Snakebites - Who Gets Bitten & Who Dies?

[crs]

My theory: Kill first, identify later.... +1

 

[Happy Myles]

Twenty years or so ago, I took my son and his new bride along on a Tanzania safari. She had never been anywhere adventurous in her sheltered life. One day she insisted on accompanying me on a a buffalo hunt. As luck would have it we came upon the buffalo of a lifetime. Wind right, cover right, what could go wrong. Finally, after taking many, many buffalo I had a chance at huge mbogo. Just then at my feet I spotted a phlegmatic puff adder I pointed it to my PH, we both stepped around it and continued our focus on the bull. My daughter in law noticed the snake, let out a bloodcurdling scream , crashed into both of us and ran. The huge bull ran too, end of my dream. When we got back to the lorry she was pitched on top. i said, “ lets get one thing straight, you have got to stop knocking down the man with the rifle”.
No more stalks for her

 

[Rule 303]

I was advised by my PH in Namibia they have a very effective method of dealing with Mamba and Cobra bites. They give you a pen and paper so you can write your will.

Most if not all Aussie venomous snakes have grooved fangs while the Rattle snake and similar have hypodermic fangs so inject more of their toxin than those from Aust.
However Aussie snake can dry bite, that is not release venom. Even when bitten by our most venomous snakes if you do the right thing your chances of survival are good. Don't stress-yeah like that is going to happen- try and keep the heart rate down. Reduce or if possible cease all movement apply pressure bandages working from bite site to cover the whole limb. You have several hours if this is done. Hopefully you are not by yourself and have phone reception or an EPIRB.

The venom normaly travels in the lymphatic system. However if the bite is into a blood vessel see the Namibian approach.

 

[Zambezi]

I have only been to South Africa twice. I have only seen one snake a PuffAdder.
We had been walking and stalking awhile and stopped for a break. I went to relive myself of some fluids and as I was standing there a PuffAdder decided my right foot was in its path and started across my foot!!
That will make your heart stop ! He just slid on across and kept on going luckily !

Bet that was the longest pee of your life!

 

[Sarg]

I have a bit of a collection of Snake photos now, never used to take many photos but do now days .

After 25yrs guiding & 35yrs working in the Aussie outback have seen hundreds of Snakes, a lot deadly, mostly leave them alone unless they are in camp, Taipans are bad news & Death Adders are a bugger for just laying they & let you steep on them .

In SA the guys & girls around the lodge like them gone & we don't want them around the house eating the chooks or biting the Kids, Dogs, so we tap them .

You will see by my white legs plenty are around in June & July, we see a lot that we don't tell the hunters about as it keeps things smoother .

The Black Mamba here was right by the Lodge gate & seen by the Girls going to work, took a couple of days to get him, funny story the head PH was picking up a hunter when I whacked this Mamba & this hunter was petrified of snakes, the PH told him it's cool no snakes this time of year (June-July) I had just moved the body from the gate as he drove in with this guy, any way next morning early we on the back of the hunting bakkie heading out & another snake zips across the road in front of us, we didn't point it out & he thinks no snakes about but in fact two had been near him in two days !

Puff Adder in the yard .

Snouted cobra or Egyptian cobra in three sizes from small to bloody huge !

Was a close call with this snake & he looked awesome only a few feet away with his Hood flared out !

And the Monster !

 

[PaulT]

Sarg, that last Joe-blake is one F.O sized M.F.

I too have had more than my fair share of exposure to snakes but never anything THAT big.
That thing gives me the heebey jeebies, big time.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Rule 303]

Hey Sarg, you recon your a Kiwi. I call bulldust. Every Kiwi I know runs a mile when they see a snake

That last one would be the biggest venomous snake I have ever seen including in photos. I have almost been nailed by Brown snakes on 3 occasions and the adrenaline had me moving. If it was one that big I recon I would literally jump out of my skin.

 

[Red Leg]

I have a bit of a collection of Snake photos now, never used to take many photos but do now days .

After 25yrs guiding & 35yrs working in the Aussie outback have seen hundreds of Snakes, a lot deadly, mostly leave them alone unless they are in camp, Taipans are bad news & Death Adders are a bugger for just laying they & let you steep on them .

In SA the guys & girls around the lodge like them gone & we don't want them around the house eating the chooks or biting the Kids, Dogs, so we tap them .

You will see by my white legs plenty are around in June & July, we see a lot that we don't tell the hunters about as it keeps things smoother .

The Black Mamba here was right by the Lodge gate & seen by the Girls going to work, took a couple of days to get him, funny story the head PH was picking up a hunter when I whacked this Mamba & this hunter was petrified of snakes, the PH told him it's cool no snakes this time of year (June-July) I had just moved the body from the gate as he drove in with this guy, any way next morning early we on the back of the hunting bakkie heading out & another snake zips across the road in front of us, we didn't point it out & he thinks no snakes about but in fact two had been near him in two days !

View attachment 387044View attachment 387045

Puff Adder in the yard .

View attachment 387065

Snouted cobra or Egyptian cobra in three sizes from small to bloody huge !

View attachment 387048View attachment 387049
View attachment 387050
View attachment 387051
Was a close call with this snake & he looked awesome only a few feet away with his Hood flared out !
View attachment 387062
And the Monster !

View attachment 387063

I have only heard of Indian King Cobras that might reach that size. That is a monster.

Just poked around on line, and the largest Egyptian ever recorded was 2.59 meters. This gal is in that class. Jeez.

 

[Nevada Mike]

Where I live we have 13 species of venomous snakes - mostly various rattlesnakes. Some are hemotoxic, some neurotoxic, many have both types of toxins.

I have never been bitten, nor do I plan to be. I worry more about my bird dogs and they get vaccinated with Red Rock rattlesnake vaccine and I carry epinephrine injections for immediate relief. I wear snake gaiters when working on the property or walking in snake season. My dogs have been snake broke - and that's about all that can be done short of keeping a good veterinarian close by.

I don't much like snakes. but will only kill them if they are threatening my dogs or are close to the house.

 

[Nkawu]

I've seen quite a number of snakes living and working in Southern Africa. I was on the toilet in coastal Mozambique (XaiXai) and had a snake in the toilet bowl coiled under the rim with just a bit of green tail sticking out- not the snake I was hoping to see! I was opening a farm gate in Limpopo and had an Mfezi (Mozambique spitting cobra) stand up between me and the open bakkie door, stupidly I had left my pistol on the dash. I was once doing some geological mapping near the Namibian border in South Africa's northern cape and climbed a hill to find an enormous black spitting cobra sunning itself in the morning chill. When I turned around the two Xhosa ladies I was working with had made about 500m and were still going strong.
Over the years I've learnt to trust my instinct when I get the feeling that an area of grass or a hill looks 'snakey' and will enter cautiously or walk around. When I'm out in the bush in remote parts of Zambia or SA snakes don't really bother me as much as say coming across a rabid dog or running out of water.
I will say that dogs and cats in SA on farms seem to take a hammering. Small dogs and cats eaten by pythons and big mambas, big dogs killed and blinded by cobras and mambas. A pellet gun in the house is good medicine for a snake under the fridge.

 

[Deleted member 40394]

I don’t hunt here in SC without my snake boots. I have had so many close encounters it’s ridiculous. Turkey hunting is dangerous. I have had rattlesnakes in between my legs. Stepped on wide open mouth of a large cottonmouth one time. I sat beside a 6 ft 2 inch timber rattlesnake for 45 minutes one time without knowing it. Heck I have killed atleast 10 venomous snakes in my parents yard, within 30 yards of the front door over the years. I kill them all. I am not exaggerating but I have killed dare I say thousands of snakes. I killed over 15 within an hour span one summer afternoon taking the dirt roads to town. It’s weird because in the low country of SC. 80 % of snakes I see are poisonous. 2 hours up in the upstate only 20% I see are poisonous. I have enough snake stories for a week of storytelling. I used to run through corn fields on summer nights barefooted with just the moonlight out. That was not smart looking back on it. But I don’t want no part of an African snake. I am hunting in July and I hope to not encounter any snake. Y’all got me thinking snake boots on the plane ride with these pictures of snakes in Winter.

 

[Foxi]

"I do shake out my boots and clothing every morning if in a tented camp".

and all zippers of the bags, suitcases etc. are always closed.

An adult puff adder has a venom volume of 130-200 milligrams when loaded.
30 milligrams is already a lethal dose for an average adult.
John Sharp,a well known PH in Zimb.described this very explicitly as he fought for survival(in the Newspaper "Hunterspath").
One of my PHs climbed over a tree and a Black Mamba stood up straight in front of him and looked him straight in the eye (he is about 6ft tall).
It then collapsed and disappeared, the hunting guest then abandoned the buffalo hunt for the day and had to recover first.
A beer was also necessary as a result.
I am not afraid of snakes in harmless encounters. I find them beautiful and elegant, but of course I avoid them. As a fly fisherman, while stalking the streams, one often encounters adders and grass snakes (the latter is harmless but enough to give one a big fright).
What is not necessarily true is that they disappear when the ground is shaken.
I experienced it myself in Namibia when we rode past a snake lying on the pad with two galloping horses and were not disturbed by it.
Only when we turned around to admire the snake did it turn away, caused by the shadow of the horses.
A hunter who walks quietly through the bush, as is usually the case, has no chance.
There was also a zebra snake, a rare cobra species that everyone in Namibia is afraid of.
Fortunately, most snakes are as scared of us as we are of them.

 

[C.W. Richter]

I know it's fairly rare, but 'was watching a Buchanon video of a hunt in Zim with the safari company _____ & Young in the Omay. The PH Young was on crutches/braces, still healing from a tangle with a spitting cobra! This was in recent times, I believe. 'Have seen them all (cobras, zebra, adder, mamba, python) but no incidents in 6 trips, other than an Adder in Namib lying in wait next to some sandy tracks (guide or tracker spotted it, partially buried,) twice! PHs have had their fair share of encounters. African winter is best.

 

[Rubberhead]

I grew up playing in the waters of SC's lowcountry. It is a very snakey place. I've hiked 300 miles of the Palmetto trail barelegged and mostly in the summer but the closest I've ever come to being bitten happened when I was duck hunting.

I had shot a duck down in the spartina grass. I knew the bird wasn't stone dead so I rushed in to get to it before it could crawl off. When I got to where the bird fell, I could see the grass moving. I went to straight to it using my rubber boots to part the grass expecting to find a crippled canvasback but I found a cottonmouth. I think he felt me coming and was trying to get out of the way but as I got close, he was trying to turn around and strike me. Luckily the grass was thick enough and it was cool enough that he just couldn't get to me. I was literally weak-kneed for a few minutes. This is a set-up shot after I finished off both the bird and the snake. BTW - for the snake poets, SC has no shortage of cottonmouths - their populations are sustainable even if one or two gets killed in the making of a good photo...haha.

 

[F. Vaccaro]

I have a bit of a collection of Snake photos now, never used to take many photos but do now days .

After 25yrs guiding & 35yrs working in the Aussie outback have seen hundreds of Snakes, a lot deadly, mostly leave them alone unless they are in camp, Taipans are bad news & Death Adders are a bugger for just laying they & let you steep on them .

In SA the guys & girls around the lodge like them gone & we don't want them around the house eating the chooks or biting the Kids, Dogs, so we tap them .

You will see by my white legs plenty are around in June & July, we see a lot that we don't tell the hunters about as it keeps things smoother .

The Black Mamba here was right by the Lodge gate & seen by the Girls going to work, took a couple of days to get him, funny story the head PH was picking up a hunter when I whacked this Mamba & this hunter was petrified of snakes, the PH told him it's cool no snakes this time of year (June-July) I had just moved the body from the gate as he drove in with this guy, any way next morning early we on the back of the hunting bakkie heading out & another snake zips across the road in front of us, we didn't point it out & he thinks no snakes about but in fact two had been near him in two days !

View attachment 387044View attachment 387045

Puff Adder in the yard .

View attachment 387065

Snouted cobra or Egyptian cobra in three sizes from small to bloody huge !

View attachment 387048View attachment 387049
View attachment 387050
View attachment 387051
Was a close call with this snake & he looked awesome only a few feet away with his Hood flared out !
View attachment 387062
And the Monster !

View attachment 387063

I know this is an older post, but I really like your snake tamer in the next to last picture!

 

[Sarg]

Thanks @F. Vaccaro, yes I love the Old Hi Power, pulled me out of sticky situations a few times, just this year I walked up on a shot Hyena with her loaded in my hand to check it, just as I touched the eye it sprung up & came for me, as I leaped back I shot it !

This is the next morning.

 

[Eduard_Venter]

Interesting thread this that I am only seeing for the first time now. On Saturday while herding my cattle I accidently stepped on this puffadder's tail. It did absolutely nothing. I had the fright of my life as I was convinced it was going to bite me, but it only moved ever so slightly after I stepped on it.

I wouldn't recommend it though. You might not be as lucky as me, and new underpants will be needed!

 

[F. Vaccaro]

Thanks @F. Vaccaro, yes I love the Old Hi Power, pulled me out of sticky situations a few times, just this year I walked up on a shot Hyena with her loaded in my hand to check it, just as I touched the eye it sprung up & came for me, as I leaped back I shot it !

This is the next morning.

View attachment 497786

The Hi Power is a fine handgun, glad you had it!

 

[steve white]

View attachment 182511This was my first encounter with a poisonous snake in three hunts. This was in Namibia and as he is only about 16 inches long , I passed him about two feet away. I never heard him as my hearing is bad, my PH heard him and warned me.

Would have made a good hatband

 

[steve white]

I have only heard of Indian King Cobras that might reach that size. That is a monster.

Just poked around on line, and the largest Egyptian ever recorded was 2.59 meters. This gal is in that class. Jeez.

Probably could be proved new record?