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  1. #1

    Default Hiker bit by rattlesnake on AZT

    Keep your eyes open out there...

    https://www.azfamily.com/news/hiker-...3eab59859.html

    Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
    Last edited by Storm27m; 04-05-2019 at 12:16.

  2. #2

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    There are snakes in Arizona ?!

  3. #3

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    You've got one half of my Hiking Mantra---"Keep Your Eyeballs Open and Your Butt Cheeks Clenched."

    This sage advice has gotten me thru dozens of rattlesnake encounters.

    Relevant Thread Drift---
    One of my best encounters was backpacking up the Nutbuster trail in NC and going thru a war zone of giant fallen hemlock trees. I placed my left hand on a trunk to scoot across and Mr Happy was sunning himself just above my hand. Luckily my butt cheeks were suitably clenched and my eyeballs were sufficiently open so I prevented envenomation.


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    The 2 comments on the article are worse than any non-empathetic responses to topics I've read on here. And I've read a LOT of cold comments on here.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by tommaloney View Post
    The 2 comments on the article are worse than any non-empathetic responses to topics I've read on here. And I've read a LOT of cold comments on here.
    Yep. I read those earlier and immediately remembered that I should have known better...

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    Yep. I read those earlier and immediately remembered that I should have known better...


    y'all made me read those comments....

    keyboard warrior wannabees....

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    26 vials antivenin and air ambulance

    If she doesnt have good insurance....really good.....she may owe well over $100,000. If she had none....she will wish they left her out there

    Anti venin that costs $100 elsewhere in world can be $2000-$10,000 here.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 04-05-2019 at 14:29.

  8. #8

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    Just an FYI - Its copperhead mating season currently in the Carolina's (and perhaps elsewhere nearby), not a great time to be thrashing about in places they like to lay about.

  9. #9
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    Lesson learned is that not all rattlesnakes rattle.

  10. #10
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    26 vials antivenin and air ambulance

    If she doesnt have good insurance....really good.....she may owe well over $100,000. If she had none....she will wish they left her out there

    Anti venin that costs $100 elsewhere in world can be $2000-$10,000 here.
    My wife got stung by a scorpion last fall. A striped bark scorpion common to TX that is a close relative of the more lethal Arizona striped bark scorpion. She had a severe allergic reaction - airway started closing, slurred speech, dizziness, etc.. Rushed her to the ER (with a crushed to death by frying pan scorpion) where they ID'ed the critter and treated her with fluids and high doses of antihistamines. Kept her for 22 hours for observation (so they didn't have to "admit" her). They weren't sure if she would need anti-venom if her condition worsened. And there was no scorpion anti-venom available anywhere in the DFW area, because the US manufacturer (ASU Labratory) no longer makes it. It would have to be flown in from leftover stock in AZ. The price? $6000 per dose plus shipping (aka expensive transport). Typically 3 doses are considered normal/average. The price in Mexico (where US providers now actually get the anti-venom from when needed)? <$100.

    Total cost of the sting? Around $6000. Thankfully, insurance covered all but a small deductible. If anti-venom had been required? A couple days in the hospital + $20K in antivenom = easily $40 - $50K. Just absurd... It would be cheaper to charter a plane and fly across the border to get treatment.
    Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 04-05-2019 at 18:05.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by stephanD View Post
    Lesson learned is that not all rattlesnakes rattle.
    Some rattlers are docile and others are very pissed off. You'll know very quickly which is which.

    My weirdest encounter was backpacking on the BMT on State Line Ridge and dumping my pack on the ridge to go on a short water run a hundred feet down the ridge to a spring.

    I pulled out my pump filter and my left arm was pumping away as I was crouched down next to this pool---below. I didn't even see Mr Jimmy coiled up nearby until I stood up to put the filter away. That pulled me out of my usual hippie bubble for about a day. I broke my main Mantra of summer hiking---as my eyeballs were half closed and my butt cheeks weren't clenched.


  12. #12

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    I love reptiles and amphibians (herpetology). I especially love anything with venom. Although Uncle Fungus' photos of the hidden pit vipers puts a little hair oh your chest.

    I really enjoy your in-situ photos of these snakes. It helps me (and hopefully others) get a better understanding of how these creatures live their lives so we can co-exists

  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by blue indian View Post
    I love reptiles and amphibians (herpetology). I especially love anything with venom. Although Uncle Fungus' photos of the hidden pit vipers puts a little hair oh your chest.

    I really enjoy your in-situ photos of these snakes. It helps me (and hopefully others) get a better understanding of how these creatures live their lives so we can co-exists
    When I was a kid I also wanted to be a herpetologist---cuz I loved reptiles and frogs and turtles and toads. Even snakes.

    MIRACLE SNAKE
    I have one more snake encounter to share---and I call it The Miracle Snake. I was nearing the end of a 20 day backpacking trip in July 2012 and had a camp set up on Bald River in the wilderness. In the morning I started packing up and decided to go on a short dayhike down the trail to stretch and hang out.

    As I was walking away from my camp I expressed a crazy wish: "Please let me see a copperhead before my trip ends." I was thinking this as I was walking and got about 200 yards from camp and stopped at a blowdown log across the trail and just stood there for several minutes looking down the trail.

    I turned around to go back to camp and Dangit my miracle copperhead was at my feet behind me and how it got there is a MIRACLE because I just walked where it sat a moment before.

    Here's Johnny, my buddy snake---



    Better pic---


  14. #14
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    [QUOTE=Tipi Walter;2243332
    I have one more snake encounter to share---and I call it The Miracle Snake. .........[/QUOTE]

    Here is a story you might like. I was camping in a national forest campground in east Texas in the spring prior to starting a backpacking trip the next day. I decided to hit the restroom one last time before hitting the hay and was walking along an asphalt walk way in the dark enjoying the stars. I thought to myself, "I better turn on my flashlight because this warm sidewalk after dark is probably a good place for a snake to hang out." I turned on the flashlight and a big ole copperhead was lying across the trail about 6 feet in front of me. Luckily, both of us went our separate ways without incident. I thought "Man, am I glad I turned on that flashlight when I did".
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  15. #15
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
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    snakes scare the crap out of me!
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by TexasBob View Post
    Here is a story you might like. I was camping in a national forest campground in east Texas in the spring prior to starting a backpacking trip the next day. I decided to hit the restroom one last time before hitting the hay and was walking along an asphalt walk way in the dark enjoying the stars. I thought to myself, "I better turn on my flashlight because this warm sidewalk after dark is probably a good place for a snake to hang out." I turned on the flashlight and a big ole copperhead was lying across the trail about 6 feet in front of me. Luckily, both of us went our separate ways without incident. I thought "Man, am I glad I turned on that flashlight when I did".
    That's a good story. Moral of the story? If you're nighthiking---carry a bright headlamp.

    Quote Originally Posted by PennyPincher View Post
    snakes scare the crap out of me!
    They put the "wild" in "wilderness". I call pit vipers the Grizzlies of the Southeast Mts---one of the few animals that can actually kill me.

  17. #17

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    Hope she recovers quickly, like they expect.


    My "Miracle Snake" was also a copperhead, and it dry bit me.
    Yes, you CAN levitate and make forward progress without touching the ground, regardless of what those physical laws say.
    About had a freaking heart attack...

    TexasBob, I put this in a headlamp thread awhile back. Was in the trail otw to an outhouse at Savage Gulf in TN. Lots of rattlers near there, too. Definitely pro a "real" headlamp vs keychain lights some use. I'd have stepped on this one, too.
    FB_IMG_1533051112072.jpg

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    I don’t have Tipi’s experience, but I saw this guy on the AT just north of Curley Maple shelter. He was right in the middle of the trail. He gave just a little buzz, not the ominous rattle of the old cowboy movies. I would not have heard him if I had ear buds in.

    I gave him Stick to look at on the left side of the trail and scooted around the right side. (Stick did not like that idea.)

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  19. #19
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    I had a few encounters with rattlesnakes on the PCT in Southern California. The most memoriable was when I was getting water at a spring and stood up to put my pack back on and noticed a rattlesnake was not three feet away from where I was getting water. It was awake and looking at me but never rattled. Snakes have personalities and a lot of this boils down to luck IMO.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coffee View Post
    ........ It was awake and looking at me but never rattled. Snakes have personalities and a lot of this boils down to luck IMO.
    I think you are right. I was hiking the AT just outside Caledonia SP when I look down and a timber rattler was about 8 feet away curled up right on the side of the trail. After I calmed down, I skirted around the snake but I thought "I can't leave him there to bite somebody" so I lobbed small stones near him until he crawled away. Never rattled once even when one stone bounced off him. I guess he was a pretty laid back snake.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

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