Canebreak rattle snake, eye to eye

18 years ago

My friend Peter and I had just settled into our foxhole for the first ROTC military problem to begin. We were in the White Hall Forest, Athens, Georgia this morning. Our foxhole was along side a hillside creek, and had a machine gun set up on the edge of the hole. As it happened, there was a sun spot right under the machine gun, I noticed. Because the Canebreak was so camoflauged, I didn't notice him immediately in the sun spot under the machine gun. When I did notice him, we were staring each other eye to eye, and I noticed the verticle pupil in his eye, I was that close to him.

The Canebreak was not alarmed, I noticed, so I stayed calm too, and I didn't move. How he got there I'll never know, as we were in and out of that foxhole a lot while setting it up. Peter was not from the Forestry school, and suspected he didn't know anything about snakes. I told Peter, in a low voice, to look under the machine gun and tell me what he saw.

Peter looked under the machine gun, then looked at me and told me he didn't see anything. I told him to look again, and he did, and with one surge was gone out of the foxhole straight up in the air. My eye was on the snake, but the Canebreak stayed calm.

To make the long story short, we killed the Canebrake right during the first problem, which gave our position away and everyone was doing things the wrong way, and we got blamed for the failure of the first group through the problem.

The Canebreak was 34 inches long,with nine rattles on his tail. To my surprise, Peter wanted the snake, and later showed me the hide hat band he made for his field hat.

That's a true story.

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Comments (7)

timmer_13
18 years ago
Great story, killing the snake must have made men out of you. Did you used a gernade or the machine gun?
KeithB
18 years ago
I recognize that sharing a fox hole with a venomous snake may be uncomfortable and that you may have been concerned about safety. Nonetheless, I would hope that should you have a similar encounter in the future you might consider sparing the snake's life as the actual risk of being bitten is fairly minimal and considering the other risks you face serving the country, a risk that you probably can handle fearlessly. I appreciate the sacrifices you are making for this great nation, but hope you will save your ammunition for the terrorists in the future. Best of luck in your military service and thanks you for agreeing to serve.
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mitchell_m
18 years ago
Very good post, Kieth. Well said.
Sticks_04
Original Author
18 years ago
Guys,

At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, killing the snake.

You might want to read the post 'Affects of rattle snake bites' in this forum.
mitchell_m
18 years ago
Dont get us wrong here, we arent saying you oughta be arrested and hung by your toenails for killing the snake. We arent like that. At least I'm not (guess I oughta speak for just myself here). I think the point is that snakes, even venomous ones, are nice to have around.

Most, if not all, of us here at the Reptiles Forum are well aware of the effects of a rattlesnake bite, and many of us could even name the toxins that do the damage. Its not that we dont know what they are capable of, its just that we happen to like canebrakes and to hear stories of them being needlessly killed doesnt really appeal to us.

Being in an area full of venomous snakes, I would suggest reading up on the ones found in your area. The info would probably come in handy. However, I must warn you, if you do that, you may end up posting here regularly. Except instead of stories of killing snakes, it will be with reptile pictures and trip reports. :-)
KeithB
18 years ago
Hey Sticks,

I understand why people make choices to kill snakes and I am not here to cast judgement on those decisions or to cast dispersions upon anybody. I am simply hoping that people reading this forum will carefully evaluate each individual situation and at least contemplate not killing (or in most cases collecting) the snakes they encounter. However, I recognize that there are situations when collecting is not inappropriate and there are situations when killing a snake may seem to be the best alternative available (though not one I would personally choose).
Sticks_04
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks all for responses. I didn't think you all would react like you did. I didn't mean any harm to the reptile community that day, and being a wildlife major in the Warner School of Forestry at U of Ga. I understood the preservation of natures creatures too. I love snakes and the reptile community very much and have learned how to overcome fear of snakes and others by knowing them inside and out. Maybe not as much as you all do though.

At that moment though, my thoughts were, am I fast enough to ward off a strike to the head or neck from this Canebrake? Upper body strikes are the worst, as you all know. There were a lot of people in that area that morning on top of it all, and I made the decision against the snake.

As time goes by, however, I wouldn't do that again now. It's true, the snake was communicating to me he wasn't intending harm to me through it all, I saw that too. I can communicate with most wildlife by actions, even bees.

Let me know more about your thoughts if you want.

Canebreak rattle snake, eye to eye

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Canebreak rattle snake, eye to eye

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