Recently, my buddy and his wife were out driving around in North Central Texas and they came upon a snake in the road. Traffic was practically nonexistent so he stopped to investigate. He has been a hunter/fisherman as long as he has been walking. But he grew up in the heartland in an area that had few snakes, and he had never seen a rattlesnake. The area where he’s from might have one copperhead or water moccasin. But I doubt it. So, snake lore escapes him. When he got out of the truck, he said the snake just laid there. It didn’t coil, rattle or try to slither off. The snake had rattlers on its tail and a diamond pattern in medium dark brown down its back. So being who he is, he wanted to skin it and tan the skin. And, he wanted to dress it, cook and eat it to try the delicacy of rattle snake. But what fool would want to get bit by a rattle snake; he had no guns, shovels or hoes.
These 2 Midwesterners often spend their time fishing so they did have an assortment of fishing rods and reels in the truck. My buddy is a Marine and one of their mottos is improvise, adapt and overcome. So, he sacrificed a fishing rod to achieve his goal. The tip top of the rod broke, but he had his snake. I’m sure that somewhere in the area, there is some native Texan wondering just what the hell that fella is doing swatting that poor snake with a fishing pole? Rattle snakes are not uncommon in the area and most locals wouldn’t bother to stop and look, much less try to attack a rattle snake. After the fishing pole attack, they were excited and they had to have a “photo op”.
If you would, study these pictures and tell me what is wrong. It didn’t take me a second to understand. Hint look at the snake.
My buddy tossed the snake in the bed of his truck and off they went to Walmart for tanning supplies. When they came out, he wanted another look at his prize and when he did they heard that very distinctive sound, that sound that will bring the hair on your neck to an upright position and cause you to jump back no matter who or where you are. The “dead” snake had come back to life and was coiled, ready to strike and buzzing it’s rattles. It was rather pissed off at the fishing-pole-wielding-crazy maniac that interrupted it’s lunch. But, the snake still lost. After another thrashing and some knife work, he found a partially decomposed mouse in the intestines. Gross. His wife said he was gagging the entire time he dressed the snake out. So if you are walking through the parking lot at a Walmart and you hear a rattle snake rattle, don’t bother looking for a snake, look around for my buddy.
Now, on to what one should observe from the pictures, and at what would have been nice to have noticed at the scene.
You’ve all seen in the movies where someone gets shot dead, killed. But the scene pans to their face and they have a look of surprise or fear on their face with the eyes open. It can’t happen. When an animal dies, the muscles cease to work and relax into what is called the anatomic position. The muscles can no longer contract and it takes muscle contraction to lift the upper eye lid, regardless of the position in relation to gravity.
The same applies to the muscles of the snake. If you noticed, the snake has an “S like” contraction of the body near the head and the head is being lifted slightly.
And, when snakes eat, they become lethargic and just lay around contemplating life’s meaning while they digest the food. It was certainly warm enough that the snake was up and about for the summer, i.e. not hibernating. Whacking a poor snake over the head repeatedly while they are in gustatory bliss with a fishing pole will not kill it, unless its a mighty big fishing pole.
For those waiting for the outcome, he did get his skin and snake meat and no one suffered a snake bite.
And FYI, it was a diamond back rattlesnake.
News from Texas from your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave.
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