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Snake Season

I’m with @Nutterbuster on this one. I spent a lot of my Undergrad catching and studying snakes for research and have never worn snake boots, even in swampy western KY where they believe we have the highest concentration of water moccasins. Thankfully all the venemous snakes in the south(non-coastal) are not considered deadly. The bite will definitely hurt and there will be some swelling and necrosis but deaths are rare unless bitten around the face/neck. I think awareness and caution go a long way.

@Wolverinebuckman the ticks are a nightmare! What part of KY you looking at? That will determine what snakes you have to deal with
 
The worst a snake has shook me up was at home about ten years ago. I ran a trail camera behind the house and kept corn year round. July 4th weekend I poured a trail of corn out and when I got to the end of the trail I glanced up and a foot from the end of the trail there was a head the size of my fist and sticking up out of the leaves. Walked the hundred yards back to the barn trying to figure out how I didn’t get bit. Grabbed the shovel and headed back to the woods and changed my mind and decided to go inside and get a shotgun. I had never went and got a shotgun to kill a snake but I just wasn’t feeling it that day. When I returned to the woods I had kept my composure pretty good until I pulled the trigger. When I pulled the trigger and the whole coiled snake rolled over out of the leaves, instant adrenaline dump. The sucker was huge. Never had a snake shake me up like that before or since. Something about the sheer mass of it and me knowing I had recently been just inches from its head just messed me up. That’s when I bought my first set of snake boots. Since then I have had numerous pairs. I don’t always wear them. I have had numerous of the rocky snake boots and bass pro shops copy of them. They all leaked at less than a season of use with the exception of a pair of Irish setters vvaportrek. The Irish setters lasted three years before the inner lining came loose from the sole making them nearly impossible to remove. I’ve had one pair of rubber snake boots Cabela’s brand and they were insanely heavy and stiff. To the point where it was considered to remove them and walk the couple miles back to the truck barefoot. Right now I’m using gaiters. I may give the mucks a try as So far I have enjoyed wearing every pair of mucks I have put on.
 
@EricS, those big daddies will make your knees weak for sure. I had a similar run in with a diamondback that is the reason I always walk in with a headlamp. I was way to close to comfort before I saw the guy, and it literally made me sick to my stomach!

However, it's telling that in both of our stories, we were unharmed. Strikes are just very rare unless you go asking for it, and most of those are dry bites. And even if you DO get invenomated, and DON'T get antivenom, you're still probably going to be fine. Might lose a toe, but you'll be fine. ;)

Folks worry too much about the wrong stuff.
 
I wear snakeproof water boots down here in Florida. Lots of all kinds bad snakes around me. I’ve been bit twice by copper heads and my daughter has been but once by a moccasin. All required hospitalization but hers was worse because it was a moccasin bite.
 
Nutterbuster said:
@EricS, those big daddies will make your knees weak for sure. I had a similar run in with a diamondback that is the reason I always walk in with a headlamp. I was way to close to comfort before I saw the guy, and it literally made me sick to my stomach!

However, it's telling that in both of our stories, we were unharmed. Strikes are just very rare unless you go asking for it, and most of those are dry bites. And even if you DO get invenomated, and DON'T get antivenom, you're still probably going to be fine. Might lose a toe, but you'll be fine. ;)

Folks worry too much about the wrong stuff.
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That was the biggest timber rattler I had ever seen. Just shy of six feet but huge. A diamondback of the same length would have weighed half as much. But size doesn’t really matter. I’ve known two people who were bitten that weren’t intentionally harassing the snake. One was hanging their feet off a dock kicking in the water. Got bit by a moccasin but was ok. The other kept bait buckets for coons and walked over and shook the bucket in the dark to see if there was any corn left. He got bit in the arm by a timber rattler. He almost died.
For me the risk is nearly as much financial as health. You are right about them not wanting to bite. The rattlesnakes especially rely on camouflage and would rather stay hidden or leave most of the time. I can also say I don’t see close to the numbers of snakes I used to. I’m not sure if I should be comforted by knowing there are fewer of them or alarmed that my vision isn’t as good and I am walking over more that I don’t see. I can say that I am comforted when walking through thick stuff while spending more time looking ahead than down knowing I have some protection. I don’t let not having them on prevent me from going where I want should I decide I want to investigate something I saw or heard either.
 
EricS said:
That was the biggest timber rattler I had ever seen. Just shy of six feet but huge. A diamondback of the same length would have weighed half as much. But size doesn’t really matter. I’ve known two people who were bitten that weren’t intentionally harassing the snake. One was hanging their feet off a dock kicking in the water. Got bit by a moccasin but was ok. The other kept bait buckets for coons and walked over and shook the bucket in the dark to see if there was any corn left. He got bit in the arm by a timber rattler. He almost died.
For me the risk is nearly as much financial as health. You are right about them not wanting to bite. The rattlesnakes especially rely on camouflage and would rather stay hidden or leave most of the time. I can also say I don’t see close to the numbers of snakes I used to. I’m not sure if I should be comforted by knowing there are fewer of them or alarmed that my vision isn’t as good and I am walking over more that I don’t see. I can say that I am comforted when walking through thick stuff while spending more time looking ahead than down knowing I have some protection. I don’t let not having them on prevent me from going where I want should I decide I want to investigate something I saw or heard either.
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Yeah, timbers get thick. Even a 3ft timber rattler looks gnarly.

I think snake boots are a healthy precaution, but I just can't find a pair I'm happy with. I've had all the problems you describe, and finally decided that a guarantee of uncomfortable feet was worse than the possibility of a bite that boots could have prevented. Wish they made a pair of lightweight and cool snake boots, but if they do I haven't found them.

I'll keep ducking and weaving until they get me at last!
 
EricS said:
That was the biggest timber rattler I had ever seen. Just shy of six feet but huge.
Click to expand...

Our crew all went out and bought snake boots 10 years ago after we saw a Canebrake rattler crossing a road where we frequently hunted and got skeerd. He was only 3 ft, but massive. After a season or 2, we all quit wearing them due to comfort and other issues and the fear subsided.

The rangers denied their existence until we told them about it. They did relay a story about a turkey hunter that keep hearing leaves moving under his vest pad one morning in the dark. When he stood up, there was a large copperhead that had been pinned down under his butt all morning! The key is there are certain places and times to watch for them more carefully. In my lifetime of hunting and working in surveying for 4 years, I have only seen 2 poisonous snakes while out and about, so I'll trust the odds and keep doing what I'm doing, but don't blame anyone for wearing the boots, especially further south from NC.
 
SaddleUpPartner! said:
Yeah we're safe in our mitten. Only cold weather and bears can kill us. Not gators or snakes or crazy bugs. There's maybe one snake that could put the hurting on you if you got bit but other than it's not too bad.
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I think the only venomous snake we have in Michigan is the Massasauga Rattlesnake, which just so happens to live in habitats like the marsh I hunt over here in southeast Michigan... Oh joy!
 
Wolverinebuckman said:
I think the only venomous snake we have in Michigan is the Massasauga Rattlesnake, which just so happens to live in habitats like the marsh I hunt over here in southeast Michigan... Oh joy!
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I've run across a few of them in the marsh at the east end of Lake Skegamog. They are pretty shy and not very big. As I think about it I have to concur with @Nutterbuster that you'd probably need to step right on them to get struck.
 
Nutterbuster said:
@EricS, those big daddies will make your knees weak for sure. I had a similar run in with a diamondback that is the reason I always walk in with a headlamp. I was way to close to comfort before I saw the guy, and it literally made me sick to my stomach!

However, it's telling that in both of our stories, we were unharmed. Strikes are just very rare unless you go asking for it, and most of those are dry bites. And even if you DO get invenomated, and DON'T get antivenom, you're still probably going to be fine. Might lose a toe, but you'll be fine. ;)

Folks worry too much about the wrong stuff.
Click to expand...

How do you know most bites are dry?? Just wondering.. I don't think Im gonna walk through he woods barefooted and speculate if I get bit its probably gonna be a dry bite. Im personally aware of 5 people who have been bitten and none were dry. 2 more on this thread. I don't think any of us think we are going to die from it. We just don't want to deal the aftermath of being bit. Ive put 8 miles on my snakes in past 2 days. Not nearly as comfortable as my bed room shoes but I think live to wear them another day. And I know, snake boots or not, theres no way I could have been looking at the ground each and every time I took step. Thats just not happening for anyone. You would miss most of things in the woods you are there to see if you were staring at your feet the entire time. About twice as many people get bitten by snakes than fall out of deer stands annually. We all preach about wearing our safety harnesses...
 
CarolinaDog said:
How do you know most bites are dry?? Just wondering.. I don't think Im gonna walk through he woods barefooted and speculate if I get bit its probably gonna be a dry bite. Im personally aware of 5 people who have been bitten and none were dry. 2 more on this thread. I don't think any of us think we are going to die from it. We just don't want to deal the aftermath of being bit. Ive put 8 miles on my snakes in past 2 days. Not nearly as comfortable as my bed room shoes but I think live to wear them another day. And I know, snake boots or not, theres no way I could have been looking at the ground each and every time I took step. Thats just not happening for anyone. You would miss most of things in the woods you are there to see if you were staring at your feet the entire time. About twice as many people get bitten by snakes than fall out of deer stands annually. We all preach about wearing our safety harnesses...
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I misspoke. According to this site:

http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/venomous_snake_faqs.shtml

20-25% of venomous bites are dry. However, given that there are only around 7,000-8,000 snake bites documented per year, and an annual average of 5-6 fatalities, I just don't think it's as big a deal as we think it is. You're 9 times more likely to be struck by lightning.

Contrast 6 deaths per year with the 33,000 that wikipedia claims die in US auto collisions every year. And don't even get me started on coca-cola, McDonalds, and sedentary office jobs.

Treestand deaths are harder to pin down, but in my home state of Alabama, we had 4 deaths in 2011. I'd be willing to bet the odds of a injurious or fatal fall exceed those of a bad snake bite.
 
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