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Hill Country Camp House

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mwyates View Drop Down
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    Posted: February/23/2007 at 13:54

A few years ago I was on a bowhunting lease in San Saba County, Texas.  My first trip down was in February to build some tree stands. There was a neat old rock ranch house on the property, built in the early 1900's, that we stayed in.  We'd been there a couple of days working when the ranch manager showed up and asked if we minded if he caught a few snakes around the place.  We hadn't seen any, but told him to go ahead.  Then he said we might could help him and gave me and my friend snake tongs.  He built a small fire at one corner of the rock foundation and when it was smoking good he put a small 12V fan by it to blow the smoke through the foundation.  In the next two hours we caught 73 rattlesnakes coming out from under the house.  The ranch manager made quite a haul when he sold them and brought us a dinner that night of fried rattlesnake, BBQ wild hog, and smoked wild turkey breast.

 

I never slept too well in that house after that.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 14:52
Good story, Mike!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trinidad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 15:20
Cool story, sounds yummy to. I have never had rattlesnake but is sounds good.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mwyates Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 18:16

Rattlesnake is good.  Tastes like chicken

 

I've skinned and cooked a couple since then.  Skinning one is kind of a unique experience, but once you get it done there's some good white meat there.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Farris Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 18:22

73   It would have just took one and I'd be sleepin' in my truck.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pyro6999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 20:35
chris you could have used that nasty barret 50bmg and destroyed the house and watched pieces of snake fly around, that would be cool to watch
They call me "Boots"
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mwyates View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mwyates Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/23/2007 at 20:45
Inside was OK, but I wouldn't go out on the porch to take a leak without a light after that.  I found out that spring during turkey season that the lease was not only loaded with turkeys, deer and hogs, but had more rattlesnakes per acre than anyplace I've ever seen.  You couldn't walk 100yds without seeing one.  Kind of got used to it after a while; when you know there's one close by the shock value goes away.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/24/2007 at 09:12
Originally posted by mwyates mwyates wrote:

Rattlesnake is good.  Tastes like chicken

 

That is soooooo cliche and true. I've only had the Colorado variety.

73 of those things would make me move elsewhere! Good story....



Edited by tahqua
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ceylonc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/24/2007 at 21:44

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'd be changing underwear every other hour on that property!!!!!!

 

I can't see how you'd ever just get "used" to dealing with rattlers on a hunting lease .  Really cool story there 'yates.  Thanks for sharing!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ROCKMAN57 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/28/2007 at 19:51

WATCH YOUR DOGS!

 

I lived on a ranch in west texas for two years back in the late 80's

We had three border collies and one old fashioned kind.

The snakes killed two of the borders and bit ole duke (old fashioned one) in the leg.

Seems them dogs couldn't pass one up and when they met one or the other was gonna die.

They killed a lot of snakes to their credit but it cost them.

Ole duke was one of the smartest dogs I've ever known and great with the cows.

 

Rock

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bigdaddy0381 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/02/2007 at 12:12

I HATE snakes!!!!!!!!!    anything that move fast that i do and dosen't have leggs freaks me out.

 

But on the bright side with 70+ you could have had a nice belt,wallet,boots.hat,paints,shirt,jacket for you and the family.....

 

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonbravado Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/02/2007 at 13:05

Yeah, where i hunt a fat 6 footer bit my uncle in the thumb and about killed him.

We caught a couple since and 'removed' them from the property.

 

Those snakes are wonderful to look at......on discovery channel.....but quite dangerous.....

mother nature is nothing to mess around with.

 

J

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Urimaginaryfrnd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/11/2007 at 13:08
 
I had lots of run ins with snakes in Texas and have probably killed several thousand of them. When I was in high school my buddies and I would take cases of 22 ammo and ride motorcycles up to a dry creek that had several pond puddles along it which were always loaded with snakes. They stick their head up and we shot them. Man was that fun. I've had a lot of close calls, mostly with water moccasins and copperheads even stepped into a nest of baby rattle snakes once & jumped back just in time. So far I've never been bitten. I had one snake fall on me in the shower at a house in San Antonio. Had another one actually chase me after I slid under a fence gate and sat on him - big water moccasin.  Ive shot snakes out of trees 75 ft in the air, pulled my boat up to a tree only to find a snake in the tree. Been swimming down the river and had one drop off a tree next to me. Now that I'm in Iowa the neighbors tell me there are supposed to be a few endangered timber rattlers on or near my farm and the game warden says but don't kill them. I just want to know what exactly are we saving them for? 

Edited by Urimaginaryfrnd - February/23/2008 at 13:54

"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".
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mwyates View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mwyates Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/11/2007 at 20:54

My brother shot a big rattler that was curled up in a stump.  He wanted the skin so he reached in the stump to pull it out.  Turns out there were two rattlers in there and he had only killed one.  The other one curled around his arm.  He jerked his arm out and shook him off.  Then he had two to skin, and one dirty pair of uncerwear.

I've found that rattlers would rather leave you alone, but a cottonmouth will chase you to get a chance to bite you. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pyro6999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/11/2007 at 21:00

Originally posted by Urimaginaryfrnd Urimaginaryfrnd wrote:

I had lots of run ins with snakes in Texas and have probably killed several thousand of them. When I was in high school my buddies and I would take cases of 22 ammo and ride motorcycles up to a dry creek that had several pond puddles along it which were always loaded with snakes. They stick their head up and we shot them. Man was that fun. I've had a lot of close calls, mostly with water moccasins and copperheads even stepped into a nest of baby rattle snakes once & jumped back just in time. So far I've never been bitten. I had one snake fall on me in the shower at a house in San Antonio. Had another one actually chase me after I slid under a fence gate and sat on him - big water moccasin.  Ive shot snakes out of trees 75 ft in the air, pulled my boat up to a tree only to find a snake in the tree. Been swimming down the river and had one drop off a tree next to me. Now that I'm in Iowa the neighbors tell me there are supposed to be a few endangered timber rattlers on or near my farm and the game warden says but don't kill them. I just want to know what exactly are we saving them for? 

 

shoot shovel shut up

They call me "Boots"
375H&H Mag: Yeah, it kills stuff "extra dead"

343 we will never forget

God Bless Chris Ledoux
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/13/2007 at 00:36
I do not mind snakes too much.  I was once bitten by a little viper when I was a little kid (7 years old).  My leg got a bit swollen, so I could not go home (it was out in the woods a couple of kilometers from our countryhouse where we were spending the summer with our grandparents).  I ended up eating that snake (trying to skin it was by far the yakiest thing I had done up to that point in my life) and sleeping on a low branch of a huge oak tree.  In the morning, once the swelling went down a bit (common vipers are not very poisonous) I limped home.  You should have seen my grandmother's face when I showed up.  I think she had most of Russia's police searching for me through the night.  By noon she would probably get the military involved too.

ILya
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/22/2007 at 18:38

mwyates,

Ever step outside your camp house and gaze upon a sight like this?...

Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bigdaddy0381 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/23/2007 at 07:23

If i steped out side the hunting camp door and those was on the ground i would be on the news.They would be talking about the man that can now fly like a bird.

 

Only 3 snakes give me the creeps thats an alive snake a dead snake and a pictuer of a snake.

 

skin crawling

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cyborg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/03/2007 at 12:47
Yep clean underwear would be a scarce commodity, for sure.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ed Connelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/24/2008 at 17:45
73 RATTLESNAKES came out of that foundation!! Man, did you ever think about building on stilts?! Don't go outside to take a leak without a flashlight and a hoe. ( Wait a minute....you'd need two hands to hold them....)      Whatever      --Ed
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