How to catch a rattlesnake...

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Mossy Bloke

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Another thread encouraged me to ask this question...In the Bass Pro Shop here in town there are mounts everywhere, with a couple of incredible-looking rattlesnake mounts. That got me thinking that I'd really like to have one. My problem...how to get one without messing its skin up. They're pretty common here in eastern GA so I'm sure I'll see one this hunting season, especially if I'm out hunting hogs during the summer. But if I shoot it then it will probably be no good to mount.

I did some research on the net and found out that a good way to kill them was to freeze them. It's painless and effective. my problem is how to get the darn thing in a bag.

There are a couple of websites that sell snake sticks with a little hook thing on the end, but I don't know how good that would do me. I was thinking more of a claw (like the kind that older folks use to pick up glasses that are too high up for them. They have two little rubber gripper things on the end.) I was thinking if I could find one of those that was 4 feet long I could slowly grab the head and then simply drop him in a bag.

I don' t want to go picking it up behind the head or anything. The crocodile hunter, I'm not.

Anybody have any ideas? I want a rattlesnake mount badly, but not badly enough to get bit.
 
How to catch a rattlesnake...

Very carefully. :D

Most folks around here used to take an old golf club and weld a piece of rebar to make a device like the "snake sticks " you mentioned.

Some people would pin the head and pick them up keeping their fingers just behind the head. Others would use the hokk to catch the snake around the middle and put it in a barrel or sack. SOmetimes would take multiple attempts as the sanke would keep falling off the hook.

Best advice I could give is go buy yourself a mount and leave the catching to people that have had a lot of practice.

Smoke - Doesn't catch snakes.
 
Get an old cooler and keep in vehicle. When suitable snake located, catch with stick in middle technique. Put snake in cooler, secure lid. Go to Publix and purchase dry ice. Carefully open cooler and place dry ice inside. Deliver to taxidermist.

:)
 
Spray it with a fire extinguisher and freeze it. At least I read it worked some time ago... You know, snakes being cold blooded and all.

Mark
 
Would a fire extinguisher...

...really work? I can see me packing one of those portable small extinguishers in my pack for when I find a snake.

You know, I wonder...what about something else? Perhaps this is pretty stupid, but would you be able to spray something at it that would incapacitate it briefly enough to allow you to push it into a sack? Something like pepper spray or some chemical?

I really don't want to just buy a snake mount. For me that's like buying a deer mount. There's no story to go with it and it kind of seems like cheating to me.
 
rattlesnakes are not that fast

practice on watersnakes

when you can catch 10 common watersnakes without getting bit
upgrade to black snakes...

or buy a long handled capture net

don't ferget yer kevlar kneehighs!

;)
 
Would a fire extinguisher really work?
Click to expand...
Probably, but use caution.
Let me relate a true story. I know it's true because I was there.
Back in '70 or '71 my high school biology teacher and I went out looking for lab specimens of just about any critter we thought was interesting.
Came across a 4' rattler, captured it live and took it back to school in a box. The instructor put it in the lab freezer just before school started, at lunch hour we took it out: Looked pretty dead to us. We left it lying on the desk and went to lunch. Came back about 45 minutes later, snake was gone!
Turns out he wasn't dead, just resting. Found it under a desk, it was moving pretty slow though. Needless to say we used a more sure method to render it inert.
 
1. Catching: Take a four-foot piece of lightweight tubing, around 1/2" ID. With a piece of wire, pull a doubled piece of 3/16" or 1/4" cord through the tube. Fold one end of the cord back along the outside of the tube and secure it with wire or tape. The free end of the cord oughta be a foot or two long, with a 6" diameter loop hanging from the other end.

Find snake. Put loop over head, and pull sorta-snug. Don't pull too hard, or you'll cut his head off.

2. Securing: A 5-gallon plastic bucket, the type with the snap-on lid. Available from heavy-equipment folks who buy hydraulic oil in them. Or use a cooler, as mentioned above--but duct-tape the lid! :)

With a friend to help, dump in a bag of ice. I don't know how long it will take, but you're gonna wind up with a non-moving snake. (If you already have the ice with you in the field, you can hold the snake's head down with your loop while you pour in the ice; no help needed.)

3. Phone taxidermist and ask his advice about the next step. Many are picky about how stuff is killed or skinned or not skinned, etc.

Art
 
Art's method is the way to go. I used to have a scoutmaster who had many larger jars with snakes pickled in formaldehyde. That's how he did it. Personally, I'd go for a five foot pipe:D

I've caught a four foot rattler with the old improvised forked stick deal.

A) Find a rattler.
B) Find a sapling about an inch in diameter with a fork in the proper place.
C) Cut off sapling at proper length and the forks at about 1 1/2 to 2 inches depending on the size of the snake. Personally, if it looks too big for the two inch fork, don't use this method...wire loop or leave it alone.
D) Pin its head to ground DIRECTLY behind its head...not an inch behind...not a half inch...but right where its head turns into body.
E) Grasp the rattler with your free hand and hold rather tightly. At this point, don't worry about strangling the snake...you're going to mount him. Hold TIGHTLY, even that four foot rattler was surprisingly strong.

Oh, a word of advise....snakes defecate when they're threatened so don't be surprised if you get crapped on.

One more thing, I don't care how many non- venomous snakes you've handled or owned. I've lived with a roommate that had a boa constrictor 8 1/2" long with a head the size of both of my hands with the fingers interlaced.
I've handled a six foot king snake who bit my hand while I held him and I simply waited for him to let go. (Check out their teeth and you'll see why I didn't try to pull him loose.)

All of that DOES NOT PREPARE you for handling a venomous snake that is seriously pissed at you. It's entirely a different league.

I have absolutely no desire to ever touch another poisonous snake...and I like snakes.

Art and I saw a beautiful coral racer twice in Terlingua. Once we had to wait for a while cause he didn't want to move out of the road.
 
Catching: Take a four-foot piece of lightweight tubing, around 1/2" ID. With a piece of wire, pull a doubled piece of 3/16" or 1/4" cord through the tube. Fold one end of the cord back along the outside of the tube and secure it with wire or tape. The free end of the cord oughta be a foot or two long, with a 6" diameter loop hanging from the other end.
Click to expand...

One word of caution, these work great to both catch and agitate the snake.
The catchers I mentioned that just have a hook that the snake can fall off of will usually not tick the snake off as much as one that loops around him.

I seriously P.O.ed rattlesnake is not fun. They are stronger than they might appear. If you lasso him with one of these types make sure you hang on until he is secured.

Smoke
 
Art is pretty much on with his technique.

Be sure the taxidermist is NOT a pro animal or pro establishment type since rattlesnakes in Arizona are still a protected species and can only be killed, technically, if you can show evidence it's continued presence is a menace to livestock, etc.

And then.....technically, you're to either get a permit prior to the kill or have a license serpatologist to do the job for you.

But most reputable serpatologists will simple relocate the snake, if possible.

I used to, years ago, hunt rattlers using a very similar method that Art describes.

That was until my wife accidentally picked up a snake skin and after I told her what it was I thought she was gonna freak herself right into a heart attack. She nearly scrubbed herself raw trying to clean herself.

Being Navajo she had just touched a source of serious skinwalking (taboo).

The family and tribal Medicine Man had a cleansing ceremony for her, I got a royal butt chewing from both traditional family members and the Medicine Man and I have since not collected skins for my leatherwork.
 
I'm thinking Art's method is the way to go...

Although, I think I'm going to go with a longer section of pipe..say, 6 feet. If I get something with a thicker wall then it shouldn't flex much and I can keep a respectable distance between me and the snake.

I'm planning on getting this thing together and putting it to use on some water snakes around my house to test it out. I'll let you know how it works.
 
You guys are braver than me. I saw this question and thought it might equally well be entitled "How to catch syphilis?" or "How to catch cancer?" I suppose it depends where you live and what you're used to, but I'll take a pass here, thank you very much.
 
I use a Stoney point hiking stick and have the shooting rest shown and use that to pin a snake down behind the head then I grab as close to the head and hold tight. When I drop a snake in a bag I put the body in first and as I put the head in I shove it in and quickly lower the bag to prevent the snake from getting stiking stance.
i513571sq01.jpg
 
Just reach down, grab it real quick, you know, like the Crocodile Hunter Steve Erwin does. then just stick it in your pants pocket! :D

Hey, you said you wanted a story to go with the mount!!
 
Just so y'all who've been watchin' Crocidle Hunter or other takes on Wild Kingdom know: A diamondback rattlesnake is three times faster than a cobra!! So that whole concept of "he'll be distracted by my left hand whilest I grab him with my right hand" thing-- NOT a good idea with a rattlesnake.

MY 5 1/2 foot rattlesnake, I caught by using some 1/4" hemp rope and a long one-piece truck-jack handle.
 
.22 LR CRIMPED Snake Shot Loads from Winchester.

Dead snake with near undetectable #12 Shot pin holes.
 
SteelyDan

While I have caught snakes of many types, the only bite was from the first black snake, I have never caught syphilis.

Somehow I think the method of catching syphilis may be more fun. The result is just as bad as getting bit by a rattlesnake I bet.

When you grab them behind the head, grab them close and hang on tight. If you give them any wiggle room they will hook you with a fang.

I recommend leaving them alone as they do a lot more good roaming around eating rats and other vermine than they do resting on someones coffee table.

DM
 
Double Maduro, if you do hold a snake, hold the jaws shut between your index finger and thumb. That's the easy part, and gives you a good hold on the neck with the other three fingers. That leaves the other hand free to do whatever you think's necessary...

Holding a snake is easy.

Turning loose can be the tricky part.

:D, Art
 
I ran across one late last summer and thought I would try and catch it. It wasn't very big, maybe 30" long but he got real ticked off that I was messin' with him and literally chased after me. I have captured other non-venomous snakes without any problems but none with the ferocity of a rattler. Be careful !
 
I have hunted rattlers in Eastern Washington. They come out onto the road in the night to warm up. We used a shovel and cut their head off. The thing that really weirds me out about rattlers is that they can be dead for twelve hours or more and their heart is still beating. I skinned them out the next day and the heart was beating red..white...red...white...

:scrutiny:
 
You guys are lucky. Rattlers are protected in WV. DNR supposedly catches them and ships them to another state where they are supposedly endangered. They're plentiful where I live.

That roundup sounds like fun. Maybe in a couple of years I might visit one.
 
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