Rattlesnake hunting?

[deadyote]

So a buddy of mine and I were out the other day and we got to talking about all the rattlesankes we have seen in one of our coyote holes.  I looked all over the regs to find out, but can we hunt rattlesnakes?  I have never eaten them, but friends tell me they are really good.  It would be a great hunt.  What do you all think?

[WDFW-SUX]

They taste good. season is year round no limit.

[sako223]

In all the years I have hunted rattlesnakes only one officer has taken interest and even helped with one. Every other encounter ends quickly with the officer saying carry on from a safe distance and leaving.
I have never eaten it but been present while others do, naturally they say it tastes like chicken except snake keep moving to the end.
The green hides stretch nicely. Don't drop your guard they can outwit you or maybe another one real close.

[ICEMAN]

We have eaten rattle snake and found the large ones taste fine, sauteed in some butter, olive oil, garlic and finished in the frypan with a splash of wine, yum... The smaller snakes tasted bad.

[deadyote]

So then my next question is how would you clean them?  If I did it today, I would probably clean it like a fish.  Gut it and then skin it.  Anthing special other than that.  I'll have to ask my taxidermist about tanning then skins because it would be cool to have.

[deadyote]

And if you have hunted them, I thought about bringing my .22 pistol with bird shot to kill them?  I also thought about buying one of the long handled grip pole things and giving it a try.  That's the technical name for it!!!   Im getting all excited to try this now, Thanks

[andrew_12gauge]

.22 with birdshot is fine, use anything that can hook them to pull them out from under rocks if they dont want to give you the shot, i like a golf club personally

[Copperwood]

A snake charmer (.410) works great.

[wastickslinger]

Quite a few years back I was working road construction in Grand Coulee. We would go out at night up the Wilbur hill and kill 15-20 in our headlights with a shovel right in the road. Man that was a fun summer. I also pushed the outhouse around the gravel pit one night with my truck and my cousin was in it. He was pissed.  (sorry off topic but it brough back memories).

[Kain]

Careful with them even after they are dead.

Mangum Rattlesnake Derby Butcher

[washelkhntr]

 

[seth30]

In Man VS wild he talked about that, and to properly dispose of a snake head.

[NWBREW]

When I lived in Texas I went to a rattlesnake round-up. There were a ton of snakes brought in. Most were in burlap sacks they would dump them out in a big round pen with about 4 or 5 wranglers in there to seperate them by size. I remember one time they dumped out a sack that had about 6 or 7 snakes in it a out came a cottonmouth. One guy yelled "COTTONMOUTH" and everyone in that pen scrambled to get away.

Big difference between a rattlesnake and a cottonmouth I geuss.  No one got hurt so it turned out pretty damn funny for them. 

[carpsniperg2]

i do a ton of snake hunting each year the guys are right legal as can be. but it is not legal to sell any part of them what so ever i know this for a fact i have talked to many wardens about this and reptiles are a no no to sell

[NWBREW]

i do a ton of snake hunting each year the guys are right legal as can be. but it is not legal to sell any part of them what so ever i know this for a fact i have talked to many wardens about this and reptiles are a no no to sell

Snake selling? Did I miss something? I do know it was legal for them to sell all portions...skins, meat, rattles and heads in resin when I was in Texas. I don't know about here in Washington.

I have a friend that killed one over by Wilbur. He skinned it at put the skin in antifreeze....not sure for how long but when he showed it to me it was pretty nice, soft and pliable. The ones I did up I just stretched the skin out and kept it salted till it was dry.