another thing to watch out for while hunting, snakes.

We often have calves, dogs, and even horses bitten on the nose due to curiosity.
They seldom die, but we have to drain the pus, and treat the swelling to keep them from suffocating..If I got a new pup and I ran across a rattler, I would smack the pup’s face and nose with the dead snake several times so that he would remember that smell and have no desire to get close to the next one he encountered.

So is there anything immoral about killing off all the poisonous snake species and replacing them with nonvenomous ones?

All God's critters got a place in the choir,
Some sing high, some sing low,
Some just clap their hands or paws or anything they got.

I kill every rattler I see. They cause us a lot of grief.

Only thing I don't see much use for is them dammed ants.

whm1974 said:

So is there anything immoral about killing off all the poisonous snake species and replacing them with nonvenomous ones?

Click to expand...

IDK, but if it is, just color me immoral as I work on it, one snake at a time.

Regards,
hps

eastbank said:

if that den of rattlers were close to my house they would get 5 gallons of gas and lit up pretty quick.

Click to expand...

Diesel fuel burns hotter and longer. Had to do that with my grandfather once when I was about 15 or so only it was cottonmouths.

He pulled up on the tractor with about 10 foot of waterhose, a funnel, and a bucket full of diesel. I was standing on the front lift with a 12 gauge pump and a road flare. We fished the end of the hose into the opening of the den, he poured the diesel, and about .25 seconds later the snakes started coming out. I shot the gun empty, he dumped the bucket over the hole, threw the tractor in reverse, then I lit and tossed the flare. It was a bit dramatic for the next few minutes as it seemed like there was fire everywhere but we never saw another cottonmouth on the property.

We did the diesel fuel trick and then a truck load of gravel to cover it up.

I remember as a kid, my Dad and I going out one Sunday afternoon to shoot rattlers at a den.

My Dad was a little “snakey” and was checking every step he took. I was behind him and reached out and pinched the back of his leg and went Bzzzzzt!

You should have seen him. He took off running. He was takin’ a short step and a long one. The short one was about 20 feet.
I was dying laffin’ until he started a big circle back towards me and he wasn’t laffin’.

Fortunately for me he was outta wind when he got back, and by the time he got his wind back, he was laffin’ too.

I think we shot over 30 snakes that day.

Them was the good old days.

A number of years ago, my hunting partner and I were approaching the old Ford hunting car, that I left parked year round under a mesquite tree in camp. We were cautiously picking our way through the knee high summer grass, since we had killed a lot more rattlesnakes in that camp over the years than out in the pasture due to several nearby storage sheds, used by the rancher with their resident rat population.

I was about three ft. behind my buddy when he screamed like a little girl and jumped at least 3' straight up. By the time his feet hit the ground, he had his pants half way to his knees, allowing a 10" Texas spiney swift which had run up his leg inside his pants leg to jump out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_spiny_lizard

Can't remember ever laughing so hard as when I saw that lizard. My pard failed to see the humor.

Regards,
hps

My cousin and I used to hunt the rattlesnake in the stone quarries. We once found a nest of the which we caught every one of them. I used to make necklaces out of the rattlers and gave the meat to a neighbor to cook and eat. Not the tastiest meat around though.

Not the tastiest meat around though.

I cooked up a few of those over campfires when I spent a summer wandering the mountains of Wyoming.

https://www.talesfromthehighlonesome.net/iggystory.html

.. I found out then why I don't like chicken.

Outstanding! Thanks for the link.

Regards,
hps

hps1 said:

If you like frog legs, you'd like rattlesnake.

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QUOTE="Iggy, post: 11524561, member: 394"]Not the tastiest meat around though.

I cooked up a few of those over a campfire when I spent a summer wandering the mountains of Wyoming.

https://www.talesfromthehighlonesome.net/iggystory.html

.. I found out then why I don't like chicken. [/QUOTE]

On our first date, my wife talked me into ordering frog legs for dinner by telling me, "They're sort of like chicken."
She was right - frog legs are "sort of like chicken" - tough, stringy, fish-flavored, rooster chicken that was in the freezer far too long! And I hate fish anyway!
I forgave my wife, and we'll be celebrating our 49th anniversary in a couple of weeks. But I've never again tried to eat frog legs. For that matter, I still get suspicious when someone tells me "it's like chicken." Chicken is like chicken!