Why we wear boots in Texas

ScottT · Post by **ScottT** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:12 am

Jason_W · Post by **Jason_W** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:14 am

I'm so glad I don't have to worry about poisonous snakes.

DerekR · Post by **DerekR** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:20 am

Wow...I didn't know Western Diamondbacks got that big!

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:22 am

Aww...Snakes in love...ain't nature a wonder?

I guess if you're gonna have a ranch, ya gotta have some kinda livestock.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:25 am

Boots!?!?!?!?!?!? As tall as those two are you'd need armored hip waders.

Joe

cnjarvis · Post by **cnjarvis** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:27 am

Yikes!

Happy to say I haven't seen snakes like that anywhere besides the zoo.

Looks like you have a nice pair of snakeskin boots there. Too bad you screwed up the belt...

Rebel1972 · Post by **Rebel1972** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:27 am

What kinda fish do ya'll ketch on them night crawlers

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:29 am

TASTES LIKE CHICKEN
THOSE ARE PRETTY BIG...
WE HAVE A TON OF SNAKES HERE IN FLORIDA
BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT
GREAT PICS

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:40 am

Great pics, Scott! Certainly not an oft seen sight!

brucew44guns · Post by **brucew44guns** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:35 pm

You best be 12 feet tall, and have the boots to go with that height!!. I killed one in Lake Village, Arkansas about 6 feet, looked like one of those.

Paul105 · Post by **Paul105** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:38 pm

What Griff said.

I've seen that courtship ritual on the Discovery or Animal channel, but doubt many have seen it up close and personal in real life. I've had a couple of run ins with Buzz tails over the years. It always seems to happen when your mind is elsewhere.

For you guys with dogs, they make a K9 rattlesnake innoculation. You get one, and a month later you get another then annually. I've got my dog set up to get the vac during her normal annual shot cycle. If you dog gets bit, it still need treatment by a vet, but the reaction is supposed to be significantly less severe.

Paul

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:47 pm

J Miller wrote:Boots!?!?!?!?!?!? As tall as those two are you'd need armored hip waders.

Joe

I'll second Joe's idea: Snake Waders!

DerekR · Post by **DerekR** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:52 pm

I had two large black rat snakes do the "love dance" behind me while I was trying to call up a turkey last spring. It sure made it hard to concentrate on my calling!

SmokeEater2 · Post by **SmokeEater2** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:02 pm

brucew44guns wrote:You best be 12 feet tall, and have the boots to go with that height!!. I killed one in Lake Village, Arkansas about 6 feet, looked like one of those.

The Game and Fish dept. Stock the dang things in the National Forest here.

Bigahh · Post by **Bigahh** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:26 pm

Looks like their dancing days are done!

Kilroy6644 · Post by **Kilroy6644** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:34 pm

Did you at least let them finish?

dr walker · Post by **dr walker** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:37 pm

great pics thanks for sharing

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:00 pm

Are they courting or fighting? Don't snakes fight like that too? Rear up and knock each other to the ground? How can you tell the difference?

Johnny

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:06 pm

Thank you so much for accepting my share of all that!!

ScottT · Post by **ScottT** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:22 pm

Blackhawk wrote:Are they courting or fighting? Don't snakes fight like that too? Rear up and knock each other to the ground? How can you tell the difference?

Johnny

I'm not sure I can! Of course, I dated a girl for a while and I never was sure about it then either!!!!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:00 pm

ScottT wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:Are they courting or fighting? Don't snakes fight like that too? Rear up and knock each other to the ground? How can you tell the difference?

Johnny
I'm not sure I can! Of course, I dated a girl for a while and I never was sure about it then either!!!!

don Tomás · Post by **don Tomás** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:13 pm

Kilroy6644 wrote:Did you at least let them finish?

Bet Scott got 'em mid-cigarette!

Tom

PPpastordon · Post by **PPpastordon** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:15 pm

Hope you eat 'em. If not, thats a lot of good meat to go to waste.

I must confess, I usually do not shoot snakes, even poisonous ones, unless they are way too close to the house. But I also realize that for some that translates into, "If they are alive they are way, way too close- already!"

Grace and Peace,

SmokeEater2 · Post by **SmokeEater2** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:13 pm

Snakes,even the poison ones are protected in Arkansas. That lil' law has made a criminal out of me a time or two.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:26 pm

There's an old timer that lives in Washington State during the summer and winters somewhere in Texas. He brought out a frozen eight foot long rattler he killed in Texas. He says people don't believe there's rattlers that big down there and when they say that he proves them wrong. It's a big ball of snake to be sure.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:37 pm

don TomÃ¡s wrote:
Kilroy6644 wrote:Did you at least let them finish?
Bet Scott got 'em mid-cigarette!
Tom

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:43 am

Ive seen some good sized rattlers here on base and else where but none top that

. So did they get grilled fried or stewed?

oregon73 · Post by **oregon73** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:59 am

Nice pictures! Wow!

Rob

ScottT · Post by **ScottT** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:03 am

Guys,

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why somebody would willingly eat a snake.

I have tasted it before, but I think there are a lot of things that are better to eat and less trouble to boot.

No, I don't care to eat snakes.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:44 am

SmokeEater2 wrote:Snakes,even the poison ones are protected in Arkansas. That lil' law has made a criminal out of me a time or two.

Do you have a source you would share?

Johnny

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:34 am

I saw two water moccasins at the edge of a tank doing about the same thing at my lease. They were about the same size. We kill poisonous snakes anytime we see one on our lease. Like the owner says rattlers and moccasins kill as many cattle as predators. Sometimes they survive but sometimes they don't. With the price of cattle as high as it is, it is a big loss to a rancher. Also, if the animal is just crippled by the bite then the coyotes take it down easier. We lost a small bull that way. I wear snake boots during the warm weather in Texas myself, but snakes that big can hit much higher so you must be on yours "toes" at all times. Maybe 2 by 4s with foot pads would be better.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:02 pm

Paul 105,
Can you provide more info on the innoculation?
Need to get it for Snazzy before I move to the country.
She is a city girl

Sharptop · Post by **Sharptop** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:33 pm

That is a mating ritual. When I was 13 I was squirrel hunting back in the woods behind my house in South Georgia in late August when I heard some thumping. Looked down in the woods and two 6 foot Timber rattlers were doing that and then falling back down. Called up to the house and my dad brought down a .410 and I killed both with one shot. A few feet away we found another one in the hollow of a tree. Talked to a Univ. of Georgia professor and he said it was a mating ritual, that the two were males and the separate one was the female. Those Timber rattles were the biggest we had heard of, the diamondbacks can get quite a bit bigger.

It was the strangest thing I have ever seen.

A side note on snake boots. We had our picture taken for the local paper and I had on a pair of tennis shoes with black socks and my dad had on his knee high snake boots. He caught a lot of grief from his pals.

Paul105 · Post by **Paul105** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:41 pm

mescalero1 wrote:Paul 105,
Can you provide more info on the innoculation?
Need to get it for Snazzy before I move to the country.
She is a city girl

I think this is the stuff my vet uses - "Crotalus atrox toxoid". I remembered the "Crotalus", but not the rest. Your vet should know.

Here's a good article describing the product.

http://www.hvjournal.com/articles.php?i ... e_for_Dogs

The entire article is worth reading -- here are the final two paragraphs from the article.

"Above all, even if the bitten dog has been vaccinated, it should still be considered an emergency, and veterinary care should be sought.

The vaccineâ€™s purpose is to lessen snakebite reactions so that the reactions would be less severe and have a higher percentage of survival and result in a decreased rate of illness in dogs that are bitten by rattlesnakes."

Paul

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:10 pm

If I remember it was sometime in the early 1980's when the Arkansaw game people turned me into an outlaw.No rattle tails on this ridge but lots of copperheads.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:29 pm

Will I be running into these during Texas Levergun Safari? Should I bring some 357 birdshot loads for "Shorty"?

SmokeEater2 · Post by **SmokeEater2** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:30 pm

Blackhawk wrote:
SmokeEater2 wrote:Snakes,even the poison ones are protected in Arkansas. That lil' law has made a criminal out of me a time or two.
Do you have a source you would share?

Johnny

Johnny, I looked through the Hunting Regs booklet and couldn't find it so I went to the local Game and Fish Office and asked.
They confirmed that it's against the law to kill snakes of any kind in AR UNLESS it's attacking you.

They said it's illegal to kill any animal that does not have a hunting season open (like snakes,songbirds etc.) with fines from $500.00-$2000.00.
The Warden I talked to said his advice was to wait until there wasn't a Game Warden around before killing snakes.

ihmsa70 · Post by **ihmsa70** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:46 pm

Them snakes are fornicating! Nasty buggers!

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:25 am

GANJIRO wrote:Will I be running into these during Texas Levergun Safari? Should I bring some 357 birdshot loads for "Shorty"?

I wouldn't worry about it, Ji.

They probably won't be out in great numbers in February, but it never hurts to just be aware of your surroundings.

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:05 am

FWiedner is right. The rattlers in February are hibernating in rock quarries mostly here in Texas, but if it gets unusually warm in month of February they don't pay attention to the date and they become active. I wear snake boots as soon as it warms up. I have had too many close calls to not do it. Even when it's cool I look around real good before I squat to go number 2!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:11 am

SmokeEater2 wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:
SmokeEater2 wrote:Snakes,even the poison ones are protected in Arkansas. That lil' law has made a criminal out of me a time or two.
Do you have a source you would share?

Johnny

Johnny, I looked through the Hunting Regs booklet and couldn't find it so I went to the local Game and Fish Office and asked.
They confirmed that it's against the law to kill snakes of any kind in AR UNLESS it's attacking you. They said it's illegal to kill any animal that does not have a hunting season open (like snakes,songbirds etc.) with fines from $500.00-$2000.00.
The Warden I talked to said his advice was to wait until there wasn't a Game Warden around before killing snakes.

SmokeEater2,

Thanks for sharing. I looked and couldn't find it either.

I guess I'll be an outlaw.

Johnny

nvstickbow · Post by **nvstickbow** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:09 pm

Those would sure look gorgeous on the back of a couple of bows. nice perty ones.

RICHP · Post by **RICHP** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:22 pm

The second week in March they will be killing and eating them by the hundreds in Sweetwater, at the worlds largest rattlesnake roundup in the world.

Why we wear boots in Texas

Why we wear boots in Texas

boots?

Re: boots?

Rattlers