Big A** Rattle snake

[troglobil]

This wasn't found on the AT, but still a huge timber rattler. It was found on a golf course in Macon, GA

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/7/5/6/8/pic20654.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=21804&c=550)

[doggiebag]

Very cool ... nice picture.

[Tinker]

That would feed a good sized family!

[wrongway_08]

Looks photoshopped, the end of the branch looks weird. and man that would be one REALLY big Rattler.

HHmmmm.... wounder if its real photo.

[wrongway_08]

Looks like one of the biggest ones that was raised in captivity was 8lbs and 5.3 feet long - that is small compared to the one this guy is holding, unless he is 2.5 feet tall :)


Cool photo anyways

[doggiebag]

Looks photoshopped, the end of the branch looks weird. and man that would be one REALLY big Rattler.

HHmmmm.... wounder if its real photo.
Rick,

We've got better things to do than photoshop snakes for this quality site. I remember my picture of a bobcat being debated as to it's authenticity. Shoot we've got freaks thawing out their boots to the point of melting in this community - believe it or not. No need to photoshop what's out there.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/3/5/6/5/Dec678pennmar013.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20768&original=1&c=searchresults&searchid=12775)

[JERMM]

GOOD GAWD! That thing looks like something on the Sci-Fi channel.

There was a rattler killed on Warner Robbins AFB measuring over 12 feet, I don't remember the year early 90's. Warner Robbins AFB isn't too far from Macon.

[double d]

All I can say is,"you sure grow them big in the South"!!! Did you take your new timber rattler friend up to Springer Mt. for the thru hikers to enjoy viewing on their first day on the AT????

[Pedaling Fool]

Assuming?? this is an undoctored photo, that thing has got to be at least 8 feet. I think I'll have to look up the record size for those things, never would have guessed they get up to 12 ft, you sure about that J. Rabbit?

[stumpy]

Here is link to a pretty big one that was killed in Central Florida, not a timber rattler, but a diamond back.

It's big enough to convince me to leave it alone!


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o267/jeffrayy1/bigsnake.jpg

[Smile]

I think that might actually be a canebrake rattler. (Crotalus h. atricaudatus)
:)http://www.pestproducts.com/images/cbrsnk.jpg


Larger than its close relative, the timber rattlesnake, the canebrake is more irritable, ready to defend itself.
Average length 3 feet, maximum length 6 feet.

[Bearpaw]

I don't think it's as huge as everyone is thinking. Remember, perspective counts for a lot. The snake is MUCH closer to the camera than the man with the stick. When you look at an extreme close-up of your dog's face, you realize its nose isn't as big as all the rest of its head, but it often looks that way in the shot. This was also how Peter Jackson shot many of his scenes in LOTR to make regular sized actors look hobbit size.

Still, it IS a big rattler.......:rolleyes:

[jettjames]

yup bear is right. that is not photo shopped, just a wide-ish angle lens close to the subject.. it distorts perspective when used close to the subject, just like bear said.

and yes, that is big rattler and yes i am happy to see you too.

pt

[RITBlake]

what's with the folks in the South finding huge snakes and then promptly killing them

[warraghiyagey]

Cuz ther a sceert of em.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/ad/aussie.gif

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

what's with the folks in the South finding huge snakes and then promptly killing themMaybe it is because we find them on our golf courses, at the foundation of our house, or curled around the mailbox pole. While I don't bother snakes in the wild, poisonous critters aren't going to be safe from a Dino-granny when they are inhabiting areas where my grand and great-grandkids will be playing.

[BigStu]

what's with the folks in the South finding huge snakes and then promptly killing them

How are you going to make your new boots if you don't ? :-?

[oldfivetango]

Actually,that ain't all that big a rattler for down heyuh.
There used to be a picture on the wall of a barber shop in
Milledgeville of a big ole bulldozier driver holding a rattler that
he killed and it weighed in at over 90 pounds.

The man appears to be almost 6 feet tall in the photo
and the snake draped to either side of him when held up
to shoulder height.

The mans bicep was bulging under the weight to hold the
snake up but it was an old photo and all our big rattlers are
mostly gone with the wind now.....sorta like real heart pine.
Oldfivetango

[JERMM]

Assuming?? this is an undoctored photo, that thing has got to be at least 8 feet. I think I'll have to look up the record size for those things, never would have guessed they get up to 12 ft, you sure about that J. Rabbit?

Yep, saw it in the paper and I believe everything in the paper. ;)
The guy that killed it was 6'4" he had it hanging around his neck with rattlers and head touching the ground.
That thing was big enough to make a nice pair of boots with several matching belts, a hat band, a purse with matching wallet and check book cover and lots of other accessories.

It is really sad that these guys kill them just to get their picture in the paper. The snake was crawling across a dirt road on the AFB, the guy got out of his truck wanting to catch it, killed it instead.

[troglobil]

FD thanks for fixing my link. I wasn't sure how to do it properly.

[stumpy]

what's with the folks in the South finding huge snakes and then promptly killing them


The one I linked to was in the front yard of a house that has three kids, all under the age of 6 living there. I would think that would be a good reason to go ahead and take care of a snake that size.;)

[Critterman]

Have you seen this one ? 3166

[RITBlake]

The one I linked to was in the front yard of a house that has three kids, all under the age of 6 living there. I would think that would be a good reason to go ahead and take care of a snake that size.;)

Or you could call animal control and they could come capture it.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Or you could call animal control and they could come capture it.Animal control here would laugh their assets off if you called them to capture a rattler or copperhead - they would kill it if they came out.

[dixicritter]

Or you could call animal control and they could come capture it.


Animal control here would laugh their assets off if you called them to capture a rattler or copperhead - they would kill it if they came out.

Yeah we can't even get them to come out for the dogs, much less a snake.

[JERMM]

Animal control here would laugh their assets off if you called them to capture a rattler or copperhead - they would kill it if they came out.


here too

[RITBlake]

Yeah we can't even get them to come out for the dogs, much less a snake.

I see. Well if there are kids around you can't really risk it. Just a shame that such a cool creature was hanging out and had to be shot.

Although, as a kid, I saw my neighbor shoot a raccoon dead in the street because it was walking around in broad daylight and acting agressive. It was one of those defining childhood memories.

[NICKTHEGREEK]

If real, Holy Crap! I wonder why the skinny stick doesn't have some downward bend in it.

[johnny quest]

I see. Well if there are kids around you can't really risk it. Just a shame that such a cool creature was hanging out and had to be shot.

Although, as a kid, I saw my neighbor shoot a raccoon dead in the street because it was walking around in broad daylight and acting agressive. It was one of those defining childhood memories.

yeah i remember that movie. they call you scout?

[RITBlake]

yeah i remember that movie. they call you scout?

I know, I know it's very "to kill a mocking bird" but it's true.

[Jan LiteShoe]

I interviewed a snake collector years ago. I mean, the guy was an enthusiast. When he heard of a cornered copperhead or such, he would capture it from the well-traficked area and turn it loose in a wild area. When I interviewed him, he had three coppoerheads in a sack in the back seat of his car that he later turned loose in the pine woods while we chatted..

Animal control might know of such an enthusiast in your area.
Seems a shame to extinguish, when relocation is a possibility.

[Smile]

RBMan regularly removed rattlers, and snappers and relocates them, both are very important to the local ecosystem! :)

[wrongway_08]

Thats cool, if its real. Shame every idiot has to kill them when they find them. I have no respect for the people who find them and just kill them - shows how pitt-a-full the person is.

Oh well was a cool snake. Shame snakes are not quicker - then the snake would be holding the idiot on a stick, now that'd be really cool. :)

[doggiebag]

I'm pretty sure that snakes alive. Look at how the muscles are stil tensed up near the head and the rattles. I think most folks are enlightened enough to know not to kill things unnecessarily.

[wrongway_08]

Hard to tell, IF its dead, hes an idiot.


If ,cool, he got his snap shot and let it go.

Anyone know if its dead or alive? I was thinking it was dead due to a comment made earlier..

[troglobil]

Sorry it is dead, I was told a two iron did him in.

[doggiebag]

It'll make good backing for a primitive bow at least. Or a wallet. Though I'd probably watch golf on TV more often it there's a chance of wilderness interaction between golfers and the local wildlife. Shame about the snake.

[RITBlake]

Hard to tell, IF its dead, hes an idiot.


If ,cool, he got his snap shot and let it go.

Anyone know if its dead or alive? I was thinking it was dead due to a comment made earlier..

it's not that hard to tell, look at all the blood on the head of the snake, that is one dead snake. what a waste.

[doggiebag]

it's not that hard to tell, look at all the blood on the head of the snake, that is one dead snake. what a waste.
I guess my minds eye was overlooking the obvious ... that does look like blood.

[wrongway_08]

it's not that hard to tell, look at all the blood on the head of the snake, that is one dead snake. what a waste.

See it now. Thats a shame. He probably bragged about how he killed this "man killer" to his buddies. He looks proud to be a coward as$ chicken ***** - his family must be proud this peice of work is in their gene pool!

[JERMM]

See it now. Thats a shame. He probably bragged about how he killed this "man killer" to his buddies. He looks proud to be a coward as$ chicken ***** - his family must be proud this peice of work is in their gene pool!


then he tied it to the hood of his pickup and drove around town for a couple of days

[johnny quest]

down with golfers!
up with snakes!

[Pedaling Fool]

Some guys kill things, like this snake, because it makes them feel like a man, but really it's because they're scaird little punks. Not unlike the guys that feel big and bad driving those big 4-wheel trucks and honk/yell at me on my little bike, but when I'm able to catch them at a red light, then they're not so big and bad.

Before anyone gets offended, I'm not saying ALL people that hunt or drive big vehicles fall into this category, but there is that percentage.

[Jack Tarlin]

While we're on the subject, what are the biggest ones people have seen on the Trail?

For me, the largest was in, believe it or not, Harriman State Park in New York.
Second biggest was on top of the Priest in central VA; third biggest was near PA 325, a day North of Duncannon. These were all big snales, but nothing like the one in the photograph, thank God.

[wrongway_08]

3.5 feet biggest, near the A.T.. About 10 miles East of it.

[doggiebag]

I'm not concerned with the snakes size in any specific region. I find the number of encounters in a specific area more interesting. For a serious adrenaline rush ... I'd reccomend the hill side north of Lehigh Gap in Palmerton, PA ... it's a classic rattlesnake rookery. There were areas that you could have half a dozen of those little buggers just rattling their little tails away under rock ledges on the trail. It'll get your hyper awareness a sharp edge.

[johnny quest]

ive never killed a rattlesnake. im respectful (read that scared) of'em and leave them the f alone. but as a boy i remember daddy killing a rattler and several water moccasins that decided to take up residence in our little piece of jakes bayou, florida. daddy wasnt an idiot or a coward. he was protecting his family, pets and livestock.
i suspect some of you didnt grow up in the country and the only snakes you see are on a trail...when you go in their backyard. i suspect though that if your black lab, or god forbid, your grandaughter got bit out behind the house you would feel different.
a little perspective helps every situation.
that being said, kill all the golfers!

[doggiebag]

I'm with you there JQ. Let's respect the wildlife but common sense is definitely needed in the pro-snake anti-golfer lobby. Anti-venom is expensive - and I can see your dad's point. That being said ... I'm rooting for the snake in the rattler vs golfer issue.

[RITBlake]

While we're on the subject, what are the biggest ones people have seen on the Trail?

For me, the largest was in, believe it or not, Harriman State Park in New York.
.

Maybe we saw the same guy, this was from Harriman as well:

http://www.maine2georgia.com/NY/slides/P1010062.JPG

[digger51]

Jack...a couple of years I met you at Blue Mtn Shelter when you were hiking with Mtn Dew. I told you about a large rattler I encountered in Pa and you called me a liar, so I won't repeat the story again.

[wrongway_08]

We never killed any snake, poison or not. If a fanged decided to make our home their own, we cought it and drove it far away to a field or park area and let it go there. No reason to kill them, with a little effort you can have a safe home/yard/playset and the snake can still live and go on with his life.

Snakes usually stayed away and never came back, snapping turtles on the other hand, have to be driving a Loooooong distance away - even then they would sometimes show back up a few months later or the following year.

[Mountain Man]

what's with the folks in the South finding huge snakes and then promptly killing them

We like to eat um down here. Rattlesnake meat is good. :banana

[johnny quest]

you know, it really is tasty. the local lions club here has an exotic game taste testing night to raise money for charity. the rattlesnake is always a favorite.

[envirodiver]

We never killed any snake, poison or not. If a fanged decided to make our home their own, we cought it and drove it far away to a field or park area and let it go there. No reason to kill them, with a little effort you can have a safe home/yard/playset and the snake can still live and go on with his life.

Most people that get snakebit are trying to catch them or otherwise mess with them.

[Del Q]

I might be wrong but that looks quite a bit like my ex-wife. Gained some weight since last time I saw her.

[Pringles]

We never killed any snake, poison or not. If a fanged decided to make our home their own, we cought it and drove it far away to a field or park area and let it go there. No reason to kill them, with a little effort you can have a safe home/yard/playset and the snake can still live and go on with his life.

Snakes usually stayed away and never came back, snapping turtles on the other hand, have to be driving a Loooooong distance away - even then they would sometimes show back up a few months later or the following year.

I was car camping at the state park by Roan Mountain a few years ago, and read their "park newspaper." They reported a study done around their campground. When rattlesnakes/copperheads wandered into the campground, usually someone told a ranger. In this study (if I remember correctly), they worked with timber rattlesnakes only. When they caught one, they inserted some type of a transmitter-thingie (don't let the technical terms scare you) into the snake's skin. Then the snakes were moved either a hundred yards or so into the woods or a few miles away, "where they wouldn't bother anyone again." Then they tracked the snakes. What they found was that the ones that had been placed fairly nearby in the woods wandered about a bit, seemed to figure out where they were, and then never went near the campground again. The ones that were transported (translocated if you want to hunt in the biology-type databases) far, far away, seemed to wander about, supposedly looking for some landmark, until they died. Ok, I read it a while ago and may not remember all the details, and it was a park newsletter watering-down of some research, but it seemed interesting and not unreasonable. On the other hand, maybe the park was just trying to make people happy that when a "giant, poisonous, nasty-tempered anaconda" wandered through their campsite and the ranger just took it a little ways into the woods, they felt that the snake would a) live, and b) never come back. I guess that could make me happy. :rolleyes:

Beth

[DuctTape]

I'm not concerned with the snakes size in any specific region. I find the number of encounters in a specific area more interesting. For a serious adrenaline rush ... I'd reccomend the hill side north of Lehigh Gap in Palmerton, PA ... it's a classic rattlesnake rookery. There were areas that you could have half a dozen of those little buggers just rattling their little tails away under rock ledges on the trail. It'll get your hyper awareness a sharp edge.

I dayhike this area fairly often, and I've only ever seen one ratter up there. The worst area, judging by secondhand accounts, is probably Duncannon to 501.

I think there's something in our instincts that makes us want to kill snakes on sight. People and snakes just don't get along - like dogs and bears, for instance.

[HIKER7s]

it's not that hard to tell, look at all the blood on the head of the snake, that is one dead snake. what a waste.

Well, it is a waste. Hopefully they ate it. Since it was dead, it would of been worse if they just left it or carried it around like a trophy for all to see and not use what they killed.

[troutseeker]

ive never killed a rattlesnake. im respectful (read that scared) of'em and leave them the f alone. but as a boy i remember daddy killing a rattler and several water moccasins that decided to take up residence in our little piece of jakes bayou, florida. daddy wasnt an idiot or a coward. he was protecting his family, pets and livestock.
i suspect some of you didnt grow up in the country and the only snakes you see are on a trail...when you go in their backyard. i suspect though that if your black lab, or god forbid, your grandaughter got bit out behind the house you would feel different.
a little perspective helps every situation.
that being said, kill all the golfers!

I could not agree more. You know how the majority of people get bit by snakes each year? Trying to catch them, including the "kind folks" who do not speak snake and fail to effectively communicate to the rattler they are only picking him up to help it. There are no shortage of timbers and coppers in the region I live and when I am hiking I never disturb any creature in their domain. However, if one ventures on my property, it is history. As much as I love wildlife, I would never forgive myself if my daughter was bit by a snake I thought I let go earlier. The comments about Animal Control are also correct. Part of country living is to take care of animals that present a real potential harm to your family. If every person who had to extinguish a snake called Animal Control they would not have the time in the day to respond before the snake had slipped away into hiding, and next time perhaps the snake finds you, or your child, first.

[fredmugs]

Longest was probably 5 foot long just north of Swatara Gap in PA. Last Oct I saw about a 4 footer that was really thick just north of the Tye River.


While we're on the subject, what are the biggest ones people have seen on the Trail?

For me, the largest was in, believe it or not, Harriman State Park in New York.
Second biggest was on top of the Priest in central VA; third biggest was near PA 325, a day North of Duncannon. These were all big snales, but nothing like the one in the photograph, thank God.

[Blissful]

Finally got my pic of the hungry rattler of PA in my gallery.

[splash1986]

Not anywhere near the AT, but at my hunting camp in South Mississippi, I saw a diamondback probably close to 5 ft. Gorgeous snake, but not nearly as big as some water mocassins we see down here in Louisiana! As far as Im concerned, rattlesnakes are only a problem if in close vicinity to a house and young kids and pets. They are generally docile unless they are messed with first. Cottonmouths (moccasins) on the other hand, are a downright mean and nasty snake, with a bad temper. I steer well clear of them!

[Smile]

See it now. Thats a shame.

You got that right.

[Allen66]

If real, Holy Crap! I wonder why the skinny stick doesn't have some downward bend in it.


Exactly what I was thinking.

[Erin]

Beth has a point on relocating snakes. There is a very active group of herps, their slang for herpotologists, in this area (southern Mo and northern Arkansas) and they advise not moving the snake more than three or four miles and choosing a similar landscape or the snake will die. If you want to relocate a snake and have a college in your area, there is usually a herp professor or student that will come and move it for free to save it from being killed. Most of the South has an active local herp society,usually with helpful websites and contacts. Our local groups are excellent for advice, identification, conservation, relocation and education. Check out the ones in your area. Alot of them are hikers also, since they are out looking for snakes, do counts, check wintering dens, movement, etc.