You fellas have had way more run ins with those snakes with much worse trouble than me. I am starting to feel a lot more lucky and fortunate than I did before. It takes a big snake to produce enough venom to kill a dog. 4 to 6 foot rattler will do it, that is a lot of toxin. Understand some bites can be dry bites but would not like to roll the dice to find out. That would be like taking the pellets out of shotgun shell and getting hit with the only the wad, but you don't know if its got pellets or not.
Once saw a huge owl sitting on a branch of a big live oak. It was middle of afternoon and limb was no more than 15 feet off the ground. It was just sitting there but only had a profile from right side. Looked in his talons and it was holding a snake with its head sort of chewed off, thought it might of just been a water snake. Walked around to other side and its left eye was so swollen it looked like it was about pop out. Looked almost like a bull frogs eye. He was definitely holding a water snake on closer examination and it was a water moccasin. That must have been a mean old hungry owl to pick up a cottonmouth and eat its head off as its getting struck by the snake. I don't know if that bird lived or not but it if it did it at least probably lost its eye.
Your right if you spend time in the field in some parts of the country, you better have some snake protection. The only recent death i have heard caused by a rattle snake bite happened last year here in Georgia when a guy was deer hunting. Seems he was sitting at base of tree and got bit on the arm. It was not a big snake but seems he had a heart attack. Don't know if it was caused by the venom/toxin or guy just freaked out.
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