Beware rattlesnake season

With warm weather coming around again it is time to be wary whenever we are outdoors. In the fields, woods, or yards—anywhere a snake can crawl—we need to be vigilant. Rattlesnakes have emerged from their winter dens and will bite if disturbed or are threatened.

As children in Trinity County we saw lots of rattlesnakes on the ranch, on trails and roads, underneath things, in mining tailings. Going barefoot as we did every summer, we learned to watch every step, ready to leap away from any sudden movement.

As a protective measure we killed every one we could with rocks, clubs, hoes and shovel on the theory that a dead rattler is a safe rattler.

Two of our terriers were bitten. Mother bled the first one, who survived after swelling horribly. The second one not only survived, but began hunting and killing them. Each time she was bitten, it affected her less. Jim’s big Doberman was bitten, but Jim got him to a veterinarian in time to save him. Today they have shots that will protect dogs if they are bitten.

Jim tells of another time when he had crawled under his car working on it, and reached to get a block of wood he was using. A rattler was lying by the block and started to coil as he reached for the wood. Jim grabbed the board and slammed it down on the snake with all the impetus of someone startled into panic mode. He smashed the snake, who was probably dead after the first blow, but he didn’t stop to see if it was.

In recent years I hear that legislation has been passed to make it against the law to kill rattlesnakes. This may be all right out in the wilds, but in the proximity of human dwellings, especially where there are children and pets, it seems as silly as so many of the laws passed in recent decades to “protect” people.