My partner and I arrived at the ranch in South Texas thursday afternoon. I had just headed out to look for some deer when he called and said there was a big rattlesnake in the yard and did I want to catch it. I turned around and headed back grabbing a five gallon bucket with a lid and my snake tongs. He had thought a recent thunderstorm had blown a big limb in the yard but on closer examination it turned out to be a snake. I eased up to him and when he coiled I grabbed him behind the neck. The fight was on. He was so big I had a hard time holding him with the tongs. I should have grabbed him in the middle to balance the weight but anyhow I managed to get him in the bucket. I placed the bucket in the freezer as he is going to the taxidermist. Here is a picture.
Posts: 1557 | Location: Texas | Registered: 26 July 2003
I'm only 6'3. While I have eaten rattlesnake it is not on my list of favorites. This one was frozen whole and will be taken to the taxidermist for a full size mount. We did capture most of the event on video but when things got hot and heavy my photographer made a run for it and left me to fend for myself! Here is a picture of the snake taking his trip to the five gallon bucket. I wish they made the snake tongs with a ten foot handle.
Posts: 1557 | Location: Texas | Registered: 26 July 2003
We took my friend from Idaho turkey hunting down in Three Rivers/Whitsett area. He couldn't figure out why we told him not to run around in the brush in sneekers, looking for game, until he saw a couple of these on the road! Made a believer out of him.
Posts: 1517 | Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho | Registered: 03 June 2004
Thanks. Glad you got one out of my way. What is even more "appealing" about these six footers is the girth of the damn snake. Yeah, we make um big in the great brush country of S. Texas. I recall bringing one that size back from the George West area and coiled in one of those foam ice chests. The girlfriend (wife now of 37 years) asked what we had killed and I told her it was in the ice chest. Yeah, she freaked out upon opening the lid! Mine was cold and dead. Yes, a good snake is difinately a dead one!
M16, It's amazing how big those boogers get. Last year my cousin (Forester in North La.) got one that had a mass about mid way. Turned out to be a full grown Fox Squirrel. Don't know how he caught that squirrell but, they sure can be sneaky at times.
I was hanging a climber season before last and had a 3 footer laying six inches from my boot. He never rattled and I didn't see him until about five minutes after fumbling w/ nuts and bolts. Talk about the gitters, I had em', didn't have leggins on that day. They can be quite camo in the brush.
Reloader
Posts: 4146 | Location: North Louisiana | Registered: 18 February 2004
Tongs!?!? Nothing under a .357 for me if I am to dispatch one that size from close range. Okay, maybe a .22LR or three, but still...tongs!?!?
Who says we don't have dangerous game in the US!?!?
I got one with both tires of my old '69 F100 back in high school...the left and right tires that is. I still wish I had saved it! They do get big. I let 'em go if they are out in the brush. There is nothing better to keep the rat population down. I hate rats more than snakes...
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Posts: 1780 | Location: South Texas, U. S. A. | Registered: 22 January 2004
Originally posted by CDH: I let 'em go if they are out in the brush. There is nothing better to keep the rat population down. I hate rats more than snakes...
Me too, but I have never had a rat try to inject venom into me! Kill the snakes and let the hawks take care of the rats.
I'm with you on the mess rodents make, and I also would not go out of my way to kill a snake in the brush. The problem is that where I need them to be to keep the rodents away from my living quarters, vehicles, etc. is inside my "rattlesnake comfort zone." I don't want them living under my trailer as that increases the chance I will accidentally step on one of them (or one of my kids will do so).
Posts: 8773 | Location: Republic of Texas | Registered: 24 April 2004
It will make an awseome mount.
