Bitten by Snakes or Snapping Turtles while Swimming?

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:32:51 -0500, Rodney Long
typed furiously:

TOliver wrote:



Snakes and turtles are desperately people-shy. Most ponds can be "safed"
for routine swimming by arriving with a lot of noise,

Contrary to popular belief

Snakes "can't" hear, noise is a worthless means of trying to run them off

Look it up, they have no ears, or means of detecting sound, they can
feel vibrations, but not at the sound levels.

One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on
the bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.
The trouble was my wife was squirming and rocking the canoe, I missed 6
times, that snake never moved,( the sound of the 22 going off did not
even wake it up) until I finally hit it, then it moved, but just for a
couple of seconds :-)

Don't try that in Australia. All snakes are protected here.
--
Regards
David Simpson
"Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him
without an erection, make him a sandwich."
- Someone on soc.sexuality.general

David Simpson wrote:


Don't try that in Australia. All snakes are protected here.

I understand that the animals have more rights than people down there,
no law against a snake or crock, killing a man, or even a small child.

How many people a year down there die to snakes, and crocks ?

Every snake in the world is not worth the life of one of my grand children.

I also understand that a gang of thugs can beat you to death, or rape
your daughter, and they won't let you have a gun to protect yourself, or
her, if you do have one and use it to save your life, they put you in jail.

No thanks, I'll stay here, you can have all those poisonous snakes in
your yards, and let them bite your kids, instead of killing them before
it happens.

Do you protect your spiders as well ? WHy not ? How about roaches,
flies, ants, and mosquitos


--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:55:00 -0500, Rodney Long
typed furiously:

David Simpson wrote:


Don't try that in Australia. All snakes are protected here.

I understand that the animals have more rights than people down there,
no law against a snake or crock, killing a man, or even a small child.

We do enact a death penalty if needed. Relocation usually does the
trick.

How many people a year down there die to snakes, and crocks ?

Snakes? About one every few years in spite of the fact that we have
the deadliest species on the planet and the greatest number of
venomous species.

Crocs? Maybe one or two a year. Some people are stupid enough to swim,
or play, where the croc can get at them. Crocs are extremely fast on
land ... for a very short distance.

Every snake in the world is not worth the life of one of my grand children.

So! Keep the kids away and keep them in boots. The snakes feel the
vibrations and depart for parts unknown at great speed.

I also understand that a gang of thugs can beat you to death, or rape
your daughter, and they won't let you have a gun to protect yourself, or
her, if you do have one and use it to save your life, they put you in jail.

Never needed a gun even though I can shoot with reasonable accuracy.
My average was over 90% when I was shooting,

I know only _one_ person who was raped and another who was subjected
to an attempted home invasion. Those sorts of crimes are rare enough
to merit front page stories when they do occur and they occur weeks
apart. Unlike the US, where they merely report how many murders
occurred that day, we can go for weeks between murders, mainly because
of the lack of the coward's weapon, a gun.

Gangs of thugs, thankfully, are rare and mostly controlled by the
police. Comes from having a vibrant economy and a good social security
system, although the latter does drive up taxes.

No thanks, I'll stay here, you can have all those poisonous snakes in
your yards, and let them bite your kids, instead of killing them before
it happens.

And I'll stay here and not be worried that I'm going to be killed by a
stray bullet falling out of the clear blue sky or that my front door
is going to be kicked in by some stranger who wants money for his drug
dependency.

Do you protect your spiders as well ? WHy not ? How about roaches,
flies, ants, and mosquitos

Some spiders, yes. It depends on how rare they are and if they are
native to Australia. I don't know of anyone who has been prosecuted
for killing a spider though. That would make the front page here.
--
Regards
David Simpson
"Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him
without an erection, make him a sandwich."
- Someone on soc.sexuality.general

An old snapper, lazy and embedded in a snug mud-hole or rocky
stream bed, will not flee. It will just wait for something to
happen by, and, be it fish, stick or foot, will bite what it
can reach, in hope of a meal or morsel.

--
And they are certainly fearless, and they are certainly not slow. Long
necks, too.

Several years ago, I came upon a rather large snapper taking a lazy stroll
across our street and decided I should help him get to the other side before
a driver less cautious than myself nailed him. It was a fairly easy process.
I just waved a stick in front of his face, and then used the stick to drag
him to safety. The neighbors still wonder why they never see me swimming in
the lake.

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
Don Freeman wrote:

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...

One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on
the bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.


Reason being?

They, and man, have no place together, a cotton mouth does not fear man,
and will attack, non provoked, I've had it happen to me more than once,


Yet you state that the snake was on the bank, and you were 20 ft away, on
the water, and in a boat. Now THAT sounds non-provoked.

--
-Don
Ever had one of those days where you just felt like:
http://cosmoslair.com/BadDay.html ?
(Eating the elephant outside the box, one paradigm at a time)

Don Freeman wrote:
"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on the
bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.

Reason being?

Being out with the pistol, he was itching to shoot it at something.

Don Freeman wrote:



Yet you state that the snake was on the bank, and you were 20 ft away, on
the water, and in a boat. Now THAT sounds non-provoked.



Yep, I got him before he got me , or my wife, or my grand kids at a
latter time. I'm just helping to control the numbers of them around
humans, there are plenty of places for them where humans don't frequent.

This bad boy was over 6 feet long, very large and very old for a cotton
mouth

They no longer have any natural predators, there numbers must be
controlled, or "people" die. My state DNR has no problem with people
taking them out, they are far from rare, actually they are too numerous,
and they are just down right MEAN compared to other snakes, they are the
most aggressive snake in North America, one of the few that will come
after you, instead of fleeing.

I've been handling snakes for close to 40 years now, When I was in high
school, I made my extra money "catching" poisonous snakes, that were
milked, then released. I used to get 4 dollars a foot for them "alive".
I know them well, and the cotton mouth is just dangerous to have
anywhere near people. You will hear of people keeping all kinds of
poisonous snakes, but never cotton mouths. They offered 10 dollars a
foot for them captured, back when I was doing it, I know of three
people, who did what I did, (they were pros) that got bitten trying to
catch those demons (they were actively looking for cotton mouths, in
their habitat, all claimed they never saw the snakes, until after they
got nailed)

Yep I hate those particular snakes, Now I love rattlers, you got to
almost step on one to get bitten, and they even warn you when your close
to them. Copper heads are very shy, you will get bitten if you step over
a log, instead of on top of it, or if your getting fire wood off a
stack, without looking where your putting your hand. They will flee if
they get the chance, or if they see you before you get too close, put a
hand or foot close to them and your gonna get nailed, but you have to
startle them when you do it, otherwise they are heading the other direction.

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
Don Freeman wrote:



Yet you state that the snake was on the bank, and you were 20 ft away, on
the water, and in a boat. Now THAT sounds non-provoked.



Yep, I got him before he got me , or my wife, or my grand kids at a latter
time. I'm just helping to control the numbers of them around humans, there
are plenty of places for them where humans don't frequent.

This bad boy was over 6 feet long, very large and very old for a cotton
mouth

They no longer have any natural predators, there numbers must be
controlled, or "people" die. My state DNR has no problem with people
taking them out, they are far from rare, actually they are too numerous,
and they are just down right MEAN compared to other snakes, they are the
most aggressive snake in North America, one of the few that will come
after you, instead of fleeing.


Doing a search on "aggressive" and "cottonmouth" I find a lot of disparity
in opinions on wither the cottonmouth is actually aggressive or not.
Looking closer at the sources I find that the more reliable ones (as opposed
to joe blows blog site) tend to support the position that its aggressive
nature is not deserved. Regardless, the number of biting incidences is
incredibly low and the number of deaths from those bites minimal. Hardly
justifies killing every one you come across, especially if it poses no
threat to you.

--
-Don
Ever had one of those days where you just felt like:
http://cosmoslair.com/BadDay.html ?
(Eating the elephant outside the box, one paradigm at a time)

jmcgill wrote:



Being out with the pistol, he was itching to shoot it at something.


Not at all, I'm always "now" out with a pistol, I rarely shoot anything

The reason for that is this http://ezknot.com/raccoon.html

It's a funny story now, but it was not when it happened

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com