I almost stepped on a rattlesnake tonight

[LDO]

...and after I changed my shorts, I got my phone and took a picture of it.

Poor quality pic, but I wasn't about to get any closer

 

There's a berm at the end of my street. I walked over it in my bare feet and heard a weird noise. It sounded like a spray can hissing, not like rattlesnakes sound on TV or in the movies. I knew there was no can there, so I hauled A out of there. I thought about getting my shotgun and shooting it, but I don't feel like telling the police why I fired a gun in the city, and besides, that snake has no malice.

 

Edited November 26, 2015 by LDO

[Joe Handley]

Dang, that was close!  Dad came close back in the 80's out in Wyoming out in the middle of nowhere and a guy on the Jeep forum I go on came close in his own driveway several years back, it's never good!

[1930fordpickup]

They got rid of them up here years before I was born. A good thing. 

 A good thing that you did not get bit. 

[Erik Smith]

Rattlesnakes are actually good creatures. They eat rodents. Yeah, total bummer if they happen to feel threatened and bite something they don't plan on eating (like your leg), but they are an important part of any ecosystem. 

I run into them regularly in my job (yes, we have rattlesnakes in Washington state), and they are usually more interested in getting away then using precious venom and energy biting a human. 

That looks like a big snake - if I see the pic correct - long rattle. Good thing he let you know he was there!

[unclescott58]

Thankfully there are not too many in Minnesota. Only a few Timbers in the southeast part of the state. One of the few advantages to living in a state with this cold winter climate. We have very few poisonous creatures up here.

[426-Hemi]

DANG!!!! That was a close one, it looks pretty big too! WOW!

Edited November 26, 2015 by 426-Hemi

[GLMFAA1]

To  quote W. C. Fields: "Used to carry a bottle in case of snake bite, use to carry a snake too!"

Be careful, research nearest anti venom  location.

greg

[Petetrucker07]

That's one thing I can't stand are snakes. We haul raw limestone from a quarry out in the middle of nowhere. We have guys spotting snakes all the time in the middle of the night trying to get near the warmth of the trucks. We're supposed to tarp right there before we leave the property, I say (expletive) no. I wait till I get back to freeway where there is better lighting than just our marker lights.

[10thumbs]

Lee, wow that was an eye opener for sure!

Being from Florida, I've had quite a few rattlesnake encounters.  If I'm in their terrain I won't bother them, just walk away.  (Always wore boots out in the sticks!)  On our property though they had to go, our dogs were more important.  I only had to kill one though (dogs and children around).  A big one too.  Real easy to do.  Get a long fishing pole and give it a rap on the head, it's a gone.  No firearms needed.

 

Edited December 2, 2015 by 10thumbs