What gives you the willies?

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FredC
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Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Old saying but certainly true. Anything that eats rats and mice is competing against rattle snakes including Br's skunk. With skunks you have to look at whether the individual is creating a nuisance and if an over population increases your rabies risk. Because skunks usually do not flee from rabid animals, they are more likely to be bit by said animal.

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King carp
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by King carp »

this does.
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FredC
Posts: 1991
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Another reason I am glad i do not live in California!

Post by FredC »

/bestlifeonline.com/rattlesnakes-yard-heat-waves-news/ WHAT!!!! The last page of this article says it is legal to move them a maximum of 1/4 miles away! You cannot kill them?! A fair number of the people I know that were bitten by venomous snakes were trying to handle them. Whose yard are you going to let it go in, your worst enemy's?

I looked at the full article and it was a pest relocation service that had to move them less that 1/4 mile away. It is still nuts. If you are in a place where you can not shoot them a shovel or a hoe is great medicine.

A friend asked me to kill one in her yard. The place was out in the country and I could have used my snake slayer. The snake was in a corner of a tall wooden fence. Not wanting to be deaf for a while, the shovel was the right tool. Good grief, relocate it - NUTS! She had called 911 and neither law enforcement nor the fire department would do anything for her.

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butlersrangers
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Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by butlersrangers »

If I lived in California, I'd want to put such varmints in Nancy or Gavin's yard.

FredC
Posts: 1991
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Well, if you had to obey the law and you had a choice of your best friend's yard or a stinker that might have been responsible for the law in the first place? I guess that is an easy one. Poor snattlerakes caught in the middle of a dilemma.

I was with the fellow that built my exterior fences and was scouting for pigs on a neighbor's property and came across a baby rattlesnake. At the time he was into hunting pigs with dogs and really really hated rattlers. We got out of the truck and he showed me how vulnerable a snattlerake is to a blow just behind the head. A well placed blow there will kill them instantly. I tried in on a larger rattler in the middle of a county road I think, it is a little fuzzy because killing wildlife on public property is frowned on, maybe it was a private road. Anyway a swift blow behind the head with a 1/2 fiberglass electric fence pole did the trick.

On the baby rattler he was using a little bitty twig about 3/16 in diameter and a foot long. He missed a couple of times and the little bugger did some impressive strikes at the twig. It is easy to see how you can get bit by playing with them. Be careful!

reiver
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Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:56 am

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by reiver »

Fred, you can relocate a rattler and he/she will go back home. They return to their den in the same location, pit, cave etc. that they were born in. They are territorial critters. Some northern rattlers migrate but not ours....

FredC
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Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Reiver, I agree with you and disagree with the California Fish and Wildlife authorities. As fast as I have seen them slither along covering a 1/4 mile would be nothing. 1/4 mile is part of their home navigation territory. It was a source of funny scenarios considering doing it on our own. I think we got a few good chuckles considering the idea.

I have had differences with the local game biologist's rules here. I disagreed before they made the 13 inch rule on bucks. I told them when you are raising cattle you do not kill your best bulls and keep the sorry ones and think you will improve the herd. So why should you do that stupidity with a deer herd and think you will make things better by only killing the best bucks? At first it was a recommendation, now it is the law and you will be fined for killing a buck with less than 13 inches between the main beams. I quit and have not killed a deer since.

Quote reiver, "Some northern rattlers migrate ...." Now you are giving me major willies!

reiver
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by reiver »

Fred,
Ha, and them damn Cali rattlers migrate too!

I have not hunted anything in decades...since before my Army career that started in '70 and ended in '03.... I know it is a healthy thing to thin herds etc. but I find no sport in it as they cannot shoot back. Sounds silly but that's the truth of it.

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psteinmayer
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by psteinmayer »

In Michigan... the Massasauga Rattlesnake is very reclusive, AND endangered. I've never seen one in the wild, although my dad has seen them a couple times on the golf course (he tells a hilarious story about his golf partner jumping into his lap when they encountered one, LOL). However, I would never kill a snake as I know they are an important part of any ecosystem! Now wasps and hornets? I'll kill 'em without even batting an eye!!! We're extremely fortunate in that the Africanized bees haven't made it this far north yet. I've heard some real horror stories about their attacks! Bald Faced Hornets with attack by the gazillions if you simply get too close. They can even shoot a stream of venom from their stingers into your eyes to blind you! Check out a guy called The Hornet King on YouTube - he actually relocates the nests to his house sometimes!

reiver
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Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:56 am

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by reiver »

I wouldn't worry about the Africanized bee's much. Have a 'beekeeper' friend who travels around with an 18 wheeler 'hive' to different farm areas.

If they find an aggressive or African hive they simply replace the Queen with an appropriate one and in a very short period the aggressiveness is bred out of the hive. I found that comforting.

The reason I 'off' snakes on my acres is I have horses in large open brush covered fields.... like I said, you can move them but they just come back.

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