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Poll: What state have you seen the MOST rattle snakes in?

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  1. #1

    Default Where have you seen Rattle snakes on the AT?

    Where have you seen Rattle snakes on the AT?
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  2. #2
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    In the Smokies and in PA. Your poll won't let me choose both.

  3. #3

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    I wanted people to have to choose where they have seen the most, not in general where they have seen them. If it is a broad range then just post here like you did thanks!
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  4. #4
    LT '79; AT '73-'14 in sections; Donating Member Kerosene's Avatar
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    I've covered 2000 miles of the AT, plus another couple of hundred miles on other trails, and have never seen a live rattler. My preference to hike in cooler temps has likely contributed to this, but still. I'm not complaining, and I'll bet a few rattlers have seen me scuttling by and simply ignored me.
    GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014

  5. #5
    Virginia Tortoise
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    I saw more snakes in general between the Delaware River and the Hudson River than anywhere else on the trail.

  6. #6

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    I've seen them on the trail in VA, PA & NC. I saw 2 copperheads right before Erwin, TN.

  7. #7
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikec View Post
    I saw more snakes in general between the Delaware River and the Hudson River than anywhere else on the trail.
    I'll second that! Hiked there in late May of 2011 and I've never seen so many in an area that size. I ended up photographing and identifying a half dozen species that i'd never seen before. There were no problems though, the snakes were all every eager to get out of our way, they wanted nothing to so with us.

    The info i read st the AMC Mohecan Outdoor center said that most rattlesnake bites on the trail were the result of people trying to pick them up and getting bit in the hand or arm in the process, it also said that the majority of snakebite victims had been drinking alcohol at the time of the incident.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  8. #8
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    Profile of snakebite victim = male, under 25, "investigating" the snake, alcohol involved.
    Everything is in Walking Distance

  9. #9
    Registered User Trebor66's Avatar
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    Saw this guy between Black Gap Shelter and Springer Mountain.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398880742.512990.jpg
    RIAP

  10. #10
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    I have heard, but never seen, rattlers in Shenandoah National Park during the summer months. I didn't see or hear any on my recent hike probably due to the colder weather.
    HST/JMT August 2016
    TMB/Alps Sept 2015
    PCT Mile 0-857 - Apr/May 2015
    Foothills Trail Feb 2015
    Colorado Trail Aug 2014
    AT: Rockfish Gap to Boiling Springs 2014
    John Muir Trail Aug/Sept 2013

  11. #11

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    I regularly see them both north and south of NOC below about 4,500 ft especially in the drier, sunnier areas - esp. in pine-oak association forests. In the last 35 years of hiking in the Nantahalas I've probably seen about 25 - 30. Plenty o' Copperheads as well.
    Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

  12. #12
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    Saw one while climbig "Jacob's Ladder" one afternoon. He did not want to move, so I went around him.

  13. #13
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    I almost stepped on one just north of Blue Mountain Road in New Jersey. Never saw it till I was almost on him. It moved at the last minute & I did the "two-step" to avoid him! He moved about 4 feet off the trail, coiled up and rattled!

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by bamboo bob View Post
    Profile of snakebite victim = male, under 25, "investigating" the snake, alcohol involved.
    Yup. I see them all the time, though never on the AT. I had to move one for the first time the other day, since he blocked my path, and used a ten foot stick and a gentle touch. He was very calm, didn't seem to mind at all. I wouldn't do it unless necessary though. Usually I admire for a minute and keep moving.

  15. #15
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    I've only seen one rattlesnake (period), and it was on the south side of Mt. Race, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, about 5 miles north of the Connecticut border, on the AT. It was basking in the sun and looked like it was trying to digest something large.

  16. #16
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    Pennsylvania for me, because I live and mostly hike in PA. I recently attended a class on PA venomous snakes where I learned the following, culled from emergency room data: Most snakebite victims are male, bitten on the hands, and have consumed alcohol immediately prior to the incident.

    As a professional outdoorsman, my advice is: Don't drink around snakes; don't pick up snakes; don't be male. Follow these three simple rules and you will be OK.

  17. #17
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bamboo bob View Post
    Profile of snakebite victim = male, under 25, "investigating" the snake, alcohol involved.

    Yea I remember seeing that in 2002 of "Without a Trace" didn't the teen beat - oh sorry there may be peta types lurking .... Antagonize the snake with a Leki?
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  18. #18
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    Quote Originally Posted by Game Warden View Post
    Pennsylvania for me, because I live and mostly hike in PA. I recently attended a class on PA venomous snakes where I learned the following, culled from emergency room data: Most snakebite victims are male, bitten on the hands, and have consumed alcohol immediately prior to the incident.

    As a professional outdoorsman, my advice is: Don't drink around snakes; don't pick up snakes; don't be male. Follow these three simple rules and you will be OK.
    They never bother to check if the snakes have besn drinking...I think it's a coverup.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  19. #19
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    I never tried to pick up snakes... I have caught many locally and dropped them off in my backyard... scared the crap out my son once... wish I had video... recently I noticed I don't have any shelter mice.


    you would not want me for a neighbor - I apparently party all night long.

    Woo
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    They never bother to check if the snakes have besn drinking...I think it's a coverup.
    Sometimes the wolves are silent and the moon is howling.

    Thanks for the chuckles.

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