Proactive, is a good word.

Skipper, I didn't crop that picture, I had to zoom in, or you'd never recognize what it was. Trust me, it blended in plenty good.

Personally, I think rattlesnakes should be blaze-orange colored and glow in the dark. lol.

Now, I'll tell you the story about the snake pictured above. A while back I mentioned that I was remodeling an old farm house. Well, I'm still pecking away on the old shack. I've had several guys, lend a hand when they get a chance.

My hunting buddy Moe, called me one evening, asked if I wanted to go fishing Friday night. The old house is only a half mile from the river. His plan was to fish a while, stay overnight at the house and get some painting done the next morning. Never pass up free help.

I didn't get off work Friday night till 9pm, so it was 10 when I found Moe at the river. He was out of bait and ready for supper. I didn't even take my fishing poles, my plan was to fix/eat supper and turn in for the night.

So we drove up to the house, I parked kind of behind it, so he'd have room to turn his truck around. Moe parked straight out from the porch steps.

Long story short, I cut my dog in the wind, walked down to the house, unlocked the place, and turned on the outside light. Plenty of light to see enough to walk. I had paint and all that stuff, so, we were both back and forth 2, 3 maybe 4 times to our vehicles.

We ate, bs'd and listened to my beagle run. It was the same way the next morning, we were both back and forth to our vehicles. We painted one room, had breakfast and Moe took off. (he takes pictures as a side job.) It was hot, the paint dried fast, I done a little touch-up work, and went to the river for a swim. It was getting really hot. I was probably at the river 20 minutes or so?, went back to the house and parked where Moe's truck was sitting before.

Cleaned up the mess, loaded up the trash, tied my dog up just behind the car. I was back and forth, to the car again and again. I'd just taken my rifle, camera, and all my junk out there. I was in the house when my dog started woofing.

Here she had that snake coiled up, rattling up a storm. And she was getting gamey. I loaded my rifle first thing, put my dog away, then got the camera. The snake was within 15 feet of my car, and inside of the dogs circle. Where had it been all night and morning?

I can't say the place is out in the "boonies", but the nearest hospital is about an hour away, there's no cell phone service there. But the idea of letting that sob slither away, never crossed my mind. Proactive.

good move .I would hate to loose a good dog to one of them ba****ds. We had one take a hit in the eye lid.he surived but lost his hearing. and the sight in one eye. two years later when feeding him his head looked like a cantalope. The vet said the body cysted the fang and it aparently still had venom . and we lost him.

I've grown up around venomous snakes, alligators, and a few other critters that can put a serious hurt on you. You learn to respect them. My policy has always been in the woods I leave them be (unless it gets aggressive). In the yard it's a whole different matter, mainly due to having small children. Generally the old adage that if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone will hold true. I've stopped and let several ~5ft timber rattlers cross the lane while I'm walking to my bow stand. Never really bothered me at all.

Well, snakes don't really bother me either, but if it's poisonus, I'm going to kill it.

Just like this snake from the other day. My dog is getting old, she's a little bit fat, she'd been running all night long, and it was 90 degrees. If that thing had bitten her good, it would have probably killed her. The copperhead from a few years ago, almost killed her, and that rascal cost me $150. Piss on em!

You know, since I killed the snake above, I know of 4 more rattlesnakes that have been killed within 10 miles of here. One was 58" long.

One thing that I didn't mention the other day, I've got a gas grill sitting in the yard of the old house. We'd just cooked breakfast on the thing. From the time Moe left, until I killed the snake, was maybe an hour? The snake was within 30 feet of the grill. Now, in an hour it didn't move very far. We'd walked around that thing all night and morning. But, it's dead, just a good wake up call.

Our DNR has a Q and A section on their web site. I posed this question:

What are the ramafications of killing a rattlesnake in the campsite on private land in Wisconsin? They responded:

"Rattlesnakes are protected in Wisconsin. The penalty for illegally killing a rattlesnake is a civil forteiture of approximately $300. However not all killings of rattlesnakes are illegal. The rules (from NR 10.02(9), Wis. adm. Code) are stated below. They apply to both public and private lands."

The quote from the state statute making the kill not illegal deals with emergency situations involving an "immediate threat to human life or domestic animals." Then, after you K.O. the critter, you must give, within 48hrs, your name, address, time and location of kill, etc. etc. etc. Hmmm, quite frankly I think this is where S.S.S reigns supreme.

Frank.

Well, I asked my DNR man about snake laws again. He said he'd been busy and forgot to check. It's obvious, he's not a snake person. Talked to him a few days later, I didn't ask, and he didn't mention snakes.

I was up near the old house the other day, I had the road blocked, when one of my hunting buds came along. He pulled out of the road, came walking through the weeds, wearing shorts and some kind of sandals/river shoes. Told him to watch where he stepped, that I'd just killed a rattlesnake at the house the other day. He's killed 2 this summer.

One was black, 50-some inches long, it was in the driveway to his house. Talking about how agressive some are, he grabbed a little stick of kindling off his truck, said he figured he'd just bonk in on the head. Jim told me that it coiled-up and started rattling, and he was still back 20 feet or so away. He said the H. with that, walked back and got his pistol.

Jim is one of the cooks at the annual rattlesnake feed, at the Rod and Gun Club. He asked if I'd saved the meat. (there's very little meat on a big rattlesnake) The "Snake Feed" is just a big outdoor, wild game feed/picnic/party. Held each January, for the last 40-plus years. $20 for all the deer, elk, bear, moose, goose, pork and beef, you can eat, plus the snake if you get there early.