Snakes?

[+TexasTornados]

Today, near a creekbed in Dallas, TX. my compass pointed to a tree about 8' away. As I got within 3' of it I noticed something in the ivy growth around the tree. It was a 3' water moccasin.Im glad I was not on camera, as I made one scarry face and bolted away! For just a moment I thought it was part of the game. I picked up a rotten limb and stabbed at its head, only angering it to striking at the air. It then slithered under a rock beside the tree. My compass continued to point to the tree. I then saw the cache in the fork about a foot from the last place I saw the snake! I poked around for quite sometime to scare the snake away and then got the nerve to grab the cache. I checked it out some 10 yards away from hiding site and then quickly replaced it. My next stop was at Academy Sports to purchase a walking stick. Please be very careful out there in the non developed parks!

[+Team Tayjam]

My next stop would have been at Walmart to buy some new underwear!

 

I'm glad you saw the snake before you reached for the cache!

[+TeamLightening]

Perhaps you should send a note to the cache owner suggesting that they raise the difficulty rating on that cache?

[+marinor]

or perhaps you could cache in the UK, where the most dangerous wild thing we have is a wife

 

stay safe

Bill

Cramlington

England

[+BadAndy]

I also enjoy poking venomous snakes with sticks. It's not as much fun as tossing pinecones at rabid porcupines...but it sure beats peeing on an electric fence.

 

I run into snakes occasionally on the trail, I usually give them a wide berth. Probably the most danger I've ever been in froma wild animal was while hunting a virtual at Yellowstone. A herd of about a dozen Bison walked right through my position (I could have touched one of them), whilst I was wetting myself behind a tree.

[+BilboB]

I came very close to stepping on a baby rattlesnake on my way to a cache in Arizona, and a very long snake scared the crap out of me when I was going to a cache in Mississippi. On a side note, in New Jersey I came pretty close to getting bitten by a black widow spider who made her home around the handle of an ammo can in a hollow log. Also in Arizona (same trip), I was hiking up a hill and a hand-sized spider was in a web strung right across the trail I was on. I looked up a split second before I would have eaten it!

[+briansnat]

On a side note, in New Jersey I came pretty close to getting bitten by a black widow spider who made her home around the handle of an ammo can in a hollow log

 

We have black widows in New Jersey ?

[+shawhh]

yup, mass. south. -harry (source:The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders.)

[+Z_Statman]

Down here in Florida we come across snakes, spiders, etc quite often - simple statement is to leave them alone. Not sure about most but I do much of my hunts alone so if something happens it could be a problem even though I carry a cell phone and my wife has a 'general' idea of where I am going. There have been occasions where the cache owner actually has a *rubber* snake on the cache lid and believe me, some can be pretty real looking.

 

The best bet, as noted above, is to look first and by all means be careful!

[+Team PEZ]

I came very close to stepping on a baby rattlesnake on my way to a cache in Arizona, and a very long snake scared the crap out of me when I was going to a cache in Mississippi. On a side note, in New Jersey I came pretty close to getting bitten by a black widow spider who made her home around the handle of an ammo can in a hollow log. Also in Arizona (same trip), I was hiking up a hill and a hand-sized spider was in a web strung right across the trail I was on. I looked up a split second before I would have eaten it!

holy crap! im never caching with you! - TP

[+sodajerk]

See this post at Tenison Trail Cache Snake and GPS It is close to my house. The owner has cleaned up the area.

[+Road Rabbit]

We have snakes and many other critters aplenty in Florida. It's very common to find caches "guarded" by the local fauna.

 

Two bits of advice:

 

1. Know the local critters. That will give you an idea what you might run into, and which ones are harmless vs. harmful. There are many sources for this kind of information, whatever area you might be caching in.

 

2. Use a stick to probe any bushes or holes you might have to reach into. Hiking sticks are perfect for this.

 

Edited to correct poor syntax. My 2nd grade teacher would be ashamed!

Edited January 19, 2005 by Road Rabbit

[+Vic303]

Hey TX, somebody also saw a Cottonmouth up at Lewisville lake on a recent DNF cache hunt. Get a couple walking sticks, and watch where you put your feet! Glad you didn't get bit!

Vic303

[adrianjohn]

or perhaps you could cache in the UK, where the most dangerous wild thing we have is a wife

 

stay safe

Bill

Cramlington

England

Hmmm.

 

Almost true, Great Britain has two indigenous snake species though only one is poisonous.

I was once reaching under the edge of the concrete base of a demolished building to recover a cache when the movement under my fingers made me draw back quickly. I had almost grabbed the middle of an adder our only venomous snake, I watched as it slid away and then carefully removed the cache box.

Thankfully an adder should not be fatal to a healthy adult, but I was glad I was not bitten.

[TahoeJoe]

I found a snake under a cache once but fortunately we don't have any venomous snakes in our area.

[+Runfrog]

poor snake. how would you like to be sunbathing and have some cacher poke you with a stick. given that water moccasins are agressive you are lucky, you could have returned later.

[DocJ]

It seems that every time I cache I kick myself for not bringing a camera. I ran into (almost literally) the fattest eastern diamondback rattler while zeroing in on a cach in a Florida palmetto forest. It was just starting to get a little dark and I was going after one last cache when I happened to look down from my gps and saw it coiled up about two steps ahead of me. Talk about get your attention quickly.. I regained my composure long enough to find the cache about 20 yards away. The worst part was hiking back.. it had gotten pretty dark, and EVERY step I took back to the car was the most deliberate one of my life.

[+Ambrosia]

Yeah. Almost stepped on a big rattlesnake right by a cache last fall. Needless to say, I left and came back at a later date to finish the cache.

[+Leapin' Lizards]

Same-same with the "big @#$% rattlesnake by cache", only we were checking on one of our own hides. I now understand the basic difference between estrogen and testosterone... Hubby and I are both completely freaked-out-screaming-levitating-gonzo-crazy-scared of snakes. Adrenaline + estrogen = RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN, which is what I did. To my great surprise, adrenaline + testosterone = RUN, stop, grab the biggest stick you can find and break it in half, then plunge back into the scrub to find and beat hell out of the snake.

 

Can't nothin' give ya the wibblies like the buzz of a rattler somewhere in the vicinity of your ankles when you're standing in neck-high brush.

[+c88m]

Here's a pic that I took on the way to a cache site , there was 3 one managed to hide .Snake pit

[+Colorado Cacher]

Snakes on the way to caches, or at caches? I have stopped counting, thats how many here in Colorado.

[+chaos reloaded]

So far no snakes on my caching adventures but I've only been doing it a short time..

 

All my venomous snake encounters have been while hunting/camping.

[+Team Snoopy]

We have only come across one snak while caching, thank goodness!! Actually it was my hubby that found it while tromping through a bunch of tall weeds trying to find a trail. He's afraid of them so screamed like a girl (LOL) but wanted to try and get a pic of it, so he sttod there for a few minutes trying to find it again. Dummy! Meanwhile the kids and I ran and found a picnic table and stood on top of it, lol. We found the trail after that and used it!!

[+Camo-crazed]

I also enjoy poking venomous snakes with sticks.  It's not as much fun as tossing pinecones at rabid porcupines...but it sure beats peeing on an electric fence.

LMAO

 

^ tears of mirth

[Stony2008]

I encountered a huge snake when looking for a cache once and as usual i couldn't help but poke at it. well it started to chase me . When it finally stopped I thought id had enough so checked out the cache and left ASAP before it found me again and did a little poking of its own.

 

so as far as i go i think I'm done poking at snakes .

[+Shadow's]

Whats wrong with a little old snake. All it was doing is protecting the cache from muggies.

It might have been a moble geosnake? Did it have any tags on it? lol

I always take a hikeing staff with me. Not to play with snakes but to help them relocate to a different area than where I am or going. Around here their just a part of the fun hunting a cache.

Watch where you step,squat or where you put your hands and if you cant see into it or around it use the stick first.

Good hunting

[+tands]

Went 'Yikes' on this cache: Baker Street Memoirs

 

- T of TandS

[tiber]

This is a nasty topic up here in PA. On one hand, I believe most snakes are "protected". On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the WCO is going to be OK with you shooting snakes that end up in your tent, pants, shoes, or whatever. My grandfather owned a farm in upstate PA and it had a swamp behind it. We used to constantly get snakes. Snakes in the yard. Snakes on the porch. Snakes in the basement (wet cellars are fun with a capitol SNAKE). Basically, if you found one, back up. It shouldn't follow you. If it does, shoot it (got into the habit at an early age to carry a .22 cal rifle). If you step on one and it hasn't bit you yet, check the eyes. Slitted eyes (not round pupils)? Shoot it. And, of course to this day, I carry a snakebite kit. AND I'M VERY SURE NOT TO STEP ON SNAKES.

[+Team PEZ]

This is a nasty topic up here in PA. On one hand, I believe most snakes are "protected". On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the WCO is going to be OK with you shooting snakes that end up in your tent, pants, shoes, or whatever. My grandfather owned a farm in upstate PA and it had a swamp behind it. We used to constantly get snakes. Snakes in the yard. Snakes on the porch. Snakes in the basement (wet cellars are fun with a capitol SNAKE). Basically, if you found one, back up. It shouldn't follow you. If it does, shoot it (got into the habit at an early age to carry a .22 cal rifle). If you step on one and it hasn't bit you yet, check the eyes. Slitted eyes (not round pupils)? Shoot it. And, of course to this day, I carry a snakebite kit. AND I'M VERY SURE NOT TO STEP ON SNAKES.

shooting it takes too much time ... i just prefer to RUN AWAY.....

[+RockyRaab]

I simultaneously found a four-footer AND the cache I was seeking recently. This was a non-venomous snake (didn't recognize what kind) and I would have left it alone, but it was wounded in several places. Couldn't tell if it had been hit with a big stick or rocks - or had been run over. This was only about a hundred yards from a highway.

 

I shot the poor thing out of mercy. No mention of it in the log, which had been signed only an hour or so earlier.

 

Buried the snake and re-hid the cache. I hope the next cacher finds only one of the two!

 

Even though I'm very allergic to venom, I kinda like snakes. Never have feared them, and they are amazing animals to handle.

[+bigtmyers]

My husband wants to go camping at Coopers Rock in WV. I am NOT a camping kind of gal. I am a scared to death of snakes kind of gal. My friend told me she was there three different times and ran into rattlesnakes each time. I don't think I could sleep in a tent knowing or even thinking that a snake might like to cuddle up in my sleeping bag with me I want to so something my husband likes, but I would be a basket case the whole time worring if one of us might get bitten. Any suggestions on how to handle this????

[+Runfrog]

Animals smanimals, I'm more worrried about the other drivers I encounter on the way to a Cache Site. I mean Holly Moly can't they see that I'm trting to drive and work my GPS'r at the same time, if they were cconsiderate they'd get off "my" roads.

 

My worst encounters are with angry Groundhogs, or terroristic Squirels.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

I've always liked snakes and have no instinctive fear of them unless it's a 30-foot anaconda or a poisonous snake. Even the latter doesn't worry me particularly. I took a closeup (2 feet) of a rather large copperhead while benchmark hunting on a mountain last year. Understanding these animals helps a lot in keeping out of danger.

 

Here's my perspective on the psychology of snakes. I have caught several wild snakes (non-poisonous, of course). In the first couple minutes they WILL try to bite ... and poop ... on you. After the 2 minutes or so are up, they are no longer aggressive and will relax in your hands, although aiming to get away for another few minutes. After that, they might just as soon stay with you, especially if they notice that you are warm. The point being that you can catch and pick up this type of wild animal and tame it within a few minutes.

 

Just try doing that with a cute little squirrel or other mammal. You'd spend a year trying to hand tame it!

[+TeamTurtles]

While doing a quick drive up FTF, I was replacing the cache and there HE was. Needless to say turtles dont like snakes. So I didnt poke at him or throw pinecones at him, I just moved the cache about 10 feet, posted a warning and E-Mailed the owner. This was a swampy area so I guess he was there first.

[+Miragee]

I found this guy near a cache a couple of months ago.

 

 

I'm not afraid of snakes, but the sound a rattlesnake makes must have a direct connection to the "reptilian" part of our brains because I've never gotten used to that sound. It always startles and scares me.

[ImpalaBob]

Koikeeper found a cache the other day that had a rubber snake guard ..... she screamed of course .... just part of the wonderful sick minds that make this game so much fun! ImpalaBob

[+cainrcc]

There is a cache in Coopers Rock waypoint: GCH179 that has been found a few times in the log book by muggles -only the muggles were people looking for rattle snakes After reading the logs we quickly left the cache area luckly not seeing any snakes!!

[+CW Iams]

There is a cache in Coopers Rock waypoint: GCH179 that has been found a few times in the log book by muggles -only the muggles were people looking for rattle snakes    After reading the logs we quickly left the cache area luckly not seeing any snakes!!

Rattlesnake hunts used to be a pretty big thing when I was in grade school (mid to late '80s) in WV and northern PA... I have not heard of many lately though...

 

edit- typos due to fat fingers...

Edited May 3, 2005 by CW Iams

[+onetrapper]

We had our 1st encounter near Platte City Mo. 5-10-05. It was just a garter but a big one, sure glad it wasn't a mouse or I might still be looking for the wife.

[+Oreo Pony]

Found this guy at a nearby cache and brought him home for a short visit.

 

All was going well until he got out of the terrarium while we were at work. Lucky for me I found him within five minutes. If we hadn't found him, we would have had to move to a different house, according to my hubby.

[+OzarksJim]

I came across a copperhead while trying to find a cache in the Great Dismal Swamp in Southern Virginia a couple of weeks ago. It's always best to look first before you go feeling around underneath logs or any other normal snake hiding place, and an even better thing to do is feel around first with something like a hiking staff. This was my first poisonous snake encounter while caching, and it was quite a rush, even though I gave up searching for the cache. Here's the log and photos: Dismal Delight

 

Jim

[+Team Snoopy]

Here's a guy we found on a cache. He looks quite fat and angry!

[+marknhelen]

So glad we only have one type of poisonous snake in england (and only a little one at that)

[+ZillahBillies]

This is the only one we've stumbled across so far. We ran into him here in Eastern Washington a few weeks. Luckily, he was just a Bull Snake. Looks like a rattler minus the rattle.

 

Edited June 21, 2005 by ZillahBillies

[+MtnRubi]

I was walking along the edge of the creek, and when I place my hand on the rock to hop up out of the water, I was startled to see this little guy sitting there.

 

Fortunately, it was just too cold for him, he could barely move. I watched him for a few minutes, until he finally managed to move off into the brush.

[+ratacrats]

We saw about a 4-foot rattlesnake just after leaving a cache. Luckily we were in the car.

[pherring05]

I found snake in Rural Eastern NC.

 

Not something I want to repeat... I still want to go after cache though. It was long and blue and black and green, but no one believes me. Might have been eastern rattler.

 

Not sure

[BONEGURU]

gotta remember they taste good, just consider it a bonus

[+ZillahBillies]

Stumbled across this little guy near CWU 2003 Grad Cache in Yakima River Canyon. Darn thing wouldn't hold his tail still long enough for the auto focus on the camera to work very well (go figure).

[+CENT5]

but it sure beats peeing on an electric fence.

1968 Been there, Done that, It hurts. My hunting partners (My brother and 2 cousins.) were DYING. Learned to watch for BROWN insulators. Sheeesh.

 

Now back to the snakes.

 

Yes they are quite tasty. I like them BBQ'd.