Home › Forums › Campfire Forum › Rattlesnake skin camouflage…
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I bought my wife a nice purse for Christmas and it is finished in a rattlesnake skin appearance. Our house is mostly earth tones, tans, browns, etc. I swear, every time she lays that purse down now she loses it,,especially if she sets it down on the floor with the tan carpet…
Amazing camouflage really…nature knows what works…
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I know a self bow guy went to some big self bow festival and was given a nice bow with snake skins on it…put it under his cot in his tent…went to the bathroom and came back and caught sight of that under his bunk in the flashlight and about went to the bathroom a 2nd time!
I don’t like spiders and snakes…
Truly great camo though…
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You’re gonna hafta put the rattle back on the snake!:D
Speaking of such, SE of Carlsbad, NM I was out stumping and exploring and shot a rattler in a bush with a blunt about 10′ away. Everything got quiet so I tip toed over to check things out and there was no snake, only a set of 8 rattles laying on the ground with my blunt. Oh no!:roll: Can’t believe this crap. I shot the rattles off and now I have a noiseless rattlesnake around here that’s pee’od at me.
I got my walking stick out of the truck and very carefully started probing the bushes. I finally found it, about a 3 1/2 footer. Talk about a spooky deal until I found the thing and finished it off.
Made me think about those folk that live around snakes that don’t make noise.
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R2,
Pa has them miserable copper head snakes… they aren’t as venomous as the varied PA type rattlers, Timber and whatever, but they’re pure-T meanness and will nail you 2x just for spite right quick fore you can jerk back!
Down o n Coastal VA, I got introduced to Cotton Mouths. Least they will sit there and gape their white mouths open and hiss at you…sometimes.
Once at a hunt club work party, they wanted to pull out a beaver damn and asked me to pull sticks…as i was a green snake slithered over my hand and I was pretty much alone in a nano second… they were yellin Cotton Mouth as they ran off… 😯
Knew a couple fellows who said they were trolling bass fishing early spring and a CMouth slipped off his sunning long and came after the boat trying to get in…some don’t believe they’d do that, but those guys believed it and I never caught them in a windy story… Apparently, in breeding season, they can become very territorial…
Amazing predator, for sure, but one I like to give a very, very wide berth!
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Fun stuff … our unreasonable fears are always great sources of laughter.
But responding to the thread title, which I misinterpreted as “Does rattler skin make good camo for a bow?” (yes, a slightly sly slip-slide of subject) … it depends. As I and many of you have witnessed for ourselves in the field, what we often see when we spot another hunter from a distance, aside from gross movement in the open, is flash. So in general “yes” nature’s snake camo makes great bow camo … unless you top-finish it with something shiny. A “camo” pattern with shine is still a mirror, while a solid color that’s flat and unreflective will not often be noticed by game, no matter the color.
But I like the self-deprecating (funny) way this thread is going, so please ignore my perhaps overly serious take and keep the funnies coming. Being able to honestly laugh at ourselves in particular, and life in general gets my vote for “enlightenment.”
Makes me recall the skunk under the cabin long ago …
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The cottonmouths here in SwampEast, MO are very aggressive and will try to get a boat with you. Copperheads also have a beautiful piece of camouflage, I don’t think it’s as good as the rattler, but it’s good.
The summer between my 11th and 12th grade, I not only got bit once by a copperhead, but twice that summer, different snakes. We lived down a long driveway and one early evening I went walking to the mailbox, barefooted and stepped on a copperhead, he hit me in the top of the left foot…not a good strike, but he got one fang through the skin…my dad drove me to the hospital, after about 5 hours the doc sent me home, my foot was swolled but not life threatening. About a month later, I was kicking down a gravel road in Jesus boots (leather sandals) and I stepped on another copperhead, he got me better that time…I spent the night and was fairly sick, but no lasting damage. The doc told me to start wearing boots.
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Good idea, the boots. Especially if you’re attractive to venomous snakes. 😀 Dang man, twice ain’t cool. Lucky you’re not buggered up.
Probably best to leave the rattles off the skins on the bow too as the noise may be as bad as the shine of a finish. 🙂
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Dang, Critch!
I’d have soiled my shorts. Allergy doc told me when I was found to be allergic to bee stings and such, that I was probably ALLERGIC to snake venom to boot…and to make i t better, I’m allergic to horse serum and all anti-venom is horse serum based (or was 10 yrs ago when we discussed this). When I inquired, he said he’d give me the horse serum for the snake bite and then treat the systemic shock of the allergic reaction.
I don’t like snakes.
urban legend went around that some young boy was checked by a fish warden and found to nearly have his limit, but he complained the ‘worms were biting him”. When the officer checked the work container they were all baby copperheads the kid dug outa a rotten stump! Story goes the kid died! 🙁
Living in coastal VA, story was a group of summer working kids were taking a break under a tree and a snake fell onto one of the boys, it’s fangs got caught in his hoodie but he was running so hard the snake was flapping straight out behind him till he peeled the sweat shirt and took off down the road half dressed!
I take it he didn’t like snakes either! Another lady at the hospital boated on t he International Waterway…she said when they water skied, they had 2 lookouts, one to watch the skier and one up front of the boat with a 410 pump looking for snakes swimming across…then asked me if I wanted to come skiing.
Care to guess my answer?:oops:
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I have a selfbow with copperhead skins and a recurve with rattler skins. Both make good bow camo.
All the snake stories remind me of my grandaddy telling about he and his brother in law poling a wooden skiff over to an island the brother in law owned. They were going with the tide and had to pole a few miles from the landing along a tidal creek. He said there was a fire over on the mainland and presently they began to see snakes and other critters swimming the creek. Soon a sizeable eastern diamondback came along side and tried getting in the boat. They beat it back and it turned away but was soon back trying again until it did come into the boat with them. This caused quite a stir and in the excitement the brother in law grabbed a shotgun a shot the snake and blew a hole in the bottom of the boat. They crammed rags into the hole and kept going knowing they had to do a patch job when they reached the island.
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No doubt they be pretty skin-backed limbs/bows!! Awesome looking…
How’s that story go about the guy comes into camp all shook up, when asked he said he thought he saw a snake, but it turned out to be a stick…when asked why that was so unnerving, he replies “but the stick I picked up to hit it with turned out to be a snake!”
I’ll never forget that scene in Lonesome Dove where a pod of snakes gets washed downstream and the boy falls off his horse into the nest of them…heard stories about such things in lakes, where there were nests of them, likely breeding… dunno if none of that is true, but it serves well to increase my more than healthy respect for slither tails!
Sorta same reaction I have to women and apples… all seem to spell trouble for a fella along with snakes, when they get combined in the garden! 😯
If I have nightmares over this thread, I’m coming to git you guys:lol:8)
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Anonymous
January 24, 2015 at 7:55 pmPost count: 124Doc Nock wrote: R2,
Pa has them miserable copper head snakes… they aren’t as venomous as the varied PA type rattlers, Timber and whatever, but they’re pure-T meanness and will nail you 2x just for spite right quick fore you can jerk back!
Down o n Coastal VA, I got introduced to Cotton Mouths. Least they will sit there and gape their white mouths open and hiss at you…sometimes.
Once at a hunt club work party, they wanted to pull out a beaver damn and asked me to pull sticks…as i was a green snake slithered over my hand and I was pretty much alone in a nano second… they were yellin Cotton Mouth as they ran off… 😯
Knew a couple fellows who said they were trolling bass fishing early spring and a CMouth slipped off his sunning long and came after the boat trying to get in…some don’t believe they’d do that, but those guys believed it and I never caught them in a windy story… Apparently, in breeding season, they can become very territorial…
Amazing predator, for sure, but one I like to give a very, very wide berth!
Doc,
You’re the only person I’ve ever found that thinks that copperheads are meaner than cottonmouths. I grew up around both of them and rattlers as well (almost all timber rattlers, with the very rare Eastern Diamondback thrown in on occasion, just because it could). I like rattlers; they are a very cool animal and gorgeous. Copperheads are just sneaky. They are small, very quiet, almost invisible with that camo of theirs, and they are lazy/weak. They’ll bite simply because they have to; they can’t get away and they can’t warn.
Cottonmouths? They are flat mean. I’ve had them chase boats and they will chase people.
When I eventually get around to building a self-bow, it’ll be snakeskin backed. Finding a pair of copperheads large enough to do it would be great, but I doubt that’ll happen. It’ll likely be rattlers and I’ll have to find them hit on the road or have someone give them to me, as I won’t kill them unless I absolutely have to do so.
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Forager,
Sorry, I misled you. I wanted to compare Rattlesnakes in PA to Copper heads in PA… of the two, the venom is far more toxic in the rattler, but the copperhead is more mean and will double tap you for spite so you get a double doze of less venomous poison…
I don’t have enough experience around Cottons to make comparisons…from the stories those 3 yrs in Coastal VA, I’d say the Cotton is pretty ornery cuss in it’s own right too… and more aggressive, where a copper is just ornery… once disturbed, he’ll nail you fast as he can, but not come after like I hear them Cotton mouths will.
They outlawed the Central PA (York County) rattlesnake roundup that was going on for YEARS… to preserve them. I believe they’re protected in PA now… but most northern tier cabin owners find them around their buildings it’s shoot-shovel-shut up!
I don’t know enough yet about my new home to know if the E. TN mountains and Cumberland Plateau has what naties, but I’ll learn from the locals you bet!
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Doc, I hear 6-7 foot rattlers and the streams are full of cottonmouths. Makes fly fishing and bow hunting tough. 🙄
And I’m tellin y’all, you cain’t see a rattler in the brush, in the dark, with a red lens on your flashlight.
That first step after all got quiet was about the bravest thing I ever did. 🙁
They have those flying carp in TN? If so, maybe there’s areason they be leaping out of the water.
Pleasant dreams my friend. 😀
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January 25, 2015 at 1:04 amPost count: 124
Doc Nock wrote: Forager,
Sorry, I misled you. I wanted to compare Rattlesnakes in PA to Copper heads in PA… of the two, the venom is far more toxic in the rattler, but the copperhead is more mean and will double tap you for spite so you get a double doze of less venomous poison…
I don’t have enough experience around Cottons to make comparisons…from the stories those 3 yrs in Coastal VA, I’d say the Cotton is pretty ornery cuss in it’s own right too… and more aggressive, where a copper is just ornery… once disturbed, he’ll nail you fast as he can, but not come after like I hear them Cotton mouths will.
They outlawed the Central PA (York County) rattlesnake roundup that was going on for YEARS… to preserve them. I believe they’re protected in PA now… but most northern tier cabin owners find them around their buildings it’s shoot-shovel-shut up!
I don’t know enough yet about my new home to know if the E. TN mountains and Cumberland Plateau has what naties, but I’ll learn from the locals you bet!
Copperheads are just much weaker, slower, and less able to get out of the way. Combine that with a laziness and a propensity to lay still (which leads to being stepped on more), and you get a higher likelihood of bites.
The … folks… (I’m being kind) in PA (and NY, and VT, and VA, and WV, and a lot of other places) that go out of their way to kill rattlers are … “misguided” (I’m practicing being kind, and understanding, and not other things that I normally am). Rattlers do an incredible amount more good than harm, and the same goes for copperheads (even if I don’t like them), and even cottonmouths.
There’s an area I’m hunting next year and for the foreseeable future that is home and denning area to an incredible amount of rattlers and copperheads. The area is literally crawling with them, and it’s amazingly thick with mountain laurel, rhodos, azalea, and an assortment of low/thick/brushy trees. Shots, even with a rifle, are often measured best in feet. I will carry a snakebite kit, and a few extras, a pair of good walking/hiking sticks or a stout staff, and use some good ol’ common sense and caution. I’m coming into THEIR home, not the other way around, and I’m asking PERMISSION to pass safely through. I have to play by their rules and pay attention to them. Of course, I’m buying a good set of snake boots or chaps (because I’m a clumsy human and can be a fool), but I’m not holding the snakes responsible for my stupidity.
Anyway, I’ll step back now before I get completely on that soap box.
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I value your input Forager. You have every right to your feelings and value system. Honorable it is to defend and speak up for that which you believe.
I haven’t lost a dog, or had a family member bitten and weeks, even months in expensive recuperation, so I also understand that not everyone sees venomous pit vipers with the same benevolence that you offer.
I won’t take sides in that game. I try to avoid venomous snakes habitat when I can… and from all I read, a startled snake will dump a load of venom in you larger than if aggravated as they “know” (?) they need their juice for feeding so they don’t waste it if not startled into defense.
By the same token, some people respond in kind in defensive posture and REACT… The ’round up’ I spoke of were people I never met as it was over by the time I could drive over to see what the fuss was about…
I’ve “read” that there are people who live catch, milk rattle and other snakes for their venom and then sell it to companies to make anti-venom. I don’t know that… Some sold them for food too, but I don’t know if that is true either.
Suffice it to say I won’t judge on either count, but I’m more than a bit concerned with the input from the allergist, especially now living in more rural America, about being bitten…
I respect your right to choose to co-habitate with the slither tails and take precautions. I respect others personal experiences to frame their values as well.
I try to avoid snakes and bears. Both are meaner than I am and far more capable of putting me under than I of them.
R2,
Thanks! I needed that! 😯
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To Doc and Forager I believe you both are speaking the same language. “Respect for All living Things” There is no need to go out of your way to hunt down and destroy other species for doing what they are designed to do to maintain the web of life.
Critich they do work well as camo just be careful if you hunt with someone that has a strong fear of snakes. A bow laying horizontal under a bunk in the tent could end up as kindling for the fire.:lol:
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My experiences with pit vipers has made me almost paranoid about them…I am really careful now what I wear outside and where I walk.
I almost died of a case of the willies one afternoon many years ago. I was running a water line under our new house and it was very tight under the kitchen. My wife was in the crawlspace opening shining the flashlight so I could use both hands..all of a sudden, it seemed like hundreds of baby mice swarmed over me when I crawled up on their nest….I just about killed myself getting out from under there…she was laughing and said, “Well, there’s no snakes under there or we wouldn’t have the mice.” Not a word of sympathy mind you. 🙁
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I don’t know how many of y’all are familiar with a fishing water wagon but a friend of mine years ago was on his, enjoying fishing on a beautiful day and felt a bump on his little boat. Imagine a 3 1/2′ rattlesnake climbing aboard with him.
He broke both of his fishing rods beating some sense into that snake before it decided on better places to be.
No where to run on one of those little rigs.
I found this pic of one. Whoever owned this one was having a good fishing day.
I got caught on mine in the middle of Rifle Gap Res., near Rifle, CO. when a t-storm with hail came upon me from over the hills. Don’t know that the rattler might not have been a better deal.
These were mostly propelled by flippers. As you can see, some put motors on them.
Just for grins once I tried shooting my old Bear Griz while sitting in mine. Wasn’t to productive. So it tried standing, which those little rigs ain’t made for. Good thing me and my bow float. Multitasking, trying to balance and concentrating on shooting, neither worked. 😀
Snakes skins are great camo. Friend spent an hour trying to find his bow he laid on the ground when he went chasing a turkey he’d shot. Found both.
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Critch wrote: My experiences with pit vipers has made me almost paranoid about them……she was laughing and said, “Well, there’s no snakes under there or we wouldn’t have the mice.” Not a word of sympathy mind you. 🙁
Well, Critch, the good news is that your li’l lady is at least well versed in outdoor lore to know mice don’t live long where snakes do! She still tells that tale at gatherings on ya though, doesn’t she? 😳
R2,
I used to “belly boat” a lot in MT…y’know, those truck inner tubes covered with a fancy canvas/nylon cover with back rest and pockets and a stripping apron and sling seat. You wear waders and flippers…
I was thinking maybe I could break that out down here since I don’t have a boat… ummm…maybe not! I have to check the locals on local viper populations here in the foothills. Thing is that stinking water snakes (least up North) look frighteningly similar to copper heads.
I once was chest deep in a fast run fishing for trout when I see this coppery snake swimming toward me and the footing and current were such I could not get away…a quick tap behind the head with my then glass fly rod disuaded the critter from using me as refuge.
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