Rattlesnakes in Loveland all ova

Cut off the head, skin it, the gut it. Then you can ether pull the backbone out the way I prefer or dice it with the bones in an fry em up.

I chased a few out of our pits at the race track years back (Second Creek @ 96th and Buckley). Occasionally see one flattened on the side of Tower road by Buckley AFB. We moved in to their habitat, not the other way around. They're not really dangerous unless you surprise or corner them. I'm not fond of the way they taste, so I leave 'em alone, as they help keep the prairie rat(dog) populations down.

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Originally Posted by spyder

If you're afraid (I see you're from Boulder) just carry a bull snake in your purse. [Beer]


[ROFL2]

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Want me to show you how to pick one up, the 'right way'? I really don't like that devil green eye staring at me, and the fang 1/2 inch from my thumb. Stupid thing to do, never again. But it was right in front of me, in a perfect straight line over gravel road, I just had to. Never seen a snake do that again. But yea, I am a nature boy.[Tooth] Not sure how much flesh damage you would get in the 2 hours before your $25,000++ anti-venom treatment. The Mohabi desert rattlers are the real bad ones. Seems few people know how to wrap your appendage when bitten. Properly wrapped may mean more localized damage if it squirts in you, but less overall body issues. I don't think Colorado rattlers are that bad, but I'm probably wrong.

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

I decided THIS year I was finally going to do some rattler hunting (been trying to get 'er done for several years now).

Would love to come up there and try my hand at it (I may or may not have a place down by Trinidad from one of our members to try out too).

For those who've done it before and eaten the meat, how do you clean 'em?

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You could go down to Comanche also. I think you can shoot there, its the same as Pawnee, only hotter, probably just as snakey. There are 2 types of devil snakes in Colorado. Heck, there must be known places around the Springs to hunt devil snakes.

When you crazies are "hunting rattlers" are you shooting them? Or trapping/snaring them with a device [+5 crazy] and then killing them/cleaning/eating?

I was thinking about that. I would get a 'trash picker' and maybe test it out on bulls, make sure it works. Then a machette, chop the head and bury it, it can still bite. I don't like those free stick things the 'pros' use. They take way too many chances. I've seen endless stupid things on all the snake/venom/I was bitten shows. Maybe a stiff-rake, pin the head.

No thanks, I'll just keep my distance and let you other macho men go and catch the poisonous and fast reptiles :). They taste OK, I can take them or leave them - but a live one? I'll leave that one. In fact, I dislike rattlers so much that the mountain properties I'm looking at have to be above 9,500 feet so the chance of dealing with them is minimal :).

Wife used to hunt them with a .22 when she was young. She lived in the Keenesburg/Roggen area. Hunted from the bed of a pickup truck. She says there are fields out in that area with hundreds of rattlers.

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Originally Posted by UncleDave

Yeah rattlesnake is good eating. We used to catch them in the hills around Napa where I grew up. But we didn't have any limits that I remember. Are these prairie rattlers or diamondbacks?

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THeres like two bites (pun intended[ROFL1]) worth of meat on these little prairie rattlers.

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

I decided THIS year I was finally going to do some rattler hunting (been trying to get 'er done for several years now).

Would love to come up there and try my hand at it (I may or may not have a place down by Trinidad from one of our members to try out too).

For those who've done it before and eaten the meat, how do you clean 'em?

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Its way easy. REMEMBER THE FANGS CAN STILL KILL YOU EVEN THOUGH ITS DEAD!!!!Chop off the head at least three inches below the base of the head. bury the head immediatly. make about a three inch cut in the skin starting where you chopped, belly side. Pull the body out of the skin for those three inches. Grap the skin with one hand and the body with the other and pull the skin off. The guts pull out with a wipe of your trigger finger. Shovel works best for a kill tool. iron sights if you insist on a firearm. 22 head shots although head shots with a .45 can be quite gratifying. Snake chaps recomended. What i need to get is a nose chap for my pup!!!! Its not woth the risk off impaling my dumb ass on these little prairie rattlers for two bites, I chop and bury. Too bad they are so dangerous they are beautiful and eat rodents.

PS Yu can really impress your girlfriend if you come into the house with the rattler deheaded holding it by the tail with it still writhing!
PPS The chinese swear the best health and aphrodesiac benefits comes from speed skinning the snake with it writhing and going sushi on its ass!!!