Rattlesnakes are awesome
Rattlesnakes are awesome
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Til they're not.
We have rattlers at my range east of Denver, where they're considered open season 24/7/365. I will leave them alone if they're at a distance but if one shows up in my bay they are getting shot. I don't feel badly about it.
That story stinks. I firmly believe in the turn around is fair play rule. Snakes don’t have qualms about biting folks who intrude upon them, so I don’t have qualms about killing one that does the same. Don’t go out of my way to find and kill them, but if they show up in my yard they are toast
Correction after some inquiries other than what wifey told me over drinks. The snake was killed northeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, somewhere between Carlsbad and Hackberry Lake. In the photo, the snake looks like it could be 8 to 9 feet long. Doing quick Google searches, some Western Diamondbacks have allegedly grown to 7 feet. I didn't find any reports of a WD growing longer than that. Like Sigfan said, the snake probably looks bigger than it is due to camera location. The Diamondback in the photo reportedly had 23 rattles.
I've killed a number of them over the years at the family ranch. But, I have never seen one over about 3 feet that I can recall, and certainly nothing that looked as thick as the one in the photograph.
"Rich," the Old Man said dreamily, "is a little whiskey to drink and some food to eat and a roof over your head and a fish pole and a boat and a gun and a dollar for a box of shells." Robert Ruark
The picture only shows 10 that I can count, but it looks like some broke off, which isnt unusual. I still think its size is way blown out of proportion by the way the picture was taken. It looks like a big snake, but big is relative. Id guess it more in the 4+ ft range if I had to guess.
I dont recall, and am too lazy at the moment to look it up, but I think they can add 2-3 rattles per year, they add one each time they molt their skin.
It reminds me of the gargantuan bear from Alaska which keeps turning up online, and estimated to be megafauna size, and was killed in a desperate charge and struggle, after eating half a village worth of hapless outdoorsmen, but in reality the actual hunter that shot it said the circumstances were completely different than the internet said, and was about large-ish average size, and had little drama in real life.
That snake looks 7-9 feet, but I'm guessing the guy holding it, is actually 5'1" and we're looking at a fat 5-footer.
On a more serious note, I've never, despite seeing them dozens of times in the field, needed to kill a rattlesnake. I've actually never had one coil up on me. Generally, we give each other a wide berth and I move on with my life. By contrast, the damn scorpions seem to relish in invading my living space.
The Hackberry lake area is my stomping grounds, in fact I could probably narrow down where that picture was taken to within 1/2 mile by just doing a little driving around.
I'm in that general vicinity 2-5 days a week, and have been for 20+ years doing everything from dirtbike riding, dog walking, arrowhead hunting, quail hunting, hiking, driving and working.
I see rattlesnakes almost daily from March through late November and the largest I've ever come across was 4'-5' and about as big around as my forearm (about 12" circumference).
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
Delete post.
Last edited by Shotgun; 10-13-2017 at 11:16 AM.
"Rich," the Old Man said dreamily, "is a little whiskey to drink and some food to eat and a roof over your head and a fish pole and a boat and a gun and a dollar for a box of shells." Robert Ruark
Rattlesnakes can be dangerous, that's part of what makes them awesome. I've killed and eaten more than a few. That doesn't change the fact they are amazing creatures. They are the most effective venom delivery system in the reptile world. They hit their target about 25% of the time. When they strike at humans or other large animals defensively, they don't always waste venom on animals too large to eat. Rattlesnakes learn to control how much venom to inject with age and experience. Their pits don't just sense heat, they also help the rattlesnake see a more detailed picture. They go from 0 to 25 mph in the short distance of their strike. I can personally attest that rattlesnakes strike hard. I've never had one strike me, but strike at a stick I was holding. I can attest that if you ever pick up a live rattler, you better be prepared to hang on!
Last edited by MistWolf; 10-13-2017 at 08:48 PM.
We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, without whose assistance this program would not have been possible.
Last edited by Nephrology; 10-13-2017 at 08:53 PM.