big rattle snake

i was coming up the hill to my house after a evening of fishing from shore in pool 3 when i see something halfway across the trail. i realized it was a snake ( i hate snakes) and saw that half of the snake was in the grass and the back half still covered half of the trail. that was when i looked at the tail and saw its big rattle sticking up.

just thought i would remind people that are getting out of the boat that they are around and to keep ur eyes open

While the encounters are rare, they’re very real, and very possible. Thanks for putting out the reminder!

I’m going to guess that it was a Timber rattler………..most common species to venture around our area. I’m surprised you were close enough to see it without it sending a warning!

Does Ferryville still do the annual Timber bounty?

well i live basically on the river bluffs so that was not the first one that i have seen but probably the closest i have been to a live one.( quite often there are dead ones on the train tracks).

I’ve lived in this area my whole life and I spend a lot of time outdoors and I’ve never seen a live rattle snake. They must be pretty rare. It would be cool to witness one, at a safe distance of course.

Gator Hunter

I used to see them a lot on the roads warming themselves in the early fall back in SD. We used to torment a few of them, I should say my friends would. I’m deathly scared of the darn things.

I archery hunted the Missouri river a lot. My uncle tells stories of stumbling on them. I’m glad I never did, I would still be running. I hate snakes.

I was reading a report some years back where the biologists are thinking the rattlers have evolved to the point that they are not sending that warning as much as they used to because it gives away their position and can be a danger to themselves. That in turn makes them more dangerous for us.

Sounds like more snake hysteria to me.Snakes are one of the most maligned creatures on earth.Fear of snakes has created more fabrications about them,then probably any other creature.The only reason a rattler will not warn you is if you surprise it first and are right on top of it before it can rattle.Rattlers are constricters,as are bull,fox and milk snakes and all are present to some extent in the river valley area.They feed almost exclusively on rodents.A better mouser has never been born.Their numbers are declining everywhere.They are very vulnerable to traffic both in the spring,as they cross roads to find a place to lay their eggs and in the fall,when you will see them on a blacktop road absorbing the warmth from the blacktop.I’ve stopped my truck many times to hurry a big bull or fox snake across a road before it can be hit by an unsuspecting or uncaring motorist.My kids have kept them(not rattlers)as pets and I can attest firsthand to the number of mice a 30 inch(not full grown)bull snake will eat.They must be respected,for they all will bite if provoked or feel threatened but,if you leave them be,your immediate enviroment will be much better off with their presence.Consider yourself lucky to have seen one.Mike

I don’t care to argue with you TROUTMAN but I tend to believe the biologists on this one. Just for the simple fact that every living thing on this earth, including humans have “evolved” in order to continue to exist. An example could be cottonmouth snakes. We always heard they could never survive the cold winters of Iowa and except for the occasional one that would hitch a ride up river on a barge in the summer, we’d never see them here. Well, they’ve been here for many years now and seem to survive quite well, although I don’t see very many in a several year period, they are here. And I have a tendancy to believe that some day the pet pirannas being turned loose every year will learn to adapt to our northern environment.
But you’re absolutely right, the creatures that were put here by nature have a purpose–if for no other reason than to make live miserable for the outdoorsman. DARNED SKEETERS anyway!

back in va.we had all kinds of snakes.as a kid i would catch any i could get my hands on and still do.i don’t think the state of wis. allows it but rattle snake is good eating.the old man got bit by a cottonmouth when he was a kid guess he almost died but that didn’t shy him away.he even stopped in the road one night when i was 15 so i could catch this little snake turn out it was a copperhead.i kept him 4 a few months before releasing him.snakes just dont go after humans they have to be provoced or feel thretened.

Herb.It was not my intention to question the credibility of what you read.It just sounded to me like someones fear of snakes had gotten the better of them.Maybe…maybe not,it doesn’t matter.The truth is,peoples aversion to snakes,for whatever reason,has fabricated some tall tales about them over the years.An example would be,the milk snake.It got it’s name from the persistent belief that they would drink milk right from the cows udder and I’m sure there are people who to this day,would swear it’s true!Generally speaking,people do not like snakes.When I was a boy,my grandparents had a cabin just east of Hudson Wi.My granmothers blood-curdling screams coming from the outhouse,were a sure bet that another big bull snake was coiled up on the back of comode,just waiting to attack an unsuspecting person intent on relieving themselves…or so my grandmother thought .Grandpa killed several of these big snakes over the years and yet,they were constantly dealing with mouse problems.You,yourself lumped them in with skeeters and I have to come to their defense there.Skeeters carry disease,snakes do not.They eat disease ridden vermin.Even a rattlers bite is seldom fatal.As far as cottonmouths in Iowa.It’s not something I’m up on but,I’m sure it’s true.When I was younger,you never saw a possum in this part the country(at least I never did)and now they are extremely common.Anyway,and I’m sure you’ll agree with me here.When you’re engaged in your favorite outdoor activity,maybe sitting in your boat,maybe your deerstand or even just trying to relax in your backyard and the skeeters are succeeding in ruining a perfectly good time,it’s tough to tell yourself,”Well,(slap)they’re all God’s creatures(slap-slap)and they must(slap)serve some (slap)purpose(slap-slap)in this life.Your too kind calling them “darned skeeters.”I’m afraid my term for them is not appropriate here. Mike

I was with you on the snakes having a purpose.

You lost me with the skeeters. If there was ever a creature with no prupose, that is it.

Here we go!!

Skeeters are a tremendous food source for birds, bats, and aquatic/amphibious creatures. However, last I checked, we don’t fall into any of those catagories.

Let’s be truthful for a minute guys…………animals out of native habitat aren’t evolving………….but adapting. Our environments and climates have changed far more than any animals DNA makeup and capabilities. All they do is strive to survive and if it works, it works. Same instinct, same result. We could release thousands of reptiles into a much colder region and we’d see the adaptibility disappear. Cold blooded is cold blooded. They’d first have to follow their instincts to find warmth. If it’s found they’ll survive. But it doesn’t change the animal a bit.

I’d like to talk to the biologist making the claim that rattlers are becoming “rattle smart”. The creature is deaf and doesn’t know it’s making noise. They’re not raised and taught behaviors by adults. And being a species of declining numbers……………do you suppose there’s less rattles to be heard? Of all creatures to get “smart”……………..I think those biologists are trying to court a fat wallet.

Another problem with reptiles is if you try to use them for testing, they adapt to a level of complacency and become more tolerant of unnatural circumstances. Why? How? Cuz it’s all based on pain and provision. If it’s never harmed, but always fed………………the result is seen in the family pet. Reverse this……….always harmed and never fed………….you’ll take even the sweetest dog or cat and turn them into…………..”animals”.

Kid.It’s true that snakes do not hear and that fact completely escaped me until you mentioned it. However,I think they are very tuned into vibration and perhaps this is where Herb’s claim rings true.That rattle must give off some vibration and perhaps they are aware that they are doing it and to what intensity they are doing it?I’m just guessing here.Also,what you stated about skeeters being a food source for many animals is true.Some of them would cease to exist without the mosquito.Mike

Ilived in the Elba, MN. area for a lot of years and people around there where telling me about all the rattlers. Did a lot of fishing, hunting,mushroom hunting and never seen one. Played soft ball with the wildlife biolgist from the state park and told him I thought it was a lot of bull about the rattlers. He took me on a tour one day, what a surprise. I know we seen over 200 of them. 2 big dens of them. It was a warm day in the spring and they were laying in the sun on rocks. He also explained how they fit in the eco. system. I have seen one since. They have there place in nature and should not killed for the fun of it. Check with the people who have studied them and see what they think. To me its just like someone who kills a catfish because they believe the old stories that cats destroy the panfish habit. Good luck.

Very good posts guys.

Thank you, Kid!!! I was going to reply anyway about the whole evolution thing and was glad to see one of our own kind (an outdoorsman) understands what’s really going on in biology. We’ve all been pounded with Darwin’s theory for so long it has come to dominate thinking in so many fields. Evolution doesn’t happen because it’s not possible. How’s that for flying in the face of “conventional wisdom?” Every living organism has genetic limits and is unable to go beyond those limits as dictated by the genetic code. Kid is right–life only adapts. Remember the classic examples from biology class–the peppered moth or the resistance of bugs to pesticides? They use these all the time to support their theory but the bottom line is in the end you still have a moth and a weevil. Nothing climbs the ladder to being bigger and better and more complex. There are no fossils showing any true transitional forms and yet we have uncovered literally billions of fossils supposedly spanning billions of years (the age of the earth is another of my pet peeve “sciences”). I know this is a can of worms and off the beaten path of catching fish but I couldn’t help myself.

Me thinks I’ll grab the OFF and go fishing.

Just make sure it’s fish you catch Herb. Saw another of those ugglies today sunning itself. Yikes!!!

Being from South Dakota I can tell you there is a reason that everyone has shotguns in their rear windows. In the Fall when the temps start to drop the Rattlers are drawn to the gravel roads in the evenings. I have spent years walking the prairie fishing and hunting and have seen three Rattlers in the wild, on the gravel roads I have seen three in an evening. Alot of them are near residential areas where they are rarely seen except for this timeframe. It still scares me to think of a little tike running across one in his or her yard so I would always dispatch the Rattler. Debate all you want the pros and cons of snakes but Rattlers and children don’t mix and my vote is for the kids evry time.

geeeee ya go on vacation for a while and things like this happen….. ok… so I have a biology degree… and therefore have been conventionally trained… still I have seen the logic of evolution… what the Pup says about adaption is ok.. as far as it goes…. but heres the deal… individuals adapt or die… species evolve… the difference is significant…. adaption takes place over a short period of time… and if the creature fails then its dead…. evolution takes place over more time than we can really conceive…. its not a quick thing… its not done over one generation… or two…. but over 100’s and thousands….. and even more…. the history of earth is so vast that we cant even really grasp its exspanse… I was up on lake superior… on the shore I picked up stones so smooth and polished that I could almost see myself in them… and I TRIED to imagine how long ago they had been part of a lava flow… and what had happened to them to break them up, bring them to the surface, pull them out of the depths of lake superior, deposit them on the shore and polish them to such a degree… its as humbling as looking at the depths of space to consider how much just that one little rock has endured…. ok… back to snakes… they seem to have originated in the late cretacious period… this means they evolved over 70 MILLION years ago… I found no information on how recent the family Crotalus (rattlesnakes) evolved… but Im sure it was also in the millions of years ago… species change very slowly over time… and if called upon to change quickly they usually become extinct…. I also have my doubts that snakes have recently evolved to not rattle…. though who knows… natural selection works in funny ways… if all snakes that rattle are killed and those who dont survive…. well eventually I suppose it could happen…. I HAVE also walked among timber rattlers… and massasaugas… and have found in general the ones Ive been around dont rattle… they usually just crawl for cover… unless you have greatly suprised them then they might coil into a protective stance….. well… enough of the formal biology lesson…. heres a picture of some weather worn rocks on a wave washed beach north of Grand Marais….. I was fascinated with how the lake had tumbled them……

Soooo…………you’re back eh? I thought it was a little quiet!

Say…………..this is a touchy, sensitive subject. In the scope of Creation vs. Evolution, there are two worlds………..both based on faith. One, a faith in God. Another, a faith in science. Some say man invented God and science with all it’s mathmatical logistics is the only credible source of putting our puzzles together. Problem is………..for those that cling to science, the Scriptures don’t explain enough to satisfy their thirst of scientific explaination. Skepticism is a strong “arch enemy” of this acceptance. “Nothing’s set in stone until it’s set in stone.” For those who cling to the Scriptures, science doesn’t cover all the questions nearly as well as simple faith.
Thus creating two general opinions.

There’s a new movement in the science world that is quickly adopting a new conclusion. There had to have been a single source of responsibility for all of this and it HAD to include a superior being. Why? Because the greatest teacher of Darwinism…………Darwin himself……..denounced his own theories and too many scientists are coming to the same conclusions of why he did.

They won’t drop evolution because it fits OUR level of comprehension as acceptible, logical doctrine, but that it had to have come from a single, supreme being. An alien race or otherwise is still up for debate.

Science failed in mathmatically proving artificial flight was impossible. It’s true. Mathmatically, artificial flight was accurately proven as impossible. Along the same lines, science has yet to prove why a butterfly can fly. It defies all physical principles of flight.

Bottomline………..as inferior beings, there will always be things we don’t understand but it’s okay to believe what you believe. It’s not my choice to determine any one else’s core beliefs. But like any student should know why they believe what they believe, I know why I stand behind mine as well. To be honest here, I don’t believe everything I was taught. The shocking part is, part of my conclusion also comes from science.

Two things, among many, stand out in my mind:

One, it’s been proven and documented that there’s a boat, broken in pieces on Mt. Ararat in Turkey………….in an area above the tree line, seldom free of snow, and almost impossible to climb. The effects of a great flood cover a large gammet of creating fossils, fuels, large spread redistribution, and annihilation. Evidence of tropical existance in polar regions also exist. All part of a great story and discoveries that support it.

Two, to reverse the effects of the constant, measurable, and scientifically undeniable, annual loss of gravity, the earth gravitational force reversed even 100,000 years back begins to place doubt on the existance of any ability to support life. I wish I still had the 10th grade science book that stated that fact, of gravitational loss, that is. It’s a constant and doesn’t waiver. So, reversing the effects, scientifically speaking……….the world has to be less than 25,000 years old, but according to the aging of man-made artifacts, it’s doubtful we’ve been here more than 10,000 to 12,000 years.

NOW HOLD ON! I’m not saying that I can explain all things. I’m not saying a differing belief is wrong. I’m just explaining two things beyond the confines and controls of science that cause me to believe what I have chosen to believe. It’s the sciences within these two things that I find far too compelling to ignore.

I hope everyone keeps teaching, and digging, and studying, and striving for more answers………….my mind is open But I, like the majority of the science world, am a skeptic.

I struggle with the existance of any species having the ability to rightfully and accurately figure out it’s own origins, as if to say they were somehow responsible for the achievement. Nothing dead creates life. It requires life to create life. And amoebas can’t exist in space.

Maybe I don’t have the answers, but the originator denounced his own discoveries…………….because science couldn’t support it. If he couldn’t give us a leg to stand on, there’s only one other option………..still explicable by science.
What’s the option? That’s up to you.

I hope I’m not stomping on anyone’s toes here, because this is not a topic of personal judgment and I hold no prejudice against anyone’s belief. I only mean to expose the subject for further examination if it’s never been considered.

None of this is to get in the way of good times, good friends, and good fishing! Those things come first!

Are the fish biting?

The proverbial can of worms has been opened and I’m going night crawler hunting!! RiverEyes, I also have a degree in biology, and ironically it was during those years that I really started to investigate this topic. The reason being was I used good science. All the evidence I could find pointed me AWAY from the spontaneous generation of life from non-life and consequent “evolution” into some higher form. I encourage you to lose your dependence on what you have been taught and just look at the world around you. Where do we see specific kinds of life changing into something different. Sure, it adapts, that’s the nature of biology. But where are the transitional forms of say, fish changing into amphibians? The classic answer is that we can’t see them because they’re so minute and slow but they have to show up somewhere and there still isn’t any credible evidence to back up evolutionary theory. Well, I could say so much more but I won’t. I hope I have some people thinking.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snapshots/snakes_turtles/timberrattlesnake.html

wow… looky!… a timber rattly snake…. they are pretty cool………!

*man*… I gotta get out an do some fishin soon!… cya on the water!!

“IN DEPTH ANGLING”

Mr. ‘eyes, WHEN am I going to see you on the water? I need a new secret spot….

Ive been unusually invisible this summer… the honey dooooo list was longer than the “super doo” list… so I gotta doo what I gotta doo…! Im hoping I will B-fishin come October….