Beautiful color on this guy - he must have just shed not that long ago.
Though seriously about skinning him for a hat band or something, but couldn't bring myself to do it.
I felt a little bad about having to kill him, but he was somewhere he should not have been and I don't play around with catching them.
Bird food now. Love the .38 Special snake shot.
I may be a little(?) weird but I think snakes can be beautiful. I don't kill them anymore unless it is a venomous snake that comes into my yard. I have, in my youth, killed my share of Eastern Diamondbacks up to 6+ feet.
Andy
That's a beauty.
I don't kill snakes nowadays unless they're poking around the house.
I have a lot of respect for them and find them fascinating to watch.
Years ago we were surveying out the bush and a large Tiger snake crossed my path which got despatched quickly.
I cut off its head and tied it to back of the Argo and took back to our camp at night.
I barbecued it like a kebab.
Didn't go much on it. Dry and tasteless. Wouldn't recommend it.
Much prefer an eel.
My property and the area surrounding it are full of rattlers.
I could kill every one I see and never make a dent in the population. This is probably the 4th or 5th one this year.
Parents had one on the back step the same night.
It would have made a good hat band if you could stand having something like that around your head. I thought about it and decided I'm not man enough.
[USER=7286]@imaudigger[/USER]
Is that a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake?
Gene Kooper, post: 446365, member: 9850 wrote: [USER=7286]@imaudigger[/USER]
Is that a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake?
I guess it is. Although there is only one species that is supposed to live in this part of the county, the snakes that live up high in the timber look and behave much differently than the snakes that live in the lower elevations.
I suspect that if they did DNA testing they would figure out there are many sub-species that have not been identified yet. The old news papers talk of very large rattlesnakes being killed around here which appear to exceed the Northern Pacific's max length. The USFS actively tried to exterminate the rattlesnakes in the mid 1900's.
Interesting thing about this snake. After I cut the head off, it lay there motionless. My dog walked up to it and I yelled loudly to "get back!" "Bad snake!" in an attempt to tech him it was a bad snake. The headless body of that snake responded to my voice and actually slithered down the hill towards me several feet in a very coordinated fashion and lifted it's stub where the head used to be and slowly rattled it's tail.
I'll never understand how that works. They respond to sound and touch after the brain is severed.
The other thing it did, which was unusual - After about 8 minutes it raised it's head, then rolled over belly up and never moved a single bit after that. Usually they wriggle around for 20 minutes or so. Sorry to the animal lovers out there if this is too graphic.
Snakes can take awhile to stop moving.
At least their tail don't grow back after that.
