rattlesnakes~

[Ristorapper]

Anyone have a place a guy can go hunt one close to Bismarck? I have been looking for a decent rattle for a while now. I want to inlay one into the handle of an antler hunting knife.

When the in-laws get them in the yard they invite us to come and get 'em. Or in the fall when ya travel those gravel roads down there in the sunset hours, you may see them on the gravel roads warming themselves. Seen many within an hour and a half southwest of Bismarck. We harvested 21 one day when they were the worst. Brother-in-law crawled under the disc to work on it and one was under there. Luck on his side. But he did make the call and all us deer hunters that hunt his land went down there and raided the dens along the banks of the river. Nothing really big; six or seven rattles the biggest.

Imagine a bunch of guys, one or two with .22 or .410, I went in with camera only, one with a grain shovel (to keep them from crawling back into the den), one with a hoe with sickle welded to the hoe (to cut head off), guys with stove pipes taped to their legs (snake boots). It can be crazy. I'll tell ya this for a fact. Nothing gets the adrenaline going more than to hear them rattle and not be able to spot them. Ya lock up just like a pointer until someone can get sight of them.

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Oh! and how to kill them if you spot them on the gravel road?? It usually isn't good enough just to run them over. When you figure you are about to run them over with the vehicle you are driving, lock up the brakes. That usually does 'em in and hope you don't wreck the rattle if that is what you are after.

 

[dean nelson]

Had some guys that lived by our place when I was a kid that had a literal garbage can full of them from somewhere south west of town. They had a table set up in the garage with an assembly line of guys drinking beer like they were cleaning fish but it was snakes. They got really nervous with us kids around and I'm not sure how many dozen times they told us to stay away from the heads even if they're chopped off cuz they're still capable of inflicting a bite if you stick yourself with them.

 

[Ericb]

Not sure if you could get it locally but I used to get .45 loaded with shot. It would usually take a few to do them in but was a bit of fun.

 

[MSA]

We spent a couple of days in Nevada's Great Basin. That place has sure got the rattlesnakes. One camper said he changed campsites because of to many rattlesnakes. He said he was only seeing one a day at the campsite we were in. Evidently the Great Basin Rattlesnake is a species only found there.

The great basin rattler is a subspecie of our prairie rattlesnake. I used to catch lots of them in SW Idaho. Last time I checked there were 4 subspecies of western rattlesnake (viridis). The other two are the north pacific and the south pacific.

 

[Glass]

I’ll give you the privilege of spending the summer fencing on the ranch in western ND. If you kill it you have to eat it also.

I do know my way around a fence a stretcher! I would for sure eat it, not much sense in killing something just for an ornament in my opinion

It would be way more badass if you wrangled it yourself, but you can buy them on eBay.

Not willing to buy one, not cause im cheap (oh wait I am), I want, and need the harvest to be part of the knifes story

 

[1804]

that picture is BS a snap trap couldn't kill a snake of that size

Two traps at once is a he'll of a maneuver as well.

 

[guywhofishes]

lol

“stove pipes taped to their legs” sounds like something I’d have attempted - geez I’ve done some goofy stuff

 

[( deleted account )]

Glass, prairie rattlers are here and there anywhere west of Mandan with lots curled up 9n roads anywhere south of Solen. Try evening when the roads are warm. I can “ harvest” the next one or two for you I see if you like and toss em in the freezer. Dunno when I’d see one, they pop up here and there.
my dog was trained “ snakeproof” in Arizona so I often give her a “ booster” if I have a long leash in the pickup, especially if I have a training collar along, too.
Snow’s pic should remind all of us with hunting dogs to get the snakebite vaccine. Not perfect but sure can help if your dog gets bit.could help prevent serious problems, even death.

 

[guywhofishes]

that picture is BS a snap trap couldn't kill a snake of that size

um... rat traps are nasty - ever get your hand in one?

I bet they’re strong enough to strangle a small mammal!

 

[MSA]

The mouse traps didnt kill it. See the video i posted. just a baby, notice the button, maybe shed once or twice.

As far as rattlesnake vaccines go, id urge one to do lots of research first. Snake venom is very complex and variable, so im skeptical that a vet could provide such a thing that legitematly works at an affordable cost.

 

[2400]

Imagine a bunch of guys, one or two with .22 or .410, I went in with camera only, one with a grain shovel (to keep them from crawling back into the den), one with a hoe with sickle welded to the hoe (to cut head off), guys with stove pipes taped to their legs (snake boots). It can be crazy. I'll tell ya this for a fact. Nothing gets the adrenaline going more than to hear them rattle and not be able to spot them. Ya lock up just like a pointer until someone can get sight of them.

lol

“stove pipes taped to their legs” sounds like something I’d have attempted - geez I’ve done some goofy stuff

This sounds like a job for Rancid Crabtree, "Crazy Eddie" Muldoon, Retch Sweeney and the rest of the gang...

 

[( deleted account )]

Not sure if you could get it locally but I used to get .45 loaded with shot. It would usually take a few to do them in but was a bit of fun.

Try the Judge!

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The mouse traps didnt kill it. See the video i posted. just a baby, notice the button, maybe shed once or twice.

As far as rattlesnake vaccines go, id urge one to do lots of research first. Snake venom is very complex and variable, so im skeptical that a vet could provide such a thing that legitematly works at an affordable cost.

You sure could be right, but it wasn’t too expensive, seems well tolerated, and recommended for diamondbacks and especially Mohave greens, normally pretty dog deadly. Less mortality and sloughing in dogs with the vaccine, but not 100%.Prairie rattlers have a slightly different venom from diamondbacks and greens, less potent but vaccines supposedly still reasonably effective.
Take it from me, when your dog gets hit by a big diamondback it seems at the time yo be worth every penny, even if it’s effectiveness might be far from perfect. Every little bit helps. LOL
msa, lookin for u. Got a question for another thread. You are the expert.

 

[MSA]

Mojaves, eastern diamondbacks, western diamondbacks, and prairies all have very different venom. especially mojaves, they have a very neurotixic venom like cobras n coral snakes.

A vaccine is used to build the bodies imunities against infections, viruses. And most vaccines dont work against mutated/different versions of a virus. So i have a hard time believing they developed a vaccine that covers such a broad range of venoms for 20 bucks. Especially when you concider the research n work that goes into antivenin, and the insane costs of a single vial of it. Also consider how risky antivenom can be, sometimes its more dangerous than the venom itself.

Its easy to skew data on this since snake bites are so variable. to many factors affect a bite situation, how much venom, locale, specie, bite area, bite depth, tissue type, etc...most bites need little to no treatment so its easy to say the shot worked.

Im just an armchair, and maybe they devoloped thd real deal for 20 bucks, im just saying do the reasearch first. Id be suspect that the vaccine is more dangerous than the risk of a bite.

 

[2400]

The Mohaves have a whole different type of venom compared to the rest of the rattler family, their venom is a neurotoxin. Out here when people get bit from a Mohave instead of a car or ambulance ride it's Lifeflight (helo) and hopefully under an hour from the bite to the ER.

I'm not sure what the Vet will do with a Mohave bite for dogs though.

 

[( deleted account )]

Yep, the Mohave greens are different with their partly neurotoxic and partly hemotoxic venom. The vaccine apparently does a not too bad job against the hemolytic part, but the neurotoxic stuff which it is not effective against, is what makes them so lethal to small animals and cause do much necrosis to arms and legs of humans. Fortunately they are not nearly as common as plain old diamondbacks and other rattler species. They are all a bit different, but are first cousins. Like MSA says, there are so many variables in snakebites, location on the body of bite, depth, venom load, vascularity, etc. , it’s hard to compare one with another, especially not knowing the venom load.
Still, my attitude towards immunization if your best friend gets nailed is “ every but might help! “ MSA you can induce immunity towards viruses, but venom, feathers, cat hair, anything and everything. Snake immunity is sensitizing the dogs immune system towards the venom, and hopefully some of its first cousin venom with common antigens.

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2400 I don’t think there is much. They are pretty lethal and to my limited knowledge supportive treatment is about it. Nothing specific. Maybe massive steroids, but this is a last ditch shot in the dark. ,saw a guy who get hit in the hand - almost lost his arm. Got gangrenous, sloughed a lot of it, paralyzed the rest. Unusable now.

 

[2400]

And in addition to having extremely lethal venom, mohaves are really, really aggressive.

A few years ago I was teaching a 4 day hunter ed class in the sticks. We were camping and sitting around relaxing when a couple of kids ran up yelling about a rattlesnake. By the time we were up and had got over to where the snake was supposed to be we weren't worried about it. We figured it was a western diamondback and that it would be long gone when we got there. NOPE, it was an extremely pissed off mohave and it was looking for a fight.

We chopped the head off of it and while one of the Dads was digging a hole to bury it in I asked the class if they remembered me telling them about dead snakes stricking and biting. About 5 minutes had gone by since we had chopped the head off, when I tapped the head with the shovel it hit the shovel and left streaks of venom on it. You should have seen everyones big eyes at that! By the time the hole had been dug and all the kids had looked and held the snakes body about 15 minutes had gone by. I poked the head again with the shovel and POW it hit the shovel again. Lots of very big eyes at that. We buried the head to keep kids and dogs from "playing" with it.

The kids had asked if they could eat it so we cooked the snake so everybody could try it. As far as I know we graduated the first class of "snake eaters" in the state.

 

[sl1000794]

^^^^^^
I guess it take it kindly to having it's head chopped off!

 

[BrokenBackJack]

This guy darn near dies after he cuts off the head of a buzz worm and then goes to pick it up with his hand and gets bit.
Scary what can happen. Been told this before but this just reaffirms it to all of us of what can really happen.

http://www.inforum.com/news/acciden...nake-it-bit-him-anyway-and-he-nearly-died-his

 

[camoman]

We spent a couple of days in Nevada's Great Basin. That place has sure got the rattlesnakes. One camper said he changed campsites because of to many rattlesnakes. He said he was only seeing one a day at the campsite we were in. Evidently the Great Basin Rattlesnake is a species only found there.

I saw numerous Great Basin rattlesnakes in Utah.

 

[PrairieGhost]

I saw numerous Great Basin rattlesnakes in Utah.

We were lucky enough not to. It was not that warm while we were there. As a matter of fact we could only get to 7000ft in the Great Basin National Park in Utah because spring snow had closed the roads again. Some roads were closed around Cedar City, Utah too.