If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suckOriginally Posted by Nephrology
Hey, hey, hey! We already had this conversation and we both agreed- no more crazy women!The big exception being if this is applied to a woman I'm dating, which doesn't count cuz that's kind of hot.
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That just leaves celibacy or dudes.
To be fair there are different categories of crazy. Rattlesnakes are like horse girl crazy. Staying far, far way!
Blowing the picture up on my IPhone, it looks like 12 rows of rattles that might work to my count. The first two rows next to the body are still black. There are two other rows at the end that no longer look like they would function, but they are evidence of previous sheds. So, depending upon how one counts, it's either 12 or 14 rows of rattles. 23 as originally reported is inaccurate unless one counts each individual rattle. I never counted them individually myself. One row was always one rattle to me and my friends growing up.
I have seen many, but only had one true close encounter. One morning, I walked down a cattle trail in a creek bed next to a bluff to get as close to a water gap as I could to check a fence after a rain. The distance between the bluff and the cattle trail was no more than about two feet. The fence was fine, and I wasn't there more than about one minute. Walking back down the cattle trail, a rattler buzzed when I was about one pace away. It was coiled tight, and looking right at my left shin/foot area. It had slithered to a little grassy area between the bluff and the cattle trail in the very short time that I was checking the fence, and I know for certain that it was not present there on my first walk down that trail. One more step, and I might have been struck. I appreciated the warning given, got off the trail for a few paces, and gave the rattler the wide berth that it demanded. The spot was in the sun, and the rattler looked like it had found a good sunning spot. I can still see that event in my mind after 28 years.
"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
I've seen and handled some big snakes ..... that one doesn't look too awfully big.
I robbed this from the net:
The path of least resistance will seldom get you where you need to be.
Growing up in upstate NY, dangerous snakes are pretty few and far between. Despite what the internet may have you believe, there are copperheads and rattlers in upstate NY, but not in great numbers. I've killed a few copperhead (probably 3 or 4) in Otsego county, NY.
I've been hunting since I was a little kid, but when I lived the last 2 years in Kentucky I had a pretty healthy respect for the woods. I knew I shouldn't go out in them alone, unless someone who knew how to act in the woods their was with me. So I could learn the ropes a bit more with snakes around.
Now that I live in Florida... Between some of the huge spiders I've seen (and some of the deadly but smaller ones) and the snakes I've not yet encountered but heard all too much about... I'm not sure I'll ever go hunting again honestly. While the woods felt like home in NY (I spent more time in them then out of them) They feel too foreign and dangerous here.
-Cory
A very large chicken snake struck my brother in the chest when he bent over and searched for a tool in his shop. Previously he had allowed Mr. Snake to live there and come and go as the snake pleased. A friend had a close encounter with another very large chicken snake that struck him on the leg as he walked through brush. He said that the force was so strong that the strike felt like being popped with a wet bath tile. The experiences scared both guys so much that they killed the snakes. There are a million reasons that I don't have a pet snake living at my house. One is that I wish not to wake up and find it in my bed.
I cant fault your reasoning, though would add that many things can be adjusted to. Ive lived in grizzly country for about 30 years, but seeing how many online discussions go when people are contemplating visiting grizzly country, theres a large gulf between perceived issues, and if theres a bear behind every tree waiting to pounce on any unwary outdoor adventurer, or if it required a 500 S&W or if a mere 460 S&W will suffice to protect oneself. Snakes bother me a lot, but when I lived in Az, I was somewhat used to them, and they didnt bother me as much. I dont see them much where I am now, so they fade from my radar somewhat.
That's a nice one. I've always been miffed that S&W discontinued the ultralight .38's, but kept the slightly heavier .357 line around.
Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.
I guess that's the difference. I've been in coyote country my whole life and never worried about them. I've been through bear areas and it never worried me. Bears and big cats really don't worry me at all in the woods. But a deadly snake or spider kinda ruins the woods for me.
-Cory
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