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this topic doesn't really fit any of the forums, so i will just throw it up here for general info purposes. exactly 1 week ago today at dark, i stepped out the side door of my house onto the landing in my garage to have a cigarette and stepped right on top of a 3 ft rattler. he nailed me in the Achilles tendon before i ever knew he was there( i was wearing shorts and sandals). one fang got caught in my leg and i hopped down the 4 steps he had climbed up on my other leg, trying to shake him off. finally rid myself of him and walked into the yard to call my wife- she was 25 yards away in the barn. the ride into town was 35 of the longest minutes of my life. the entire way, all i could think of is whether or not this was going to screw up my hunt in Moz. in 5 weeks. spent the next 2 days in ICU, receiving 16 vials of antivenin. i have had multiple surgeries, broken bones etc. and i have never experienced pain like this. the IV morphine took the edge off just enough for the 4 days i was in the hospital to make life bearable. luckily i didn't need any surgery and my leg is improving, although it is still so swollen and painful that i can only walk short distances with a walker. sum total? 2 days in ICU, 2 more days in the hospital, 3 days in bed at home( with 5 more days here before i attempt to go back to work)- a major unplanned "vacation". the good news?- no surgery( hence no wounds that might not heal before my hunt) and so far no permanent gait problems( although my Achilles tendon is still VERY stiff, limiting ankle movement). my advice? if you live in rattlesnake country, before you walk out your door at night, CHECK YOUR WELCOME MAT WITH A FLASHLIGHT!!!!!!!!!! Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | ||
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WHOA!! That's a pretty serious reaction and not that big a snake. He must have nailed you good. Did they identify which variety of snake?? | |||
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You obviously didn't read the warning that smoking can be hazardous to your health.......  xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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To have that bad of reaction from a smaller snake, I'm guessing it was a Mojave rattlesnake. Very nasty. ______________________ Age and Treachery Will Always Overcome Youth and Skill | |||
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we have a lot of Southern Pacific Diamondbacks around here( my wife has killed 2 in the yard in the last 3 days- number 14 and 15 for the year). last year we killed 28 during the "season". i only got 1 fang into me but the snake dangled off my leg for several seconds while i hopped around shaking him off- probably pumping in a big load of venom. Gatogordo, you are right. i have quit smoking!! all dark clouds have a silver lining. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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jdollar – lots of rattlesnakes in Nor CA too. One thing about smaller rattlers is they are worse than bigger ones. Young rattlesnakes can’t control their venom like older bigger snakes can. They just keep pumping and pumping. Big adults will bite and let go. 45 ACP Snakeshot works well and won’t ricochet. | |||
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Him getting hung up was the second biggest problem (after the initial bite), all the thrashing around served to pump his glands dry. Glad you're on the mend. "If you’re innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”- Donald Trump | |||
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a long handled garden hoe never misses and never ricochets. 4 of the snakes killed this year were inside the garage and 2 more were in the barn and 2 in the dog kennel. just to risky to shoot. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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Sounds like the Indiana Jones Temple. You need to get couple of mongooses! Good luck! | |||
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Jerry, the moral of the story is " quit smoking "... I am laughing writing this would have loved to see you doing an Irish jig trying to shake him off... The best to you and a speedy recovery... good luck in Mozambique... It is illegal to kill rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania... Mike | |||
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God speed in your recovery. What will add best to your long term recovery will be returning to Africa! | |||
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I got nailed with one fang from a Massassaga many years ago. Blew my arm up big time. Yep, it hurt and the hospital stay was awful. ~Ann   | |||
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WOW... Glad to have you back on line. Get well soon and enjoy the trip to Moz... Gerhard FFF Safaris Capture Your African Moments Hunting Outfitter (MP&LP) Proffesional Hunter (MP&LP) History guide Wildlife Photographer www.fffsafaris.co.za | |||
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Damn. You've got a snake magnet somewhere on your property. | |||
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Glad to note that you came out of it with less harm.All the best with your hunt. Best- Locksley,R "Early in the morning, at break of day, in all the freshness and dawn of one's strength, to read a book - I call that vicious!"- Friedrich Nietzsche | |||
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Yea, but you are toughest gal on the planet. I am suprised that the snake didn't say "darn, I won't bite her again!".  | |||
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Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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Mike, there are just some laws here that I don't worry about breaking and I don't mean 85mph on the Interstate. | |||
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I just plain hate snakes. Glad to hear of your recovery! PS: I live down here in SoCal and I've been told that we get regular Rattlesnakes in my neighborhood. I'm not picky - I'll kill any one I see! I just plain hate 'em. Regards, Robert ****************************** H4350! It stays crunchy in milk longer! | |||
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You need a yard cat to take care of your snakes. If you have a cat now and he's not; get a cat that will. My friend was infested with snakes on his place. He got an outdoor cat that gave the rattlers hell, and released about 50 baby king snakes that also gave the rattlers hell (and the cat doesn't bother these for some reason). "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | |||
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My theory regarding poisonous snakes has always been to shoot first, for the last 56 years anyway. Having a snake hung up on you is a scary experience. My third rattler kill involved one hanging up in my jeans, and me hollering and yelling and kicking to get rid of it while my dog was yapping to beat the band! I never avoid a big snake on the highway either, just a little twist of the wrist to insure a terminal case of "car tracks". Rattlers are deadly and painful, be they Mojaves, baby Eastern Diamondbacks, Sidewinders, or anything in between. I don't like Mambas either. Pardon my rant. | |||
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Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hate snakes. Maybe you need a pig in the yard. They'll eat them. _______________________________  | |||
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+1 We used to have copperheads until we got a new cat about 5 years ago. She's the best mouser and ratter you've ever seen and also cleaned out all the snakes in no time. | |||
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i have got 2 yard cats now- don't know if they kill snakes or not but they certainly give the mice hell. part of the problem is that the house and barn are surrounded by 36 acres of pasture with numerous rock outcroppings( kopjes??), so even as we kill them , there is a steady stream of replacements crawling up. my wife has killed 3 in the last 5 days while i have been laid up in bed. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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May be a large den in the rocks somewhere. That many snakes is not a normal thing. Make a call to animal control and have them sniff around the rocks for a den. | |||
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Sorry to hear about your bite. I don't think I could live that way. "There are worse memorials to a life well-lived than a pair of elephant tusks." Robert Ruark | |||
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Jerry, Have you ever considered the fact that something is telling you that maybe you should move back to Georgia????  | |||
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Sounds like a Stephen King book  I thought we had snakes but I only kill 5 or 6 a year around my house. Between the black widows, snakes and scorpions it does make you look before you step (and shake your boots out in the morning). My neighbor got guinea hens to take care of the rattlers, they are noisy as hell and used to bother me but now they remind me of Africa Have gun- Will travel The value of a trophy is computed directly in terms of personal investment in its acquisition. Robert Ruark | |||
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it has been a good year so far. we have only killed 15 (didn't count the bastard that bit me- he got away so far). last year killed 28- of course we still have another month or more to go before it cools off and things quieten down. maybe the guinea hens are a solution. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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We once found a den of rattlesnakes in early October (it had been quite warm that year)in Northern Nevada in the rocky hills where we were mule deer hunting, and there were literally hundreds of them balled up for the winter in a small cave, along with about 20 still crawling around in the sagebrush. It was very scary and very eery. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, for sure. We were wishing that we had had a stick of dynamite with us. (Ann-No personal offense meant to snake lovers.) | |||
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My solution would be to move as far from there as possible. ALLEN W. JOHNSON - DRSS Into my heart on air that kills From yon far country blows: What are those blue remembered hills, What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again. A. E. Housman | |||
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or Alaska.....ain't no snakes here other than the 2-legged varieties....lawyers (not all) and corrupt politicians. | |||
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akpls, Spring's comment is an inside joke. he and i are from the same neck of the woods in SW Georgia. the difference is he stayed there and i somehow ended up in Ca.- a long ago mistake on my part but one which i am too old and too lazy to rectify. besides i would have go endure divorce #4, cause my wife( a native Californian) ain't leaving. such is life!!!!!!!! Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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I think I would be trading in my flip-flops for some snake boots. | |||
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Dang son! Glad to hear you are coming through it. Sorry to hear about it though. What a tough break. Rattlers scare the snot out of me. The only good rattler is a headless rattler. As for the statement that "...a long handled garden hoe never misses and never ricochets." This reminds me of a very funny story. I have a friend who is about 65 now. He has been a rancher all his life. He saw a rattler in the road, got out, got his hoe from the bed and gave it a good chop. The snakes head popped off, flew up and landed in his shirt pocket. He wasted no time in ripping the shirt off his body which took a total of about a tenth of a second. Here is wishing you a speedy recovery. I hope you can make your hunt. | |||
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jdollar: This old man read your post with a shudder. At age 6 I stepped over a log and was struck by a copperhead. I spent three days in hospital (there was delay in getting me there)To this day, I remember the bite. (You can read in the literature how a copperhead bite isn't so bad. I'm here to tell you that it don't tickle! I nearly died) I sympathize with you - whether the rattler was only 3 feet in length or whatever. A poisonous snake bite is very bad news indeed and I congratulate you on your calm recitation about what has happened. | |||
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it has now been 10 days since the bite and i can get about slowly with a cane, although after being up for about an hour, the pain and swelling progress to the point where i have to get in bed and elevate the leg. overall, i feel Very lucky- no skin slough, no secondary infection, and no apparent permanent gait problems. looks like my Moz. hunt will go on as scheduled- i leave exactly 4 weeks from today. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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Glad you didn't have more serious complications and speedy continued recovery! Tendon strikes are worse in one way because of the reduced circulation in that tissue. Harder to get anti-venin in and slower to metabolize the venom already there. The plus is that the venom doesn't affect as much soft tissue and thank goodness, that should be contributing to the lack of tissue damage. Best of luck in Africa! "Experience" is the only class you take where the exam comes before the lesson. | |||
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Hello, I hope that better and I feel the horrible experience that you have had that to pass. I am glad to live in my country (Spain ¡Alive Spain!) therefore we do not have good, so dangerous animals, if that there is viboras and scorpions, but they do not approach the cities, they are in the country. As I have said you, that your better quick one. A hug, Oscar. I am Spanish My forum:www.armaslargasdecaza.com | |||
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You are quite fortunate it was not worse. What you are describing is pretty darn bad though. We have them around the house here. You're right watch your step especially at night. | |||
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