Hunting Rattlesnakes

This weekend my friend Mark and I went to the Massachusetts/New York border to hunt rattlesnakes. I used to hike 4,000 foot mountains with Mark before he developed an obsession with these animals. I was there with him on that fateful day he bought the book about them and I have hardly seen him since. Damn snakes.

I'm not what you would call a 'snake person' but after going insane after ten months of baby-imposed social isolation, the opportunity to get out of the house was too great to pass up. I did this even though it meant driving eight hours round trip and slogging through bug-infested woods to photograph a bunch of poisonous snakes.



The den was a spot Mark had been to before so he knew the area well. Good thing too, because it's creepy roaming around in the woods watching your every step to make sure you don't step on a camouflaged snake. At one point I stepped by a rock and heard an ominous rattle at my feet. Mark said, "Don't move" but I still jumped three feet.

Despite my cowardice, don't get the wrong idea about rattlesnakes. They are extremely docile and reluctant to use their venom. Far more rattlesnakes are killed by humans than humans killed by rattlesnakes. They are beyond easy to kill. All you need to do is throw a rock on them and pow, you just killed yourself a snake. Congratulations. That's part of the reason they are endangered and a protected species in this area.

Because they are so easily destroyed, the location of rattlesnake dens is a closely protected secret by Fish and Game. To find his first one, Mark had to rely on a tip he received years ago and pour over satellite and topographical maps. In his mad pursuit of snakes, he has set up what he calls "the rattlesnake command center" in his home's dining room. His entire table is littered with maps and books on this elusive animal. He has now located something like 4-5 dens.



We spent a lot of time photographing these snakes. Mark took over 200 pictures. I'll spare you all of them and summarize with the one above. But I wish I had brought a camera along to photograph Mark taking these pictures. Since we live in an age of high quality nature photos, viewers can be unaware of the lengths photographers will go to get a good shot. Mark basically stuck his head about a foot away from this coiled snake to get this picture.

We saw a total of 25 snakes. According to Mark, that's his second best day ever. On the drive home he called his snake friend Pete - a man who has dedicated his life to finding all the rattlesnake dens in the New England area. Pete is so fanatical he has a standing $500 reward to anyone who shows him a rattlesnake den in Maine. Mark has stumbled upon a sub-culture I had no idea existed. I dozed for the last hour of the drive back to Mark's place but they were talking like excited schoolgirls the whole time.


All in all, it was a welcome reprieve from the world of work, raising a child, attending funerals and shopping for a house. I'm looking forward to more outings like this one but I will be amazed if this post gets any comments whatsoever.

Comments

[the communicatrix]

Are you kidding? A post about how the first big outing you went on after 10 months holed up with a newborn was for RATTLESNAKE HUNTING?!

Uh, yeah, Dave. You're going to get comments.

[The Missus]

Umm... Yeah. If your friend Mark ever wants to come to Arizona to look at Rattlesnakes, he can stay with my parents.

We get Rattlers around the house all the time. We also get scorpions and tarantulas. Oh yeah, and javelinas.

[brian]

ditch the hat

[Dave G]

Communicatrix - Apparently so! I thought no one cared about rattlesnakes :-)

Missus - Oh yes, Mark has been to Arizona. He spent an entire night chasing tarantulas, scorpions and mice. No joke.

Brian - Yeah, seriously, but I had to bring it for the bug net. I stopped wearing a baseball hat after I got married.

[Stephen]

Caring for a newborn, I have heard from many sources I just made up, is remarkably similar to cornering an elusive rattlesnake.

[Dave G]

Stephen - very much so except our daughter's venom is much less powerful.

[Laurie Schneider]

My wife saw a rattler on our property in Otis, Maine. How do I contact Pete? She wants the $500. Also, she wants the snake gone.

[simon and simone]

they must be coming out now in the warmth, we saw three very dark rattlers on the trails near greylock reservation in mass, and two were shown to us in pownal, vt, one of the little ones crawled out of the guy's livingroom wall! and across the bare floor and laid byt he woodstove!! Jason is his name and he said he is worried neighbors will start killing them if they discover the foundation of his old barn has a den in it.

very neat outing and story, I so surprised the snakes we saw never rattled, one never coiled up jsut kept moving along , I like how they carry their tail up in the air, kinda cute but must be for a reason?

[Anna Clawson]

We have killed three rattlesnakes within 10 ft of our front door on our 20 acre property in Central Cal, Kern River Valley, Lake Isabella area, were thinking we have a den nearby, I'm really worried for my dogs and small grandchildren, we spend every week-end on this property. I don't like killing them but I don't know what else to do to protect the family.....I want them all gone.......