Adrenalin Rush this Morning

[Chrisj CMA]

Some friends had a daily visitor to their backyard.  They were going to pay someone to come get this thing.  So Judy and I stepped in.  After all what's a five foot Eastern Diamond Back between friends.  We found the snake coiled up in their shed, so I used a long painter pole to extract it.

A shot with the Cross Bow only wounded it and made it more mad than it was already, so with venom flying in the air I held it down with the pole while Judy lopped its head with a machete.

Gonna eat him tomorrow

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

 

[..]

 

[Willow]

That's a fair sized beast.  Was it male or female?  Are there some little one slithering about?

P.S.  Judy's pocket knife looks a lot like the one I carry which they will no longer let me take inside an MLB stadium during a ball game.  I talked really ugly to them about that.

[Chrisj CMA]

That's a fair sized beast.  Was it male or female?  Are there some little one slithering about?

P.S.  Judy's pocket knife looks a lot like the one I carry which they will no longer let me take inside an MLB stadium during a ball game.  I talked really ugly to them about that.

Im relatively sure it was male or female........I have no clue how to check........we did look for a nest and babies or more snakes.....no signs but we advised her to get some snake-a-way to put in the shed just in case.

Carl, I hear ya about the pocket knife.  I hate it when I cant carry mine too.  I bought that little Gerber for Judy soon after we got married and its been  a great tool for ten years, she uses it all the time and  still looks like new.

[Moonshot_1]

That's a fair sized beast.  Was it male or female?  Are there some little one slithering about?

P.S.  Judy's pocket knife looks a lot like the one I carry which they will no longer let me take inside an MLB stadium during a ball game.  I talked really ugly to them about that.

Im relatively sure it was male or female........I have no clue how to check........we did look for a nest and babies or more snakes.....no signs but we advised her to get some snake-a-way to put in the shed just in case.

Carl, I hear ya about the pocket knife.  I hate it when I cant carry mine too.  I bought that little Gerber for Judy soon after we got married and its been  a great tool for ten years, she uses it all the time and  still looks like new.

Pretty easy to check if they are male or female. Just wait and see what restroom they use. Wait! That doesn't work anymore.
How did it identify itself?

On a more serious note, I wouldn't be getting your wife mad anytime soon. I'd be on the end of the 10 foot pole too.

Good sized snake. Never ate one before. Opportunity never has come up. Hear they are good.

[Chrisj CMA]

That's a fair sized beast.  Was it male or female?  Are there some little one slithering about?

P.S.  Judy's pocket knife looks a lot like the one I carry which they will no longer let me take inside an MLB stadium during a ball game.  I talked really ugly to them about that.

Im relatively sure it was male or female........I have no clue how to check........we did look for a nest and babies or more snakes.....no signs but we advised her to get some snake-a-way to put in the shed just in case.

Carl, I hear ya about the pocket knife.  I hate it when I cant carry mine too.  I bought that little Gerber for Judy soon after we got married and its been  a great tool for ten years, she uses it all the time and  still looks like new.

Pretty easy to check if they are male or female. Just wait and see what restroom they use. Wait! That doesn't work anymore.
How did it identify itself?

On a more serious note, I wouldn't be getting your wife mad anytime soon. I'd be on the end of the 10 foot pole too.

Good sized snake. Never ate one before. Opportunity never has come up. Hear they are good.

I was going to do the chopping but Judy couldn't hold the snake down.  That buggar was a little strong.  I made sure I really had it before she got near it.

Judy is good with all kinds of blades

[RP#62]

They get a lot bigger than the western diamondbacks - I guess they have a lot more to eat back east.  My father in law killed one at his place in Lake City that measured 86 inches from rattle to head.  I got the hide mounted on the wall.

-RP

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I've had rattlesnake before its somewhat " chewie " but good.... Nice one 

[Valker]

If you ever pass through Amarillo, the Big Texan restaurant serves rattlesnake. Menu says, "Lots of bones, not much meat. No refunds, you've been warned".

[sandy]

How much time did you take to get dressed for the "hunt"?

[Chrisj CMA]

How much time did you take to get dressed for the "hunt"?

?? Them are my standard field duds........ I had shorts on when they called........you don't go snake getting in shorts and flip flops

[Farside]

Way to go Judy!  Now will she also do the fix'en?  Impressive little lady Jeff! 
Sorry I'll miss lunch tomorrow, y'all enjoy! 

[Firefighter]

Down here in Texas we swing them around then pop um like a whip!

But you kicked it's ass just the same!!

[Draeger]

Wow - that is a HUGE snake! Nice work man!

[Chrisj CMA]

That's a fair sized beast.  Was it male or female?  Are there some little one slithering about?

P.S.  Judy's pocket knife looks a lot like the one I carry which they will no longer let me take inside an MLB stadium during a ball game.  I talked really ugly to them about that.

Carl, I looked up sexing rattle snakes and apparently it is not easy.  The tail is longer on males, but every snake is different so longer is subjective and can be misleading.  The real way is to "probe" the opening at the base of the tail.  I was not doing that.  So, after seeing Patrick's bird post, I have to say it was female; its mouth was open A LOT......... Lol

[FLAVALK]

That's a nice one!

Recently I found a big 'ol water moccasin under the fridge in our garage and it took some serious doing to dislodge the darn thing. I wanted to shoot it but was afraid to do so in the garage. I didn't have rat shot but since have restocked. Rat shot is difficult to obtain these days and had to wait a couple months before any was available  

But now I'm ready  

[Gavin_Sons]

i killed a little garter snake yesterday. Had a tree infested with termites and i was treating it to kill the termites before i cut it down and this little thing came out of the tree and tried to go up my leg. I looked like a little girl jumping around. i grabbed my shovel and smacked him real good. I hate snakes, i'm fine if i see them first but if they surprise me they get stomped into the ground or beat with a shovel.

[Chrisj CMA]

i killed a little garter snake yesterday. Had a tree infested with termites and i was treating it to kill the termites before i cut it down and this little thing came out of the tree and tried to go up my leg. I looked like a little girl jumping around. i grabbed my shovel and smacked him real good. I hate snakes, i'm fine if i see them first but if they surprise me they get stomped into the ground or beat with a shovel.

Well, I'm sure glad you survived!  I surely wouldn't have killed this snake if it wasn't poisonous and intent to take up residence in my friend's backyard.  I like snakes, they are good for the environment

[G-Man]

Now THAT'S cool!

You got a brave wife there.   

[signart]

That will be good eating right there. Scrawny ones, not worth fooling with.
Snake & eggs been a long time.

[..]

You'll get to the snake part.

This from nearly 10 years ago.

Kayak

Having sold my 2 seater I'm now the owner of a shiny red single seater.

Of course with a new toy you have to try it out immediately . Sunday at 10am I launched into the Chattahoochee River off Azalea Drive in Roswell. Immediately noticing extra speed, less drag, I headed upriver.

About a quarter of a mile before the Roswell Road bridge there is a small inlet on the Northern side of the Hooch that runs parallel with the river. I know from previous visits that this is a haunt of a large grey heron. The inlet is only accessible when the river is running high.

After paddling about 50 yards down the inlet an enormous grey shape launched itself from the right bank about 5 feet from me. I admit my heart pumped a little faster for a split second until I realized it was "Ardea cinerea" annoyed at my proximity to him.

The heron went around a bend and came into view as I paddled further on. He had taken up station on a partially submerged log and was standing ramrod straight. I have approached him within about 15 feet before, that seems to be his tolerance distance.

So feathering my paddles I slowly approached. He remained calm but completely upright. At his safe distance I stopped dead in the water and noticed the heron visibly relax. Both his knees and neck bent slightly. OK I thought now I can see a heron catch his lunch.

Fifteen minutes later he had made a couple of false stabs into the water with his rapier like beak and decided to wade in the water keeping the log between the two of us.

I moved forward and he disappeared behind the vegetation growing from the silt that had piled up on the log. I came into view, darn it, too near and he lazily took wing.

Following him I passed under a fairly low branch only to have a brownish colored snake drop into the cockpit of my kayak. Well I wanted to be the hell away from the unwanted visitor so I tipped the kayak over. (Note for future - new kayak is less stable than old one).

The snake went somewhere as did I into waist deep silt and decaying methane popping slime. I was holding onto the upside down kayak which prevented me from being sucked any deeper. I managed to grab my paddle and then tipped the kayak over. Still up to my mid thigh in the glutinous river bottom with the water at chest height I could feel myself slowly sinking into the morass. Great!!! Didn't lose my glasses which I had forgotten to secure with my Croakie - too eager to get the new kayak on the water.

Slowly I managed to pull one leg nearly free without losing my water shoe (Note for future - buy footwear that fits more securely).

The water I'm in is so murky that I can't see anything below the surface of the water. My imagination is thankfully not full of unseen snakes, piranhas and snapping turtles. I'm wearing a life preserver which sounds a bit like overkill when on a relatively "calm" river like the Hooch but without it I'd have sunk deeper into the slime.

The muddy river bank is about 12 feet away from me. Easy to get to? Not when the water is only a couple of feet deep and you are trying to hang onto a kayak and not get sucked back into the slime. The current in the inlet is only about ½ mph. Exerting a lot of effort and keeping my water shoes on I splash, struggle and so slowly move towards the bank whilst hanging onto the kayak. Methane is erupting all around me with the rich smell of years old decaying vegetation, clinging to me like a cloying, invisible gossamer mantle.

Another heart pumping moment as my right foot hits something hard and scaly (Note for future - Don't watch "The Crocodile Hunter" the night before paddling). Secure footing on a tree root! Now I'm able to stand waist deep in water, no standing in slime anymore. The river bank is 8 feet away, might as well be 80 feet away at this moment. I push my paddle down into the water in front of me and it just sinks down, down into the slime. Great if I can't stand up how do I get up onto the bank and out of the water. OK, now I'm on firm footing I can get back into the kayak. First I have to bail it using a soft padded cooler bag I use to take water bottles with me. This takes a hell of a long time. Amazing how so much water takes up so little space.

I'm a large bloke so me getting back into the kayak is something akin to seeing an Orca get onto a concrete deck at Sea World. The advantage they have is that the deck is secure and solid and doesn't move away from them. Every action has an opposite ...........etc. A basic physics theory being so ably demonstrated in the wild. A school education worthwhile.

Flopping around I realize that re-entry is close to impossible as I bail the kayak again.

Ah, I love the smell of methane on a Sunday morning.

Looking around I take note of options available. The most likely seems to be a broken tree trunk sticking at about 45 degrees from the bank in my general direction. I slowly shuffle along my most accommodating tree root. The plan is that I will pull myself up on the trunk and cunningly position the kayak beneath me with my feet enabling me to drop into the kayak. I position the kayak against my body on the upstream side and grasp the tree trunk with both hands. At this point biting ants boil out of the wood and quickly cover my hands and forearms. I rinse the ants off as more methane bubbles explode around me.

Next option is to move further away from the bank to an overhanging branch and attempt the same maneuver. I shuffle along the submerged tree root only to find I can just grasp a couple of leaves on the hanging branch, the tree root ends, broken. Pulling so, so gently on the leaves the branch slowly dips towards me. The fingers of my left hand are able to grip the branch and I "walk" my fingers along the branch gaining a stronger and stronger grip. Now I can once again lodge the kayak against my body and with both hands on the branch I firmly pull myself out of the water and fall back in as the branch breaks.

I can see Azalea Drive through the tangled undergrowth and have been too embarrassed to cry for assistance. Although if I had stayed stuck for much longer I'd have been hollering.

Next option is to try and get back into the kayak. Edging further along the tree root I can just stretch and touch the tip of my paddle onto the muddy slippery bank. This gives me a little more support as I successfully get into the kayak. Bloody marvelous. I'm kneeling in the kayak facing the stern, but I'm in, I'm in. Now to turn around.

OK, so now I'm back in the water up to my butt in slime and getting annoyed. So I HULK. Adrenaline and the thought of Sunday lunch power me through the ooze to the river bank which I cling to like a stranded catfish. I'm also clinging to my kayak which must weigh about 250 lbs with all the water that's back in it.

I have driven the fingers of my left hand into the mud and am slowly sinking into the slime. Once last mad slipping, slapping, slopping heave and I'm out of the water but slowly being pulled back by the weight of the kayak. Another heave and I'm up and standing. Now to pull the kayak out of the water and tip it to drain it. Not easy when you first have to beat down the undergrowth with the paddle to make room whilst the kayak is still trying to slide and pull me back into the water.

Eventually I emerge from the thorn laden vegetation with my legs impressively scarred and bleeding dragging my kayak. A slow drippingly smelly walk down Azalea Drive to my vehicle to find that from when I flipped to my emergence from the undergrowth has taken about 50 minutes. A quick rub down with a towel, a change of some clothing and retrieval of the kayak gets me home in time for lunch.

[cookiedough]

i killed a little garter snake yesterday. Had a tree infested with termites and i was treating it to kill the termites before i cut it down and this little thing came out of the tree and tried to go up my leg. I looked like a little girl jumping around. i grabbed my shovel and smacked him real good. I hate snakes, i'm fine if i see them first but if they surprise me they get stomped into the ground or beat with a shovel.

same here like a little girl jumping around,  snakes are not my cup of tea.  I was in my basement and looked up to get something out of freezer.  There was a 2 foot garter snake right above my head 2 feet resting on my dryer vent tubing.  What do I do now?  I tried putting a bucket and took a metal hoe and tried shaking him off into the bucket.  NO luck, he took off under the foundation where house/concrete foundation meet behind insulation.  Wife went outside and lo and behold there must be a crack under the vinly siding and wood foundation vs. the concrete slab since he was coming out.  He came out all the way finally but when he/she attempted to go back into house under siding, I grabbed his tail and flung him 30 feet into my backyard, grabbed a hoe, held it down, and being a wimp put a glove on and picked up by tail, put him into 32 gallon trashcan, and then transported him 1 mile away downtown in the creek area. 

Now that size and type of snake I would just take my 12 gauge and blow it away since no way would I dare mess with that.  Your wife is a BRAVE women indeed not many people would cut it's head off woman or man.

[Jess from VA]

Jeff, any plans to use that skin for a hatband or trim on the bike seat? (I suppose that would be expensive)

On another continent, this story is a nightmare.  I hear there's lots of Pythons in FL.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/toilet-terror-python-bites-mans-8044766

[sixlow]

You sick Puppy , I would have used the 50 cal.

[Chrisj CMA]

You sick Puppy , I would have used the 50 cal.

Lol....... I sure wanted to too but in a residential neighborhood someone would hear that.  The cross bow was quiet, just too small a target

[Chrisj CMA]

Well, there is another very good way to tell the sex of a rattle snake.  Skin it and gut it and if you find eggs it is female.  Seems we killed around eleven snakes with a single swing of the machete.

So Carl, yes it's a girl, but no, no little ones slithering this time.

Perfect!

[Willow]

Well, there is another very good way to tell the sex of a rattle snake.  Skin it and gut it and if you find eggs it is female.  Seems we killed around eleven snakes with a single swing of the machete.

So Carl, yes it's a girl, but no, no little ones slithering this time.

Perfect! 

Yes, but with what gender did it identify?     

That was a good sized animal.  Makes one wonder where it came from and where she has been.  Glad to hear we don't expect to see the remnant of her previous batch of eggs.

Does one scramble rattlesnake eggs for breakfast?   

[Chrisj CMA]

My friend, the guy that is cooking up the meat  for Bible Study dinner on Sunday said the yellows were at least twice the size of chicken eggs.  He buried them in his garden. 

[signart]

I have eaten rattlesnake with (chicken) eggs and it goes quite well together.
In my billboard painting days, we turned over all the old panels and boards laying about to clear any surprises that may be disturbed while we were focusing on rigging the walk boards. Yes, copperheads WILL lay with rattlers and others.
Not many rattlers big enough to eat, but were still good snakes when we got through them.

We cut them in about 3" pieces and soak at least overnight in salt water. Rolled 'em in flour, salt &  pepper, then fried just like squirrel or frog legs. (man. I'm getting hungry!) Sometimes I like to add a little cornmeal to the flour. Nothing like it, and don't taste just like chicken.