I think I've read somewhere that the majority of snake bites were on the hands and lower arms of 20-something males trying to handle snakes. If true then simply not going out of your way NOT to handle snakes should prevent these incidents.

Now you know another. Partly because I spent sixteen years on the Channel Islands, where they are unknown, but that is counterbalanced by a lot of time in Arizona cougar country, where I did observe mountain lion prints covering my tracks on a trail. I did see lots of Wildcats, though (I am a University of Arizona alumnus).

Where do those Baptist preachers figure in the snake handling data? And speaking of those "rare" cougars, better check these photos. Yikes!

to the right of those photos there's a link to a story about why there are so many in one place at one time.

as those photos were taken at night with a trail camera you'd probably not even know they were there - except for their tracks in the morning.

this is the one i'd worry about:

How about paying drunken young studs to go throw rattlesnakes at the cougars?

here kitty, kitty....

For years I kept a copy of a page from a small town newspaper that had an account of how two local boys, good-ol-boys, got drunk in the woods, found a snake, and did the only logical thing ... decided to play catch with it. Odd thing, and a testament to the tolerance of snakes, is it was only after a couple tosses that the snake tried to bite anyone.

It also says something about country boys that once bit he tossed it to his buddy. Who got bit and tossed it back. Bad enough to be dumb and dumber but taking damage they tend to want to spread it around instead of seeing anyone else hurt. How dumb were they? The first guy bit caught the snake, and got bit again, when it was tossed to him.

That's what ya call country livin'

"Someone told me that if I see a rattler, I should pick up a medium-sized rock at a safe distance, and lob it in an arc toward the snake, which will cause the snake to track it in the air, strike at it, and get crushed."

No-no-no-no-no! That is an old GUYS tale! Right alongside the one where they say that if you have a few beers with the guys while your concrete is starting to set up in the wheelbarrow, all you have to do is add more water and stir briskly.

Old WIVES tales: it's a bad omen if a woman sees an open grave on her wedding day, and if you yawn or cough without covering your mouth, the Devil will jump down your throat and steal your soul.

There IS a difference.

Rattlesnake tossing... that's one I haven't seen yet in the Darwin Awards books...

Sue