[PrimalSeal]

Pretty cool stuff....

http://bassfan.com/tv_play.asp?id=119

 

[javelina80]

That would be pretty freaky. There was a guy on this forum wanting to know why some one should keep a gun in their boat. I think that this answers that question.

 

[bomber101581]

I think i heard a snake expert say once that all snakes can swim, its just the right environment for most of them.

i imagine it would be pretty hard to shoot a snake with a pistol, unless you had this.....
http://www.taurususa.com/video/taurus-theJudge-video.cfm

 

[Pistol Pete]

My best friends Mom did a ton of fishing and always kept a .22 in the bottom of her tackle box. She liked to hunt near the trees on the rivers edge and shot a ton of snakes..... when she passed away, since my buddy didn't hunt, he gave me her pistol. It is the Hi-Standard Sentinel in my list and is still a great shooter.

:cool2:

 

[bomber101581]

My best friends Mom did a ton of fishing and always kept a .22 in the bottom of her tackle box. She liked to hunt near the trees on the rivers edge and shot a ton of snakes..... when she passed away, since my buddy didn't hunt, he gave me her pistol. It is the Hi-Standard Sentinel in my list and is still a great shooter.

:cool2:

I stand corrected then, if mom can do it with a .22, it must at least be doable.....

 

[PrimalSeal]

A sawed off shottie always works in a pinch too... I've never seen a rattlesnake swimming though, I thought it was pretty cool to see.

 

[big bear]

We used to only have only rattlers in southwest ND and everybody said it was because of the Missouri River cutting that part of the state from the rest of the state. Now that they have moved north the public has realized that they can and do swim. Everybody thought that just because the river is a mile wide they couldn't swim that far. Surprise Surprise.

 

[.45acp]

Wow, imagine the fish you could get with a worm like that on your hook.

 

[Dru]

I was half expecting that thing to climb into the boat. I've seen rattlers go under the water.

 

[Believer]

Man that bad boy had a thing for that boat.. Never good when there determined.

 

[citori59]

Years ago my wife were fishing the Juniata River outside Mexico, Pa. We were sitting in our canoe when a freaking big water snake crawled into the canoe. We never saw it and my child bride jumped into the river. I calmly and manly thrashed about screaming like a six year old girl. The snake left with much haste assuming that something much more dangerous that itself was in the watercraft.

 

[godlessdustin]

I grew up near a creek and went fishing very often, I seen at least one rattle snake swimming in the creek every single time, if not more, I just let them go on with their swimming and they let me go on with my fishing.

 

[PrimalSeal]

Man that bad boy had a thing for that boat.. Never good when there determined.

Like the guy on the video said, that snake was cold and just wanted to get out of the water so he could warm up. Still kinda freaky if you ask me.

 

[Littlehoov]

Sweet jesus, thats something you dont see every day.

Thats precisely why I carry a 12-gauge shotgun when I go canoeing on the river.

Missouri isnt known for rattlers but they are around. We do have copperheads and cottonmouths(or water moccasins) though. Both can swim I will testify to that.

Cottonmouths also earn their reputation for being aggressive, Ive seen it first hand. Me and my dad had one continue swimming right towards us after being shot at multiple times and hit once (.22 pistol...not the best choice) finally hit it twice and it swam into a logjam and curled up. Shot it again as we passed for good measure, but it was still alive upon our departure.

The reason we take no chances with snakes is that this is a rural area, nearest hospital would be 30 mins away if you were hauling booty. It could take an hour or more to get to a hospital from the water. Copperhead bites arent known to be fatal, but it would be incredibly painful, but a cottonmouth bite could easily kill a person, especially being so far away from medical attention.

 

[PrimalSeal]

That's when you need a cell phone and pray the hospital has life flight.

 

[javelina80]

Yeah but by the time they all get loaded up in the chopper, and finally take off you could be pulling into the hospital.

 

[Littlehoov]

That's when you need a cell phone and pray the hospital has life flight.

Cell phone service is patchy at best, most of our rivers flow through what we call "bottom land" in other words youre floating through a valley basically. Couple that with poor cell phone coverage anyway, and its bad ju-ju.

I get great cell coverage at my house, and my high-speed internet is also based on cell reception, but I also live on top of a hill that is more or less line-of-sight from the towers.

Two-way radios would be an option, if you had a friend at home nearby, but even then the same problems make themselves evident. A satellite phone would be amazing, but theyre pricey. My shotgun was only 60 bucks haha.

 

[PrimalSeal]

So you're saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure eh?


Fair enough then....

 

[WAID]

I was half expecting that thing to climb into the boat. I've seen rattlers go under the water.

I had one try to crawl up in my boat once. I whacked it with something in the boat and flicked off. I don't even remember what I hit it with or how I got the anchor pulled and boat started so fast but I was out of their quite quickly.