IA Born

I keep telling myself I'm heading back to 35A to chase coues after spending last turkey season down there. We had a pair of bruisers walk across the road in front of us one evening.

Its that time again. We have our deck of cards for a chance at a Commissioner's Turkey Tag. This tag is good for 365 days in any open unit in Arizona. That includes the Merriams, Goulds, and Rio Grande units. Cards are $20 each and the drawing will be August 3, 2019 at the Sierra Vista Goulds NWTF Chapter Banquet. Second place is a Savage Axis II in 6.5 CM. We're working on getting this raffle up on our chapter website, but if you're interested in getting cards, PM me and we'll make it happen. I only have 25 cards left in our deck.

Great job and congrats, Tommy!

Forgot that one. Good catch! That's why most leading vets recommend Bennedryl to get the swelling down as fast as possible.

Here is the picture of disintegrins working on a muscle fiber. The caption with the photo is: "A portion of a single muscle fiber (cell) with the amorphous and fibrous components of the plasma membrane being stripped away by the disintegrins present in the venom. The muscle cell is being stripped right down to, but with no damage to, the plasma membrane itself". All of that fuzzy stuff at the bottom of the muscle fiber (cellular level) is the plasma membrane/fascia being stripped away, rendering the muscle fiber useless.

I'm not a bee expert, but my first question is what you mean by killer bees. Africanized bees are dangerous because they swarm in large numbers and attacks often result in 100s if not 1000s of stings. A colony of honey bees can do the same thing if provoked. As far as what their venom type is, that's out of my purview. Sorry, can't help. Most rattlesnakes in Arizona (US for that matter) have hemorrhagic toxin. Neurotoxins are not as common, as a whole, but prevalent among many species, including Mohaves, tigers, midget-faded in AZ (very limited distribution in AZ). Mohaves are tricky because they have a strong neurotoxin (Mohave toxin) throughout most of their range but, but also have individuals that have only hemorrahgic toxins. To complicate that, there is an area where individuals with each venom type overlap and possess both neurotoxin and hemorrhagic toxin. That was the subject of my research and I' happy to share my published paper of why some individuals have one, but not the other. Genetics, baby! Even among venomous snakes, in general, they can have many different proteins within the venom type, including different ones among different species and, even, within different individuals. My former immunology professor in grad school demonstrated 22 different variations of the neurotoxin of Mohave rattlesnakes, all based on the presence of various proteins. Some of those hemorrhagic toxins have 2 different proteins that each cause clotting and hemorrhaging in the same venom. Some proteins cleave off the antigen binding site, making antibodies (self-produced or from antivenin) rather useless. Other proteins (disintegrins) peel back cellular tissue layers like an onion. I have a cool scanning electron microscope of disintegrins peeling back the fascia of a group of muscle fibers, rendering those muscles useless. Happy to share that, too. By the way, when I hear "Killer Bees", this is where my mind races: In all of my years of venom research and talking to both venom researchers, ER doctors, and the AZ Poison Control (venom experts there, too), I've never seen any data supporting electroshock. There is no clinical data, to my knowledge, that demonstrates how electroshock counteracts the properties of those venom proteins. Exactly this. Its an expensive treatment that doesn't work effectively at all. I've had this discussion with my vets and several vet techs many times and its always the same. Get to an ER and pray for the best. It doesn't work very well because of the proteins in the venom that cleave off the antigen binding sites, preventing antibodies from attaching and being able to do their job. It won't work on humans for the same reason. Bill Haast, who used to run the Florida Serpentarium and handle all kinds of venomous snakes from around the world, used to give himself micro-injections of venom of several different kinds of snakes to build up immunity. This is the same way antivenim is produced when horses (formerly) and, now, goats are injected, building up the antibodies that are isolated for the antivenin serum. Despite Bill's efforts, he still had to make multiple trips to the ER for treatments after bites. I watched a documentary on him a couple of decades ago and it showed him using his wife's rose pruners to clip off the blackened, necrotic tip of his pinky finger after being bit. We had our two German shepherd avoidance trained when we lived in Tucson and I was still actively handling rattlesnakes while out hiking. It cost us $50 per dog and was the best money ever spent on that. A research buddy of mine showed up with a speck from Nevada on his way through town. He had it in a 5-gallon bucket. My dogs both came up, being the curious pups they were, stuck their noses over the edge of the bucket and immediately took off running. I was washing my truck, so my doors were open. I turned around to see them sitting side-by-side in the back seat looking out the back window with an "Up yours. We're staying here!" expression. When we'd find them on hikes, research adventures, they'd go find shade and hang out while we took care of business.

Updated. Still have Simmons Aetec scope for sale. Price is $80 OBO shipped.

I wish I could tell you it was a joke, but I've lost count how many times I've people tell me that's a legitimate treatment for rattlesnake bites. As soon as they heard I was a venom researcher, it was "I was always told that you just hook up your jumper cables and hit the bite site to neutralize the venom!" The scary part is that they were always dead serious. The ones who argued with me the most are the ones I quit trying to convince. Being a student of Darwin, I figured I'd let them weed out the gene pool themselves. And now you have me laughing again, too!

The best thing you can do is get to a high point and get help via cell or SPOT/InReach, etc. Barring that option, the next best thing you can do is to stay calm (right?) and hike out as quickly as you can, while not getting your blood pumping too hard. I say that, because you don't want an increased blood flow moving the venom around any faster than necessary. There up to 43 different proteins in venom, ranging from hemorrhagic to necrotic to neurotoxic. If you carry a Sawyer extractor, they are in the category of "Might help a little, but won't hurt to try". Keep in mind that the "might" is emphasized for a reason. I have seen the data on them and they really aren't all that they're cracked up to be. When I have more time, I can indulge more about the success (lack thereof) rate when using those in trial studies. I can give you the "don't do" list much easier. Don't use a tourniquet; don't put ice on the bite site (or soak in ice); don't try to neutralize the venom by hooking your jumper cables to the car battery and shocking the bite site; don't have a friend try to suck the venom out either. Tourniquets and ice slow circulation and pool blood and, therefore, the venom proteins at the bite site. I've seen some nasty pictures of people missing fingers and having crazy-horrible necrosis at the bite site from tourniquets and ice. The "jumper cable" thing is a on old wives-tale. It does absolutely nothing to neutralize the venom and it simply shocks the piss out of you; nothing more. Having a friend (or you) try to suck the venom out is just as useless as the Sawyer Extractor (actually more so); if you or your friend is actually successful in getting the venom out (highly unlikely), then you will have active venom inside your mouth, which is porous and an easy inlet to your system, especially if you have bitten your lip or have an open sore/wound. Antihistamines may help with the swelling, but it won't do anything to counteract/neutralize the venom.

Roads are open up there and the turkeys are plentiful. Good luck!

I'll have to go back into my venom research papers and see what they say about specks. Last I knew, they were pretty run-of-the-mill with hemotoxins, like a diamond-backed. Not much compares to Mohaves in North America, but they are out there (midget faded, tiger, southern pacific).

Our 15 year old daughter is going on a 10-day rafting trip in the Grand Canyon this summer through Grand Canyon Youth. Its a great program that exposes kids to the outdoors in various aspects, including conservation of ecosystems and is a science immersion program. One of the requirements for this trip is that she is required to raise the money, herself, to cover half of the cost of the trip. She needs to raise $550 on her own. She has opted to follow in her brother's footsteps; however, she is making jewelry instead of tying flies. She's gotten quite good at making earrings and, at this time, is limited to only earrings. She (and my wife and I) would appreciate you considering helping her. These are great for your wives, daughters, girlfriends, nieces, and self (no judging if you're not a woman who wants some of these). Like when Jacob was tying flies for his blackbelt journey, this is purely donation and she'll make you a pair of earrings for whatever you think is fair. Pics of what she's made so far are below. And, yes, my wife was an ear model in a former life! Thanks, again, for considering helping her.

I've been voluntold to sit in on a call with our bigwigs in 10 minutes. I'll PM you after that.

I know the bottom row well! My mom's family is from Davis County (Bloomfield). Dad's is from Knoxville and Pleasantville.

That is very true about tiger rattlesnakes and their venom. Their venom is up there in toxicity with the Mohave rattlensakes that possess Mohave toxin (the neurotoxin). To give you an idea of the toxicity of Mohave toxin, it has an LD50 (lethal dose that kills 50% of your test population) of 0.14-0.25 micrograms/liter, whereas diamondback rattlesnakes have an LD50 of 3.0-5.0 micrograms/liter. That's a huge order of magnitude difference in toxicity. Tiger rattlesnakes are very close to the former. Where in SW Iowa? I grew up about 30 minutes east of Des Moines.

That all brought up a great blast from the past. I forgot I put some of the story in writing. There's way more to it, though, and a write-up won't do it justice. You bring your beer, Tim and Mr. Nature, I'll bring my root beer (quit drinking 5.5 years ago), and I'll tell the rest and we'll have fun swapping other stories. And for what its worth, research has demonstrated that passive defense is a rattlesnake's most frequently used defense mechanism. Most times (emphasis: MOST), rattlesnakes will sit quietly and let threats walk on by. I've been in a group of 10 and it was the 9th or 10th person hiking that saw the snake finally. And since we're sharing cool pics, blacktails (C. molossus) are my favorite in Arizona, especially from the Huachucas and Chiricahuas. Two wicked cool molossus I crossed paths with in different canyons in the Huachucas back in the day.

Thanks, gentlemen! Syd was excited you are helping her out. Much appreciated!!

Its definitely a speckled. Mr. Natural. The head is proportionate for its body, which rules out tigers. Tiger rattlesnakes have a very disproportionately small head for their body size. Specks can vary from pinkish to orange to white to gray. Tigers are usually pink/orange, but with more banding than the rhomboid patterns of a speck. Definitely not a mohave (they changed the official spelling a couple of years ago). Mohaves were my research specimen for grad school and they can be just as big and plump as a diamondback and even have the same color pattern, especially where the two species overlap. Mohaves tend to be more green and have smaller/broken black banding on the tail, but you can't take that to the bank. The only way to be 100% its a Mohave is to look for two large scutes (scales) between the eyes, compared to 7 or more between the eyes of a diamondback. If you're that close, you're too close (for most normal people). I'm far from normal as I had to collect blood and venom from live specimens, so I handled more than my share of mohaves, as well as many other species. Someday, when we're all sitting around the campfire, I'll tell you what happens when you accidentally snort crystallized mohave toxin (the nuerotoxic venom of Mohave rattlesnakes).

This is like the Ford/Dodge(Ram)/Chevy/Toyota question. My daughter, at 9 thought the 870 was too big and the 1100 youth was too heavy. Got her a Mossberg 500 Bantam 20ga and she loves it. The Remingtons (870 and 1100) are absolutely great. My son has a Weatherby SA08 compact 20ga and its awesome. So is the Weatherby PA08. Tristar also makes a great youth model in both 20 and 12 and they're both semiauto. We gave away a compact Winchester 20ga at our NWTF banquet a month ago in Flagstaff and that thing is sweet, too. There are so many great compact shotguns on the market now, its unreal. Most are top brands and you won't go wrong. Just find the one that fits best and have fun. Then comes the task of finding the right choke for the ammo you want to use. Got it right the first time with my daughter's shotgun and it took two tries for my son's. With their rigs (shotgun, choke, and ammo), I wouldn't hesitate to let them shoot a bird at 50 yards.

I'd bet I could guess the name of the shotgun test and get pretty close. You can text it to me and I'll laugh. You aren't the only one with a dadfail on that hunt! I hope Melinda had good things to say about us! Ramon Criss was a great, wonderful man. He passed two years ago next month and I'll never forget receiving the news and having to tell Sydney. His area is truly a beautiful place and I'm glad they are honoring him. I have a copy of the last picture ever taken of him and I can text it to you. It was great to follow Draysen's hunt as it was happening. Congrats on two wonderful birds!!

I'm getting ready to head back down to the youth turkey camp, but holler at me sometime. I did my graduate work on the venom and genetics of Mohave rattlesnakes. I've seen strings of 5+ people walk past them because passive defense is their primary defense (most of the time).

Our Northern Arizona NWTF chapter up here in Flagstaff has its own website! We are blasting it out there and having our inaugural online raffle for a Cannon Meridian 48-gun safe. Tickets are $30 each and we're only selling 100 of them. You can go to the store and buy your tickets. There are less than 70 tickets left. The winner has to pick up the safe. No deliveries or shipping. If you're out of town and down't want to travel to get the safe, we can send you a gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse for $629. After we get through this raffle, we'll start having regular online raffles. https://www.naznwtf.org/ Thanks for looking!

Congrats again, Glen! I left you a voicemail yesterday. Your gift card is on the way!

Thanks for the reminder. Life has been hectic trying to meet deadlines and get ready for the youth turkey hunt. Glen Harwell, from Fountain Hills, won the gun safe. Interestingly, he sold his safe right before this and had no need for one, so he opted for the Sportsman's Warehouse gift card valued at $699.99. A local gal here in Flagstaff won the sleeping bag. We're working on getting our next raffle ready, so please stay tuned.

That's awesome! I'll PM you. Thanks!!