Dove season opened up on Sept. 1st here in the great state of Arizona... I was unable to make opening day due to work, so my buddies and I made plans to head out on the second. We got together, loaded up an headed out. Upon arrival we set up on our spot and waited for the birds to show up.. One of the guys brough a friend whom I had met before and knew casually. His name is Randy. Randy saw my pistol in my holster on my side and made a wise crack about me having to be a good shot with it, in order to use it during dove season, due to the fact that if I didn't shoot the bird in the head, I wouldn't have much left to eat... We all chuckled and I explained that I have ran into several varieties of snakes while hunting, some with legs and some without, and that my pistol was cheap insurance against both. Randy just kind of smiled and rolled his eyes, as if he was thinking I was paranoid....

After about an hour and a half, I was limited out, so I dropped my bird vest at the truck and put my shotgun up. I decided to play "bird dog" for the rest of the guys by retreiving their downed birds for them. Shortly thereafter two of my buddies both dumped birds in the same general area on the other side of a fence, so I took off to go retreive them for the guys. Just after I hopped the fence, I came around a bush looking for the first bird and I heard the bone-chilling 'Buzzzzzzz' of a rattle snake, I glanced down, saw the 3.5 foot long western diamond back about a foot and a half from my left foot, coiled and raising it's head. I instinctively side-stepped and drew my pistol in one motion. My front sight flashed over it's head and I pressed the trigger. The single .45 ACP Winchester SXT hollow point took the snakes head off! I must have yelled out or said something when I sidestepped, because all of the guys were looking at me when it happened. (one of the guys quoted me as yelling "Oh Shit!" as I moved faster than he had ever seen me move, but I don't remember saying anything... but that does sound like something I would say at that time.)

Randy, after having just seen this, started laughing and said something to the effect of "if the bird wasn't dead, why didn't you just step on it; you didn't have to shoot it again!" I looked at him and informed him that it wasn't a bird I had shot and told him to come have a look... He came over, looked at the now headless snake as it went through it's death throughs and turned pale as a sheet... It took him about two minites to scan every inch of ground between him and the truck, make a bee-line for it and announce that he was scared to death of snakes and would be waiting in the truck for the rest of us when we were done!

One of my other buddies, who was closest to me when I shot the snake and witnessed the incident in full view, was utterly amazed at how fast I moved, drew and shot and would not stop talking about my shot placement. He was in awe... (I kind of surprised myself too, but I didn't tell him that! )

It was definetly one of the best shots I've made with a handgun under stress. It also clearly demonstrated why I always have a handgun with me when I am hunting, no matter what the species or the environment.

The post-script to this story is that we cleaned up, took the birds home and I grilled up a whole mess of dove and season flour pan-fried up some rattle snake and we had a fantastic lunch... Randy was surprisingly pleased and how much he liked the taste of my fried rattle snake...

-Tac

You should have seen the look on his face when he was eating the rattle snake... I think he would have eaten a flock of crows first! The surprise came after the first bite, when he announced, "Wow, this is really good! Is there any more?"

-I just smiled and pushed the plate toward his side of the counter and gave him a nod....

-Tac

Jinxed..... It tastes like.... rattle snake... which is to say it has the texture of most white meat foul and flavor of what ever it seams to have the bulk of it's diet made up of.. Around here, they eat mostly mice/rats/lizards and other snakes... It does taste a lot like chicken, but it also depends on how you cook it. Pan fried in seasoned flour is the same way I cook chicken, so it goes to figure that they would be similar....

Roc Doc.... I don't usually shoot snakes on sight either, but this one was about as close to bitting me as I have ever had, and he wasn't retreating (like most do). I understand the place of the snake in the eco system and don't usually mind them any more than I do spiders or scorpions, in that I usually just give them a wide berth if I know they are there.

This one was actually the second rattler that I have shot the head off of with one shot, but the first with a pistol. The first one was several years ago and shot with a 12 ga loaded with #6 shot from about 3 feet away and was not anywhere near as reactionary or as spectacular as this one.

As far as bumping into people while openly armed and hunting goes, I have never had a game warden or rancher blink an eye at my pistol. Its almost expected in Az. As a matter of fact, I think most of the ranchers I have dealings with find it more odd to see someone unarmed when outside than the other way around. "Randy" is "not from around here" and his hunting experience is almost completely limited to Wisconsin, where he explains that handguns are not frequently seen or used out in the woods (in his circles anyway). He has a different perspective now....

Gun Doc... I have the skin curing on the back porch as I type... My intent is a hat band, rather than a checkbook cover..

Or possibly a nice in-lay on a new holster for the .45 that sent him to the frying pan....

Room.... The snake you ran across is lucky it was you who bumped into him... If your day time temps on that side of the country are starting to cool down (it's still 107 around here), that would explain some of his lethargic behavior.. as well as would him having just finished a small meal.. The rattlers in mid-to-southern Az. stay active until mid to late Oct.-early Nov. depending on when the weather actually decides to start cooling down.

I didn't have my phone/camera with me, but my buddy did. I will see if he will send me a picture of this one so I can post it.

Bishop... Brother it sounds like you were luck in that instance. I have seen the results of a rattlesnake bite and they are no joke. One guy I met that got bit on his hand, lost 3 fingers and has some nerve damage to his forearm. Another guy I met was bitten in the lower calf and lost a sizable chunk of his calf muscle due to the tissue damage from the venom. Both said that the pain was severe. In my instance, I am pretty sure that snake could have covered the foot and a half to my leg, and I wasn't going to take any chances. I was wearing camo BDU pants and low ankle hiking boots at the time, so the snake wouldn't have had much problem getting to my leg if he had the opportunity.

One of my most memorable "snake stories" was from when I was a kid. I was in a small boat fishing on a desert lake with some friends and we were stopped in the water fishing around some submerged structure when a 4 foot diamonback came out of nowhere and tried to climb in the boat with us. Talk about freaking out.. I heard a "thump" on the side of the boat and looked over the edge to see the head of this snake (which appeared huge at the time) slithering up the side, trying to get in with us! Trust me on this one.. if you have a choice between a fishing pole and a .45 for snake defense.... go with the .45...

-Tac

got a nice snake story.

Was fishing with my best bud were in the south. Life with snakes is a everyday thing here in the summer time. Was fishing on some backwater off of the cado river threw my spiner a dozen times probley. Then i get to looking to walk around the edge out came a watermoc he was pissed he went out in the water about 15 feet then headed right back at me in haste i threw a rock he turned around i went back to fishing.He had to try again jim threw a few more rocks had no gun, beer in the back of truck instead he went back out.Jim back to fishing the damn watermoc had to have my spot he finaly won after he went out and came for bank with half his body out the water!! Me and my bro left he can have it!! I say he knowing it was a female protecting her nest had to have been ive never seen any snake act in such a manner, and ive watched snakes grab frogs not 3 feet from my feet here in the summer its just part of life here if u wana fish or swim. But now we got the gators to play with too Jim dont swim anymore.lol