth for quite a while, it would still snap shut. I had a shoe box full of rattles when I was in high school.
 
Spring is here, watch your step !!

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NC USA
 
...the old guy who owned the place came over one day while I was hunting snakes with my 45.....He was berry brown,abt 90 yrs old, whipcord thin, wore white cotton long sleeve shirts buttoned at the cuffs and neck, and wore a white straw Stetson ( he was a "native" - I was a "transplant")....he watched me for a bit and asked " whatcha doing?" my response "hunting rattle snakes"......his response "what's the pistol for?".....my response "killing rattle snakes"....about that time I flipped over a piece of corrugated tin and there was a big whammer jammer of a rattler, which curled and buzzed.....the old rancher, walked up with a stick, flipped the snake horizontally along the ground and b-4 it could coil back up, he grabbed it by the tail, cracked it like a whip and popped it's head off......I kid you not.....he looked over at me grinned and said "snakes ain't worth wastin a bullet". Arizona was an interesting place.

When I was about 14-y/o I had a similar experience while I was visiting a friend of my father's who lived around Cody, Wyoming. I think this is just one of the things westerners like to do that they think will really impress us flat-landers. It sure did me! :eek: :D

I offered to shoot snakes for him while I was there. He told me thanks but I'd find there were way more snakes than I had bullets!
 
Nevada Ed ,how long did that devil wind up being? I never believed the old wives tale about one rattle per year 'cause we all know that ain't true but, how many rattles does that "granddaddy" sport? Maybe he should be in the "Boone and Crockett" books! I've never seen one that large. Nick
 
I know the 9mm by CCI won't cycle the action on most automatics. They still feel very healthy in a 547. I didn't use them on snakes, I preferred them on 'coons that tried to redistribute my garbage. I figure I've got to bag it one time. Killin' the critter that wants it all over my yard is just fair play. I liked the post above about a 12 gauge and 7 1/2 shot. It doesn't include worry about the dead snake head still biting. There are so many parts to the vaporized head you can't find it.

The CCI ammo is really hard to find these days. I bought a pack for my neighbor who was also having 'coon troubles. 12 gauge is cheap by comparison.

Back to the rattlesnakes...Goodyear tracks are good, but locking up the brakes as you slide over is better. I have no idea how wide p285s are, but I'm guessing 11". The trick is to smear that 11" section right out of the middle of the snake. They do twitch around some after you do it, but pay them no attention, they'll die soon enough.

Guess I'm a lousy sportsman. I just want the snake (or spider) dead. I feel no specific satisfaction from it, just relief.
 
I just use a shovel. I filed the shovel to a good edge. Quick, easy, and I just scoop 'em up and fling them over the fence into the wash behind the house.

Only killed four last spring/summer in my back yard. We are supposed to call the FD and they move them, but they don't move them far enough so they come back. With two Labradors and a 4 year old, any that get into my yard get dead, not moved.

I shot a few our first year, but unless there is a monster like that in Nevada Ed's hands, I don't waste the ammo.
 
Well, I got the picture from a friend and he said the facts were .............
a 5" head and a 9 foot body..................

You also noticed the "Fishing Pose" to make fish look bigger,
ala the bent elbows and extended fore arms..........

which does make that look like the "Big Daddy" of all times that needs to go into the record books!!

Still a heck of a big DB !! I don't think any road runners tried to mess with it, that's for sure.
 
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