Close encounter with a rattle snake, what's the best reaction?

[DaveSunRa]

After reading about encounters with bears I thought I post this question. A few weeks ago I was out west hiking in Red Rock Canyon, NV. An hour into the hike I heard the unmistakable sound of a snake's rattle. I instantly froze and felt a rush of adrenaline in my body. looking to were the noise was coming from but could not see any snake. The whole area was covered with small and medium size boulders so I assume the snake was in the rocks some where. Without thinking I just back slowly away. It unnerved me so I didn't hike for the rest of the day.
Has anyone else come upon a rattle snake? What's the best way to avoid being bitten?

 

[1ADAM12]

After reading about encounters with bears I thought I post this question. A few weeks ago I was out west hiking in Red Rock Canyon, NV. An hour into the hike I heard the unmistakable sound of a snake's rattle. I instantly froze and felt a rush of adrenaline in my body. looking to were the noise was coming from but could not see any snake. The whole area was covered with small and medium size boulders so I assume the snake was in the rocks some where. Without thinking I just back slowly away. It unnerved me so I didn't hike for the rest of the day.
Has anyone else come upon a rattle snake? What's the best way to avoid being bitten?

I am in Northern PA where the Timber Rattler is quite common. I have walked by them and never new it until my hiking partner said something. We watched it for quite some time and he never got agressive. Usually unless provoked your ok but there is always that one instance

 

[woodstrider]

Rattlesnakes

I have encountered rattlesnakes several times while hiking or backpacking- mostly as I go stamping by they will rattle a warning from cover- usually brush off to the side of the trail. There are even certain places that I expect to hear them, places that I know they inhabit, and I am more careful where I walk and extra careful about stepping off of the trail in those areas. But once in a while I will see one.

Once as I was backpacking along a rather level section of trail, keeping a nice pace, I almost stepped right on one that was crossing the trail in front of me. I saw it at the last minute- actually I noticed the movement- and I managed to extend my stride enough to make it over the animal. As it was travelling fully extended I knew that it had a very limited striking range so I was not afraid of being bitten. But rather I felt as if I had been blessed with a benign encounter. I stopped for a few minutes to watch as it headed off to the side of the trail and then continued on my own way.

Another time I was camped by a large lake and in the evening I was on my way down to the waters edge to collect water and I passed a rattler as it laid near the trail. It seemed "relaxed" as in not coiled so I did not give it more of a thought. After getting water I passed back the same way to find it still there.

So, mostly what I do when I hear or see a snake (or any animal for that matter) is to enjoy the encounter by observing the animal in it's natural environment, stay cool and relaxed and leave it in peace. Of course there is that time that I dared to touch the rattles of a live wild snake.

 

[Rick]

I've run across them a few times while backpacking in Northern PA. Once just lying loosely curled up sunning itself in the middle of the trail. It did not rattle and seemed rather docile, though it was a timber rattler. so I assumed it was digesting a big meal and gave wide berth.
Another time I was in front of a larger group and came across one on the trail.
he rattled. I extended my hiking pole and tried to "push him off the trail - he struck my pole and scared the bejeepers out of me, so I backed off and had everyone hike well around the area it was in.

Another time we were backpacking and had camped for the night along a stream in PA. a young woman walking barefoot came back and said she found a big loop of bear poop about 30 yards from our site. Curiously we all went over to look. Lo and behold it was a timber rattler - All coiled up with it's head and tail in the middle, both standing up. we backed off (and she put on shoes).

I now just back away and leave them alone, unless there is someone coming behind me - I'll then wait and give warning.

 

[Waumbek]

An hour into the hike I heard the unmistakable sound of a snake's rattle.
Has anyone else come upon a rattle snake? What's the best way to avoid being bitten?

If you heard rather than saw a rattle snake, the first question is whether it really was a rattle snake. The Eastern Milk Snake here in NH can make a sound like a rattle snake but it's non-venomous. There are western milk snakes; they look like coral snakes but are non-venomous also. I don't know if they or any other western snakes are faux "rattlers." Until proven otherwise you were probably right to assume it was a rattle snake.

The only rattle snakes I've ever encountered were in CA. They were sunning in the middle of the trail, apparently unalarmed, at least uncoiled. After watching them for awhile, I made my way around them on the trail. Gave them wide berth, of course, and they never moved. They were gone on the return hike.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

The advice is probably the same as with most any wild animal. Give them their space and don't provoke them. Slowly back away or wait for them to move on (which they will do most of the time). I have seen timber rattlesnakes in all of the usual spots along the eastern and southern Catskill escarpments: Kaaterskill and Platte Cloves, Echo Lake, Overlook Mt, the Mt. Tremper quarry, Ashokan High Point, and Vernooy Kill Falls. Only once on a sunny but cool day near the fire tower on Overlook did a rattlesnake refuse to slither away. It was not going to give up its place in the sun that day for anyone. Many hikers and a few dogs came and went while it just kept rattling away. Everybody gave it space and no human nor critter got injured.

It is true about imposters. I have even seen common garter snakes in a tight coil seemingly trying with all their might to look like rattlesnakes, but those guys don't seem to be able to rattle. Perhaps those guys were just trying to stay warm.

 

[thuja]

Has anyone else come upon a rattle snake? What's the best way to avoid being bitten?

I think the biggest challenge in snake-rich areas (Baja California, the Sonoran desert, and parts of interior Columbia Basin in my case) is to just stay alert. In practice it seems to me that most of the time they sense you before you sense them, and reveal their presence by either rattling or moving away. If they know you're there, and you know they're there, it's cool. There's nothing in it for them in biting you. You're much to big for them to eat, and it's usually easy enough for you to avoid them or go around them once you know where they are. What I worry about is stepping on one or getting right on top of it before it notices you, where it might bite defensively. A stationary rattlesnake on the right background is extremely hard to see.

Coiled rattlesnakes often seem pretty resistant to moving. I remember coming across a big coiled one right in the middle of the path down in Baja, where going around it was difficult. We threw a few branches at it, hitting it a couple of times, but it was not about to move, it just sat there buzzing. So we found a way to go around it.

My experience is also that snakes are not distributed randomly geographically or temporally. Some places, some times, you see a lot of them, and there you had really better pay attention! Also I think many desert species are often crepuscular or nocturnal (the daytime is too hot for them and their prey) and of course you cannot hope to see them in those conditions. So watch it with the roaming around at dusk.

I don't have any experience dealing with rattlesnakes in the northeast, or in colder weather, when I imagine they would get quite sluggish. I have never met anyone who has seen a rattlesnake in New England. That would be a red letter day, I would think. But I think the basic principle remains: if you can hear the snake rattling, you have nothing to worry about. It's not angry and it's not going to come after you. It's just warning you to stay away, because it's scared of you.

 

[Papa Bear]

I encountered one while hiking along the AT in Connecticut in 2002.


(Click for larger image)

Although I had never seen nor heard one in the wild before, I instantly knew what it was and saw it in front of me across the trail about 10 feet away, too far to strike. I took a picture and suggested to my partner who was just behind that we throw a rock at him to get him to move. My buddy said "just move back and he'll probably go on his way". We did and he did.

 

[RoySwkr]

Wear insulated boots and chain saw pants

(Click for larger image)

You have better eyes than me, even in the enlarged image I had trouble seeing it.

The only time I ever bought a pair of boots for one particular hike was Garden Mtn VA where I would be bushwhacking rhododendron thickets in snake country. I bought some insulated winter boots which I believe would have been snakeproof, as I couldn't count on seeing them first.

My sister was actually struck by a rattlesnake on an overgrown trail at Mesa Verde, leaving one fang mark in the leather of her boot as the other apparently bounced off the rubber toe cap. Things might have been different if it had hit the mesh side panel. Snake bites are rarely fatal but can do permanent damage to the tissue near where they hit.

 

[miehoff]

No. 1 Rule:

Never feed the snakes.

 

[DaveSunRa]

Thinking about it, just hearing the rattle and not seeing the snake is what most likely freaked me out the most. Interesting information about the milk snake, thanks.

Anyone know how far north the timber rattle's range is in the east?

 

[Mark Schaefer]

From the New York DEC on the range of the timber rattlesnake. Lake Champlain and southern New Hampshire appear to be the northern reaches.

From my experience the range coincides with eastern and pitch pine, mountain laurel, and oak forests.

 

[Grumpy]

Lookiung at Papa Bear's photo above, I couldn't tell for sure that it was a timber rattler.

The Eastern Hognose is a rattlesnake look-alike and imitator found in the north from New Hampshire west to Minnesota.

G.

 

[Papa Bear]

Lookiung at Papa Bear's photo above, I couldn't tell for sure that it was a timber rattler.

The Eastern Hognose is a rattlesnake look-alike and imitator found in the north from New Hampshire west to Minnesota.

G.

From what I can see with the internet pictures, the rattler has small black bars and wide light areas between The hognose is the reverse although I know there is a fair amount of variation.

In the descriptions I have read (below), the hognose is said to resemble a cobra, and to play dead when threatened. I have not read that they can imitate a rattler or make a rattle sound.

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/snakes/e.hognose_snake.html
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_hognose_snake.htm
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/ehognos.htm
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Heterodonplatirhinos.htm

 

[Grumpy]

... In the descriptions I have read (below), the hognose is said to resemble a cobra, and to play dead when threatened. I have not read that they can imitate a rattler or make a rattle sound.

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/snakes/e.hognose_snake.html
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_hognose_snake.htm
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/ehognos.htm
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Heterodonplatirhinos.htm

I think the Hognose probably is most often confused with the pygmy Missisaugua rattlesnake of Ontario and the Great Lakes region (rather than with the timber rattler). My experience with the Hognose has been that it will raise its head and bluster at first -- often coiled -- which includes shaking its tail. The latter produces a distinct buzzing sound if it is surrounded by dry leaves or plants. Given the hognose's usual coloration and pattern, such encounters are startling enough to cause all kinds of identification problems!

I have never seen a hognose configure itself so it even faintly resembled a venomous cobra (which I have seen fairly close up).

Any snake snake can make a rattlesnake-like sound when lying in dry leaves. I once watched (and heard) a startled and agitated blue racer make that sound by shaking its tail vigorously. Quite spooky (for me, anyway.)

G.

 

[Mike P.]

I came across one on Mt. Race one year sunning itself on the rocks the trail crossed. (I'm no expect so the Hognose gets my respect too.)

The snake was in no hurry to move so by using my poles & jumping up & down several feet away - hopefully causing vibrations, I'm not light - I waited for the snake to get fed up with me (versus being to close & aggressive making it pissed off at me - read threatened) & move off the trail.

Quickly walked past where the snake went into the brush with both poles on that side thinkng if he did strike maybe he'd get a pole instead of a leg.

 

[moonrock]

I got a couple of nice close-ups last weekend, on a clifftop near the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC. This guy didn't move as 2-3 folks (respectfully) crept within several ft.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/553803919/2016726990080703265vDknoE

Love my Ultrazoom (It could save my life, some day) !!

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/553803919/2193658510080703265FogkAt

M