AZ Rattlers!

huntinaz

huntinaz

New member
Well, I took my brother-in-law out coyote hunting today, trying to help out the deer herd. Anyway no luck, we saw one but it got away. Good day for snakes though. We got three, all with the SP101 loaded with #8 shot. For all you doubters and to those who are curious, snake #8 shot out of a snub nose kills snakes dead in a hurry. Two of the three didn't even flinch, one took about 10 seconds to die, but it just coiled up and writhed around. It didn't try to strike us. They were all shot at about 3 yards. Hope they taste good, their skins are tacked up on a board in the garage, we'll see how that goes. Anyway here's some pics to get us thru the offseason.

This is a pic of the first one before he got drilled. He was the biggest, pushing 36"
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King snake, we let him go. I got no beef with king snakes:
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Yours truly with a pair of western diamondbacks:
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The first one skinned with the others + the Sp101:
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Snake medicine. It's a garaunteed cure:
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Me and James:
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Redneck vittles:
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I used to carry a supply of those shells whenever we fished down south just in case one of those cottonmouth rascals wanted to get in our boat. Good job!
 
Good stuff. I'm sure James is a nice guy, but that picture would scare a lot of people. We'll see it on the Net in a couple months with somebody claiming he bites the heads off rattlesnakes.
 
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I'm sure James is a nice guy, but that picture would scare a lot of people. We'll see it on the Net in a couple months with somebody claiming he bites the heads off rattlesnakes.



Haha, yeah he is a big fella, caught with a weird smile. He really is that big though. He is known as 30-pack James, I'll give you one guess why. He doesn't look as crazy in this pic, but just as big:
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Any special way to prepare a snake for skinning - suggestions and or tips?


Any good recipes - what do you do with them, grill, make chili, other? What about all of the bones - leave them in and pick them out while eating?


I have run across a few big ones and would like to keep the skin, rattles and try the meat, but I just don’t want to waste anything.
 
BriggsRi-

For the skin…
!. Sharp knife or razor blade.
2. Small wire brush.
3. Quart size of salt.
4. 2 bottles of glycerin, found at a drugstore in the skin care isle.
5. Bottle of isopropyl rubbing alcohol.
6. Small finishing nails/long thumb tacks.
7. Large plastic cup, Big Gulp style.
8. Board to tack skin to.

Skin the snake down the belly from head to the tail, just cutting the skin, do not cut into the guts or organs. Grab the neck and work the skin off around, when you have enough skin to grab, just pull it off slowly. Stop pulling when you get down to the “anus” be careful this is a tricky area. After the tendons are removed/cut from this area, pull down to the rattles. Cut strait down at the start of the rattle, not to cutting through the skin.
Start tacking the skin to a board, scale side down, starting at the neck. Tack every inch or so on one side down to the rattle, then go back to the top on the other side, stretching tight and tack the other side.
Salt the [beeep] out of it and raze the skin up the tacks so air can flow under it. Leave it for a day or two, adding salt to areas that show dampness.
Once dry, lightly scrape the skin with wire brush to remove salt and dried tissue.
Mix alcohol and glycerin in cup 50-50 mixture, put skin in and let soak for 3 days. Remove and clean with paper towels, let dry. Should be nice and pliable.
If you don’t know the sex of the snake, be careful, they don’t lay eggs. I always freeze the snake just to make sure any baby rattle snappers are good and dead! Found out the hard way!

As far as food prep, don't eat the nasty things!
Hope this helps.
 
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Any special way to prepare a snake for skinning - suggestions and or tips?



PhilBilly forgot the most important step in preparation for skinning a rattler.

1) Kill the snake. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Regards,
hm
 
rube, you got a point, how do you hide something that big, maybe put him in camo and just sit him out in the open, the coyote will think its a big brush pile, they might even come to sit in the shade /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif, ryan
 
Nice going!

That first one, the big one, I believe, is a Mojave, and not a more common Diamond back. The white bands on the back of the tail are that of a Mojave. The white bands are thicker than the black bands on a Mojave, and you can see that the "diamonds" on the back of the snake fade away about 2/3 down the length of the snakes body. He also has a "green tinge" to him.

The Mojove's have a greenish tint to them, and are more aggresive that the common Diamond back rattler.

Below is a little information about the Mojave:

The Mojave rattlesnake can easily be mistaken for the Western Diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), which inhabits an overlapping range. They both have well-defined light-edged diamonds down the middle of their backs. The diamond pattern fades towards the last third of the Mojave Rattlesnake, whereas the diamonds continue to the tail in the Western Diamondback. The tail of the Mojave has contrasting light and dark rings. The white rings are much wider than the black rings, while the Diamondbacks have thick black rings.

Some Mojave rattlesnakes are greenish, but can be colored greenish gray, olive-green, or occasionally brownish or yellowish.

This rattlesnake has a very potent venom which is considered ten times more toxic than other North American rattlesnakes, a fact that makes the Mojave rattlesnake one of the most dangerous poisonous snakes in the United States. Their venom works as a neurotoxin and is called Mojave toxin. Strangely, the bite of a Mojave Rattlesnake is usually not as painful as other rattlesnake bites.

 
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That first one, the big one, I believe, is a Mojave



We were thnking it might be actually, as it was different than the other two. The picture doesn't do the actual color justice, it was a very olive-almost yellow color. It was a pretty cool snake. It was also the only one that gave us the time of day, we walked by at about 5 yards and it rattled at us and coiled up. The other two acted like they could care less about us. They never even coiled up.
 
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That first one, the big one, I believe, is a Mojave



Yeah, it is, and he was ready to fight. That first picture is excellent. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
huntinaz, awesome pictures by the way - good times & good friends!!!

Philbilly, thanks for the info - now I need to round up a bigen!
 
Discmalier on the picture with James the Giant, and Huntinaz... I am a big guy too.. 6'4 275 pounds, and I make Jake look small.. ( I do to a lot of people), he aint a big cat at all... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Nice going! Did Hannah eat em? I doubt Jessi would...
 
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That first one, the big one, I believe, is a Mojave



We were thnking it might be actually, as it was different than the other two. The picture doesn't do the actual color justice, it was a very olive-almost yellow color. It was a pretty cool snake. It was also the only one that gave us the time of day, we walked by at about 5 yards and it rattled at us and coiled up. The other two acted like they could care less about us. They never even coiled up.



They are very cool snakes, but ya really gotta watch them. The venom is far more dangerous than a regular diamond back. The venom acts as a neurotoxin , similar to a Coral snake or Cobra, and effects the central nervous system. The bite isn't as painful because the venom is attacking the nervous system, as where the venom of a regular diamondback is a Hemotoxin , and effects blood and tissue, which is much more painful.

The venom of the Mojave can cause paralysis, which sets in very rapidly, and you can literally suffocate and die.

Hemotoxins are toxins that destroy red blood cells (that is, cause hemolysis), disrupt blood clotting, and/or cause organ degeneration and generalized tissue damage. The term hemotoxin is to some degree a misnomer since toxins that damage the blood also damage other tissues. Injury from a hemotoxic agent is often very painful and can cause permanent damage. Loss of an affected limb is possible even with prompt treatment.
 
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If you don’t know the sex of the snake, be careful, they don’t lay eggs. I always freeze the snake just to make sure any baby rattle snappers are good and dead! Found out the hard way!




Thats something I would never have thouht of but I ain't skining no snake!!! Did you get bit?
 
Cool pics huntinaz!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
I've killed some Prairie Rattlers that had almost the exact same coloration on em' as that Mojave ya'll found.About the only thing different is that they did'nt have black and white stripes on their tails.I saw a big ol' snake on the road today.I dont know for sure but I think it was a rattler.I turned around to take a look at it and it was gone so I cant confirm that but it shure looked like one.
This is pretty random but what kind of shoes are those?I'm in need of a new pair of shoes and those look like some that I would wear.I have some Ariats right now but their in pretty bad shape.I can see part of the sock on my left foot and my shoe is still on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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