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Rattlesnake Hill


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Sometimes those snakes are protecting the gold.10.jpg.ab825f184d8adb2e17086c3f295a4292.jpg

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050507h.thumb.JPG.8bdd2020a9a8a2b9b66ef8b963d9a589.JPGI've seen some log size rattlers in North Carolina and have heard they are just as big in TX.

You ever eat them?

These are some of the North Nevada types we run across.  Not near as big and usually not very aggressive.

As I have aged and get more educated, I usually don't kill them anymore.  On a rare occasion if at training site and plenty people/dogs around, then one might need to be extinguished.  The rest of them are fine with me.

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My buddy and I  used to save lizards and snakes that would get trapped in a long concrete lined drainage canal near where I lived as a kid. We’d collected more than a dozen sidewinders one time and released them on a nearby sand dune in the desert, but unknown to us, someone was camping near where we released them. Boy, was he freaked out when he drove by us saying that he saw a bunch of snakes in the area and was leaving!   

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Geof_junk

 Here in Texas we take our rattlesnakes to the dentist and have the cavities that’s in two front teeth filled and make pets out of them.

 The only reason those were killed because they were old and we like to get the young ones. Our reasoning is we know they will live a long time.

 They better than any guard dog you can get.

 Chuck 

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Well since this is a treasure hunting forum I'll include a story of a rattle snake that happened during a treasure hunt earlier this summer. 

One of my clients has a couple horses on a secluded ranch in the foot hills here around Mt Diablo. For the sake of protecting the innocent I'd rather not use her real name so let's just call her Gerry.

Gerry is a tall country girl in her early 50's who grew up in a very large cattle ranching family.. she is afraid of nothing...can do anything alone and does not need a man around except for the obvious. She called me out one morning to do some work on her horses and since I had an extra hour to kill I brought my detector. The Ranch dates back to the late 1800's and the owner of the property (not Gerry) gave me permission to detect it... I hit it once before couple years ago with some success.  The owners father was killed in an accident on this ranch driving his 18 horse team when he was crushed...she was just a little girl when this happened. I give her everything I find because it might have been her dads. 

After I got done working on the horses I told Gerry lets go find something. This ranch is loaded with snakes as there is a large population of ground squirrels here. The grass was short so I was not too worried....about 10 minutes into the hunt I got a nice deep Hi tone with the Nox...6 inches down and out pops a Barber dime. Gerry gets all excited as it was only the 3rd target we had dug. As we are making our way around the other side of the corral I'm looking down and Gerry yells out SNAKE! I look up and here comes a a very large rattle snake of the greenish variety full speed right at us about 10 yards away! Now I don't really like rattle snakes  and I'd go a little further and say I'm kinda afraid of them lol. Well before I could even react Gerry charges the snake and is trying to grab its tail. The snake is striking at her and I yell to her don't get bit! She yells back I Ain't  gonna get bit!. Well finally she gets control of the snake asks for my pick. She pins the head down and cuts it off with her pocket knife. End of snake. That was the first time I had one come at me...it was probably just trying to get somewhere...Gerry kills all the rattle snakes she comes across That was the 5th this year and it was only early summer. Her friend makes stuff from the skins. 

Rattle Snakes will bite horses.  Usually its a curious younger horse that is investigating and gets tagged on the nose but sometimes it's a horse that accidentally steps on the snake. The bite does not usually kill the horse but if bit on the face it swells up like a hippo 's face would look. Breathing can be compromised as horses breath through their nose... If bitten on the leg they are not so lucky and all the skin can slough off leading to big problems. Another thing that can happen and this actually happened to one of Gerrys horses last year. Rattle snake venom can lead to the destruction of the heart valves over time and cause heart failure. One of her horses (12 years old)  was dying from heart failure and found to have high levels of antibodies from the venom in its system.. Enough about snakes heres the dime 🙂 

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One of my friends does a lot of underground work in mines doing bat surveys and uses a net to catch them (permitted and all to do it). One time she said a bat, so she thought, flew off a ledge by her face and she caught it mid-air with the net.  Her net began to buzz and she dumped out not a bat, but a rattlesnake that had been sitting up on the wall of the mine adit, probably climbing up towards the ceiling to get to roosting bats!

Be careful in mines, and watch out for rattlesnakes not only on the floors, but jumping out from the walls as well! 😧

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On 8/13/2021 at 2:13 PM, F350Platinum said:

like black snakes they are more afraid of you. 😀

I find that hard to believe as I've never seen a snake jump 3 feet in the air,shriek like a girl, and pee its pants.

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