Watch your step

[mtns2hunt]

Don't see all the fear and hysteria. I have been around snakes all my life. Snakes can be deadly but if you're vigilant and watch where you step, sit or place your hands there should not be any issues. I normally encounter several rattlers a year cutting wood or hunting. I study the ground before picking anything up. Anything that looks like a stick gets a second look. I never kill a snake and even think it is illegal to kill rattlers in Virginia.

Just for general info: I have seen about 20 rattle snake bites and five copperheas bites. In each situation the individuals were not paying attention and several were running barefoot. A couple thought it would be fun to catch them. Someone else described the treatment for snake bite in this post. Believe him: especally about a rattle snake bite as it can be very painfull and ugly or even deadly. Enjoy your hunt but use common sense.

Fear and hysteria is not for the ones you see. Its the ones you dont see that you have to worry about. You ever get bit , it tends to make you a little more cautious the rest of your life.When I went through Ranger school , when I hit the swamp phase , my nerves were really on edge. Spent alot of time doing just what I did when I had got bitten. I pushed on through. This topic is just a friendly reminder and may prevent someone from suffering a very painful experience. Rattle snakes are bad but water moccasins are second to none as far as aggressiveness.

" Cautious" is the word you are right. So many people are not but in the whole range of things there are a lot more ways to die then by snake bite. Having worked on a Trama team for 6 years I've seen a bunch. But it is good to raise awareness. 

[turkeykiller41]

Problem is walking in before daylight,you step on one you are going to get hit I found that out the other morning  thank god I had my chaps on.

[mtns2hunt]

Problem is walking in before daylight,you step on one you are going to get hit I found that out the other morning  thank god I had my chaps on.

Well, maybe all the hysteria will keep more individuals out of the woods. I suspect more die of gunshots then snakes: better leave your guns at home lol.

[GobbleNut]

As one who has been around rattlesnakes all my life, I too have little fear of them,...but I see both sides of this issue.  There are places I am sure wearing snake protection is probably a wise decision.  I never have, but if I hunted somewhere that the poisonous ones were both inconspicuous and did not let you know they were around, I would probably reconsider my choice not to wear something to prevent being bitten.

[owlhoot]

I have always hunted where it would be rare to get bit. Missouri and some in Kansas. Have run into a few though and after being on a trail on a rocky bluff in Kansas and hearing the rattles all around me , sound bouncing of the large rocks. That shook me. Since then I bought and continue to buy snake boots.
Why the heck not? Gonna buy boots anyway.

I had a rattler shot 3 feet from me back in high school. Ran into some copperheads stacking wood. Didn't really bother me then. Fishing in Virginia and North Carolina rivers with moccasins and them little rattlers everywhere. Didn't seem to bother those down there at all.  Fished with a southern Louisiana shipmate then and he did not get to exited about them, just smacked them a paddle. He did say if they drop in the boat though it could get fun.  The other guy with us was from upstate N.Y. he stood up every time that paddle smacked the water or when one swam by.

[Chris O]

I live and hunt in Iowa and have never seen a poisonous snake. Has anyone from Iowa ever seen any. I know we have some but I have never seen any. Some of those snakes pictured sure are pretty but I don't want to run into any of them.

[RutnNStrutn]

Nope!!

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[RutnNStrutn]

I'm always careful and always wear snake boots. I almost stepped on a pygmy rattler, which prompted me to buy my first pair of snake boots. While wearing those boots, I was walking out of the woods through a swamp, and a BIG cottonmouth drilled me right in the calf!!! Thank God I was wearing snake boots. I walked (ran) on water all the way across that swamp!!

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[squidd]

Even though it was a yellow rat snake, still made me stop in my tracks!

[Jmbradt3873]

I got hit by a copperhead years ago while working as a surveyor. Bit through a pair of mud boots.  By the time I walked the mile back to the truck then drove the 25 minutes to the ED, they had to cut the boots off with trauma shears. Thank God it was a "dry" bite, no anti venom needed. The leg still turned black and blue and swelled up like a watermelon. I now keep two pairs of snake boots around and keep a pair of knee high gaiters behind the seat of my truck. Cheap insurance for sure.

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[NCL]

My only close encounters has been with rattlesnakes. A few years ago it was late in the season so it was very warm and I knew the snakes would be out of hibernation. I was hunting an area that was very good snake habitat, a lot of rock outcroppings. I was vigilant all day watching every where I sat and stepped. I was walking out on a two track and was only about a 100 yards from my truck, it was hot and I was thirsty so my guard was down and I was hurrying. After a step I heard him rattle and I looked and I had stepped across a large rattle snake. He did not strike so I guess I was lucky.

[LaLongbeard]

Big Moccasin laying in the trail I walked down in the dark.
Coral snake eating another smaller snake when I walked up.


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[sasquatch1]

Big Moccasin laying in the trail I walked down in the dark.
Coral snake eating another smaller snake when I walked up.


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Where the hell did you find a coral snake? I kept having to look and make sure it wasn't a Scarlet king

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[sasquatch1]

Was climbing up the steps of a millennium tripod stand in the dark during bow season. As I near the top I see this big rope hanging down the center of the legs from the bottom of seat.

Thinking in my head who the hell been hunting my stand???

It's no farther than 12" from my face but it's dark and I have my light off. Right about that time I realize it ain't a big rope, it's a big snake with a rat in its mouth and then it drops to the ground right at that time.

I climb down to the ground to see what kind it was and it's a big rattler!!!

I snapped a pic, climber up and watched him swallow that giant rat in less than a minute then slowly slither away.

Pics of it with the rat and with the rat in its throat.


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[sasquatch1]

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