Snake bites

[OpticNerd]

Seems like I would have at least read a story or two here on CW about someone getting bit by a rattler while out hunting but I don't recall ever reading such a story. This has got me wondering if any of you or someone you know has ever been bit by a rattler while out hunting? Personally I only know one person that has been bitten and that was because he picked up what he thought was a garter snake which turned out to be a baby rattler. I myself should have been bit at least three times while out hunting but lucky for me I only step on nice snakes. Are rattler bites while out hunting so rare that the stories are few and far between or do I just know the wrong people?

[Snapshot]

I have had 3 very close encounters. 2 non-hunting, and 1 while quail hunting. Fortunately, the 1 Rattler that struck, missed my hand by fraction of an inch.

[Adicted]

My uncle was bit by a mohave in his driveway. A nice lady drove up to his house and pulled over it in his driveway without noticing. My uncle opened her door and was bit in the leg. No rattle or nothing. He spent a week in the hospital in tons of pain. The went home and 3 days later back in the hospital due to venom kicking in again. Sucks. I hate snakes. My wife and I stepped on a dang Black Rattle Snake this year and thank god it didnt strike....Only good snake is a dead one.

[Jazz]

I've killed dozens..

 

And I'm careful, I look, and I can't tell you how many times I've stepped over them on a long walk back to the truck in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, (With my black diamond icon on full beam- I still can't always seem them)

 

Just google mojave bites. It's terrifying. Never been bit, but I've been struck at 3x and god knows how many I've stepped over. I'm looking to get some new boots but I need size 16 wide and I wanted them to be snakeproof.

It's like they don't exist.

[AzDiamondHeat]

I am VERY careful when it comes to snakes. I where guards anytime I go out when they are active. I am scared to death every time I take my kids out to Aravaipa.

 

I have had a few close calls, but never have been struck. Well, not on accident anyway...

 

....a few years back I recorded a video of trying to get a snake to strike. It was interesting how unwilling he was to strike. I know that is not always the case, but I do think they are more interested in just getting away.

 

I don;t even know anyone who has been hit and we have been in the desert our entire lives.

[Mocha1545]

I got bit a long time ago in the Superstitions during a boy scout campout. Only got hit with one fang. Not sure if the other caught on my boot or was missing. One fang was enough to keep me in the hospital for 4 days. Never forget the smell of the flesh rotting inside my calf.

 

Turtle Skins always on when the little basturds could be out!

[DUG]

Way back in about 1978 to 1980 or so a guy in our big dove hunting group got struck on the knee by a rattler. They went right to the hospital in Casa Grande only to be turned away. They came back for the snake then drove to Desert Sam I believe. He was in hospital for 7 days. This guy also found a dead body in a sleeping bag a couple years later.

[Zeke-BE]

I hate them!

 

Once while bow hunting in Aug (stupid time) slipped down rocky hill and well enjoyed the ride down until a heard a rattle snake at the bottom of the hill and I couldn't stop because it was so steep. I had to use my bow to dig into the side of the hill to stop me.

 

The worst one while quail hunting it struck at the barrel of my gun i leaped back and fell back on the down side of the hill and the little SOB starting slither right toward me. The only time I screamed like a girl after puberty.

 

And just this last weekend while out shooting I almost stepped on 2 of them. No rattle until I stopped myself and walked back it notice me.

[CouesPursuit]

I've shared this on CWT before but I was wade fishing in a local river and had one follow my frog back to me while I was semi-stuck in the mud. Had to fight and flick this little bastard away for several minutes before he moved on. Haven't been bitten by one in 30 native years but this was close.

 

 

[Ernesto C]

I must be some kind of rattlesnake magnet or something. Always see them while fishing... or hunting in 36C specially the October hunt. I step on one once, spent like 20 minutes sitting down next to another one and didn't know it was there until I reach for my back pack. One struck at me hitting my pants and another one hit my boots and I can keep going on but so far the Man upstairs have been watching over me.

 

I have a friend that got bitten on his leg. It took him more than 3 hrs to make it to the doctor. He said he never got sick till that night...he said he felt like he was going to die...2 days later he was ok.

 

Ernesto C

[metau]

My uncle was bit a few years ago while fishing. Went into cardiac arrest twice. Almost had his leg amputated. He spent over a month in the hospital and several in PT to get to where he could walk good again.

[wish2hunt]

I stepped on one yesterday, how he didn't get me I don't know. I guess it was my day.

[creed]

Rattlesnakes were part of growing up in the boondocks. My daughter was bit by a mojave when she was 10 years old, both parents were bit, a girlfriend was bit,many cows, dogs,cats and horses from snakebite. I have had numerous close encounters but have been fortunate enough to not have been bitten yet.

[Edge]

While a teen dove hunting in Marana, my eyes were on the sky as I walked down a path in tall grass. I don't know if the rattler was sunning or we just crossed paths but I stepped right on him mid back. He curled over and struck my boot as I was launching myself airborne. My shoot gun was already pointed downwards and I blasted that thing into thirds before I touched back down.

 

Had an unlucky mare bit twice in the same year on the leg. A little swelling was all that happened.

[sjvcon]

I tend not to kill them. They have a job. I just try to be careful and when they are on a path or in a bad spot where folks will likely encounter them, I try to move them somewhere less dangerous. If I can't ... which has only happened once ... then I will put them down so the next dope to walk by doesn't get bit.

 

Guess I am soft ...