MASSIVE timber rattler in KS

Very cool thread. We have a very limited population of timber rattlesnakes in SE MN but I have never been lucky enough to see one. I did almost step on a couple of black-tailed rattlers in New Mexico. I actually never knew they were there until my hunting partner informed me that I'd just stepped within a foot of them. I never heard them rattle. We went back and sure enough, they were there.

I'd prefer sharing the woods with a few rattlesnakes than all of the disease carrying ticks we have here, that's for sure.
 
My wife almost stepped on a timber rattle very similar to that one while we were hiking. 13 rattles and 5' long. Her foot was going down, she turned sharp, grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side to avoid stepping on it. I never saw it at first. He/it wasn't aggressive, but stretched out across the trail. But I have little doubt he would have stayed calm if one of us stepped on it.

A large baseball size stick across his head was the end of him.
 
Capture.JPG

We took our timber rattlesnake out for a "walk" yesterday! This is a new snake that we just got in our office last week. It is a female, about 60" long, and has 8 rattles including her original button rattle!
 
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Ya umm Gellar where is your office umm so I never go there.
 
bigdonniebrasco I sorta kinda wished you hadn't posted this up here on HuntTalk. I would love to just live in my own fantasy land that there is no such thing as snakes as beautiful and bad as that one in Kansas. Please tell me he was up around your neck of the woods and not anywhere near south central.

The only rattler I have ever found in Kansas was at Pottawatomie State Lake #2 on a boy scout campout. A smallish massasauga didn't like me overturning his rock and he let me know of his dearly held opinion.

That is huge, never seen one anywhere close to that in Kansas. Ksdad, you will be happy to know I have never seen one close to Wichita but have heard of them rarely around ElDorado. The closet to Wichita I have seen them is Elk county and I worry more about the copperheads there.
 
Feeding is always fun. It's very hard to get snakes to eat in captivity. After the shrew was struck it went to the opposite corner and died. The snake stalked the mouse and would move the shrew with its head to see if it was still alive. When the snake was happy it ate the shrew. The whole process took about 10 minutes after the snake struck.

IMG_2492.jpg
 
I used to manage Clinton WA there by Lawrence. Great place for those BIG timbers!
 
Hi-yi-yi. Why are we posting snake pics? And why am I looking at them???
 
Not a fan of most snakes. Especially when they're hiding. My dad always said there are two sounds a man instinctively knows from birth. A rattlesnake and a pump action shotgun.
 

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