Can't kill rattlesnakes???

K

Keiller TN

New member
A site was being cleared here Dayton, TN for a resaurant and a bunch of rattlesnakes was found. I heard they can't kill the snakes because it is against the law. So rattle snakes are more important that peoples' lives. I think snakes have their place in creation, and it is not living with people.
 
Generally speaking, most rattlesnakes are not protected by law from killing in a humane manner. There are, however, some species that are protected because they are rare or endangered. While these species are not to be killed, often it can be worked out with wildlife authorities to live catch and transport to other areas.

The clearing of a site for a restaurant means that the snakes were not living with people, but people were trying to live with snakes. The situation as described is not one where snakes were found in someone's home or barn, but where humans encroached on the snake's territory. The snakes apparently were not a threat until disturbed. So, you call in Fish and Wildlife and let them do their thing and everyone goes away happy, including the snakes.

Keep in mind, most rattlesnakes enjoy dining on small mammals, most notably rodents that humans despise. Rattlesnakes usually do not attack humans unless humans have done something to the snakes such as step on them, try to catch them, or interrupt mating rituals. Snakes have a bad reputation that really is not deserved. Additionally, rattlesnake bites are rarely lethal except to smaller animals, children, or the sickly or very elderly. Copperhead/moccasin (rattlesnake cousins) bites are almost never fatal because they physically lack the ability to store enough venom to affect adult humans.

So the statement that "rattle snakes are more important than peoples' lives" is somewhat naive since rattlesnakes are not the great predatory human killers people make them out to be.

Chances are, if you heard rattlesnakes can't be killed because it is against the law, it was likely bulls*** unless the snakes were rare or endangered.
 
North Carolina is now placing 3 types of Rattlers on the endangerd list. Ya snakes get a bad rap, but I saw what a 5 foot timber did to a full grown 1500 pound cow several years ago with a strike to the lower front brisket. We administered anti venom within a couple of hours yet the cow swelled incredibly, lost all hair from the brisket to the muzzle on the stike side, eye bulged out, and went blind. I don't care what you say, with the average person weighing under 200 pounds that would have been fatal. I don't kill non-poisoness snakes but if it's poisoness and poses a threat it's gone!
 
Don't get me wrong, rattlesnake venon is nasty business and there are always stories of horrible things happening to people and animals. The venon is mostly a haemotoxin that causes very nasty necrosis (death) of the tissue affected. The result of such bites, if venon was injected, is not sexy. Then again, neither is being gored several times by a buck deer during the rut. Deer can be very dangerous as well, but we see them as cute, timid creatures, the Bambi-syndrome.

[This message has been edited by Gopher .45 (edited June 11, 2000).]
 
The only good rattler is a dead rattler! They have caused me too many problems.
Same thing goes for copperheads!
 
I find snakes to be pretty amazing critters. Sorry that so many folks feel compelled to kill 'em.

Most of them cause a lot less trouble than they're blamed for, in my experience.

The relocation idea sounds like a good choice.

I enjoy and respect hunting. I'm not much on just killing ... live and let live, IMHO.

Regards from AZ
 
This location is in town. I don't think there is justification for rattlers and people living together. I do like snakes that eat rodents. I think we should encourage their propagation.
 
Since we are on the topic of rattlers I have a tale to tell about snakes and fear . About 25 years ago I was driving truck in the oil patch around Lynch Wyoming . Since many roughnecks were so vulnerable to snake bite due to the nature of the work we were allowed to pursue and kill ANY rattlers we spotted and not given any problems for taking the extra time .
I was driving on a dirt road with a load of pipe on a flatbed trailer . There was other stuff on there also so I was pulling pretty good weight . I saw a rattler crossing the road so I drove right over him . I stopped to look back and he was STILL crawling across the road . Tough snake.
I jumped out of the cab and grabbed a 2X6 about 8 feet long . The rattler was crawling up the embankment looking for cover . I took the 2X6 and drove his head straight into the dirt in an effort to kill him with one shot . I held it for a second or two and then drew it back to see if it was dead . ( I was sure he was ) Well , if he was dead HE didn't know it . He struck at the 2X6 so hard that I felt it in my hands .If I knew FOR A FACT that he would never be a threat to an oilfield worker I would have left him alone . He deserved to live . Since he was a threat I held him with the 2X6 and had my swamper call for the Pusher Man . ( Foreman ) Told him that his gun was very welcome here . He was only a mile away so he came and finished the job . I must admit that this incident MORE than "got my attention." Where was my M-14 when I needed it ?


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TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA
 
Living out in the country like I do Rattlers are a big problem. I've had two cats and a horse bitten within the last two years. Came home one day and found a five + footer sunning himself in my driveway.... I alwas keep a .357 loaded with snake loads.... needless to say my Stetson now has a new hatband. The snake had 10 rattles plus his button.

This spring my wife was sweeping the front porch and sweapted one out with the dust. Since it was just a little one, the shovel took care of it. I agree that most snakebites will not lead to death, but if you have ever watched an annimal suffer from one of these bites.... well If I see one around my place, he's a gonner... If I see one out in the wild... well he's welcome to stay there, I won't bother them.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
My grandparents lived in Oklahoma near the Texas border. I heard that grandad had dynamited a hillside near their house because there were so many Rattlers. He once sent me up to the house for some water while he plowed with his Cat. When I got back and started to sit down, I noticed a Rattle snake where I was going to sit giving me just in time to move to a safer location. When grandad came around, he got a stick and hastily dispatched the snake and gave me the Rattler's tail for my ukulele.

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Alexander Solzhenitzyn:
"Freedom is given to the human conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility."
 
I'm with sumabich 'bout the snake issue.
If I run across a poisonous one around the house he's goin' to wherever snake ghosts go, but if I run into one out in the woods I'll usually just let him go his own way.
I also try to keep the non-venomous variety encouraged to stay around the house, that's usually a good deterrent for rattlers and copperheads, and an even better one for my girlfriend's Mom or in-laws! :D

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"Rise like lions after slumber in invanquishable number - Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep had fallen on you - Ye are many - They are few."
-Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822)
 
I'm with Jeff T. on this one. I like snakes, they're pretty cool creatures. I'll only kill poisionous ones if I find them living around my house. Otherwise, I'll just stay out of their way and let 'em be. Non-poisonous are no problem whatsoever. Both venemous and non-venmous types help keep down the rat, mouse, and (sometimes) squirrel populations. Heck I've been know to transport captured king snakes back to my yard for pest control.

As an aside, I wouldn't mind having a ferret as a pet. They make great rat hunters, if you have a terrier trained to work with them to kill the rats. (Rodents are TERRIFIED of ferrets.) A local pet store has some, but they're not for sale. They are advertising ferret cages for $99.00, and they'll throw in the ferret for free. ;) (Selling ferrets is illegal in SC.)
Same pet store had praire dogs for sale at $149.95 per!!!! I don't know about anyone else, but the only way I'm going to spend that much on prarie dogs is loading ammo to shoot 'em. :)

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Shoot straight & make big holes, regards, Richard at The Shottist's Center
 
When the critters start paying their share of the real estate tax bill, they are more than welcome to stay. Otherwise, it's a what can you do for me arrangement. The(non-poisonous) snakes can hang around as long as the eat the moles. The groundhogs amuse the dog for a short time, but they have far different ideas about what play means.
;)
 
Shoot, I'm all for wildness. Snakes make bow season more interesting just like sharks make swimming more interesting. I usually let snakes of all kinds be, unless I have a reason not to. What kind of candy ass disney world would this be without grizzlies, sharks, and rattlers....lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!

Then again, sometimes the critters just need killin, regardless of what the federally licensed bunny smoochers say.
 
Franklin W. Dixon said:
"Then again, sometimes the critters just need killin, regardless of what the federally licensed bunny smoochers say."

Yeah, like all
1) Rattle snakes
2) Cottonmouth
3) Copperhead

Leave the rest alone to do their thing, especially the Kingsnake. ;)

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
I like snakes. I have no problem with them. Unless they are poisioness. We have a LOT of copperhead around where I live. I carry a little Taurus .38 ultralite full of Snakeshot. And I now have a box of Snakeshot for my .44 that I keep around. A couple yars ago My dad and I were trying to figure out the best way to take down a dead tree and he steped near a Copperhead. THe thing tried to bite him. Luckily it just got the tip of his boot. But those thise are Kill on site to me. Any other snake is fine though.
 
In inhabited areas, I kill poisonous snakes, they're just too dangerous to dumb/curious pets & kids (and double for adults that don't have sense enough to leave them alone). In the wild, I leave them alone if they leave me alone and are no where near my campsite. Here in VA we have Eastern Diamondbacks, Timber rattlers, and a brownish one locals call a piedmont or marsh rattler. I've heard of pygmy rattlers in FL, but have never seen one, I think they're more of a western critter. We also have copperheads and cottonmouths (water moccasins), too.

As a kid I used to caddy at a golf course near Richmond. Retrieving balls from the water hazards (should have called them 'moccasin' hazards) was sometimes interesting and shouldn't be done without a 7 iron. Moccasins have bad dispositions and can be pretty aggressive, but a 7 iron makes fairly short work of one (they're slow compared to rattlers).
M2
 
**** Paratrooper, tough snake. They usually pop with at least two passes of Ford Ranger front tire. Worked for a state park in '92. Seem like I killed at least one snake a day (all prairie(sp?) rattlers).

My dad who used to push tools, drill, and roughneck at different times said that a rig's vibration would attract rattlers sometimes. I've roughnecked and never have encountered them. I roustabouted for a while, ran into a lot then though. Shovels work best.
 
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