Bummer... I got more Rattlesnakes than I was expecting. If you are squeamish, don't look.

[Cholla]

I went out snake hunting Sunday and got a nice blacktail rattlesnake. I skinned it out today and noticed what appeared to be eggs inside. They were. There were five dead baby rattlesnakes. That's a bummer as that's generations of future rattlesnakes gone and I want to keep doing this as long as I can walk.

 

In case you have never seen the inside of a rattlesnake, they can have a lot of fat. Other snakes that I have found road kills of, do not. It is extremely hard to skin a gopher snake because they are so lean. Rattlesnakes are so fat, skinning them is like taking off a sock.

 

The yellow are the eggs, almost like bluegill roe in color. The pinkish white is the fat. The babies are about the size of BIG nightcrawlers and I didn't see any fangs at this point.

 

I think I am going to not hunt what I think might be den areas until September going forward to give the babies a chance to get out and on their own.

 

In case you didn't know, rattlesnakes hatch their young inside them and then bear live young. This has caused some to believe that rattlesnakes swallow their young in times of danger and then somehow get them back out later. 

[Singin' Sue 71615]

Eeeewwww...and get them ALL!

I don't mind snakes...but the venemous ones need to go!!!

[J-BAR #18287]

Ovoviviparous is the biological term,  in case you want to impress your friends at cocktail parties.

 

It’s fun to try to say it after you’ve had a few drinks.  And fun for your friends to watch you try.

 

[DeaconKC]

Thanks! I learn something new everyday.

[Pat Riot]

54 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

Thanks! I learn something new everyday.

Same here. Thank you Cholla and thanks for the new word J-Bar. 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Can you fry up the babies and make giblet gravy.   

 

Probably go good with noodles.

 

..........Widder

 

[Cowboy Small]

Dang,

 

That's  neat keen.

 

Thanks  for  sharing  

 

CS  

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

19 minutes ago, Cowboy Small said:

Dang,

 

That's  neat keen.

 

Thanks  for  sharing  

 

CS  

 

I think you mean "neat-o peachy-keen!"  

[Waxahachie Kid #17017 L]

I made a deal with rattlesnakes. 

They leave me alone, and I won't kill them.

 

I made the same deal with non-poisonous snakes...that are native to America, that is. That does not include pythons, that have been let loose.   

 

I did not make that deal with: copperheads, or cotton-mouth moccasins, or coral snakes. I kill them on sight, without remorse. 

 

 

 

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

Fascinating.  Thank you for sharing, and for thinking about good wildlife management practices.

 

My buddy shot a wild sow here in Tennessee.  They are quite invasive and aggressive.  While field dressing he found she was pregnant with nine piglets.  

 

One shot.  Ten dead pigs.  He doesn’t feel a bit bad about it.  

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

NOPE

 

Imis

[Rye Miles #13621]

Yuk!

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

12 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

Thanks! I learn something new everyday.

University of Saloon

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

If you stop learning, you're dead

[Cypress Sun]

2 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

If you stop learning, you're dead

 

Wait, didn't curiosity kill the cat?

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

I miss rattlesnake hunting. Good meat. I hunt red and green Mojave’s in The National Traing Center near Barstow California in the late 70s and early 80s. Nice post!  Snake hunters are a necessity in many areas.  Especially those that catch and milk for the production of anti Venom