Coues country's other inhabitants

[crotalus]

Great pics !!! As you can tell I love rattlesnakes (crotalus) and venomous critters in general. Aye Coosefan, how about a story to go with the rattlesnake bite? Any pictures of your hand? Snakes in general are harmless but will protect themselves. Ya know rattlesnakes are only dangerous if you happen to "mess" with them. As a general rule they will avoid us like the plague but will become very intimidating if you happen on one. NeoLaquchi, that is one nice snake. If it's an Az Black, it sure is out of its range. Thanx again for all the really cool pics.

Ernest

[Chef]

This post makes me squirm!

 

Great picks guys.

[Guest Ernesto C]

So all the October hunters................whatch out!! Snake!! Nice,very nice pics!

[COOSEFAN]

Great pics !!! As you can tell I love rattlesnakes (crotalus) and venomous critters in general. Aye Coosefan, how about a story to go with the rattlesnake bite? Any pictures of your hand? Snakes in general are harmless but will protect themselves. Ya know rattlesnakes are only dangerous if you happen to "mess" with them. As a general rule they will avoid us like the plague but will become very intimidating if you happen on one. NeoLaquchi, that is one nice snake. If it's an Az Black, it sure is out of its range. Thanx again for all the really cool pics.

Ernest

I think thats funny you automatically assumed i was bit in the hand! I hadn't stated where or how I was bit, BUT as you said, chances are it was from messing with a snake.......and you are right! It was a long time ago on the Sunvalley parkway, North side of the Whitetanks. There used to be a ton of snakes out there and that is where we would go 4-wheelin' lookin for em'. I have picked up and handled more snakes than I can count and wasn't surprised when I got bit. I was holding a small Sidewinder, just like you would any other rattlesnake with the 3 finger pinch around the head, except I swear to this day, that Sidewinder was double-jointed! He twisted his head around in a way I had never seen a snake do, and stuck just one fang into the finger that was on top of his head. I threw him and saw the spot of blood on my finger tip, ripped my girlfriends shoelace off her shoe, tied it around my finger tight and we ran to the hospital. At the hospital, they just marked the progression of the swelling in 15 minute intervals, to determine if it was a dry bite or not. They were supposed to do this for 4 hours, but after close to 3 hours it started spredding faster up to my shoulder. THIS is when they realized they DID NOT have the Anti-venin and didn't even know where it was!!!!!!! They found some at Good Samaritan Hospital, downtown, and had a helicopter coming to get me. They didn't even think at this point I could wait for the chopper so they put me on an ambulance and rushed me there. They told my mom when we got to the hospital that I might not make it, due to the fact Boswell Hospital waited so long before determining the severity and because they hadn't even looked for the Anti-venin in the meantime. I was already in shock and out, so I just remember waking up a day later with an empty bag of Horse blood serum connected to an IV in my arm! They said that was the second bag that was actually in me now!!!!!!! My dad found it funny to ask me when I woke up if I was hungry, I said yes, and he asked me " What do you feel like.........Hay or Pellets and do you want some Grain with that?" I do have pictures somewhere of my finger a couple weeks later, I'll find em', but they aren't pretty, all the tissue on my finger died off and actually "shedded" off just like a snake, and all that was left was the bones and ligaments with a new skin type stuff around it, it has since filled in and looks fairly normal, but I have no feeling in it. Even though it was only one fang, the fact I was squeezing his head holding the snake, I think I was just pumping that venom in faster and the type of venom a Sidewinder has led to the devastating reaction I got from the bite. So, in conclusion, I know it was my fault for being an "over-confident" dumbass, and if you play with snakes long enough, you WILL get bit! JIM>

[COUESAZ]

so what would you tell the mother of a guy i knew that was walking down the road and was killd by a rattle snake. There were two other guys with him and they said they did not even see the snake until after the guy yelled that something just bit him on the legg.

 

I do not by the argument that snakes will only bite you if you prevoke them. Another time while i was deer hunting i had one strike at me with out a rattle or any warning and the thing got me in the snake gaiters. Thank heavens i had them on that day.I have come across many hot and agressive rattle snakes that have needed no prevoking. Am i just that much meaner looking than those of you that fill they are afraid of us.

 

You guys can handle a catch as many as you like, But as for me and my house we will shoot and ask qustions after the thing is streched out across the road.

[COOSEFAN]

Ever since I was bit, I have had more close calls with UN-PROVOKED snakes than ever before! I don't know why... but that is why I said I feel cursed. I have crawled over them while stalking antelope, stepped over them while hunting Elk, even had 2 of them in the fork of a tree at eye level watching me go #2!!!! I have even bent down to pick up a dove I had shot 10 minutes earlier only to find a Rattler was trying to fit it all in his mouth! The fact that they WILL strike without warning or provoking is what scares me the most, but it is usually a reaction strike more because you startled it by stepping right in front of it or on it, I've done both and have been lucky. I have had them strike at me but luckily none have connected...yet! Most will avoid you, others will stand their ground and warn you, but if you surprise one and are in its little zone, watch out! JIM>

 

Hey AZ GUIDE, sorry to hear about that guy! That sent chills up my spine reading that! I have probably killed 50 or more Rattlers before I got bit, since then, I think I've only HAD to kill 2 or 3, I'm just thankful to still be around and don't like to kill em anymore unless I feel they will be a threat to others around, such as camps, pets, home etc. Thanks JIM>

[COOSEFAN]

That snake Neo posted is a beautiful snake! I would have to say it's an AZ Black, doesn't match anything else except for maybe a Massasauga Rattler but it's more than likely a Black. The Az Black rattlers are fairly colorful when younger but that one doesn't look young? Here are some more of mine.

 

Diamondback....

 

 

Very hidden young Az Black Rattler......this is what they look like as you are stalking a huge bull in the high country, with rattlesnakes being the last thing on your mind, and it probably won't even let you know you just walked past it! Thanks, JIM>

 

[Idahocoueshunter]

FANTASTIC pictures, and good stories too. I guess we have all tempted fate with snakes, but for the grace of god, have not been bitten. I picked one up the other day, in front of my son, which was a mistake. I had to give him the speech, "Do as I say, not as I do". Great information on the snake identification.

 

 

 

Craig.

[Kilimanjaro]

I had a couple of close calls with those buzz worms as well. They don't bother me when I can see them.. its not being able to see them that I hate.

I would never in a million years try and pick up a rattler.. They just scare me too much and are so lightning quick with their movements.. I don't kill then either.. I've killed a few but always felt horrible afterwards. Lat one I killed was in unit 27 while bear hunting. We were camped out right on the Blue River near a bluff that over hung the bank. We were cooking breakfast and sitting around the campfire when all of a sudden I saw the thing out of the corner of my eye about 8 inches from my boot! It was a Black tailed rattler and it was full to the brim with something it had just caught. I guessed it was headed to the shade of the bluff to catch some zzz's and digest that big meal. But that was just a bit too close to the camp for comfort..

I've almost stepped on probably 5 or so while on duty out here in the desert since coming out to AZ..

 

Now Gila Monsters are a diff story! They don't scare me at all.. I think it comes from the fact that my buddy had one as a pet back in TX for years and I would handle and play with that one all the time and I'd even hand feed him eggs while I held him. I could even lay him on his back in my hand and rub his belly and he'd go right to sleep just like a hornytoad..

And the fact that they are some much more docile and unaggressive than rattlesnakes. I've never even had a Gila hiss at me.. But I do know it could happen.. just like it did in your case.. And boy would I feel like an butt if it did!

 

My uncle got bit by a rattler in the shin a few years back in an unpravoked bite.. he was dove hunting in a field and he was walking out to pick up a dove and the thing bit him thru his wranglers in the shin and got him with one fang. Shoulda seen his leg. WOW! It looked horrible and he said that it hurt worse than it looked! He spent a couple of days in the hospital..

[Kilimanjaro]

Here's a few pics of some creepy crawlies I've taken while at work..

 

Here's a pic of another Gila Monster I stumbled into down just south of Brown Canyon. took the pic with him and sent him back on his slow way..

 

Here's another Gila I found right at the base of the Cerro Colorados in 36A.. I was alone on this trip and didn't get to pose with this one!!

 

And here is a pic of the biggest rattler I've seen so far in AZ. He was about 5 ft long. I saw him right before a monsoon storm was about to hit.. he was crossing the road in front of me on the Kings Anvil ranch back near the Coyote Mts..

[Hunting]

This fellow a Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake decided to slither up under my lookout spot that I was staying at that night. It was about 11:00 pm when I reached for my water bottle and heard that very distinctive dat dat dat. It was real slow like, just like he was saying (warning) I?m here and don?t make me wake up and have to bite your big butt. I got up VERY carefully; found him directly under my portable folding chair I was sleeping in and then used my Stoney Point shooting sticks to help remove him.

 

Alan

 

[crotalus]

Man oh man this is a cool thread. Coosefan, what a story! Glad you made it, the hay vs pellets question was a hilarious. Although probably not at the time. The fact you had to wait so long for antivenom means you proabably got bit about the time Wythe and CroFab stocks were way done, say about five or six years ago. I didn't assume you got bit in the hand, I knew . Around these parts of the world the demographics of a snake-bite "victim" is : under 30 yo, white and bit in the hand...sometimes drunk. Now the funny thing is south of the border almost all the bites are below the waist , I think it's because we Mexicans are too chicken to handle the snakes and are usually running away . Other than the obvious tissue damage have you noticed any long last effect? Like linkering pain, tingling, et. I couldn't agree with everyone else about snakes giving us the creeps but they truely are beneficial to the ecosystem. Unprovoked attacks are just as Coosefan describes them, I'm truely really sorry to hear when a person dies from a snake bite. Now about close calls, last year during the November hunt I ran up on a HUGE diamondback. Scared the heck out of me since it buzzed me and I could not find it. Finally noticed this snake right behind me to my left. I was on really rocky terrain so I carefully turned around to give it the once over. It was over four feet long and thick as a log...really impressive. Well as I leand toward to get a "better" view, I fell off some rocks and fell straight toward the snake. Fell two feet from its body , just about pooped myself, only thing between me and the snake was my Pole Cat. Man I moved ever so gently as to not get bite then proceeded to shake like a wet dog.

Now Gila's are truely amazing! One warning is that they are faster than they look/act. Thanx for all the cool pics again and the stories. I have some I will post if the thread is still hot.

Ernest

[Guest Ernesto C]

Well this is a different type of creature tha also lives in coues country.I have seen this scary "things" all my life and I have always ask my self if they are poisonous. Can you guys tell me what's the name of this thing if they are poisonous?? In Spanish people call them "mata venado" which means "deer killer" I dont think this insect or whatever it is kill deer becuase we will have dead deer all over the desert. Any way they are ugly!!

 

Hey Scotty I know that area very well in 36C......I saw 3 snakes in the same area two Octobers ago in only one day!!

[firstcoueswas80]

Ernesto, man now u have pushed it to far! those things are NASTY!!!! i HATE bugs, snakes all things that bite! i have actually only seen one snake while deer hunting ( ay dios mio!!!) por que TE ODIO!!!!!!! those things scare the heck outta me! no thanks !!! and i have never seen a gila monster!

[KGAINES]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Scorpion