any rattlesnake hunters here

[charles webb]

does any one here hunt rattlesnakes,i havent shot one yet but first chance i will, i have shot a bunch of garden snakes and gopher snakes,only becuase they pose a threat to my chihua....?(never could spell that breeds name, I'll just call them mexican rat dogs)named critter and hes small enough for them to kill and try to eat. the snake wouldnt leave becuase my other dog sammy(part hound dog, chocolate lab, and pitbull,about the dumbest dog you will find) decided that the snake was a jumping stick and decided to play with it so it wouldnt leave our yard so i shot it.


any way i thought we could post pics of the snakes we shot (i cant becuase my camera is broken).


p.s. anyone got a picture of a belt made of rattlesnake skin

 

[mete]

All snakes are protected here in NY . You could get a dog that kills snakes or a pig , they will kill snakes.

 

[trapperjohn]

charles, I must admit I have a soft spot for snakes and would encourage you not to kill the non venomous ones. any snake that could hurt your Chihuaha would have to be HUGE. I have a pet rat snake that is 6 feet long and about the best he can do is a medium sized rat. the garter snakes rarely excide 3 feet and are not constricors and have small teeth, no threat to anything except small rodents, frogs bugs etc. i woudl encourage you not to blast anythig non vemoumous unless it is an escaped boa or python.
If you do blast a rattler try it fried, I hear they are great.

 

[armoredman]

Two officers killed a diamondback in the pods last night - gas works on snakes, BTW....

 

[Art Eatman]

Yeah, it would take a pretty big snake to get serious about trying to swallow a Chihuahua. I know of no "garden" type snake that would even try. Now, quite a few little snakes will make striking motions in self-defense against disturbance.

I generally kill rattlers if they're around the house. Otherwise, there's no real point to it. One snake does in a fair number of mice or rats.

Seems to me that too many people go all bat guano in the brain when they see any kind of snake, even the little-bitty grass snakes. There's just no reason beyond ignorance for all that squealing and yelling and wetting of undies...

, Art

 

[Smoke]

Rattlesnake hunters in this area refers to people that catch the things, not kill them.

When I was in highschool I had a couple of friends that always wanted to come out to the ranch and catch them. I went along strictly as a spectator, they were foolish (I thought) and never tried to catch them myself.

They would walk up on the top of a rock ledge then just hop down and stick there face up in the crevice. I just knew one of these guys was going to get bit on the nose. (Never did) they'd shine a mirror in looking for the snakes then if they thought there were any in there, they'd spray gas and catch them as they came out.

Once caught 22 at one spot. Made my skin crawl for weeks.

They were worth about $8.00/lb back then.

Smoke

 

[Stand_Watie]

No rattlesnakes yet, but if I catch one around the house he's going to be a hatband


Copperhead

Chickensnake

 

[charles webb]

this was a big gopher snake,it was pissed and wouldnt leave the yard at all,thanks to samantha and the chihuahua is still a little puppy,i shot the snake becuase i feared the gopher snake would kill it becuase it was a rodent,so i did it out of security.

the gardener snake i killed becuase it liked to hide under my hemi truck and strike at my feet and startle me so after 3 days of this i just ran him over didnt shoot! sorry for stateing that earlier.


p.s. the gopher snake was 2 inches thick and 4 feet long,thats 2 feet 6 inches shorter than me

 

[smokemaker]

I found rattlesnake to taste much like frog legs. Oh, yum!

 

[Zeke Menuar]

I tend to leave them alone. Rattlers are pretty much harmless and they deserve to have a life just like any other critter out there. However if one gets within striking distance, he gets a 45 caliber greeting.
Damn things are all over Central and Eastern Oregon. Gotta be careful where you walk.

ZM

 

[Art Eatman]

In south Texas, while not at all common, there is the occasional event of somebody shooting a dove and having it fall within striking distance of a rattlesnake.

The hunter's first view as he goes to retrieve his bird has been known to be exciting. Stimulating. Levitating.

, Art

 

[keano44]

When I was a boy, I was taught (wrongly) that the only good snake was a dead snake, and any one seen needed to be killed. Since I spent most of my young life with a BB gun, pellet rifle, or CO2 pellet pistol in my hands, any snake, lizard, bird, wasp, frog, etc. was fair game; and much more fun than shooting tin cans or paper targets. (Of course, glass bottles were fun, too, but only at the trash dump, or other rare places where broken glass was not a problem) Snakes I took serious, though, and have probably killed more than anyone else I know or ever heard of. It didn't matter what kind, since I didn't know how to distinguish but a few different kinds of snake. Most were probably "water" snakes and water moccasins along ditches, crawfish ponds, canals, and bayou's. I actually did make a hatband out of the skin of a snake I killed when I was lower high school aged. (Its hard to remember exactly now that I am 40.
Although that was a great way for a boy who loved hunting and shooting to spend his time, I now realize that many types of snakes are good to have around, and all are a necessary part of the food chain. I am not afraid of snakes and have caught some king snakes and chicken snakes to impress friends. I no longer kill everyone I see, even when they scare the daylights out of me when I almost step on one while squirrel hunting or bow hunting in the late summer/early fall before they go into hibernation. I now prefer to just go around them.

 

[No Trespassing]

I've killed 3 rattlers so far this year but only because they were within 20 feet of the house. I usually give them a few days to leave then I kill'em if they won't skeedaddle. Anywhere else on my property I leave them alone as they help with the field & kangaroo mice population.

I keep a .22 in my pocket while walking around the property. It seems to work fine.

I don't shoot non-venomous snakes at all. However my wife hates them so I put them in a sack and drive them down the road a bit.

 

[Byron Quick]

Get you an aluminum pole and some wire cable. Loop the cable and run it through the pipe. Put a handle on the calbles on your end(opposite the loop)

Get a bucket with a lid and do the same thing with the rattlers.

I know some city slickers who moved to the country. Well, wifey went nuts over ALL snakes and hubbie wasn't much better.

He went on a snake killing spree... wound up with a larger rat population than I have ever seen outside of a pre-landfill garbage dump.