Bottom Gun, I will agree with you on the wives' tales up thru the hazardous part but they are hardly helpless. I've had two dogs bit, donkey bit, my at the time 2 year old sister damn near bit(my loyal dog took her bite)and have temporarily caught several western diamondbacks. I can state for a fact they are not helpless. For those ignorant or unaware they are around they can be very dangerous. The fact that they are slow enough to avoid is a help. Don't expect them to rattle as the small button rattlers don't have enough to rattle. I now find them very interesting and only kill them now to eat or if it seems necessary. The largest western diamondback I have seen was in Monterey County, Ca., I didn't measure it at the time only later did I measure the fence - 4' high and it touched at both ends. MWT
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Handgun shotshells
- Thread starter Jeffly
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Bottom Gun
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Powermwt,
I guess "helpless" was a poor choice of words. Of course, being venomous, they can hurt livestock, children and the unwary. That's why I do keep them away from the house.
The point I was trying to convey was that they are very easy to avoid or get away from provided you are aware of them. The venomous snakes are a threat, of course, but a threat easily dealt with without having to shoot them. Here again, the key words are: provided you are aware of them.
Just watch where you step and never, ever put your hands where you can't see, especially when rock climbing. Most climbers are bitten in the hands or face.
Like yourself, I will occasionally take one for the table. I've never seen one as large as the one you described here in Arizona, but we did take a Western Diamondback a few years ago which yielded 5 lb of meat. I would have hated to have gotten nailed by that one. I doubt a shot load from a pistol would have stopped that one.
I agree with you on the rattling. You can't EVER expect them to rattle. Every snake I've seen, with one exception, has remained silent until I teased it a little. (I just can't resist agitating them a bit sometimes)
I've also seen a 2 footer with no rattles at all. Looked like they had been broken off.
One time I was shooting a small one in the yard with my K22, but forgot the bore was ¾ inch or so below the sight. With the snake facing me, each time I shot the slug would skin the tip of his nose. Boy did that rile him up! I skinned his nose 4 times before I thought to aim for the back of his head where the neck joined it. That one got him dead center.
Come to think of it, I haven't had a snake on the property since I got a cat. I wonder if there is a connection there? Anybody have an opinion on that?
I guess "helpless" was a poor choice of words. Of course, being venomous, they can hurt livestock, children and the unwary. That's why I do keep them away from the house.
The point I was trying to convey was that they are very easy to avoid or get away from provided you are aware of them. The venomous snakes are a threat, of course, but a threat easily dealt with without having to shoot them. Here again, the key words are: provided you are aware of them.
Just watch where you step and never, ever put your hands where you can't see, especially when rock climbing. Most climbers are bitten in the hands or face.
Like yourself, I will occasionally take one for the table. I've never seen one as large as the one you described here in Arizona, but we did take a Western Diamondback a few years ago which yielded 5 lb of meat. I would have hated to have gotten nailed by that one. I doubt a shot load from a pistol would have stopped that one.
I agree with you on the rattling. You can't EVER expect them to rattle. Every snake I've seen, with one exception, has remained silent until I teased it a little. (I just can't resist agitating them a bit sometimes)
I've also seen a 2 footer with no rattles at all. Looked like they had been broken off.
One time I was shooting a small one in the yard with my K22, but forgot the bore was ¾ inch or so below the sight. With the snake facing me, each time I shot the slug would skin the tip of his nose. Boy did that rile him up! I skinned his nose 4 times before I thought to aim for the back of his head where the neck joined it. That one got him dead center.
Come to think of it, I haven't had a snake on the property since I got a cat. I wonder if there is a connection there? Anybody have an opinion on that?
When I was a kid I was patterning a .22 rifle with "rat shot" and fired at the end grain of an old elm stump at about fifteen feet. The shot bounced back and peppered my face. Always wore shooting glasses after that. Why shoot rattlers? They are territorial and pretty much stay put. Around the house they have to go but out in the boonies I don't view them as a serious threat. I run into a half dozen or so every year and have never killed one. Most never rattle; they just want to get away. I read in a medical book that North Carolina has 17 times more snake bites than Arizona! Here in the four corners area we are blessed with a disease called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome which is fatal 60% of the time. The virus is carried by mice, the favorite food of rattlers. I'll take snake bite over Hantavirus any day. The snakes seem to prefer temperatures in the high 80s so they're out in the daytime early in the summer and when it gets hot only come out at night. We treat a number of snake bites each year where people were going to the outhouse in the dark and stumbled over the snake. The local Navajo believe that the snakes inject them with air (like a tire pump) and that explains the swelling. They have specific ceremonies to treat snake bites (same as for being struck by lightening). The Navajo won't mess with the snakes at all, believing that the snake's relatives will track them down and take revenge. They won't wear things like snakeskin boots, belts, hatbands, etc, believing that it will attract more snakes. A few weeks ago I took a bunch of pictures of a rattler and about an hour later I was exploring an abandoned shack when another rattler slithered across my foot (and I took pictures of him as well). When the Navajos at the office saw the pictures, they said that the reason I encountered the second snake was because I was carrying pictures of the first one around in my camera. Go figure! Anyway, I digress: I usually carry a S&W 442 with two rounds of Speer shot backed up by the usual self-defense loads. Actually, I'm far more worried about encountering one of our local mountain lions.