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Rattler

tazzertazzer Member Posts: 16,837
edited February 2006 in General Discussion
This snake was recently found at the old Turkey Creek gas plant
located just south of the Alibates Turnoff on Highway 136 south
of Fritch Texas.
[THAT'S JUST NORTH OF AMARILLO]

image52ejpgmsg4C18E1F4-D6BF-42C6-AE.jpg
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Comments

  • GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932
    edited November -1
    That's worthy of mounting!......... on a wall you sicko's
  • gun_runnergun_runner Member Posts: 8,999
    edited November -1
    Either thats a midget or thats one big freakin snake!
  • tazzertazzer Member Posts: 16,837
    edited November -1
    9 feet, 1 inch - 97 lbs.

    No matter what anybody else tells you, kill the snake before you try to do anything else to it!
    It's the safest way for you and the snake doesn't care anymore.[:0][:0][:0]
  • BlckhrnBlckhrn Member Posts: 5,136
    edited November -1
    Two bad you didn't let it grow another couple years, I need a belt.
  • morsecodemorsecode Member Posts: 1,116 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    HOLY SHHHHHHH-EEEITE!


    (note to self : cancel vacation in Fritch, TX)

    [:0][xx(][|)]
  • EndlssEndlss Member Posts: 1,068 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    ummm... good eats.
  • use enough gunuse enough gun Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That's the biggest rattler I've ever seen!
  • zipperzapzipperzap Member Posts: 25,057
    edited November -1
    I've seen some very big rattlers - BUT -
    I haven't even IMAGINED one THAT
    big before! What a nightmare!

    Can you imagine having that monster
    locked onto your face after poking
    your head somewhere you shouldn't
    have!?

    ... time to move on to another post![:0]
    BEST1.jpg
  • Bubba JoelBubba Joel Member Posts: 5,161
    edited November -1
    Yep, this was in all our newspapers around here.. Turkey Creek plant is about 8 miles south from where I live.. I've killed a bunch of rattlers but none this size..
  • COLTCOLT Member Posts: 12,637 ******
    edited November -1
    ...if it is 8'+, it is one of the bigger one ever caught, here. When
    we used to catch diamond backs, the average was about 4', a BIG one was 5-6. Nice snake. My x got all the pics of my friends and I hand cathing and holding a live snake in each hand. We figured sense DB's don't really kill too many people each year, no big deal. We all went to pawn shops and bought like a 5-7 iron with a long shaft, cut off the head, put a bend to it, and we had out pinning tool.

    ...we used to tan the skin with an anti-freeze solution of some kind, ate the meat. The meat is as white as a fish meat., just a little meat down their back bone, back strap.

    ...Now with everything I know that happens to you after you get bit, all the sweeling,bursting, oozing, and skin rotting, I would not hand catch 'em....[8D]...[xx(]

    ani-texas-flag.gif
  • PinheadPinhead Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Man, I'd hate to meet him late at night. That's one big snake. Throw another log on the fire and lets eat.
  • Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 39,306 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Wow, what a lunker!
  • SGSG Member Posts: 7,548
    edited November -1
    wow! A strike from that thing could break bones.
  • Bubba JoelBubba Joel Member Posts: 5,161
    edited November -1
    I think I remember them saying in was just a little over 9'..
  • GaBobGaBob Member Posts: 613 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I thought I had killed some big rattlers but nothing like that beast
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That photo has been around the internet for sometime. It is posed with the snake aobut 42" in front of the guy holding it. I would be surprised if it is actually over 6'. No way can a man hold 97# at full cantelever. More internet BS. The largest diamondbacks in the Lone Star come from further south, Sweetwater to Brownsville.
  • Tiger6Tiger6 Member Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    OOOOoooo Mamma.... That one is big enough to cause me to change my drawers if I saw him coiled around my feet! That is the definition of SNAKE!!!!!
  • powdersmokepowdersmoke Member Posts: 3,241
    edited November -1
    From Snopes.com (Snopes does indicate the stories validity cannot be verified or denied.)

    "We don't know the particulars of this photograph's origins, but it looks to be another case of a genuine image accompanied by some possibly inaccurate or exaggerated information. (The snake's positioning closer to the camera lens than the man holding it makes the reptile appear larger than it really is, and even a 9-foot rattler is unlikely to weight anywhere close to 97 lbs. unless it had just ingested a large animal.)"

    To me the snake looks more like 6-7 feet long. At that length it would weigh at most 20-40 pounds. At 9 feet long it would weigh possibly 30-50 + pounds. I would have to weigh over 10 pounds a foot to be 97 pounds. Not likely if you reason on it.
  • mateomasfeomateomasfeo Member Posts: 27,143
    edited November -1
    Where did they find one that small? They need to throw it back and let it grow a little.
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Where did they find one that small? They need to throw it back and let it grow a little.

    It is just a two footer, with a good attorney.
  • Ox190Ox190 Member Posts: 2,782 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    what?? a man lie about the size of his snake?? cmon guys we've been doing it for years. It's never as big as we wish it was.[:D][:D]
  • AdironduckAdironduck Member Posts: 314 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's been illegal in my state to kill a rattler since 1972.If a rattler that big was ever found in NY the state would buy-up a couple thousand acres around it for a rattlesnake preserve.[:0]
  • nocagesnocages Member Posts: 325 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The snake is nothing compared to a man that can hold the equivalency of two 50 lb bags at the end of a pole...WOW?";'!$%#
  • Reddot47Reddot47 Member Posts: 2,279 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Look at his right hand. There isn't any strain showing in his fingers. It isn't 97 lbs., and it ain't 9 feet long.
  • TrinityScrimshawTrinityScrimshaw Member Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It is a big snake for sure, but there is no way it weighs 97 pounds. The catch pole he is holding does not appear to be very long. This is an optical elusion caused by shoving the object being photographed up closer to the camera lens. Dead or alive; no one in their right mind would handle a rattler that size with a pole that short. It could possibly be 9' in length, but still the weight is off by a lot.

    Trinity +++
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sorry Trinity, I routinly handle venomous snakes with hooks less than half their length. If you are experienced, snakes are more easily handled if you work closer to them rather than far away. That is a field hook about 40-42" long.
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 35,988 ******
    edited November -1
    The snake is dead. Look at the unnatural angle of the neck.

    The snake is large, between 5 and 6 feet. It ain't no nine footer.

    To weigh 97 pounds, the snake would have to be about 15 feet long.

    No thinking snake handler will ever use tongs on a snake. Snakes are deceptively fragile creatures, and tongs do damage. Tongs are what the macho cowboys use at "rattlesnake roundups." But all the snakes they "catch" end up dead.
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    David, you are an enlightened guy when it comes to snakes, and I always appreciate that. I do take that snake to be live however, it has muscle tone and is not limp.
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 35,988 ******
    edited November -1
    It has blood on its head. Its head is hanging straight down. A live rattler, suspended like that, will be looking around, testing the air with its tongue.

    If it has any muscle tone left, it is from after-death nerve activity.
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hmmmm, I cannot see the pic above, but the one I did see shows a snake with its head cocked to the side and the rattle is blurred. Maybe I saw the "before" and this is the "after."
  • TrinityScrimshawTrinityScrimshaw Member Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hedog,

    If snake's had necks this snake's neck would be broken.

    Nunn is right, the snake would not be hanging limp. Someone smashed that critters head, and it is dead. If it were alive it would be twisting up and around to try and see what has a grip on it. And, knowing how far a rattler can strike, I wouldn't go handling one that long with such a short pole. I bet it didn't weigh over 30 lbs!

    Trinity +++
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Trinity, we sure agree on the hoaxy part of it alright.
  • TrinityScrimshawTrinityScrimshaw Member Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yep, and the rattel that shows here can be counted.

    A live snake would be shaking that sucker to beat hell.[;)]

    Trinity +++
  • GaBobGaBob Member Posts: 613 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wish I could hold 97 pounds out on a pole like that.
    At any rate it is a big snake
  • zipperzapzipperzap Member Posts: 25,057
    edited November -1
    That's probably not fake. The 'record' is 7.29 feet.
    I'd bet there might be bigger ones out there. The
    only limiting factor to a rattler's size is his food
    supply. I've seen lots of them around 6' - not uncommon
    in the deserts of the Southwest - especially in AZ and CA.

    http://www.kingsnake.com/venom/atrox.html

    BEST1.jpg
  • ndeltagunsndeltaguns Member Posts: 292 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here is one I shot 3 years ago. It was a little over 6 ft long and I would guess it weighed in around 30 lbs. I shot it 3 times in the head with Federal Hydra-Shoks and it still moved around and rattled for hours. P1020137.jpg
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 35,988 ******
    edited November -1
    Nice Canebrake Rattler. Why did you shoot it?
  • The TinmanThe Tinman Member Posts: 928 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If indeed it is 9 feet, then it is not a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox), and surly not found in Texas. The record for the Eastern Diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus) is only 8 feet.
    Big snake, though.
  • NickCWinterNickCWinter Member Posts: 2,927
    edited November -1
    What's fer dinner? SNAKE! Throw another rattler on the barbie.
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    On this box I can see the photo, and it is not the one I originally saw, though it is the same guy, snake and back ground. It certainly is a western diamondback, and it certainly is dead Nunn. I still maintain that snake is not over 6 or 6.5 feet long, and likely not over 18 pounds, though I am not great at estimating weights.

    That timber rattlesnake is indeed a large one, they are rarely over 5 feet, but I kinda doubt 30 pounds for a weight.
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