Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: FlintWalker on July 27, 2007, 09:04:31 pm
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A buddy of mine took me to a farm he hunts to look for some copperheads. I didn't find any, but I did find these nine timber rattlers. Four came from under one piece of tin roofing, two others from under a big flat rock and three more under a another big rock. All of them came from within a 200 yard radius, in less than an hour.
There's hundreds and hundreds or acres of terrain just like where these came from that we didn't look over. Makes ya wonder just how many live there.
At any rate, none of these went to waste. The skins will make fine limb covers and most of the meat has already been layed in hot grease!
All in all, we both got what we wanted. I got some snakes, and he got rid of some. I'm still looking for them copperheads though.
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Good show! I HATES snakes!!!! Dont think I will hunt them but the more power to ya!
David T
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That is a pretty impressive days work. I'm glad to hear you ate them.
David, how can you hate snakes? They are impressive survivors, and wonderfull rodent controll. Justin
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Snakes are efficient and deadly predators. They perform a service in nature, we dont ! Maybe ya wanna think about rethinkin' the "hate" thing ? ;)......bob
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WOW!!!!! ;D Thems some nice looking snakes. I live up where it is too cold for anything but garder snakes, but used to hunt rattlers with my brother when we lived in Arizona. Boy is it an exciting and enjoyable past time. And I also am glad you ate them as we gave our snake meat to an older lady who lived about 5 miles from us. She didnt have much money and really appreciated the snake, rabbit and quail we gave her. Have fun.
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I don't normally kill snakes of any kind. I just wanted some skins. I didn't eat these although I have ate it and like it. I gave these to a friend of mine. He cooked all of them and invited some of his neighbors over for some fried "rabbit". They loved it...even after they found out what it really was!
Like I said, I was just hoping for a copperhead or two, but I just couldn't resist myself. If I wasn't going to use the whole snake, I would have left them as I found them.
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Wow! Mother nature did a great job on those patterns, beautiful.
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Man wish we had them around here, makete you ever run into pine(eastern fox) snakes up yer way?
when I was a kid we would get em 4' long but I hardly ever see them anymore and don't have the
heart to kill em fer their skins.
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Nope, aint seen one, yet. May have to take a road trip. ;D How did you kill them rat eaters? We used to use a 22 with bird shot. Had to use that after I ended up with pieces of lead in my shin from 22's shot by my brother. We would dig into packrat dens in the spring to find the rattlers who went in to eat the rats. We would also drive around at night and find them on the roads. Now that was fun and exciting. Trying to kill a snake in the dark with a stick.lol. Once killed a rattler while out hunting quail who had just killed and eaten a quail and it had cholla quills all over its face. It looked like it was in a lot of misery so I put it out of its misery. If I remember right it was about 5 feet long.
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Ya'll make me look at snakes in a whole different kinda way.Great looking skins.tradrick
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Man that's a nice haul. Snakes give me the heebie jeebies. I have a rat snake that lives around the house. Sometimes find him in the window sill or on the front porch. he's a solid 5'er. Figure he keeps mice out of the house, but I'll walk all the way around the house and go thru the back door if he's on the front porch, rather than go thru the front door. I don't like being that close to them. Do like putting skins on bows though ;)
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Nice bunch of snakes,Being an ex-chef, I would love to get my hands on some rattler to cook,never tried it. Dana, I have a 4 foot pine snake skin that I got from a friend in my freezer as we speak, ironically I'm doing a bow for his daughter and so it will go on her bow, I'm gonna make the one skin work so I don't have to kill another snake, Had a good size one in the middle of my street in town at night last year, I thought about killing it, instead my son and I picked it up, took it to my back yard(wooded)and let it go, didn't have the heart to kill it. I can't judge people who kill rattlers, they are dangerous, pine snakes on the other hand aren't a threat here. Plus, in Michigan you can't sell them, so if they go on a bow it can't be sold(the bow I'm making is a gift) sales of animal parts in Michigan is a no no.
VB
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Ah ya got me wrong guys! I don't want them all killed I just have a phobia where snakes come into the picture. Was on an archy. dig on the Snake river in Oregon back around 1994 and ended up running into around 6 rattlers in 10 minutes. After that I have always had a phobia where snakes are concerned. Especially the poisonous ones!
David T
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I don't much care for snakes... cause with my eyes, they all look like branches till I'm practically stepping on them ;) (and it is another story when you run around everywhere barefoot :o). Couldn't bring myself to kill them though- too many accidents with the trucks on little ring snakes :'(. Them and gardner snakes are cool little critters. Like chipmunks :).
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mmm good eaten.
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This is good thread.
I taught biology for 33 years and pretty much preached "if you don't eat it, don't kill it". I studied spiders in grad school and don't kill them either and certainly don't eat them.
I'll guarantee you that I would definately eat rattlesnake if offered up. Anyway, if the snake is used for bow skins, then harvesting them is reasonable. I admire some of the "snake skins" done with paint or pens that some of you guys are talented enough to do.
Montana is not a very snakey state and our prairie rattlers don't get very big. Rarely would one be big enough for bow backing.
I never kill them and like to watch their behavior.
Two stories surfaced this early summer, though, about two painful snake bites victims that were darn glad a hospital was not too far off. One fellow's young son had to row his Dad across a big river to get help for him.
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Well said Don. Snakes can be dangerous. Just remember, in 87% of rattlesnake bite cases, alcohol was involved. In the words of Jeff Corwin, "I don't think the snake was drinking." Anybody who has killed a rattler and cut off the rattles and left the rest has missed a great tasting treat. Justin
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Nice haul of skins. I love the way those timber rattlers look on a bow, but I wouldn't kill one around here now- they're getting too scarce. Looks like you still have plenty there, though-believe I'd want to wear stovepipes on my legs if I did much walking around on that farm lol. I like snakes and hate to see people killing them for no reason, but a set of nice skins and a mess of snake meat is a pretty durn good reason.
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Nice looking skins, I'm with Hillbilly...I think I'd be wearing some snake leggin's while hunting them. Havn't eaten rattler, but would like to try it. I've gotten a couple of copperheads in the last couple of months. One isn't long enough to go full length of a limb though. :)
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Don't find many Copper heads around here big enough for a bow,now and ten I hit one with the bushhog and I always save them till I get another or someone else dose to match.I use a lot of skins but we don't have any Rattlers on my place at all,They are all around us just not there for some reason.I get most of mine from the county road crew that hits them while cleaning the right of way so I get several a year.In Tennessee it is illegal to kill any snake and especially Timber rattlers.
Pappy :)
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As far as I know, only a few species of snake are protected in KY but not rattleheads and coppertails ;D. Good for me, bad for the snakes. As I said before, I don't normally kill ANY snakes, I just really wanted some skins and knew of a place to possibly get some. I'll admit I didn't expect 9 but I figured i'd get 'em while the getting was good! I imagine I could go back and find more but I think i'll leave plenty for seed. I figure it'll take me a long time to make enough bows worthy of all the skins I have.
BTW, I had a guy bring me two copperheads the other day that he had picked up out of the road. Both in good shape. One skin is 22" the other is 27". He said when it gets cooler, he could get as many as one or two a week along a stretch of road near where he lives. The buzzards and possums better be quick or i'll have them too! My wife thinks i'm crazy.
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Hmmm! Never had snake before. How does it taste?
David T
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I have heard people say it tastes like........ you guessed it, chicken. Personally I think it tastes like snake. Some people fry it in oil. Some bread it and fry it. Some make it like a stew. If you cook it like chicken, (shake and bake) I would imagine it will taste like chicken or rather shake and bake. The skeleton gives away any secrets. But by taste, I don't think you would ever guess what it is. Justin
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Justin, Was that snake and bake? ;D Pat
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Just a question about those nice skins. do you just pin them up and let them dry or do you soak them in a preserver first... I have never dryed a snake skin and just want to find out information for when i do get one... Thanks for any information you may provide...
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Just clean any meat offin the skin and tack em to a board to dry
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BE sure to tack them on flesh side out and don't stretch them too much. If you stretch them too much the scale pattern doesn't look right.