Our near death experience from sunday morning..

yzthumpa
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yzthumpa 7/6/2009 7:33pm
7/6/2009 7:33pm Edited Date/Time 7/6/2009 7:35pm
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two things: you're either sneaking up on them, or you're chasing them. Every other species of snake I've encountered, the second they know you are there, they're gone. With cottonmouths, they often won't budge. I remember once going to lift up a piece of sheet metal to check under it for snakes. There was a cottonmouth sitting on top of it, and we couldn't get him to leave so we could check underneath. Had to get a stick and move him off of it first. They won't chase you down, but they definitely aren't much afraid of you. It just increases the chances of stepping on one and getting bit if you're in their territory.
jib-tmb
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jib-tmb 7/6/2009 7:38pm
7/6/2009 7:38pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:47am
Clutchy wrote:
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me. Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our...
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me.

Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our home here in southern cali. The trails we walk on range from 2' to 6' wide winding through the hills amongst the scrub brush and rocks.

As we walked along on the trail with our ipods on, turned down low to be able to hear things ( each other included ) I decided for some stupid reason when Run DMC Kings of rock came on my ipod to crank it up.

Now we come to this wide section of trail I always visualize going thru on a bike. It drops down into a gully and then back up the other side. Coming out the other side is a bit off camber to the left. There's little rain ruts coming down the left side.

I did my usual cut across the high side too braaaap my way up to the top when I finally hear my wife yelling at me. I stopped and turned back thinking maybe she hurt herself. I did a u-turn coming down the rain ruts. Now shes screaming at me too stop. so I stopped and she's yelling something else at me. Snake, there's a snake. I froze and coiled up 10' in front of me, about a foot out on the trail is one of these


I'm on a sandy/gravely off camber down hill with a 4 to 5 ft red diamond rattlesnake right where gravity wants to take me. After I cleaned my shorts. I realized that my wife and I were seperated by the serpent.

So I started picking up rocks and sticks and chucking them at Mr Snake, talk about hissing and rattleing. I actually hit it in the head and it just kept staring at me. I figured him to be pretty pissed off at this point. All I wanted was for Mr Snake to retreat back to the brush. Which it finally did and I ran back down.

Now all we can think about going back down is that there is a snake under every bush aside the trail. At one point on the way back down a good size lizard ran up the side of a rock a couple feet next to me making noise out of the brush, I can only imagine what my dance looked like to my wife.

On the way back to the house it hit me that I had just walked with in 3 feet of a full grown rattler oblivious too its presence. Thank god the wife had good ears and common sense to leave her ipod turned down low and didnt cross its path. And thank god I like cutting up the high side or I probably would of stepped right on it.

Needless to say we wont be going on the trails for awhile.. My luck that things still pissed and waiting for me. I'd be the first person to be chased down..
Yes, those water snakes are grumpy. I used to catch them all the time when I was younger. I never caught a friendly one of those.Laughing

We used to hunt frogs too. I used an old H & R 9 shot .22 pistol with bird shot. Had to get really close with the canoe and then it would usually just stun them so you had grab quick. Haven't had fresh frog legs in years!
jmar
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jmar 7/6/2009 7:52pm
7/6/2009 7:52pm
yzthumpa wrote:
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two...
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two things: you're either sneaking up on them, or you're chasing them. Every other species of snake I've encountered, the second they know you are there, they're gone. With cottonmouths, they often won't budge. I remember once going to lift up a piece of sheet metal to check under it for snakes. There was a cottonmouth sitting on top of it, and we couldn't get him to leave so we could check underneath. Had to get a stick and move him off of it first. They won't chase you down, but they definitely aren't much afraid of you. It just increases the chances of stepping on one and getting bit if you're in their territory.
I agree they don't get to excited and do have a tendency to hold their ground but they seem to have the attitude that if you leave them alone they will leave you alone. I have also seen many retreat but even when they retreat they take their time and don't move to quickly.
tunedlength
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tunedlength 7/6/2009 8:32pm
7/6/2009 8:32pm
yzthumpa wrote:
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two...
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two things: you're either sneaking up on them, or you're chasing them. Every other species of snake I've encountered, the second they know you are there, they're gone. With cottonmouths, they often won't budge. I remember once going to lift up a piece of sheet metal to check under it for snakes. There was a cottonmouth sitting on top of it, and we couldn't get him to leave so we could check underneath. Had to get a stick and move him off of it first. They won't chase you down, but they definitely aren't much afraid of you. It just increases the chances of stepping on one and getting bit if you're in their territory.
So you were in the process catching a snake but needed to lift up a piece of sheet metal to look for a snake...but you couldn't because there was a snake on top of the sheet metal?
I think you found a snake.

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Clutchy
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Clutchy 7/6/2009 8:39pm
7/6/2009 8:39pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:47am
Clutchy wrote:
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me. Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our...
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me.

Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our home here in southern cali. The trails we walk on range from 2' to 6' wide winding through the hills amongst the scrub brush and rocks.

As we walked along on the trail with our ipods on, turned down low to be able to hear things ( each other included ) I decided for some stupid reason when Run DMC Kings of rock came on my ipod to crank it up.

Now we come to this wide section of trail I always visualize going thru on a bike. It drops down into a gully and then back up the other side. Coming out the other side is a bit off camber to the left. There's little rain ruts coming down the left side.

I did my usual cut across the high side too braaaap my way up to the top when I finally hear my wife yelling at me. I stopped and turned back thinking maybe she hurt herself. I did a u-turn coming down the rain ruts. Now shes screaming at me too stop. so I stopped and she's yelling something else at me. Snake, there's a snake. I froze and coiled up 10' in front of me, about a foot out on the trail is one of these


I'm on a sandy/gravely off camber down hill with a 4 to 5 ft red diamond rattlesnake right where gravity wants to take me. After I cleaned my shorts. I realized that my wife and I were seperated by the serpent.

So I started picking up rocks and sticks and chucking them at Mr Snake, talk about hissing and rattleing. I actually hit it in the head and it just kept staring at me. I figured him to be pretty pissed off at this point. All I wanted was for Mr Snake to retreat back to the brush. Which it finally did and I ran back down.

Now all we can think about going back down is that there is a snake under every bush aside the trail. At one point on the way back down a good size lizard ran up the side of a rock a couple feet next to me making noise out of the brush, I can only imagine what my dance looked like to my wife.

On the way back to the house it hit me that I had just walked with in 3 feet of a full grown rattler oblivious too its presence. Thank god the wife had good ears and common sense to leave her ipod turned down low and didnt cross its path. And thank god I like cutting up the high side or I probably would of stepped right on it.

Needless to say we wont be going on the trails for awhile.. My luck that things still pissed and waiting for me. I'd be the first person to be chased down..
Jmar... I grew up in northern ca where there was nothing but orchards and rice fields, talk about good froggen, we had as many frog gigs as fishen poles, spot lights big trap nets too keep them in...taste like chicken..

and as far as you crazy fuckers going and playing with rattle snakes NO THANK YOU.. The one we crossed wasnt going anywhere, trust me I waited for a good couple minutes for it too leave and it wasnt going anywhere. even when i bounced a couple chunks of earth off its melon. it was evil i just know it....YEEEEEEHHHAAAAAWWWWW
fcr
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fcr 7/6/2009 8:50pm
7/6/2009 8:50pm
I used to work for Riverside County Agriculture dept. . We walked the areas between Winchester to Rancho California and Menifee to Agongua. Any area where there would be ground squirrels. This was in about 73. Saw every type of critter in California. It was Feb to July. Stepped on every species of snake around, and learned I had a vertical leap of 46". Love snakes, you just have to understand they are only in it for the money.
WhipMeister
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WhipMeister 7/6/2009 8:52pm
7/6/2009 8:52pm
There's nothing much meaner or aggressive than those cottonmouth's you guys keep posting pictures of. Used to hunt them as a kid in the stock tanks around our farm. Damn near stepped square on one when I was about 11. Let a .22LR hollow point clip go point-blank into him. He didn't give a shit. He hit the water that was about 10 feet away without making contact with the ground. I've also seen one taking on a lifted 4WD F-250 in the middle of the gravel road running to our lakehouse. The snake was ready to gnaw the tires off that truck. The guy driving the truck didn't know how to react.
WhipMeister
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WhipMeister 7/6/2009 8:57pm
7/6/2009 8:57pm
Clutchy wrote:
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me. Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our...
Ok maybe not near death but.. close enough for me.

Sunday morning my wife and I took our morning walk in the hills 5minutes from our home here in southern cali. The trails we walk on range from 2' to 6' wide winding through the hills amongst the scrub brush and rocks.

As we walked along on the trail with our ipods on, turned down low to be able to hear things ( each other included ) I decided for some stupid reason when Run DMC Kings of rock came on my ipod to crank it up.

Now we come to this wide section of trail I always visualize going thru on a bike. It drops down into a gully and then back up the other side. Coming out the other side is a bit off camber to the left. There's little rain ruts coming down the left side.

I did my usual cut across the high side too braaaap my way up to the top when I finally hear my wife yelling at me. I stopped and turned back thinking maybe she hurt herself. I did a u-turn coming down the rain ruts. Now shes screaming at me too stop. so I stopped and she's yelling something else at me. Snake, there's a snake. I froze and coiled up 10' in front of me, about a foot out on the trail is one of these


I'm on a sandy/gravely off camber down hill with a 4 to 5 ft red diamond rattlesnake right where gravity wants to take me. After I cleaned my shorts. I realized that my wife and I were seperated by the serpent.

So I started picking up rocks and sticks and chucking them at Mr Snake, talk about hissing and rattleing. I actually hit it in the head and it just kept staring at me. I figured him to be pretty pissed off at this point. All I wanted was for Mr Snake to retreat back to the brush. Which it finally did and I ran back down.

Now all we can think about going back down is that there is a snake under every bush aside the trail. At one point on the way back down a good size lizard ran up the side of a rock a couple feet next to me making noise out of the brush, I can only imagine what my dance looked like to my wife.

On the way back to the house it hit me that I had just walked with in 3 feet of a full grown rattler oblivious too its presence. Thank god the wife had good ears and common sense to leave her ipod turned down low and didnt cross its path. And thank god I like cutting up the high side or I probably would of stepped right on it.

Needless to say we wont be going on the trails for awhile.. My luck that things still pissed and waiting for me. I'd be the first person to be chased down..
Not in my experience. Most snakes, regular water snakes included, look for a way out in a confrontation. Every cottonmouth I've ever encountered was holding its ground and looking to take more.

Hell I accidentally grabbed a water snake (a king) when I was cleaning out the boat house a couple of months ago. The only thing he wanted was out of there. And, his impulse matched my own.
09450f
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09450f 7/6/2009 8:59pm
7/6/2009 8:59pm
kings,gofer,rattler,rosy..got them all except the coral..die from those..don't like snakes but had to capture and hold one..we had to prove we were tuff
yzthumpa
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yzthumpa 7/7/2009 5:45am
7/7/2009 5:45am
yzthumpa wrote:
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two...
I wouldn't say they are necessarily aggressive, but they definitely hold their ground. When you make a hobby of catching snakes, you're doing one of two things: you're either sneaking up on them, or you're chasing them. Every other species of snake I've encountered, the second they know you are there, they're gone. With cottonmouths, they often won't budge. I remember once going to lift up a piece of sheet metal to check under it for snakes. There was a cottonmouth sitting on top of it, and we couldn't get him to leave so we could check underneath. Had to get a stick and move him off of it first. They won't chase you down, but they definitely aren't much afraid of you. It just increases the chances of stepping on one and getting bit if you're in their territory.
tunedlength wrote:
So you were in the process catching a snake but needed to lift up a piece of sheet metal to look for a snake...but you couldn't...
So you were in the process catching a snake but needed to lift up a piece of sheet metal to look for a snake...but you couldn't because there was a snake on top of the sheet metal?
I think you found a snake.
LOL...found one, just not the right one.
el moto diablo 7/7/2009 6:12am
7/7/2009 6:12am
Get used to it you live in San Jacinto.
FLmxer
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FLmxer 7/7/2009 11:47am
7/7/2009 11:47am
I can pretty much go outside and find one pretty quick around here. Mostly rat snakes and black racers. My neighbor was killing all of them that he saw and then the rats started to show up in huge numbers. I told him that it was because he kept killing all the snakes. Now the snakes are back and the rats are few. They are needed for rodent control.
txmxer
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txmxer 7/7/2009 1:37pm
7/7/2009 1:37pm
I have rattle snakes and copperheads on my property (~7 acres), plus a variety of non-poisonous.

I have a perimeter rule. If they are poisonous within the limits of my yard, they are probably dead. Non-poisonous, they get relocated. Out in the field where the track is, I pretty much let 'em all go.

Had a baby rattler on the back porch this spring. Dogs were going nuts. It was dark and I walk out barefoot. Can't be sure what they are barking at as it's all curled up. Had two little rattles on it's tail. Tiniest I've ever seen. Kind of cute. And then he died of acute trauma to the head. Family first, and that includes the pups.
kaw rider9
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kaw rider9 7/7/2009 1:54pm
7/7/2009 1:54pm
Two weeks ago, my brother and I went out for a boat ride after work. We cruised around for an hour or so and stopped to swim for a bit.. It was hotter than hell and we wanted to cool off! Just as I'm about to dive off the boat, I see a 4-5 foot snake, five feet from the boat.. I about shit!! We waited for it to swim away, but it just stayed there.
The river is flooded and the current was pretty damn strong, but that damn thing stayed right there staring me down!
I fired the boat up and idled about thirty yards away, only to have that damn thing swim back up to the boat!! WE DIDN'T SWIM!!!
In my thirty two years, I have NEVER seen a snake in the channel before! Weird..
Big Lenny
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Big Lenny 7/7/2009 2:15pm
7/7/2009 2:15pm Edited Date/Time 7/7/2009 2:19pm
jmar wrote:
When I was a kid I use to catch gopher snakes in the utility easements between the 710 and the LA river.
Ivan wrote:
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher...
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher snakes there too. The biggest was about 7'. They get huge.
That would be Bandini? Off Atlantic?...
Big Lenny
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Big Lenny 7/7/2009 2:22pm
7/7/2009 2:22pm
tunedlength wrote:
Hey Lenny
Check this out..
http://articles.directorym.com/Rattlesnake_Roundups_Compton_CA-r650-Com…

Its a rattlesnake roundup in Compton Creek!
When I was young we'd go down there and catch lizards, frogs, toads, and snakes, mainley Gopher and King snakes, last snake I had was a couple of years ago, until he got out in the house...
Ivan
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Ivan 7/7/2009 3:28pm
7/7/2009 3:28pm
jmar wrote:
When I was a kid I use to catch gopher snakes in the utility easements between the 710 and the LA river.
Ivan wrote:
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher...
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher snakes there too. The biggest was about 7'. They get huge.
Big Lenny wrote:
That would be Bandini? Off Atlantic?...
That's the place. I think I have some pics. If I do I'll post em.

Pit Row

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Big Lenny
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Big Lenny 7/7/2009 3:43pm
7/7/2009 3:43pm
Ivan wrote:
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher...
Right in the triangle between Atlantic, the 710 and the LA river there's a a little track where I would take my kids. We caught gopher snakes there too. The biggest was about 7'. They get huge.
Big Lenny wrote:
That would be Bandini? Off Atlantic?...
Ivan wrote:
That's the place. I think I have some pics. If I do I'll post em.
We rode down there until a couple of years ago, real sandy, perfect after the rain, they flattened the shit out of it, my friends built this out there..









Me, zj, and Bamm..

jmar
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jmar 7/7/2009 4:30pm
7/7/2009 4:30pm
Our track was south of there but is was very sandy also.
WhipMeister
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WhipMeister 7/8/2009 9:38am
7/8/2009 9:38am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:48am
Just got this one in the inbox:

WOW, WHAT A WHOPPER !!!!!


Next time you're out in the tall grass, remember this one.
This snake was recently found at the J & S Quik Mart, located just south of RR 3014
Turnoff on Highway 281 south of Tow, Texas.
THAT'S JUST WEST of BURNET.....about 30 miles from Austin.
BIG SNAKE!!



A reminder that these creatures are actually out there and no matter what you believe,
sometimes they should get not only prescriptive rights to be there, but the full right-of -way!

9 feet, 1 inch - 97 lbs.

Nacho Daddy 7/8/2009 9:41am
7/8/2009 9:41am
We needed another reason to stay out of texas.

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