For rattle snake lovers. Updated with GON story

[Rick Alexander]

Back in the late 60's my uncle and grandpa tore down some old tin roofed sheds that they use to house the tractors and combines - hay - grain - all sorts of things under. There were 3 of them about 24 feet wide by probably 60 feet long in total (big farm - >1000 acres). They had been around probably 50 or 60 years (maybe older?) and got so unstable over the years they weren't safe to even store the tractors under any longer so they had to go. This was in Screvin Co GA. I've forgotten how many rattle snakes they killed but several of the biggest ones and the shear number made the local paper. Hard to believe my brother and cousin and I use to go down there to shoot rats with 22 rifles for fun and we didn't even realize we were probably stepping over literally 100's of snakes. We rarely saw one but how observant do you think 8-12 year old boys were about that? I wonder if I could search the Screvin Co. paper and find those old articles - that would be cool. My mother and grandma about had a heart attack when they started pulling them out of there.

 

[tr21]

I hate snakes, deadly afraid of em and ain't afraid to admit it ! there wouldn't of been a 20 ga shell left in the county i'd still be shootin em

 

[Throwback]

Maybe I’ll buy another family member a years subscription to cancel out the boycotters

 

[jbird1]

Unbelievable...first the "why I don't hunt" thread and now GON under fire for the rattlesnake story?? This OWL thing is an epidemic!

 

[NCHillbilly]

I like snakes, and admire them. I find them fascinating. I run up on rattlesnakes and copperheads pretty often. I walk around them and let them go on about their business. I believe they fill an important role in the ecosystem. I see hundreds of snakes a year. I haven't killed a snake in probably twenty years. That one was a copperhead in my yard that crawled over my foot while I was sighting in a rifle at an old picnic table that had weeds growing under it.

If I found a den of rattlesnakes or copperheads like that in my yard or hunting camp, I would kill every one of them I could find. I like snakes, but I don't want them biting me when I walk outside before daylight to pee, or to be chomping on my young'uns or grandyoung'uns or dog. When they come into my yard, they violate our truce.

 

[Gbr5pb]

There is a big difference in out in the woods and being in my yard

 

[Mark K]

I can understand killing venomous snakes in your yard. I could understand killing them in your house. I guess I can see the logic of killing them by your camper you placed in the woods next to the home you created for them. But writing or carrying a story about it and not expecting backlash is sorta on the what did you expect side. I guess because it’s “evil man attacking snakes” it wasn’t expected. But I’d be willing to bet they wouldn’t run a story if I go out and shoot 10 fawns in one day to get my limit of antlerless deer. And I also bet there’d be more backlash on this site than on the magazines website.