Snakes

[Glowgood Jigster]

I've only owned one snake, and that was a rubber boa I found while fishing the Estacada River in Oregon, as a young lad. Took some doing to get it into my tacklebox to take home.
Where I went to elementary school, there was an annual rattlesnake hunt just before school started each year. All the highschool kids that wanted to, would gather at the grade school and kill rattlesnakes on the schoolyard to make it safe for us little kids. The year I was to start 1st grade, my brother's friend got bit by a baby rattler. He lost the use of his arm for several months, and had a wire from his thumb to his elbow to keep a tendon stretched out while it healed. These timber rattlers are pretty nasty critters. I have heard them but never seen one in all my 50 years.
Glow

[FishnLine]

You all will be happy to know I thinned the population by 1 this past Friday. I walked up on a copperhead while hunting, but he don't move no more!

[basketbreaker]

copperhead venom is not considered deadly and i bet when you cam accross the snake it either stay still because it thought it was hiding or it tryed to run away when u kill it.

glowgood thats a shame about your brothers friend but i am curious as to how he got bitten on the arm by a rattlesnake unless he was trying to touch it?

[racerkvn]

Over the years we have seen and caught so many snakes it's pittyful. We go wadeing creeks now fishing, and realy rarely see any snakes, they are are looking at us, but we ain't looking either. A couple of years ago, me and my brother and a another friend of ours went to a swamp fishing off the bank, we seen a couple Cottonmouths (Water-Mocasins) samething, but we left them alone and they left us alone. Well, we got ready to leave, and we drove up on a bridge overlooking the swamp and the area we were just fishing, we stopped the truck and got out just looking. I saw this absolutley huge Cottonmouth ( I have seen many of these snakes over the years, but none any as big as this one!), well I grabbed my rod and reel, I had a worm tied on and all I wanted to do was drop the worm next to it, to get it to stretch out and see just how long it was, my hook is buried in the worm anyways, well I drop it down there, and drag it across the snakes body, he starts to stretch out, and my worm falls on a little limb, well I pull it out, it inturns pulls my hook exposed which I didn't know happened, until what happened next. I dropped the worm next the body of this snake again, I went to pull it up over the body, well the hook sticks this sucker in the side, and I jiggle it trying to get it out, well the snake starts freaking out, and the hook goes deeper and deeper. I can't get my hook back and this is so big my rod is about to break, I had to grab the line and pull it up closer and closer to me while this silly thing is thrashing around like a wildabeast on crack! My brother and friend are saying don't pull that thing up here, what makes it soo bad is the hook is in about half way down it's back, so it's still got a pretty healthy reach, I'd pull it on up some more, and wait for the head to turn away from us, and I cut the line!! I didn't really know what I was going to do either, but it worked out.

Me and the same friend was behind my house one day catching rat snakes, we caught one that was good sized, I held it while my buddy took some pictures. Well he wanted to hold it and wanted me to take some pictures, well I could tell the snake had enough, it started getting more and more tense, I told my buddy he's fixin' to strike, my buddy looks up at me and right at that moment that joker bites the crap out of my buddies arm, and wouldn't let go!! I laughed so hard my guts hurt!! I got a picture of it with it's mouth stuck to his arm, and the picture right after that is where the blood was trickling out of his arm! He didn't like those pictures!! All it was two scrapes! We catch and play with snakes, but only certain ones.

[Glowgood Jigster]

It was a freak thing basketbreaker, he just reached down to flip over a piece of plywood and the snake was underneath it right where his fingers were. He got bit right on the finger. I don't remember much more about it, but I think the reason he was so bad off was they maybe didn't have any antivenon handy around here in '62.

copperhead venom is not considered deadly and i bet when you cam accross the snake it either stay still because it thought it was hiding or it tryed to run away when u kill it.

glowgood thats a shame about your brothers friend but i am curious as to how he got bitten on the arm by a rattlesnake unless he was trying to touch it?

[basketbreaker]

Heh i search for snakes for fun, and i use a snake hook now for flipping pieces of board because for the same reason of what happened to your brothers friends. And i am almost sure if there was some antivenom it wouldnt have been so bad. Rattlesnake venom pretty bad stuff. Copperhead bites u wont even get antivenom most of the time fyi

MIke

[handybat]

I was fishing in a small lake one time. Caught a couple of cats, not big ones. I left them on my stringer, where I had been fishing, left the stringer there and moved around the lake to try a different spot. It was starting to get dark so I thought I'd head home. I went back to get my stringer and the fish were flopping around. I thought those were pretty lively cats. I pulled the stringer up and one of the cats had a snake attacked to it. I managed to get the snake to let go and I threw the cats back, lol.

[Songdog]

I never have had a fear of snake s I grew up on the Fla Ala border and I used to coon hunt and fish all over the beaver ponds and tuper ponds and never give it a second thought But I've grown older and I will wear long pants now Also living in SE Tn the swamp habitat is kinda limited Anyway My Daddy was deathly afraid of snakes and of course me knowing that Well you get the picture We were fishing a farm pond in Fla and we were probably about 100 yds apart and I caught a hog nose snake it was about 4' long so I proceeded to stick him down in the tackle box Most of our tackle was up on the top shelves it was one of the boxes you folded open and the trays opened when you did it Well sure enough the old man got hung up and have some tackle well me being the good son I was I took the box over to him and.....When he opened that box and that snake tried to get out he screamed and I was rolling Well I never knew the old man could move that fast I was laughing so hard My sides were hurting and so were other parts of my anatomy He didn't even let me ride home that day 5 miles is a pretty long walk and of course when I got home I gave my best I'm sorry speech But every time I'd look at him I'd break out laughing He'd get mad and I'd be in trouble again It took him a long time to get over that one He kept his tackle box close to him after that But every once in a while If I would act like I was watching him otu of the corner of my eye he'd make me come open it I shouldn't have done that to the old man but it sure was fun The Old Man's been gone about 15 yrs now and I still miss him but I always have to smile when I think about the look he had when he opened that box

[bowdenja]

Fatboy123............. that was hilarious! Course if it was my dad I'da got a wupping, but it would have been worth it!:D

AS I said before if I see it early I'm ok........... but just don't let me sneak up on that sucker and almost step on it before I see em. My buddies say that I have been able to hover off the ground, kind zen like! OF course I ain't humming.

Almost as bad.......... when we lived in Florida, Moma caught one of them dang ugly eel........... about 4 foot long. She called me over to get it off, and me being the bright boy I was; caught it behind the head. That sucker wrap up the length of my arm and I did your dad's thing of yelling... "Get it off, Get it off" of course I was running down the beach as fast as I could.

I finally stop next to the jettys and found me a rock.......... once I got him off my arm, he didn't do that to anybody else.

Them things sure are slimy!........ Have you ever tried to throw you are away?:p

john

[FishnLine]

Funny story and a great memory Songdog.