Snake Bite

[60 Deluxe]

I am curious just how many of you guys and gals have been unfortunate enough to have been struck by a rattler while bowhunting. Close calls don't count.

Where were you when it happened? What did you do immediately after and how has it affected your life and hunting following the incident?

[twosixteens]

I have a pair of Danner boots with 4 fang holes from an 18 inch rattler. I was walking back to the cabin after the evening hunt and I felt something hit my boot I looked down and saw that little sucker hit me again (his life ended shortly after the second hit). I wasn't sure if he had gotten through the boot but was fairly confident he didn't. I walked back to the cabin pulled my boot off and not a scratch on me (whew). The boot had 4 holes and you could clearly see a yellowish stain in the liner of the boot.

[rcm719]

I got hit back when I was a teenager while hiking, got me right in the back of my knee. Ended up being a "dry bite" but still scary none the less

[mjhaverkamp]

I have a pair of Danner boots with 4 fang holes from an 18 inch rattler. I was walking back to the cabin after the evening hunt and I felt something hit my boot I looked down and saw that little sucker hit me again (his life ended shortly after the second hit). I wasn't sure if he had gotten through the boot but was fairly confident he didn't. I walked back to the cabin pulled my boot off and not a scratch on me (whew). The boot had 4 holes and you could clearly see a yellowish stain in the liner of the boot.

Was there a brownish stain as well ?

[CoolArrow]

Was there a brownish stain as well ?

Too funny

[DTala]

I got bit on the left calf by a 5' Timber Rattlesnake. I was turkey hunting, 1985, in Greene Co Alabama. Scared the hail out of me, I was well over a mile from the truck. Buddy and I slow walked back to the truck and pulled the boot off. I had a mostly dry bite with only minor swelling and redness. Lucky day..for me. The rattlesnake not so much.

[glpoe1]

I got bit on top of my foot in 90' by about a four ft. diamond back, I didn't stick around long enough to measure him. We were out with our two boys doing some fishing and playing on the lease one summer and I decided to walk the shore line and shoot some frogs with my .22. I was following a cow trail that skirted the tank. When I got to the spill way the grass was a lot thicker and about a foot high. I was watching the trail and glancing at the water line when I thought I hit a mesquite limb with my foot but then almost instantly I knew it was a bit more than that. I looked back on the trail and that darned snake was wiggling his fangs back in his mouth and then I knew. I took a couple of shots with my bolt action and walked out of the grass. I took off my T shirt and wrapped it just below the knee and called to my buddy to get the boys I've been snake bit. I walked to my truck and we headed out of there. I think we had about three gates to go through to get out. We went to the nearest town, Santa Anna, looking for a clinic, ended up at a Vet and her husband was a paramedic so that worked out OK. He put a BP cuff in place of my T shirt and we headed to Brownwood. I got very light headed and started sweating a lot before we got to the Vets house but made it to Brownwood without passing out. The Dr. lanced the bite, about a 2" cut, and cleaned it up. I could not control my shaking and all I could think about was not letting my 10 YO son see me in that shape, didn't want to scare him. That was on a Sat. afternoon, by that night they told me that if the swelling continued that they would need to give me the anti-venom which could be potentially more dangerous than the snake bite. By Sunday morning my R leg was swollen up to my knee and they got the anti-venom in me and it stopped at my groin. That leg got big, real big but they did not have to lance it. I stayed in ICU for a week but actually didn't feel all that bad. I was finally able to come home after that week but was off work, oilfield electrician, for six weeks. The wound at the snake bite got black and nasty but finally new skin grew over the area and all that is normal. I had quite a bit of nerve damage for several years in my leg and especially along the chin bone. I walked into a ball hitch on the back of my truck one evening and ended up in the grass but didn't feel a thing it was so dead. I could not walk out into a grassy spot for many years but only afraid of snakes when they surprise me. Had a lot of practical jokes played on me when I got back to work but I and the jokesters survived. It isn't fun nor is it like in the movies, it hurts a lot.

[lovetohunt]

I was bitten last year on the last day of bow season. Walking back to camp down the road and heard and felt the snake hit me at the same time. He hit me high in the calf. I tried to remain calm didn't kill it because I've always heard that the pain will set in pretty quick. So I walked to camp which was only a couple hundred yards away and shucked my gear in the trailer and drove myself to the hospital. The little hospital I went to didn't have enough antivenom so they had to care flight me to FtWorth Harris Methodist hospital.

The one thing I will say is if you do not have the care flight insurance then get it. It's not much a year and will save your tail big time. Care flight cost was $44,000 for the one hour flight.

[simek]

The one thing I will say is if you do not have the care flight insurance then get it. It's not much a year and will save your tail big time. Care flight cost was $44,000 for the one hour flight.

Holy crap!

[big papa]

Wow!!!

[chrisgunguy]

I got hit in the boot heel on a hunt at BAO years back. I was walking along a road that was a hay field on the right and brush on the left. The feeder was in the corner of the brush and hay field at the end of the road. I was stalking to the feeder at night hoping some pigs were there. No light. About a hundred yards from the feeder there was a cactus along the road and fence on my right. A 5 footer took a swing at me without rattling and hit the boot heel, almost tripping me. He tried to make his escape out the backside of the cactus into the hey field. I jumped up on the fence wire, and three arrows later he was DRT. Adrenaline was pumping by the gallon. The boots were not snake boots.

[Mexico]

Good thread..

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[solocam_aggie]

Interesting how many folks have been hit. Good stories here.

[wal1809]

Just for clarification, the word is antivenin not antivenom. Also the after bite care has changed. No tourniquets, no ice, no cutting, simply remain calm and get to a hospital.

[CRM_95]

Good thread..

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No it wasn't. Now I'll wear my snake boots 24/7 and park directly under my stand.