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anyone regularly use snake gaiters?


Fusilli Jerry

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Hi Folks,

 

I'm caching nearly 100% solo and on weekdays right now. I like to hike and don't mind being out on my own.

 

However, I do have concerns with the snakes in and around northern NJ where I do most of my caching. Seems the rocky ridges are prime rattlesnake habitat.

 

So... I'm wondering what you folks do to protect yourselves? For a start, I think I'll start wearing leather gloves when raching into hidey holes. I carry a cell phone which should help if I get stranded.

 

How about snake gaiters? Anyone try these? Any thoughts? Any other ideas are much appreciated.

 

Fusilli Jerry

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Carry and use hiking sticks, in the extremely unlikely event that you get that close to a snake, the snake will usually strike at the stick. Hiking sticks are the second best thing for probing those hidey holes--the first is a geocaching friend, the one you tell Oh, I think it is over there in that hole--for some reason they can't resist just rushing over and reaching on in. But because you cache alone, use the hiking stick.

 

No one wears snake gaiters around here, except on casual day.

 

Snake bite is a rarity in NJ

 

Humans can walk much faster than a snake can travel over ground.

 

The coolest snake story of recent memory is the bit about the Rattle Snaked evolving so that they no longer have rattles--so now there is no warning. Seems like they were being hunted to extinction and the noisy ones were getting caught, the silent ones lived on. So now they have started to evolve sans rattle. So bam, no sound and gotcha.

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Never used them. I step cautiously in rattlesnake areas and have encountered them. I simply walk around.

 

They are out there. I've seen them as have many geocachers I know.

 

Look at it this way, probably the most dense population of rattlesnakes in the area in northern NJ is the Ramapos. It is also probably one of the most popular hiking areas. Just check out the parking lots on 202 and Skyline Drive on a nice Saturday to see how many people are out there on (and off) the trails.

 

After considering that, try to find the last news report of someone in NJ being bitten by a rattlesnake.

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http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/snakes/

 

I think the more likely problem for cachers is bee stings. I n the warm weather I always carry benadryl for the antihistamine properties. Some people have a pretty severe reaction to bee stings and benadryl can knock down the histamine flood. On one cache excursion I recall a number of people being stung.

 

Which begs the question---Do you carry a first aid kit ?

Edited by Packanack
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http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/snakes/

 

I think the more likely problem for cachers is bee stings. I n the warm weather I always carry benadryl for the antihistamine properties. Some people have a pretty severe reaction to bee stings and benadryl can knock down the histamine flood. On one cache excursion I recall a number of people being stung.

 

Which begs the question---Do you carry a first aid kit ?

 

Gents, thanks for the replies and your local insight.

 

In math terms:

(caution + keep eyes and ears open + hiking stick) > snake gaiters!

 

Regarding first aid kit, I haven't been carrying one lately. I have an old one from the 90's when I last frequently hiked. I'm probably better off buying or creating a new one rather than retrieving the old one from the attic. I remember for sure that it contains one of those old school snake bite kits that are now labled "useless".

 

What first aid items do you guys bring for day hikes?

 

As a bonus, here's a vid from a band named "First Aid Kit"

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After considering that, try to find the last news report of someone in NJ being bitten by a rattlesnake.

 

I seem to remember a case in Stokes about 8 or 10 years ago. Two guys were trying to capture rattlers and got bit.

 

Most rattlesnake bites are on the arms and hands. Draw yer own conclusions.

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It's not just the legs that need protection. Here is a copy of a log placed by a local cache owner in my area who was doing a bit of cache maintenance and had a small run in with a fanged friend.

 

May 8 by Serrabou (1991 found)

 

On a maintenance visit early this morning, I reached down to sweep a few leaves out of the hide spot before replacing the cache. I felt a sharp pain on my palm, so carefully felt around to see what sharp object was there so I could remove it. This time I felt another stinging pain on the side of my thumb. I stood up to have a closer look at my hand, and with horror realized what had happened.

These were puncture wounds. Snakebites!

 

I dropped the ammo can, put on my pack, and hightailed it out of there--I was over a half mile from my car as the crow flies. As a safety precaution I had told cphug184 where I was going to be hiking, so jotted him a quick note with my location and planned route, in case I didn't make it out.

 

Drove up 123--reaching over to shift with my left hand, because my right one was getting stiff and hurt a little--and saw a 24 hour emergency center. Turns out they only had two vials of Crofab anti-venom and with the looks of the swelling, now up to my elbow, I need between 6 and 8, so I was transported to the hospital in the back of an ambulance, sirens blaring as we tore down Rte 50.

 

The swelling continued up to my shoulder before the antidote started kicking in. I never saw the snake, but based on the reaction they believe it to be a copperhead, with an outside chance of being a rattlesnake.

 

So here I sit on the tenth floor, being kept for observation until tomorrow. I am disabling the cache for now, lest someone share my fate. I will ascertain the situation once I am fit enough to make the hike again.

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As a few have already said, your legs are not the only place that you need to worry about. When sticking your hands around in areas that you do not know you are running the risk of getting bit by anything. Snakes blend into their environment very well so even if you can see where your extremities are, you may not see a snake or other poisonous creatures.

 

TurtleSkin SnakeArmor is about the best and lightest fabric made for snake protection. They make both snake gaiters and gloves, along with chaps and pants. I use the gaiters all the time and can hardly tell they are on. There are other snake gaiters on the market but most are made with a hard and uncomfortable pvc shell. They as usually stiff.

 

Here is a link to a site where I found out about TurtleSkin SnakeArmor: www.SnakeProofGear.com

 

Apparently TurtleSkin also makes police gear, so I would say quality needs to be high.

 

I hope this helps: Chris

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As a few have already said, your legs are not the only place that you need to worry about. When sticking your hands around in areas that you do not know you are running the risk of getting bit by anything. Snakes blend into their environment very well so even if you can see where your extremities are, you may not see a snake or other poisonous creatures.

 

TurtleSkin SnakeArmor is about the best and lightest fabric made for snake protection. They make both snake gaiters and gloves, along with chaps and pants. I use the gaiters all the time and can hardly tell they are on. There are other snake gaiters on the market but most are made with a hard and uncomfortable pvc shell. They as usually stiff.

 

Here is a link to a site where I found out about TurtleSkin SnakeArmor: www.SnakeProofGear.com

 

Apparently TurtleSkin also makes police gear, so I would say quality needs to be high.

 

I hope this helps: Chris

 

At those prices I'll stick with walking carefully and using my hiking pole to poke around for the cache.

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Gents, thanks for the replies and your local insight.

 

In math terms:

(caution + keep eyes and ears open + hiking stick) > snake gaiters!

Regarding first aid kit, I haven't been carrying one lately. I have an old one from the 90's when I last frequently hiked. I'm probably better off buying or creating a new one rather than retrieving the old one from the attic. I remember for sure that it contains one of those old school snake bite kits that are now labled "useless".

 

....

 

1. yes in the unlikely event you do get bitten, and the even more unlikely event it is a poisonous snake and you also that you are among those that do not get a dry strike..... Don't compound the problem by slicing your wrists or femoral artery. Most likely the best first aid for a snake bite is walk at a normal pace back to the nearest road and make arrangements for someone to pick you up there via your cell phone.

 

2. some more numbers to crunch into a formula.

 

60= years I've hung out on the woods.

35000= approximate hours spent in the woods.

3= number of Copperhead sightings (PA=2, WV=1)

5= number of Rattlesnake sightings (PA=5) [Also saw 4 in a single August afternoon while driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA, but those weren't up close and personal until I got out of the car to take photos.]

 

I suspect there is a much greater chance of getting crushed by a falling tree than of getting a lethal snake bite.

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well folks, i'm gotten more comfortable solo bushwhacking these days. i've seen rattlers in the past but none this year. too bad i wasn't able to fight off the ticks though. just got diagnosed with Lyme disease this week. Damned little ticks ruin my "summer of george". Minimum three weeks of antibiotics here i come.

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I suspect there is a much greater chance of getting crushed by a falling tree Lyme disease than of getting a lethal snake bite.

well folks, i'm gotten more comfortable solo bushwhacking these days. i've seen rattlers in the past but none this year. too bad i wasn't able to fight off the ticks though. just got diagnosed with Lyme disease this week. Damned little ticks ruin my "summer of george". Minimum three weeks of antibiotics here i come.

Good luck with that.

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well folks, i'm gotten more comfortable solo bushwhacking these days. i've seen rattlers in the past but none this year. too bad i wasn't able to fight off the ticks though. just got diagnosed with Lyme disease this week. Damned little ticks ruin my "summer of george". Minimum three weeks of antibiotics here i come.

Permethrin. Saturate your hiking pants, socks, shoes and shirt the night before you hike. I can't remember where but I got a 6 can case online a couple of years ago and still have a few cans left. It says to use about once every two weeks but I spray each time I wash them and if I remember a spray the night before each hike.

 

Hope you get it cleared up.

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Just last week I was coming back from a pair of caches (Daniel in the Lions Den and Hadley Rille) which I accessed from Paradise Road off Route 23. I was walking down the woods road I was changing features on my GPS when I heard a loud cat hiss. It was NOT a cat … and it was a rattle not a hiss! There was a huge rattler on the edge of the woods road just under the foliage. The snake was about 6 inches in diameter and there were about 10-12 rattles on the tail. If the thing had not warned me off, I would have walked with 4 feet of it. The brush on both sides of the woods road was knee to waist deep and I was not walking through that stuff. I flipped some rocks to distract it.

There are some big snakes out there.

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