Rattle snake hunting?

d2admin

Administrator
Now that the season is winding down, I suppose some folks will be out turkey hunting. I will be at home with the baby.

Last year I went rattlesnake hunting or searching anyway. I was in a great rattler area but only found a bull snake and a garter snake. Will any of you guys be out looking for snakes? I think I asked this question last year too.
 
I don't know how much I'll be looking for them as much as looking out for them. I have plenty where I live because of some old stone quarries.

With my baby soon to arrive, I hope I'll be out for turkeys and lots of scouting but....
 
NYNovice, That's great!! Not the stuck at home part, the having the baby part. When's the big day? How many is this? Ain't kids grand? You sure turn into someone you didn't know you could be. Kinda, '"Be all you can be!" Congrats and I pray everything goes well.
Redfrog
 
its stil way too early for them !
they will move from dens and breed in late
april.. you can expect to see them then..
be carefull..they are verrry cranky after being
shut up all winter... if you promise not to
get your self bit.. ill tell you where to find
them..and alot of other snakes..easily... drive
along a highway that has a lot of those big
advertisment boards..the real big ones.. if you
pull along side the road next to one..there almost always will be alot of wood on the ground
around the poles.. turn it over,carefully and be
ready.. it could be anything from a racer to viper!!!
 
I took my 8 year old turkey hunting saturday and we checked a snake den about noon. It was cloudy and sprinkling rain but we found the 1st snake of the season in a horizontal crack in a rock face. My son shot him with a .410. He took the rattles to school today for show and tell. 3 ft. timber rattler with 7 rattles. Most of the diamondbacks have already come out of the dens in southern and western Oklahoma. By the time the organized snake hunts happen, most of the snakes have left the dens.
 
I will be rattle snake hunting(searching) this summer. I have already killed 2 from last year, one with my dad's Ruger mkII target .22LR with #12 birdshot, and the other I ran over with my dad's artic cat ATV.
Matt.
 
Im always up for some rattlesnake hunting. I used to go a few times a year in the palm springs area when I lived in that area. Now I just look while out yote hunting. Last year I got a few, one I stepped on. Luckly it was about 5:30am and pretty cool out so the thing was not very active yet. I dont know alot about them, only what I have heard and observed. I do know that they tend to use the same den or den in the same area every year. They really dont travel that far for the most part if food is plentiful so if you find one chances are good that you will find more in the general area. Thats why in some areas youll find alot and others none. If you can find the area they den youll never have trouble finding the rattlers. I used to carry a long gardening spade that I sharpened, you could use it to pull them out of cover and dispatch them quick and not ruin the meat. If you havent eating rattler yet you should try it and no it doesnt taste like chicken.
 
OK, I forget, what is the deal with the rattles on the tail? I seem to remember it telling their age. Something like that.

Thanks guys, baby is due April 25th. We don't know if he is a she or she is a he but if he is a she or she is a he we will be HAPPY.

This is the first of...?
 
They get a new button every time they shed their skin which can be several times of year. I don't know exactly how often they shed but I do know that the amount of buttons is not a clear indication of age. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Rattlers can shed quite a few times a year depending on the food supply. The more they eat the more they grow the more they shed. Plus they will loose rattles now and then so you cant tell their age by counting them. Another common misconseption is that baby rattlers are more poisonious than adults. They are not any more than the adults they just cant rattle until they have shed a couple times so they go unnoticed until your bit or people will try to pick them up thinking its not a rattler. Also the young are not as good about conserving their venom so when they bite they have a tendancy to inject more venom.
 
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