Number of snake loads

[MachIVshooter]

Let the snakes be and they'll return the favor...I've heard of snake bites, but I've never heard of a snake attack.

Seems to me the old addage ends with the woman saying "Why have you bitten me?" and the snake responding "look, you stupid B&*$%, I'm a snake!".

The attitude that live and let live is a sensible way to deal with predatory or otherwise dangerous animals has cost more than a few people life and limb.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Make sure to test them for function and pattern them at various (realistic) distances before you go.

 

[Snapping Twig]

If I see one, I'll shoot it - I like the meat. What I won't shoot is a non venomous snake, let them keep the rats down.

 

[koja48]

Do you:

I leave it alone. 20-feet away poses no threat. And if "recovery" results in a lust to kill every rattlesnake or other critter I happen to see just because I can, I'll stay out of the program, thank you very much. That being said, if there were kids or dogs in the area, it was near residences, a crowded campground, etc where someone being harmed was a real possibility, then I would dispatch it because there was a reason to do so. To each his/her own. And I am very proficient with ALL of my guns, in case you were wondering. If a rattler was posing an immediate threat, dispatching it with a machete seems purely foolish in my opinion, unless there was no other choice; dancing on one tops that, however. Gotta run . . . just got an urge to hug my Maple tree . . .

 

[uneasy_rider]

I leave it alone. 20-feet away poses no threat.

OK, fair enough. But in my scenario, I said you were walking from Point A to Point B. You pass a snake on the way. You say don't shoot it. Well, what happens when you then go back to your vehicle, ie, return from Point B to Point A. You have to walk back past the place you saw the snake.
Do you just hope you see the snake before he sees you as you walk back past the area you first saw him?

Also, nothing wrong with killing a snake with a machete if thats all you have at the time, as long as he isn't big enough to reach your hand.

As for my stomping the snake, I surely didnt mean to get in that situation. But I got on one all of a sudden.

 

[Ash]

Snakes very rarely range over so short a distance.

We have a saying in Forestry. "It's not the snake you see that you should worry about, but the snake you don't see."

You pass by so many rattlers that you never see, and if you are going to accidently get bit, it will be from one of these, not the one you see 20 feet off a trail.

And, as I said earlier, the vast majority of snake bites come from messing with them. Don't mess with the snake, and it won't bite you. If the snake is in your yard, in a playground, or some other similar place, go ahead and kill it. We come first. But if youa're in the forest and you see one, it is capricious to kill it because you fear it.

Ash

 

[koja48]

I'd take another route back if I was terribly concerned, but more likely I would exercise the same degree of awareness that alerted me of its presence the first time. "Hope" has nothing to do with it . . . situational awareness should be employed wherever one goes & it affords greater opportunity to avoid threatening situations.

 

[Mark K. C.]

I grew up in the desert and I do not like snakes or scorpions. I am not afraid of them I just don't trust them. They are not predictable nor do they just want to get along with each other. I would have the first 3 rounds loaded for them with about a dozen more in my pocket. Where there is one there are usually more.

 

[ashtxsniper]

Carry a revolver fully loaded with ratshot and another gun loaded with personal defense ammo

 

[Fast Frank]

Carry a revolver fully loaded with ratshot and another gun loaded with personal defense ammo

That's how I would do it, but I'm pretty sure I could get the job done just fine with my regular defense loads.

I think the snake loads are a cool accessory, but not cool enough to make me want to reduce the effectiveness of my defense pistol.

 

[rcmodel]

If you need to kill it, it's already too late.

Not so!
I killed a copperhead coiled & ready to strike my dog alongside a trail last year with a .380.

I killed another one coiled and ready to strike right between my feet while instructing a Hunter Safety class several years ago with a .38 shot-shell.

I also killed a 5' timber rattler that was trying to climb over the transom of my bass boat once.

Oh, and the prairie rattler I bailed up in a hay bale, loaded on a wagon, and then unloaded and stacked in a barn.
Later that evening I was walking through the barn and heard him clicking his teeth right beside my right ear!
Only about a foot of him sticking out of the hay bail!

In all those cases, I saw the snake, needed to kill them, and it wasn't too late.

rcmodel

 

[RONSTAR]

I think snake loads are more of a novelty then really needed Ive never felt the need to shoot a snake. If Im really concerned about one a good stick or rock will do the job just fine. Just my .02 cents. use the money on something useful.

 

[another okie]

"Leave it alone" is good advice for rattlers, who are scared of people and can only strike at you when coiled up. A walking stick is all you need 99% of the time. But...

Coral snakes will crawl right up to you. Water moccasins will attack. They have come after me several times. I haven't killed a snake in years and have no desire to, but to say it will never be necessary must mean you live someplace they don't have those kind of snakes.

As far as the poll, one should be plenty.

 

[Ash]

But coral snakes don't have fangs and can be killed with a good boot. Water moccasins are the most troublesome, but they can be killed easily. Their backs are actually very weak and you can break them with a fishing cane or a good, long, whip. With a broken back, they cannot swim (the broken section floats to the top). I know that from working beaver traps - we killed 28 moccasins in a 5 week period on beaver dams.

I have no problem killing a snake if need be (when you are on a beaver dam, there's nowhere else to go).

But, I'll wager I encounter snakes more than anyone else here, many, many, many times a year and every kind except coral. Folks are welcome to their opinions (but the whole "the only good snake is a dead snake" has gone well beyond old). I don't play with snakes, I don't eat snakes, and I don't particularly care for snakes. I wouldn't want one as a pet. I just don't see the need to kill every poisonous snake I see.

Ash

 

[ThomasT]

I was dove hunting once and was sneaking up on a dove to get in range. What i snuck up on was a 42" long rattle snake stretched out asleep. I stood on for a while and didn't know it until it started flipping around. Have you ever wondered how a cat jumps straight up when you scare it? Well i know how they do it now.

I killed the snake. Thats how i know the length. I don't like killing anything if its not necessary. And that includes snakes.

There were two snakes crawling along and snake #1 ask, Are we biting snakes or squeezing snakes?
Snake #2 said, I don't know. What does it matter?
Snake #1 said, Cause i just bit my lip.

 

[Warren]

Thank you all.

It looks like 4 is the loneliest number.

Does it change anything if there are going to be kids about?

I completely forgot to mention that bit in my original post.

 

[seeds76]

Back off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Hahaha. That's from Aliens the movie, right?

 

[Geacko]

I've only seen a couple of rattlers, but I'm certain there are many more I have not seen as most of my hiking has taken place in Nevada desert.
I have had dozens of snakes strike at me, most of which never made contact and none of which ever made a bite. I couldn't see a single one of them until they struck and many of them struck more than once.
So I know that sometimes you do have a need to defend yourself from snakes without it being too late and without killing snakes that don't pose a threat.
At the moment I prefer 2 rounds of snake and 4 rounds for FMJ in a 357. The FMJ is because the places I go I'm about as likely to have bear issues as I am to have snake issues.

 

[AlaskaErik]

No snakes up here and no need for snake loads.

 

[Regen]

I actually like snakes... they keep the rodent populations down.

Snakeshot works well on rats too.

 

[Regen]

Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes

Last summer, I was hiking in the Shenandoah valley, when I almost stepped on a timber rattler. I was so shocked when it rattled, that I leaped backwards, away from the rattler at 16.7 mph for about 10 feet. How do I know this? Well, I had my GPS with me in high resolution tracking mode and it recorded my retreat.

Maybe had I had a revolver loaded with snake shot, I'd not have jumped like that, but I bet I still would have.

 

[Ash]

You would have. I jump back with black racers all the time. 1st reflex act is jumping away startled. Then you assess the snake. If a racer, rat snake, brown water snake, or any other non-poisionous, you take a breath and then keep on, ignoring it. If I'm in the swamp and have encountered a few moccasins already, then black tree roots will make me jump. Getting into a nest of moccasins in a bay head ruined me for the whole day as I jumped at anything.

 

[Myles]

Years back, when I had first moved onto a new piece of very wooded acreage, I relentlessly killed off all of the snakes after having a dog bitten.

The result? Rats moved in, and I had to wage what seemed like an unending war with them. Finally, years later, the snakes have begun to return, and the rodents are gone. Ah, I'd have never thought that I would welcome them back. Snakes are damned handy to have around.

EDIT: To answer the original question, I carry a revolver (whether .22 or .357, depending) when I am off on a trek, with 2 snakeshot and 4 Stingers/158gr SJHP.

 

[Ramius]

Don't kill anything you ain't gonna eat.

I'm encouraged by the number of people here who realize there is no need to kill an animal just because you are afraid of it.

I voted 'zero' as I have never experienced a need to kill any type of snake, even the copperheads rather common in my area that I usually move off the trail when I encounter them. (This keeps the other folks on the trail from having a heart attack, etc.)

Like most critters in the woods, if you do a little research and learn the truth, you'll find they aren't that bad.

(FYI I am a former amature herpetologist and the guy the cops/neighbors/family calls when they need a reptile removed)

 

[Ramius]

Oh, and reference the rat vs. snake question, ponder this: average mouse/rat/rodent has litters every few weeks- even if only 2 of each litter survive, do the math- 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 356, and then it gets plumb nasty... forget cats, which rarely catch anything, and whose cat food is consumed by the vermin. A black rat snake will DEVOUR every single mouse it comes accross, and they are absolutely incredible at tracking them down. And snakes CAN NOT catch warm blooded deseases, being cold blooded. Had there been a few more snakes around in Europe in the middle ages, the black death wouldn't have killed over half the population of same.

Just something to think about.