quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:...Some snakes don't need venom to be lethal.

You are terrible. And I am ashamed that I am laughing.

Is he the one that got Budd ?, should have had his Hanzo sword to be safe.

Shorts, t shirt, sandals? No way! Wearing a blast suit.... maybe then!

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:
F- That. No way. I don't mind snakes. But I'm not crawling around on my hands and knees to drag any poisonous snake out from under the TV.

Had a friend who used to hunt bears with a bow. "You know John, I tracked this bear for a couple of miles. Then I came to a thicket, I was on my hand a knees crawling and the bear and I saw each other. I couldn't get my bow and he took off instead of killing me. Don't think I'll do this shit anymore."

Back in my high school days we went hunting in the fall. Looking for tree rats. But there in front of me was a pissed off copperhead. So I did what any red blooded boy would do. I shot it. I only had a 20 gauge back then. But it was very effective in making the snake about 6" shorter from the head end. I have no idea where the head went, but I assume it was "down range". Couldn't find any identifible traces, just some goo, make it pink goo. I didn't see a pink mist some suggest.

Sure, I could have left it for the next guy to step on. To my way of thinking, the shorter snake was safer. Would I do it again? In a New York minute. But these days my sight is blurrier so I use a 12ga for such work.

If I lived there, I'd have a gargantuan herd of, take your pick, mongooses or mongeese.

Go back to page 1 and look at what that snake did to the leg of the TV stand!

African PH stories have lots of black mamba encounters. One I read, a PH tells his wife not to move, points a shotgun at her head while she's remaining still on the sofa, tells her to dive to the floor, he blows the snake to hell. The snake was laying on the top of the sofa next to her head. That story was in Africa. Big balls and cool heads prevailed.

To paraphrase a saying I'm fairly sure I picked up on SIGforum:

"We on the Nope Train to FutDatVille!"

This is probably a dumb question but why doesn't the stick have a pair of nippers on it to just clip off the head? Wouldn't this end the danger immediately? Maybe two sticks-one to capture and one to clip. Is there a reason to leave a snake this dangerous alive after it invades a home? I certainly don't ever bother a non poisonous snake.

If I lived there, I'd have a gargantuan herd of, take your pick, mongooses or mongeese.[/QUOTE]

Our neighbor in Africa had a mongoose named Squeaky.

One day we found a small 18" Gabon Viper (locally known as a Cassava snake) and got the brilliant idea of "Let's get Squeaky to kill the snake!"

So, we dash next door, grab Squeaky, and bring him over so we can watch a battle royale.

The snake is cornered and just laying there.

We drop Squeaky about three feet in front of the snake, expecting to see him do a Tasmanian Devil act on the snake.

Squeaky takes one look at the snake, turns and looks at us with this look of "Nope. You Assholes."

and watch him run like, well, like there was a poisonous snake a few feet away.

We found him next door hiding under the sofa.

The snake was introduced to the sharp edge of a machete.

Aint no fooooking way!!!!

BTW, I have obviously been married to my wife for too long, but that house was filthy! It said they keep animals inside and it looks like it. Not surprised to see a snake in there.

quote:

Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
This is probably a dumb question but why doesn't the stick have a pair of nippers on it to just clip off the head? Wouldn't this end the danger immediately? Maybe two sticks-one to capture and one to clip. Is there a reason to leave a snake this dangerous alive after it invades a home? I certainly don't ever bother a non poisonous snake.

Anti-venom

I've come across a few poisonous snakes out in the wild. They don't really bother me and I always give them their room.

Don't mambas slither at warp speed?

quote:

Originally posted by k5blazer:

Don't mambas slither at warp speed?

They are fast, and tend to rise up when biting.

Shoot with 12 gage, then shoot again a few times. Then reload and repeat. I was in S Carolina a few years ago with friend Jim. We went out into the woods/swamp to do some deer hunting. He says to me, "Why you looking down alla time?" I said I was looking out for snakes. He says, "Hell man, they're hangin' from the trees too." That was it for me.

No freaking way.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
Shoot with 12 gage, then shoot again a few times. Then reload and repeat. I was in S Carolina a few years ago with friend Jim. We went out into the woods/swamp to do some deer hunting. He says to me, "Why you looking down alla time?" I said I was looking out for snakes. He says, "Hell man, they're hangin' from the trees too." That was it for me.

In my mamba encounter, we were on the banks of a dry riverbed, walking through waist high grass, hunting bushbuck. To our left the riverbank sloped toward the river; to our right the bank sloped upward another 50 feet, at about a 45 degree angle. The mamba was about free throw distance up the hill, and seemed to be about eye level because of the slope.

He was 9-10 ft, according to the PH. He was headed in the opposite direction we were traveling, and was intent on grabbing some frog or lizard. It struck the critter, then proceeded a few feet, then made a u-turn around a small tree. It was surreal, watching its head going in one direction, with a frog in its mouth, and a LOT of its body still going in a different direction. It was Discovery Channel type stuff. That's when my PH whispered to me those infamous words. The fear was pretty much indescribable. I wondered, hoped really, that the muzzle blast from my 35 Whelen might stop him at 3 feet.

He finally disappeared up the hill into some brush. We didn't start hunting the riverbed until after sundown, so it was getting darker by the minute. We made our way up the bank and a couple hundred yards to the "road" to wait for our ride. By now it was pitch dark. When the truck arrived with my friend and the PH who owned the safari company, my PH told them the story. I was pretty much unable to speak.

The other PH asked, "did you kill the mamba?" No. "Why not? When we go down in there tomorrow afternoon for bushbuck, we know a 3 meter mamba is still there?"

By that time, I had sufficiently recovered my speaking ability to tell him that I wouldn't be going back down there and that bushbuck was no longer a priority.

I still see him sometimes....in my sleep.