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Big Timber Rattlesnake

mike rossi

By mike rossi,
in Hunting Related Pictures

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PREDATE Newbie

PREDATE

Posted
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Very cool!

 

I don't care for snakes up close but they are cool to watch. I respect them as wild creatures, these ones just command that respect due to their nasty bite and venom!

 

Killing an animal out of dislike is nonsense and has no place in our sport.

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Water Rat Mentor

Water Rat

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Very cool!

 

I don't care for snakes up close but they are cool to watch. I respect them as wild creatures, these ones just command that respect due to their nasty bite and venom!

 

Killing an animal out of dislike is nonsense and has no place in our sport.

True............all you have to do is just keep walking.

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Lawdwaz Grand Master

Lawdwaz

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What part of the state?

 

I saw a small snake wolfing down a frog today.  I didn't want to mess up his meal so I kept going.........

 

I don't like snakes at all.  I thought about them a lot today as I traipsed in & out of real swampy areas then a few dry rocky places.  That snake Mike posted above would freak me RTFO.

 

Come on Mike, where did you see that dude?

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landtracdeerhunter Experienced

landtracdeerhunter

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Never in a million years, would of thought a rattler could get that large in the north. Seen a few small ones on state land, but thought our cold winters held them in check. Of coarse, we haven't had one in a while. The venom in that beast, one would think the person bit wouldn't have a high survival rate. Might be a good time to post snake bite treatment facts.

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Lawdwaz Grand Master

Lawdwaz

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IIRC they had to shut down a rest area on the 390/Rt 17 a couple years ago in Stueben County due to a shiit load of Timber Rattlers coming down off the hill.  That also happens to be BEAR country.......................

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greybeard Newbie

greybeard

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In 1969, when killing timber rattlers was legal they paid a $5. bounty in Warren County to residents of that county.

 

I went up there with my wife, then fiance, and she was gonna stay with her parents at Lake George and I was gonna pitch a tent on State Land, down the road, and she could drive up and get me in the morning.

 

She drove me to the base of Tongue Mountain, which I did not know was called by some,  the "Timber Rattlesnake Capital of the Northeast, or Ny"(I don't remember exactly).

 

We got out to find a spot for me to set up and we heard a rattle and she yelled rattlesnake,. I didn't see it until I almost stepped on it.

 

 Back then, I always carried my .22  Marlin semi auto when I walked thru woods on NY State Land no matter where I was, so I shot it.. It was over  5 feet long and had 2 whole animals in it and remains of a mouse.. I measured it by holding it's now headless body against me( I cut the head off right away because a dead snake still has venom and still squirms.) I dug a hole and crushed the head and buried it and put a good sized stone so no one would find it and pick it up, which could have had a bad outcome.

 

My brother shot one the next year...

 

As far as I'm concerned, they DON'T taste like chicken !!!.

 

I spoke to some local residents after I shot mine and heard some great stories .. I spoke to some kinda State Official, I THINK was DEC, I don't remember exactly, but he told me that there were a lot of them..

 

There was a guy up here at that time that would guide for hunting timber rattlers...I "think" he charged $50 for the hunt

 

I  skinned it , but screwed up the skin, and left it too long before I could tan it, and stupidly threw away the rattle when I was moving out of my parents house when I got married.

 

I wrote up a whole story, with every detail, in my journal when I got home, and in fact was condensing stories from my log over the past few months, to put into a type written journal, and just reread it.. It brought back a really cool memory... I also have a good photo of my wife and I holding it, I should have taken more photos..

 

Oh yeah, I decided , screw the tent, I went to a motel !!!

 

Since I didn't save the skin, I eventually had a hat embroidered with a Timber Rattler with the date.. July  1969..I do that with fish and game these days.. kinda nutty I guess, but it works for me.

 

A number of years later I was going to try to get another and try a different cooking method and also tan the skin, but by the time I was going to do it they passed a law protecting them. I don't remember what year the law passed, but that's what I get for procrastinating

 

 

 

 

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greybeard Newbie

greybeard

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Thanx Water Rat..In my log I wrote every detail.. VERY DRAMATIC..(It's an Italian thing)..

 

I left out one part  that I hate to admit to..  Here's my confession..

My wife immediately  knew that it was a rattler by the sound.. and just before I saw it, I told her that SHE was wrong.. I didn't expect to see one there and didn't equate the noise with a snake so I walked a few steps towards the noise and almost stepped on it's head.. It's tail was 5'(actually 5'3") away from it's head, which is where I was looking...

Some great woodsman I was.. HA !!! I  HATE admitting that, but that's "the rest of the story"...We still laugh about it

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coonhunter Enthusiast

coonhunter

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The only wild rattlesnake I have ever seen was at Pepacton Reservoir about 20 years ago. It was on a rock pile in the spring. It rattled when we were about 10 feet from it. It scared me bad enough to make me stutter. I will never forget the sound of that rattle.

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