Not doing any hunting. Giving my dogs a refresher course in rattlesnake avoidance.Had a few that hadn't had it before but they will remember next time.The dogs that had the treatment at least 5 years ago still remembered. They better remember because I am headed to Mccook Sunday for a few days of hunting and there are some big suckers down there.

Here is a picture of the trainer

That's interesting. How do you do it?

Many years ago I used beagles for rabbits, and lost a dog to snake bite.

KB

Maybe you could give us a lesson on how you get this done!!! I started this as a matter of neccesity.I have had more dogs die from snake bite than from hogs. First you need to get something to put the snake in. I made my cage from hardware cloth.You put the snake in the cage and move it out in the weeds grass etc. and lead the dog fitted with a shock collar up to the cage down wind. Watch your dog and you will know when he picks up the scent. Let him continue up to the cage and when he starts reach his neck out and smell the snake let him have it.After things settle down try and get him to do it again, which probably won't work. I very seldom have to do it again but every so often I give them a refresher course. I keep the snake in the cage and it seems to work pretty well. I also vaccinate my dogs with the new rattlesnake toxoid just in case they do get hit.

Some friends of mine are turkey hunting in TX right now. They killed several rattlers yesterday. A couple of really big ones.

They are really out right now around here!

Gee thanks for starting this topic. I have been south of Abilene since Thursday hunting pigs. When I got there we went straight to the oat fields. I was wearing my traveling clothes, shorts, t-shirt deck shoes. Did not want to take the time to change, wanted to go hunting. Between 8PM and dark, I was blood trailing a pig out of the oats, into the Brush, Cedars, Mesquite, Pear and Rocks. Found the pig DOA with a flashlight. NEVER DID THINK ABOUT THE RATTLEBUGS. NEVER CHANGED. I HATE RATTLEBUGS. I have a pact with all snakes: If they do not let me see them, I won’t kill them.

Swifter:
Had something similar happen to me back on Mem Day '97 in S/E CO. Dad and I were down in that country for him to show me the many places his family lived & farmed etc back before 1936.
While he was looking over a hill at a well that had been put in since he was there last. I was walking around snooping in what was their yard around where the house was.
When in the car I had deck shoes on. Decided to put my boots on to keep the weed & grass seeds out of my socks.

While in the yard with the cold wind blowing around 30mph. Thought I heard something and started looking around. Couldn't see a thing. Finally for some reason I looked down at my feet and saw a rattlers body running out from under my R boot heal. YIKES!! and I jumped to the side about ten feet and started looking for the snake while Dad was coming over to help me. Camo on that thing was perfect in the dead grass & weeds. We had a hard time finding it. Snake hadn't even coiled up. My boot heel impression was in the dirt right over it's head. I was plumb safe after all!
Sure did suck the wind outta my shorts for awhile!
George

When I was in school a good friend of mine asked me to go coon hunting with he and his dad. They had some really good dogs and it took one time and I was hooked. When I was a senior, we were NW of Ft. Worth one night, spring time, like now. The dogs had struck a track and we were following them. Went through a wild plumb thicket and john suddenly slapped his stomach and told us to watch out for wasp. About half an hour later the wasp bite really got to bothering him he pulls up his shirt and there were two little red dots about ¾ inch apart. SNAKE BITE.
By the time we got back to the truck and headed to the local town and hospital it got ugly. Sick, convulsions, losing control of his bodily functions. I was scared he was going to die, as we both thought that. He didn’t die but that scared my friend and I bad. That is why I hate snakes so much. To be honest, I don’t really hate them; just has an awful lot of respect for them.

My best friend David Guitar, a veterinarian in Brownwood, Texas, says they vaccinate dogs every six months instead of yearly.
If you have a good dog you need them vaccinated!

Snake proofing or vaccinating, is that old "Ounce of prevention. ." saw.

Around here it is water moccasins that we have to watch out for, and I killed this one yesterday.

Seems to me that I heard pigs eat snakes .Do I remember correctly ? With all the pigs in TX you still have a problem ?
Here in NY all snakes are protected so when necessary it's SSS.

At my place we have the same problem as Jeff, water moccasins. I killed one the other day that was well over 4' long. Taurus Judge=1 Big Ass Snake=0.

Got them both here, usually see more cotten mouths, but nearly steped on a 5' rattler in the yard last year. He never made a sound, foot was on the down stroke when I saw him, turned myself inside out to avoid him.

Killed his twin a few days ago near my dog pen. Was feeding the dogs when I heard him rattling, looked and there he was just outside the pen. 20ga sent him sailing a few feet, nearly cut in half.

Jeff:
Thanks for posting the picture, I've never seen one of those til this.

Back in summer of '63 I dated a farm girl that had a bandaid on her big toe from a big prairie rattler she'd stepped in the middle of while picking flowers. Just so happened the vet was there with her Dad tending a cow when she screamed. He said: 'one of the girls got into a snake" off they went. Vet working on it, o/m driving hell bent down a winding dirt country road 25mi to the hosp. Spent the night in the hosp.
Just 9months before they'd all been on the hill picking squash when the same girl picked one up that was wrapped by a tiny one that got her on the ring finger. They messed around and finished picking, went the mile to the house, all of them showered and changed clothes etc. Took their sweet time getting to the hosp where they were refused service for lack of insurance. Drove across town to the other hosp. By then she was in bad shape. THEN she was allergic to the horse serum. She spent over two wks in the hosp, nearly died from it. That snake fang marks are/were 1/4" apart and it wasn't over 6" long they said. I ended up marrying the girl some months after the second time. She'd wake me up just beating the living hell out of me with her fists having a nightmare about snakes. It took 3-4yrs til she got over it.

I'm sure just about everyone of us has a couple dozen snake stories.
Wish you all a safe, snake bite free summer.
George

Well I am back from S Texas with no major problems. On the first night we had severe weather warnings which delayed our departure from the command post until minight. After catching the following





pig we were headed back to the CP when a jackrabbit ran out in front of us and was going down the road in front of us. It seemed as though he wanted to race us so I kicked it up to around 30 mph and was right behind him when he jumped straight up.If I had been in front of him he would have jumped over the truck. The reason he jumped was a rattlesnake was in the middle of the road and that rabbit rolled him over. When he came down he left us in his dust and exited to the field.I have never seen that before.We wound up catching 8 total for the trip.

Eight hogs, great job, especially for such an old hunter like yourself!

Neat deal with the rabbit and snake as well.

Got the call I love to get yesterday, "hogs in my pasture, would you please come run your dogs". Will go this afternoon or tomorrow morning, depending when I can get some dogs together.

Wouldn't be for the dogs I expect the community might ask me to leave like the last one did.

I had two sets of young legs with.I am not vert smart but I am not stupid.

These are standard issue at my lease in the timber of East Texas. Chippewa Snake Boots! It's wet up there so these are water proof as well!

Hmmm....they don't look like they'd fit the dogs very well. Just saying.

Any you guys kill 3 or 4 big ones I am looking for skins to use in backing an Osage stick bow. pm me if you can help just salt them and ship them or freeze them hole if you don't want to skin them.

I have always thought the e-collar snake training was unlikely to work. Don't get me wrong, I always did it but logically it just doesn't make sense. What other things can you teach a dog by shocking him one time? I think your money is better spent on vaccine.

I don't care if it is logical or not as long as it works.I have been e training my dogs myself
for over 10 years and haven't had a serious bite since.My bites have come when the dogs were in the kennel.I have been using the vaccination twice a year ever since it came out and am a believer in it also.

Back in the 70's going out to visit the folks on the ranch I saw a mare with a PVC pipe stuck up each nostril, whole nose was badly swelled up.
Dad caught it just after it happened and the nose was starting to swell so he grabbed the pipe & cut two 6-10" piece's off & shoved 'em in. She got over it in a wk or less.

George