Bad Year for Snakes

[wolfbait]

I usually don't start killing snakes until August. I have been killing one a week for the last three weeks, and then today I killed two by the house, and missed another as it shot down a hole under the foundation.

Still not as bad as the first year I lived here, with 78.

Talking to others around the Valley, seems they are having the same trouble. Time to visit the snake dens in the fall & spring.

Idabooner knows the country..

[Woodhunter]

Fangy types with venom?

I grew up in the SE Georgia pine barrens and swamps.    Big Diamondbacks up to 8 ft long.  The scariest were the big cottonmouths.   Laying next to a log and you never saw one, the camo was excellent.    Killed one that weighed 29 pounds.

[Hilltop123]

Fangy types with venom?

I grew up in the SE Georgia pine barrens and swamps.    Big Diamondbacks up to 8 ft long.  The scariest were the big cottonmouths.   Laying next to a log and you never saw one, the camo was excellent.    Killed one that weighed 29 pounds.

And this is why, when I got out of the Army. I swore to never go back to the South. Nice people, pretty country but you folks down there have a snake and bug problem. Bugs as big as a grown mans fist.

[teanawayslayer]

Fangy types with venom?

I grew up in the SE Georgia pine barrens and swamps.    Big Diamondbacks up to 8 ft long.  The scariest were the big cottonmouths.   Laying next to a log and you never saw one, the camo was excellent.    Killed one that weighed 29 pounds.

And this is why, when I got out of the Army. I swore to never go back to the South. Nice people, pretty country but you folks down there have a snake and bug problem. Bugs as big as a grown mans fist.

isn’t that the truth!

[Man Tracker]

NOW I won't be able to sleep tonight!

[pianoman9701]

I really hate snakes. I've eaten a rattler downrange at Ft. Carson and it was pretty good. But usually, they surprise me and that really gets my blood going. I would be fine without seeing another snake.

[wolfbait]

The snakes I have been killing aren't the big ones we use to kill around here, and they don't seem to be rattling very long or very loud.

In August they don't seem to rattle at all, anyone else notice that?

This is the last one I killed yesterday by the door.


https://s8.postimg.cc/uz04407md/IMG_6288.jpg

[pianoman9701]

Do you eat them? Nice-looking snake.

[boneaddict]

THere was a big area of hollow ground up from you .  You could hear it when you walked on it, especially horses.    Kinda freaky really.  I always imagined a cave full of snakes.   There was no entrance that I know of, but man we killed the snakes around there.  That is some serious snake country.  Big frickin pissy ones

[cbond3318]

Wish I was still working in that country. last summer I had nights coming down from Conc. to the Riverside Cutoff I couldnt go 1/4 mile without stopping to bop one in the road. 6 was my best night in a 15 minute drive. 38" being the best one. Fried one up for dinner as justification. Few got a pass, some got bopped.

[Jonathan_S]

I've killed buckets full of snakes but haven't seen a rattler in three years at the new place.  Hoping it stays that way.

Stay safe and strike first 

[optic2]

I've been wanting to make a rattlesnake belt or a while. What's the best place to look for them around the Cle Elum or Ellensburg?

[outdooraddict]

Where in the world do you live wolfbait, did i read ur post correct, 78 the first yr?  I will definitely stay far far away from that area.

[wolfbait]

Where in the world do you live wolfbait, did i read ur post correct, 78 the first yr?  I will definitely stay far far away from that area.

Foothills of McClure MT, it's definitely slowed down around my place here since I moved here, I think they learn to go around.

First five years I lived here, I learned to never leave the door open on anything. Had one crawl up on the the axle of of the truck, it rode to town and back, and when I pulled into the yard, my dog started making a fuss, she stuck her head up under the front fender and yelped, I didn't know what from so I took a look and looked into the eyes of a snake at about 6 inches, I had a bald spot on my head for awhile where I scraped the fender pulling back.

Managed to get the snake out, 3 plus ft, then realized it had bit my dog just under the eye, she was in pretty bad pain for three days or so. 

In the fall/spring there is a place on the upper end of the Golden Doe, where the ground crawls with snakes, I have heard of a few people who were going across that stretch and were afraid to move once the buzzing started, terrible feeling. Over the years I have rode through there in the fall and killed several with birdshot.

I have killed some huge ones on top of McClure in the late summer early fall bear hunting. Drops into Booth canyon which is also a snake infested mess, Booth use to me good deer hunting in the later part of the season when snow hit the high country.

Last time I hunted Booth I road in the night before, woke up just before daylight, saddle the mule and rode to a spot I like where I can really glass. Not long after daylight there was orange everywhere, never went back.

P-man, I haven't been hungry enough to consider eating a snake..


 

[Woodhunter]

Fangy types with venom?

I grew up in the SE Georgia pine barrens and swamps.    Big Diamondbacks up to 8 ft long.  The scariest were the big cottonmouths.   Laying next to a log and you never saw one, the camo was excellent.    Killed one that weighed 29 pounds.

And this is why, when I got out of the Army. I swore to never go back to the South. Nice people, pretty country but you folks down there have a snake and bug problem. Bugs as big as a grown mans fist.

Yep.   I was born in Brunswick, GA, right on the coast.   Nice fishing but too many  nasty critters.  And too much social unrest.

My last duty station in the Military was McChord AFB, Tacoma.   Like you, I did not want to go back to the south, I got a job in Port Angeles and stayed.   This was in 1976.