Gotta reply because it's about snakes, and I like snakes. I have worked with, captured, photographed, and kept snakes my whole life. Had a whole lot of rattlesnake experience all over and cottonmouth experience down in Alabama and Florida. Cottonmouths are not "AGGRESSIVE" they just don't care to get out of your way, they get mad easily, and they are curious-- or at least as curious as something with a reptile nervous system can be.
The picture above looks like a pretty good size Mohave, but nowhere even close to 7 feet. It's a matter of perspective- the snake is several feet closer to the camera than the guy. I've caught and seen probably over 100 Mohaves in southern Nevada. They do not get nearly as large as a diamondback CAN get, and there is NO WAY a 7, or even 6 foot long rattlesnake could be held up like that. It would bend the catch stick.
In rural Florida, EVERYONE had a cousin, brother in law, or friend who had killed a 9 or 10 foot Eastern Diamondback, but of course no one could ever produce one. There has never been a documented rattlesnake in excess of 8 feet.
In Alabama the majority of locals had the absolute most ridiculously stupid hatred of snakes of anywhere I have ever lived. 5 minutes of common sense education would have helped immesurably but by and large everyone was so closed-minded about it that it just was ingrained and inbred into them that snakes are to be killed. Period.
There is more BS surrounding snakes than there is in Fly Fishing. And that is really saying something.
Last edited by jszymczyk; 06-18-2013 at 04:07 PM.
To the simpleton, proof does not matter once emotion takes hold of an issue.
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