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Antelope and Rattlesnakes

brockel said:
Not to get to offtrack but people also like to say that bullsnakes keep rattle snakes away but that’s not true at all. They will actually den together. Here’s two of them at work hanging a few weeks ago
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I had more close calls with rattle snakes when I worked between Watford City, New Town, Mandaree, and Killdeer. Snakes everywhere! Some of biggest bull snakes I’ve ever seen too!
 
brockel said:
I’ve lived and worked in rattlesnakes country my whole life. Only time I’ve ever been close to being bitten was when I was young and dumb messing around with one a little too much.
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We have alot of rattlers in the Three Forks area. Had a handful of close calls.
I like bull snakes but dont like almost stepping on them, since they dont warn you much. It takes a moment to process that 6' snakes is safe.
 
Hem said:
We have alot of rattlers in the Three Forks area. Had a handful of close calls.
I like bull snakes but dont like almost stepping on them, since they dont warn you much. It takes a moment to process that 6' snakes is safe.
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Bullsnakes seem more aggressive to me
 
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A couple of evenings ago hiking out after glassing for muleys. He was polite and let us know that he was there so he got a pass. My 10yo son was a bit jumpy after that, and I was ok until I stepped on a “rattle weed” when we were almost back to our vehicle and it made me do a little dance
 
On our ground here in WI we have had a couple timber rattlers and we went our seperate ways. THat is my hope for Wyoming's rattlers and I appreciate the information shared.
 
I’ve run into tons of rattlesnakes hiking and working, but just ran into my first ever while hunting. He let me know he was there, I snapped his portrait, and we went our separate ways. He was pretty keen to just get the heck away from me.

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Snakes don’t bother me, and I personally think the whole snakes and antelope hunting thing is overblown. Way worse part of antelope hunting is picking cactus spines out of myself.

Kinda like some people think there’s a griz behind every tree, some think there’s a snake under every sagebrush. The vast majority of people never see either. Leave the chaps, but pay attention.
 
Had this same question several years ago on my first antelope hunt. Warden for our unit assured me that he was in the field over 300 days a year and could count on one hand how many he’d seen.

Second or third day of the hunt, my Dad shoots his buck and my buddy and I are dragging it to a nearby two-track and drug the buck right over the top of a rattler. Barely heard him buzz in the 30mph Wyoming winds. Looked down and he was between my feet. Never knew I could jump that high flat footed.

YMMV
 
I ran into one under a Montana block management sign in the morning (I got way to close in the dark) a few Septembers ago. I snapped the picture and hoped that would be sufficient for the sign in if/when the warden checked me. At night coming out in the dark it relocated to the other side of the fence, thank god he rattled and i was able to swing wide. I decided that I did not need to go back to that location.
 
They aren't always out in the wild. This one was in the parking lot of a local grocery store. Thinking was that it rode in on a vehicle, but who knows.

Not my picture.
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I hunted a unit in north central Wyoming several times and we would bump into quite a few rattlesnakes if the weather was above 70. This was right around the first of October. Never had any close calls - mostly just had to be aware. The wind did make it hard to hear them sometimes, and we did run into multiples more than once when we were in prairie dog towns, I am assuming because they were moving to denning sites. Most of the time we just left them alone, but most rattlesnakes are easy to kill - we just smacked them on the head with a trekking pole and it was over.

Be aware, but don't let it get in your head or interfere with your hunt. They are typically polite enough to let you know they are there - that's a right gentlemanly snake, in my opinion.
 
WildWill said:
I'd be more then willing the only good snake is a dead one IMO. They actually let a couple guys come in every spring and catch a bunch for the annual Rattlesnake round-up. A mind boggling event where hundreds of poisonous snakes are gathered then handled by dangerously insane people while onlookers watch while eating snake sausages and jerky.
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Well now I know what the afterlife holds for me for enternity.
 
Three of us were looking for the downed antelope somewhere in tall grass next to a prairie dog town. As I scanned the area in front of me, heard a rustle, looked down to see a rattlesnake coiled right between my feet! Frozen but still vocal, I explained my predicament to my buddy ... who laughed at me ... but quit laughing when the third hunter told him to look down. Yep, a rattler next to his feet also ... 'no longer laughing. Fortunately the temperature was cold, so the snakes were pretty lethargic and moving slowly.
We found the antelope, took care of business and got the heck out of town ... leaving the snakes to settle in for a nap or chase prairie dogs!
 
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