Boot gaiters and Rattle Snakes.

[HSSC]

I have a question for those of you with Rattle Snake savy. We travel to remote areas on our quads that are many hours from medical help. Now we do our best to keep our eyes open but............ I'm always reminding the wifie, daughter and myself.
I have purchased collapsible walking sticks, and was thinking about boot gaiters. These are the ones used for walking in deep snow. I know there are gaiters for snakes, but they seem a bit of a nuisance unless we were going into an infested area. WE ARE NOT.

How effective would these type of gaiters be? Some are thicker than others.

We do hike these areas quite a bit. I know we have passed manny a Rattler and they have remained silent and unseen, that is part of their job.

One more question please. If one of us were bitten, remember, we are many hours away, should someone go for help or should we transport the victim as a passenger on the back of a quad ?

Thank you. Ken and family, Reno NV.

[reptilist]

Your gaiters are not snake proof, but layers of clothing will inhibit the depth of the strike, which is a good thing.
They are better than being bare legged.

Keep the bitten extremity immobile, keep the victim calm, and begin transport. Call ahead if possible to have an EMS meet you and take over. The way I see it, if you send a rider for help, eventually the EMS will have to transport the victim out by 4 wheeler themselves and the bitten person may be feeling a lot worse by that time...So time waiting is time wasted....Unless of course there is a helicopter available that can actually find someone out in the hills. This is all my opinion and I am not a doctor.

[Goldseeker]

Its too bad they cant come up with some sort of anti-venom you could take, BEFORE, and IF, you were to be bitten. Kind of like a flu shot thing.

[reptilist]

Actually there are people who have built up their immunities to venom by injecting themselves with minute quantities over time....providing themselves with the antibodies needed to fight the effects of a snake bite...Those are people who handle venomous serpents frequently and of course the treatments have to be kept up frequently as well.

[HSSC]

Thanks for the advice. I tend to ware baggy sweat pants and with the gaiters well..... I just hope I'll never have the chance to find out. I do look forward to seeing one of them critters though. It is kind of odd that I've encountered so many Rattlers throughout my life but never on our quads. I know we make alot of noise but we still encounter a lot of wildlife. Just last spring we saw a heard of Desert Bighorn just outside of Tonopah NV. on Lone Mountain. We counted 18.

I know a victim would need to be still and that would be difficult while hanging on the back of a moving quad. Of course that would be the fastest way to help.
Ken
This is a pic of Lone Mountain.

[Jerry Feldner]

Noise, even that generated by quads, does not affect snakes very much since they are not among the hearing. I think I posted somewhere else on this forum about the loss of the hearing sense in all snakes.

[Apache Devil]

I would think that loose and baggy pants such as the khaki cargo pants found at Wal Mart are pretty good protection. The fangs are far less likely to reach your skin than if you are wearing tight pants like levis. Loose and baggy pants are also cooler than skin huggers. Just remember your basic rules of snake country. Watch where you are walking and watch where you put your hands. If you go sticking your fingers under rocks or in dark crevices without looking, you may not always get a rattler, you could get nailed by a black widow or a scorpion.