Stan here's my Sunday go to meeting Benelli you so revere and turkeys fear...."Sows ear" cleaned up nice.

Now lest see your prized Yiltz.

I don't revere the Yildiz................doves and rattlers do, thO'






Have a great Wednesday, Frank. And thanks for the pic. That inlay is nice.

SRH

Nice looking snake Stan!!
Is that the angle of the sun or do all your rattlers have the red tint??
He'd look nice on the back of a bow.

Snake does look good the Yiltz sows ear not so good....

Stan,
The phrase "pretty is as pretty does" comes to mind. Nice yield in the field!
Karl

It's still a sows ear...

Rudy,

Not all look so reddish. That was a late afternoon "shot", on the way home from the same dove shoot where I had just taken the other picture. Many are very dark, and others are yellowish. That was a young 'un, too, maybe three feet. I'll ship y'all one sometime, if you'd like.

jOe,

Sow's ear possibly. But, you know, a sow's ear does what it was intended to do for that sow perfectly. So does this Yildiz. Nobody ever claimed it to be a great or beautiful gun, at least not me. What I'd like an answer to is why you feel so compelled to put down other's guns. You go out of your way to belittle guns for sale on this site, point out every flaw on someone's pet double, and generally do whatever you can to make somebody else feel bad about what they've got. It's not revenge. I've never seen anyone belittle anything you pictured on this site. So, why do you think it is your job in life to point out every thing you can possibly see wrong with everybody else's stuff? Are you that insecure? How would you feel if someone went on some turkey call site belittling every call you ever made by pointing out the slight imperfections they may think they see in them? The fact that you have made a "career" out of doing this here has relegated you to a very "special" group of posters. You should be proud of yourself.

Calling the little Yildiz, that was a gift to me from a dear friend, a sow's ear doesn't ruffle my feathers a bit, and it doesn't surprise me. It certainly doesn't make me think any less of my friend because he didn't give me a H & H. And, I don't think any less of myself because I received the gift graciously. I've come to expect your kind of attitude from a few people.

SRH

Stan, just a reminder... do you happen to recall what happened when jOe posted photos of his first attempt at making and installing a leather covered recoil pad several years ago?

He got criticized and ripped apart from a number of the "gentlemen" here. I personally thought his leather pad wasn't at all bad for a first effort. I sure as hell didn't think the unwarranted criticism by guys who probably would never attempt such a project would do anything to inspire others to share their work. I certainly haven't wanted to post any pics of any of my projects since I saw that... no matter how good, and I never forgot about it.

I don't believe you participated in that little pile-on, since that's not your style, but I did want to remind you that there are both double guns and double standards here. If Ted rips jOe in retaliation for jOe ripping Ted, for example, I prefer to stay neutral. Like a lot of feuds, sometimes it's hard to even remember who fired the first shots, or how they escalated, and it's better to stay out of it. Free entertainment too. Personally, I find an honest curmudgeon preferable to fake gentlemen. The way jOe directed this thread toward you, I took his comments as some good natured ribbing between friends. And I do admit to showing favoritism toward guys who support gun rights over those who undermine them.

I don't remember that, Keith. I'll take your word for it without trying to search for it, and I stand corrected. But, is JOe's belittling of most people's opinions and guns in retaliation for that incident?

Curmudgeon? Maybe so. But, having a name for it doesn't justify it, IMO.

SRH

Keith, perhaps, and this is just speculation on my part.....I don’t remember jOe’s attempt at a leather covered pad.....perhaps jOe got piled on because he has been so consistently negative towards others’ guns here. Never a good word, always a criticism. You reap what you sow.

Hey bub...I think you started it when you pimped' my Benelli in the junk cleaning rod thread...my Benelli had nothing to do with that thread.

Stan are you getting that senile ?

Ps...you can have your wittle Yiltz and I'll have my bad azz Benellis...and if someone asks about a gun I'll give my opinion wither you like it or not. This is America last time I checked.

I will add this to this conversation. Understand I am not down-talking to any member here on this forum in this. You can, however, look at my number of posts & quickly see that I am not an "Idle" member, but run my mouth a lot. On one occasion several years ago there were no posts for 2-3 weeks which I responded to. Of ALL, the members of this forum "ONE" sent me a PM checking to see if I was OK. As I said, I am not condemning anyone for not doing so, have never done likewise myself. BUT does anyone want to take a wild Guess as to just Who that thoughtful member was?

"IF," you said Joe, pat yourself on the back, you are 100% correct, No-one But Joe. Say what you want, He's a gentleman in my book.

I may not agree with him 100% but then there is not a single poster here that I agree with 100% of the time, including ME.

Keith I bet he doesn't remember when I posted pics of my 1879 Purdey hammer 10 with seamlessly sleaved and reproofed barrels...ol Teddy bOy started knocking it because the dummy saw the 12 ga. gauge mates in it and thought that had something to do with the sleaving job.

Mr. Miller you have been one of the few people that always added knowledge to anything you commented on...

There's a few know it alls and liberals on here that I'd have a good drink of whiskey to celebrate their leaving.

Stan, I’m curious - was that snake killed for meat, fear, superstition? When I was a boy growing up in the Tidewater part of Virginia along the James where peanuts were farmed amongst other crop in the mid 70’s,, we had copperheads (and some say cottonmouths) and several other non venomous species in good supply... was told never to kill a snake by a farmer friend and neighbor of the family unless rain was needed for the fields... if it was drought, the fhe first snake - venomous, or just a big old black snake was needed to be hung on the field fence to bring the rain... I remember being tasked with hanging around the corn crib one early July day while my father went with the farmer to pick out a hog for the pit which would be the center of the 4th o’July spread... Pretty sure I was handed an old Colt .22 six shooter loaded with rat shot and an RC Cola and I got the job done.. One black snake to hang on the fence and it poured rain the entire 4th weekend. As I recall from stories, my father and the other men got to cooking that pig under tarps to keep dry and the fire going, while consuming enough Budweiser and brown liquor to subsequently roll a Jeep in that same field on that dark rainy night. Had to send a couple ol’boys to the hospital with a few broken bones.. Needless to say, I also learned to roast a pig later that weekend and to this day don’t kill snakes or run farmers wet fields in my truck.. Funny what one remembers and not... Anyhow, sorry to hijack this thread and interfere with the OP’s agenda.

Best,
jmc

You didn't grow up around Salem did you ?

Just kidding interesting story...most farmers I knew would've beat you if you killed a black snake around the barn.

jmc, I let all snakes have a pass unless they are a rattler, moccasin or copperhead, and are near where we live or work. That one was killed as I was just leaving the hosts dove field. He would've been upset with me if I hadn't. I've let some mighty big ones crawl on when I see them away from living or work areas. We have a huge rat snake that hangs around the house here from time to time. Even my wife finally learned that every snake isn't a rattler, and let's them go on about their business of catching rats. However, she called me about four years ago late one morning and asked if I was close to the house. I was close and she said to come quick, there was a rattler on the patio. I drove up and she was standing watching him afraid to shoot because of the proximity to the house and damage to the pavers. I killed it with a boat paddle I had in the back of my truck. She and the little yorkie had walked within a foot of him as he lay under the patio table.

So, it's an individual call on each one. Never heard any old tales about a black snake bringing rain, but did hear an old wives tale that shooting a snake with a shotgun will "shackle" the gun, and shooting at something too far will, too.

A local friend of mine got bitten about a month ago. He's still recovering. Lots of big long tails around here. Peanut fields during the summer are very attractive to mice and rats, and rattlers because of them. We have to be very careful where we walk and put our hands until after the nuts are combined.

SRH

Guess you missed this Stanley...

No, I read it Frank., I just don't see any sense in throwing good money after bad. My mistake for ever cracking a joke about your bEnellis. You can dish it out, but it sure must taste bad when it comes back around.

And, it's Stanton, just to be precise.

Best, SRH

I can take a joke Stan...and taste just fine.

Your personal dissection of me proves you can't.

Joe - ha,, not Salem but perhaps some of the old farmers and their help around Williamsburg had relatives from up that way! It does sound like a bunch of hooey and probaly is but just an old family story that was stuck on me b/c I was the one who was always bringing some critter home to keep as a pet or cook.. And, after sleeping on it, I'm pretty sure it was not the farmer who held this superstition but an old black man of his employ that I would hang around when my dad was doing buisness with the farmer...

Stan - You gotta do what you gotta do in certain situations and in no way did I mean to come off as judgemental.. I follow land-owners rules to a T when I'm a guest too.. Had not heard that one about 'shackling' the gun but good to know! In that same year, I caught a king snake and thought it was the coolest looking snake around and was able to keep in the school classroom in a fish tank for a few weeks.. Learned later that they like to eat other snakes.. I've had BBQ'd rattler a time or two over the years as well and recall it being palatable.. Best of luck with the harvest this year! - jmc

I'm not sure exactly what the term Shackle a Gun means, but I have an old H&A 16 gauge single which has killed a couple of snakes & remained unharmed. One was a rattler & the other a watersnake, not a cottonmouth. I killed it because he made me mad. Don't recall just how old I was but was dangling worms or grasshoppers or something from the door of an old Grist Mill which stood on our property not far from the house. Had caught a little bluegill & as I was pulling it up this snake slid out from under the building & stretched up trying to get my fish off the line. Pulled the fish on up out of reach & went to the house & got Dad's old 16. Went back out there & let the little'gill back down to the water & splashed it around a bit & here came that snake again. Pulled the fish up just out of reach & that old snake kept stretching up trying to get it with his mouth wide open so I put the charge right down into that gaping mouth from about 6-8 feet.

Not much for rattle snakes or other poisonous snakes and I certainly won't knowingly allow them on land that I own if I can help it.

That said having grown up on a farm in Virginia I agree with jOe about black snakes. They can be a farmers friend.

We had a basic rule on the farm while growing up. Any poisonous snake within 50 feet of the House was to be destroyed. Any snake in the barns, sheds or outside was to be left alone if at all possible. Snakes got a place on a farm as long as they don’t scare people half to death, mostly females and people who can’t tell one type from another. Did have a rattler spend a bit of time in a combine. When going over all those belts and greasing what seemed like a hundred places getting it ready for wheat it poked its head out. I think it was mostly curious. Unfortunately Mr Amos, our hired hand almost touched him. After a Sweet Jesus he took off like a cat with a tail on fire. Covered a hundred yards faster the any Olympic record holder. Man refused to go near that combine until that snake was removed. It was. Easy way to do that was start the combine up. It came out quickly. Did not seemed to be injured and left the shed. Mr. Amos never went near that combine after that without looking it over real carefully.

I still have that kill them if up to the house but leave them alone otherwise. And I try to show people a black snake is to be left alone even around the house. They will move on if left alone.

JMC, Just make sure the King Snake is really a King Snake. (I don't know if you have Coral Snakes in Texas; we had a lot of them in Florida and it was easy to confuse the two.) (when I was 14, I killed one on the golf course with a 7 iron...couldn't hit my shot he was so close).

In my opinion, here's the best place for a rattler--

Tunes, you have the same problem with picking up rocks and bringing them home that I do...Geo

" Sir, I'm sorry but your bag is overweight. Give me just a minute Ma'am, I'll take a coupla rocks out"

Just remember this rhyme, red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black venom lack.

Reminds me of the time dove hunting on the edge of a stubble field, knocked a dove down and walker over to pick him up. Was standing looking for him when I looked down, I was standing on the head of a 6 foot snake! Makes your heart beat faster for sure, lucky it was a gopher snake and it was a bit shaky too.

Argo44, as I recall and this was about 40yrs ago, it was an eastern king snake that was blackish with white bands.. I do believe coral snakes could be found in that part of VA as well but never saw one.. 1st encounter with the many copperheads was in our sandbox which was covered with a piece of plywood when not in use to keep the rain out. Bad idea for any parents reading this! Perfect place for a snake to try to make a home...

I’m totally on board with preserving black snakes around the farm and home,, but I would guess most don’t know a black snake from and indigo snake or a black racer,, all of which I caught as a boy and a few other species.. there was no animal or insect I wouldn’t catch and bring home except a spider.. still kind of scared of them.

I’m a rock hound too fellas,, have some very special finds sitting on my windowsill right now including a bit of petrified wood. Nearly bring one home from each place I want to remember.. Fun thread and again, apologies for the hijack.. but heck, here is nearly an entire page with no one slinging insults or political slants... jmc

Hmph. Snakes. Tigers and Eastern Browns where I grew up. Thankfully the browns have a tendency to dry strike and tiny fangs, otherwise I wouldn't be here. We often used to lose a sheep or two when moving a mob between paddocks; I suspect due to snake bites.

Our snakes pale in comparison to yours.

My Dad owned a large country store on my Grandaddy's farm. He ran it for 23 years. There was a heater in the middle fo the store with a couple rocking chairs by it and a telephone on a square column behind the heater. Dad got to cutting out newspaper clippings of reports of professional snake handlers who had been bitten, and taping them on the column above the phone............for me to see every time I made a phone call on it. The reason was that I'd gotten into the habit of catching every rattler I could and bringing them home. He was trying to convince me to quit, but I got a big rush out of handling a big rattler, and caught them at every chance. He had hopes the newspaper clippings would dissuade me. But, they didn't. One day I made the mistake of bringing a big one into his store and walking up behind a gentleman of color, who was paying for some stuff at the cash register. When the old snake sang his rattles the man looked around, then broke and ran out the back door of the store. After the tongue lashing I got I never did that again!

I eventually got the message that I was pushing my luck, and stopped bringing them home. A big rattler is still a thrill to handle.

SRH

You like to go to church ever think of going to one of those snake handling churches.

Speaking of dry strikes, I knew a cotton farmer from Waynesboro, GA, our county seat, who had been bitten by rattlers three times and all were dry bites.

A former young employee of mine was a bowhunter, for deer, and hunted the Brier Creek swamp area his grandaddy owns. He would go into the swamp in snake chaps, and was bitten twice on the chaps by rattlers. Both times the snakes fangs got hung in the kevlar stuff and he had to beat them off with an arrow. Gutsy kid to keep going like he did. He was pretty laid back about it all.

SRH

No sir, jOe!

SRH

Stan great bag on the doves and the little gun.
My philosophy on snakes is a good snake is a dead snake! If it looks poisonous it's dead! Endangered or not!, dead!!

I have a friend who says that there are only two kinds of snakes..............chicken snakes and rattlesnakes. He says if he sees a snake and it doesn't have a chicken in it's mouth it's a rattlesnake. Funny.......... but I let 'em go if they ain't in a habitated place. Hope that don't ever "come back to bite me".

SRH

A friend in Florida got bitten by a baby water moccasin (aka Cottonmouth)...She underwent $200K in treatment and anti-bodies. Well, growing up in north Florida we were always told Fla was the only state with all four US poisonous snakes. Just to check out this old wives tales...here is a range map for cottonmouths, copperheads and coral snakes. (Rattlers are everywhere). Never heard of the Texas and Arizona versions of the coral snake. I think copperhead come further down into Florida...I remember seeing one around Gainesville.

I am (barely) in the area for the Coral Snake in GA, but have never seen one. One other strange thing I have found is...............I am about 5 miles north of Brier Creek, and have never seen an Eastern Diamandback on this side of "the creek". But, they definitely do exist from Brier Creek south. All we have here is timber rattlers (canebrakes).

SRH

About 15 years ago on a quail hunt in southern Arizona, I killed three rattlers in one day. The first one surprised the hell out of me when I was moving some brush with my left hand to clear a place to sit and he turned out to be one of the branches I was moving, jumped back about five feet and shot him with my right hand. I was so jittery for the rest of the day that I picked my path very carefully and still came up on two more. They were probably Western Diamondbacks. I think I have seen only one Mojave Green, and that is enough.

http://www.jqjacobs.net/southwest/rattlesnake.html

I related this once before, I think, on this forum. Several years ago, in June, I had a dream that I saw a big rattler in the yard of a house, but that he escaped. Really strange dream, for me. For the next day or so I had it on my mind constantly as I went here and there about the day, farming, and doing all related to such. Morning of the second day I went to a pivot south of my house, and the pivot point was grown up in Italian Ryegrass, and was very thick. I got out of my truck and remember thinking "This is a good place for a rattler to be". I had to walk through the ryegrass for a few feet and began to proceed slowly, moving the thick grass with one foot, stepping with the other. After two steps I moved the thick grass and uncovered a big canebrake rattler lying perpendicular to my line of travel, and in the perfect spot for my next footstep to come down in the middle of his body. I slowly backed out, got my .45 out of the truck, and shot it in the head.

If I had not had that dream I would not have had snakes on my mind so heavily that morning. I ordinarily did not look so hard as I walked through thick brush or grass. I know, with all my heart, that dream was a premonition. And, I'm very grateful for it.

SRH

That's a sign...

I don't want to get into a "who's bigger" contest, especially between Missouri and Georgia (especially since Ga just beat them), but this 14 foot Mizzou rattler looks impressive. Stan, if you’re still interested in playing around with pit vipers I'm not sure you should mess with this one.

http://www.wdam.com/story/38989487/video-massive-rattlesnake-caught-on-camera-in-lamar-co/

That's bull chit

My father had a friend (classmate) when he was growing up and in high school who liked to catch and play with snakes. The friend and his father were out with a tractor in one of their tobacco fields plowing when one of the cultivators on the tractor broke. The father sent the son back to the farm implement shed to get a wrench to repair the cultivator. The trip down the farm path to the implement shed to get the tool needed should have taken the son no longer than 5-10 minutes; but when the son did not return after being gone over 30 minutes, the father decided he needed to go looking for him. Half way back to the implement shed, sitting beside the farm path, the father found his son with his hands clasped together at a distance looking like he was sitting praying. When the father got close enough to speak to his son, the son did not respond to the father asking him what he was doing sitting down when there was work to do. Then the father realized his son was staring face-to-face with one of the largest copperheads he had ever seen. The son had spotted the copperhead on the farm path and decided to catch it. Somehow the son was able to grab the copperhead behind the head, but the copperhead was so large and strong it wrapped itself around the son’s forearm and began constricting his arm, his hand holding the snake turning blue. Realizing he was in trouble and that he could not turn loose of the copperhead, he tried to un-wrap the snake from his arm with his other hand; then the copperhead, given access to the son’s other wrist was able to wrap itself around the other wrist, effectively handcuffing him. The copperhead, stronger than the son, now had the upper-hand; and the son went into shock. It was fortunate the father had come looking for the son. The father, after assessing the situation, then drove the tractor quickly to the implement shed to get a set of vise grip pliers, then returned to his son to administer the copperhead’s death sentence when he clamped down on the its head with the pliers to get the copperhead to release his son.

Copperheads are not constrictors. I call BS on that one.

If you like snakes try this one for size. One of these snaked recently killed and ate an adult woman.




http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/12/primates-prey-predators-and-competitors-snakes

That one would cover a LONG longbow!!@@!

Well, Jomungandr is a pretty badazz fellow too...just ask Midgard and Thor.

I dunno Brent. I to have handled too many snakes. My experience is even the non-constrictors will be happy to wrap you up if they can. Wrap you up and poop on you,I should say. I think it is defensive behavior common to'em all...Geo

And most all will rattle their tails...

Most will try to get some "wrap" on you, simply to get a grip on something and try to get away from your grasp. Closest encounter I ever had was with a big rattler, early in my snake catching, that very slowly got partial wraps onto my right arm as I held his head in my right hand, and as I was talking to someone. When he finally got enough "grip" he tried to snatch his head back out of my hand and almost succeeded. That would have gone ugly quick if he had succeeded.

SRH

I see a rattler and I do everything in my power to increase the distance between the two of us. You guys that catch them like excitement way more than I do, Yikes!

Sure they might wrap around your arm, but there is no way they are capable of restricting blood flow (even constrictors can't do that) nor would, in any way, be difficult to get loose of.

There is probably a grain of truth in that story somewhere, but it's been strongly "embellished". At least that's my opinion. Copperheads seem pretty mild as pit viper go also.

We saw a lot of the doing field work in Kansas.

I don't think copperheads have the means to kill you outright by their venom. They will just make you sick and inconvenience you for awhile.

A big rattler, or big cottonmouth, is deadlier because of the length of it's fangs and the possibility of it delivering a larger dose of venom. The longer it's fangs the deeper it can inject the venom, and the more likely it is to hit a major artery or vein. It is entirely possible for a big rattler to kill you in a matter of minutes if it hits a major blood vessel. But, most of the time they don't, and they just make you mighty sick for awhile. An acquaintance died from a rattler bite, but it was really the heart attack that killed him, not the venom. He was a poster child for "Alcohol and rattlesnakes don't mix". Ever hear the phrase "Watch this!" ?

SRH

Stan, the only way to settle this is for you to catch a big rattlesnake and let spoiled child BrentD show us how easily he can unwrap it from his arm.

It is simply silly to say that even constrictors cannot restrict blood flow. Even the elastic band on a pair of socks can do that.

If the opportunity arises this fall, we'll see what we can do. But, I prolly ain't releasing him with one hand to take a selfie!

Actually, the way true constrictors kill is by tightening the coils when the victim exhales each time. Eventually, the victim cannot inhale enough, and dies by suffocation.

SRH

Having twouble seeing what you said wubber duckie

I had a seat belt in a Chevy Suburban once that would do that same thing...Geo

Years ago I put a fellow workers 4 ft Python around my neck didn't take but a second for me to remove him when he started to constrict...

About 15 years ago I had to turkey hunt one spring on crutches because of a fractured femur head...crutches weren't too bad but Jim Bowie riding shotgun was.

I've handled and been bitten by my share of non venomous snakes when I was young but truth is I've never felt close enough to God to be handling a live poisonous snake.

One morning I was strolling back to the truck on my crutches and crossed paths with a beautiful King snake...her first reaction was to flea...then to defend...then to submit. She wrapped around my crutch and made the 100 yard walk to the truck with me.

I thought about keeping her...but I never have kept a snake. I knew I didn't need to get an infection from a bite so I laid the crutch down and let the King crawl away.

SRH