Snakes and Rope

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

We're watching "1883" for the first time. In the second episode, a rope is placed on the ground around Elsa to prevent snakes from getting too close to her while she slept. There was a similar scene in the Jeff Bridges version of "True Grit" where a rope was laid around Mattie. Apparently snakes won't slither over a rope?

 

Does this really work, or is it folklore that Hollywood is repeating?

[Subdeacon Joe]

Old cowboy myth was that a snake wouldn't cross a horsehair rope.  Supposedly the fibers that stick out of the rope are too uncomfortable for the snake to cross.  

 

Yeah, something that crawls over rock, sticks, pinecones, etc. will be bothered by a rope.

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

It’s a myth!

 

I was actually thought that it was truth by my boyscout troop leader in Maryland. For years I had a horsehair rope in my camping gear.

 

When I was in the Army I used the rope so that I could sleep on the ground under the stars when we went to the field. Imagine my surprise when I woke up and there was a rattlesnake inside the circle with me. (Fort Hood, Texas). I remained still and watched it moved to the other end, across the rope and outside the perimeter.

 

I did the research as soon as I got home from the field. Found out it was just a myth and not some fluke that happened to me

 

i sleep inside the track after that.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Despite years of camping and Boy Scouts, I had never heard of the myth until the two movie scenes I mentioned. 

[Texas Joker]

Myth, but it kept greenhorns calm so you could sleep. Kinda the opposite of telling ghost stories before bedtime

[Subdeacon Joe]

34 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Despite years of camping and Boy Scouts, I had never heard of the myth until the two movie scenes I mentioned. 

 

I think I first encountered it when I read Centennial back in the '70s.

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

Myth, but it kept greenhorns calm so you could sleep. Kinda the opposite of telling ghost stories before bedtime

 

But it's negated by the dead snake you put in their bedroll. 

[Alpo]

7 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

I think I first encountered it when I read Centennial back in the '70s.

Might be where I first read it. I knew it wasn't Louis L'Amour, but I was thinking maybe Zane Gray or Max Brand.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

7 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

But it's negated by the dead snake you put in their bedroll. 

 

I did that, with a rubber sake, to a hunting partner, at our moose camp. 

He found it just as the Coleman lamp started to go out and he was getting into his sleeping bag.

There were four others in the tent he could have blamed, but he seemed to know I was the culprit. (We're still close friends)

[Alpo]

It's one thing to play a joke with a snake on a boy scout. That's just going to bring about some screaming and cussing and maybe pants wetting.

 

But I don't think I'd try it on somebody at a hunting camp. Most generally hunters have guns.

 

I'm not saying that they might shoot you for playing the joke. Would they buy the tip to shoot the site (damn otto - how much you had to drink this morning? BUT THEY MIGHT ATTEMPT TO SHOOT THE SNAKE) which could lead to accidental lead poisoning.

[Grass Range]

I heard this BS many years ago when I was a kid. My brother and I tried this with a manila lariet and then with my horsehair mecate. Neither would even slow a rattler down. I have watched them move through a cactus patch so a rope would not bother them.

[Cypress Sun]

Snakes don't care about ropes. 

 

Can't even hang one from the gallows...snakes ain't got no neck!

[Alpo]

They got necks.

 

They just ain't got no shoulders.

[Cholla]

Having hunted rattlesnakes and seen what they travel across, it's 100% BS. I have seen them stretched across prickly pear cacti. Other myths I have heard: 1. The dust from the rattle can blind you. The rattles are made from keratin, the same as your fingernails. 2. A rattlesnake won't die until the sun goes down. A rattlesnake can take abuse and keep striking even as it is dying. Even after death, the body can still keep moving, sometimes for 12 or more hours. 3. If you are bitten by a rattlesnake and you bite it back it negates the venom. Seriously? I don't know who made this up but they are stupid.

 

Rattlesnakes do not have unlimited venom so they regulate how much they inject from none to as much as they can. Once they are out of venom, it takes time to produce more and they are vulnerable to predators. They usually start with a dry bite to get your attention. If you keep screwing with it, they are going to start injecting venom.

 

According to studies, most women are bitten in the ankle area as they walk/jog down pathways. Why? When humans are not using a path, it makes a great highway for rodents, so waiting in ambush along a path is a great place for a rattlesnake to hunt. Most men are bitten in the hands and face. Why? Because we need to be macho and try to handle them!

 

Many folks are also bit while gardening. Gardens are a great place for rodents to feed so snakes also set up residence.

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Cholla said:

According to studies, most women are bitten in the ankle area as they walk/jog down pathways. Why? When humans are not using a path, it makes a great highway for rodents, so waiting in ambush along a path is a great place for a rattlesnake to hunt. Most men are bitten in the hands and face. Why? Because we need to be macho and try to handle them!

 

Then we have this genius:

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/florida-man-bitten-attempting-kiss-venomous-snake/story?id=30508876

 

"The vast majority of men are bitten in the upper extremities, forearms and face,” Phillip said. “Testosterone and snake venom don’t mix real well.”

[Utah Bob #35998]

At least rattlers don’t spit at you like the one I………….

never mind.

Don’t ask.  

[Texas Joker]

We went this far and nobody said 'nope rope'?

[Pat Riot]

When I was a kid my Dad told me snakes won’t crawl across a rope. 
Me, my brother and our friends went on a little over night camp out in the woods behind our house. We all had our snake repelling ropes around our sleeping bags. It was evening and the sun had gone down but there was still enough light to see. My brother was siting in the middle of  his sleeping bag. My friend Brian was standing next to me looking at my brother and Brian’s brother David when I see a black snake go across the rope, across me brother’s bag and then across the rope on the other side. The snake was just headed somewhere. I looked at Brian. He looked at me and said “Are you gonna tell him?” I said “Nope!”

We didn’t say anything about it that night but we sure got a laugh out of it the next morning when we told our brothers. 

Both those boys were scared to death of snakes. My brother still is. I guess he inherited my Dad’s fear of them. They really don’t bother me. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

They don’t bother me as long as they’re behind glass. Outdoors, I give them a wide berth. Couldn’t pay me to pick up even a non-poisonous one. 

[sassnetguy50]

The myth is used in a lot of old westerns.  Here it is tested on multiple species. 

 

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Its purely a myth.

And it basically naive of anyone to believe that a snake won't cross a rope.

 

They are not afraid of rope.   But, unknowing by the snake, it does stunt their growth a little.

 

..........Widder