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The first time I encountered a [very large] rattler here in TX we were camping on our newly-purchased land. Had no shovel (or firearm), just a metal prod of some sort that the previous owner had left. I did not want to see this monster again and tried to kill it by pummeling it with large rocks--no dice. I was finally able to stop its infernal rattling with the metal prod.

No, I am not proud (in hindsight) of what I did--if I had it to do over again I'd have left it alone, though now that we live here and are outside all the time and have outside domestic pets (dog and cats) I dispatch rattlers with a single gunshot to the head. Too bad for them that they found themselves in our protected space...

AlaskanInTexas wrote:

TomsTXCHL wrote:My wife stepped on one a while back and it got just her jeans leg (we have a pic with the perfect wet spots on it)

I would have wet spots on my pants too!!!

Good one!

Yeah she was awfully lucky. It had somehow gotten behind her and she stepped right back onto it. No rattle or nuthin. Slithered a few feet away and coiled-up in a garden, close enough to a shrub that I got-out the 9mm instead of the 12ga shotgun. First use of the shotshell I think and it worked great--an easy head shot.

Glad my wife was dressed in jeans and work boots for her early morning chores (this time she was tending to a bird feeder). I would usually have on shorts and shoes-no-socks.





Someone here said "bite its head off!" and heck I don't even like picking 'em up with my hands...

VMI77 wrote:No rattlers in my area, but I've found .22 snake shot to be fairly effective on Copperheads. However, my normal snake gun is the Judge, loaded with .410 birdshot.

I've looked at that gun and thought it would be great for that purpose!

In looking at the CCI web page on shotshell, I see the 22LR has the #12 shot same as the 9mm (which I use) but it says 31g vs. 53g for the 9mm so it's almost half as much shot. I would think that a direct head shot would still work but maybe not...

I'm very much a "live and let live" guy but we have seen some monster rattlers on our property such that I don't want to see them again. My wife stepped on one a while back and it got just her jeans leg (we have a pic with the perfect wet spots on it) and was just lucky we weren't off-to-the-ER at 6am.

Texas has plenty of rattlesnakes and we don't need-or-want to protect them on our ranch.

We have similar restrictions, but in meetings we have talked openly about discharge of firearms to dispatch pests, and a rattlesnake is a pest for sure.

I use 9mm Shotshell from CCI--the spread is just right from about 6-8 feet (yes my arm is fully extended!) such that one shot-to-the-head kills any rattler. I don't know if CCI makes this in .22 caliber...

Do you never (ever) hear gunshots where you live?