So im limbing out a drag on friday, all alone and almost 3/4 of a mile from the road. Shut the saw off and walking back to the skidder next to some beech and maple tops I had just pushed out of the skid road, out comes a very *pithed off 2ft + rattlesnake. My inner hillbilly thought about grabbing him, he made it to the next brush pile and coiled up before I could get a good picture.
Today im headed down the road in the backhoe, not far from the house and crawling across the road is a FAT copperhead, right next to a small lake and weekend homes. We have snakes, but you normally have to really go looking for them. Glad im almost done on this woodlot, 8)
Maybe it a no kill snake zone. ;D
They don't eat too much and the rodents go away. ;D
You can bet that if I was running a skidder for you, I would not be getting out of the cab unarmed or without my chest-high snake-proof waders !!! :D
Kill em !!!!
(before they slither any farther east --- Please ! )
;D
Probably a good thing ya didn't try and catch the timber rattlesnake. You could buy a rather nice piece of equipment for what it would cost you in anti-venom. Anti-venom costs between $12 and $15K here where snake bites are more common...who knows what it would cost that far up North. Evidently your (3) species of hot snakes is very uncommon even in Southern New York much less the Northern regions. Probably a good thing you didn't kill the rattlesnake due to it is an Endangered species and probably carries one heck of a fine...probably more than the anti-venom.
This article is incorrect about the pygmy rattlesnake though...IDC if they lived in radio-active tainted soil they would NEVER reach 3 feet in length period. Actually 18" is a giant...I have had over 2 dozen at different times growing up, that I kept in aquariums...very beautiful snake and fascinating to watch. Tiny but they can put instant paralysis on a mouse with one strike. I always fed mine "fence lizards", being that is their natural source of food.
http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/snakes/snakes.htm
I dont mind them, just the whole getting bit way out in no where aspect. Our county emt carries anti venom now due to more snake bites. Certain areas of the county they are really around. Im not quite north, not quite southern NY, about 1 hr west-southwest of Albany. The copperhead met the nasty end of my 10ft choker I keep in the backhoe. My mother was a herpotologist for the bronx zoo, saw alot of really nasty snakes growing up.
I am glad we don't have much for poisonous snakes in Maine I have been told there's a few timber rattlers but I have never seen one