Let my guard down for 2 seconds and bam!!!

[mrm]

Anyway we decided to go to the mountains and go see the elk bugle and herd their cows until another big bull comes and takes em away, we are having a great time and ran into a herd of about 100 cows and 10 bulls, some of them fighting with each other.

So we finish up with that and I am carrying as I always do (Glock 27 with crossbreed supertuck) only thing I did differently is switch out my spare magazine with a full size Glock 22 mag with fmj in case I ran into some 4 legged problems. We get back into the truck and start heading back down the road later that night and see some old homesteads about 120 or so years old and decide to go check them out.

We get down the very muddy road in 4 wheel drive and check em out and when we start headed back to the truck we r laughing and having fun, no one around for miles so we r not paying to much attention and then wow I turn the corner on the road almost step directly on a 3 ft rattle snake, He is coiled up and ready to strike so I jumped back rather quickly and stopped all the children, anyway he was about to get ventelated when it occured to me that I had my friends kids with me and didnt want to frighten them with shooting the snake.

That was my lesson for awile that we always have to be paying attention and sometimes danger shows its head in an unexpected way, also we should always carry other things other than just firearms wish I would have had a large walking stick.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Keltyke]

I'm glad everyone is ok. Don't shoot snakes unless you absolutely need to. They prey on many harmful rodents and will only strike something too big to eat (humans) when threatened. Venomous snakes prefer to NOT waste their venom on something too big to eat.

[msgt/ret]

That is a surprise that will get the adrenalin going, glad no one was hurt. Having been bitten by a copperhead before, a poisonous snakebite is something I would hope no one else would have to experience. Normally non-poisonous snakes I relocate just to remove them from where they do not belong, caught an 18-inch garter snake in my bathroom a few days ago did not have good control of it’s head and the ungrateful critter managed to get a tooth in my finger. Due to the pets poisonous snakes on the other hand are usually dispatched with extreme prejudice.

[dukalmighty]

That will ruin a new pair of titey whiteys

[retsupt99]

I too, have done away with the venomous snakes found around our subdivision. If a poisonous snake enters my yard, he's not leaving. I have only seen two in 7 years.

[shockwave]

Thanks for letting the old guy live to see another day. We pose a far greater threat to wildlife than it poses to us.

[NCGunDude]

Sounds like a great day, and another teaching moment! I, too, have caught myself unguarded and unawares in the great outdoors. It's easy to get distracted. Glad no one was hurt and no wildlife were injured in the retelling!

[Keltyke]

Sounds like a great day, and another teaching moment!

And here's another. There is no such thing as a "poisonous" snake. Snakes are "venomous". Poison is ingested - as in drinking hemlock. Venom is injected - as in lethal injection capital punishment or from a snake fang.

Just a pet peeve of mine. Sorta like saying "clip" for "magazine".

[OldVet]

People and snakes, when will they learn? Not that you've skywalked away from striking distance, which is only about 2-3 feet, why are you going to shoot it? If you're far enough away to not be bitten, you're far enough and safe enough to walk away. Leave the dang snake alone; he was there first. YOU are the armed home invader.

[IWLAFART]

I am deathly afraid of snakes, big ones, little ones and yes even dead ones. If I come upon a snake my heart will race and my difribulator will shock me.

[Diddle]

Venomous snakes prefer to NOT waste their venom on something too big to eat.

I did not know or realize this until I was watching something on TV yesterday and they said the exact same thing. word for word actually.

Wait until you take the cover off of a HVAC unit at a cell site and see ol' Buster waiting to strike....

[OldVet]

If you want to put your faith in that, ask the guy here who spent 4 months in the hospital from a snakebite (and nearly died). Guess the rattler that bit him didn't watch that program.

In my Thailand days, I slid under the wheelwell of a C-130 to inspect tires and came nose-to-nose with a cobra. Didn't ask it if it thought it could eat me. Dang near killed myself putting distance between us!

[mrm]

Ya know there is one good thing to come from meeting mr rattler, my wife came up and said you are carrying right? I said ya but did not think the snake was a threat anymore, she said it dont matter (she is terrified of snakes), I want to get my CWP and carry my charter arms 38 out here at least with snake shot. So anyway thats a start I suppose.

[ccw9mm]

... not paying to much attention and then wow I turn the corner on the road almost step directly on a 3 ft rattle snake, He is coiled up and ready to strike so I jumped back rather quickly ...

IMO, with a snake "right there" when turning a corner, I'm sure anyone could have gotten into the same situation. On sunny trails in the wilds, it's possible to come across a snake sunning itself at any time. You were certainly prepared enough to stop immediately and back up.

Close call.