[pct-l] Snike bite Kit....!

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Good morning, all you buzz-worm aficionados,

I think TV, and the associated couch covered with potatoes, is a far greater
threat to the health and well-being of people than any number of
rattlesnakes.  After about 60 years of bushwhacking across the country I
have seen lots of rattlers, although fewer than I would really like.  So
far:  I do not limit where I go.  I do not wear tall boots or snake-guard
pants. I do not carry a snake bite kit.  I've never been bit, or even struck
at.  I've never been seriously threatened.  I've never had one crawl in, or
near, my sleeping bag while I slept under the stars.  I've never seen one
that was particularly aggressive, meaning he really only wanted to be left
alone and not have to leave his little patch of shade.  I do not personally
know of anyone else who has been bit.  A few have buzzed at me, but it has
always been when I was still at a save distance away.

Occasionally, I have used to carry a stick to probe around certain portions
of trail where there were rock pockets or vegetation close to, or over, the
trail, but nowadays I use the trekking polls for that.  Most of the time I
just walk around him, and rarely I have to prod him with the pole to
encourage his exit.  I've never had to pick one up with the stick and move
him.

I have not yet hiked the AT, but reports indicate that shelter mice are a
significant irritant.  Maybe what the AT needs is a resident snake in each
shelter, rattlesnake or other, to discourage the fuzzy little buggers.  I
have never heard of a snake eating a Snickers bar, but I'll bet they would
eat the mice.

Steel-Eye


"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause
and reflect." - Mark Twain



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Bighummel@aol.com>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Snike bite Kit....!


> Okay, in order to assess the reality of the risk and danger of getting bit
by
> a rattlesnake, let's take a poll of all of those hikers who have a huge
> collective of trail experience, and see how many have been bitten in all
of the
> years of their backpacking, camping and hiking.
>
> I will be the first to speak up;
>
> In 45 years of camping, hiking, climbing, doing geologic field work over a
> huge amount of the southwestern U.S. I have NEVER been even struck at by a
> rattler and NEVER been bit.
>
> Have ANY of you?
>
> Greg
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