Look out for snakes.

[Back-of-the-boat]

Went out on a little recon mission to find a likely spot to detect or sluice and was down by the rivers edge couldn't get past some boulders, went back up the bank to find a different route and saw a possible way, started to go and with my foot almost ready to step down, I notice about a 6 or 7 foot Rattlesnake coiled under the rock I was going to step on, HOLY @&%#. Backed out the way I came, went back to the truck to clean my jeans and reconsider if a little nugget or a few flakes of flour was worth it today and decided coin shooting the local park sounded better.What got me was it never rattled once, the head must have been pointed so it didn't sense my warmth?It blended so well it was scary, now mind you for 50 years I have been around snakes and have never been that close without a warning buzz.Stay safe and alert friends. 9 and a button was all that told me it was a rattler, it's pattern almost looked like a gopher snake.

 

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[vpnavy]

 

[gunsil]

They often don't rattle or buzz around here, but we have timber rattlers, not diamondbacks. I have walked right up to several, no rattling. Once even poked a big one with a long stick to try to alarm him into rattling but he just sat there.

 

[digging440yrs]

---------I don't like spiders and snakes

 

[kcm]

They rattle when they get nervous. Yours wasn't nervous. ...Just hungry!

 

[Goldwasher]

the reason he is so big is he knows when and when not to rattle!!!!

 

[meMiner]

I read something about rattlesnakes around some populated areas in the US that was interesting. People have been killing them when they hear them for so long that they are causing a quick evolution - the snakes that survive to reproduce are now the ones who don't rattle. So, yes, be careful out there.

 

[arizau]

Snakes are cold blooded and they are very lethargic until they warm up enough to be active. I have encountered them on early morning hikes when it is still very cool and they did not rattle or move until they were physically disturbed with a few pebbles kicked at them to get them to move out of my way. They were usually coiled on or next to the trail in a place where the sun had not reached yet. I have also seen them when they should have been warm enough to warn me but didn't. Some of those guys are dead now since they scared the s..t out of me. In any case be careful out there.

 

[wildminer]

STOP IT!!!! You guys are giving me the WILLIES!!! When I was a kid I walked into hundreds of timber rattlers that were on the move apparently to den up. Like they say, when you're going through hell keep on going, which I did, but there was just more of them. Talk about a broken field runner with a high leg lift, I could have been a starter on a super bowl team! Maybe should have gone back the direction I came, but I wanted in the rig and away from there. Nightmares for years afterwards.

 

[arizau]

I was rabbit hunting one day when I was a kid and a rattler made me do my best imitation of Plastic Man or a standing broad jumper. I was stepping down into a gully to cross it and saw that I was about to step on him but I stretched in mid stride and made it all the way across the gully which was about 6 feet wide. That snake received a full tube of LR Hollow Points from my 22 Remington pump (or at least a couple of them hit it). My buddy thought I had gone crazy what with all the shooting and yelling I was doing.

 

[kcm]

**ROFL** Good one!

Hmm...I wonder what would've happened if the snake had struck upward just as you were stretching across that gully??

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

They often don't rattle or buzz around here, but we have timber rattlers, not diamondbacks. I have walked right up to several, no rattling. Once even poked a big one with a long stick to try to alarm him into rattling but he just sat there.

I didn't want to admit it, but I poked him with my walking stick and he still didn't rattle that was when I left.Although I made the mistake of telling my wife that and she was like, you know when you hear stories about idiots I said I know and she said IDIOT.LOL At least i didn't reach down to see if he was alive.Then she proceeded to tell her best friend now both were like you are an IDIOT.LOL Oh well I'll probably do it again if I'm in that situation again.

 

[smokeythecat]

Don't tell the significant other. You should have snapped a picture, close up and shown her that instead.

I still have the picture somewhere of the sidewinder I almost stepped on. It was coiled and buried except the top of his head and back. I startled and took its picture. No poking. He lived happily ever after. He didn't rattle he was so scared.

 

[austin]

Never a problem before. Early spring, no rattle, summer, rattle. I never cared Copperheads and Moccasins were worse. Lots of them here. Used to shoot everything that moved. 6 years ago, didn't want to shoot anything. but carried a pistola anyway. April, warm and my friend was hunting on his ranch. I was ahead of him. Little two- three foot diamondback ahead of me. I shot behind it to scare it off with the vibrations. Damm thing turned around and started striking. Came right for me. Raised a leg and shot. Bullet hit a limestone outcrop,ricocheted back through the bottom of my boot and blew part of a toe off. Snake just went between my legs at top speed and adiosed. Tried to heal toe myself, but infection came, lost two toes, walk with a limp and hope a huge roadrunner ate that little critter. I hate all snakes now...

 

[Hard Prospector]

I've killed dozens of em over the decades as snake shot gets it done. Last few years, I also carry a snake stick and bucket in the truck and when working a club claim will relocate (some distance away) whenever realistic to the situation at hand.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

If they aren't trying to bite me I normally just leave them be, as I am in there home, now would be a different story if they were in mine.But I have no issue if someone else doesn't.I was relocating snakes(Rattlers) at 15 yrs of age as part of a job I had.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Don't tell the significant other. You should have snapped a picture, close up and shown her that instead.

I still have the picture somewhere of the sidewinder I almost stepped on. It was coiled and buried except the top of his head and back. I startled and took its picture. No poking. He lived happily ever after. He didn't rattle he was so scared.

I am such a dinosaur I still have a flip phone so my pics with it suck as the wife is the picture taker with her camera.Now she still has a flip phone but I will call her frugal.LOL

 

[Icewing]

I was clearing some brush around a pond the other day and came across a water moccasin about 5 feet long. When I poked it with a long stick the silly thing came right at me so I relocated back to hell.

 

[NWMP]

Rattlers, yeesh. And here I get startled when I spook up a Garter snake, lol. And I used to play with them as a kid. Guess I'm turning into an old ninny, lol. There is a small town near by that has a lot of old bulldozed and buried foundations. It must be a huge den site as the place is literally crawling with them in warmer weather. Much to the delight of the locals I'm sure.

 

[Rawhide]

Im usually too busy to notice them. I had a stick in the brush move on me one day. It rattled after it found a good place to back into. But the one time that scared me is when I stepped on a rock and one rattled. I couldnt see it, talk about flippin scary.