Big Rattlesnake

Mike Stafford

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2,299
Location
Coastal plain of North Carolina
Almost twenty years ago I came across a canebrake rattlesnake that had been hit by a car that was 7 feet 2 inches long and had 14 rattles and I thought that was a big snake.

I came across this post on FaceBook where a father and son near Midway, Texas were hunting wild hogs from a blind when this snake poked his head in. The son shot and killed it.

It is supposedly 9' 6" long with 22 rattles. Now I am not particularly afraid of snakes but if I came across this monster I would hope I either had plenty of running room or a weapon other than a hoe to deal with it. This snake is big enough to make a belt for a turner with the largest turning muscle......

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While I agree that's a large snake I have to disagree with the 9 ft long claim, looks like a well angled shot to gain a couple of feet, plus that photo has been out for a while with a lot of different story lines.
 
This is a case where i think the guy was a real idiot to kill the snake.
Hey i dont like any snakes, but from what really little i know you guys have a wild hog problem in Texas and other parts and this is one of the natural predators that obviously to get to this size was pretty sharp at getting food.
Now hogs are dancing a jig. :) Just my 5 cents.
We humans need to learnt to share the bounty.

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While I agree that's a large snake I have to disagree with the 9 ft long claim, looks like a well angled shot to gain a couple of feet, plus that photo has been out for a while with a lot of different story lines.

Photo looks legit to me. Although, I know anything can be done with PhotoShop these days. If real, that is a monster. A bite would be deadly to a man in well under an hour. Deserves to be dead. The whole animal would make an incredible mounting.
 
Although there's no doubt that's a big ol' honkin' snake, I've gotta agree with Larry on this one...the world record length for an Eastern Diamondback is about a foot and a half shorter than this claim. And I don't think there are a lot of Eastern Diamondbacks in Texas. Also, the picture has has attributed to several different stories over the years. As far as the photo manipulation is concerned, no Photoshop necessary. It's forced perspective. The guy holding the snake is holding a stick over which the snake is draped. With the average point-n-shoot camera, a 2' long stick could skew the perspective quite a bit, and still have everything in the picture in focus.

Here's a bit more 'perspective'...

http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/2009/07/return-of-giant-killed-rattlesnake.html

That said, I agree with Mike. If I saw this bad boy in the wild, I'd be hoping I had something a bit more substantial than a garden hoe to kill it with. (Or at least I would be hoping that after I stopped screaming like a little girl.)
 
Ok, Well Thanks for the nightmare fuel guys!

I'm sure I'm going to have dreams tonight about giant rattlesnakes opening the door to the house... :doh::bonkers:

Haven't seen a single rattler this year though, since I got rid of all the chipmunks that were hanging around.

Seems like if you remove the food source, you remove the predator. Knock on wood.

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The last time I came across a rattler was at least years ago...with a Mossberg 12ga equiped with a riot barrel. I shot first from 4 feet...I heard he was yummy!! To be blunt...there is no doubt I'd shoot a 6" sand snake cuz I'm a weiner around snakes!!
 
The last time I came across a rattler was at least years ago...with a Mossberg 12ga equiped with a riot barrel. I shot first from 4 feet...I heard he was yummy!! To be blunt...there is no doubt I'd shoot a 6" sand snake cuz I'm a weiner around snakes!!

My first gun ever, a little single shot Ithaca .410. I call it the magic snake head eraser. I've got a deep rooted snake-o-phobia, but have learned to tolerate, respect, and like the non poisonous guys. Especially with the rodents we have around here. Poisonous snakes though, that's another story altogether.
 
Dad was deathly afraid of snakes. He always said it was because of his vacation the gov. provided to southeast asia. When he left work the road intersected a highway that back in the day probably 100 or more coal trucks passed by each day. He said he was setting at the stop sigh waiting on a mack truck. When it passed he said someone had shoved the mouth of a rattlesnake over the bulldog on the top of the hood and it's tail was dragging the ground.

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