Instead of a camera, he needed a shotgun on that drone and several cases of ammo..........

They downed that drone alright. Unreal video. That was a nest of them for sure.

I hate rattlesnakes. They always sneak-up on me. I would cut them some slack if they would just give a little more warning.

When I was living in Abilene in the 70s one of my friends went with a drill crew out rattlesnake hunting near their rig south of Sweetwater, thinking they would be part of the Sweetwater JC annual rattlesnake roundup.

My friend didn't know what he was doing, and this was a first for some of the crew. The experienced guy had the gas can, the snake sticks, spotlight, etc. The plan he told them was to find a hole back in the rocks or the dirt bank, like shown in the video. They would then spray gas back into the den to chase the snakes out, and capture them as they exited.

They found a likely spot. The leader shined his light back in the little cave. My friend said you could hear rattling. The leader stuck the gas wand back in the hole and squirted the gas, and everybody got ready for the rush. Nothing happened. The guy said he thought the rattlers moved farther back in the den.

He went to Plan-B which he described as he would slide on his stomach halfway into the cave with the light in one hand and the gas wand in the other. He wanted a man holding on to each of his ankles. He would gas the rattlers, and when they seemed to be coming his way, he would yell and the two men were to extract him immediately by the ankles.

Plan-B seemed to work. The guy got himself into the opening, with his butt and legs sticking out. Two guys were on his ankles. The gas was sprayed, and in a few seconds a large rattler came out of the den along the gasser's body, and across his ass. My friend said the two guys on the ankles jumped back out of the way of the rattler, abandoning their position, about the same time the guy in the hole yelled. When it dawned on him that no one was holding his ankles, he damn-sure went to yelling. The two guys engaged again, kicking snakes, grabbing ankles, dirt flying, men yelling.

Long story short, they got their buddy out of the hole. He was cussing them, everybody was in a panic trying to get away from more exiting snakes, and the whole snake hunt came to an abrupt end. The man with the wand had been hit in his jacket sleeves, but otherwise came out unscathed.

When my friend told me the story; mentally, I checked rattlesnake hunting off my bucket list.

I ran across a huge den of rattlers here in Nevada on a fall deer hunt years ago. The whole area near the cave and the den sounded like 3-D surround sound. They were buzzing and rattling everywhere, and the cave was literally full of them balling up for the winter.

There are some things you simply are not to do and be thought sane.

quote:

Originally posted by pagosawingnut:
Instead of a camera, he needed a shotgun on that drone and several cases of ammo..........

That actually was not a drone. The guy had the camera on the end of a hockey stick. He was standing by the hole and filming.


As someone said in the comments, "I'm surprised he could hold up that gopro stick considering he has to hold up his massive balls".

I'm not sure I could hold the hockey stick up given the length of the handle I would want on it.

I guess I assumed it was a drone because of the "snake vs drone" in the Youtube title.

View the video on YouTube. It is titled "GoPro falls into pit of Rattlesnakes"

quote:

Shot this using a handheld gimbal attached to a hockey stick, after it fell in I used the other end of the hockey stick to scoop it out

In the early 70's I was doing an A.C. /ductwork install out between Georgetown + Leander on what proved to be one of the biggest pits in central Tx. New construction;2 old maid school teachers were building a house on top of this pit. When you got out of your truck you could hear the ground echo beneath you. There was an entrance large enough to walk down in. Every morning getting to the job the carpenter had a big shop broom that he used to push them off the slab so we could go to work. I guess the little old ladies did'nt need to worry about burglers or rapists. I do believe that I would always be home before dark.

Stupid is as stupid does I guess. People like that are the reasons we have to have warning signs on everything.

Growing up in AZ, me and my friends spent most of our time outside. Even when not tending farm stuff, we were outside. Hunting, hiking, fishing, whatever. We always left snakes alone. We gave them their space, and they didn't bother anything or anyone. Occasionally we would have to shoot one here or there that got into a place we couldn't let it stay, feed barn, calf pen, etc. But that was about it.

Not even sure we labeled it "common sense" back then. It was just what you did.

Only people I ever heard of getting bit were either morons, or tourists.

Several years ago I was invited on a bow hunt for alligators at Aransas Pass park.TP+WL wanted them culled after a flood that crested the levies + brought them where they were'nt wanted.One of the stipulations however was that if we encountered (crotalus horridus) {western diamond back] that this species was endangered. My 1st thought was,if I see it, it damn sure will be. Helluva note when you can be convicted for killing a rattlesnake in Texas.

I was expecting a picture of Congress.

Grizz

Prairie rattlers. I grew up in northeast CO and we had them all over the place.

it would have been physically impossible to drive a sewing needle up my butt with a sledge hammer

I thought they were very good natured all in all. I would be worse if someone kept sticking that thing in my face.
What makes them gather up like that? Wouldn't think there would be enough food in the area for all of them.