Stovey's tellin' stories now. All he's got in So. Cal. is coastal rattlers They only run about 18 to 24 inches long and can't strike any more then their body length.

Yepper- them tree huggers aint deadly but, they sure are irritating!

I lived in Ventura County (Santa Paula) for 7 years. Dispatched a bunch of them and rode around a bunch of them. They are a bit prolific in that part of USSR of C. Yup. Lots of Coast Rattles.

There's about 20 diff kinds, speckeld, S. Pacific, N. Pacific, WDB, timber, Mojave, ..... whatever- 3-4' max lentgh a bit more depending on things....count the rattles to see how many sheds. Blah blah blah...I see and hear them weekly here in PV and in the hills and deserts here in Calif. We have a nice variety w/in 90 mins drive radius- including WDB, Mjoave Green, etc etc....

Pit vipers, with rattles and fangs, get blasted if they square off with me. Period.

I don't like snakes! And I've seen some piccy's of all the lovely no-legged critters you have slithering about at your place Mr. B.

Woof! Not me.

"Mr. B. Woof"?? Where'd that come from?

Ya read it wrong...."Mr. B. (period)" then the....Woof! Woof means I'm gettin the kreeps...I edited it for clarification....hope this helps...I didnt mean to imply yer shaggy, muttly or unkempt or anything liek that....

But I am....

Oh . You mean the cottonmouths, copperheads and timber rattlers? Nice fellas [when their heads are cut off]..

Agrreed!

rattlers are scary fellers. This summer on one of the trips to my parents my daughters came screaming in the house yelling SNAKE. I went to have a look and it was a 24 in timber rattler. 1st one I have ever seen down at my parents, ever! I grabbed my old 97 Winchester with some 00 and without even attempting too, took its head off. Since the shot turned out so clean, I decided to skin the bugger. I had to wait about 20 minutes for it to stop moving though. Heck, I thought it was done at one point, picked it up and everything. But once I jiggled the tail it coiled up and moved like it was trying to bite the hand I was holding it with!! and there was no head on the it !! Anyway, I skinned it, and since I had never skinned a snake I went online to see what to do. Its really simple, really! after you have scraped the excess off, soak in some salt water for a couple hours. and rinse. Then, and this is cool, soak it in anti freeze over night!! Glycerin is needed for curing the snake skin, or so I read online. I think it was at Foxfire book series, or similar sight. Anyway, anti freeze is , glycerin. After the overnight soak, you rinse , and you could be done if you want the skin stiff, but if you want it pliable, this is the next neat trick. Soak it in milk over night. Yup, rolled it up and dropped it in a coffee can, covered it up with milk and let it sit. The lactic acid in the milk softens the skin. Thats been about 3 months ago now and the skin is still soft as can be, for a rattle snake that is !
My daughters ask me if I was scared when I saw the snake. I said not really. Id be a lot more scared if I didnt see it, because I wanted to know where it was.

and if you want to know, I shot it for a couple reasons. One was, my kids safety, and because it was right up by my parents house, and my dad is deaf as a board, he would have never heard the rattle and unless he was lucky enough to see it, he'd likely been bit if he walked up on it. The last reason was that when I went to see it, it coiled and I think if I had been closer, it would have tried to strike. If they stay out in the pasture or woods, I'm not happy, but Im not likely too shoot them . But like I said, this was the first one I had seen in the 20 years they have lived down there. I know they are in southern Illinois, just never have seen one in my life. Copper heads, yes, rattlers , no.

WOW Dallan...you are lucky mate (yep, I'm back).

I can understand Grumpies point of view...to an a small extent...'cause I like snakes myself. HOWEVER, when a snake coils up and decides to have a "taste" of you, well, as far as I am concerned you have as much right to do the same to him. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for the snake), we have the ability to make use of tools to do this...a 32 gram load of #7.5 doing 1300 fps from a 12g works well.

Regardless of who is encroaching on whose domain, the right to defend oneself is paramount, and only the best and quickest survive. Law for the jungle I'm afraid, or as my Dad used to say, "you make your bed, you lie in it".

Great to hear your young'un has joined the clan of hunters mate. You are gonna have to give him a nicknmae and get him up on here and "around the fire" to tell his story mate.

Cheers, Vince

I like snakes too!
Pan fried, roasted, broasted, toasted........ you get the idea.
I really like you guys and gals! (I just needed to say that)
Paul

Thanks Paul, I'm pretty sure I can say that all of us here think pretty highly of you too mate...you are a likeable guy mate.

Cheers, Vince

Vince, you really have no choice but to like snakes. Dont you have like the top ten deadliest in the world in your back yard?

All thats left now is to find a good recipe for dove with a side of rattle snake. Any suggestions? I'm glad that you got him. As for protecting yourself, fearing for grievious bodily harm of yourself or people with you would stand in any court and thank God you didn't get hurt. Post some pictures of your new wallet and the meal. LOL