This summer I am planning on myhunting/searching for Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes up in Montana. Anyone, have any adivce on how to go about it?

VERY CAREFULLY <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

SCOTT WILDLIFE CONTROL
&quot;solutions to wildlife conflicts&quot;

Edited by - trapperDave on 02/10/2003 10:27:07

Hehe. Thanks. Thats probably the best bit of advice I can get!!!

I spent a good amount of time hunting rattlers when I was a young lad, now it' s illegal in my state to disturb them. I suggest that you focus on locating the dens and do your hunting in the spring/ fall when they are concentrated there. Talk to the old timers. They are usually glad to share their considerable knowledge. If you can' t find any old timers, they are getting hard to find, try talking to your state' s regional biologist. The state boys might not be willing to talk though if they think you will harm the snakes. Good luck and be careful!

I have a friend who hunts them quite a bit. He uses a hangun to dispatch them with. He also brings a 1 gallon can of gas incase he can' t get them out of a hole. It' s either gas or kerosene that he used.... I thought he said if you used one of those it would bring thier body temp down quickly and it would " freeze" the snake so you could pick them up. He used to do stuff for rattle snake roundups. Maybe you could do a search on roundups and ask them. They probably know more about snakes and snake hunting than anyone else. If I were you I would wear snake boots, but I guess you could just do like that austrailian guy and go barefoot and in shorts.