lol, ya gotta love that.

Thanks, good thoughts.

I've been thinking about all the venomous snakes I have seen in my life and I can't really consider them much of a threat. When I was 17, I was sent off for the summer with my cousin to work on a ranch in eastern New Mexico. As we were being dropped off by my uncle, the rancher pulled up in his truck, unloaded a decapitated 5' western diamondback and proceeded to tell us that rattlesnakes were a big problem on the ranch. My cousin and I sort of rolled our eyes thinking this would be the only snake we would see all summer.

Naturally, over the next 2 weeks, I saw a rattlesnake a day. I rode over 3 different diamondbacks on horseback and once drove a small herd of cattle over the snake before my horse walked right over it. That entire summer, I never saw one of these snakes strike at us, cattle or horses. More recently, a 3' western diamondback was curled up beneath my office's outdoor card-reader. Not seeing the snake, I walked right up, held my card to the reader and opened the door only to notice the snake when the receptionist's screaming started to make sense. I know there are exceptions to this -- the aforementioned rancher claimed to have sprinted for 100 yards with a snake attached to his chaps at thigh level -- but I believe that unless you make an effort to mess with the snake, it's going to want to avoid you.

Truer words about snakes have never been written than these.

"but I believe that unless you make an effort to mess with the snake, it's going to want to avoid you."

Thanks Yuccahead.

John E

Well, studies or not, I'm using my Sawyer Extractor. The 30 seconds that it takes to use it is worth the effort, IMO.

The article below sums up the risks pretty well I believe. I have an extractor but doubt I will ever use it. And if space becomes an issue, I doubt I will carry it. The chances of getting bitten are just too small. On average, 80 people in the US die from lightning strikes each year. The average number of deaths from snake bites in the US is 8-12. There are some 8,000 snakebites in the US every year so a little better than 0.1% of these are fatal and most snake bites are either inflicted on young males whose blood is raging with alcohol along with testosterone or on those that think working at a rattlesnake roundup is a swell idea.

One day, I may step on a rattler and pay the price but given the small odds and the suspect benefits of an extractor, not having an extractor with me isn't going to bother me.


http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/06/06/with-summer-comes-snake-bites.html

Thanks! That puts things into perspective.