Severed rattlesnake head bites man
http://www.14news.com/story/38361985...head-bites-man
Severed rattlesnake head bites man
http://www.14news.com/story/38361985...head-bites-man
He beheaded it with a shovel, but he soon found out how dangerous a dead snake can be.
When he tried to dispose of the snake, the snake’s head bit him, pumping all the venom it had into him, Sutcliffe said.
Well, he obviously tried to "dispose" of it by handling it poorly. Since a severed snake head cannot jump, strike, turn, or do anything but bite.
People used to be aware of things like this. I know we were as kids , having killed many snakes. I guess people raised in suburbia today lack knowledge that every child raised rural used to possess.
I was really hoping for a video...poor bastard!
This video was attached to that report. Watch it and see how the woman teases her cat and makes it jump straight up. She teased the cat 2 times...poor cat :-(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
A few years ago in Tennessee this idiot neighbor killed a rattlesnake by cutting the head off and he had (as in used to have) this big hound dog who rushed over and in a flash gobbled it down. That dog was dead in 20 minutes.
When I see a pit viper either in the wild or at home, I like to sit close by within reason and talk to it for awhile. The natural inclination to kill it has to be suppressed until you calm down and think. And in the wild no snake whether poisonous or not has anything to fear from me. We'll talk and I'll prod him/her off the trail with a long stick---just to let him know there's humans about.
At home you have three choices: Kill it, relocate it (herpetologists take note), or let it be. You must make this decision. Everybody seems to love killing snakes---but I hate killing snakes.
Someone ran over oneabout 5' on our hunting lease once with truck on gravel road.
He brought it to camp and put it under another members 4 wheeler
A guy that was paranoid about snakes
Almost gave that poor guy a heart attack.
Btw dont let sun bake snake blood onto paint of hood of truck. It will not come off. Ever.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 06-07-2018 at 13:56.
On the ground? :-)
Aonground.JPG
A little story. Skip it if you can't handle talk of dead animals and such.....
somewhere round about 30 years ago when I was in college, a few of us friends who had been out golfing, came across a copperhead in the parking lot back at school. We killed it with a golf club. I don't remember now, how exactly we severed the head, but I do remember burying it in the ground.
several hours later back at home, I was in the process of skinning the snake. Had the skin turned inside out like a sock, about half way down the snake's body when I laid it down for some reason....maybe to get a new grip or something.
Picture this headless snake body laying on the ground in front of you with the head end pointing straight away from you. You reach down and just touch the snake about halfway down it's side......Bam, the neck comes all the way around and hits your forearm hard and fast.
It still creeps me out to think about it....
shoot, can't edit....the rest of the story
Back then, I used to figure any snake had no business living around houses or populated places.
fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I saw a juvenile cottonmouth in the parking lot at work. After I thought about it a minute or so...like Tipi suggested in post #8 of this thread....I figured I'd let it be since it wasn't around a house with kids or something.
A coworker came by, then another as we were looking at it. I found it interesting that everyone had a different idea about what to do with it. I was going to let it be.... another guy in his car and was leaving tried to run it over but it was too close to a parked car to reach. Another guy went and fished a long handled ice scraper out of his car and was going to try to kill the snake. (no way would I have even considered doing that with a handle only about a foot long or so....). Anyway, just as he was lining up to strike, another guy came out and took the scraper away...and used it to gently move it over to the woods. Absolutely no way under the sun I could see myself picking up that thing with such a short handle. Yikes!
Anyway, I just found it very interesting that so many people each had a different idea about how to best handle a venomous snake....
Best way to handle a venomous snake is not to. The "hold my beer and watch this" crowd provides enough examples of poor decision making in this type of thing for the rest of society to learn what happens.
yeah, no kidding!
I should qualify though, in my story the guy that moved the snake didn't fall into this category, not even close. He's an avid outdoorsman and very intelligent. His wife is a zoologist or some such thing that works at a local reptile zoo and he's got lots of experience with snakes and wildlife.
Still, no way would I have done it.....to me it seemed foolish. Sorta like what Steve Irwin used to do...he knew the animals and knew the limits and how to care for the animals.....until he didn't.
I understand killing rattlesnakes, and other venompus critters, close to the homestead or barn, but it pisses me off when any wildlife, including snakes, is senselessly killed because someone doesn't like them when on PUBLIC land where they have a right to be and are a thriving and necessary part of the eco system (I saw two dead just today because of peoples' prejudice).
Any animal can and will twitch after death and I have heard of jaws of snakes clamping shut after they have been beheaded just like the rest of their body moves after decapitation. I've seen it in dear too.