Cell Phone Call Saves Girls Surrounded By Rattlesnakes

Local 6 ^ | 7-08-4 | The Associated Press

[Kennesaw]

Cell Phone Call Saves Girls Surrounded By Rattlesnakes Rattlesnake Trapper Finds 25 To 30 Snakes In Area

POSTED: 1:41 pm EDT July 8, 2004 UPDATED: 2:19 pm EDT July 8, 2004

LIVINGSTON, Montana -- Two Colorado girls vacationing in Montana used a cell phone to call for help after finding themselves on a hillside infested with dozens of rattlesnakes.

Izzy Effler, 13, and Morgan Beadwell, 12, climbed a hill in Livingston to try to get cell phone reception.

However, while climbing, Izzy said a rattlesnake struck at her.

Morgan also reportedly stepped on a snake.

The girls then discovered that they were surrounded by six rattlers and used the phone to call for help, according to the report.

Brian Effler and his nephew eventually rescued the girls after shooting two of the snakes.

A rattlesnake trapper said he saw 25 to 30 snakes in the area.

The girls were not injured.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.

[lilylangtree]

No since I never studied Freud, especially when he said women suffered from penis envy. That did it! He's not my kind of person. But I remember my mama telling me that if you dream of snakes you made enemies. If you kill the snake or snakes, then you made friend(s). My friend opened her dream interpretation book and basically told me that snakes represented some serious problems in my future. Yuck!

[lilylangtree]

I would like to admit that I'm guilty but I'm not. Maybe next time. :)

[MontanaBeth]

"I was actually born in Polson during a family visit (jumped the gun by a month!)"

Welcome Home Then!

[MontanaBeth]

"It was very hard to leave every time but I think winter would drive me away"


Ah, but it is a dry cold, makes all the difference. Wintered in Wyoming a couple of years ago, now that was cold!

[DugwayDuke]

"It's illegal to shoot lawyers in every state."

No really, here in Alabama we have an open season last two weeks in March. Just no using an ambulance as a decoy to draw them in. Bag limit is three a day. Never hunted 'em myself. I hear they's hard to clean and rather greasy. I did hear one lawyer claim that there warn't no season on lawyers but you know how them fellows lie.

[T Minus Four]

LOL! Can you chum with hundred dollar bills?

[T Minus Four]

I'd live there in a heartbeat if there was work. I get all nostalgic whenever I see the old farm. It's beautiful here in Utah, but Western Montana is incomparable.

[T Minus Four]

Hey, speaking of Utah, I know you!

[T Minus Four]

Oops, duh. I meant you.

[Vince Ferrer]

I have had several 'pet' snakes including a Burmese Python. Bought it as a 6 week old 'baby' about 18 inches long and weighting only a couple of ounces. Two years later it was about 13 feet long and weighted in at 87 pounds.

I agree about your assesment of wild rattlesnakes, as long as you don't step on them or scare them, they are very accomodating. I saw one and tried to get some pictures of it. It actually took some effort to get it to stand up and rattle for me.

While you say your python was gentle, at that size it was far more dangerous than a wild rattler. They simply have no idea that you may not want them to strangle you, or do they care about what you want anyway.

[herkbird]

Most poisonous snakes are more common in the south, although I've heard reports of them all being found quite a ways up in the northern areas where you wouldn't really expect them.

Here in Georgia, out in the deep woods areas, I've seen some really large poisonous snakes that were in the 10 foot length or better, which is plenty big for me. I've also seen 10-15 small cottonmouths swimming together under a bridge which is kind of scary to see. The rattlesnake is the most secluded and hardest to see of all the pit vipers that I've ever seen in the woods.

The neatest thing I ever seen in the wild is when a Bald Eagle swooped down and grabbed himself a snake for dinner. Although I've seen it on TV hundreds of times, I never thought I would see it happen in real life, it was a great experience.

If you ever see a poisonous snake outdoors, Please keep your distance. If kids play in the area, it may be best to destroy the snake if possible. Please be extremely careful. Never take unneeded chances.

[MontanaBeth]

Flathead county is booming, don't know what you do for a living but there is work here. Freepmail and I could keep an eye out for you, jobwise. I check Job Service a lot. Can't have too many conservatives moving here. Californians moving here and they are bringing their ways with them.

[T Minus Four]

I noticed how many liberals seemed to have clustered in Missoula. Too bad!

[T Minus Four]

OK, here is a very good reason not to go running around hiking trails without a cell phone. This is the very same trail I was hiking, alone, earlier the previous day.

Ogden [Utah] Women Stabbed While Hiking

Although, I think for the duration, I will add another small piece of hardware to my fanny pack, if you know what I mean.

[appalachian_dweller]

>> I will add another small piece of hardware to my fanny pack <<

I never go into the woods unarmed. Ever.

[T Minus Four]

Right now, this is what I'm considering. What do you think?

[MontanaBeth]

That's scary T M F, you should bring a "little friend" with you from now on while out and about. I wonder if the reason the guy wore a mask is because he would have been recognized?

MB

[1L]

Rattle snakes are generally docile unless you step on or surprise one.

That's exactly right. Rattlers are not agressive, and you darn near have to step on one or pick one up to get him to bite you. I think there are VERY few exceptions to this, surprising one while being very close to it being one. I've come within 2 feet of 2 rattlesnakes, and neither knew I was there. The first one, I didn't know until I looked down, and I did the world record for the standing broad jump.

Of course, both were shot, as I shoot any poisonous snake that's not hightailing it away from me. I never venture off the beaten path in Texas without a sidearm at minimum and a sawed off shotgun usually.

[T Minus Four]

I've had three close calls (within a foot)with rattlers this sumer alone, and did a few quick maneuvers myself, but why would you shoot them? I usually just stand on the trail watching them until they are off into the brush, just to make sure they are well gone before the next hiker comes along.

[T Minus Four]

They caught the guy. He was a recent parolee, a sexual offender living in a local half-way house after serving a 20 year sentence. He escaped from the halfway house last Wednesday and was camping in the canyon about 1/4 mile from my house. He was apparently waiting for a female hiker to come along.

It totally creeps me out to know I must have walked within a couple hundred feet of his camp the previous morning, alone on the trail. Well, I won't be "alone" any more.