Tom, Are rattlesnake roundups still held in NY? We still have them in PA but they are supposed to be returned to their den areas afterwards. Years ago, I caught them in similar areas that you hunted. Ledgey outcroppings near water. I sold them for $1 or $2 if it was a big one. They were milked but I don't know what became of them after that. Like you, I was more concerned with my hands on the ledges.

As far as I know, there are no more rattlesnake roundups in NY. I think that's mostly a Texas thing now. Those boys do it up big, lots of barbeque, beer and lots of rattlers brought in.

I used to get around $40 for each snake. But it had to be pinned and caught with an S hook. No tongs were allowed. The sepentarium would carefully look over each snake and if it had marks from a tong, the wouldn't buy it. Tongs can cause internal injuries.

I used tongs but had to be gentle putting them in the burlap bag. Your price was a lot better. It was in the 1960's when I caught them.

I pinned their head with the S hook, placed my foot gently on their body so they couldn't thrash and then picked them up by the head holding the body with my other hand and placed them in the burlap bag. I had a big wooden box with a lock on it in the car and I would place them in there to take home and keep them in the box when I took them to the sepentarium.

The problem here in the mountains is when you are walking the side of a mountain the snake can hit you waist high some places are that steep and rocky, do most of my steep walking in the winter, gary

If you get hit in the chest or above by a rattler you are in big trouble. I always carried antivenen with me. It's expensive but worth it. Fortunately, rattlesnakes in my area of NY are very rarely found in areas that people frequent. You have to go to higher elevation rocky outcropping and ledge areas to find them. They are concentrated in a relatively small area. They are exciting to hunt. I haven't done it in a long time but I plan to get back into it when I retire. I won't sell them this time, but just do catch and release. Just like I do with wild trout.

When I was a boy we had lots of timber rattlers around. There was a den on the hillside above our hose and in the spring and fall they would be going or coming at the den area. I killed a few in the yard with the mower and shot a few too; something I would never do today because their numbers have declined. In the late 1960's when I was away in the navy some yahoos came in and found the den and put dynamite in it. Now, rattler sightings are few. There are still a few crushed in the area roads but nothing like it was when I was growing up. Back then we never went through thick ferns or berry picking without a lot of care. They are beautiful reptiles, especially the yellow and black ones.

[QUOTE=Tom Flanigan;244234]As far as I know, there are no more rattlesnake roundups in NY. I think that's mostly a Texas thing now. Those boys do it up big, lots of barbeque, beer and lots of rattlers brought in.


There used to be, and I would imagine still is, a rattlesnake roundup in Opp, Alabama. It was a pretty big event at one time.

This one was a six-foot Diamondback Rattler. It was swimming down-stream, right in the middle of the Wekiva River, Central Florida, like it owned the place. We met it as we paddled up-stream. The snake looked as blown up as an inflated inner-tube, so high it swam on the surface.

We drove it to the bank, and on solid ground cornered it and “captured” it. Yes, blunt instruments were used.

I took it to a local taxidermist to have it stuffed. He said he would not do the job because such a mount could be too terrifying for someone surprised by it -- a cleaning lady coming into a room, for example. It could turn into a medical event, and he did not want to be a part of a lawsuit that might result. Rather, he said, he would skin and tan it, which was done.

It has been 40 years now, and no repercussions. Just a two-dimensional representation and an indelible memory.

I'd have tsken it to another taxidermist.






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