Posted on 05/23/2016 10:45:49 PM PDT by djf
Short but interesting vid at the source! Since I grew up there, I am always listening/watching...
Rattlesnake was having a lucky day.
My inclination is to not kill them. But I have killed the juvenile version - if you have human children anywhere nearby, the juveniles are particularly dangerous, they cannot yet gauge the amount of venom they release, they always deliver the full shot of it, and being young their venom is very potent.
Yes,, certainly if I had kids and found this in the back yard, the result would be different.
But, as I said, it was Mr. Rattler’s lucky day.
I am not sure if you have been to Letchworth state park or not.
It is a lush, very idyllic place, full of wildlife and plants, some actually exist pretty much there and there alone.
It was formed by the Genesee river carving out a deep chasm at the end of the ice age. At points, the chasm is over 500 feet deep, and exposes layers and layers of the early sedimentary history of Upstate/Western New York.
When I was in high school, me and my chemistry teacher walked up it. Took a couple days. It’s about 17 miles long.
That part of New York is littered with waterfalls/chasms/gorges.
I have always thought that but have read different opinions
on that subject.
http://www.chigiy.com/the_gardeners_anonymous_b/2011/05/the-baby-rattlesnake-bite-debate.html
“Therefore, baby rattlesnake venom may be slightly more toxic than adult venom. However all snake experts agree that being bitten by an adult rattlesnake is far more dangerous than a bite from a baby rattlesnake because of the sheer quantity of venom that an adult snake can produce.”
Sounds lovely.
But since it’s not my back yard and I don’t have kids, I’d leave the wildlife alone - that is, I’d back away rather than attack.
Or whatever.
You get my drift.
Letchworth State Pk, I thought they were talkng about Letchworth Village, an abandoned mental hospital in Stony Pt, NY, near Harriman SP. “Urban explorers” like to snoop around that place.
an abandoned mental hospital in Stony Pt, NY,...”
Hope they don’t go at Halloween. Those that are into this sort of thing swear they are haunted and the ghosts or auras are quite evident then.
Big double WOW!
Truly, it’s a beautiful, beautiful place. Called “The Grand Canyon of the East”
New York has a bad rep because of the city, but when you get out of town, it’s quite extraordinary.
wow, just beautiful
It is, isn’t it?
It runs basically west-towards the East. The park part of it is on the northern side of the chasm.
For a number of years, we lived not very far from the southern side. Me and my brother would hike there often. You might think you have seen deer, but NEVER have I seen so many white-tail at once! Hundreds of them, all in an alfalfa field on the south side...
Yep, just about everyone who steps foot in those places swear they witness something supernatural, esp around Halloween.
(I was born and lived in Western NY State until about 40.)
I left NY when I was about 30, never saw a rattler. Seen plenty on the west coast though.
When I was a kid, my sister DID see one. In Livingston county, on a tree covered hillside. But it wasn’t a Timber rattler.
It was about a five and a half foot Eastern Diamondback.
My old man offed it with a shovel.
AKA The Grand Canyon of the East.
We have timber rattlers
On the endangered species list. So we teach them tricks: lay down, roll over , play dead. They learn quickly particularly when near the house.
That’s an interesting place (the mental hospital); the cemetery has many graves marked by numbers. When people thought it was dehumanizing for the dead inmates to be treated like numbers, it was pointed out that families often did this (to prevent the stigma of having the family name on the marker). Some of them have whole names on them, and there is a large monument added later with many of the names of the “nameless”. The Long Path (designed to connect NYC to Albany) passes there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.