I would patrol my brother-in-laws sugarcane farm in St. Gabriel on the four-wheeler with 12 gauge in hand. The cottonmouths would do this in the spring and I'd let 'em have it at the junction. Buzzards would be on them like stink on poop. Great fun. They were nasty critters.
Once in a lifetime. Mating. A friend years ago took a photo of two rattlers mating.
Most rattlers I ever ran across in one day (by accident) was five. (Eunice/Jal New Mexico in the late 70s) We had a freak, early snow storm the night before quail season opened. It was probably 8" deep by daylight. A group of about six of us were in the field early. The Blues were screwed. They could flush, but they couldn't run. We nailed them left and right.
By noon, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The temperature was in the mid 50s. The snow had disappeared into the sand. The Blues were running, and the rattlers had crawled-out to sun themselves. From then on, every Blue that flushed scared the shit out of you, thinking it was another snake, as you ran past.
Posts: 13772 | Location: Texas | Registered: 10 May 2002
Dutch44: I would patrol my brother-in-laws sugarcane farm in St. Gabriel on the four-wheeler with 12 gauge in hand. The cottonmouths would do this in the spring and I'd let 'em have it at the junction. Buzzards would be on them like stink on poop. Great fun. They were nasty critters.
When I was growing up in Houston, the Wheless family would let us kids hunt on the Cinco Ranch before it was developed. Never seen so many cottonmouths. You had to literally watch every step before you put your foot forward. Killed far more snakes than doves, and we got a lot of those.
NRA Life Member, Band of Bubbas Charter Member, PGCA, DRSS. Shoot & hunt with vintage classics.
Posts: 9487 | Location: Texas Hill Country | Registered: 11 January 2002
Hate to say it, but that was beautiful. Weird, but I don't kill snakes in Africa even though they are more deadly, yet tend to kill snakes in Texas. I'm rethinking this.
