We went over to Jody's new club to look for some hog sign. It is in Raiford Florida. Raiford has 3 state prisons. They are all about within a 1 mile stretch. This is where Florida's Death Row is. Well anyway, while we were following hog tracks around the club we stumbled upon this joker. We should have turned him over the the prison to be used for the next "Lethal Injection". He was 5'6" on a tape from tip of nose to the end of the rattle.
I have killed a few this year and had one dog bitten right in front of me(no one saw the snake). So I have good reason to be a little edgy when I find them.
With a snake that long I might want to start wearing a cup with my snake chaps.........LOL Longshot
I was talking to a herpatologist last week, he said his research has shown that a lot of rattlers don't rattle before striking at all, that this was driven by human pressure (an evolution trait like this would normally take about a thousand or so years). Also when you kill them remember that even after you cut the head off it can still bite for up to 30 or so minutes.
I caught it and put it in an empty feed sack. When we untied the feed sack, she was very calm, but when I released her for some show and tell, she became very upset. She struck at anything around her. I finally choked her out with a catch stick, so that my buddy could mount her without any trama to the skin. You are correct, they can still bite for several hours. Thier nerves are crazy. She did not rattle until I started messing with her.
Last edited by 12-GAUGE on Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I have really been wanting to come down to Florida to do some hog hunting this Thanksgiving and Christmas, those things are my only fear though of going out into the woods down there. These pictures don't help the cause.