DEC Timber Rattler Snake Den in Bath, NY - Video

[nyantler]

If the world was suddenly completely devoid of all poisonous snakes, the world would be a much better place to live. They rank right up there with mosquitos and ticks.

But then we'd be overrun with rodents... those pesky mice! I think snakes are extremely interesting... saw my first rattler in PA over the summer... I was actually excited.. stopped the car and ran up to it to get a pic before it got into the woods.

[Fletch]

If snakes eat more mice with ticks on them and = less ticks I'm all for it. Also though I would ruin my underwear if I stepped over a log and heard the rattling start!! Cool to see but keep your distance from me!

[Two Track]

The last rattler I saw in the wild was in the 1980's. 

 

I was backpacking.in New Mexico and had a choice, follow the known rattler down the trail, or try the waist-high grass and hope there were none there. 

 

We followed the one we knew about at a distance.

 

Not a snake fan. They do have there place in the food chain, so I leave them alone. 

 

If they are rattling and coiled, set to strike, I may pull the trigger for self-preservation/protection.  But that would be a last resort.

 

 

[robw]

Holy crap, that one snake is huge!  He could ruin a hunting trip.  I hunt SW of Bath.   Just Damn....

[HectorBuckBuster]

I remember a few years ago, the state closed a parking area near Painted Post (I think), because there was a bunch of rattle snakes coming down off the hill into the parking area

[grampy]

I lost my fear but gained respect for them while living in S. Carolina for a number of years. The ones up here are small compared to down there! Leave em alone, they have their place. Most times they will just try to get away from you. They are not looking to attack you!  

[Five Seasons]

I lost my fear but gained respect for them while living in S. Carolina for a number of years. The ones up here are small compared to down there! Leave em alone, they have their place. Most times they will just try to get away from you. They are not looking to attack you!

Just don't expect the same from cottonmouths. They'll chase your ass!

[grampy]

Lol. I do have a couple good cottonmouth stories. Maybe someday when we are all bored, I'll share them.

[HUNTINGS IN MY DNA]

Fortunately, the rattlesnakes in my area have always been a target of extermination over the centuries, and so I will not likely ever be bitten by them here. I see that as a fortunate thing. In fact, I don't even want a "risk" of being bitten, or even that concern, and frankly I am not disappointed that that risk has been eliminated. And amazingly enough, the world has carried on quite nicely without them. I hope it stays that way. As far as the coyotes are concerned I have no serious issues with them ...... yet.

how the fuck does that guy compare coyotes and rattlesnakes I can't take this world anymore yeah sure lets love a snake that hides and when you don't see it it bites you and you die lol that guy is a liberal with animals just like people are liberals with this country that's why it's going to shit I just love cyber bullies

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DirtTime]

Doc wasn't the one who brought coyotes into the thread.

Some of the attitudes about snakes mirror attitudes about coyotes. Grow up people.

 

Great video, thanks. I haven't seen a rattlesnake in NYS since about 1970. I don't live in the right place. Someone killed all the snakes around the Susquehanna.

 

[Doc]

But then we'd be overrun with rodents... those pesky mice! I think snakes are extremely interesting... saw my first rattler in PA over the summer... I was actually excited.. stopped the car and ran up to it to get a pic before it got into the woods.

rattlesnake in PA.jpg

Actually, we have had no reports of rattlesnakes in the area in many decades, and yet the rodents are kept under control by many different predators and predatory birds, and even the harmless black snakes and other harmless varieties have taken up the slack. It does not require venomous snakes to keep the rodent population under control. As I said, we do not have an identified population of rattlers, and I can still make my way through the rodents quite easily. And speaking of rodents and other such critters, I am sure they all have some use in this world, but we still treat them like vermin to be exterminated, and the world is not harmed one bit. The planet survives the removal of those species without harm or notice.

 

It's kind of like how beneficial spiders are for controlling some bugs, but we still would squash any brown recluses that we find ..... lol. I don't hear anybody saying how we should be protecting black widows because they control bug populations.

 

[nyantler]

Actually, we have had no reports of rattlesnakes in the area in many decades, and yet the rodents are kept under control by many different predators and predatory birds, and even the harmless black snakes and other harmless varieties have taken up the slack. It does not require venomous snakes to keep the rodent population under control. As I said, we do not have an identified population of rattlers, and I can still make my way through the rodents quite easily. And speaking of rodents and other such critters, I am sure they all have some use in this world, but we still treat them like vermin to be exterminated, and the world is not harmed one bit. The planet survives the removal of those species without harm or notice.

 

It's kind of like how beneficial spiders are for controlling some bugs, but we still would squash any brown recluses that we find ..... lol. I don't hear anybody saying how we should be protecting black widows because they control bug populations.

Yup you're probably right about the rattlesnake in this area... other indigenous rodent eaters take their place in NY. The difference between our treatment of rodents and insects vs. other animals and why one is more detrimental than others is more about the ability of rodents and insects to repopulate at a much greater rate. Rodents reproduce continuously throughout the year having multiple "litters" with up to a dozen per litter... Insects reproduce by the 100's, even thousands per year, per each hatching. Snakes reproduce once per year... and because they are not live born, but begin as eggs they are subject to much higher mortality rates.

The number of bugs humans kill and other insects and animals eat can't put a dent in the bug population. The same could not be said for the snake populations if they were killed at the same rate as insects. One critter is not any less or any more important than another in the animal kingdom... mother nature somehow creates the perfect balance in each habitat... man is the only disruption in that balance if not kept in check.

[Pygmy]

Some snakes are live bearers, Joe, and I believe rattlesnakes are among them...

They still have a relatively low reproduction rate though, and I suspect that the young suffer a high mortality rate...Over the years I have seen hawks with snakes dangling from their talons numerous times, and we sure have plenty of hawks around..

[Curmudgeon]

Joe -

 

Some of the guys want to do ecosystem management involving only their amygdala and genetic memories in the decision making process. They stand more of a risk from eating their bacon in the morning than they do from rattlesnakes. Bacon reproduces faster too.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Curmudgeon

[coonhunter]

I tell you what: the sound of that rattle made the hair on my arms stand up when I had an encounter with a wild rattlesnake. I had heard the sound on tv, but it was a whole new story when I was part of the equation. I shit you not, this happened 30 years ago and I still have nightmares a couple times a year of just the rattle. I wake up before I ever see the snake. My wife and I laugh about it every time. 

 

The live snake was seen on a rock wall at Pepacton Reservoir, and was left unharmed.

[turkeyfeathers]

30 years ago while checking my muskrat traps before school in the dark. I shine my flashlight to the waters edge as I'm in chest waders wading looking for a set I knew I had nearby. Light spots a 4-5 ' water snake on the waters edge. I couldn't walk around on dry land as too thick so I decided to keep my distance in the water. Looked good on paper til I hit a beaver run and filled my waders up. That snake was huge !! Only water snake I've seen in immediate area before and since. I don't mind small snakes but big ones freak me out. Big rattler ...no thanks.

[dbHunterNY]

i hate snakes.  as a kid I had a friend whos family owned a zoo.  he always had a big snake around.  it'd always at some point get bothered and then he'd have to put it away.  they could easily kill us at our size. 

 

i leave snakes alone unless they effect me, in which case they die.  used to pull them out of my garage all the time.  ones that went off into cover lived.  those that slithered back into my garage got what was coming.  I've never seen or heard of someone seeing a rattler around here.  if I had any doubts about my safety it'd die.  I wouldn't feel bad either.  its nature.  when two predators clash sometimes it doesn't work out well.  there's a reason snakes haven't evolved much and there's a reason they for the most part avoid us.  I respect that.

[Rhwrhwrhw0426]

Corning NY has a few rattlesnake dens in the immediate area. Just north of Painted Post on the interstate the rest stop is fenced off with warning signs all over the place about timber rattlers. South Corning has rattlesnake encounters as well. They seem to be isolated areas tho because anywhere else in the area rattlesnakes aren't around. Isn't there a myth that if you smell cucumbers snakes are around?

[Doc]

There are people who would come up with some line of justification for mosquitos ..... lol. I believe those attitudes would change immediately if they ever found themselves out in the middle of the woods, suffering from a bite from a rattler, watching their arm or leg swell up to the size of a tree-trunk. The attitude changes a bit then.

[Curmudgeon]

It's been 42 years since a person died of a snake bite in New York. I prefer my chances with snakes to lightning, mosquitoes and ticks. Numbers of people have died from West Nile, and countless more have been made sick by tick borne illnesses. Snakes are only a problem in your mind.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Curmudgeon

[Pygmy]

I have heard the cucumber story, also, but I think it is an old wives tale...

It seems that this tale was usually told by somebody's grandmother, rather than the people who had considerable experience and contact with rattlesnakes..

Back when the critters were unprotected there was a fair number of guys in my area who used to hunt them..Why, I don't know..I guess they just liked to catch them and play with them..These were the people who usually ended up being bitten..

I can only recall one instance of a snakebite involving a person who was just out minding his own business..Back in the 60s a boy in Cameron was walking near his home in high grass and was bitten on the ankle..His foot had to be amputated..All other cases of snakebite that I heard of were people who were handing them, either recreationally or trying to kill them..

[NFA-ADK]

​I understand the trepidation about snakes.  They kill rodents for me so I like them!

 

Personally I have owned a couple of 12 and 14 ft pythons and would take a bunch of snakes over rodents any day of the week.  NO I do not like poisonous snakes but like a few have stated they do not come after me so I leave them alone.  If the DEC made this location known it would be destroyed by those who fear these predators. 

 

Just like cats their evolution has not changed much.  No point in changing perfection!

 

 

[Pygmy]

I only remember one death locally, and that involved a captive snake ( eastern diamondback) that a snake hobbyist kept in his basement..

The guy was a school teacher in Corning and lived in Addison..He had several venomous snakes in cages in his basement..He had been bitten a couple times previously, but had lucked out..The snakes did not inject much venom and he suffered no serious effects..

Then one day in the late 60s or early 70s he was found dead in his basement..He had been bitten and never even made it up the stairs before he died..There were two snakes out of their cages, a cobra and a big eastern diamondback.. At first they thought the cobra had nailed him because he died so fast.. An autopsy showed that the rattler had bitten him near his thumb and delivered the venom directly into a major blood vessel..

[nyantler]

Some snakes are live bearers, Joe, and I believe rattlesnakes are among them...

They still have a relatively low reproduction rate though, and I suspect that the young suffer a high mortality rate...Over the years I have seen hawks with snakes dangling from their talons numerous times, and we sure have plenty of hawks around..

You're right Pygmy... I wasn't aware that rattlesnakes were live bearers. My point is still the same, but I learned something today!

[nyantler]

There are people who would come up with some line of justification for mosquitos ..... lol. I believe those attitudes would change immediately if they ever found themselves out in the middle of the woods, suffering from a bite from a rattler, watching their arm or leg swell up to the size of a tree-trunk. The attitude changes a bit then.

LOL.. for the life of me I can't find a justification for the mosquito! Even if I could.. I would rather do without them.