# Rattlers?



## huntn30inchers

Just looking for some slithery monster stories. I had gone my entire life having never seen a rattlesnake but the last couple of years I have really stepped up my efforts and have had quite a few run-in's. I should also mention that I am terrified of snakes and I hear a rattle and my spine feels like it is being ripped from my body. Anyway, how often are you guys seeing rattlers in the hills? I'm trying real hard to get over it because it just is what it is and I know very few people get bitten in comparison to how many people are out laying down footprints and thought this might be a fun story board while we wait for CC hits!


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## swbuckmaster

If you think rattlers are fun. You should see cotton mouths. When I'm in cotton mouth country I've seen as many as 20 a day and they don't rattle. 

As far as rattlers go I see one or two a year.

When I'm in other countries I worry about snakes more because I see them alot more and they are usually more deadly. 

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## Critter

I have been hunting in Arizona for javelina for over 25 years now and up until about 11 years ago I never did see a snake. Perhaps hunting in February had something to do with it but then it all changed. 

I was tracking a javelina on the final day of the hunt one year and walked around a small hill with my eyes on the tracks. I then saw a nice 5' diamondback. He had just shed his skin and the markings were very nice and I have always wanted one but he was too quick. He started to go under a large rock and I figured that I could just grab his tail and pull him out. I'm glad that I didn't, there were two other snakes coiled up right where he went under and I never did see them. I then got on the radio and called a friend to come see what I had found and as he was headed towards me I figured that I better take a look around and see what was there. From where I was standing I counted no less than 7 other snakes and then when I looked real close into the den I counted 15 heads. I slowly backed out of that area. 

Over the next 11 or so years I have gone back into that den site at least once each year. Some years we don't see a thing depending on the temperatures and then other years they are all over the place. I still haven't killed one of them yet for my wall. We even took a herpetologist from the University of Arizona into it one year so that he could do a study of them but he forgot how to find the den and has never asked us to show us the way back in.

When I was in South Africa one of the outfitters dogs had killed a cape cobra the day before we got there but in over 3 weeks we never did see a snake and we were in some prime country for them.


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## trackerputnam

I was 16 and quail hunting by Perris Lake Ca. I had just flushed a covey into some rocks ahead of me. I stepped up on a big flat boulder and then heard what I thought was a bobcat hiss! I stepped back off the rock with my right foot and felt something hit it. I looked down and there was a very large rattler, attached to my boot. Seems the fangs were caught in the laces somehow. The rest of the Snake had coiled around my left foot. I panicked and pointed the shotgun at the snakes head, still attached to my boot, and was truly going to shoot it when I came to my senses. I started kicking my legs a bit and soon had the snake land just ahead of me. I shot him there and had bb's blow back on me from the rocks around. Well I found about a six inch piece of the tail with the rattles attached. Picked that up and as I did I noticed a big wet spot on my boot. I got the boot off as quick as I could, figuring the wet spot to be venom. Which it turned out to be. The fangs never penetrated the boot. Hunting quail had lost its fun for the day and I was walking back to the parking lot with only one boot on. A park ranger/warden pops out of the brush part way back to my truck. Was quite upset with me for having shot the snake, seems they were protected. But after hearing the whole story and showing him the the boot and tail of the snake he calmed down. It was then that we noticed I had a red welt on my foot where the wet spot of venom was. Seems the venom can penetrate the skin? Anyway an ambulance was called and they came to the parking lot and checked me out. By which time the red welt was greatly reduce. I was released finally and went home with a note from the ranger/warden. Kind of an eventful day! Still have the rattles I believe in an old scrape book.


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## DallanC

There's a place in north utah county that has an astounding number of rattlers. I'd see one minimally 3 times a week. Whats amusing is they are bulldozing in a brand new subdivision right in that exact spot. I know alot of the lots are already sold... wonder if the family's about to move in have any idea what they are signing up for.


-DallanC


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## Josh

I spent the summer of my high school junior year in the Philippines visiting my grandparents. One day we were heading to the coast to snorkel, I think the area was called Batangus. We are heading down a dirt road and traffic is stopped because there is a boa on the road that had just swallowed some large critter, pig or small cow, and it was trying to digest. People finally get sick of waiting for the snake to complete his lunch so they just drive over the top of the snake. It didn't seem to hurt the snake. It was like a speed bump of solid muscle.


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## Idratherbehunting

I do not do snakes, and have been fortunate to not run into many while out in the hills. The only time I have heard/seen one I was walking along the river side trail up Logan Canyon and my (then) 3 old daughter was walking a step ahead of me when all the sudden I heard the rattle just off the side of the trail in the brush. I moved her pretty quickly out of the way, and no one was hurt.


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## JuniorPre 360

Fishing Salina Creek, you can hear the buzz worms all around you in some areas around the highway. I fished next to 2 smaller ones for about 10 minutes before I realized what that sound was. They were maybe 8 feet away. And just across the road, I almost stepped on one that was at least 5 feet long. I took off running, lost the top of my pole, and haven't gone back. 

My grandpa used to tell us growing up in Salina, they used to get some nylon stockings and put them around a stick. They'd bite and they'd pull out their teeth. Not entirely sure how true that is, but it's his story.


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## LostLouisianian

swbuckmaster said:


> If you think rattlers are fun. You should see cotton mouths. When I'm in cotton mouth country I've seen as many as 20 a day and they don't rattle.
> 
> As far as rattlers go I see one or two a year.
> 
> When I'm in other countries I worry about snakes more because I see them alot more and they are usually more deadly.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


20 cottonmouths in a day....man slow day! I've seen that many or more at one time at our fish cleaning dock. Used to slowly motor up and down the bayou's shooting them and usually killed more than that per hour. Yeah it was loaded where I grew up. Nothing like a 4' long cottonmouth as big around as your arm to get your attention. We used to catch them as kids and kill them with stick sometimes. Had one swim between my legs crawfishing once and I had on shorts. That's the only time I got a little nervous with one. Probably killed well over 1,000 in my lifetime.


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## kdog

I have never run into a rattler out in the hills. as a kid we had a few baby ratterlers get into our house one year when the next door lot was getting built on but that was it.


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## DallanC

Last one I ran into went 42"


-DallanC


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## Vanilla

Just the talk on this thread makes my skin crawl! I don't hate snakes. I catch snakes in my yard all the time. But rattlers freak me out. I don't know why, just seeing pictures gives me the heebie geebies! It's kind of irrational, I know. I don't know why they freak me out like they do, but I'm glad I rarely ever come across them. It's been years and years since I've bumped into one. 

I lived in Africa for two years. We watched a group of youth stone a cobra in a field on a path we walked nearly every day. We saw a dead mamba one time in the road that had been run over by a car.


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## hondodawg

*Ratters?*

I hate snakes with a passion. Apparently while at a family party during the 24th one of the little kids found a harmless garden snake. As I sat and ate my awesome 24th lunch he put the snake on my shoulder. I jumped and screamed and than stepped on that little snake until it was dead as a stick. I may or may not said a few words. But all eyes were on me and someone says we didn't know you had such a hatred of snakes. Poor kid was crying I smashed his little pet snake to death. And I was fine with that and ever since then nobody doesn't play tricks on me at family parties.

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## Fowlmouth

I posted this last summer. Here goes again.....

My buddy, his wife and a friend went fishing at Jordanelle State Park on Saturday. They fished most of the day, then headed back to the boat ramp to load up and come home. He was strapping everything down inside the boat when he saw something out of place. Oh it was just a 3' rattlesnake under the seat he was sitting in all day. How the hell does a snake get in your boat? He doesn't know. He went straight from his house to Jordanelle, no camping overnight or anything like that. They caught a few fish though.


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## Al Hansen

Saw several down in the Imperial Valley around Niland California hunting morning doves back in the 60's and 70's. I have seen a lot of signs warning about rattlers in Montana but I haven't seen one yet.


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## swbuckmaster

My brother went on a hike up Battle Creek canyon in Pleasant Grove. He caught a snake and brought back down the trail. He thought it was a bull snake. He said It wasn't mean and didn't bite. He put it in a milk jug he found at the parking lot trash can. He then brought it home to me and asked me to identify it. I looked in the milk jug and it's head was about an inch from my eye looking at me. I threw it on the ground and got in a fight with him. I actually thought he did it on purpose. He stupid enough to not know small rattle snakes don't have rattles. I'm suprised he handled that snake all the way down the trail and didn't get bit. 
I caught it showed him the dimond shaped head and button on its tail. I then took it back up the canyon and let it go. 

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## Critter

That side of PG is known for those buzz snakes. My ex lives a short ways off of the foot hills and was finding them in her flower garden for quite a while 30 years ago.


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## Vanilla

Cross Battle Creek off my hiking list this summer...


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## Catherder

Fowlmouth said:


> I posted this last summer. Here goes again.....
> 
> My buddy, his wife and a friend went fishing at Jordanelle State Park on Saturday. They fished most of the day, then headed back to the boat ramp to load up and come home. He was strapping everything down inside the boat when he saw something out of place. Oh it was just a 3' rattlesnake under the seat he was sitting in all day. How the hell does a snake get in your boat? He doesn't know. He went straight from his house to Jordanelle, no camping overnight or anything like that. They caught a few fish though.


This still gets my vote for the all time #1 damndest post on UWN.

FWIW, Rock Cliffs/Jordanelle has a lot of rattlers. I almost ran over a big one there just a week after this boat incident.


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## Catherder

Vanilla said:


> Cross Battle Creek off my hiking list this summer...


I hate to tell ya but all the canyons in the foothills below Timp are loaded with them. :-?


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## Critter

For those of you that watch where you are putting your feet as you walk or hike in snake country here is another nightmare for you. 

I got this picture in Arizona in March one year.


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## 7mm Reloaded

It's illegal to kill them last I heard .


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## Kevin D

My younger brother is a truck driver and a mountain bike enthusiast. About 10 years ago while he was waiting for his truck to be unloaded/loaded somewhere in Arizona he took a bike ride and found an abandoned mine. As he was poking around exploring the place he felt a sting on his ankle and yup, it was a rattle snake. He killed the snake then called his wife on his cell phone and told her what had happened before riding the 10 miles back to his truck.

When he got back in town the bite mark was a little red but otherwise he felt fine so he hopped in his truck and headed back to Utah. Meanwhile my sister-in-law was freaking out and insisted he get to a doctor, so he finally pulled in to Cedar City to get it checked out.

He showed them the dead snake and after my brother told the doctor it had been about 8 hours since he'd been bitten and with no real ill effects the medical staff concluded it was a "dry bite." Apparently snakes don't inject venom with every bite......not that it makes them any more endearing to me......:?


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## JuniorPre 360

7MM RELOADED said:


> It's illegal to kill them last I heard .


But you can kill them in self defense.


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## huntn30inchers

Why kill them? They are just doing what they do. As much as a hate snakes I am a lover of nature and wildlife more. They scare me to death but its pretty neat of them to warn you before the ruin your day. Haha!


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## Bax*

On a few occasions I have gone camping in the desert and had a great trip. Warm weather, cool nights, and good company.

Once it was time to head home, I have taken my tent down and found a rattler under my tent tarp!

This has happened two or three times in my life.

I guess its good that a) the snake was under the tarp providing an extra barrier between me and the snake, and b) that I usually sleep on an air mattress so I was high enough over the snake that the likelihood of feeling it slither under me was near impossible.


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## swbuckmaster

Gives me the heebie jeebies bax

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## huntn30inchers

Bax, I think about this all the time EXCEPT when I am actually rolling up my tent and it may be an issue. That's a pretty vulnerable position you are in and an ideal place for crawling nasties to hide.


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## JuniorPre 360

huntn30inchers said:


> Why kill them? They are just doing what they do. As much as a hate snakes I am a lover of nature and wildlife more. They scare me to death but its pretty neat of them to warn you before the ruin your day. Haha!


Coyotes, *****, mussels, fox, and cougars all do what they do in nature as well. But certain animals and humans are more important. God gave humanity dominion over animals.


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## LostLouisianian

Critter said:


> For those of you that watch where you are putting your feet as you walk or hike in snake country here is another nightmare for you.
> 
> I got this picture in Arizona in March one year.


Never seen a rattler in a tree but seen billions of cottonmouths on low hanging bushes out over the bayou or on land. They like to sun themselves just like in the picture.


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## huntn30inchers

I guess to each their own but I don't agree with your viewpoint and I certainly don't agree with killing anything for no reason or because "god said I could"


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## Bax*

I am not a fan of killing a snake just because it is there. Unless it poses a true risk to myself or something nearby, just let it be.

I believe that God created EVERYTHING for a purpose. Purposes that we may not yet understand, or may never understand.

There have been several arguments to completely eradicate mosquitos and claims that we have the ability to do so. But when you consider what repercussions this may have (such as disrupting the food chain for fish, frogs, and guys riding motorcycles with their mouths open), it suddenly becomes clear that getting rid of something may not be a good idea.

Obviously we aren't talking about eliminating rattlers from the earth, but can you imagine what _could_ happen if we started killing them off? Rodent populations could theoretically skyrocket and then we are faced with the Australian issue that a farm faced some time ago:






Then we have to release a bunch of snakes to eat the mice, but then we have too many snakes, so we have to release a bunch of mongoose to eat the snakes, but then we have too many mongoose running around, so we need to release bears to eat the mongoose, then there are too many bears, so we have to release great white sharks to eat the bears... and so on....

Ok, I am bored at work right now.


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## swbuckmaster

JuniorPre 360 said:


> Coyotes, *****, mussels, fox, and cougars all do what they do in nature as well. But certain animals and humans are more important. God gave humanity dominion over animals.


No need to kill anything just because unless it's spiders. Spiders "come right for us" and democrats passed that bill that says if "it comes right for us" we can shoot.

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## twinkielk15

I used to see them all the time in the mountains around Delta when I was growing up but I don't feel like I see nearly as many. I always expect to see them in the early season chasing chukars but I've only seen two or three in the last few years.


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## swbuckmaster

All kidding aside I've only killed two rattle snakes in my life. I was 14 at the time. They were in Battle Creek canyon. When I stepped on the concrete slab they were on they sounded off with the hiss and rattle. I went home and got my pellet gun and went back up and waited for them to poke their head out. I shot it right between the eyes. A second one popped it's head out and it took one right between its eyes as well. I lifted the slab with a tree branch and pulled them out and carried them home. Little did I know they could still strike and they tried the whole way home. Luckily I never got bit.
The snake my brother found I took back up 20 years later and let it go under that same concrete slab. Hopfully it made up for the ones I killed just because. Snakes are cool!

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## Bax*

Random story -

when I was a kid. My dad caught a rattle snake and brought it home as a pet (obviously my mom was thrilled). He took an old wood frame tube television with a pivoting base (those of you who have been around know what I am talking about) and he essentially built a cage out of the television by building a metal box into the wood frame that had a locking door to keep us kids from opening the cage.

Then every week or so, he would go catch a mouse or two and throw it in the cage. We would then sit on an old green musty couch in the basement in front of the TV cage and watch the mouse get bitten, bounce around the cage like it was attached to a pogo-stick, and slowly die. Then the lazy snake would slowly slither over to the dead mouse and eat it.

The snake's name was Buzz.

Sometime later my mom finally convinced my dad to get rid of the snake so he had a guy come in from some sort of venom bank / rattle snake collection pick Buzz up and that was the last time I saw Buzz....

One day I will tell you about the time my dad came home with a 5 gallon bucket full of tarantulas (I guess they weren't technically tarantulas, but they came from the west desert and may be giant wolf spiders?) and they escaped in the house and nobody knew exactly how many escaped... or the time my dad caught a couple foxes and skinned them in the basement only to discover that he brought fleas into the house... Or the time we chased a porcupine through the house.... or the time that we thought we killed a skunk and it sprayed my dad in the driveway... or the time I brought a bull snake home only to have it escape and get stuck in the wall and die...ahh memories.


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## Critter

These guys said "thank you for not killing us"

Also here is a picture of a spaghetti ball of them.


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## swbuckmaster

I worked with a coworker that hated snakes. We were in Texas working on a dam. This place was infested with cotton mouth and copper heads. Every afternoon it would rain for a few minutes and it would bring the snakes out of the rocks next to the lake and onto the road. He would run them over with the car. He ran over atleast 40 snakes in 3 days. I'll admit it made me made even though I had to hike all over those rocks everyday I was there. 

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## Bax*

Quick article on killing rattle snakes: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1288&sid=30461694


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## swbuckmaster

Bax* said:


> Random story -
> 
> when I was a kid. My dad caught a rattle snake and brought it home as a pet (obviously my mom was thrilled). He took an old wood frame tube television with a pivoting base (those of you who have been around know what I am talking about) and he essentially built a cage out of the television by building a metal box into the wood frame that had a locking door to keep us kids from opening the cage.
> 
> Then every week or so, he would go catch a mouse or two and throw it in the cage. We would then sit on an old green musty couch in the basement in front of the TV cage and watch the mouse get bitten, bounce around the cage like it was attached to a pogo-stick, and slowly die. Then the lazy snake would slowly slither over to the dead mouse and eat it.
> 
> The snake's name was Buzz.
> 
> Sometime later my mom finally convinced my dad to get rid of the snake so he had a guy come in from some sort of venom bank / rattle snake collection pick Buzz up and that was the last time I saw Buzz....
> 
> One day I will tell you about the time my dad came home with a 5 gallon bucket full of tarantulas (I guess they weren't technically tarantulas, but they came from the west desert and may be giant wolf spiders?) and they escaped in the house and nobody knew exactly how many escaped... or the time my dad caught a couple foxes and skinned them in the basement only to discover that he brought fleas into the house... Or the time we chased a porcupine through the house.... or the time that we thought we killed a skunk and it sprayed my dad in the driveway... or the time I brought a bull snake home only to have it escape and get stuck in the wall and die...ahh memories.


Lol I could have been your dad lol. My kids could tell the exact same stories lol

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## Bax*

swbuckmaster said:


> I worked with a coworker that hated snakes. We were in Texas working on a dam. This place was infested with cotton mouth and copper heads. Every afternoon it would rain for a few minutes and it would bring the snakes out of the rocks next to the lake and onto the road. He would run them over with the car. He ran over atleast 40 snakes in 3 days. I'll admit it made me made even though I had to hike all over those rocks everyday I was there.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


 Isnt there an urban legend about running over venomous snakes and getting flat tires?

Something about the fangs getting stuck in the tires and the drive gets a flat (obviously impossible from the fang) but the driver then begins changing the flat tire out for the spare and his hand brushes the imbedded fang and as a result he dies?

Lol. I like urban legends.

Did I mention I am bored?


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## swbuckmaster

Which one of you guys said I could just shoot the skunk in the head that was caught in my live trap in the back yard. Lol that was a good one

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## Bax*

swbuckmaster said:


> Which one of you guys said I could just shoot the skunk in the head that was caught in my live trap in the back yard. Lol that was a good one
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


 We learned that shooting a skunk with a .22LR was a bad idea. They sprayed every time. But if we shot them with a .22 pellet gun, they didn't spray.... no explanation as to why other than maybe the report of the .22LR was loud enough to startle them into spraying?


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## swbuckmaster

Bax* said:


> We learned that shooting a skunk with a .22LR was a bad idea. They sprayed every time. But if we shot them with a .22 pellet gun, they didn't spray.... no explanation as to why other than maybe the report of the .22LR was loud enough to startle them into spraying?


I'll take your word for it lol I'm done live trapping in my yard

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## Bax*

Just in case some of you haven't heard the skunk story: http://utahwildlife.net/forum/29-other-kinds-animals/36749-bax-s-trapped-skunk.html

Any of you noticing a theme here? My dad always puts me in weird situations


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## Dunkem

Almost exactly 3 years ago my brother in law was bit by a southern pacific rattler in San Diego (I actually posted it on here). He was golfing and reached down in the brush to retrive a ball and was bit on the finger. Well he is allergic to the venum and after I think 50 or 60 vials of antivenum and a induced coma for 3 days he pulled through. The hospital bill was in the neighborhood of 600,000 dollars!! Needless to say he does not go into the rough anymore. I just returned from there today after a week stay and seen 3 of the devil snakes while there.


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## Critter

You are always hearing of golfers getting bit in Arizona and in areas of California. I have often wondered why stick your hand into a bush when you have a 3-4' club in your hands or very close by?

I know that whenever I am hunting or doing something in Arizona and I see something that I would like to look at that is in a bush or bushy stuff that I use a stick to get it out.


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## MuscleWhitefish

I have seen a few out and about. 

First one, I ever laid eyes on was dead in a gutter in Ogden Utah. 

Second one, I almost stepped on at the middle fork of the Ogden River. 

Third one, my father ran over going to the Shooting range in fruit heights. 

Fourth one, A huge orange one at sand hollow. Biggest to date. 

Fifth one, at Illpah reservoir outside of Ely Nevada. 

Sixth - Tenth, dead on the road between Carlin Nevada and Eureka Nevada. 

Eleventh - In Arizona in march on the Gila River outside of Safford Arizona. 

Twelfth - In Colorado on the windy road between Golden and I70

Lucky Number 13 - The elusive Pigmy In Wyoming at Lost dog, I poked it with a fishing pole to see if it was alive. It rattled, I left and went to a new spot. 

I think after seeing thirteen, I will leave them to eating rats and try to steer clear of them.


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## 3arabians

It's a shame you can't kill em. I may or may not have taken out a couple. I hear they are good eating. 

I honestly didn't know you couldn't kill em until a few years ago. 

My brother and I saw one in the middle of a well travelled dirt road a few years ago. You should have seen it. My brother hollers "RATTLER LET'S GET HIM" I slam the brakes and grab my 22 pistol as we both bail out. I had a standoff with that rattler for a good 3-4 minutes as I tried to get a clean shot as a few other motorists cruised by with mild amusement. That snake gave us the slip and we went without an appetizer that night. 

I bet I'm not the only one on here with a similar story. Just sayin.

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## Critter

3arabians said:


> I bet I'm not the only one on here with a similar story. Just sayin.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk


Back in the days when you could kill them I and a friend were up Spanish Fork Canyon checking out a bow hunting area when he saw one and grabbed my .22 of off the seat. He then proceeded to bang the pistol barrel on the vent window of my truck saying snake, snake. I took the pistol away from him and went to look at it. By this time it had crawled into a bush near a cedar tree. I went over and after a couple of shots the head was gone and I dragged it out of the bush. I started to gather some wood and he just looked at me and asked me what I was doing. I just told him that I was going to cook dinner.

He was skeptical for a while as I was cooking it but he soon came around. Beer and rattle snake isn't too bad.


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## LostLouisianian

Years ago my dad told me of a spot he went squirrel hunting once. He was a land surveyor and came across a patch of woods that seemed to be loaded with fox squirrels. He got permission from the owner to hunt and on opening day he was there. He said he walked into the woods with his 12 gauge and hadn't gone 50 feet and heard buzzing. Looked down and saw a huge rattler (they get pretty danged big in LA) and blasted it, as soon as he shot it he heard buzzing around him. Saw two more and shot them. Reloaded and walked another few yards heard buzzing, same thing. Said he killed 9 in less than 20 yards, turned around and hauled you know what out of those woods. Said he knew why the woods were loaded with squirrels, because they were also loaded with rattlers and no one was dumb enough to go in there and hunt the squirrels anymore.


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## LostLouisianian

Bax* said:


> Isnt there an urban legend about running over venomous snakes and getting flat tires?
> 
> Something about the fangs getting stuck in the tires and the drive gets a flat (obviously impossible from the fang) but the driver then begins changing the flat tire out for the spare and his hand brushes the imbedded fang and as a result he dies?
> 
> Lol. I like urban legends.
> 
> Did I mention I am bored?


As dumb kids, ok I am still dumb but so what, we used to cut the heads off of cottonmouths and keep poking at them with a stick watching them bite at the stick to see how long they would keep biting after we had cut off the heads.....well they can still bite quite a while after you cut off the head...from what I understand that applies to rattlers as well so be careful out there when you decapitate one.


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## Vanilla

I hate this thread. I'm never leaving my house again.


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## DallanC

I knew a guy growing up who hated a specific property owner... he would catch rattlers and stick them in his mailbox from time to time. :shock:


-DallanC


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## Charina

As a snake lover, I purposefully go out to see rattlers most years. I know I could see several today and tomorrow on my lunch break if I wanted. Anyone up for a lunch run to see snakes out of SLC? Didn't think so. It's early May, the sun is out, and the rattlers will be sunning right outside their winter brumation dens.

Yes, rattlesnakes _"may be killed without a certificate of registration only for reasons of human safety."_ Perhaps there is some gray area there, but if you are out hiking away from houses, and one starts buzzing under a rock from which you are out of striking distance from, and you don't have to go into its strike range, you'd be hard pressed to convince me you are doing so for human safety. I'd bet $ that more people are envenomated screwing with them them trying to kill them than are envenomated by just minding their own business walking, hiking, and rock climbing.

The story of the snake under the boat seat doesn't surprise me one bit. Having observed hundreds, I see them prefer to remain concealed than give themselves away. As long as they believe they have not been spotted, they don't move, and don't give away their position (I bet most of you have been within 3 ft of a rattler and never knew it). And then, if they feel their cover is blown, they will almost always buzz before striking. The exception being if you step on, or grab one. THEN, remember, not all strikes result in envenomation. Venom comes at a cost, and they need to conserve it to subdue prey. Many are "dry" bites with no consequences. If you are envonemated, you will know it. Burning. Like your limb is on fire.


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## Charina

Bax* said:


> One day I will tell you about the time my dad came home with a 5 gallon bucket full of tarantulas (I guess they weren't technically tarantulas, but they came from the west desert and may be giant wolf spiders?)


Yes, there are tarantulas in the west desert. I've seen them in the Stansburys, and know of many others found in the Ophirs and further south and west. Definitely tarantulas. Tarantulas are cool in that you can hold a wild one without concern of being bit. They are really laid back.


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## swbuckmaster

Trantula I helped across the road last year a few miles south of Saratoga. I used to see them all the time in Pleasant Grove when I was a kid however this was the first one I had seen in Utah in 20 plus years.









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## swbuckmaster

Charina said:


> As a snake lover, I purposefully go out to see rattlers most years. I know I could see several today and tomorrow on my lunch break if I wanted. Anyone up for a lunch run to see snakes out of SLC?


I'm up for it! Let's go!

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## 7mm Reloaded

JuniorPre 360 said:


> But you can kill them in self defense.


Define self defense from a snake. If you see one is it too hard to go around it or do you just pull up and blast it. If so you are hunting snakes. Maybe if its fangs are in your leg I'd say yes.:loco:


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## DallanC

Charina said:


> Yes, there are tarantulas in the west desert .... Definitely tarantulas. Tarantulas are cool in that you can hold a wild one without concern of being bit. They are really laid back.


Yup, I have several pictures of Tarantulas I've taken in the past few years out in the west desert on the Dove hunt. Seen one in the Alpine area as well, heading up the north mt.

-DallanC


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## middlefork

Charina said:


> I'd bet $ that more people are envenomated screwing with them them trying to kill them than are envenomated by just minding their own business walking, hiking, and rock climbing.
> 
> Many are "dry" bites with no consequences. If you are envonemated, you will know it. Burning. Like your limb is on fire.


I spent a lot of years rock climbing and had a lot of encounters with rattler's with only a couple that stick out.
We were coming down a talus field in Little Cottonwood canyon when something hit the back of my calf and instantly there was a most excruciating pain.
I took a couple of steps and turned to my companion and said I thought I had been bitten.
He looked all over and never saw a snake but there was one definite puncture mark in my calf. It took us awhile to figure out what to do (this was before all the modern EMS services) a red mark started growing away from the puncture but soon stopped growing and there was no further swelling so we continued on our way.
To this day I'm pretty sure it was a snake but no actual proof.


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## Bax*

Ok more story time:

I had a friend who lived in the Avenues on 6th Ave and H Street when we were in college. He was taking care of my two pet snakes for a while and both snakes got out of their cages in his house.

In the following years, he never found the snakes. But he found skins from time to time. Each time a little bigger than the previous.

Ha ha I hope the new owners still find snake skins!


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## Critter

A friend kept a rattlesnake in the vegetable crisper in the fridge while he was going to school at SUSC

He would take it out while it was very cool and play with it until it started moving around too much at which time he would put it into its outside cage so that he could feed it. 

Then after a few days it was back into the crisper for him.


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## KineKilla

I've only ever encountered one rattler in my days and that was down at Coral Pink Sand Dunes while I was there for work.

It rattled for a bit but was content to slither away into a bush, out of the way. Couldn't get the tourists to stop leaning in on it to take pictures, but what do ya do?

Only time I've ever been physically harmed was while moving a snake cage my friend had for his Burmese Python...snake was tame enough but I got a small nail through my hand from that stupid cage.


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## plottrunner

huntn30inchers said:


> I guess to each their own but I don't agree with your viewpoint and I certainly don't agree with killing anything for no reason or because "god said I could"


If yall would read the Bible, in chapter 3 of Genesis it was a talking snake that caused the fall. I say kill em all and especially if they buzz :grin::grin:


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## Kwalk3

My worst experience in the outdoors recently has nothing to do with snakes(even though I see plenty of rattlers in my area).  I stumbled on an underground yellow-jacket nest in some dark pines last year and got stung 26 or 27 times 4 miles from the truck. Stings on my face, neck, arms, legs and the top of my head. I felt intoxicated the whole way out and for the next 2 days I was swollen and a little out of it. 

Have had a few run-ins with rattlers and just do my best to remain conscious of my surroundings and if necessary I've got my trekking poles to move the snakes out of the way.


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## Charina

middlefork said:


> To this day I'm pretty sure it was a snake but no actual proof.


Perhaps. Sounds more like a sting to me, except that "puncture". I've never been bit by any snake with fangs (well, that 7 ft dumeril boas' teeth might qualify as fangs, as big as they were), but I also wouldn't qualify any snake bite I've received as "excruciating". Just last night one of my variable kings (_Lampropeltis thayeri_) bit me and I let it chew on my finger a bit (was a feeding response) while talking to a friend. I felt it, it bled, but certainly not anything more than an annoyance. Even the big snake bites I've had I wouldn't categorize as more than hurts quite a bit and bleeds like s stuck pig. If a rattler had hit you with a fang, and had envenomated to cause excruciating pain, it wouldn't have subsided, or stayed localized. But who knows? Perhaps it was a glancing blow with very little venom that could actually get inside? Plausible perhaps. I don't know enough to say if that's possible.


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## Charina

swbuckmaster said:


> I'm up for it! Let's go!


Well, that was unexpected from a hunting forum! haha Now, do I trust my buzztail honeyhole to someone that seems upstanding, but I don't personally know? That's the dilemma I get for throwing it out there. -O,-

Herpers are even more jealous of hotspots than hunters, given that game wanders, while a rattlesnake den is stationary. Specific location matters even more in herping that in most hunting circumstances. And it only takes one friend of a friend of a friend to ruin a spot for decades. Had it happen to one of research (amateur) locations.

Re tarantulas, its usually the males that we find. And usually in late summer. September is prime. Males are wandering looking for a female.


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## johnnycake

I'll admit, I haven't had many snake run ins--but my family on my mom's side has enough to last for the next 10-15 generations! I don't like 'em, don't look for 'em, and happily moved to Alaska where there aren't any! I'll take a 9' 1500lbs bear over a sneaky 3-6' death noodle. I can't accidentally step on the bear. Most of the time.


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## Vanilla

Charina said:


> September is prime. Males are wandering looking for a female.


Aaaaaah, finally a pleasant topic again to think about on this thread. I agree that September is awesome when the males are wandering looking for females!


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## swbuckmaster

Charina said:


> Well, that was unexpected from a hunting forum! haha Now, do I trust my buzztail honeyhole to someone that seems upstanding, but I don't personally know? That's the dilemma I get for throwing it out there. -O,-
> 
> Herpers are even more jealous of hotspots than hunters, given that game wanders, while a rattlesnake den is stationary. Specific location matters even more in herping that in most hunting circumstances. And it only takes one friend of a friend of a friend to ruin a spot for decades. Had it happen to one of research (amateur) locations.
> 
> Re tarantulas, its usually the males that we find. And usually in late summer. September is prime. Males are wandering looking for a female.


If you don't want your honey hole out. I won't tell anyone where it is. It would be cool to see something like that with a herper. In fact I don't know a single person that likes snakes. I'm no herper but think snakes are cool.

All good either way

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## willfish4food

johnnycake said:


> *a sneaky 3-6' death noodle.*


:lol: Now that's funny!!!


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## Critter

I know what you mean by keeping den sites quiet. The big one that I know of there are only 12 or so other people that know of it and they respect it. I have found one other one but I had to let the rancher know about it just for the reason that it was under a windmill that they would need to go in and service at times. He did end up catching most of the snakes in a trap and relocating them. Now if they survived or not is something else.

Here are a couple more pictures I have. Looking through my computer I must have couple hundred of just rattlesnakes.


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## johnnycake

Vanilla said:


> Aaaaaah, finally a pleasant topic again to think about on this thread. I agree that September is awesome when the males are wandering looking for females!


Psst. He ain't talking about elk.

He's talking about the other hell-beast. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tically-eat-every-human-on-earth-in-one-year/


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## Dunkem

johnnycake said:


> Psst. He ain't talking about elk.
> 
> He's talking about the other hell-beast.
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tically-eat-every-human-on-earth-in-one-year/


 Uh, if you don't want to be searching your house for spiders don't let your wife read this!-O,- Now I gotta move the bed. :spider:


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## johnnycake

Dunkem said:


> Uh, if you don't want to be searching your house for spiders don't let your wife read this!-O,- Now I gotta move the bed. :spider:


Then she REALLY shouldn't read this
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/27/how-do-spiders-fly-for-miles-mystery-solved/

This is the real reason humanity needs to settle space. But odds are, the hell-beasts already beat us there and are lying, waiting, and watching with their 8 beady eyes for us to arrive before launching their attack from behind the asteroid field


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## Bax*

From the Garden of Eden we know that snakes are of the devil. 

By that logic- What the hell kind of wicked spirit justified the creation of spiders?


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## Bax*




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## swbuckmaster

That is so freaking gross!

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## CPAjeff

When I was young, we used to camp up by Porcupine Reservoir over Memorial Day weekend. One year the snakes were out in force and a family friend killed, decapitated, and skinned one rattler. That darn thing was the most diabolical thing I had ever seen. My skin still crawls when I think about it. I may or may not still scream like a little girl when I get surprised by a rattler out in the mountains - I have no reason to kill them, but I also could go the rest of my life without seeing one again and be totally fine with it.


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## johnnycake

CPAjeff said:


> but I also could go the rest of my life without seeing one again and be totally fine with it.


He writes, before moving to Texas! Good luck with that one dude!


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## CPAjeff

johnnycake said:


> He writes, before moving to Texas! Good luck with that one dude!


Ha ha very true. A guy can wish though, right?!?


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## ssssnake529

My nephew, after a rattle snake encounter.


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## LostLouisianian

CPAjeff said:


> When I was young, we used to camp up by Porcupine Reservoir over Memorial Day weekend. One year the snakes were out in force and a family friend killed, decapitated, and skinned one rattler. That darn thing was the most diabolical thing I had ever seen. My skin still crawls when I think about it. I may or may not still scream like a little girl when I get surprised by a rattler out in the mountains - I have no reason to kill them, but I also could go the rest of my life without seeing one again and be totally fine with it.


So you're moving to the Dallas area and would rather not see another snake again. Um going to the wrong place bubba. Texas has more than it's fair share of rattlers and they're usually pretty good size. A 5 footer is pretty common. Of course you could stay in the Malls and go shopping if you don't want to see rattlers there. They also have cottonmouths, copperheads, coral snakes...hmmm let me see what other poisonous snakes are there.
http://tpwd.texas.gov/education/res...aturalists/snakes-alive/venomous-texas-snakes


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## swbuckmaster

They're out moving around

This weekend I saw a 4 foot bull snake and two yellow belly racers.

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## wyoming2utah

Ran over a rattle snake and saw two blow snakes on the road yesterday heading up the mountain for an evening turkey hunt with the kids...they are out!


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## huntn30inchers

I can confirm that the rattlers are our too, I saw two the day I started this post. And ssssnake529, this was meant to be a light hearted discussion about how nobody really gets bitten by rattle snakes and I shouldn't worry about it and just enjoy my time in the woods...


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## LostLouisianian

Saw a couple of good size gopher snakes behind the house yesterday


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## CPAjeff

LostLouisianian said:


> So you're moving to the Dallas area and would rather not see another snake again. Um going to the wrong place bubba. Texas has more than it's fair share of rattlers and they're usually pretty good size. A 5 footer is pretty common. Of course you could stay in the Malls and go shopping if you don't want to see rattlers there. They also have cottonmouths, copperheads, coral snakes...hmmm let me see what other poisonous snakes are there.
> http://tpwd.texas.gov/education/res...aturalists/snakes-alive/venomous-texas-snakes


Thanks for the link - I feel so much better about life now! :behindsofa:


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## ridgetop

Here's a few of my experiences. I was once walking along and saw a squirrel about 5 feet away going into convolutions. Then I notice a rattlesnake about 3 feet from the squirrel. I realized that the snake had just bitten the squirrel and about an hour of watching, the snake had the squirrel completely consumed. It was pretty cool to watch.
I used to see a lot more snakes in the 90s than I do now. I saw one last year crossing a dirt road that I was driving on was on but that's the only one I've seen since 2010. Although, my hunting partners have seen at least five or more rattlers each year during that same time period. Maybe I'm becoming more deaf and blind in my older age.
I've almost stepped on a few over the years, including two different ones that were coiled and my boot track was only inches from it and neither snake rattled.
I once had one strike at me and then continued to strike and come at me very aggressively from about 5 feet away, I had to keep backing up to stay out of its strike range. That was a little scary, since I was alone and about 5 miles from the trailhead. I've also seen them up in tall sage brush about 5 feet off the ground when they started rattling about 10 feet away. That's a little freaky, knowing a strike to the neck or face would be real bad.


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## LostLouisianian

CPAjeff said:


> Thanks for the link - I feel so much better about life now! :behindsofa:


Frankly moving to North Texas I wouldn't be so much worried about snake bites, heck your 10,000 times more likely to get killed in a tornado in Texas than a snake.

My college sweetheart was from North Texas and her mom was killed by a tornado when she was around 12.


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## WEK

The last few years finding them has been insanely easy on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Late June of last year was basically rattlesnake hopscotch between noon and 4pm. 

Rock Canyon near BYU also has a fair number of them if you know where to look. And some of the ones in that canyon have arguably the most stark and beautiful coloring of any Great Basin rattlesnakes. Very dark central pattern with clearly defined edges and highly contrasting light sides. I've seen similar coloration in a few places in the Uintas as well, only with a slight blue-green tinge to the pattern. 

If you haven't gathered I find them utterly fascinating (but definitely worthy of extreme respect). 

But if you really want to find a batch of them that will give you nightmares if you don't like snakes....you need to be in Diamond Fork Canyon. Though I won't tell you where because I don't want them wiped out. There is small rock slop there surrounded by otherwise verdant grassland. And if you start walking up it in July...you'll be treated to an absolute cacophony of rattles--between 15-20 the last time I checked it out (last year). 

But here's the best part...just standing there in the middle of the rocks, you won't be able to see any of them. They're all underneath and between the rocks and they don't come out on top of them (they seem to exit out the bottom and sides into the grass late each morning). Standing there listening to them all freak out on you is extraordinarily unnerving. In a good way. :mrgreen:


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## Rspeters

Growing up in AZ I had several run-ins with rattlers. I HATE snakes, and one time a friend of mine killed one while we were dove hunting, chopped off its head and asked if he could put it in my vest (the pocket on back) since he had something else in his. Not wanting to act like a little girl I said 'sure'. That headless snake sat there moving around and around for I swear at least an hour or more. I hated it but just had to keep telling myself it was dead and headless so it couldn't bite me. 

Another time a friend and I were running through a wash after a dove we'd just shot and came across a 4-5 footer coiled up rattling at us. We stepped back, shot it, went got our dove and came back to it. Then we called my dad over, who was about 40 yards away. He looked at it and then went back to his spot. As he was getting back to his spot, there was another one was crossing right where he had been standing. So we shot that one too. Laws are a bit different in AZ.

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## maverick9465

I am petrified of running into a rattler and I grew up in Lousiana where seeing cottonmouths was a regular occurrence. Thankfully, the only rattler I've seen was at the zoo.


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## .45

Rspeters said:


> Growing up in AZ I had several run-ins with rattlers. I HATE snakes, and one time a friend of mine killed one while we were dove hunting, chopped off its head and asked if he could put it in my vest (the pocket on back) since he had something else in his. Not wanting to act like a little girl I said 'sure'. That headless snake sat there moving around and around for I swear at least an hour or more. I hated it but just had to keep telling myself it was dead and headless so it couldn't bite me.
> 
> _*Another time a friend and I were running through a wash after a dove we'd just shot and came across a 4-5 footer coiled up rattling at us. We stepped back, shot it, went got our dove and came back to it. Then we called my dad over, who was about 40 yards away. He looked at it and then went back to his spot. As he was getting back to his spot, there was another one was crossing right where he had been standing.*_ So we shot that one too. Laws are a bit different in AZ.
> 
> Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk


That's interesting. A book I was reading about the history of Lofgren, Utah claimed that rattler's were everywhere and always traveled in pairs.


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