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Here in Ohio (Cincinnati area) it's not a problem other than a harmless garter snake or other non-poisonous variety. But in the Southern/Western states I imagine it could be a serious concern when searching around rocks or in the woods for a cache.

Oh, really? No other snakes in Ohio? Think again.

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Surprisingly here in South Carolina I haven't ran into any snakes (knock on wood). I have read log after log of other people running into all kinds of snakes but either I have been lucky or I have over looked them. Hopefully I have been lucky and not the other. If I am overlooking them I guess that I am lucky I haven't been bitten yet. :smile:

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Here in Ohio (Cincinnati area) it's not a problem other than a harmless garter snake or other non-poisonous variety. But in the Southern/Western states I imagine it could be a serious concern when searching around rocks or in the woods for a cache.

Oh, really? No other snakes in Ohio? Think again.

Since the OP is referring to the urban areas of SW Oh. I would have to agree that unless you're talking about the Cincy zoo,there is no danger of being bitten by a poisonous snake.

Edited by HOGFEVER
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Surprisingly here in South Carolina I haven't ran into any snakes (knock on wood). I have read log after log of other people running into all kinds of snakes but either I have been lucky or I have over looked them. Hopefully I have been lucky and not the other. If I am overlooking them I guess that I am lucky I haven't been bitten yet. :smile:

Yeah, seeing them is one thing but a bite by one while reaching for cache is another story. Stay lucky!

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I've seen a few out in the woods in Florida. So far, none poisonous. I don't mind snakes, provided they stay over there. As much as possible, I'll leave them be. That said, I have only ever drawn my gun with intent to use it once...and it was against a snake. I was in knee high pine needles, and couldn't seen him, but I could sure hear him. I did not like that feeling.

 

(All ended well. He boogied his way, and I boogied mine. No snakes were harmed in the creation of this message, although a large number of electrons were seriously inconvenienced.)

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My husband and I started geocaching less that two months ago as an anniversary present/date, and our very first cache search was a snake filled adventure. We saw two snakes, one lunged at me. We found many snake holes, a snake skin and a dead snake...all within 20 feet of this one cache! And we didn't even find it that day! But we did find it a couple weeks later.

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My husband and I started geocaching less that two months ago as an anniversary present/date, and our very first cache search was a snake filled adventure. We saw two snakes, one lunged at me. We found many snake holes, a snake skin and a dead snake...all within 20 feet of this one cache! And we didn't even find it that day! But we did find it a couple weeks later.

I would have thought that was enough to put you off for life.

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My husband and I recently moved to South Florida. We started Geocaching a month ago in Pennsylvania before our move. We love it. We lived about 9 miles from Gettysburg Pennsylvania. At Devils Den in the Gettysburg National Park there have been sightings of Copperhead snakes. I have not seen any but, I have heard kids in that area screaming and running down the rocky hill. One of the kids fathers confirmed that it was a Copperhead. I am terrified of the snakes and can only imagine the kind in South Florida. I purchased walking sticks for my husband and I for when we go Geocaching. I am thinking that we can move around the area with the stick before we pick up the Geocache. I have not seen a snake yet here in South Florida and I am not looking forward to finding one either. Happy Geocaching! May it be snake free!

Edited by NuttySophie
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Down here in SE FL, I am surprised I have only seen a couple rat snakes and black racers. Sooner or later I'm going to meet a rattlesnake in the wild. Seen bobcats, deer, wild pigs, scrub jays, gators. Rattlesnakes and river otters continue to elude me. I must admit a certain amount of apprehension about them as a result - I'd like to see one because I've never seen one (in the wild) but I also really hope I don't finally find one the hard way.

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Down here in SE FL, I am surprised I have only seen a couple rat snakes and black racers. Sooner or later I'm going to meet a rattlesnake in the wild. Seen bobcats, deer, wild pigs, scrub jays, gators. Rattlesnakes and river otters continue to elude me. I must admit a certain amount of apprehension about them as a result - I'd like to see one because I've never seen one (in the wild) but I also really hope I don't finally find one the hard way.

Gators would be crazy to see while caching also. That's one thing for sure I don't have to worry about in Ohio!

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Down here in SE FL, I am surprised I have only seen a couple rat snakes and black racers. Sooner or later I'm going to meet a rattlesnake in the wild. Seen bobcats, deer, wild pigs, scrub jays, gators. Rattlesnakes and river otters continue to elude me. I must admit a certain amount of apprehension about them as a result - I'd like to see one because I've never seen one (in the wild) but I also really hope I don't finally find one the hard way.

Gators would be crazy to see while caching also. That's one thing for sure I don't have to worry about in Ohio!

Shucks, if I don't get to see a gator somewhere along the hike, I'm not convinced it's a good cache! :P

 

I joke. There are some wonderful places out in the woods too, I just love a nice hike along a stream/lake. Preferably through the woods too. :D

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One of our local cachers was bitten by a copperhead last week. She's ok now, but it didn't sound pleasant at all.

 

In the year and a half I've been here I've only come across one snake and it was while caching. I reached down and pulled a 50 cal ammo can out of a hole in the ground and there was a six foot long black scale wrapped around the can. It dropped back into the hole as the cache came out. I don't mind telling you that I ran away screaming like a little girl....

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Ran across a snake while Caching out in the western desert of Utah. The rattler was actually using the cache to provide shade from the mid-day sun. Cache was behind some large sagebrush, and we had to move a few rocks to get the can out of the hole. As we moved the rocks the snake came out from under the cache and curled up at the base of the sagebrush and watched us very carefully. He must not have felt threatened as he never raised his tail or himself off the ground, but it sure made the kids scream and run back to the truck.

 

We managed to sign the log and move along without any incident.

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San Diego here. Yup, we got us some serious rattlers here. I came across one last month while attempting a TB rescue. I abandoned the attempt after meeting the rattle snake.

Wow, I knew you all had rattlers out there. How close was it to the cache? Thanks for the reply!

 

It was within 15ft of the cache guarding the only way in. Sure it slowly rattled and slithered away but I didn't want to stick around in case it came back while I was working with the cache. Maybe I'll go back in the winter for this one :) That snake encounter probably earned me a world record vertical leap when I saw it.

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Here in South Dakota frequently see snakes usually of the harmless variety but have run into a few rattlers. Take precautions (long stick and other tools) in rattler friendly areas. But the worst snake encounter was on the harmless garter variety. Of course that doesn't matter much when you are precariously balanced on a 4 inch branch 20 feet up over water and you grab to balance an overhead branch previously occupied by said snake. Needless to say I needed dry (and clean) pants and thank what ever diety that was watching over me that the water was deep enough and I actually had the floating water resistant GPS... Wife wants to know why no pictures.

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Although my experience in caching is pale compared to the vets around here, I have had my share of run-ins from backpacking and camping. It's disconcerting to hear of snake bites, but it comes with the territory. The most I have ran across caching has been a black snake climbing a tree and a couple of water moccasins near caches placed around creeks or lakes.

 

I cannot stress enough the importance of researching snake bite treatment methods (and all first aid responses) by reading medical journals and trusted sources. Don't rely on inexpensive snake bite kits- do the research on the pros and cons of these. They can do more harm than good.

 

Stabilization of victim, identification of snake/description, evacuation for proper medical attention.

 

I treat each caching outage the same as backpacking: alert others of your plans and duration (most importantly if soloing), carry a full first aid kit- along with the basics of being prepared and bring a cell phone.

 

I hope everyone here takes the time to become knowledgeable of first aid procedures in remote situations and stays safe.

 

Godspeed.

Edited by SinopeanDog
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I was out geocaching with my girlfriend earlier today and we were doing the Tour of Chester County-SOUTH multi-cache. we were at the second location searching for a micro (which had been stolen days before) and I decided to hop down a level to search for it in a little pile of leaves in the shadows. A car went by so i poked my head up but as i reached down I felt something scaly....to which i jumped out of the hole, bashing my head and back in the process, to get the flashlight because I soooo didnt think it was what i thought it was. sure enough...I had almost grabbed a 4.5 foot black snake by the head. Freaked my the hell out. lol. Probably harmless but this thing freaked me out for a few mins. Lol.

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Here in Ohio (Cincinnati area) it's not a problem other than a harmless garter snake or other non-poisonous variety. But in the Southern/Western states I imagine it could be a serious concern when searching around rocks or in the woods for a cache.

 

I've been living in Japan since 1991 but Cincinnati is my hometown. There are poisonous snakes there. Be careful.

MULLY

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My son stepped on a Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake at Upper Tampa Bay Park, near Tampa, Florida, a few months ago when we were about to do maintenance on my geocache called Perseverance. Luckily I saw the snake as his foot was on it, and just said, "Walk!" and he kept walking and the snake slithered away. If I'd screamed, he would've jumped and scared the snake.

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Seen two different types of rattle snakes in Southern California (might have heard one today and didn't stick around long enough to verify!)

 

Non-venomous snake encounters include garter, gopher, king, and a memorable encounter with a racer in northern san diego county while hiking and caching with the family.

 

I watched the racer come towards me as it hunted a lizard. I remained completely still and watched the drama unfold. The lizard darted into the log that I was standing next to on the trail. The snake persisted relentlessly and emerged from the log with the lizard in its jaws, held at the mid-section. The snake then turned and finally noticed me watching. With lizard in mouth, it turned away from me and raced down the hill, while still holding the lizard in it's mouth. The snake held it's head aloft about 12" above the ground as it raced away, never lowering it. It then disappeared into brush at the bottom of the hill where the creek bed was. It was a memorable encounter; thank you geocaching!

 

Almost forgot - have run into Snake of Snake & Rooster while geocaching in the Temecula Valley - does that count too? :lol:

Edited by Team Geo-Rangers
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I've seen many, many rattle snakes. Most don't bother you, just give you a friendly "warning". Some will, though. When hiking with the little ones, we barely missed a strike. Being 100 miles from any town, that would NOT have been fun! Reasons we never hike unarmed anymore.

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though, i have never had any such incident...but i wonder what would that moment be like..Snake

and i feel it depends on the snake, if it is poisonous stand perfectly still and do not talk, if it is hot out the snake will mistake you for a hot rock because snakes use inferred not color so if your surrounding is hot and you are hot and you do not move it will mistake you for a rock or something. if it is not venomous you can just run away it wont attack. if you do get bitten call for help and go to the hospital but if you get bit do not be scared or run because the venom will circulate though your blood faster and you will start dying faster. :)

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This is a copy of a write up on a cache I did this past June (GC2V9Y2). Although it was just a big fat rat snake, he still gets the geocache and I'll have to go back another day!

 

"ok so we're looking for a small container. Coordinates dropping on the gps..10, 6, 4, 2...ok we're close and that looks like a very good candidate for hiding spots.

 

So as I bend over to look in those spots, I see a super large jumbo container. YIKES, and it moves. "Henry quit walking towards me!", of course "Why", Henry says "Did you find it?" Doug says "Yeah I find it allright and it's about 4 or 5 feet long and it moves and I'm not looking for it anymore." Before I can even finishing saying all that, Henry is already back up on the trail and ready to head to the next one. I like his idea.

 

Found 5 foot snake

Did Not find cache"

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So far we've been lucky -- there are a number of venomous varieties we could have encountered in our travels, but to date it's just been some nonvenomous black racers. One was HUGE -- at least six feet long and as thick as my wife's forearm, and it slithered right past us to get where the cache was hidden.

 

When I lived in Arizona in my pre-caching days, I'd run across a rattlesnake now and again, thankfully without incident. And it's not a snake, but it's still venomous; I've come across some pretty big gila monsters.

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This is a copy of a write up on a cache I did this past June (GC2V9Y2). Although it was just a big fat rat snake, he still gets the geocache and I'll have to go back another day!

 

"ok so we're looking for a small container. Coordinates dropping on the gps..10, 6, 4, 2...ok we're close and that looks like a very good candidate for hiding spots.

 

So as I bend over to look in those spots, I see a super large jumbo container. YIKES, and it moves. "Henry quit walking towards me!", of course "Why", Henry says "Did you find it?" Doug says "Yeah I find it allright and it's about 4 or 5 feet long and it moves and I'm not looking for it anymore." Before I can even finishing saying all that, Henry is already back up on the trail and ready to head to the next one. I like his idea.

 

Found 5 foot snake

Did Not find cache"

 

Like I always say... a "found it" log rarely says much, but a DNF log most always has a story. :o

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saw 2 adders on the hike towards one cache once,

but they are so timid they didn't stick around for long, its amazing how fast they can slither away if they want to.

 

that's the great thing here. Our only venomous snake would much rather slither away at speed than bite given the chance. the only bites I have heard of where where people have stepped on one or accidentally cornered one. Bites also are very unlikely to be fatal unless its a small kid or someone very elderly and frail. extremely painful from what I hear and hospital treatment is strongly advised but very rarely more serious.

 

The only other native snake here I have yet to encounter and given that's non venomous and quite small I will probably try to get a photo. Ive handled a captive one and their actually kind of cute in a scaly way.

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After one of the warmest winters here in coastal Southern California, I was wondering when I would see the first rattlesnake of the year. We had days of 80F+ in December, January and this month. February is much earlier than in the past, when it would be April or May before seeing the first one. This little guy gave his rattle just off the trail when I was about 4 feet away.

 

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I've seen plenty of non-venomous snakes around here, and at least 1-2 copperhead sightings each year. But three summers ago I got a bit too close to one and felt the pain for the next 6 weeks. Have you ever shut the car door on your hand, or nailed a finger while hammering a nail? Now imagine repeating that 5-6 more times; it hurt that much. This is day two, before I had the doctor lance the finger tip to allow some fluid to escape and slow the swelling.

 

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I was very lucky. There is a small spot on the fingertip where I lost some sensation, some minor scarring, and the nail wants to become ingrown often.

 

So be careful where you put your hand, and when in doubt poke it with a stick.

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Reasons we never hike unarmed anymore.

 

where i live the only vicious things i need to worry about are mosquitoes so i have a really hard time imagining how exactly being armed is going to help you against a snake, or what exactly is the purpose of being armed?

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Reasons we never hike unarmed anymore.

 

where i live the only vicious things i need to worry about are mosquitoes so i have a really hard time imagining how exactly being armed is going to help you against a snake, or what exactly is the purpose of being armed?

ever hear of snake shot, available in many different calibers it does wonders on snakes, I've probably run more snake shot through my S&W mod 19

then anything else

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