All About Pocket Knives

Mumbleypeg wrote:FWIW, I did a little research. According to the Field Guide to Texas Snakes published in 2005:

Coral snake venom is nearly 11 times as lethal as that of a copperhead, 5.26 times as toxic as a cottonmouth, and nearly 4 times as toxic as western diamondback rattlesnake venom.

Despite frequently quoted mortality figures ranging anywhere from 10 to 75 percent, few human fatalities result from coral snake bites. The authors could find no record of a fatality from coral snake bites in the United States since Wyeth coral snake antivenin was made available in 1967.

Ken

Recently and near here, a small girl (5 yrs, I think) was bitten by a rattlesnake. It was touch and go but after about 20 injections of the antivenin, it looks like she will recover. Media says she will have a long rehab.

Ray

Paladin wrote: Recently and near here, a small girl (5 yrs, I think) was bitten by a rattlesnake. It was touch and go but after about 20 injections of the antivenin, it looks like she will recover. Media says she will have a long rehab.

Ray

In the same book the authors reported that from 1958 through 1995, according to the Texas Department of Health an average of 1408 snakebite victims were treated annually in Texas. An average of 2.4 fatalities occurred per year. However from 1978 through 1995 the fatality rate had fallen to only one death per year. During that period the greatest number of bites (47%) and some of the human deaths were blamed on the western diamondback rattlesnake. The copperhead accounted for 22% of bites but caused no fatalities. According to the authors those two species are the most abundant and wide-ranging poisonous snakes in Texas.

Ken

Dinadan wrote:

carrmillus wrote:....COTTONMOUTH!!!.....the name still gives me chills!!....I fished all my life up until a couple of years ago, and I have seen some here that should have been in the ZOO!!!........... ..............

But the ones that you see are not dangerous. Working on a land survey crew I have seen a lot of cottonmouths. When I was young I would kill them, but as I got older I just left them alone. The only one that scared me was one that was about two feet long. I thought I had identified him as a nonvenomous snake. I am quite fond of snakes so I grabbed this fellow by the middle and lifted him up to eye level to get a good look. Once he was exactly even with my face he lifted his head up and opened his mouth and displayed a beautiful pair of fangs .. . each fang had a tiny drop of venom hanging on the end ... that is the way I remember it, anyway. I dropped that snake and it took an unbelievable length of time for it to fall out of reach of my hand.
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OMG MEL

We have other venomous snakes in the U.S. than the four mentioned above.

I found one of these under a concrete downspout catcher while doing some landscape work last Spring.

I picked it up, brought it into the house to show Sarah.

Then I released it into a similar area of the yard.

I looked it up later and learned it was venomous, but they don't use their bite for defense, only food gathering.

https://www.coniferousforest.com/ringneck-snake.htm

Charlie Noyes

No comment.

That is UNREAL!! KOOL!!! John

Wake up fellas....it's 0700....we're goin' fishin'!

Will report back later

Best o f luck, Scott. Be sure to let us know how you do.

Ray

Hope yawl catch a knice mess of fish Scott, will you cook'em right there in the great outdoors ?

Well Scott, you boys still out there fishing?? OH

Sorry to say the fish didn't cooperate.

But we spent about 5 hours out in the woods!

Good stuff, Scott! That middle picture looks like y'all are right there in the middle of "Crock-a-moc and rattle-gator" territory!
Treefarmer

Too bad about the fish not biting, Scott. That area with the flooding swamp looks just like my area. Sometimes those little islands start sinking when a man steps onto them ... that is a good photo!

I suspect there might have been a snake within twenty feet of those boys.

That's what I always suspected when I was standing in such a place and was proven to have been correct more than once.

I actually went straight up in the air, did a 180 degree turn (still in the air) and took the first five steps of my retreat, still in the air and managed to make significant forward progress before my feet touched the ground.

A cottonmouth crawled out of a stump hole about six inches from my right foot while I was casting a jig into a downed and partially submerged treetop.

I also looked down once in Viet Nam to find I was standing atop a bamboo viper, affectionately called the "Two Step Charlie" by the troops.

I handled that incident a bit more quietly, given the circumstances and I already had it at a disadvantage.

Charlie Noyes

Yeah, boys will be boys, I told them as we approached this area we were actually looking for snakes.....I think it helped....not sure.

Today we stayed a little closer to the firepit because rain was approaching...

Boys, knives, fire and the outdoors. A combination for the ages.

jerryd6818 wrote:Boys, knives, fire and the outdoors. A combination for the ages.

Just throw in a snake or two and you got a memory to last 90 years! Great stuff (as always) Scott. OH

Our snake philosophy for hiking in our tropical rainforest was always "Go Brave" and we never encountered one in several years of weekend hiking, none that we were aware of that is.
Of course we always checked the other side of a log before stepping over it.

Thanks fellas!

Yesterday was my first day volunteering as a trail monitor. What's that entail you ask.....picking up garbage on trails. Yup. And answer any questions people might have!!!

Today I was able to catch pics of Wood Storks.....3 in flight!!

Saw this one of the few times I visit FaceBook. Couldn't resist grabbing it and posting it here.

What kind of owl is that?

Beautiful.

Charlie

I don't know Charlie. I was hoping someone here would be able to identify it. Definitely a beauty.

That is a magnificent owl photo Jerry. I thought I would look it up and see what species it is (I have no idea) and was amazed at how many owl species there are - I still don't know. OH

https://www.owlpages.com/owls/species.php

Snowy owl.

It is an artic species,snow owl(Strix Scandiaca).Gus.