big snake!!!
 

got this in an email





You need to forget about those itty, bitty snake-proof boots and find yourself a full snake-proof SUIT.., AND HAT!!!
The ranch where this big rattler was killed is outside the city of Coleman TX . Oh, for reference, the guy stands 6'2". Seems there's been a boom in the snake population there.


My fellow friends and family,

We have killed 57 rattlesnakes on two separate ranches this year. 24 @South bend & 33 @ Murray , since mid-May. Not one has buzzed! We provoked one fair sized boy with a stick and he coiled & struck at the stick a couple of times before he buzzed up and rattled. The purpose of this explanation is that I have been hearing the same from fellow ranchers and hunters in regards to the lack of warning with rattlesnakes. I had lunch with a friend today and he offered a theory about the fact that these bugs aren't rattling anymore. He raised pigs for years and reported that when he would hear a rattlesnake buzzing in the sow pen, the sows would bee line to it and fight over the snake. For the uninformed, pigs love to eat rattlesnakes. Therefore, the theory is they are ceasing to rattle to avoid detection, since there are plenty of pigs roaming the countryside. I have a neighbor ranching lady who was bitten 3 weeks ago, 2 times by the same snake without any warning....she spent 5 days in ICU, after 22 vials of anti-venom she is back at the ranch and still may lose her foot or worse yet her lower leg. The days of perceived warning are over. Keep your boots on and use a light when out and about. As you all know, one can pop up just about anywhere! You may wish to forward this to anyone that would be interested.

Ranchers in Wyoming told me they stopped rattling because of all the Windmills being put up.... WHich obviously led me to ask why.
He said that the windmills put a lot of vibration into the ground. Snakes feel vibration from us walking. With the windmills up they feel vibrations all the time, so they've quit rattling. Just another theory I guess. Obviously dependant upon windmills being in the area.
-Jake

I saw on discovery snake roundups have led to snakes that rattle being caught, and killed, therefore leaving snakes that tend to buzz less breeding...

The picture does not seem to match and I suspect some photo work had been done.
Also anything held away from the one's body will look bigger.

JW

That is still a good size snake. Be good on the fryin pan.. :)

Looks a lot like the snake that was killed south of Jacksonville, Fl a couple of years ago...................I don't think either of the pictures were real.

When I lived in NC I had a friend who used to snake hunt. He'd go right by the house I was renting on the side of the mountain overlooking the stream (beautiful). Here's some pics of him handling the snakes that I took. The snakes were right by our feet, not two-three feet away. The one he's milking is an eastern diamondback and the other is a timber rattler. He had a copperhead in the cage and a cottonmouth with a head the size of your fist. He was bit a few weeks before on the thumb and it was all black and swollen. He was in the hospital taking anti-venom and they wanted him to stay overnight for observation but he told them he couldn't because he was going on a big snake hunt the next day.

Oh, and the really big monster (eastern diamondbacks) like in the pic above all come from Florida. I've seen (my NC buddy) numerous actual pics of these things and they do exist and quite frequently. I've never seen big rattlers like that come from anywhere else.

The only good snake is...

Thats just showing ones ignorance about the subject. If I may interject on the subject, I was a herpetologist at one time working for the Fla. Wildlife sanctuary in Melbourne, fla., and have been bitten by 4 rattlers and a cotton mouth moccasin, the cottonmouth leaving my left index finger deformed and numbness. I also had a 21 ft Burmese python that I use to do seminars with, and also hold the Pygmy rattler record of 42 inches, so speaking, I know somewhat of the subject of snakes. For one thing, snakes don't hear, they just feel vibrations, they smell by sticking their tongue in and out picking up air particles. Snakes are cold blooded, that being, if the conditions are cool, they tend to be lethargic and you can almost step on them without them striking, much less rattling. People who think that rattle snakes rattle before biting, this is a misconception, but maybe in the ole western movies. Their are harmless snakes that vibrate their tails when alarmed and when they do it on dry leaves it sounds like a rattler. A copperhead which is actually a highland moccasin will do this also.
If you listen to all these ole wives tails your going to believe that they actually start chasing you.

Bobby

Sad to say but snakes were cursed after Adam and Eve. They are the devil. I only care for really a king snake because they EAT rattlesnakes.

That pic has made the e-mail rounds several months ago! I don't believe much of what I see on the internet!

That is 1 heck of a snake!!!

big rattler

I've seen a newspaper with pictures of them that size that could not have been touched up. There ARE snakes that size but not real common. I don't know about that pic.

quote from person living close to Coleman

The snake's head is almost the size of the guys ball cap. Doesn't look right to me. I am betting photo work.

I dont even like to be around them dead, much less alive

could make some nice boots with it...

This photo has been around a loooong time. It is of a Timber Rattler. Officially the world record is something like 6' 2". This photo and the details are featured in a recent Georgia conservation mag. If I recall correctly, this snake was unofficially measured at 6' 6". Which if it holds up, I suppose will be a new recoprd. I forget the weight, but I thin k it was something like 40# - 45# ????

To give an idea of the barf you can come across on the "net", this particular snake has been killed in at least 7 states that I "know" of. The largest "measurement" that I recall stated as fact in these BS postings was 11' 6" and weighing 94#. I have been in the southern woods for going on 5 decades now. I have come across maybe 8-10 Timber rattlers. By far, the largest Timber Rattle snake I have come across myself, I measured at just under 56". It had 14 "rattles" and the "button". Maybe weighed 15#, but that is a guess and probably high.

it may not be real who knows but its a big ol snake i would like to see a rattlesnake up close.

Parris Island, 1978, we were in the field out around the old airstrip. The chow truck ran over one, I guess it was an Eastern Diamondback, on the strip. One of our larger DIs (I estimate he was about 6'4") had it by the neck, holding it over his head, and it was still touching the ground. We were sleeping in shelter halves, ON THE GROUND. Yikes...

Is that Brett Favre?

For many
 

that's going to end some hunting days.

I have seen this and the other snake picture from Florida all over the net. According to Snopes the pics are real. However the snake is held closer to the camera to make it look larger then it is. It's the descriptions that are going along with the pics that are bogus.
It's kind of like the fisherman that looks like he has a 15 pound bass in his hand until you look closer and realize his thumb is as big as the fishes head and he is holding it right in front of the camera as he sits back a ways.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/15ftrattler.asp

im actually terrified of snakes.. its why i won hunt in the early season so could some one take this thread down. lol just kidding. but i really am terrified of snakes call me what you want

People say I'm crazy, but I had rather get on a rattlesnake any day over getting in a yellow jacket nest. I've been on too many of both of them.

No matter what the actual size of that snake is, I just see nothing but some great meals sitting there!!!!!!!! That and if the hide is prepared correctly, some nice wallets or boots if you get enough.

Finally a man with some sense .... :) . Yellow Jackets !!!! I hate Yellow Jackets! And any other wasps for that matter. About the only wasp that has not popped me has been a Hornet. I hear that they hurt ! If they hit worse than a Bumble Bee or a Horse Fly, I want no part of 'em.