Just another lazy Sunday at the Fire37Rescue Dogwater Ranch.A Photo Yoursay:
There I was,sitting in my office (the toilet), halfway through sending The Browns to the Super Bowl (Google is your friend on this one),when my lovely paramour busts through the door screaming,
"There's a BIG Rattlesnake in the Yard!!! I Almost stepped on it!"

Now, my wife and I live in the boonies on 12 plus acres of property which includes farm,swamp and forest, so I know when she says "Rattlesnake",she means it.She's from the Deep South,We see a lot of them here. We have kids, dogs and animals to protect here.So without getting to do any "Paperwork", I rush out of the bathroom,jump in my Cowboy Boots and grab my Gauge. For those of you outside of America, a Gauge is a 12 Gauge Shotgun alternately loaded with size 7 Shot Dove Loads and Magnum Double Aught Buck Shot. No man nor Beast can live through two shots of that at close range. Especially a vagrant Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake of the genus Crotalus adamanteus. Americas Largest and heaviest Venomous Snake that can be found to be larger than 8 feet with heads larger than a man's fist..
So without further blabbering on my part, here's what happens when I have a "Come to Jesus Meeting" with an Eastern Diamondback Rattler too large to relocate or for me to catch on my property:


He's at 5 1/2 feet.Head about the size of a childs fist and I measured his fangs at just over a half an inch.


He was coiled up under a tree when I dispatched him,as is most often the case when shot with a 12 gauge, not only do you shear off a section of his head,his body took a beating as well.


As you can see here,there's a huge hole in him.This is my youngest daughters favorite picture.Just in time to show her friends in the morning on her first day of school in the morning, Guts! Yeah baby!



Although not the largest of Eastern Diamondback rattlers I have seen by a long shot at 5 1/2 feet, he had some years on him with 12 distinct Rattles. No telling how old he was, wives tales indicate this to be years in age but truth is that is not the case. They gain a rattle every time they shed,they also lose rattles in battle and in the course of hunting. How old? No clue.15 years is my best educated guess by his health and size.

For the record, I hated killing this guy. I love snakes and all living creatures. I don't hunt anything I don't eat. I am an avid herpetologist by hobby.But for the sake of safety for everyone and every living thing on my property,he had to go. Way too large for me to wrangle myself,there was no way I was going to handle this guy by myself without risking my life.Smaller venomous snakes get relocated by me when I run up on them.In this case, It was me or him. A "Come to Jesus Meeting" with the Fire Captain.