Rattlesnake Precautions

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ElPaso2008
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

Post by ElPaso2008 »

reptilist wrote:
When exploring by myself I've been wearing a pair of blue jean shorts under my bluejeans and a pair of "snakeproof" boots.
He has the boots. I have the boots too, but I am selling them...Don't really need snake proof boots if you are looking for them. The only times I have ever come close to being in danger were when I was working; not hiking/herping/exploring.
They also weigh a ton and are stiff as concrete. Not sure if they are just not broken in or not, but by the time I got home today all I could think about is getting those blasted things off.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

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Iggy wrote:You may want to buy yourself some snake chaps, yes they are a little expensive but I think it's worth it, better then spending time in a hospital if you can get there soon enough. Don & I both have a pair. Just type snake chaps in Google, can't remember where we bought them.
Thanks, I'll find some.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

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reptilist wrote:I couldn't agree with you more Spiny! On all counts.
I started hiking the Arizona deserts and herping when I was 13. By 15 I was spending weeks at a time out there, and when I was 17 I lived in the desert in a tent for 6 months....Never had snake proof anything back then, slept on the ground more often then not too...I saw one mountain lion, no doubt there were a few that saw me, but I'm still here in one piece. Sometimes I carried a .22 rifle to kill food with, but I never did worry about becoming food for anything else.
I spent all morning walking around with the realtor this morning looking for surveyor's pins buried in the ground in the 1980s, and, strangely, I began to get that same feeling slowly overpowering my fear of getting snake bit or having my neck snapped in two by the jaws of a mountain lion -- that maybe the main thing to fear is fear itself. We tromped through thickets and arroyos and climbed rocks. I eventually decided vigilence is the best defense. It's not hard to scan a six foot area for rattle snakes.

The darn heat is a lot more dangerous. After four hours in it I wanted to drink a gallon of ice water and sleep for years, even though I had plenty of water and kept drinking it. I'll bet if your stuck out there for long without water you really will sleep for years, because you'll be dead.

Thanks for your patience with a newcomer. I'm slow, but now and then a ray of sunshine finally peeks through.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

Post by reptilist »

Now you've hit the nail on the head! The heat is your most dangerous foe.
Especially if you get hurt and stuck.
I agree about the snakeboots!
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ElPaso2008
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

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reptilist wrote:
I hate to beat the rattlesnake thing to death
Glad to hear that, I wish more people felt that way.
The realtor seemed surprised I hadn't killed the rattler after taking the picture. But I'd love to know who invited me into the snake's world. Why should I kill him for being what he is? He was actually magnificent, a perfect killing machine not wanting to kill anything bigger than he could eat to survive, and beautiful, too. No broken rattles, the terminal bud intact, shaking it at me like a maracca. He was giving me a chance to live, if only I would leave him alone. Seemed like a good deal to me. How many people get to even see such a sight?
Last edited by ElPaso2008 on Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

Post by Iggy »

After four hours in it I wanted to drink a gallon of ice water
This is a suggestion that I heard from a fireman when I was a kid. When your hot don't drink ice water. It drops your body temperature down to fast. Stick with cool or warm water not ice cold.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

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Iggy wrote:
After four hours in it I wanted to drink a gallon of ice water
This is a suggestion that I heard from a fireman when I was a kid. When your hot don't drink ice water. It drops your body temperature down to fast. Stick with cool or warm water not ice cold.
Yes, that point is stressed quite a bit in the survival literature. I actually just had one cool glass from the purification pitcher in the fridge and a little plate of cold water melon. I don't think water melon has ever tasted so good.

Well, it's time to drive over to the canyon and look around some more. Yesterday we climbed up a couple of hundred feet and peered out into the Hueco Mountain Estates development. The view was just breath taking. You can climb up another couple of hundred feet, but I haven't found an easy path up there yet.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

Post by spiny »

Remember, in the desert there's no such thing as carrying too much water, and your best survival device is between your ears. I hope you'll be able to enjoy your new place, it sounds nice.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

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spiny wrote:Remember, in the desert there's no such thing as carrying too much water, and your best survival device is between your ears. I hope you'll be able to enjoy your new place, it sounds nice.
Thanks, Spiny. The backhoe man is coming Thursday to make a 100 x 100' home site, and a 25 x 25' campsite I'll be renting out to the rock crawlers that come here each year. It can't happen fast enough for me.
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Re: Rattlesnake Precautions

Post by Jerry Feldner »

All this talk of H2O reminds of my younger days floating around the desert. On one long trip I ran into an old guy in the Little Berdoo Mtns in CA who turned out to be Edmund C. Jaeger. He showed me some things about the desert that I never forgot. He showed me a pile of rocks, a cairn he called it, and when we removed the rocks, there was a jug of water underneath the rocks. It wasn't cold but it wasn't hot either. So, if you see a pile of rocks alongside a desert back road or a trail, you can thank the old timey miner who probably put it there. Once I got a 4x4, I spent a lot of time replenishing water jugs in the desert.
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