greenrvgreen wrote:
Shooting rattlesnakes? On "principle"? Although I'm convinced that most snakes are shot by fantasy roll-players who watch too much television, the following is worth mentioning (IMO):
Every snake that is killed increases the virility of the rabies vector in that area. A rattlesnake bite is easy enough to recover from if you're healthy, even without treatment. The Hanta virus (mice that snakes eat carry this) has a 50% mortality rate, while only one person in history has survived a case of rabies.
Most snake bites are on the noses of curious dogs or the hands of drunk men who try to pick them up, as said. And I would caution anyone who saw somebody on TV shoot a snake: If you're close enough to shoot a snake you're close enough to get hit by a fragment from your own bullet, even if you're sober.
No offense, greenrvgreen, but it strikes me you’re talking from the standpoint of someone who has little if any experience with the subject. If you’re talking about shooting snakes en masse I agree with your Hanta Virus comment. But we’re not talking about trying to exterminate snakes.
As far as an easy recovery from a snakebite, have you ever seen someone who has been bitten. A very nasty experience and some people don’t recover. And they’re not old and infirm. I doubt very much they would agree with your comment. Conventional advice is to sit and stay calm if you’re bit and wait for help. What help? You’re miles out in the boonies and you’re only option is to walk out and really get the venom coursing through your body. And this was decades before cell phones so you don’t have the option of merely calling for a helicopter to come and lift you out of there.
Your last comment about being struck by a fragment of your own bullet really stretches credibility into outer space. I wouldn’t say it never happens, but some idiots drive their cars through Circle K windows, too. I think one is far more likely to be hit by lightening. I target shot for years and ran about 3000 rounds a year. Plus I shot a lot otherwise. I started at 15 and I’m 75 so I think I’ve easily shot over 100,000 rounds and not once have I been struck by a bullet fragment.
