“Look at the size of that rattlesnake”, said my wife at the time. We were taking a horseback ride in the afternoon, just before dark. The huge snake was crawling across the dirt road about 20 yards ahead of us. I jumped off my horse and gave the reins to my wife. Looking around, I found a large stick and planned to hit the snake in the head. The skin would make a great trophy. Before I could get a swing at the monster, it crawled into a thick mesquite and prickly pear patch where it coiled up and started buzzing. “Go back and get the shotgun, while I keep it busy”. About 15 minutes later she arrived with the snake gun. I had cut about 4 inches from the barrel of a single shot .410, making it deadly at close range. The snake was still coiled up. If I shot now it would tear up the skin, so I started poking it with the stick. Finally it made a run for it and I fired. The number 6 shot took the head and about 4 inches of the neck off. This Diamondback turned out to be 6 feet long and big around as a grapefruit.
My horse didn’t want anything to do with the snake dead or alive, so I walked back to the house carrying the rattlesnake. Never pick up a rattlesnake until you remove the head, as they can still bite. One time I killed a large snake, put my foot on the head and cut it off with my pocket knife. When I picked it up, the stump came around and struck me twice, just a reflex action. That will give you cold chills.
Scissors work better than a knife to make a straight belly cut from the head down to the vent. The skin will pull down easily until you get to the coon tail, and then carefully skin this area until you get to the rattle. Leave the skin attached and cut off the rattle. I use glycerin and rubbing alcohol to tan the skins. A 4 oz bottle of glycerin cost around $4 and a 16 oz bottle of rubbing alcohol cost $3. Pour all the glycerin into a quart glass jar and enough alcohol to cover the whole skin. Leave for a week, and then clean all the fat and any meat off. Return to the jar for another week, and then tack it out on a board (pictured below). After it dries, the skin will be soft leather and ready to make a hat band, belt or whatever. I purchased the ranch in 1994 and it was overrun with rattlesnakes. This was mainly due to thick weeds and brush, and lots of mice and rats. And the previous owner had no cats. Cats have alerted me to rattlers many times, they almost point and the tail is going round and round. Cats are usually fast enough to avoid the strike but one of my cats came in one morning all swollen and black blood oozing out. She died a few hours later. I train my Labs to avoid snakes by walking them up on a coiled rattler. If they try to advance, they get hit with a stick and the words “No No”. In 18 years, I only had one dog bitten. The snake was coiled and rattling underneath a cedar tree. Maxine was barking at the snake but keeping her distance. I told her “No No” and she backed off, and then I turned to get my gun from the golf cart. In that split second she jumped in and got bit on the side of the nose. I shot the 4 foot rattler and loaded Maxine into the golf cart and headed to the house. By the time I got her home, her face was swollen twice normal size. It took 30 minutes to get to the veterinarian but he thought he could save her. Five days later and $800 I brought her home. I didn’t have to say “No” again; she gave them lots of room. She saved me one time in the horse pens at the barn. I was working with a horse and Maxine was laying close by. Suddenly she started barking and I turned to see a rattler coming up behind me. After killing the snake, I told her, “Good dog”. I guess the $800 bill was worth it after all and later she gave me 10 beautiful puppies.
The first three years at the ranch, I killed 25 rattlesnakes. Most were killed with a 4 foot hickory handle. Hollywood would have you believe a rattlesnake can take you off a horse. Actually they can only strike 1/3 of their length and they have a glass jar. One tap to the head and they roll over. Then put your boot on the head and cut it off with your knife. Leave the head lay and don’t touch it. I skin and tan all the hides. I give them to friends or sell them for $25. After cleaning up all the weeds and brush and putting out D-Con for the mice and rats, the number of rattlesnakes went way down. The last one I saw was three years ago. They don’t reproduce very fast and the roadrunners get a lot of the young. Females reproduce only once every three years, giving live birth to 8-10 young about 10 inches long. The babies are born venomous but cannot rattle and are very aggressive. They have one button and get another each time they shed their skin. The buttons are hollow and the rattle comes from the buttons knocking together. A lot of people don’t recognize the rattle when they hear it because it’s more of a buzz. The tail muscle fires 60 times per second, almost sounds like a bee. But once you hear it, you will never forget. Go to archive.org/details/rattlesnake to hear 15 second rattlesnake audio. You cannot tell the age of a rattlesnake by the number of buttons because some years they shed twice and they lose some by accidents. It seems the rattlesnake decline on my ranch came about the same time as the fire ants got here 10 years ago. Rattlesnakes shed their fangs every 6 to 10 weeks and have at least 3 pairs of replacements that lie behind.
My longhorn bull got bit on the leg. The leg was swollen for 4-5 days but he got over it, mainly because he weighed 2000 pounds. Small animals usually don’t live after a bite. We found a 5 foot rattlesnake at our deer lease in Marble Falls back in 1990 with a huge bulge in the middle. After we dispatched the snake we found a full grown adult cotton tail rabbit inside. Rattlers will wait in thick grass along a trail until a rabbit, squirrel or rat comes along. One quick strike and the poison will start to take effect. He follows the trail until he finds the dead meal, and then swallows it head first. The venom helps to digest the meat. My neighbor was dove hunting a few years ago and dropped a dove into tall grass. When he went to pick it up, a rattlesnake had beaten him to it. He said, “It scared me so bad I shot it three times and destroyed the snake and the dove”. A friend of mine from Brady got bit about 30 years ago while quail hunting. He had flushed a covey and was hunting singles with a young dog in training. Coach said, “I was watching the dog work and not looking where I was walking”. When the strike hit his lower leg, he jumped high in the air and shot the snake on the way down. The diamondback did not rattle until after the strike. His Boy Scout training said to make a cut on each fang mark and suck the poison out. So that’s what he did, and then pulled his belt tight just below the knee. He said today he could not get his mouth on his lower leg but he was 27 at the time. Then he headed for the truck about 300 yards away. Coach said he felt no pain whatsoever. The young dog didn’t want to quit and follow him and Coach didn’t want to leave him, so this took some more time. No cell phones in those days and it took 30 minutes to get home and call his doctor. The doctor met him at the hospital and after looking at the wound said, “I don’t think much of your knife work”. The doctor decided not to give him the antivenin, because in those days it sometimes was worse than the bite. Coach stayed two days in the hospital and the leg was black and blue.
Rattlesnakes den up at the first sign of cold weather. We have a lot of limestone rock outcropping on the hills. They will use the same den year after year. Two that I know of are only about 6 inches high and maybe a 4 foot long opening in the rocks. At the end of Feb or first of March when we start getting sun and 60 or 70 degrees, they will come out and lay around the entrance to the den. They are cold blooded and are trying to warm up, just like turtles crawling up on a log. This is when the snake handlers catch a lot of snakes.
I ran into the famous snake handler, Jackie Bibby about 8 years ago in Brownwood, Texas. He was getting ready for the March rattlesnake roundup and needed some more snakes. I called my friend Mike Rice and made plans to hunt a den on the 7000 acre Rice Ranch north of Brady. We waited for the sun to warm up to about 60 degrees. I drilled some holes in a trash barrel with wheels and locking lid with handles. Mike took us to his best den site on a little limestone hillside. Brown live oak leaves covered the rocks and the snakes were coiled up asleep with their head lying on their body. If the head is laying flat on the body, they are just enjoying the sunny nap, but the eyes are open. They were hard to see and camouflaged in the leaves but Jackie grabbed one with his snake catcher. Catching rattlers alive was new to me. I was holding the trash tub and when Jackie started at me with the 4 foot rattler, I thought, “What the heck am I doing here”. I got the lid off fast and in went the first one. Jackie was working fast and soon had three more. I shut the lid each time because they were coming up the sides and trying to get out. With all this commotion, several other snakes that were out 10 feet from the den started to head into the hole. They were not asleep anymore. I looked down to see one coming from behind me about a foot from my boot. Jackie said, “Don’t move”. Luckily the fat diamondback went right on by. One snake started down the hole before Jackie could get the catcher tongs on it. Next thing I knew, he was down on his hands and knees reaching in and grabbing one by the tail. Not sure if Jackie is brave or nuts but he holds 5 world records with rattlesnakes.
Later I ask him how many times he had been bitten. Jackie said. “I guess about 9 times more or less”. His hands were a mass of scars. Later in 2012 he would pay the price when he lost a leg to a large rattlesnake bite. Catching snakes alive is not for me. I would leave them alone if they would not bite my animals or me but when you live in rural Texas you have to put up with them and always be on the alert.
Rattlesnake meat is good to eat but like all wild game it must be handled correctly. After I skin the snake, I cut down each side of the spine and remove the back straps. The ribs have very little meat. These will be about the diameter of your thumb and maybe 20 inches long, depending on the size of the snake. Like all game the younger ones are more tender. Soak the meat in salt water over night. Next day cut into 2 inches pieces and sprinkle with a spice called “Slap Ya Mama” then roll in flour and brown in olive oil. Pour a mixture of water and BBQ sauce, add onions, peppers and potatoes and simmer with a lid on for 1 hour. No, it doesn’t taste like chicken, more like frog legs or alligator tail to me.
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Russell Outdoors: Rounding Up Rattlesnakes
“Look at the size of that rattlesnake”, said my wife at the time. We were taking a horseback ride in the afternoon, just before dark. The huge snake was crawling across the dirt road about 20 yards ahead of us. I jumped off my horse and gave the reins to my wife. Looking around, I found a large stick and planned to hit the snake in the head. The skin would make a great trophy. Before I could get a swing at the monster, it crawled into a thick mesquite and prickly pear patch where it coiled up and started buzzing. “Go back and get the shotgun, while I keep it busy”. About 15 minutes later she arrived with the snake gun. I had cut about 4 inches from the barrel of a single shot .410, making it deadly at close range. The snake was still coiled up. If I shot now it would tear up the skin, so I started poking it with the stick. Finally it made a run for it and I fired. The number 6 shot took the head and about 4 inches of the neck off. This Diamondback turned out to be 6 feet long and big around as a grapefruit.
My horse didn’t want anything to do with the snake dead or alive, so I walked back to the house carrying the rattlesnake. Never pick up a rattlesnake until you remove the head, as they can still bite. One time I killed a large snake, put my foot on the head and cut it off with my pocket knife. When I picked it up, the stump came around and struck me twice, just a reflex action. That will give you cold chills.
Scissors work better than a knife to make a straight belly cut from the head down to the vent. The skin will pull down easily until you get to the coon tail, and then carefully skin this area until you get to the rattle. Leave the skin attached and cut off the rattle. I use glycerin and rubbing alcohol to tan the skins. A 4 oz bottle of glycerin cost around $4 and a 16 oz bottle of rubbing alcohol cost $3. Pour all the glycerin into a quart glass jar and enough alcohol to cover the whole skin. Leave for a week, and then clean all the fat and any meat off. Return to the jar for another week, and then tack it out on a board. After it dries, the skin will be soft leather and ready to make a hat band, belt or whatever.
I purchased the ranch in 1994 and it was overrun with rattlesnakes. This was mainly due to thick weeds and brush, and lots of mice and rats. And the previous owner had no cats. Cats have alerted me to rattlers many times, they almost point and the tail is going round and round. Cats are usually fast enough to avoid the strike but one of my cats came in one morning all swollen and black blood oozing out. She died a few hours later. I train my Labs to avoid snakes by walking them up on a coiled rattler. If they try to advance, they get hit with a stick and the words “No No”. In 18 years, I only had one dog bitten. The snake was coiled and rattling underneath a cedar tree. Maxine was barking at the snake but keeping her distance. I told her “No No” and she backed off, and then I turned to get my gun from the golf cart. In that split second she jumped in and got bit on the side of the nose. I shot the 4 foot rattler and loaded Maxine into the golf cart and headed to the house. By the time I got her home, her face was swollen twice normal size. It took 30 minutes to get to the veterinarian but he thought he could save her. Five days later and $800 I brought her home. I didn’t have to say “No” again; she gave them lots of room. She saved me one time in the horse pens at the barn. I was working with a horse and Maxine was laying close by. Suddenly she started barking and I turned to see a rattler coming up behind me. After killing the snake, I told her, “Good dog”. I guess the $800 bill was worth it after all and later she gave me 10 beautiful puppies.
The first three years at the ranch, I killed 25 rattlesnakes. Most were killed with a 4 foot hickory handle. Hollywood would have you believe a rattlesnake can take you off a horse. Actually they can only strike 1/3 of their length and they have a glass jar. One tap to the head and they roll over. Then put your boot on the head and cut it off with your knife. Leave the head lay and don’t touch it. I skin and tan all the hides. I give them to friends or sell them for $25. After cleaning up all the weeds and brush and putting out D-Con for the mice and rats, the number of rattlesnakes went way down. The last one I saw was three years ago. They don’t reproduce very fast and the roadrunners get a lot of the young. Females reproduce only once every three years, giving live birth to 8-10 young about 10 inches long. The babies are born venomous but cannot rattle and are very aggressive. They have one button and get another each time they shed their skin. The buttons are hollow and the rattle comes from the buttons knocking together. A lot of people don’t recognize the rattle when they hear it because it’s more of a buzz. The tail muscle fires 60 times per second, almost sounds like a bee. But once you hear it, you will never forget. Go to archive.org/details/rattlesnake to hear 15 second rattlesnake audio. You cannot tell the age of a rattlesnake by the number of buttons because some years they shed twice and they lose some by accidents. It seems the rattlesnake decline on my ranch came about the same time as the fire ants got here 10 years ago. Rattlesnakes shed their fangs every 6 to 10 weeks and have at least 3 pairs of replacements that lie behind.
My longhorn bull got bit on the leg. The leg was swollen for 4-5 days but he got over it, mainly because he weighed 2000 pounds. Small animals usually don’t live after a bite. We found a 5 foot rattlesnake at our deer lease in Marble Falls back in 1990 with a huge bulge in the middle. After we dispatched the snake we found a full grown adult cotton tail rabbit inside. Rattlers will wait in thick grass along a trail until a rabbit, squirrel or rat comes along. One quick strike and the poison will start to take effect. He follows the trail until he finds the dead meal, and then swallows it head first. The venom helps to digest the meat. My neighbor was dove hunting a few years ago and dropped a dove into tall grass. When he went to pick it up, a rattlesnake had beaten him to it. He said, “It scared me so bad I shot it three times and destroyed the snake and the dove”. A friend of mine from Brady got bit about 30 years ago while quail hunting. He had flushed a covey and was hunting singles with a young dog in training. Coach said, “I was watching the dog work and not looking where I was walking”. When the strike hit his lower leg, he jumped high in the air and shot the snake on the way down. The diamondback did not rattle until after the strike. His Boy Scout training said to make a cut on each fang mark and suck the poison out. So that’s what he did, and then pulled his belt tight just below the knee. He said today he could not get his mouth on his lower leg but he was 27 at the time. Then he headed for the truck about 300 yards away. Coach said he felt no pain whatsoever. The young dog didn’t want to quit and follow him and Coach didn’t want to leave him, so this took some more time. No cell phones in those days and it took 30 minutes to get home and call his doctor. The doctor met him at the hospital and after looking at the wound said, “I don’t think much of your knife work”. The doctor decided not to give him the antivenin, because in those days it sometimes was worse than the bite. Coach stayed two days in the hospital and the leg was black and blue.
Rattlesnakes den up at the first sign of cold weather. We have a lot of limestone rock outcropping on the hills. They will use the same den year after year. Two that I know of are only about 6 inches high and maybe a 4 foot long opening in the rocks. At the end of Feb or first of March when we start getting sun and 60 or 70 degrees, they will come out and lay around the entrance to the den. They are cold blooded and are trying to warm up, just like turtles crawling up on a log. This is when the snake handlers catch a lot of snakes.
I ran into the famous snake handler, Jackie Bibby about 8 years ago in Brownwood, Texas. He was getting ready for the March rattlesnake roundup and needed some more snakes. I called my friend Mike Rice and made plans to hunt a den on the 7000 acre Rice Ranch north of Brady. We waited for the sun to warm up to about 60 degrees. I drilled some holes in a trash barrel with wheels and locking lid with handles. Mike took us to his best den site on a little limestone hillside. Brown live oak leaves covered the rocks and the snakes were coiled up asleep with their head lying on their body. If the head is laying flat on the body, they are just enjoying the sunny nap, but the eyes are open. They were hard to see and camouflaged in the leaves but Jackie grabbed one with his snake catcher. Catching rattlers alive was new to me. I was holding the trash tub and when Jackie started at me with the 4 foot rattler, I thought, “What the heck am I doing here”. I got the lid off fast and in went the first one. Jackie was working fast and soon had three more. I shut the lid each time because they were coming up the sides and trying to get out. With all this commotion, several other snakes that were out 10 feet from the den started to head into the hole. They were not asleep anymore. I looked down to see one coming from behind me about a foot from my boot. Jackie said, “Don’t move”. Luckily the fat diamondback went right on by. One snake started down the hole before Jackie could get the catcher tongs on it. Next thing I knew, he was down on his hands and knees reaching in and grabbing one by the tail. Not sure if Jackie is brave or nuts but he holds 5 world records with rattlesnakes.
Later I ask him how many times he had been bitten. Jackie said. “I guess about 9 times more or less”. His hands were a mass of scars. Later in 2012 he would pay the price when he lost a leg to a large rattlesnake bite. Catching snakes alive is not for me. I would leave them alone if they would not bite my animals or me but when you live in rural Texas you have to put up with them and always be on the alert.
Rattlesnake meat is good to eat but like all wild game it must be handled correctly. After I skin the snake, I cut down each side of the spine and remove the back straps. The ribs have very little meat. These will be about the diameter of your thumb and maybe 20 inches long, depending on the size of the snake. Like all game the younger ones are more tender. Soak the meat in salt water over night. Next day cut into 2 inches pieces and sprinkle with a spice called “Slap Ya Mama” then roll in flour and brown in olive oil. Pour a mixture of water and BBQ sauce, add onions, peppers and potatoes and simmer with a lid on for 1 hour. No, it doesn’t taste like chicken, more like frog legs or alligator tail to me.
-Russel Porter
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